Ricky B

Ricky B is another of my friends that was made via my brother. They went to high school together, and little by little I started to consider Ricky a friend of my own. After giving a joint speech together at my brother's wedding I now consider him a close friend. It wasn't so much the actual giving of the speech next to him, or holding his hand while he cried, but more in the preparation of this speech that I felt like I grew closer to Ricky. Eric and Jessica got married on Friday May 2 which Agora employees will recognize the day after a First Thursday. For non-Balitmore friends this is an event hosted by a company that employs at least half of my friends, and the free beer flows for two or so hours after work. Anyway, in the days leading up to this Ricky and I kept talking about getting together to decide how we were going to lay out this speech since we were both saying something. He had one of those typically-Ricky crazy work weeks, and couldn't make it happen before Thursday night. So, we all went to First Thursday and then Ricky and I broke off at 7 to get down to business. We sat in Mount Vernon Stable until (at least) midnight talking about all kinds of things, many centered around my brother and Jessica. But after 5 hours of talking still had no real basis for this speech, no starting point, no appropriate jokes, and no way of putting our love for these two people into words. Come game time I decided to tell jokes and call Ricky gay, and he decided to cry. I don't think it could have been any better.

To sum up Ricky B, I honestly think he is one of the most genuinely good people that I have ever met. Just check out what he does for a living and you can see his dedication to making things better for people. And I don't think a person could ask for a better friend. Within minutes of me talking about the collapse of this blog he sent me a list so we'll keep it alive for a little longer. And here we go. Everything from this point on is Ricky speaking:

This is a very thrown-together list. I wasn’t even going to submit one, but Adam is running out of lists and I would hate for the blog to die so soon. These are not items that are my all time favorites, just things that I have enjoyed and I think are worth checking out.

Music:

Laura Cantrell – When the Roses Bloom Again
--Top five? Quite possibly. Contains one of my favorite songs of all time. She also puts on a hell of a live show.

Ambulance LTD – Self Title LP
--This was a Gittings Recommend. Thanks Mike! I love it.

Antony and the Johnsons – I am a bird now
--Great winter album

Tilly and the Wall – Bottoms of Barrels

Ingrid Michaelson – Girls and Boys
--This was going to be on a list of things that my mom and I both like, but it turns out that this is the only thing.

Apples in Stereo – New Magnetic Wonder
--Great. I don’t know what critics were thinking, this album is f*cking great.

The Minders- It’s a Bright Guilty World

Movies:

--Some fun movies that might have not hit your radar
Angel A
Brick
CQ
Dear Wendy
Guatemalan Handshake
Cashback
Jonestown: The Life…of People’s Temple
In Bruges


Books:

These Five Books were all interesting reads, not necessarily among my favorites, and one of them is completely off the wall and unbelievable. The five of these books however, reinforce the idea that we (living creatures, as well as everything else in the universe) are all connected and also shed light on how manufactured and controlled our world is compared to just a few decades ago. Maybe I’m crazy, but I felt like all five books shared common sentiments, if not themes, and thoroughly enjoyed them all.

The Holographic Universe-–Michael Talbot
Us and Them: Understanding Your Tribal Mind--David Berreby (Highly recommended)
Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming-–Paul Hawken
Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression-–Mildred Kalish
Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: A Year of Food Life–-Barbara Kingsolver


Other Books:

V.--Thomas Pynchon
--Go to this Wikipedia article
This is one dense and confusing book. It’s the kind of book that you can read over and over and discover something new every time. There are so many layers to this book, and everything is interwoven.

Inherit the Wind – Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee
--One of my all-time favorites. It’s a play and a book. You can’t beat a two for the price of one deal.


Miscellaneous:

Community Mediation
-Changed my life from office lackey who hated being alive, to overworked volunteer coordinator who often works 60 hours a week and once went a month without pay because I loved my job so much.
-www.communitymediation.org – don’t go to this website with Firefox, use Internet explorer.
-www.marylandmediation.org