Beer Pong Death Match

(9:15 pm) December 29th, 2005 is a day that I will remember until I'm 70 and senile and no longer able to remember things. That was the day that me and my friends played a beer pong death match. If you aren't familiar with beer pong, our games are played like this. Each player puts 6 cups in a triangle formation in front of them on a table measuring 4 feet wide by 8 feet long. Players take turn throwing ping pong balls into the cups, and when they are made, the person drinks the cup. This continues until one person's cups are all made. A death match setup consists of the entire table filled with cups side-to-side, eventually resulting in 144 total cups per side. At 1 beer for every 6 cups, each team is responsible for drinking 24 beers. We decided to play 2 on 2, with 1 person playing at each time. The partner is able to tag in when they feel like it, and the person playing can sit down when they need a rest. This particular night featured "Fresno" Chris and "Iceman" Scott vs. "Salmon" Matt and "Hundley" Ryan. The night started out with Hundley vs. Iceman, then Salmon vs. Fresno. These were the typical matchups throughout the night. At the beginning, when each side had 144 cups, it was common for each player to shoot 2 for 2. As the game progressed, and cups began to disappear from each side, each person began to make 1 for every 2 shots. A 50% shooting average is nothing to scoff at, mind you. The game began at 8:45 pm, and now at 10:15 pm, the beer is warming and the drunkenness is quickly setting in. Each side has roughly 72 cups left, give or take, making now the unofficial "official" halfway point of tonight's main event. Every so often, a gamebreak is needed to show some highlights from around the league (which is just a fancy NFL way to say that a player needs to take a break to use the restroom.) (11:05 pm) Fresno just tagged me out, and promptly informed me that "all we have left is kill shots" meaning that we only have single cups left and none that exist in triangle-like groups. As of now, Fresno and Iceman have 40 cups vs. Salmon and Hundley's 24 cups, giving them a 16-cup advantage. Although this seems like a one-sided match up, anything can still happen because there is a lot of beer pong to play tonight. (11:15 pm) The game has been going on for 2 1/2 figured that I would be. I took a quick survey of the participants, and they agreed with my prior statement. According to ponger Matt Salmon, "I'm good, but not good enough to drive." That puts him over the legal limit, but leaves him with the ability to make rational decisions and function as a human being. Beer pong continues, and Fresno and I have yet to hit the 12 cups that line the back row of the beer pong table. For a guaranteed victory, we need to make the cups that lie furthest from our outstretched hands. Every shot that leaves Salmon's hand makes one cup for every two shots. (11:55 pm) Fresno and Iceman have combined Salmon and Hundley's cups, although Salmon/Hundley are close to combination. (12:00 midnight) 3 hours 15 minutes into the game, both teams are combined with Fresno/Iceman leading Salmon/Hundley by 3 cups. If Fresno goes 0 for 2, Iceman will have to come in to seal the deal. We now know that Salmon wears green underwear, proving his Irish heritage. The game is down to 6 (Salmon/Hundley) to 2 (Fresno/Iceman) and we are down to 2 kill shots. It now comes to the final shot. Fresno is left with 1 shot to hit for the victory. IT'S GOOD!!! FRESNO HITS THE WINNING CUP TO PROPEL FRESNO/ICEMAN TO VICTORY! After 3 1/2 grueling hours of beer pong, one team is declared to winner. Let's hope that this transcends to Mesquite, NV and the Team You're Gonna Beat can become the most ironic team to claim the World Series of Beer Pong Championship. (12:30 pm) Salmon/Hundley gains a little bit of retribution by beating Iceman/Fresno in a Vegas Style 6-cup exhibition match. Alls well that ends well, and each team has something to brag about. So the night comes to an end, and I finish this blog entry with the declaration that Iceman/Fresno won the inaugural Chateau Murray League Death match. This certainly won't be the last time we play a match of this style, and I look forward to providing you with insight from the front lines once again. For Pookon's Ill Blog, this is Scott "Iceman" Reck, signing off.

