Doug Van Pelt

Pit party ... AT my place!

Don’t you hate being around complainers? You’re having a great day, your heart is at peace; and then some numbskull ruins your time with a list of all the things that have brought him down. You’d think he would want to be brought up (with positive words), but instead he seems bent on bringing you down with him!

You must really hate me right now, then; because, as the great theologians in Lust Control once said, “I’ve got troubles, bud.” Where do I begin to list all the negative things that’ve happened. I won’t even try to list them all... Broken down lawn mower; running out of gas on a lonely country road; automatic garage door breaking, and buckling like a weak aluminum can; a broken air conditioner (in Texas, they practically consider this a death blow); water leakage from the broken A/C under a laminated wood floor and some carpeting; the hmmagazine.com domain registration expiring (and finding out about it a week later, when a friendly “splash page” loads instead of hmmag.com); poor to no internet service; being sick; the Fed Ex driver driving into and breaking our gate; my wife spilling on a concrete floor and almost breaking her arm; plus some tourist at Six Flags stomping on her foot and ripping her toenail off; one of my kids getting lice; impaling the side of the palm of my hand with a giant nail; and my dog puking in the back seat of my car.
What’s your month been like?

All of this stuff could rightly be filed under the selfish, lame-things-to-get-upset-about category; so I guess we’ll just leave it there. The last time I had a horrible month, I met my wife; so maybe some good things are around the corner. If you were blessed like us this summer, you saw some really good shows; because some great bands have been on the road, playing their guts out.

It’s been really great working with John, Levi, and Laurel for this issue. It’s awesome how we consistently get great interns here at HM. Check out their “Intern Diaries” on our website to see what their summers were like. Have a great fall (and don’t forget to vote for our Readers’ Poll).