Today my uncle and aunt surprised me with a lovely visit and breakfast at the Reading Terminal Market, and when they asked me how long I’d been in Philly, I was shocked when I said six months. That’s half a year! Back in junior high, if you were dating someone for six months, you were practically married. And while I’m not necessarily married to this city yet, I’m definitely having one amazing relationship with it.

I moved here for graduate school back in January, terrified about leaving my beloved garden state. I found myself stuck with two strange roommates who burned everything they cooked and ate everything I bought (after burning it). I discovered I was being ripped off for rent and that the neighborhood I lived in wasn’t the best, so I packed up my things and moved out. The semester was taking a toll on me, it was snowy, cold, and I had to walk almost 12 blocks to the train and about a mile to school once I got to Glenside. I considered leaving.

I moved to Rittenhouse Square. It was insanely expensive, but there was a Rita’s near by. Suddenly I lost my New Jersey lingo and start calling Italian Ice “Water Ice”. I still firmly believe that it is Italian Ice, however I don’t want to argue with the Rita’s people anymore. I discovered the overpriced joys of Walnut St and explored Old City. I found historical homes galore, stumbled across sweet side streets with oil burning streetlights, and found my favorite place to write, a cafe called Last Drop.

I landed an awesome job in an office filled with wonderful people, who suddenly made this city feel less lonely. Rather then awkward conversation with my introverted roommate, I was surrounded by people who shared my interests. Music, movies, a passion for mosaics involving video games… things just got better. I had people to go out to get drinks with and at the same time, teach me how to work in a professional environment. I even learned with a 401k was.

I moved into Center City, and found myself living with two wonderful people. Jordan, who is an amazingly talented artist, and Tess, his fun-loving, cursing-while-playing-Mario-Kart-64 girlfriend. We spend all day surrounded by two kittens, a bunny, and a beta fish that gets neglected.

I met some talented writers in the city, some excellent artists, and a handful of bands. I got to hang out with two of my close New Jersey friends, Saray and Tim, who moved to Philadelphia while I was still back home. I spent time with my pal from Kean, Eric Hoover, who up and left this past month (you jerk!), but never-the-less, got to bond with a great friend who I missed out on during my undergrad.

In terms of my creative side, during my time here I went on tour with some awesome bands, Forever The Sickest Kids (Universal / Motown), Farewell (Epitaph), and my BFFs, Upper Class Trash (School Night Records). I starred in a sweet music video for a band called Silverstein. I also finished my novel, which is being edited right now. I’ve already started on a second one.

My dream girl and I took the leap and decided to make what we have work. And it’s working. Living in a city with an endless amount of things to do definitely makes it easier when she comes down for weekend visits too.

I also have an XBox 360 and a Nintendo Wii. This doesn’t seem like such a big deal for some, but for someone who grew up collecting aluminum cans around his neighborhood so he could save up and buy crappy budget title SNES games, being able to own such small luxuries is a HUGE deal.

With a year of graduate school finished, a tour, a music video, an amazing girlfriend, a sweet living situation, a fun job, a bunny, two kittens, a beta fish, video games, awesome friends from home and new ones from here, I’m loving this city that has become my home.

Here’s to six more months.

Man, I really wasn’t expecting Dunkin Donuts to pick up chubby Hitler as their new mascot. And offering munchkins 10 for 99 cents! Saw this in NYC this past weekend.

Edit: I’ve been informed by my pal Christina that this is a cartoon of the old Dunkin Donuts mascot Fred The Baker, portrayed by the actor Micheal Vale, who died in 2005. Awesome, nothing like getting served 99 cent munchkins by a cartoon zombie donut man.

So a couple of bloggers are playing a little game based on meme, a concept that Tim made me read about on Wikipedia, cause my brain to ache a little, but interesting never the less. My pal Mark over at The Poverty Jet Set and of Cheap Dates fame sent a tag my way, so it’s time to play along!

Rules:
1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged write their own blog post about their eight things and include these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged and that they should read your blog.