http://www.pookon.com/

World Series of Beer Pong in Mesquite, NV

Chris and I have signed up to play against the elite members of beer pong. We have officially entered the World Series of Beer Pong in Mesquite, NV, which is taking place in early January of 2006. We will travel to the entertainment mecca of this fine country and compete against the best of the best in the greatest sport known to mankind. Beer pong has become such an integral part of my life that I feel that it is necessary to defend my hobby at every moment that arises. I look forward to squaring off against my peers in mankind's most competitive game since Twister. Along with 10 friends from the chbpl (http://www.chbpl.com/) we will represent not only our state, city and college, but also our need to play competitive sports. I now consider myself a professional athlete, seeing as how our league is organized to put the game ahead of fun. I will not stop until I have reached that unreachable plateau of beer pong; coming home with the World Series title and 1/2 of the $10,000 prize in my back pocket. Until that day comes (we'll certainly know on January 5th of 2006) I will keep practicing in hope of being the best. The countdown has begun! 34 days until I can emerge as one of the beer pong legends that will stand the test of time. I guess we'll just have to wait until January 2nd to see if this Cinderella story has a happy ending. Until then....MORTAL KOMBAT!!!!!

http://www.pookon.com/

You Got Served

Is it wrong to tell someone that they just got served? I was thinking about this at work today when handing (aka serving) the customer their food. Would it be wrong if I was to tell the customer that they just got served? According to the Urban Dictionary, "you got served" means "to be schooled or beaten very badly, A slang expression that is usually used when someone proves that they are better than someone else, Another way of saying 'You just got owned', or Colloquial vernacular to express the status of one who is the recipient of a subpoena, which more commonly would be expressed as 'You've been served' or 'Consider yourself served.'"

Having defined being served, telling a customer that they got served would mean me stating that I am superior to them, and that they are now owned by me. What are the social, ethical, and institutional ramifications of "serving" people? A lot of people, mostly the urban youth, throw this term around lightly, but they don't understand exactly what they are implying when they utter the line "you got served!" MTV and feature films such as You Got Served (2004, courtesy of Columbia Tristar, with Sony pumping out a hip hop soundtrack that will appeal to the lost youth of today and be forgotten in 3 months) have desensitized America's youth into believing that words have no power and cannot make an impact on their peers. When the unmindful younglings fail to recognize the denotative meaning of the word or phrase they are uttering, the meaning is forever lost and the phrase will become part of popular culture and assimilated into our language. When this does happen, all hope for the future of mankind is squandered, and the leaders of tomorrow will wander helplessly in search of the society that they have destroyed by their uneducated methods of information transfer. God help us all.

Oh, and by the way, y'all just got served.

www.pookon.com

Making an impact on this world

One of man's greatest thoughts is that when they leave this world, they will be remembered in some way, shape or form. Everyone wants to make a lasting impact, no matter how that is. Look at people like Albert Einstein or Michael Jordan; people that will be remembered until history is no longer taken because society itself has crumbled. Throughout time, people have struggled to leave their mark in this world, accomplishing such feats as painting a masterpiece on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel like Michelangelo or writing the framework for our country's behavior like John Hancock, these people will be remembered no matter what happens. That puts a lot of pressure on people like me who have nothing to offer to this world. Lynyrd Skynyrd had it right when they penned the song Freebird, "If I leave here tomorrow, will you still remember me?" Well, will you? What have I done in my life that people will talk about me in 20 years? Do I really mean anything to anyone? What could I possibly do to make myself stand out in front of these 6 billion people in this world? Unfortunately, I'll never know, and it will never get any easier. Geez...

I guess I'll keep on trying to accomplish something so spectacular that not even the failure to record history can keep my story from being passed down from generation to generation. And if I don't, I won't be any different than the billions of other names that time has forgotten. All I hope is that I've positively impacted the people that are a part of my life, and that they are better off because of what I've done...

www.pookon.com

The Incredible Hulk

Sometimes, I wish that I could manifest my anger just as Bruce Banner does, and become the Incredible Hulk. Becoming huge and green, smashing all obstacles that stand in my way; that is all that I've ever hoped to be. My anger boils inside of me even as I type, and I yet have no method to channel it through. Although cursed, the Hulk is lucky because he has a shape and form to channel his anger through, and that comes in the form of a monstrous green being. When someone pisses him off, he becomes enraptured, and basically f***s shit up. I hate to be vulgar, but that is exactly the way that it is. The Hulk does some damage when he is angry. I would certainly would like to be in his situation because then I could do something when I am mad. Instead, I just sit here and make excuses and type meaningless rants about wanting to be the Hulk. Look at what I have become. I used to be a prominent figure within this community, but know I'm just a useless has been that never was who can't even turn into the Hulk. I'm not even the pointless brilliant scientist that Bruce Banner was, he at least was respected by his peers. I am nothing, and cannot live up to the anger that I bring across. If only I was saturated with gamma radiation then this world would be a darker and more fearful place to anyone that would come into contact with me...

