New Place for Blogs...

I have been posting and, for now, will continue to post my blogs on myspace.

Check them out:

http://www.myspace.com/tommyjcaps

Not Quite Manic...

Well here I am, punching away at the keyboard. A little change of pace for me on a Monday morning. Normally I'd be in my work vehicle reading magazines. But seeing as how it has rained almost every single day this past week, we haven't had any work to do. It's been good and bad. Good, because I get home early. Like, around 2 or 2:30. Not bad. Bad, because I don't get any overtime cash...which, by the way, is quite nice.

So I am here at one of our district garages getting the A/C in my car fixed again. I believe there is a leak in the system so it will last about 2 or 3 weeks on a charge. Works for me. Plus, it is a nice mini-vacation from the jobsite.

This weekend was so ridiculously boring. All of my friends, for the most part, were out of town. The majority of the time was spent lying around the house watching TV or playing guitar. Speaking of guitar, my sets at Howl have been going real well lately. I am starting to memorize more and more songs. This is good b/c I do not want to be so damn dependant on my song book. Last night I went and saw Batman Begins with Jen. It was a real good movie, but I was up a little later than I had hoped. Oh well. Movie-wise, actually, I have been quite active lately. I saw War of the Worlds last weekend, and in the few weeks I have seen:

• Batman Begins
• Wedding Crashers (Twice)
• War of the Worlds
• The Longest Yard
• Bewitched
• Crash
  

I think that is all...but yea...I like going to movies.
Let’s see. Not a whole lot planned for this weekend. Nothing yet actually. The last two weekends in July, my Saturdays are booked with Bachelor parties. And early fall I have several wedding to attend. I will be taking a 3-day weekend early august, so I can go home and help my dad cut down some trees and also go to West Virginia for a family reunion. Chances are I will fly home, and I also plan on taking my guitar with me. It should be a fun time. Well, that is all for now. I guess I should be heading back to the jobsite.

Laters,

Tommy John

I'm a Day Tripper

Well as you can see, it has been a little while since the last time I posted. So I have a little bit to update. My roommate Eric has since moved out. He and his girlfriend Maya are expecting their first child at the end of October. They are now living with each other in Fountain Square area. Real nice place they got. On the 4th, we all went over there for dinner and they have a great view of the Indy skyline so also watched the fireworks there too. My new roommate is Kara, she is a sorority sister of Jen’s and it just worked out well that she needed a place to stay for the summer. So far so good with her. No complaints as of yet.

Earlier that weekend (the 4th), I went to Lake Cumberland with Willis and the gang. His parents have a huge house boat down there and we spent some fun days on the water. I rode down with Rattsy, Saylan, and Bottom. Everyone seemed to be doing real well and we, of course, did our fair share of drinking. Chad and Jenny were also there, along with Duane and Brandi, Jessica, Amy, and Frische and his girl. The day I left Jared came up with some of his friends and family too. All in all it was a great weekend.

The weekend prior to the 4th, another large group of us went down to Lake Monroe in Bloomington. We were celebrating Jen Anderson's birthday. We rented a double-decker pontoon boat with a slide going off the top. That, too, was a lot of fun. Let's see, the attendees that were there from memory: Lelak and Skippy, Alisa, Jen, Jessica, Leah, Erica, Maya and Eric, DC and Crystal, my new roommate Kara, Leslie, and that's all I can really remember. We definitely had a great time and we are going to try to do it again before the summer is out. We left early in the morning and I believe we got off the lake around 5 or 6. Afterwards, Lelak, Skippy and I were all supposed to go to Blanton's Wedding, which was also in Bloomington. Lelak got way to drunk to attend, so I ended up going alone. I hung out with Tierney and his girl for most of the time I was there.

Let's see, we'll keep winding the clock back to two weeks prior to that. We had our family vacation this year in Las Vegas. And everyone was able to attend. Mom, Dad, Angela, Bill, and CJ all got down there on that Friday night. Ed and I didn't come in until the following Tuesday evening. Money-wise, Vegas didn't start out too promising. I came into town with $300 cash. Well, at the end of the night on the day I got in, I was out of cash. Pretty bad, I know. I started betting heavy, like I remembered I did last time I was there in February...well needless to say, it wasn't working for me.

