Passive blogging

I have not actively blogged in about three weeks or so- though I'm not sure there's a method of passive blogging (I revised the title of this after writing the preceding passage)- Between a stretch of non-work-inspired boredom, a trip to New Jersey, a return to working all the time and other internet pursuits- I haven't been on either Blogger or MySpace much recently

It's not that I haven't had anything happen to me or any ideas- Just haven't had either the time, concentration or gumption to put up anything recently- to wit: my recent jotted-down ideas-

-Whatever guitar/loud music detente I seemed to reach with my upstairs neighbor a month ago seems to have receded in recent days- first noticed his loud music last Friday which backslid into full-guitar blasting before I went to work this past Sunday (10 May) while the aforementioned blasted his joint's AC on what was at most a 65-degree day- I know it gets warm in upstairs units- but when its breezy and in the low 60's- an open window usually does the trick- though I shouldn't give a fuck about someone else's electric bill

-Speaking of music- was driving around one Sunday night after work- during a two-weeks straight stretch- and caught part of the Providence, RI rock station's (94.1 WHJY) local music station- I've had many laughs at the expense of both that that and the New Hampshire local show ("Rock 101") versus even the worst of the 3 Boston ones I can think of- the Providence one always seems to feature unusually bad heavy metal bands that seem to start from the point of being awful Misfits cover bands- and work backwards from there- cannot describe in writing better than that and still does not do full justice to actually hearing how bad they are

-Speaking of driving- finally had court date from 1 December 2008 ticket 2 weeks ago (30 April 2009)- Had to go to Framingham court house- located off Guadalcanal Ave- a block between- no shit- Anzio Street and Pearl Harbor Avenue- and also a street removed from what seems to be Framingham's public housing- waiting to see where they put "September 11th Boulevard" or "USS Cole Parkway" in that town- particularly gives a great impression as all you're trying to do is fight a speeding ticket

Anyhow- got to court- first visit in about 9 years or so- last one was at the relatively genteel Newton courthouse- the hearing room for the traffic court magistrate was directly next to 2 criminal court ones- so you have the regular folks of traffic court- including one guy sporting his Best Buy uniform and one particular douchebag who paced back and forth talking both loudly and self-importantly on his cell phone- I felt like I must have looked like a professional male model for wearing the casual version (no jacket or tie and shirt out) of my work suit- Not to sound like a haughty asshole- but I realized could have never been a lawyer- which would have been in spite of my lack of aptitude for academic pursuits- but because of the thorough contempt for the most of those at the courthouse- aside from my self-contempt- with which I viewed my momentary visit that day

Get called in- the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and their various police agencies have figured out the way to beat drivers who used to be able to roll dice that the cop who wrote their ticket may not show for hearing- like when I beat a red-light/ blocking-the-intersection ducat in Boston proper 13 years ago- by having a state cop who sits stoically through your hearing- and creating system where you have to pay to appeal ticket with cop who wrote it and judge- for an off-the-top fee

I was there just to get a few miles knocked off the 88-in-a-65 I was given the Monday after Thanksgiving on the Massachusetts Turnpike- asked the magistrate how my ticket could be based on both an "estimate" and the light-imaging (LADAR) system cited on my ticket- got answer I didn't fully buy- but wasn't going to the mat over

Then moved onto my plea- which was basically "I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't speeding- but I wasn't going 23 over"- magistrate asked me what I thought I was doing- I said "maybe high 70's"- he took the 10 miles off and I was happily gone- though I had a momentary flash I should have gone for broke and tried to knock down the whole thing- but came to my senses and savored my incremental victory against The Man

-Speaking of encountering scumbags or jabbronis- Had to drive past Boston's Museum of Science to work downtown a couple days- Nothing funnier to me than the sight of some white, suburban 13-year-old kid on a field trip lined up outside with other white, suburban kids at 8:45 AM in head-to-toe Avirex-level street wear- could not stop laughing to myself when I saw that

-Seems like Domino's has really raised the ante on Pizza Hut's awful-looking pasta dishes- by serving them in bowls made out of what looks like to being the latest use devised for day-old pizza dough ("Chocolate Dipping Sticks", anyone?)- unbelievably bad-lloking concotion

Should be back sooner with more- eventually