The Year in Pictures-November

Man, are there some GREAT pictures from November... Unfortunately, I have been asked not to share any of them. This picture was taken at Cus' house, before the Mike and Leo show in November 2005, a now legendary night in Aqualounge history. I think this picture pretty well sums up the night though.

Stupid Joke Thursday

I once had a job circumcising elephants. The pay wasn't bad, but the tips were ENORMOUS!

Boring Blog?

While home last week for my Grandmother’s funeral, my father (who is an avid reader of my blog) commented that it has been boring lately. I think we can all agree that a skating monkey is just about the furthest thing from boring that there is. I hope this appeases you pops!

The Year in Pictures-October

October 2005 was another relatively busy month for me. I remember a trip to the mountains and a crazy Aqualounge party (that, true to form, ended up lasting all weekend). I remember drinking lots of beer at Oktoberfest in the pouring rain, and I am pretty sure I even made it up to New York one weekend. The most memorable of events that happened in October though, was my first trip out to Las Vegas, for the 1st Annual Vegoose Music Festival. I have made a vow to stick to the, "whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" mantra, but there are a few things I can discuss. I remember going to Tao with the girls and meeting up with Rob and his crew for the Superfly party. As I am walking through the VIP area, who do I run in to but the man himself, Kobe Bryant---that was pretty cool. I remember breaking glasses at dusk with my friends on the pool deck at the Hard Rock. I remember spending lots of time in a cabana, drinking tropical drinks and taking dips in the pool. I remember winning a lot of money (and then losing it all, plus some). I remember the random stranger that I spent a good portion of one morning with at the Mandalay Bay, getting shitfaced on mimosa's and talking about sports. Let's see, what else? I remember giving an accidental peep show to the entire crowd at the House of Blues. I remember an incredibly late-night (early morning) adventure down the strip with Benji. Most of all though, I remember having a chance to catch up with some of my best friends in the world, and that the weekend was nothing less than totally 100% insane. Viva Las Vegas-right?

Life was all so simple then...

Remember the old amusement parks your folks took you to when you were little? Remember the sights? The smells? The sounds? Are they still around? Will they be around for your kids?

I've spent the day waxing nostalgic about a place I used to go as a kid...I started out looking at pics of Brooklyn, which lead to looking at Coney Island, which lead to me looking up the Enchanted Forest in Ellicott City, MD. If you've ever seen the movie Crybaby you should be familiar with this place.

I never realized how creepy these places can be until I looked at pictures of how it looks now.

This park was definitely creepy, with oversized fairy tale statues. Including a larger-than-life Old King Cole pointing the way towards the park. In fact, after doing further research I came to find out that The Enchanted Forest in Ellicott City, Maryland was the first Theme Park in Maryland, the first Theme Park on the East Coast and the second oldest Theme Park in the USA. Disneyland is the oldest. The Enchanted Forest opened Monday, August 15, 1955. Disneyland opened Sunday, July 17, 1955.

Thanks to generous donations and a lot of dedicated workers, this park has had a rebirth on Clark's Elioak Farm and will reopen on April 1, 2006. Yaaaaay! You know I will be there to relive some of it's nostalgia.

Feel free to share your childhood memories of old defunct parks or even some that still exist!!

The Year in Pictures-September

So I was thinking about September this morning, trying to remember all of the things that happened. I was pretty busy in September-went to New York for two weekends, spent an evening in Philadelphia, saw some great music and overall had a jolly good time. Yet, it seems I only have a few photographs from September of 2005, and they are all documenting my first ever trip to Waffle House with Monks and Yoshito (and to be quite honest, that trip to Waffle House may have been in the beginning of October, I can't be quite sure since I have retired my 2005 calendar). Either way, I certainly did enjoy Waffle House, and I hope that you will enjoy my picture.

The Year in Pictures-August

When I think back, it seems that all of the summer months were pretty eventful. A few events from August, 2005 stand-out. I got to have an interesting conversation with Mike Gordon (which in later months would prove to be relatively un-eventful, but at the time seemed insane), I went out on a lot of bad dates, I started spending time with my biggest crush ever (who also happens to be my current boyfriend), I went to some National's (EXPOS) games and got a ton of random phonecalls from random Phish-heads. But, of all of the events that took place in August (and quite possibly all of the events that took place in 2005, period) there is one weekend that will forever stick out in my mind, that weekend being the one where my friends from Umphrey's McGee came to town (for the full story of why that weekend was so memorable, click here). Suprisingly (or rather not suprisingly, depending on who you ask), the weekend just got crazier from there. A conversation that will always stick out in my head went something like this:

Rook: So, um, I've got something important I need to talk to you about, and its sort of weird, cause I don't want to be that girl...
Bayliss: Okay. [pauses and looks at me strange] What's up?
Rook: Yeah, I was really sort of hoping you could play "Let it Bleed" for me tonight.
Bayliss: Rook, you already asked me that last night.
Rook: I did?
Bayliss: Yes.
Rook: Oh. Well, you should play it.
Bayliss: I'll see if I can make it happen.