(www.pookon.com)

I Wanna Be... (The July/August Edition)

a dude rancher, writer of those catchy advertising jingles, featured as the King of Clubs in the "Most Notorious/Most Wanted" deck of cards, the in-house Pro at the local archery range, judge, jury, and executioner just like Judge Dredd, a Monday morning armchair quarterback, a consultant/analyst for the Food Network, a gummy bear, the kid on the front of the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese box, the owner of a local tavern so I can sponsor an adult softball team comprised of former Major League Baseball players, lookin' stylish in Hammer pants, insane in the membrane, shrunk by Rick Moranis and lost in my own backyard, a college graduate in Spring 2006, an ice cream flavor like Cherry Garcia or Phish Phood, Obi-Wan Kenobi's apprentice, an early visitor to the newest Jurassic Park, rebuilt with technology to be better, stronger, faster, an iconic 1980's wrestler like Macho Man Randy Savage or the Ultimate Warrior, a railroad conductor (woo woo!), a muppet/puppet performer on Sesame Street or Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, along with Chris Lomascola "Two Wild and Crazy Guys!", at Denny's to order one Moons Over Mi-Hami, able to come up with new things that I want to be every month instead of every other month...

(to be continued)

www.pookon.com

Great googly-moogly

And other things that don't make sense -

Why would the dish run away with the spoon? Seriously, did the dish really have nothing going for them that he/she had to vanish with the least deadliest of all utensils? Who ever heard of someone injured in a spoon incident? Talk about being badass....

What is a growing child like Little Miss Muffet eating some crap like curds and whey? Curds are some form of cheese, so that alone brings about high calorie and fat intake, and whey is protein, so I guess that offsets the curds somehow. But who ever goes on lunch break and says "Hey Larry, sorry I can't meet you at Ponderosa for lunch, the wife packed me some curds and whey..."

Wilbur the pig put way too much of his trust in that spider Charlotte. She could have easily written "who wants bacon?" in her web and the pig would have been Sunday morning brunch. That pig would have been the garnish on a McDonald's McMuffin...

The Count on Sesame Street was up to something. No one on the block thought that it was weird that a blood sucking pimp walked the streets mindlessly shouting random numbers would be of any harm to anyone. When the Count bites Telly and Grover on the neck and turns Snufelupegous into a vampire people will wonder what went wrong. Then I'll walk around and say "I told you so" and everyone will be like "I didn't see that coming" and the world will be doomed because everyone in the world is a freakin' idiot...

Pee-wee's playhouse was a messed up place to go to. Everything in the godforsaken house could talk, but none of them had a soul and they all were bound to spend all eternity in limbo. If in fact they were to all be annihilated, all of them would scream in unison, much as they always do, and clown around the house like dumbasses until they meet their timely demise...

"You got it, dude" and "You're in big trouble mister!" might have gotten them plenty of money as children, but it could never stop them from becoming weird drug addicts and scary rich adults...

Cody had it right. Every one's cousin from Wisconsin really did talk like a stoned out surfer and refer to themselves as the "Codeman" and say clever things like "Woah! A Canadian penny! Now I can buy bubble gum! That is, if I go to Canadia." If only he didn't get all weird and try to replace Jean-Claude Van Damme as the newest Kickboxer...

One character actors like Jaleel White and Dustin Diamond are screwed because for the rest of their lives, people will see them and yell "Hey Urkel!" or "Hey Screech!" and there is nothing that they can do about it...

It was a really scary place outside of Fraggle Rock. Once you exit the tunnel, a big muppet dog tried to chew on you, a crazy old Doc wanted to examine you, a trash heap tried to offer you advice on life, enormous Gorgs wanted to rip you apart and eat your insides for lunch, and heaven forbid you run into any of the silly creatures that Uncle Traveling Matt wrote home to Gobo about...

