- As many of you already know, I still continue to face that crossroads I've been dealing with for a while now. This past month has been particularly rough for me as my head and my mood have been all over the place, trending low or downward for the most part. It's just been hard to keep my spirits up, which is not really news except it's been dulling my enjoyment in things I like including the warmer weather I've been looking forward to for so long and even some of my walks. It's been difficult to deal with especially when actively trying to do anything about it only makes things worse. I hate that it happens this way for me. In other instances when this has happened, the only thing I could really do about it is ride it out and that was it. That looks like what I'm gonna have to do here too. I'm just not sure at this point where that ride is going to let me off this time. I just hope it's not worse off than where I have been previously.
- As you can see by the edition pic and by poking around DJRT a bit, I've made some changes to the DJRT logo. I decided to change up the look of it by flip-flopping the colors and giving it a more worn "faded" look, hence the reason for this edition's subtitle. It's been almost a year since I introduced this design last July and thought it was time to freshen it up a bit. I've already changed the social media pages pics and have introduced new official standard shirts in the DJRT Store to reflect the change. I believe the changes I've made will make the clothing bearing the logo look cooler, but how people see it isn't my call. Check out the new shirts here and buy them if you haven't already: the Official T-Shirt for Guys & the Official T-Shirt for Ladies.
- I had something else I was thinking about talking about in this edition but I'm going to hold off for a while on that if I decide to do it at all. It is some things that I've been seeing trend-wise and what might be occurring as a result that has me concerned about several friends of mine. I'm holding off on talking about it now for two reasons. One, my recent state of mind that I described earlier in this edition might cause what I wanted to talk about to come off differently than how I intend it to and I would rather come at it with a fresher state of mind. Two, the subject matter I'm wanting to bring up is very touchy for some people I know so I want to take more time in making sure I'm accurately seeing what I believe I'm seeing in some of these folks before I get into it here on DJRT. I do want to put up an article I found which I recently posted on my personal Facebook timeline that has a small relation to what I'm going on about here that might be worth perusing, especially by some of my female friends: Date a Boy Who Travels - Huffington Post.
- Can you believe it's been two years since I've been inside of a dance club and actually dancing? I can't either...
- Peaceful Journey: my aunt Marie died a few days ago...don't know exactly when but it was apparently sometime this past weekend. Since she became a part of my father's side of the family only several years ago, I only met her twice and I didn't know her all that well. However, I wanted to note it because it is the 3rd aunt of mine that has passed away in the last year alone (that makes two aunts and one great-aunt). I hate when this stuff happens to my family and I want to pass on my condolences to my uncle Gary for his loss. R.I.P. Aunt Marie.
- This Saturday, June the 8th, there will be a very unique festival coming to the Highland Square area of Akron for the first time. It is called the Porch Rokr Festival (no, that is not misspelled) and it will take place from noon to 8 PM. The main crux of this festival is that there will be 80 bands performing on the porches of 50 different houses throughout a 10 block area of Highland Square (the festival area is situated in an area bordered by W. Market St., Portage Path, Memorial Parkway & Merriman Rd). Aside from the music, there will be food, art and yard sales throughout that area as well. If you plan to check it out, I suggest you take your walking shoes because you will likely be walking around a lot while you're there. You can find out more about this Saturday's festivities and who's performing at their official web site here: Porch Rokr at Highland Square.
- Speaking of walking, I have been trying to get out more since the weather has improved. Usually I like to walk about downtown Cuyahoga Falls but I do go other places sometimes. I went walking around during the first couple of Rockin' on the River events in Cuyahoga Falls. The first concert was really cold which threw me off as I may have underdressed and caught a short-term cold (I'm over that). Last weekend I went walking at the event at the temperature was perfect, with a slight wind that made the temps that much more comfortable. Of course my walkaround got cut off by an approaching thunderstorm but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I'm hoping that I do more of those kinds of walks this summer though I'm avoiding downtown Cuyahoga Falls this weekend because the Irish Festival will be taking place and I can tell you from my own experiences that it's hell trying to find a place to park during that festival.
- According to a "heavy metal band generator" I tried out, the name of the imaginary group I would front would be called "Iron Death". Take that for what you will...
- On the Ohio State front, it looks like E. Gordon Gee, the long time president of the university currently on his second go-round at OSU, will be retiring at the end of the month. He's been roundly criticized for comments he recently made about Catholics and college athletic's Southeastern Conference which may have prompted his retirement. He was there my first go-round at Ohio State in the early 90's and he was extremely personable and friendly. He went out of his way to connect with the student body on campus, going to pizza parties in dorms and just hanging out with students at events or wherever he was. I encountered him several times during that first go-round. I remember one time when I was waiting to get a pizza at the old Ohio Union (many of you who went to the old building should remember how much of a warehouse it looked like at the time)...someone said "Hi, DJ" from behind me and I turned around to find that President Gee was the one who said it. At a 50,000 student campus, for a president of the university to know my name without prompting was cool as heck. He was a big time fundraiser for OSU as well. I'm telling you, that man will be greatly missed once he's retired. I just hope he still plans to stick around and do things with the university because he was just that great for the school.
- Song on Repeat: "Amie" by Pure Prairie League. Have you ever heard an old song on the radio and thought "Hey! I know that song!" but couldn't remember or didn't know who sang it or even the name of the song? For the longest time this was one of those songs for me. It came out 40 years ago from a band originally from Waverly, Ohio and is a comforting bluegrass melody.
- Shoutouts: Debbie, Aunt Sue, Ernest, Bob, Lynn, Kristin, Holly, Jill, Paula, Maggie, Tom R., Todd, Laura, Anna, Jenny K., Cheryl, Katie, Dave & Ron.
That's it for this edition. I've got a lot of "processing" I have to do, for lack of a better term, and I hope to get through my funk sooner than later. Like I said, all I can do is ride it out. Until next time folks. Take care and God Bless.
DJ