But the second night started looking up. It started with a comedy show, which was pretty good. I don't recall the guys name but he was a staple of stand-up during the Johnny Carson era. After that we headed to downtown Vegas (Old Vegas). That’s where me and Dad started our lucky streak. I taught him how to play my game, craps of course, and we never looked back. We took the Golden nugget my storm. I left "Old Vegas" being up quite a lot of money. I believe I walked out with $700 and some dollars...so if you are keeping track, I was up 400 or so. Dad, who was betting a little more conservatively than I, still cashed out $300 or $400. We were both ecstatic with our luck there, and we were both getting quite tipsy as well. There were several times that we debated on cashing out early b/c Mom and Angela were wanting to head to a different casino...but we kept pushing the limit and it worked out well. When we went to go cash out it made me feel good b/c they actually had to call someone to verify the 500 dollar chip I was attempting to cash in. All the while we are cashing out, Mom and Angela were calling CJ and Bill to find out where they were, so I was yelling in the phone as they were talking "Yo I am cashing out 700 bones 'bee-otch' " dad followed suit and followed my outburst with "I am $300...'bee-otch'." Needless to say, it was quite entertaining for me to hear my dad say 'bee-otch'. The people all around who were observing our ridiculous commotion also thought it seemed funny, as well as did Mom, Angela, and Ed. We then left there and went and picked up Bill and CJ and headed to the soon infamous "New Orleans." Angela drove us there b/c, well, No one else probably should have. It was quite a bumpy ride back b/c the road we went back on wasn't exactly in the best shape. I think several of our heads were getting friendly with the roof of the van.

So we arrive at Orleans, which was previously Bill and CJ's favorite late night casino hang out b/c of its close proximity to Club de Soleil (place we were staying). Armed with our newly found cash and liquor-induced confidence, Dad and I led the group to our new home at the Orleans craps tables. Now we had some newcomers in Bill. They wanted a piece of the proverbial pie me and dad had. And soon we were all stealing Vegas' pie. I am not sure what everyone else did, but I cleaned out another couple hundo from the casinos. Everyone was winning and all in the world was right. We even made new friends...our new dealers at the craps tables, Jon and his crew. The following night did not fair as well. Everyone was thrilled with craps and wanted to play again, and b/c I knew the dangers of craps, see 300 down on the first day, I tried to warn that nights aren't always like that, but oh well. We all lost and we all lost together, b/c hell...I had the money so I figured why not try it again. Well like I said...I dropped another couple hundo. We were having fun though, although I think this day made everyone a little more cautious with their money. Gambling-wise for me from then one seemed on and off every other day. But at the end of the trip I had won about 600 bucks or so. I was quite pleased.

On Thursday night we saw an amazing show. It was "The Fab Four." A Beatles tribute band. And they were quite simply, amazing. They looked, acted, and sounded just like the Beatles. I can't say enough, how great this show was. Being a musical person, and one that is a huge Beatles fan, I can tell you that on the musical side of their act...they couldn't have been better. It was nearly identical down to every last note sung and note played. Harmonies were terrific. We spent most of the days doing a combination of sleeping, pool-side fun, and eating. We would usually be out of the resort for the evening anywhere between 5 and 7. On Friday night, I went and picked up a friend of mine from the airport, the aforementioned Jessica from the Lake Monroe trip. She was there celebrating one of her friends 21st b-days.

On Saturday, I parted ways with the family in the early afternoon. They were leaving at 9pm or so for the airport and my other friends had just gotten in town for a bachelor party. So I met up with the new crew. Matt King was the bachelor man. Three friends form his work came, along with one of his buddies from high school. Two guys, three counting me, were from Rose. The other two being, Justin Smith, and Happy. We had a good time drinking, hanging out, and swimming there at the Mirage. After we were done with the pool, we went up to shower and change. We went to this all-you-can eat type fancy restaurant and it was really good food. Later on, the high school buddy of King's decided to get a few "Direct-To-You" girls for the hotel room. With out going into details, let’s just say that he didn't know what he was getting into and we ended up being screwed out of 300 bucks. No naked show or nothing. So I was annoyed at this point and wanted to go lose money at craps. So me and Happy decided to go gamble while the rest of the guys went to the strip clubs. Yes...I lost 2oo more. But oh well...I did come out 600 ahead, so I am not complaining. I met up with Jessica that night and hung out with her and Happy for quite some time. At 5 or so on Sunday morning we met up with some remnants of the Strip-Club crew and grabbed breakfast in Paris. I was so damn tired; I was falling asleep during the meal. We didn’t end up going to bed until 7 in the morning. Well not all of us, so I found out when I awake at 10 to a passed out King. Once he got up we decided to go check on the other group see what they were doing. We walked into a Hotel room of Happy, drunk off his ass, vomiting Bloody Marys into and onto the toilet. He couldn’t even walk straight. Soon someone got him over to the bed and he was so out it. He was hilarious. But that is where I left the group, or I should say they left me. They headed to the Hard Rock, but since I was leaving soon, I just had Jessica come over and we hung out by the pool for a little while and then we lost her $20 at the roulette table and took a stretch limo to the airport. Vegas were done for the second time this year. And I am up for sure. Tom 2 Vegas 0.

