You Can't Spell Recession Without Recess

In the Osseo Area School District, a child enters elementary school in kindergarten and graduates after sixth grade, where they move on the junior high school. In the San Diego Unified School District, elementary school ends after fifth grade, and then students move on to middle school. It's a subtle difference, one that parents probably don't really worry about. It's probably one that children don't really think about much either, unless they are like me, where they moved in the middle of 6th grade and miraculously went from elementary school to middle school within a week. That's right folks. I never graduated from elementary school.

While it's easy to make the argument that 6th grade is 6th grade, I'd beg to differ. There is one huge difference between elementary school and middle school: recess. As a 6th grader at Palmer Lake Elementary School, we had time to eat, and then time to play. At Wangeheim Middle School, there was time to eat, and if you wanted to eat fast or not eat at all, time to get about 10 minutes of four-square in. The grassy playground and fields of Palmer Lake also were replaced by pavement and some lines for four square. During PE, we had to wear school shirts and shorts with our names stenciled on them. I felt like I was placed in a prison.

Obviously I managed to survive the shocking adjustments of middle school life. It's now 16 years later, I've gone through high school, college and have landed on my feet in the "real world". I face much larger issues now: a crumbling economy, paying for rent and insurance, and bracing myself for a potential layoff. My morale has been surprisingly high in such a dire time with unemployment rates rising. Maybe it's because I've survived unemployment before, maybe it's because I'm anticipating it opposed to being blindsided by it, or maybe it's because I'm just worn out.

I'm definitely grateful that I'm employed, whether I'm working my dream job or not. I'm fortunate to have made it this far in the recession, but I'm going to be able to live comfortably for a while, and I will believe that things will have happened for the greater good in the end. I may no longer be in the market for a black velvet blazer or a brand new guitar, but I also won't have to sit in an office trying to figure out how to make it through another week.

I first tasted unemployment a couple of years ago. It came 48 hours after the ending of a long term relationship, so in a way, you could perceive it as me hitting rock bottom. So by that logic, since I'm single now, unemployment can only be half as devastating this time around. I survived unemployment the first time around by playing Super Mario Galaxy all the way through. This was my entertainment, opposed to going out with friends. I lived off of cans of soup and whatever else I could get on the cheap. The days were spent trying to find a job back in the film industry but that proved fruitless so eventually I ended back doing IT work. I became anti-social not because I wanted to, but because I had to. Hanging out with friends usually leads to spending money. It was a miserable time to say the least.

This time around will be much more different, not because I have a huge savings waiting for me or because I'm going to be reckless with my credit cards. I don't have any crazy plans to go backpack through Europe or hit up grad school, and I have no plans to move back in with my parents. I know I will have to put a lot of my future plans on hold, but there are always going to be things that force you to put the future on hold anyways. Maybe this will be a blessing in disguise. It's not good to live too much in the future and being unemployed really forces you to take a close look at the present. It's a time where all you can do is look inward, since the hustle and bustle of the work grind is no longer there to distract you.

For me, I'm just going to revel in the fact that, for the first time in 16 years, I'll be able to enjoy my lunch and go outside for recess.

The Resurrection of the Get Up Kids

So the story goes, on the third day, Jesus rose again from the dead, and this marked history's first reunion tour. Like many of his ideas, they were ahead of his time, so it wasn't really until Coachella started paying bands boatloads of cash to get back together that people realized that you're usually more popular when you get back together than when you were in your prime. The Pixies played small clubs broke up and when they got back together, started playing filled amphitheaters. Other than licensing "Where is My Mind?" for the Fight Club soundtrack, they did very little directly to make themselves popular. Like a chia pet, they just let their legend grow.

The Pixies aren't the first band to cash in on the reunion circuit, but they're probably the first band that saw their fan base exponentially grow the second time around. Groups like Simon and Garfunkel and Fleetwood Mac have been cashing in for years, but they had huge followings, the Pixies did not. So recently a lot of not-so-popular bands have been cashing in, like My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr. and... The Get Up Kids.

