our neighbors next door to the west are a couple hispanic families in two little houses on the same lot, and they have a lot of barbeques. possibly more than we do. theirs always seem to smell better too, but i’d say that’s just because they have more experience. i’m just getting started on the path to barbeque-master status. yesterday’s was especially fun to watch from our porch though because through what i imagine are connections in our friendly nation just to the south, they had a bunch of fireworks to light off in their tiny paved front yard/driveway area.

it was pretty funny though because they also have an indeterminate amount of children which seems to range from four to fourteen depending on the day, probably all under 10, maybe 12 max, who are always running around having a good (loud) time. and who on this special occasion they were letting light off explosives right in front of them. even funnier because the kids were using long sticks whose ends had been lit in the grill to ignite the wicks, which made a pretty funny scene of kids running around with their little firebrands trying not to get blown up as things popped and exploded pretty much all day and into the night. one of my roommates was getting really jealous cause he didn’t get to blow anything up like the neighbor kids. we showed them though when we got on our roof and got to see real fireworks going off in all directions all over the city. who’s the winner now?

well anyway, happy 4th of july a day late. hope your holiday was as excellent as mine — but that would mean you’d have to match grilling delicious bratwurst at a lively barbeque, kicking ass at ping pong, the aforementioned roof climing that also let us see a house catch on fire a few miles away, and then winning at late night poker. if you can beat that then more power to you.

plus minus the bear put on a show thursday worth way more than 8 dollars i’d say. those guys are just fabulous; and communique, the middle act, played some hooky stuff too. i’d give them a thumbs up. this weekend is shaping up to be a worthy celebration of our nation’s independence, i’ll tell you what.

how about a beach trip and a birthday party to keep it going then? yeah i think that just might work.

[now hearing this: reggie and the full effect – under the tray. that show’s coming up in two weeks too.]