Wow - I gotta lay off the drink a little bit and stop writing things as soon as they creep up in there. Mybe I should stop talking for a while and just sit the next couple of plays out...

www.pookon.com

I Wanna Be... (The May/June Edition)

in the driver's seat (literally and figuratively), posthumously honored by having a memorial freeway named after me, a roadie for the Electric Mayhem, a real boy, Evel Knievel's stunt double, an inmate at Alcatraz, back in the U.S.S.R., the Jack of Diamonds, a constellation in the sky, bulimic so that I can read minds (see the movie Zoolander), good at gambling so that I don't lose lots of money in Las Vegas, a painter for the Golden Gate Bridge, like Scooter and have no eyes underneath my glasses, a world-class chef and have my own chain of 5-star themed restaurants, metal on the inside like the Terminator, a deep sea diver searching for buried treasure, stackable like Tetris pieces, Chewbacca, able to trust the Midas touch, Canadian money so that I have no real value in the world outside of Canada, on the log ride at Great America right now, Danny Tanner's co-host on 'Wake Up San Francisco', a successful comedian so that I can use material from my stand-up act as a basis for an ABC primetime sitcom, water soluble, the owner/operator of a neighborhood lemonade stand, the sole survivor and win $1 million dollars, a better inventor than Ben Franklin, one of those weirdos at Venice Beach, cool enough to have Daniel Stern be the voice of my inner monoluge throughout my wonder years, smarter than the average bear, the mayor of Bald Knob, Arkansas, the voice of the Bop-It! game (twist it! pull it! BOP IT!), a member of the News or the Heartbreakers or the Miracles or the Wailers or the Blowfish or the Blue Notes or the Family Band or the Revolution, Sugar Bear and save someone's life tonight, ready to rumble, uncredited in a major motion picture, the king of the world, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, rockin' down the highway, a street vendor in Tijuana, bananas b-a-n-a-n-a-s, Airbud's owner in Air Bud: We Ran Out of Clever Sports References so the Dog Will Just Run Around and be Cute for 80 Minutes, Peter Griffin for Halloween so that my friends can dress up as the rest of the Griffin Family, Donald Trump for the sole purpose of saying the "You're Fired" line without sounding like an imitator, fluent in HTML, C++, Visual Basic, Unix and Navajo, the face on the $7 Bill, married to the Girl sitting on the moon on the Miler High Life logo, Commander to Michael Jackson's Captain EO in the 3D movie/attraction of the same name, coo coo cookoo for Coco Puffs, representin' for my homies no matter where I go, the person who finds out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop, able to come up with more random things that I wanna to be...

(to be continued)

www.pookon.com

Life without internet

Sounds simple enough, eh? Because after all, the internet only became a major player in our lives in the mid 1990's. Before that, we actually looked things up in books, or God forbid, actually talked to people to find out information about everything that we needed to know. I recently took a little trip through time and lived in a pre-internet world for the past 3 weeks. And let me tell you, for a technologically savvy guy such as me, this was the closest thing to a living hell that could ever happen (well, besides actually living in hell for all eternity.) I was vacationing for half of the time, then moving and working during the other, but I still missed my internet. I felt like part of me was missing, and I think on some occasions I cried myself to sleep. But now that I have internet once again, I can stop thinking about life and just mindlessly search for interesting bits of trivia about Star Wars and play idiotic internet games. Oh yeah, now that I have internet I can resume my blog entries on a more regular basis. Take care of your selves and each other -

www.pookon.com

oh so COLD COLD COLD!!!

(When I first intended to write this, it was coming 2 weeks to the day of a previous blog that I wrote entitled oh so HOT HOT HOT!!! It has been about 3 weeks since I wrote that entry, and it is no longer cold but oh so hot again. This blog has no relevance whatsoever than to point out the fact that I complain too much about some things and that I should be careful what I wish for.)
Ok, so 2 weeks ago I was complaining how hot and humid it was, so much to the point that I was drinking gallons of ice water, I had all of the windows open, and still was unable to fall asleep on account of the heat. There was nothing that I could do to solve the heat wave crisis. How I wish I had never opened my mouth and complained about the heat because now I wish that it would come back. Weather.com tells me that it is "41 degrees F, feels like 34 degrees F" versus 71 degrees 2 weeks ago. Now I'm no scientist or anything, but I think that 34 is a rather low number and it sure as hell feels like cold outside to me. I tried to open the window to get some fresh air in the apartment, but couldn't because it was frozen shut! Ok, so I lie about that but I couldn't stand to have the cold air come into my peaceful world. So I shut myself away from the outdoors and settled in for a good, warm night's sleep. Now that I know not to complain about the weather here in Wisconsin because it varies so frequently, I'm going to continue to complain about the weather here in Wisconsin because I don't learn from my mistakes.