Eight things about Eric, randomly selected:

1. The first album I ever purchased with my own money was 311’s self titled album. It was 1995. I was twelve. I still listen to that album and band, but now it’s on my iTunes, and not on a CD.
2. The first girl I ever kissed (I was 15) is now a lesbian. It wasn’t my fault.
3. It is impossible for me to watch When Harry Met Sally without bursting into tears when Billy Crystal comes running back to Meg Ryan on New Year’s Eve. It’s the best romantic comedy of all time, and if you disagree, I’d like to hear you name one that’s better.
4. I met my gorgeous girlfriend on a tour with a band called Foster. They were telling girls that I was the keyboard player. She loves me anyway.
5. I’m deathly afraid of airplanes and have never left the continent, although I’ve been to 48 states and seen most of Canada. My first international trip will be to the motherland… Ireland.
6. I have severe OCD when it comes to locking doors and things being in alphabetical order. I’ve been known to alphabetize DVD collections… at parties… for people I don’t even know.
7. I’ve moved three times since February. My first roommates were creepy and one slept on the living room floor on a bare mattress. My second roommate was awesome, but didn’t like me all that much for some reason. My current roommates are two amazing people and I’m glad I’ll be with them for an entire year.
8. I have a superpower. I can grow the sweetest mutton chops in the world in less then three weeks. I use that power for the good of mankind, and will also be using it all week, as I grow my beard out to celebrate the release of 300.

Alright! Here are some sweet blogs to check out
MonsterPlastic / Dovate / Swedehart / Nicole Rork / Alex Bussey / Apartment 2024 / Anthony Clark / Brian Richardi

Whoa… it’s kinda like I’m famous.

So there it is, the Silverstein video for If You Could See Into My Soul. You can see me in it, looking silly, getting thrown to the ground by the band, and then getting told off by the not-as-hot-as-my-girlfriend getaway girl.

The video has been accepted to MTV2, MTVU, FUSE, and the Much Music network. It’ll also be playing in all Target stores nationwide.

I wonder how much web traffic my site is going to get because of this. Tim Shiftcore posted a blog about this over at MonsterPlastic before I could. I love that guy. Go hire him for something.

I also just realized that I never posted any of the video stills from the shoot, which I really like. My buddy Jostin Harrington, an insanely talented photographer from Pittsburgh, took these. When my mom saw them, she told me how handsome I looked, and informed me I should dress up in white shirts more often.

Thanks mom.

My roommates have two wonderful kittens who, on occasion, do some pretty silly things. From stealing my sandwich rolls (and consequently shredding them all over my roomies’ bedroom) to getting themselves stuck inside the couch cushions, these two, Aurora and Diesel, are adorable little terrors…

… and Diesel happens to be in love with Nintendo Wii.

I never thought I’d be one of those people uploading videos of their pets, but I guess I’m still technically in the clear, considering the kittens are my roommates’, not mine. I found a loophole. Besides, it’s funny.

Oh, does anyone know if Applecare covers BRD, also known as Bunny Related Damages?

Well they friggin’ should.

Not only did Ash eat through my Powerbook’s AC adapter and external hard drive’s adapter, but he also chewed through my lamp’s powercord, thus rendering it useless.

And he ate my Snyder’s pretzels!

Do you have any idea how hard it is to find Snyder’s Buffalo Wing flavored pretzels here in Philadelphia? I’ve YET to spot them. Anywhere. I bought those in Albany and brought them all the way home. I only have one bag left now!

He is lucky he’s so cute.

So I took the Amtrak up to Albany to spend some quality time with the wifey. I apologize in advance for the horrific quality of the photos. These were taken on my Sidekick III. While it is a fantastic phone that lets me talk on AIM, use email, and check Craigslist all day, the camera is absolutely heinous. We went on a hike up Vroman’s Nose, a historic trail in Albany that leaves you on this beautiful mountain, the cliff overlooking a valley of farms below. The cliffs are incredibly steep and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit nervous walking around up there.

We spent a lot of time running around on her father’s farm, which had horses, elk, sheep, bunnies (bunnahs!), and, as pictured here, picking alfafa for my favorite…

Llamas!

Anyone who knows me knows that I believe The Emperor’s New Groove is the best Disney movie ever made. Eff those “classics” like Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty & The Beast… it’s all about Kuzko over here. If you’ve never seen this movie, go purchase the two disc special edition and possibly a lifesize cardboard cut out of Kronk, because seriously, you’re going to love it that much.

A super exciting part of the farm was this guy right here. It reminded me of the Warthog (”It looks more like a puma!“) in the Halo video game series. And although Heather continued to remind me it was called a Rhino, I insisted upon it being a warthog. End of story. It was like living out a childhood fantasy, zipping around on that thing. And yes, I realize Halo came out in 2001, thus making me 19 at the time. Shush.

