Nerding out on T-shirts

(Full disclosure: I am assuming that this post will have little to no interest to many readers.)

I know it's a cliche, but this guy loves a good t-shirt.

About two years ago, I stumbled upon this video (no, that's not me in the video). I thought it was pretty cool/funny, and wondered who this Johnny Cupcakes guy was at the end of the video looking very stoic with his hat and deck of cards. A little bit of Internet scavenger hunting and I landed on his website. I thought to myself, "T-shirts? Really?" Don't get me wrong, I liked the designs and I love cupcakes, but didn't really get what it was all about. Then I read his story and got a bit more invested (I liked that he was promoting a drug free lifestyle without any apparent irony as well as how he developed his brand). I bought one of the shirts and didn't think much more about it. 

When the package arrived, I found lots of little trinkets inside the package along with the shirt. There was a button, an old Mighty Morphing Power Rangers trading card, some candy, etc. I was impressed. 

Since then, I've collected a few more shirts (as well as the trinkets that come with them - buttons, more trading cards - mainly early '90's memorabilia like Saved By the Bell, Power Rangers, and Nickelodeon), kept up with the website, and watched as Johnny has done various things around the country. About two months before we moved, he opened a new store in London (he had three stores before that - two in Mass and one in LA). The stores are set up to look like bakeries - people show up thinking they'll get to purchase some cupcakes but find t-shirts in the display cases instead of delish pastries. 

When Kenz and I got here, we made our little pilgrimage to the new London store and got to meet the staff, shop around a little bit. I think I converted her about a year ago when I got her her first shirt. It was all well and good. We'd been to the store, we each had more JohnnyCupcakes t-shirts than we cared to admit, and were back to living a relatively normal life. 

Then October rolled around and the 6th annual "There's Something in the Cupcake Mix" event popped on our radars. Each Halloween, Johnny releases limited edition t-shirts. Once the t-shirts are sold, no more prints are made, there's numbers on each of the shirts, yadda, yadda, yadda.

We were not looking forward to standing in line with what we assumed would be a bunch of young boisterous people, all a bit too excited to get a limited edition t-shirt. We like the t-shirts, but didn't think we liked them that much. We're fans - but not fans fans, yaknow? As a result, we decided not to go. 

Our friend from high school, Derrick, was in town on business (apparently everyone comes here on business! It's awesome!). He didn't know when he would be free - or how long he would be free once he got free, so when he called on Saturday afternoon we dropped our plans and met up with him. He is all "high powered lawyer" these days, working a million hours a week, living in Manhattan, etc. 

We walked him around town for a bit, saw the London version of Occupy Wall Street complete with all the signs, tents, pickets, etc. After catching up on news about people we went to high school with, we took him to what will probably become the place we take everyone who visits us - the Japanese pancake house. 

One lonely picture. Sorry. 

Then Derrick had to go back to work. Yes, after dinner on a Saturday night. 

But we were in the vicinity of the Johnny Cupcakes store... Kenz and I exchanged looks, then decided what the hell - let's go take a look. 

We assumed that there would be a line too deep to expect to get a limited edition t-shirt. To our surprise, there weren't more than 100 or so people standing outside the shop (our assumption is that word hasn't got out on this island - the Boston event had about 300 people). Most everyone had dressed up in their best Halloween costume to wait in line:

This was an employee, I think. She had a wolf mask on, then shed it to look like this. That's a double costume. 

The store itself was set up like a haunted house. All of the employees had costumes on as well. The guy letting people in 5 at a time was dressed up like Dr. Frankenstein's monster. They were serving min-cupcakes. It was all pretty cool. 

His costume wasn't all that, but his cupcakes were!

We got to meet some women in line that were here on business (told you - everyone is here on business) from LA. They were there to pick up shirts for their respective boyfriends who didn't get to make the LA release.