www.pookon.com

update on my life

Two months ago (on April 2) I posted some rather interesting comments about my situation at the time, which led to a bit of concern from the people who care for me and some random people who offered their thoughts on my state of emotions. Thanks to all who took the time to try and make me put it in perspective and make me realize that I'm not a bad person, I'm just a little uncertain about my life and maybe a bit too stressed out. There were many factors that played a part in this emotional outburst, from school, to my living situation, turning 24 and having no purpose in life, uncertainty about my future, financial difficulties, loneliness, etc. I'm one of those people who internalizes their problems and has no way of working them out until one day BOOM - like a volcano I just loose it and usually do something stupid. I've never really been too stressed out about anything because I always thought that all of those things really didn't have any effect on me, and I could just go on living without dealing with my problems. Things are a bit better now, I'm most likely going to finish this semester with A's in both of my classes, am financially stable at least for now, goin to talk with my academic advisor and set a plan for graduation, and most importantly I am going to be moving out of where I live now and am finally going to have my own bedroom and a space that I can claim as my own. I think that is a pretty big factor because everyone needs a place to go to get away from everything and just chill out and relax and take some time to figure out how to handle the situation. For 1 1/2 years I haven't had that luxury, so I taken to internalizing these difficulties when they arrive. I also started taking a look into Internet dating websites, trying to find someone out there for me. If you happen to come across this and have used them yourself, or know someone else who has, toss me a line at pookon@hotmail.com and give me some advice.

- pookon -

www.pookon.com

random thoughts and observations

money - who in the hell decided that money was so damn important? If you don't have it, you are frowned upon and stepped on by those who do, and if you do have it you are frowned upon and ridiculed by those who don't. It's a vicious never ending cycle, the more money you have, the more you want and you will keep going because you will never be satisfied because there will always be someone with more. Whatever happened to surrounding yourself with good friends and family?

big words - I hate it when people use big words just to sound important. They most often will incorrectly use them or use them for the sole purpose of convincing you that they are more intelligent than you are. Their incoherent self-righteous wrongdoings unjustly land them in quite an interesting debacle. When countless generations mercilessly abandon all sense of individualistic thought and subscribe to the wrongful logic of their predecessors, it rarely results in good fortune for every party involved in process. Nevertheless, it irrevocably fails to change the beliefs, attitudes and eventual demise of said individuals partaking in such reckless abandonment.

scan-tron tests - does abbacadabba actually work?

living in debt - it's inevitable in today's society because the price of living is so high that no one can afford to exist anymore because everything is so expensive. Most people need to work 2 jobs just to make ends meet. Student loans, credit cards, car payments, rent, bills, food, an eventual mortgage, then paying for the kid's college? Screw this, I'm going to a deserted island so I can live as a hermit.

Boston Tea Party - sounds like a great time. Why didn't I receive an invitation? I wonder if they played pin the tail on the donkey and had cake and ice cream. I wonder what the treat bags would have been like...

being busy - remember the good ol' days when you could curl up with a good book beside a nice warm fire? Me neither, because I've been too busy being busy. When I'm not at work or work or work, I'm somewhere else that requires me to be there. Geez, even God took a day off after creating existence. I'm lucky to squeeze in a 15 minute break.

http://www.pookon.com/

Oh and by the by, happy birthday to me on this day (May 6) as I celebrate 24 years of life.

I wanna be... (the April Edition)

a surfer that rides exclusively on Conan O'Brien's hair waves, the only white person in the newest black ensemble comedy centered around a neighborhood establishment (The Wash, Barbershop, Beautyshop, etc.), eaten by Graboids like 3 Ninja's Grandpa in Tremors, such a bad actor that I lose the best actor Oscar at the Academy Awards 5 years in a row to Keanu Reeves, Vin Diesel, every rapper/actor (DMX, LL Cool J, Ice Cube) all of the Baldwin Brothers and my Nicholas Cage/John Kerry/Mr. ED/Tom Brokaw/Jimmy Stewart impression, an inspiration to someone else, able to rearrange my face like Mr. Potato Head, allowed to write, direct and star in my own movie and cast Natalie Portman as my love interest so that I could make out with her, the leader of McDonaldland like Mayor McCheese, able to leap giant buildings in a single bound, in an Octopuss's garden with you, wanted dead or alive, one of the Hungry Hungry Hippos, the first mate on a pirate ship, the next contestant on The Price is Right, the cure for sadness, one bad mutha...shut yo' mouth, Chris Farley's stunt double, an astronaut when I grow up, a Toys-R-Us kid, a ga-zillionaire so I can swim in my money like Uncle $crooge, a video so that I can kill the radio star, someone's guardian angel like Clarence and guide that person into earning me my wings, a rock star in an 80's cover band, in a world of pure imagination, left alone with my average wife but why do I always feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone, clever enough to come up with a zany catch phrase that everyone repeats, able to come up with some new things that I wanna be next month...