Here’s Heather driving the Warthog, because um… I had to operate the machine gun turrets! And by “operate machine gun turrets” I mean “I was too scared”. Plus come on guys, who doesn’t want to see their foxy girlfriend driving an all terrain vehicle? *swoon!*

One of the coolest things about the farm was this little carving we found up on Vroman’s Nose. Here in Philadelphia we have graffiti and our famous Toynbee Tiles (if you want some more personal hands on stuff on these, check out Ben’s blog). On Heather’s farm, the graffiti and carvings into stone are a bit different.

It might be hard to make out on this crude cell phone photo (curse you T-Mobile!), but it’s a carving into the side of the cliff up on Vroman’s Nose that says June 6th, 1868. Bits and pieces of the etching were broken off as a result of time and weather, but it still moved me to see something that a couple carved into the face of a rock almost 150 years ago still proclaiming their love.

I want our love to trascend space and time too, damn it.

Next time, I’m bringing a chisel.

I really like weddings. I mean, I’m sure there are people out there who enjoy them far more then I, and for different reasons, but there’s just something about a large group of people getting together to celebrate Love that gets me all warm and squishy inside.

Kinda like the tie pictured above. It was warm and squishy, but that’s because a can of ginger ale exploded inside my duffel bag on the way to Albany, NY. Somehow, the tie managed to absord approximately 90% of the entire can, leaving my bag practically dry. That’s one thing Hugo Boss leaves out of their commericials and advertising. Not only will the tie make you look good, but oh man, it will absorb far more then Bounty or this pansy.

Heather’s cousin got married in a lovely little church, just outside their hometown of Albany, NY. The place was packed, the priest sounded like the dude from The Princess Bride, and the wedding party rolled up in a stretch Hummer limo.

And as you can see in the photos, Heather looked absolutely beautiful. We had a good time, dancing, drinking far too many free Soco & Sevens / Screwdrives from the open bar, and telling her family members stories from tours, school, and my misadventures here in Philadelphia.

However, the most profound feeling I got was at the end of the reception, when it was time to go. Leaving the church and driving off to Heather’s apartment, we caught this gorgeous sunset while listening to Something Corporate and The Weatkerthans. God, I love upstate New York so much. Sunsets and indie rock just seem to go hand in hand.

And I couldn’t help but wonder, when will we get a name card that says “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”.

Here’s hoping its in the near future.

None of that “Mr. & Mrs. Eric Smith” garbage though. She has a name, and it isn’t Eric. Maybe I’m a little bit of a feminist, but whatever. You call my girlfriend Eric, and we are gonna have to fight, card-maker. I’ll punch you. I’ll punch you right in the face.

The music video shoot with Silverstein was absolutely amazing. The video should be out in three weeks or so, and will be playing on all major music video channels, along with an awesome Making Of featurette on Fuse. Thanks for having me guys! Lots of love to Dan and Steve from iEndevour Media, Jostin from Less Avenged, as well as the two stellar makeup artists, Jamie and Lisa.

The idea behind the video is a bank robbery. The band is stealing a giant diamond from the vault. I play the inside man who gets them in, and then, along with the getaway girl, I try to take the jewel for myself. It was a lot of fun. How many people can say they’ve played the main character in a music video for one of their favorite bands? Not many.

Oh, and I got to keep the faux diamond, along with a lot of other memorabilia from the set. Yay!

Their new album, Arrivals & Departures, came out today on Victory Records. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll go pick this disc up. The single is catchy as all hell. Go stream is via their myspace. If anyone sees any photos from the shoot up on the internet anywhere, let me know!

You can currently catch Silverstein on tour with Rise Against. I have no words for how cool that is.

On another note, the great thing about making your own Simpsons avatar, is that it can be as realistic as possible.

Such as this Simpsons interpretation of Heather and I. She’s STILL hotter then me, even in cartoon form. *sigh* I thought the beer can on her shirt was appropriate, as she can drink me under the table anyday.

Click on the image for the full size picture, and then go make your own!

Stole this idea from Mark. Check him out, and his sweet internet show, Cheap Dates, which is full of ideas that I plan on stealing next time Heather comes to visit.