If we were playing a game of "One of These Things is Not Like the Other" with a hipster douche bag, and I listed The Pixies, My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr., and The Get Up Kids, the hipster would immediately single out The Get Up Kids. The Pixies influenced Nirvana, and Nirvana in turn changed the modern rock landscape. My Bloody Valentine's Loveless has inspired everyone from Radiohead to the Smashing Pumpkins. J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. is revered as one of the great guitarists of this generation and Nike gave him his own shoe. Unfortunately, The Get Up Kids don't have a glorious resume. Fall Out Boy seems to love them, but I'm not sure that this is something the band is proud of. See, The Get Up Kids unknowingly helped usher in the emo craze even though they themselves weren't a big fan of the genre. When they tried to become more artsy, all but two of their fans revolted. Those two fans were Chris and I. (Actually it's 3, my old roommate Patrick also didn't mind the new direction, but it's a better story if it's just Chris and I). We caught them on their last tour (they unfortunately played their last show the day before my birthday) and we begrudgingly moved on.

Then they decided to get back together 5 years later. Was their rejoicing? Not really.

I didn't even check on the dates of the tour. I wasn't upset, I just felt like I had closure with the band. It wasn't until Chris called me asking me if I wanted to head up to LA to try to catch them, that I even considered trying to catch them. I was on my way down to San Diego to see my parents, and it was reported that the LA show was sold out, so I told Chris we should try to catch them the next day at the Bamboozle Fest in Irvine. They would be playing a shorter set but the LA show was sold out, which in my mind made a potential trip to LA not worth it. Also, the added fact that Chris could get us into Bamboozle for free pretty much sealed the deal.

Chris gave me the set times Saturday afternoon, and luckily, The Get Up Kids weren't scheduled to hit the stage until 8:30pm, so I had plenty of time to make it to Irvine from San Diego. When I arrived, Chris and I started our trek out to the stages, which were side by side. A band by the name of Metro Station was in the middle of their set while The Get Up Kids were setting up on their stage. There were about 30 people already waiting for The Get Up Kids. I would say they were in their mid to late twenties and even possibly their early 30s, and much better dressed than the fans on the other side, dancing to Metro Station in their Hot Topic clothes, spiked belts and skinny jeans. Also while The Get Up Kids fans had rimmed glasses, they were not wearing any mascara.

Have you heard of Metro Station, the band that is fronted by Hannah Montana's brother and her co-star's brother? They even say they're from Hollywood, not from LA. Classy. After dropping a slew of F-bombs, they ripped into their Myspace hit "17 Again". While this train wreck was going on, we saw Matt Prior take pictures of the fans waiting from the stage, and we saw the rest of the midwestern rock outfit, The Get Up Kids, get ready for action.

They came out in t-shirts, flannel shirts, jeans, just like they did 5 years ago, looking like normal people, probably a little shocked by what "emo" looked like today. Bassist, Rob Pope, was the best dressed out of the bunch, Chris and I attribute that to him now being in Spoon, a much more profitable band. Actually, Chris attributes this to Britt Daniel dressing Rob, but as of now, this cannot by confirmed by the band's publicist at press time.

The band opened with "Holiday" and the set went according to plan. They played the fan favorites, they told the Fall Out Boy fans to shove it, and us older fans sang along, as did most of the people watching from the side of the stage. Their set was a bit shorter than if they were playing a club (about an hour opposed to an hour and a half), but they played long enough to make us remember why we loved them so dearly. The band seemed to be enjoying themselves even though knowing that a lot of the kids at the festival had no idea who they were, and were perhaps amused that they indirectly were responsible for this emo explosion. They probably didn't really win over any new fans, but they reminded the few and faithful fans that had come out, why everyone thought they were going to be the next big thing around the turn of the millennium. I would use the cliché that they brought us back to a better time, but that would be false. Adolecense was a very bizaare time.

To see them now was a nice bonus, as they sang in their song "10 Minutes", "all good things have endings." So whether this is their final goodbye or not, I wish them the best, and I just hope Rob Pope stays in Spoon.

