Post Traumatic Rampage (a.k.a. “Pit Meat”)

Strange day today.  Paid some bills, got my broken back X-Ray’d by the VA, and nearly got ran off the road by a total psycho. I was on my way back from the post office when I pulled behind a crappy gray dent-magnet.  The car was moving roughly 15-17 mph, swerving lazily all over the lines, and the past-middle-aged mostly bald man wearing the sweaty once-white wife-beater was slurping on hot-wings with both hands.  (a lot of hyphens in that last... Read More

Metamorphosis

I made my escape after 5 hardcore days of my VA Beach friends trying to give me liver cancer and even though every part of me just wanted to get back on the road I was torn.  It was hard to say goodbye to the friends and places.  Memory is a dirty liar when it comes to things like this, and for some reason even though I was haunted by the experiences of a life that was gone, there was a part of me that didn’t want to leave.  I met Colin on my... Read More

Necropolis

I step off the death flight still in a daze from the pills and boredom and immediately throw my kit into my rental minivan (I got a free upgrade so just shut the fuck up right now).  Power through a three hour drive from DC to VA Beach for the first Halloween I’ve spent stateside for as long as I can remember.  My brain is having trouble adjusting.  Maybe it’s the Ambiens, maybe culture shock, but everything starts to seem weird.  And not... Read More

War Wacky

Time was drawing close for me to get out of Iraq (hopefully for the last time).  Every time I’m about to get the fuck out of this place my tolerance for bullshit goes way down.  This is lousy because I don’t have patience for anything, but at the same time all madness of the place seems to resonate more vibrantly in my mind giving me pause to reflect on truly how fucked up this situation really is.  It all started about 2 weeks out.  Two short... Read More

End of the Line

I’m finally back, god it feels good. The trip home was an insane rollercoaster. I have a lot of notes on my final days in iraq as well as the road trip and everything else. The nov 1 post was actually a october one that i never got a chance to upload. hopefully that will tide peeps over until i get the next big article put up… little prelude here.. this one is crazy… fucking crazy. I kind of went all the way and then some. Regardless,... Read More

Overpass

So I guess you can’t even go 2 or 3 weeks around here without someone complaining about something. Aside from all the bullshit of getting my taxes figured out and getting a mortgage set up and talking to realtors and buying a god-damned condo I am not given any slack even on the maintenance of this site. Let me quote: “” Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 11:54:04 -0800 From: classified To: admin@slavenation.com Cc: Subject: Get... Read More

Homecoming Malfunction

Noah and I arrived back in the good old USA on the 17th of January but little did we know that we carried with us more baggage than just our carry-ons. So we were stuck. Stuck in a shit place with shit people. Stuck risking our lives for money and bullshit. I don’t know how to get into all the little details about our last few days in the shit country of Iraq but I will paint the picture in broad strokes. We had done just about everything we... Read More

Delirium Tremens

Im back, fucking finally!!!! back in the USA, gotta love that. Despite a really strange and violent night of drunkenness and debauchery in Amman Noah and I somehow (we are so lucky) made it back to our hotel and even made our flight on time. The funny thing is that I can’t seem to put all the pieces together. I know my brain is still chemically unbalanced from all the drug induced sleep and drinking and valium and the oxygen they pumped into... Read More

Elvis Has Left the Building

Days to go: zero (just a wake up) We fucking made it. The contract is done. Time to go home. We’ve been a combination of exhausted and excited all day. We had a bunch of work to do but hammered it all out and still had time to mail our guitars home. God damn, what is home anyway, I only have a truck and a storage unit to go back to. Maybe sleep on my mom’s couch for a while. Noah has about the same. We had a long talk in the chow hall... Read More