(to be continued)

www.pookon.com

Oh so HOT HOT HOT!!!

So the last few days it has been uncharacteristically warm here in Milwaukee Wisconsin. I even live by the lake (Michigan) and it is still sweltering, even at night as I try and prepare for sleep. I laugh when I go to weather.com and look up the temperature - "74 degrees F, feels like 74 degrees F." Damn right it feels like 74! I could've told you that by sitting inside of my apartment, at the computer, sweating bullets and shooting them far far away from here. I've already drank about 64 ounces of ice water, and planning on 32 more before I try and pass out. When it gets hot like this in Milwaukee, it gets muggy and humid. Sleeping in this weather is nearly impossible. You just kind of lay there only on the sheets and hope that it cools off enough so you don't feel like you just got out of the shower, which doesn't sound like a bad idea right about now. So instead, I'm here, typing away, imagining being in an igloo instead of my hot apartment. Brrrrrrrrr......Maybe if I think cold, and I'll be cold. Try out one of those old mind over matter trickeries that can get people quicker than if you open your eyes in Marco Polo. Did Marco Polo really exist? Was there a guy named that, and if so, why did they call his name so much that it became a call and response pool game. Why do you play it in a pool anyway? Was it because Mr. Polo liked the sea as a child? Would his mother would yell "MARCO!!" and he would run in from the surf shouting "POLO!!" and then she would scold him for being in the sea without a flotation device or a swim buddy. I really don't know what Marco Polo has to do with the hot weather, but he had to be cool enough to get a pool game named after him.

www.pookon.com

The witching hour

which for me now occurs at around 1:00 am every night. Now, some people might have different definitions or thoughts on what exactly the witching hour is, but to me, it means the time that I go to bed. I feel so old these days because as time passes, I find it increasingly difficult to keep my eyes open past midnight, but I struggle to stay awake at least until 1:00 am just so I don't go to bed on the same day that I woke up. I remember the good ol' days when I could pull an all-nighter and still function well the next day. Then I needed only 4 hours of sleep to operate on full steam. Now I need 8 hours of quality sleep just so I don't bite someone's head off at work. What happened to me? Did I finally grow up, much as I feared that I would when I was younger? Does that mean that I finally have to become an astronaut, a police man, or a baseball player? Does this mean that I am not a Toys-R-Us kid anymore because I didn't follow the instructions in the song? Whatever it means, I need to go to bed, because 9:00 am is waiting patiently at the end of my bed, ready to pounce on me in the morning...

www.pookon.com

Learning a lesson

You know, it's funny when you learn a lesson in life. Sometimes, something happens and you learn from it. It does indeed sound like a generalized comment, kind of like those old time sayings you've heard since you were younger, such as "a picture is worth a thousand words" or "a penny saved is a penny earned." We've all heard things like this, but I do not intend to bore you with generalized comments. But I just needed to mention that I learned something about myself tonight, and was pretty much on my worst behavior in front of my friends. We as people spend so much time developing this fake image of something that we are not because we are too afraid to let our true colors shine forth. Well, ladies and gentlemen, my true colors shone, and they were black as the day before God created light. You could never fully understand that a person like me, with so many talents and good fortunes in life, could have such a negative self image and attitude, so much that it causes oneself to break down and quit. There's not much worse in life then letting someone down or truly hurting someone's feelings. It's just like when you loose someone's trust. Over time, it can be regained, although not fully. People's eyes have been opened about who I really am, and I certainly believe that I have changed somebody's opinion. I know, you're telling to stop skirting round the issue by talking about it in psychological terms or something. So here's what happened...

As many of you might or might not know, I play a drinking game known as Beer Pong and am involved in a league at a friend's house. We play on a regular basis, and it is quite structured. Most of the people who play are friends and co-workers, which is why this incident, unlike what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, this my friends, will not. My partner and I faced some tough competition in the 2nd round of the playoffs, and I quit. I sat back, put my hands in my pockets and refrained from playing the game. I gave up and let myself down. Worst part though, is that I let my partner Chris down. Everyone else there (my friends and co-workers) saw a side of me that decides that life is not worth living and that there is no point to even trying. I feel bad for myself, because after all is said and done, and I have moved on with my life, and I never see any of these people again, I have to l;live with the fact that I am a loser. There is no nice way to put it because I don;t let myself try to come up with a solution to this problem. To make matters worse, I hurt the person that I care for the most, and no offense to anyone else reading this, but I once again hurt my sister Jenny. All she has ever done to me in life is idolize me and try and make me feel like I am a good enough person to be around. If anything, I at least owe her some freaking respect. There's way too many times when I regretfully let her down, and it is something that neither one of us should have to live with. If there's anything I could ever do to prove to her that I am indeed the person that she thinks and knows I am, I would do it just so that she could be right when she tells me that I am in fact a good person. In stories there's a hero and a villain, and in mine, I'm both. For every good thing I do, I counteract it with a bad thing, which is why I never come out as good or bad, I just come out as confusing. Something needs to be done to get me on the right track.

