Best Birthday

I don't usually make two posts in one week with the title "Best Birthday" but today's birthday is a very significant birthday. Today is the day that Steady Mobbin' (that's this blog, if you didn't know) turns three! As in three years old! My blog is a toddler.

Let me tell you about the birth of my blog.

Three years ago, during the first weeks of my first New York summer, I went on a hike with my friends. We took a train and hiked the Appalachian Trail (no, not all of it. duh.) When I got home I wanted to put my pictures on the internet for my friends to see, but I did not know how to go about it. And then I thought "Wait, I've heard of blogs. Maybe I can put my pictures on a blog?" And after a little research I decided to start up my little blogspot here at briggie dot. The only problem is that once I had my blog I couldn't figure out how to post pictures. So the very pictures that inspired the creation of this very blog never made their way onto the internet

UNTIL TODAY!

Dear Readers, I present to you, for the first time anywhere, the photographic story of my Appalacian Trail hike.

Early Memorial Day morning, 2004, a number of us gathered at Grand Central Station.


We found ourselves the proper train and headed into the wild.


This story stars so many faces that are no longer with us. (Meaning they don't live here anymore. I don't think any of these people have died. Better said, I know Bryant is alive. Jason? Who knows.)



We tried to play a variety of games during our train ride. Here we listen as rules are explained.


We had a layover here.


And eventually we arrived here: a little platform in the middle of the woods. The conductor warned us over and over that there were only two trains back into the city that afternoon, so we'd better be there for one of them if we wanted to make it back home.


Oh, Bryant. Honestly, who doesn't miss Bryant?


Here Tina models the most covetable of backpacks.


This photo will represent the main idea of the day: Hiking.


Also, lots of pausing in the forest and/or sitting



And cattle harrassment


Everyone got surprisingly good reception out there in the wilderness (in the second picture Karisa is on the phone with her mom. I remember she was talking about "Super Size Me" and telling her mom she HAD to see it)



And then (hours and hours later) the hiking was done and we made it back to the platform with time to spare.


The train home was full of bikes.


Hiking the Appalachian Trail on Memorial Day: It will wear you out.



Endnote: After the hike Karisa and I took the S over to the 1239 (we had a 9 back then!) and Sariah and her Mom (both barely known to us at the time) were in the same S car as us. Then Karisa and I ate at Benny's. Victor Garber was there. It was a full day.

Best Totally Slept on This

While we were all getting excited about the tracks announced for Guitar Hero Rocks the 80s I totally didn't even notice that 11 tracks were announced for Guitar Hero III.

Originals

Paint It Black - The Rolling Stones
Cherub Rock - Smashing Pumpkins
Sabotage - Beastie Boys
The Metal - Tenacious D
My Name is Jonas - Weezer
Knights of Cydonia - Muse
Cult of Personality - Living Colour

Covers

Rock And Roll All Nite - Kiss
School's Out - Alice Cooper
Slow Ride - Fog Hat
Barracuda - Heart

It's nice to see some of the tracks from my short-lived hacked disc are going legit.
And it isn't very hard to get pretty excited at the thought of playing "Sabotage," let alone "Cherub Rock" or "Knights of Cydonia."

I'd trade 100 Rocks the 80s to have these songs right now.

Best Seventeenth Gathering

After a too-long, Australia-induced hiatus, the 12th Street Guitar Hero Fanciers' Association reconvened Tuesday night to begin our summer gatherings.

But wait...is that...Cindy from Seattle?


And wait...is that...Rebecca from San Francisco?


Yes! Believe it or not, both Cindy of Goose Girl and Rebecca of The New Awesome are both in New York and their first order of business was to get their rock on. The nice thing about having these two here in town is you can expect triple coverage of everything that happens for the next handful of days. The cross-posting you're going to be dealing with (assuming you already check all three of our blogs) is going to be outrageous! More hits for everyone!


Rock n Roll!

Best Warning.

Do not go to the beach!

Best Southern Hemisphere Adventure, Days 9&10

You know what you guys deserve? A final Australia post.

Now, just because I extended my stay doesn't mean I had grand plans for my additional two and a half days in Australia. I just wanted to be there, that's all. So Thursday I barely did anything and I enjoyed it tremendously. Just hung around on the beach with a seagull and explored the cliffs to the north a bit.



That night I had dinner in a restaurant that shared the same building as Jeff's apartment. I won't say I can't remember the restaurant's name because I don't think I ever knew it. But it was a very likeable restaurant with strong South Beach-vibe (I say this as someone who has never been to Miami and can only use the term "South Beach-vibe" very unknowingly, but I cannot deny that the vibe I got from this place was South Beachy.)

I enjoyed myself there so much that I had eaten plenty of my dinner before I remembered to take a picture. I got chicken breast stuffed with more chicken (chicken mousse? I think that's what they said was inside) served with green beans and pancetta mashed potatoes. I liked it.


And then, the next day, it was Friday. Some terrible airplane complications and bothers occurred, but I decided not to dwell on those a long time ago, so I'm not going to detail them here. But they were of the very frustrating kind. These pictures tell the story of going to the train station, seeing a giant frog, and eating one last Oporto sandwich.




