The Cons and Pros of Being Crippled

I had surgery on my knee about three weeks ago and recovery has been slow. I've been walking without crutches for the past three days and I am slowly moving around and getting better, though my knee is still swollen to the size of a grapefruit (I'm told it may take weeks for the swelling to go down; it's really gross, too).

Music:
Anyway, the past weekend was spent driving 10 hours to the Gorge in Washington for the Sasquatch! Music Festival (a three-day festival of peace, love, empathy, and Mos Def). Crutching around from stage to stage (there were three) among the crowds was a bitch, and my armpits are still sore to remind me of the weekend. However, there was some goodness that resulted from my gimpness. The last day of the festival, the staff gave me and my girlfriend a ride down to the main stage in a bus, folding chairs (a luxury), a close view of the stage, and close, handicapped portable toilets. It was luxurious. So that was the pro; next year, if I am crippled, I'll be sure to take advantage of that each day. We also saw amazing performances by Animal Collective, The Decemberists, Of Montreal, and Fleet Foxes to name a few. Good weekend.

Hitchiking (mostly unrelated to crippledness):
I've hitchiked once, so I feel like I owe the hitchiking community. So we picked up a hitchiker outside of Sasquatch! and gave him a thirty minute ride to Moses Lake (it was on our way). Hitchikers typically have some really interesting things to share, so I encourage picking them up if it seems safe. This particular gentleman told us about all the concerts he's been to. He claimed to have seen Nirvana five or six (he couldn't remember for sure) times, so he told us all about those shows, which stronger cemented Nirvana's place as one of the greatest bands in my mind. For our trouble, the lad offered me a dose of methadone, but, alas, I was crippled and could not risk the multiple felonies of carrying that over several state lines.

Another piece of advice: Life is much easier if you avoid the felonies, they're what will screw you over in the long run, like waiting too long to turn in your RISK cards for reinforcements.

Albums to check out if you haven't:
Merriweather Post Pavilion by Animal Collective- blowing my mind a little more each time I listen to it.
Yes! by k-os- holy shit, I hate to make the claim that this is the best he's ever done, but I've listened to it almost non-stop since it came out two months ago, and it really is that good.
Fleet Foxes by Fleet Foxes- in case you've been in a coma for the past year, these guys are taking my Top 25 Most Played list on itunes by storm. Beautiful melodies, folk roots, and everything about it is just comforting. Listen now!

Camping? and Unitarian Universalism

So this weekend's been pretty interesting. Starting with a drive from Helena to Missoula Friday evening, Kyle, Jeff, and I embarked to attend REI's famous scratch and dent sale Saturday morning. We arrived in Missoula and went to campus to meet friends. Around 1:00 in the morning, after some meet-and-greet, we set out for REI, where we planned to camp in front of. Once there, we set up the tent quickly on the cement and got to sleep. The next morning, we woke up and got some hot chocolate at the nearby Albertson's. By doing this, we lost our place in line to a group of hardcore punk rockers. We weren't going to try to get our spot back from them. The sale itself was not spectacular. Jeff and Kyle both got some boots and I found a sweet mushroom book. Then we searched for a place called Sausage Bill's. Kyle's friend had told him about the store the night before. Apparently, it sold sausages, pipes, and pornographic comics; so, naturally, we had to find this place. We couldn't find it, so we got some food and were leaving Missoula when I saw the sign for it. It's actually called The Joint Connection, and they sell Bill's sausages there. It was a nice store: sausage, toys, pornographic comics (sealed), and pretty pipes. Then we hit up some great record stores and I ended up with some records by Bob Dylan, The Who, MGMT, and Vampire Weekend. Good stuff. Coming home, we picked up a hitchhiker. He was a strapping lad of about 55. He was quiet and did not do harm to us, so it was all good.
Today, I went to the Unitarian Universalist Church here in Helena for the first time. It was actually really nice. The sermon was about flora, fertility, and humility. They addressed human sexuality and population control. It was really surprising seeing how open and liberal this church is compared to my Catholic upbringing. I like the liberal feel of the church; there's no real creed, it's all very open and the people there are all very open and nice. It's worth waking up early and I'll go again next Sunday. That will be my last Sunday in Helena, then back to Idaho Falls for the summer; I can't wait.