Well that pretty much covers the ground between last entry and now. I am still going strong at Howl. I had a real good set this last Friday and I am currently trying to get lyrics memorized so I can put on a better show. After Howl on Friday, Jessica, Erica, Leah and I drank up my tab and had a good time doing it. Some white Russian races and some birthday shots always allows for a good time. Erica and Leah went to the Rathskellar and Jessica and I went swimming at my pool. Saturday, I had to work at 5am for INDOT…yuck! But oh well, it got me out of bouncing on Friday night…so that was cool I suppose. I was done at 2 and headed home to meet everyone up at the pool. The plan for Saturday was to go to Journey to Chevelle concert. I decided on Chevelle, but soon found out it was sold out. Willis was going with me. He was able to scalp some tickets, so he went and I went over to Jessica’s and we hung out for the remainder of the night. At one point we went over to my place and then Willis stopped in after the concert and we watched some SNL…not a very good one I might add. Sunday, didn’t do a whole lot, had dinner with Jessica and Erica, Erica made chili and it was really good. Erica and I then went to see War of the Worlds. Good flick.

As of now, I am sitting in my state car “working.” I am planning on updating this a little more often than I have been. Once every few days or at the least, once a week.

Take Care,

Tommy John

It's Been a Hard Day's Night...

Well it seems to have been quite a while since I last posted. Many things are new with me. I type this as I sit here at work. I started a new job here at INDOT. I am now out in the field, for you laymen, this means I do nothing while sitting in my car as opposed to doing nothing while sitting at a desk in the office. Two very different worlds. I suppose it is for the better, however it does severely cut down my internet time during the day. However, I now get paid overtime, and My drive to work is about 30 minutes less. An hour less driving per day always works for me. Howerver, I have had to work some less than favorable hours since I have been out here. Which means 3 weeks or so of 6pm-6am shifts and when I finally got back on days last week, well, they asked me to work tonight from Noon till midnight...midnight is soon turning into "Well, we hope to be done by dawn."

Another new thing that I have done is put up my own website. I of course was only able to do this during my office time at work during my last few weeks in the office. The site is: www.tommyjohn.us . I am still working in it bit by bit. Less now that I don't have as much computer time. But I am still trying to make it better and better. I am in the process of recording songs and putting them up on the site so anyone can listen to them.

My roommate Eric found out that his girlfriend is pregnant and bought a house and they now live a few miles from me. Sad to see them go, I had a lot of fun with the two of them. My new roommate seems to be real nice though. She is a friend of a friend and so far we get along great.

One week from today I will be in Las Vegas with my family. We are all heading there for our first total family vacation in a while. It should be a lot of fun. It works out great for me because on the last weekend I am there, two of my friends will be there also so I can hang out with them. One of the friends, Jessica, is there for her friends 21st and my other buddy Matt is having his bachelor party there. Good times are going to be had by all.

Well I have much more to talk about, but I think I shall wait and save it for another post in a day or two.

-Tommy John

Trips Galore...California and Vegas...

Well the trip to California went well. Chris and I had a blast, and I think we learned a little about each other too. He learned that I am impatient, and I learned that he is horrible with directionsn and loves Jerky. Not too many fights between the two of us though. We saw some real cool sights. One being this hugs double rainbow. It was breathtaking. Also, I am not sure how many people have seen these, but we saw fields and fields of energy-generating windmills. It was awesome. A basic run-down of the trip follows:

• Chris comes into town on Tuesday, February 15, 2005. We hung out and went to dinner with some of my friends.
• On Wednesday I went to work and got out a little early. We ended up leaving Indianapolis at 3:30pm.
• We then procede to drive straight to Houston. Arriving there at approximately 8:30am.
• After a few hours of finding his house and driving to his mom's friends house we finally get there at 11am or so. Take a 2 hour nap and are back on the road by 4pm or so.
• We get to San Antonio right at 6pm. We then hung out with Chuck, Ranae, Chuckie and Jimmy. We had a good 'ol time and had "my favorite food" for dinner. (Pizza...inside joke)
• Woke up at 6:30ish and had some coffe and I think we were on the road by 7:30 or so. Heading to Tucson.
• Wow...there is absolutely nothing between San Antonio and Tucson...nothing...jsut one long ass, boring 13 hour drive. We ended up getting into Tucson at probably 8:30?? I can't remeber for sure. Grandma had dinner for us and we relaxed for a little bit with her and Jon. Then we went out to Morgan's house and hung out with him and Wyatt and a few other people. It was a good time.
• In the morning we woke up and had some great pancakes and headed for LA. Not sure what time we left but it took about 7 hours and we got to LA around 8ish.
• We then met up with a high school buddy of mine, Clarence Bucaro, and had dinner with him and his ex-girlfriend Catherine. It was a nice little Indian restaurant we were at.
• Finally we made to Gary's house, Chris' manager. Very nice home in Van Nuys. We got Chris moved in and then hit the sack.
• Sunday we woke up and Gary made us breakfast, then Chris took me to the ariport and that was the trip.

