Day 3: Looking for Summer

30-Day Challenge: Day 3

Here in Seattle it's universally understood that summer doesn't unofficially begin until after the Fourth of July.  Until then, the weather makes no guarantees.  I don't know if I can wait that long for a nice, sunny day.  Seattle recently broke a 122-year-old record for the rainiest winter.

I'm ready to get out of the rain.  Fortunately I will making a trip to San Diego soon.  There I know I'm guaranteed some sun.  I'm also guaranteed a San Diego Padres game.  This will mark the sixth different major league stadium (four if you exclude defunct stadiums) I have visited.  I'm excited.

All this talk about sun fits nicely into today's categoires:

• Music: A song that reminds you of summertime
• Minus the Bear - Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse
• Trading Cards: A card from the first set you tried to complete
• Magic the Gathering - Revised (3rd) Edition 

Finding a song to remind me of summer was hard.  Way back in 2005 I remember trying to come up with songs/albums that reminded me of each season and I could never come up with anything for summer.  

The song I picked doesn't remind me of any specific for summer but the feeling it gives me is a hot summer evening, windows open, a cool breeze wavering in.  Perhaps one of the reasons why this song, and really the album it's from, reminds of summer is that I first discovered the song in the summer.

Back in high school I went to a LAN (Local Area Network) party at my friend's house.  LAN parties were necessary in the days of dial-up internet.  In order to play multiplayer games with each other on our computers, we needed to be in the same room on the same network.  After we would play a few hours of Counter-Strike we would all download music and movies from each others' computers.  

Minus the Bear's Highly Refined Pirates was one such album I picked up as all the songs titles were unusual like "Monkey!!! Knife!!! Fight!!!" and "Thanks for the Killer Game of Crisco Twister."  I became a big fan of the band for their next two albums Menos El Oso and Planet of Ice. 

I stopped tracking the band when their album Omni focused less on the technical, math rock and veered toward synthpop.  Admittedly, I only listened to one song from Omni as wasn't the direction I was expecting or wanted.  I love a good synthpop album but not when it's from one of your favorite bands who should not be making such an album.  As I write this I decided to put on Omni to see if I can fairly judge it.  Stay tuned.

Scan courtesy of The Trading Card Database

When I think about summertime, I often think about summer in New Hampshire growing up.  The summers there were hot and humid.  They were also a lot of fun.  I had no school.  I had no responsibilities.  I could play all day.  Simpler times.

When I think about New Hampshire I also think about collecting Magic the Gathering cards.  I don't recall how I became hooked on Magic; maybe because other kids at school were playing the game. At one point, you had to get special permission to play the game at school.  I also think Magic cards were banned at one time, too.  

I collected Magic cards during the time of the Revised/3rd Edition.  One of the best birthdays I had was when my parents gave me a WHOLE box to open all by myself while everyone watched.  Thank you Mom and Dad.  

I had so many cards that I decided to put together the whole set, which was the first time I tried to complete a set.  I did complete the set but the cards have been lost to the universe.  I even asked my dad if he knew where they were and he didn't know.  I have some mana cards but that doesn't count.

If they ever turn up I will be very happy.  Until then, I'll live off the memories.