Johnny was there, signing autographs like a boss celebrity:

Lotsa people were wearing Johnny Cupcakes shirts to the event. Kenz and I likened it to wearing the t-shirt of the band to the band's concert, which should be frowned upon. 

We took our moment in the spotlight to meet Johnny and get a snapshot with him:

Cheesin'

The shirts came in old school VHS packages that had the corresponding images from the shirts:

We got two of the four limited edition shirts.

The VHS packaging has the numbers on them as well. 

Spooky!

I realize I'm a nerd. 

As we went home, we thought that this must be what it's like to live in a city like London. To everyone here already it's normal, but to us, this type of thing is kind of surreal. We went to dinner with our friend, then strolled to some esoteric t-shirt shop, met the owner, and got a limited edition t-shirt. No big deal, right? Yea right - not to two kids from the lil ol' town of Knoxville.

Everyone told us we'd have such an adventure when we moved here - that it would be the type of thing that we'd remember for the rest of our lives. We agreed with them, but didn't have any real frame of reference. As a result, I didn't think much about what it would be like to live here. I just assumed that the adventure people were speaking of was of moving and visas and the big city, underground railroads, etc. But doing stuff like this was probably what they meant.

Or both.

*****

Happy Friday to you, readers!


Kenz's birthday is this weekend. I assume that will be the topic of next week's post. Until then, enjoy the brisk weather and colo(u)rful leaves!

Back Online

There are some people who claim to be happy not to have a television. You know the type: can't be bothered with talking about the latest in movies, television shows, or just pop culture in general - they'd rather talk about how it's ruining us, dumbing down America, yadda, yadda, yadda, then move onto how they feel so much better because they're not being assaulted by advertisements on the television and "have really gotten back into reading." They wear it like a badge of honor.

For the most part, these people are harmless. Comedian Wyatt Cenac talks about them in his stand-up show, "Comedy Person." He points out a major flaw with those who say they don't watch TV, but have a laptop wherein they download and watch TV shows from the Internet, saying that's like a super TV and they shouldn't be allowed to claim that they don't watch TV.


I think the next generation of those people are going to say they don't have the Internet at their house.


Now, sure, we can go ahead and say that the equivalent of people who say they don't have a TV but secretly watch television programs online from their computer will be those who say they don't have Internet at their house, but still have it on their phone. That's not my point.

My point is that - whereas it may sound attractive, when listening to these people talk about not having a television, to go on a TV fast, to give up the TV, to give it away - to feign a complete departure from the "insidious consumerism that is the thread woven through American television programming" (- guy who doesn't own a TV) - it is not awesome to go without the Internet.

It was not a liberating experience, it did not cause me to get in touch with myself, grow as a human being, get in touch with nature, or bring about world peace. Sure, I read more. But I was already a reader. It didn't cause me to be any less materialistic or self-obsessed. I just lost touch with the world, the news, friends, emails, etc.

*****

About a month ago, I got word that a linguist from Ohio State was going to be travelling around Europe for a month (there is an extensive network of linguists on Twitter). She was going with a friend of hers from college; the beginning and end of their trip was London. I told them that they could stay at our place if they wanted. I didn't think too much about it at the time, but when I was explaining it to Kenz it seemed kind of strange. I had only met this linguist once at a conference. She seemed nice enough...

That's what you do, right?

When people are coming to stay in your town you extend a roof for them, no? Kenz and I have kind of assumed that since we live in this city that people travel to for business or vacation, we should expect to have a revolving door of friends, family, and ... well, acquaintances.

When we signed up for Internet, they told us that the earliest they could come install it would be September 28th. At the time, that was two and a half weeks away. I didn't think much of it, put it on the calendar, and went on with life. It didn't matter much - we had been given our neighbors' wireless password in exchange for helping them with their monthly Internet bill. The stakes weren't that high for us to get our own Internet asap.

