MeSoFun Blog

The advantage of sitting in the cheap seats is you can take in the whole scene. In June of 2001, I took a day off to go see U2 play a concert in Albany. I had been a professional journalist making $10 an hour at a newspaper in New Hampshire that didn't have an active website until about 2009. The little town I lived in was surrounded by rolling mountains. A stream cut through town. It was beautiful. I also had no friends and no family. I had every channel on Dish Network. It is not an era I look back on particularly fondly. But there was that concert. In the line to sit in the GA section, I met a couple of girls from a Christian college in Arkansas and we waited together for six hours before they let us into the arena. Bono was sick that night. He lost his voice and, basically, could not sing. He asked the crowd to lift him up and carry the show. About 18,000 of us belted songs out for him at the top of our lungs. He prayed. He sang Bible verses. The show ended with Bono mustering ...

Police lights are not great for catching a flying disc. Construction, generally speaking, is awesome. If you look closely, you'll see Pennywise in the bushes. It is Maine, after all. Last night I came home from work and took in the scene about 40 yards from our driveway. A giant backhoe was digging out the middle of the street. The city is replacing our stormwater system after it blew out last year (taking a half-block of sidewalk with it). For drivers, this is a trainwreck. For people walking home from work, it is a Godsend. It was earlyish, by newspaper standards, to get home from work. At 10:15 p.m., the neighbors were out in the street throwing a Frisbee around. I was tired and wanted to go to bed. But at a point, instincts kick in. Especially when you realize you know the guys chucking the Frisbee around. "Hit me," I said, "I'm open." The neighbor chucked the Frisbee. I might have caught it. I might not. There was no scoring system, so who cares? So we ...