Boston.

I've been in Boston for three days now.

It's a pretty cool city, if you're into history, which I am,... or sports, which I'm not.

Ben Franklin was born here, and ran away from home at a young age to Philadelphia. Only then did he truly begin to affect the future. 

I visited the grave of his parents today.

Paul Revere never made it to Concord. All the stories we have heard about him riding through the streets screaming "The British are coming!" is a bunch of bullshit, designed to help us remember his name. He never made it there, but was instead captured by the British in a little field that I walked around in yesterday. They took his horse and his shoes and made him walk back to Boston. It was another rider that he recruited who actually made it to Concord and warned the Minutemen.

History remembers him incorrectly, but not unjustly. He did a bunch of stuff for the revolution, but mostly in the vein of orchestrating propaganda. He used words and engravings to make people pissed off at the British. He was a spin doctor. Not a man of action. He could make people think of something a certain way, and thereby inspire a mass response. Though dangerous, this is an admirable talent.

Samuel Adams, a leader of men, basically single-handedly started and maintained the American revolution. But he couldn't hold down a job. He couch surfed his whole life. Then he got killed, but his gravestone sure has a lot of nice things to say. He got everyone to start listening to the things that James Otis was saying before his brain-damaging accident, and was able to lead people without having to earn their respect the traditional way. I like that.

I don't really know why those specific historical figures and their stories seem to ring true to me, but they do.

Maybe some sort of latent feeling that I'm a fuck up. Some self-loathing instilled in me by teachers, pastors, and parents from my past,... and then mixed with a self-admiration and confidence. The knowledge that I have a contribution to make to the world, and unlike many others, I am well-equipped to make that contribution. 

OR MAYBE I PUT TOO MUCH INTROSPECTIVE THOUGHT INTO EVERYTHING.

But anyways, Boston is cool. If you have a few days and are looking for a nice little city to walk around in, you could do a lot worse than Beantown.

In other news, the Celtics and the Lakers are playing what might be the last game of the championship tonight,... and I'm in Boston. Carlo is in L.A. So just for the hell of it, I decided to send him hateful messages all night.

I need a drink, but I can't afford one.

I'm gonna go down and get some coffee on the connah.