Then I realized that our house guests would be arriving in London on the 28th. I had told them I would meet them at the airport. No big deal; they were supposed to land at 10:30 and the Internet people had given me one of those maddening 5 hour windows. You know, "be at the house from 1 to 6pm." I figured I could get back from the airport with the girls by 1pm no problem. Besides, I'm always the last person on the list when it comes to Internet or cable people dropping by the house to fix whatever problem - they probably wouldn't be by the house to set up the Internet until 5:59pm anyways.

I was also looking forward to finding out how long it took to get to Heathrow from our place on public transportation.

Leah landed on time - she was the friend of the linguist. I had yet to meet her, but I had sent a picture of myself for recognition. She spotted the only big, bald, bearded American waiting at the terminal. We got a coffee and found out that Katie's plane had been delayed. We played the 20 questions getting to know you game while we waited for Katie's plane to land, which wasn't until about noonthirty. Which meant we didn't get home until 2:45pm.

You've already guessed where this is going. The Internet guys were at the house at 12:50pm. They left me a voicemail that said I'd have to reschedule my appointment. Of course.

But it didn't matter - we had Americans staying with us that wanted to see London!

Their first order of business was getting fish and chips:

Katie and Leah

They went out for the day, equipped with an extra key to our house and some pay-as-you-go phones that we loaned them (that's the kind of service you can expect if you come visit us!). The next morning, I tested out my newfound desire to learn how to cook. I made some breakfast with "rashers," which is the closest approximation the English have to bacon.

Trying not to burn anything.

They call pulp in orange juice "juicy bits."

The spread!

The ladies stayed with us for two nights while touring London. Kenz had just started school and I was busy trying to get in touch with the landlord, so we didn't go around town with them all that much - but it was nice to have some company around. I got to nerd out on linguistics with Katie, though, which was nice. 

They left on Sunday morning. Our friend, Nye, came in on business the following Monday. Nye and I had grown up on the neighborhood swim team together; later, he went to high school with both Kenz and I. 

We got out with him on Thursday night and he stayed with us from Friday until Monday morning. Nye and I probably walked about 100 miles Saturday and Sunday. He was so stoked to be in the city that we just about covered the everything. We went to the British Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Regent's Park, Tate Modern, St. Paul's Cathedral, various art galleries, Covent Garden, Soho, Westminister, yadda, yadda, yadda. 

As we were walking around London, things would catch Nye's eye and he would say things like, "Hey, look at that! Can we go over there?" I didn't have any sort of agenda and it was nice to be with someone excited to digress into nooks and corners of the city that I hadn't been to yet. We had loose plans to hit this part and that part of the city, but we took zig-zagged everywhere - following sights and sounds that appealed to Nye. 

There was a mixture of about three protests in Trafalgar Square. 

This was half of the square. To the left of the fountain was a whole 'nother group of people protesting some other things.

Nye wanted a picture with the least offensive message. There were some other, more inflammatory pickets for the taking.

I couldn't decide whether or not this guy was trying to sell his artwork or just there for the protest. 

Covent Garden on a Saturday is filled with street performers. There were the classic gold and silver spray painted "statue" people, magicians, a Jack Sparrow impersonator, musicians, acrobats, and jugglers who rode unicycles. 

The kid had to throw the bowling pins to this guy about 10 times. Not the guy's fault - the kid's.

That unicycle was tall.

Playing upbeat classical music. 

This guy escaped from chains on top of a ladder. 

The funny thing that we noticed while walking around to the various performers was that they all had a similar set of jokes. The most popular of these was, "Kids - stay in school, go to university...so that one day you can grow up - and be like me!"

Nye "window shopped" at buffets more than anything else. 

Another Invader installment down an alley near the British Museum.

Kenz had been volunteering at the British Museum all day for "The Big Draw," which is open to the public to come in and practice drawing various exhibits. For volunteering, she got a free ticket to hear some artist I'd never heard of talk about his process. She had a great time, but didn't get to come walking with us.