I never did get my "Let it Bleed". But the look on Bayliss' face when I told him I had something important I needed to talk to him about was priceless. I think he was waiting for me to profess my love to him... As if! Anyway, hope you enjoy the photos!

The Year in Pictures-July

July was definitely one of the most insane months of 2005. With a quick browse through my calendar, I can see that I traveled to Colorado to see one of my best friends, Lily, attended the famed Red Rocks for the first time, moved to a new apartment, went to West Virginia for All Good, went to Philadelphia for Big Summer Classic, saw WSP for the first time and did a hell of a lot in between. I have enlisted the help of Monks to tell the story of All Good. Enjoy!

All Good 2005-Commentary by Monks

From mist in the valley, to backstage hijinks with rock stars, to latenight NO2 sessions to passed out fill-in-the-blanks dot com-the annual All Good festival is one not to be missed. Marvin's Mountaintop is no longer a West Virginia secret-people up and down the eastern seaboard now know of the fun and excitement to be found there whatever weekend Tim Walther and Company decides to put on their annual sketch-fest. Despite the torrential downpours and flooding that occurred this year, we managed to dodge raindrops and party even harder once the precip stopped.

As with most festivals… things just seemed to fall into place. We started off being parked in the waaaay back but managed to maneuver our way thru the lots and find a great spot up near the front gates (all done in the middle of the night, might I add), thanks in part to the drunkenest (yes, that is a word) traffic director ever to grace the festival grounds of any Walther Production thusfar, Rook. Once we established our base camp, complete with a tarp covered runway, and day break broke, we were free to go about our day like all the other freaky, wild, FUBARed monkeys in attendance that weekend.

I would love to get into specifics about what bands we saw, what they played, etc. but to be honest… I don’t remember much. I guess that is a testament to how good a time we had right there. I can remember an obnoxious screaming wrestling announcer talking about the Power Ranger battle going on in front of the stage as Particle tried to set a soundtrack to the mayhem (this really happened, I assure you) and the repercussion of this debacle is that Bern will never be the same; I remember making sure my nosebreath was up to par throughout the weekend; I remember how cool it was to stand backstage next to Mrs. Williams and their dancing baby as Keller shared his soul with those in attendance; I remember Michael Franti playing a song about cool water as the rain came down I remember the Duo speaking of how they could stop the rain and, speaking of the Duo…I do remember helping Leah reach her goal on Sunday… all-in-all I guess you could say that weekend was ALL GOOD!

I Heart IM's

dude (12:34:33 PM): so rook what are you doin this summer
dude (12:34:42 PM): sorry weekend
Rook (12:34:53 PM): I dont know
Rook (12:34:57 PM): probably getting drunk
Rook (12:34:59 PM): blacking out
Rook (12:35:01 PM): getting pregnant
Rook (12:35:03 PM): and stds
Rook (12:35:04 PM): the usual
Rook (12:35:06 PM): you?
dude (12:35:39 PM): i hope i have the same weekend as you
dude (12:35:46 PM): i could be rich if i got prego
Rook (12:35:54 PM): yeah
Rook (12:36:00 PM): you dont have ovaries or a uterus
Rook (12:36:07 PM): so that may be a little difficult
dude (12:36:12 PM): yeah and i am not gay
Rook (12:36:16 PM): but good luck with that
dude (12:36:24 PM): i have a lot of goalz
Rook (12:36:34 PM): I think being gay is the least of your worries if getting pregnant is your goal
dude (12:36:44 PM): ha
Rook (12:36:48 PM): did you really just put a "z" at the end of "goal"?
dude (12:36:58 PM): no
dude (12:37:15 PM): I am not that gangsta
Rook (12:37:19 PM): yeah
Rook (12:37:20 PM): you did
dude (12:37:27 PM): not on purpose
Rook (12:37:28 PM): dude (12:36:24 PM): i have a lot of goalz
Rook (12:37:34 PM): you also did it
Rook (12:37:44 PM): dude (12:33:33 PM): thanx
Rook (12:37:46 PM): there
dude signed off at 12:37:48 PM.
dude signed on at 12:44:02 PM.
dude (12:44:03 PM): just to give you a heads up
dude (12:44:18 PM): I am going to get really shit faced
dude (12:44:21 PM): this weekend
Rook (12:44:31 PM): and you are telling me this because?
dude (12:44:44 PM): and i might drunk dial you even though we have never spoke on the phone before
Rook (12:44:52 PM): oh you shouldnt
dude (12:44:58 PM): that is why i am telling you this
Rook (12:45:08 PM): my boyfriend will be mad
dude (12:45:36 PM): boyfriend?
Rook (12:45:47 PM): yes
dude (12:45:55 PM): then i won't
Rook (12:45:59 PM): ok
Rook (12:46:02 PM): have fun anyway
Rook (12:46:04 PM): bye
dude signed off at 12:47:33 PM.