The Divine Secrets of the Bolsa Brotherhood

A few months back, Jessica asked me what my weekend plans were. I reminded her that I was going to the Of Montreal/Health concert on Saturday. "Oh, that's right, you're going with your boyfriend" she replied. I was confused, not because I didn't understand that she was making a joke, I was confused by who she was "implying" was my boyfriend. I wasn't going with Chris, or Long, I was going with Sherlan. Then I realized, she was indeed implying Sherlan.

As much as I enjoy the playful mocking of my female friends and the actual man-dates that I go on (not to be confused with mandates, wordplay!), I, and I'm pretty sure every guy I "man-date" with, would prefer to go on a date with someone of the opposite sex, with romantic intentions, long term implications, and all those other idealistic good stuff. Not to say that there's a shortage of quality women out there, there's just a shortage of quality women that want to date us.

These man-dates are therapeutic. Misery loves company. No one wants to be alone. You could say they're beneficial because it forces guys to socialize, perhaps not on an intimate level, but you'd be surprised how many guys could use some help on the ground floor. Unfortunately, these "dates" don't necessarily give guys any insight on how to act during a real date, since interacting with a guy is much different than a girl. If anything, these "dates" are just exercises in arrested development, activities that guys miss when they're monogamous and committed, like eating shrimp by the pound and going to the batting cages afterwards.

I've found that many singles, both male and female, fall into one of five categories: never been in a relationship, have unrealistic expectations, "my clock is ticking", "I'm never going to find someone", and all of the above. Regardless of how many categories you fall into, one thing is clear. It's nice to have a support group that feels your pain. I'm not the leader of my support group, and I'm pretty sure he would prefer I not use his name, so we'll just call him Graham.

Graham is older than myself and most of the guys that we hang out with. I respect him and I guess you could even say that I find him wise. Of course, you could also make the joke that he isn't wise enough, or he wouldn't be single (or does that make him more wise?) We've established a pretty good friendship over many meals (the only foundation for a friendship, in my opinion). Probably the most important thing he's taught me, is not about girls at all, but about a street in Garden Grove named Bolsa Ave.

I've lived in Orange County for 5 years now (9, if you count college), and it wasn't until last year that I started to frequent this little niche, also known as Little Saigon. I'd previously known Little Saigon existed, I just didn't really know anyone who frequented the area much, and it's not really an area that you want to frequent alone, especially if you're not Vietnamese. It's like any ethnic area; if you can't read the signs, it's really intimidating.

So I have Graham as a guide, and fortunately he's a foodie. So we've hit a lot of the "hidden gems" within this area. From some of the best pho I've ever had, to delicious soft shell crab, we've pretty much had it all. I've had some things that you can't get anywhere else, like sugarcane juice and have enjoyed the adventure, going from place to place, not being able to read some of the menus, and wondering about the hygeine of these small hole in the walls. One night we met up with some friends at a French Vietnamese restaurant.

Forunately, I'm not the jealous type. Unfortunately for Graham, some of the other guys we know are. While reminicing about this restaurant, it was discovered that Graham has taken many a man-date here. I believe one of the guys (who's in a long term relationship) said "I thought this was OUR place" and a couple of guys argued whether their first time was before some other guy's first time. Since I was new to the group, or brotherhood, if you will, I didn't really care, and didn't feel any particular attachment to the restuarant. The food was great, the service was ample, but like I said, I'm not the jealous type. I didn't need to have a "special place" with Graham since I know that the second I find that special someone, Graham will be left in the dust. We will still hang out, just not as frequently, and I know he won't take it personally because he'd do the same thing to me.

He provides a great service for us younger single men. He keeps us from wallowing in self pity and keeps us from overdosing on XBox 360 online. He shows us the places that we will take our girlfriends in the future to and hears us out on our gripes about the girls we're chasing. Hopefully he'll find that girl that takes him out of this brotherhood. He will be missed and I'm sure some guys will even regret never getting to go on a man-date with Graham, but if you really think about it, the instant you enter the brotherhood, you start to immediately think about how you're going to get out.