That night, we took Nye to Yo! Sushi, which is a gimmicky sushi place where all the food is on conveyor belts. You pull whatever you want off the belt and eat. At the end, an employee tallies up how many dishes you've had for the bill. Different colors represent different prices. The cool thing about it is that you're not locked into the two or three rolls that you ordered; you can pull several different things off the belt and still pay the same price you would've if you ordered the regular amount of food.

We don't care how gimmicky it is - we love it.

Nye was stoked. 

Sunday started with Nye wanting to see what this whole "full English breakfast" was all about. I took him down to our local greasy spoon place called Ozi's Cafe. Ozi is the cook - he's a nice guy who cooks a good breakfast.

The full English! Beans (or 'chips'), 1 sausage, 2 rashers, 1 egg, 1 roasted tomato, grilled mushrooms, toast, and coffee or tea.

We spent time at the Tate Modern, then went over to St. Paul's Cathedral after that. I hadn't been inside St. Paul's yet. It's massive.

We walked over the Millenium Bridge from the Tate Modern to St. Paul's Cathedral.

Later in the day, Kenz met up with us to go to Regent's park. We three had a nice stroll around, talking to the ducks, taking pictures, catching up, etc.

Tour Guides

Nye stopping to smell the flowers. 

Possibly my favorite picture of the bunch. 

In front of the National Gallery

That night, we took Nye to our local Indian restaurant. It's the best I've ever had and it's basically across the street from us - by Ozi's Cafe.

The picture of Nye came out too dark. Bad lighting. Not that this one's any better.

Monday came and Nye was off back to America. But the rotating doors at Casa Ethier were still in operation. Katie and Leah were back to stay one more night before they departed to the States as well. Of course, first order of business: fish and chips.

Same spot, same food: Camberwell Green is a park 10 minutes walk from our house.

The ladies took Kenz and I to dinner that night. We went to a place called Abeeno Too, which is amazing. Check the link to read about the type of food that it is.


And, of course, they wanted to see what this "full English" was all about as well. I took them to Ozi's Tuesday morning before they left for the airport.

They made sure to get a picture with the Harry Potter platform as well:

nerding out on Harry Potter

It wasn't over, either. Our friend, Greg, was in town on business just this past week. He got to come out and hang with us on Thursday night and Friday afternoon. We showed him our place, went out to eat, and got to hear about his move from Tennessee to Maryland. 

Outside our place - the backdrop is basically the view from our windows.

All in all, it was a whirlwind of people, talking, walking, eating, and picture taking. Which is to say it was pretty awesome. 

In the meantime, however, our neighbors - the ones whose Internet we had been using - moved. So, we were left with no Internet for about two weeks.

Moral of the story? 

I dunno:

A) Don't let people stay at your house?

B) Don't pick up friends from the airport?

C) Plan ahead?

D) Know that no matter what you do, when you're given a 5 hour window to stay at home for the people to come over something's going to come up and make you miss it?

I kid. It was worth no Internet to have so many visitors. 

*****

Excerpts of a few emails I've received since the Cornwall post:

From my mother-in-law:

"David, my son,

I just finished your blog and I can't believe-----Are You A PUSS???????????????
Not my boy!


Love ya,
Second or Third Mama"
From my Aunt Camille:

"Incidentally, after Cornwall and the comments about the cliffs, our news covered one of those cliffs disintegrating and tumbling down. Looks like you are a wise man! Stay safe!"


From my friend, Sam:


This might have been the cliff you were climbing in Cornwall:

So, for those of you who thought I was a wuss for not wanting to hang out on the edge of a cliff (ahem...Patti!), we can all agree that I was being...prudent.

Safety first!


Much love to y'all for reading this. We love hearing from you, so feel free to email us!

Heads Up

Our internet is out until next Tuesday, the 18th.

I'll be ready to post something when we get the internet back on. I'm thinking (for those of you who still read) I'll develop a pattern of posting every Friday.

It's Friday. I'm posting...but only to say that I don't have internet and I'll get back to you in full next week.

Thanks!