I'm sorry that you had to read this, I'm not one to bear my emotions and to let my feelings out, but this was something that I just couldn't keep to myself. Now you might know that I like to joke around and I'm not a very serious person, but I think that I can finally say that I need some help. If you can think of something that might be beneficial for me, please let me know. I'm cashing in all of my favor chips here because I need to get my life back on track. I remember the days when everything seemed so simple. To be there again would mean worlds to me. Well, that's it for me, toss me a line at pookon@hotmail.com or AOL IM me at pookondotcom if you have something to say. I promise I'll listen, cause that's what I need to do for now.

www.pookon.com

I Wanna be... (The March Edition)

A member of the Get-Along-Gang and help them search for their Red Caboose, a pilot that writes messages in the sky, that guy on the Krispy Kreme commercial, a hype-man in a rap group, owner of a seeing-eye dog, Vin Deisel's cousin, animator of Kool-Aid Kool Man for the packets of Kool-Aid, the guy who invented ipod's, really good at something (read: amazing) like piano or marco polo, friends with Ben Stiller and Will Ferrel so I could be in 8 movies every year, the chicken or the egg so I could answer the question of which one came first, the 4th stooge, a reincarnation of Rodney Dangerfield so that I can finally get him some respect, that man working in a peach factory downtown who puts the peaches in the can in the President's of the United States of America's song Peaches, able to walk on water like Jesus, a little bit talla and a balla, The Voice like my friend Shayne, a monster truck driver, an owner of one of those old time Ma and Pa cafe's where everything looks like it's stuck in the 1950's, Mr. Clean, a friend to all of the little animals who need one, somebody's baby, a washed out celebrity who's only claim to fame is that they are a commentator on I Love the 80's/90's or I Love the 80's /90's Strikes Back, Dr. Sam Beckett (originally played by Scott Bakula) on the remake of Quantum Leap, the Queen Bee, the leader of a sadistic cult and the first one to drink the poisoned punch, a voice of an animated cartoon character that is drawn to resemble me, like Mike Bates, an Anchorman just like Ron Burgandy, an award winning blog writer, on a professional dodgeball team, Noah's Ark, somewhere beyond the sea, critically bashed by professionals but raised up on a pedestal by my adoring fans, able to think up new things that I wanna be...

(to be continued)

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pookon.com receives recognition from fans

Something amazing has happened to me and my website over the weekend, something that seems to be happening more and more often. Before I explain myself, go to your favorite search engine (be it yahoo, msn, google) and type anything related to my site (pookon, godsplash, miller park, beer pong, saguaro cactus, STYX) and see if you can find my site. Often random people type in keywords and accidentally stumble upon my site. Most times I don't find out, but when I do it is spectacular. Tim was browsing the STYX website message boards, and saw a post about summerfest photos, where a random person stumbled upon my site, the posted the link for everyone else to view. The following is that post:

http://www.pookon.com/styx1.html Here is someone's concert photos from a summer concert. I stumbled across it by accident. He has some great concert photos. If you leave it the page for a bit, he also recorded a bit of the show, a different song for each page. Maybe this will help a bit with all our need for new concert photos.

Tim saw this and went nuts. He replied to this post with the following:

OH MY GOD! This is soo crazy. That's my brother's website! I made him bring his camera along. You can even see me ruining the songs by singing along every once and a while (sorry). I am the guy in the first few pictures with long hair standing next to Lawrence. How did you find it?

The next post answers Tim's question:

Hey Tim!! That is amazing that I stumbled upon the website of your brother's!! I was sitting here waiting up for my teenage daughter to come home from a night out with friends. I typed in "Styx" on MSN homepage and started surfing. And there it was. He has some really great photos. Love his comments, what a great sense of humor! And the music add to the pages is such a great idea. Funny and creative too, What a great Kid your brother is. You taught him well!

