Parking rules n' regs

In my apartment's parking lot, everyone who has a car has their assigned spot. And guests aren't really supposed to park in the lot. (We have more parking spots than cars, so people's vehicles tend to be scattered in a non-uniform manner, leaving us with a few extra spaces near the back fence.) But when they park in someone's spot, and that person comes home, the accepted protocol is to honk your horn as loud and as long as possible. Even if it's the middle of the night.

So it's not a surprise that I drew a crowd with my loud honking after my annoying commute home after a long day of work. People hung out on porches and stared. Eventually some nice ladies from one of the neighboring buildings started ringing doorbells of the building that the offender was most likely visiting - nice to know that neighbors still help each other out.

Turns out that the offending visitor belonged to the asshole downstairs. Who was on his porch sans shirt while his fat belly hanging over his shorts, watching me honk and honk and honk and honk.

(Yes, I realize what I said yesterday. But I'm getting to the point where I don't know how much longer I can live around them anymore (and from what I understand, I'm not the only one who feels this way).)

Not exactly Mr. Rogers' neighborhood...

Won't you be my neighbor?
by Fred M. Rogers

It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor.
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?...


These two postings got me thinking a little deeper about the neighborhood that I live in within the larger context of the city of Boston.

I found a decently priced place to live here and my neighbors are all colors and ethnicities and ages and income levels. You'll find a pretty diverse lot waiting for the Orange Line or walking down Centre Street or waiting on line for ice cream at JP Licks. I have the typical 'neighborly' friendships with some of my neighbors - We help each other clean off snowy cars, take in packages for each other, etc. - despite the fact that we don't always speak the same language (English, PSanish, Portugese, Creole...).

I'm not saying that there aren't problems, issues, and/or misunderstandings sometimes. That's life. As neighbors, we have to be able to live around each other, not be best friends.

Blurry images from Fenway

Manny at ease, on deck.








At bat.








Lefty ready to swing.








Manny warming up.


Last minute tickets to the game - unexpected but very welcome... grateful that the weather eventually turned around and made it a great night.

Down 4-1 for most of the middle innings, the Sox rallied in the 8th to pull ahead 5-4, before a fastball performance by Papelbon in the top of the 9th shut down the Diamondbacks.

Good graphic design: the lower case 'db' on the Diamondbacks jersey sleeves looks like a snake's head.

-j.

Protesters outside the Hynes

They were protesting against Aramark, but I couldn't understand what they were saying.





(Turns out one of them gave J. a flyer when he arrived to meet me at the HealthFit Expo, but he had to seek someone out to ask for it. It didn't help us understand any better.)

Cheap gas causes minor traffic jam

Gas was $3.97 at BJ's in Franklin. It caused a minor traffic jam, even overflowing into the main driveway at some points.

Celtics... the aftermath

Yay Celtics!!!!!


My next door neighbor is out on his porch yelling "Lakers can suck my dick!!!!!"
and that Kobe can lick his "big, huge Puerto Rican dick!!!*" against a cacophony of car horns, sirens, intermittent fireworks, other neighbors screaming, and more car horns. He's also yelling random words just to hear his own echo about 5 seconds later (the delayed effect is kind of neat).

I don't remember the neighborhood getting this loud after the Red Sox won the World Series.

It's 12:41 am.
Please stop honking. I want to go to sleep already.



*This is really what he said, not some attempt by me to stereotype my neighbor.

Crazy crustacean

Largest lobster in the tank at BJ's in Framingham.

100 degrees is too hot

100_deg.jpg
Originally uploaded by LoveLyss

My car says it's 100 degrees outside.

Hellfire in Harvard Sq

Saving Souls in Harvard Sq
Originally uploaded by LoveLyss

Couldn't help but notice the guy yelling about hellfire and brimstones in Harvard Square last night.

Kidnap encounter

I didn't blog about this until today because I've been busy. And because I had some trouble finding evidence of a real kidnapping until now.

Picture it, Allston, Massachusetts, a late Sunday night in June.

J. and I accidentally sort of drove by the scene of the crime. It began with me facing the wrong way on Harvard St. and trying not to be that asshole who pulls a u-turn in the middle of a busy street. I turned off of Harvard St. and was just trying to go around the block... bad idea. Glenville was blocked by a cop car and a bunch of fire trucks. And there we were on a one way street with no place to go.

Adding to the chaos was this white car in front of me. I thought he was trying to parallel park (badly). It seems that he was actually trying to turn around.. on a one way street! First I thought that maybe the cop told him to do that. But then I realized that if the cop was so keen on this guy driving out the wrong way, wouldn't he be trying to assist or attempt to turn me and the car behind me around too? By the time White Car Guy managed to complete the turn, said cop had driven away, allowing me free passage to Comm. Ave.

We must've gotten there towards the end of the action. Oh well. As I turned the corner heading towards Comm. Ave. I asked one of the people gathered on the street corner what was going on. "Kidnapping" replied a woman in her pyjamas. I sort of thought that she was just being flip. Until I ran across this.

Dedham theater turns to dust

...in front of my eyes (and camera)

Movie in Dedham?

Seen in Dedham last week. Directions to a movie set? Looks like the Mall Cop signs all over West Roxbury.