Something learned: Australian's rate their books and keep the rough ones away from children.


Here are pictures of my plane, the departure, an airplane meal, clouds, etc. It was spooky flying over that big empty Pacific stretching off to the horizon, thinking about the mysterious island I'd be stuck on if the plane crashed.













Arrived in LA, a rush of memories got at me when I realized this was the lobby where I was reunited with my Grandparents (both sets) and my Uncle Greg and Aunt Diane when I came home from my mission. Over there in those chairs I sat and ate Taco Bell they brought for me (a few Tacos Supreme) and drank rootbeer. What a magnificent homecoming!


And when I say "magnificent homecoming" I mean my return from Mexico, not my return from Australia, because I had two more flights to catch and a bus to find before I'd be back to my apartment.

Best I Totally Forgot

Man, this is big news...and I totally forgot to tell you it.

Anyway, remember when I told you about when I nearly froze to death being a Human Giant extra? (It was in this post)


Well, Dave (who, I now realize, I totally forgot to link to when I revised my links and if doing the link list wasn't such a pain I'd link to him right now) brought it to my attention that that sketch aired this past week! (click over to his blog to see a picture he took of my split-second of being on MTV.

Anyway, here's a link to where you can watch the sketch with me in it. I believe I "clearly" appear when there are about 24 seconds left to the video. It's an Illusionators sketch and it's fairly funny.

Ok, that's all.

Best Minor Revisions

Lacking the proper impulse to post my final set of Australia pictures I revised my links to other blogs over there on the right. Many a blog I should have been linking to for a long time have finally been linked to. I invite you to Explore! Discover! and Learn!

Best Birthday

I'm a bit late posting this, but Star Wars turns 30 today. If I had plans, I'd be cancelling them
to stay in and watch it tonight. Fortunately for me, I do not have plans, so I can just stay in and watch it.

You can have your pirates. Tonight, for me, is about smugglers and moisture farmers.

Best Southern Hemisphere Adventure, Video Supplement

Here's a video of me causing a swarm of seagulls at Bronte beach. The end result would have been more impressive if it weren't for a dog that was as enthusiastic about seagulls as the seagulls were about my discarded chips.

Best Additional Information

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80's Cover Art Revealed:


And Seven More Songs:

• 18 and Life (as made famous by Skid Row)
• Bathroom Wall (as made famous by Faster Pussycat)
• Lonely is the Night (as made famous by Billy Squier)
• Nothing But a Good Time (as made famous by Poison)
• Play With Me (as made famous by Extreme)
• Shaken (as made famous by Eddie Money)
• Synchronicity II (as made famous by Police)

And a release date:

July 17th.

July 17th is a Tuesday. And Tuesday nights are Guitar Hero nights. So July 17th should be one of the finest Guitar Hero nights the 12th Street Guitar Hero Fanciers' Association has ever seen?

Speaking of the 12th Street Guitar Hero Fanciers' Association, members should be alerted that our hiatus will be ending next week (the 29th). In fact, special guests from out of town are making the trip all the way to New York just to learn the ways of the Guitar Hero, so please come and make them feel welcome.

Best Southern Hemisphere Adventure, Day 8

I was supposed to leave Sydney on Wednesday, but by Tuesday night I just knew I wasn't ready to go, so I spent Tuesday night and Wednesday morning trying to change my flight and eventually I was able to. And then I went back downtown to learn more about Sydney.

Something very important I learned almost right away: Sydney has a monorail?! Where am was I, Springfield?


I wandered about the Town Hall area of the city. This would be the Town Hall.


And this is the other stuff nearby (and not so nearby):






This bird looks exotic right? Like, you'd freak out if you saw one here in America, right? But the thing is, they're super common in Sydney. It's like it's some big, long-billed bird that thinks it's a pigeon and doesn't even know it's weird and crazy.



I went to Circle Quay to catch a ferry to check out Luna Park but before departing I noticed this apartment building...more specifically, I noticed the windows to the apartment at the top of the building. Can you imagine the awesomeness of that residence with its floor to double-height ceiling view of Sydney harbor? I don't know how it could be decorated in any fashion other than 1960's retro-futuristic (unless it looks like a ski lodge in there, which I also consider quite acceptable.)


It took some work and some patience, but I figured out which ferry to take.


And there in the distance is Luna Park, which (overstating the facts) we can call the Coney Island of Sydney.


Oh, and finally, a picture of a ferry.



Luna Park. Something important that I learned right away was: Luna Park isn't open all the time. In fact, Luna Park isn't open MOST of the time. But you can walk inside a little, or enough, judging from what I saw.



The Rotor. This appeared to be the old-timey version of the ride Chicagoans would know as "The Cajun Cliffhanger".






When I first saw this boat I thought, "Ha! It says 'Liahona'!" but then I thought, "Wait! That's just a word Mormons know!" So...mysterious, right?


Before returning to Bondi I explored the Kings Cross neighborhood and environs. Yawn.




Here's a tribute to what I ate most nights in Sydney: Wagu steak brought home by Jeff from the Japanese restaurant below Jeff's work. Routines can be good for you, especially tasty Japanese routines.