My next trip was the very next weekend, Las Vegas. Just a four person trip, but we had a great time. Jeter, Means, Sormalis, and me. Of course here is a brief synapsis of the trip:

• We all met at my apartment and headed for the airport at right around 5pm. We had a little meal there and that was about it. Boarded the plane and took off for Vegas at about 7pm.
• Jeter and I were sitting together but we were next to an old woman and I was in the middle. But it worked out great becasue she moved and we had three seats to ourselves.
• We watched Dragonfly and it made the time go by quick. We also had fun doing some crosswords. But before we knew it we were landing in Vegas. Local time was about 8pm or so. We had to then wait for Sermy's bag. But that didn't take too long. Then it was time to get a cab to The Flamingo. We won the jackpot on Taxi Drivers. This guy was hilarious. He was talking about drugs, hookers, guns, knives, it was crazy. He had some pretty funny stories too.
• We got to the hotel and were amazed by the sight of the Strip. We then got checked in and set-up in our room and then it was gambling time. I spent the whole weekend, minus 40 bucks, at the craps table. Let me tell you, that was the best idea I ever had.
• In the first few hours I was already up 150 or so. Nice :) But by the end of the night I was down $200. So luck comes and goes. We ended up gambling most of the night and finished it off with a nice stop at Burger King.
• Next day we decided to go grab some grub. We ended up picking this place right next door to us. The Barury Inn or something? So while we waited for our name to be called We decided to gamble for a little and I think we all made enough to pay for breakfast atleast, so that was nice.
• We then decided to gamble a little bit more and we ended up splitting into two groups. Jeter and me, and Sormalis and Means. They went ahead and were just exploring different casinos. We did the same but were gambling when they left. So after awhile we felt the need to drink. We bought a six pack and popped a squat in front New York, New York. We then made up a nice little people watching drinking game. Any hot girl we saw we would take a drink. I then added that any girl wearing a red shirt, no matter what she looked like, we would have to drink two. So needless to say we finished our 6-pack real quick. So we went and got another one and kept playing. We finally met back up with Means and Sermy and then we got an 18 pack and played some more. It was real nice out excpet for about 30 minute span where it sprinkled. So after that was all gone we went back to the hotel for showers and rest.
• We decided to go to the Ghost Bar, and by decided, I mean that Sermalis made us. Lol, no I am just kidding. He really wanted to go and Jeter didn't, so we argued about it for a while and we decided to go. Good thing b/c we had a real good time there. And of course afterwards we gambled there at the Palms and that is where I made my small fortune. by small fortune I mean like $300. Hey...I said small right? But hey it paid for the trip. Jeter went home early that night b/c he was out of money and had a headache. But me and Means were over there rollin away. We were on this crazy hot streak of rolls for like 45 miutes between the two of us. Menas went form 1 dollar to 150 and I went from 100 to 600. It was great.
• We then took a cab and Means rightfully pissed of this chick we met earlier by calling her out. She claimed she was single and it turns out she was married...ouch. So of course it wouldn't be a complete night without Burger King, so I treated aeveryone to a nice sandwich.
• Me and Means then went upstairs to wake up Jeter and Sermy went and won some more craps with my newly found strategy.
• In the morning we didn't do much. Walked around for awhile looking for a place top eat, until eventually we decided on Burger King, where I treated us to a nice little breakfast.
• After that we just headed to the airport and flew home.

As to the band that I was possibly going to sing in. Well, it fell through. They picked someone else. I can only imagine that this other peron was picked due to their extensive song writing. I was surprised and disappointed, but hey, there's always more opportunites. I will keep playing at Howl At The Moon, and we'll see where that goes.

Well, I feel like i have typed enough for one day.

Later,

TommyJohn

Goin...Goin..back to Cali...Cali

Well 2 hours and counting. I will soon be on the road to California with my buddy Chris. He is moving out there to pursue a career in acting. I wish him the best and hope he finds what he's looking for.

