The Venga Boys are Coming

There is a carnival going on behind my apartment. I doubt they call it a carnival but that’s what it is. There’s a Ferris Wheel, a gravitron and, presumably, carnies. If it’s un-American to dislike the carnival then call me John Kerry and kick me a soccer ball because I am there. The only reason I go to the carnival is if it is in conjunction with a county fair and Travis Tritt and Marty Stuart are playing a “No Hats Tour” reunion. Even then, it better not fall on a night during the World Series or NFL playoffs.

My problem is that all those carnies, with their hands smelling of cabbage, are operating death traps. Incredibly, people still choose to chance their lives on these things and this phenomenon is not lost on the otherwise pragmatic Dutch. This particular carnival should be of no concern to me because I am not fifteen; thus my girlfriend does not wield such unchecked power as to make me stride a cold piece of rusting metal while whirling out of control in circles and/or vertically. However, this particular carnival is in my backyard and the theme song of one of the rides is the Venga Boys’, “The Venga Boys are Coming (We like to party)”. I normally welcome this song because it reminds me of senior year spring break (apologies to Bulldawg and his would be shutout gem that turned into a slaughter because we all went to Daytona the night before and for some reason coach Yancey played all the reserves that day) but I like the song for just that, nostalgia. Going to sleep to it every night is not what I had in mind almost ten years ago when, even then, I found the song to be pretty ridiculous.

On a brighter note, I went to Intern Happy Hour last night and met some really interesting people. I would like to reinforce that Belgian beers are incredible. That being said, the Austrian I met professed that Belgian beers are second in the world to Czech beers. He described the Czechs as, “champion” beer brewers. Looks like I’m going to have to amp up my Jon Mann-visit preparation.