Tim then conveyed my thanks for the pleasant comments:

Haha, well it was just mind blowing to open up this post and see my brothers website link there, lol. Anyway he really appreciated the comments and we look forward to rocking out and taking more pictures in the near future.

When Tim told me about this it rocked my socks off. It's times like this that make me keep working on this site, even though some times it can be a burden and time consuming. Somewhere out there, there are people who care. I can add a few more Styx fans to that list now. How much does that rock?

www.pookon.com

office

welcome to my office, or at least my online one. step inside, because you're about to be fired, donald trump style. i kid, i really do, but sometimes i can be serious and try and find a common ground between the others and myself. my real office is currently in the uwm union, although i am currently looking for new space to run my business out of. if anyone knows where a sprite young chap like myself can be employed, send a message my way asap. i'm gonna use my espn sense and say that a notice is on the way, so i'm going to go and sit somewhere and wait for that notice. until then, good day to you all, and if you need me, i'll be hanging out in the chocolate room at the wonka factory, drinking my cup of tea and then taking a bite out of it.

www.pookon.com

beer pong

I write this from the Cramer house, where at I am involved in the beer pong leauge spring 2005. This is my 3rd year, and I have established myself as not only a worthwhile member of the beer pong community, but also a player for the youngins to look up to. For those of you who are new to the sport, beer pong information specifically associated with our leauge can be found at www.chbpl.com or for general information visit www.nbpl.com. I write this blog because beer pong is the greatest sport known to man. Forget about decathlons and soccor, this sport combines two of humanities greatest wants and needs, the nature to be competitive and the need to consume alcohol. It's not called kool-aid pong after all. I guess the fact that yes officer, I've had a few is relevant in the fact that it allows me to ramble without the intervention of a third-party watchdog makes it the best sport of all time. Beer pong as a game brings out the best (and I will admit, the worst) in all of us, and we all must step up to the table some time if we want to shoot the ball. Life as we know it is centered around survival and the ability to shoot a ping pong ball into a 16 ounce clear cup filled 1/4 of the way with the chepest beer on the market, with the end result of everyone enjoyng themselves in a way dictated by our predescessors. When we compete with each other in the relm of beer pong, we find out who we really are, and by that we determine our future as pointed out by the ultimate game. That is all I can say right now, for it is time to finish for the night. But don't worry, there is always a time and place for everything, and beer pong, like religion, will always be an established part of society, and we draw upon that to live our lives and fullfill our dreams. The game will determine our place and passage in life, and like Doogie Howser, typing on a computer at the end of an episode, that is where I will finish. And that my friend, is where the Iceman finishes the race.

www.pookon.com

Almost Famous

At work today, I had a conversation with Alex from the dishroom about the movie Almost Famous. The soundtrack was playing, and I asked "Is this the soundtrack to Almost Famous?" Of course it was, because I've seen the movie so much that I can easily recognize the music from it. We talked about it for a while, noting that it was one of the greatest movies of all time, and then we both came to a startling conclusion - we both could not believe that there are people in this world who have not seen the movie Almost Famous! Normally I don't really care about your likes or dislikes, nor will I tell you what you should or should not watch because I realize that everyone is entitled to their own opinions. But, I believe that everyone, before they die, should take a few hours out of their lives to watch this cinematic masterpiece. And if you don't like it, I mean truly do not like the movie, I will personally buy you a movie of your choice. That's how strongly I feel about it. I feel the need to inform the world of Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical wonder, and I thank you for taking the time to read what I have to say.

GO OUT + BUY ALMOST FAMOUS

www.pookon.com

this is me

This is me

www.pookon.com

Start of the Blog

I guess I'm going into this kind of blind, because after all, I have no freakin' idea what blog stands for. I guess it's one of those new-age technical terms, kind of like spam (which used to be that fake ham stuff that poor people buy but now stands for unsolicited email or something.) I guess this is where my lack of schooling kind of shows, even though I've been in college long enough that people should start calling me Scott M.D. Hell, I'd even settle for Scott R.N. right about now. I'm getting off of the subject and spouting random stuff, which is something that you'll see me do quite often. I'm starting this blog because I always wanted to post random thoughts and observations (much like I do in my journals) but never really found an outlet for them. I do have the website (pookon.com) but I can only write things that pertain to the pictures that I post and can't really just go off about something. Well, hopefully I keep at this and bring you some funny stuff. Let me know what's going on in your Mr. Roger's neighborhood and hopefully we can be neighbors. Hooray!

www.pookon.com