The Weekday Ramble is a daily dose of sports, music, culture, and more from Rambling On founder Erik Ritland. For more information check us out on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, or at our website.
Monday May 25, 2015
100 facts about me to celebrate 100 daily blogs continues with #51-75. Check out #1-25 and #26-50 if you like.
Topics today include what I’d like to change about myself, my first shows, why my neighbor lady hates me, traits I like in people, why I’m afraid of getting an office job, why I’m a Packer fan, the Midwest vs. the east and west coasts, defending pro wrestling, and my favorite season, authors, books, fast food restaurant, beer, and hard liquor. Whew.
51. My dream car is an old orange ‘60s microbus. I’d live out of that darn thing.
52. I believe that swearing can be useful but that it’s totally overdone. Especially in movies and on adult television shows.
53. Some cassettes that shaped my pre-Jr. high existence: Green Day Dookie, Offspring Smash, Soul Asylum Grave Dancers Union, Nirvana Nevermind and Unplugged.
54. If I could change anything about myself it’d be my lack of ambition.
55. I love that there are so many great record stores in the Twin Cities (and there always have been). Cheapo in St. Paul is still my favorite. I can also get behind Eclipse, Treehouse, and Electric Fetus.
56. I played my first show at a now-defunct coffee shop on Snelling Avenue called Cosmic’s. I played my second show a few weeks later at White Rock coffeehouse in Highland Park (also closed). I really miss the White Rock. It was home-y: well lit, comfortable couches, good music, friendly staff. Now it’s a place called Quixotic that’s nice but just a bit cold and sterile. But I suppose that’s in now. Can you at least turn up the damn lights a bit?
57. Baseball is, always has been, and always will be my favorite sport. I love that it moves fast enough to keep me interested without any cheap thrills (smashing and such). Its subtleties and strategies that are easy enough for any schlub to pick up on (unlike soccer).
58. I own a house that needs a lot of work. My neighbor lady hates me because I cut my grass so rarely.
59. Traits I like in people: reasonableness, intelligence, intuition, calmness, being okay with silence, silliness, lack of pretension.
60. God help me if I ever got an office job. My weight would most likely double in the first year.
61. I love Cold Stone Creamery but I haven’t been there in forever. I always got birthday cake ice cream with angel food cake, peanut butter, and marshmallow. Damn. I might have to head out there.
62. Chipotle is by far my favorite fast food restaurant. The food there actually tastes fresh and good, the prices are reasonable, and it fills me up for pretty much the entire day.
63. I grew up a Vikings fan but became a Packer fan once they let go of Randy Moss the second time under Brad Childress. It sort of started out as a bit but it grew quickly into faux-legitimacy.
64. I loved sports when I was a kid but lost interest when I discovered music and MLB went on strike. Due to my dad’s influence I began to think that all sports players were, in his words, “high paid prima donnas.” I couldn’t get myself to enjoy something done by people I didn’t respect. I still watched every Vikings game, though. Football is easy to enjoy because it’s so lowest common denominator.
65. The more variety of stuff I like the happier I am. When I was younger I was really snobbish about music. Once I began liking hip hop, classical, jazz, ‘80s pop, and metal my life opened up. I also like olives and onions. Live a little, man.
66. I like professional wrestling because it completely lacks pretension. If you’re an idiot that thinks it’s stupid because it’s fake, I suggest you stop watching movies and television then you hypocrite. Because that's all fake too. Dummy.
67. The first place I ever traveled to was Milwaukee to see my oldest brother Mike graduate college. I barely remember that.
68. The first trip I remember taking was to St. Louis my freshman year in high school. The adventure of getting there, and being somewhere I wasn’t used to, made a huge impression on me. I still enjoy the understated coolness of St. Louis.
69. I used to be really pro-Midwest and anti-East and West Coasts. I understand now that there’s a mixture of genuine and pretentious people everywhere. There are more frauds in New York and California from what I’ve heard, but that makes sense if only because a lot of people go out there to try and make it because they think they’re great. That’s not the fault of their geographic location. Also, it's not like there aren't a lot of self-involved Midwesterners who think they're better than everyone. The best song on this subject is Local H's “California Songs.”
70. My favorite season is autumn. Sunsets and trees are their most gorgeous and temperatures are cooler but comfortable. October is by far my favorite month. You can feel the spirit world invading the physical so intimately that it's almost uncomfortable. But it’s always cool. Like Halloween.
71. Faulkner is my favorite American author. Books are best when the author creates an engaging universe that you feel like you’re a part of. I become a part of the worlds that Faulkner creates. The Sound and the Fury is one of the best mind fucks of all time.
72. “Staring at the Sun” by TV on the Radio scares me. In a good way.
73. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye is the first book that made an impression on me. Reading it changed my entire perspective on life. It helped me begin to understand how the con(temporary) world works.
74. I like beer. A lot. Mostly anything is fine by me, too. Hamms and Grain Belt are my go-to local Minnesota beers (okay, so Hamms is now out of Milwaukee, but it used to be brewed on my east side of St. Paul so its spirit will always be here). I can do light beers, dark beers, hoppy beers, stouts, IPAs, EPAs, whatever. Budweiser, High Life, MGD, Summit, Deschutes, New Belgium, Sierra Nevada, Bells, Lagunitas, Paulaner, Modelo. Once again, the more you allow yourself to enjoy in life the more you’ll get out of it.
75. I also like hard liquor. Jack Daniels is my go-to but I like most whiskeys. Vodka is good with tonic or Red Bull. I can do rum and Coke. Fireball sucks.
Check out part IV here.
Erik Ritland is a writer and musician from St. Paul, Minnesota. His blog and podcast Rambling On features commentary on music, sports, culture, and more. He is also a contributor for Minnesota culture blog Curious North. Support Erik's music via his Patreon account, reach him via email, or find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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