As for me, my furture is still up in the air. It is becoming more of a possibility that I will move out to LA with Chris come summer-time. We shall see. Things are going well for me otherwise. I enjoy playing guitar and singing every Friday night at Howl At The Moon. Also, I may soon be the lead singer of a band here in Indy. I am waiting to hear from them.

Well, that is all for now. I just wanted to make a quick entry on what was going on.

Later,

Tommy John

Eternal Sunshine

Well Happy New Year! 2005, wow, the numbers just keep going up and up. Time seems to be flying by. I will be 24 years old in less than a month! Twenty Four! That seems crazy to me, and a little depressing considering I am nowhere near where I wanted to be when I turned 24. And now that I am about to turn 24 I have no idea where I want to be and what I want to be doing. Crazy! I guess I feel like there are so many more things I could be doing than wasting my life away working a 9-5 job with a 45 minute commute. I guess I just have to make a stand and I suppose it needs to be sooner vs. later.

Money. I guess thats what seems to drive most people to a certain extent. And why not? It's what makes the world go round. But after doing what I do day after day, I don't care one bit. I'd trade money for happiness any day of the week. We'll see what happens when I start singing and playing guitar at Howl At The Moon. Thats what I really want to do. Perform. Maybe I will get good enough and make enough connections to where I feel I can quit this silly career of mine. And that wasn't sarcastic one bit. It is quite silly and unfulfilling. Some people might be fine with a 9-5er but why? They will say well you need to work and blah blah blah. Yea obviously you need some means to support yourself, but my question is: at what price? Currently mine is the price of precious time and loneliness. I am gone from home from 7:45 untill 5:15. That sucks. Not to mention I get nothing done worthwhile. Then what do I do? I go home to an empty apartment and watch tv. If I am lucky I go workout with Query 2 or 3 nights during the week. And at the end of the day I just feel blah. End up watching tv by myself until 1 or 2 in the morning. the majority of my friends don't live close by and the majority of my friends have boyfriends/girlfriends or husbands/wives. I think people take having someone like that for granted. I know I did when I was dating Katie. I became addicted to always having somone there and someone to talk to. I am a people person. I didn't like playing by myslef when I was young and I don't like hanging out alone now. No one really seems to know what I am talking about except for my buddy Matt, but hell he lives 4 hours away in Toledo. Probably going through similar things there.

Anyways, I guess that sorta leads me into the explanation o fthe title of todays "rant" which is "Eternal Sunshine." I recently saw that movie and thought it was awesome. I really felt what was going on and know what it would be like. Amazingly done. I loved it.

On a more fun note I will be going on a road trip soon with Chris to LA. That should be exciting. We are planning on doing it sometime towards the beginning of February. We will see how thta goes. Also it is a possibility that I may be going to Las Vegas with my Indy buddies. We will see where that trip goes.

I have been playing the guitar more and more lately. I really want to try to write some lyrics, but I guess I am half lazy and the other half of me thinks I can't do it that well. Hopefully I can grow some balls.

Well I guess I will get back to doing nothing here at work. Here is the lyrics to the song I have been listening to alot today:

Finch - Ender

Here I am beside myself again
I'm torn apart by words that you have said
All in all, I know we're falling apart
Where did you run to so far away?

And here we are to sing you a song
And there you are, asleep against the window pane
Just like always

You said you like to hear the rain sometimes
And all I can do is tell you the truthand
Oh, my eyes will tell you the same

And here we are to sing you a song
And there you are asleep again
And here we are to sing you a song
And there you are, asleep again

Grasp our hands, together we feel we are one result
Grasp our hands, together we feel we are one result
Grasp our hands, together we feel we are one result
Grasp our hands, together we feel we are one result (RESULT!!)

And here we are to sing you a song
And there you are, asleep again
And here we are to sing you a song
And there you are, asleep again

Ben Harper - Another Lonely Day

Yes indeed I'm, alone again
And here come emptiness, crashing in
Its either love or hate I cant find in between
Cuz I've been with the witches and I have been with a queen

It wouldn't have worked out anyway
So now it's just another lonely day (yeah eh)
Further along we just may
But for now its just another lonely day

Wish there was something I could say or do
I can resist anything but the temptation from you
But I'd rather walk alone then chase you around
I would rather fall myself then let you drag me on down

It wouldn't have worked out anyway
So for now its just another lonely day (yeah eh)
Further along we just may
But for now its just another lonely day

Yesterday seems like a life ago
Cuz the one I love today I hardly know
You I held so close in my heart oh dear
Grow further from me with every fallin' tear

It wouldn't have worked out anyway
So now its just another lonely day (eh eh)
Further along we just may
But for now its just another lonely day

-Tommy John