Utah was really beginning to get to me and I decided that I needed some time to recharge my heavily drinking/smoking batteries, and go to Denver for a bit. I found out the day before I left that it was going to be the Democratic National Convention the whole week. They are shutting down I-25 for four hours while Barack Obama is speaking on Aug 28th.

There were so many people selling shirts with his head on them. I saw one yesterday of Obama shaking MLK Jr’s hand and it said in big letters on the top “I have a dream”. (That was obviously photoshopped.) I have talked to a couple people here and everyone seems to think that the security  is way overboard. It doesn’t make me feel any more safe too see cops everywhere.  While walking around downtown, I watched in awe as this police truck with at least nine swat guys drove by, slowly watching as if I was some terrorist ready to take down the democratic party. I would like to take this time to remind you that yes, I did in fact shave my beard off and I do not resemble a terrorist or a caveman any longer.  I think the single most scary thing you could see driving around a city is a police truck with a squad of swat guys patrolling the streets. Then again, maybe a squad of swat guys on horses would be more scary.  How about a semi towing a fully armed nuclear near Larimer square? (That last one I made up. I would not have been surprised to see something like this, since they took it to the max with the cops.)

There was a bunch of protesters going down Colfax st yesterday and I asked this girl what they were demonstrating for. She says to me “just everything. Is there anything you are upset about?” I couldn’t  think of anything off the top of my head. I saw a guy in that crowd angry as hell and yelling random crap at people. His sign was slightly smaller than all of the rest and had only a cardboard colored background, in small (but bold) Helvetica font. His sign read “Protesting For Bigger signs”. That’s my kinda protesters.  Maybe if I was annoyed about something I would have joined them. I saw all of this and it was only Sunday. The DNC had not even begun.

I went out to one of my favorite gay bars in Denver called JRs last night to have a couple drinks with some buddy’s. It’s crazy to see how the Democratic party is still heavily divided especially within the gay community. There were many “go team Hillary” t-shirts around. I met one guy who is even a secret service agent for her . Now that I think about it, maybe that guy was lying, it sounds a little far fetched now that I am sober. Still, a lot of Hillary support.

I made sure to bring extra batteries when I left home. I knew before I left I was going to see some crazyness out here with the whole DNC going on. I went to go use my camera today, only to find that the batteries were dead and the extra ones I brought didn’t charge. Yeah, the blog gods hate me.

Just finished this a little while ago. The white material was from those drapes I bought a while back at thrift town and the piss yellow fabric was some stuff I picked up at DI up here in Provo. With the stitching, I was going for something western, like a colt peacemaker with engraving on it. Those buttons are straight out of the 80’s and add a hippness factor to a level 13. The strap seemed too new, so I took it into my dad’s shop and grinded the hell out of it with a belt sander. It’s a little dirty and dingey but it got the desired effect.

Deep Puddle Dynamics said it best. Thats some good advice if I do say so myself.

okay everyone, put away your boyish desires, your bouyant sighs,
your rolling eyes, your lust for rolling rock.
your lust for getting rocks off with other’s follies,
all your desires for couch and tv, pick up a book, pick up a shovel.
put down the gun, throw the fist.
throw intelligent words in this game of conversation.
try a new arrangement, dollars and sensibility,
intelligence and ability, eloquence and nobility, delicatessens.
treat your girl like you treat your tv.
how you should use your headphones as positive role models.
try staying home, stop trying to prove, stop trying to be,
stop trying to do, just be, prove, do, and exist.
go to college, respect your mother, look out for your little sister,
respect no one except yourself.
treat all others how you expect in return,
exercise intellect, if you lack it, pretend.
call few people enemies and call fewer people friends.
don’t do it for the wealth, do it all for the love.
love everything you do, and do nothing half-heartedly.
be what you speak, man, never speak on what you be.
even if you’re lost, front like you got a plan.
it ain’t that hard, but stand if you’re ready to be a man.

Treat your girl like you treat your tv.

I saw this the other day in Bountiful, Utah. Ok, so some one is obviously upset about wearing their seat belt. They obviously think that it is infringing on our rights. They obviously have a lot of time on their hands.

As dumb as I think it is that someone would complain about something like this, I understand what they were going for.  It got me thinking, just how much freedom do we have?

When I was in Denver they had just passed the same law that they passed in California making it illigal to smoke in bars and restaurants. Why not just leave it up to the owners of the bar and giving them the choice to make it smoking or non. There were plenty of bars that I went to that were non smoking and I was happy to go outside and smoke. Did the government really need to step in and make it a law?

I just read this one yesterday

“The new policy allows random warrantless search and seizures at the border.  Under ACTA, border patrol agents will be able to seize peoples’ laptops, iPods, and other electronics which they suspect contain illegally-obtained media.  If the border patrol thinks they’ve found such media on the devices, they are authorized to destroy them at their discretion.”

Does it seem like our freedom is being skewed into something else, something a little less free?