The period of turmoil has passed. Out of idleness, that week was truly chaotic. During this talentless, penniless, and hungry time, the captain immersed himself in watching South Park. 5 seasons. But South Park is genuinely cool. When you watch it in America, it feels completely different. Seeing how American screenwriters put down their own country, government, and moral values—that's how powerful freedom of speech is here. However, another month has come to an end. I've lived through most of it; two more months to go.

Hell's death metal forge.

August 1st. The day of the Summer Slaughter 2010 concert. When I was heading to Manhattan, my feelings were quite mixed. There were a bunch of famous bands, but at the same time, the concert was taking place in a small club. I won't hide that I'm used to the scale of the Olympic Stadium when it comes to famous bands. I arrived 2 hours before the start and was already standing in a fairly long line. I killed time by observing and listening to the local crowd. The captain didn't expect so many Latinos and Black people among the New York metalheads; at least it didn't look natural. However, I have to give them credit—compared to the locals, ours are Britney Spears fans xDDDD.

For about an hour and a half, I studied Spanish by listening to the guys sitting next to me. Then they started letting everyone in slowly. The process was quite fast, thanks to decent security. When I remember our redneck security, I actually miss them xDD. The hall is really small, about half the size of our Tyumen 'London'. The stage is wide and long; it easily fit two drum kits and a hell of a lot of stacks.

Vital Remains were the first to take the stage—and that's when the metal started! The crowd was a bit sluggish at first, everyone was just headbanging. After playing 3 songs, the debutants left the stage, and a screen was rolled down from above, on which some drug-hypnotic video was constantly playing. Behind the screen, another band was setting up at the same time. Actually, it was boring to stand for 10 minutes and wait at first. Although if you remember our concerts—at home, a band only manages to get on stage, plug in, and tweak their amps in 10 minutes. Here, in 10 minutes, the guys manage to dismantle one drum kit, carry it away, bring in and assemble another, haul away the used stacks, plug in, and set up an awesome sound.

In short, while everyone was being hypnotized by the drug-addled psychedelic video, an 8-string neck poked out from behind the screen. That's when I thought—yes, yes, these are the guys ((c) David Blaine). Animals as Leaders played second—the band I actually came for. They played gorgeously; it's a pity there were only 4 songs, but I heard what I wanted to hear. And saw it. I couldn't imagine how their drum parts were played live. It's mind-blowing. The drummer was on fire. With an absolutely wild expression on his face and a sampler instead of a brain, apparently. They didn't have a bassist, maybe there shouldn't be one, I don't know, but the two 8-strings sounded very fat. The guys were highly anticipated, as they were applauded very loudly, but no one was moshing, because apparently only their drummer knows what rhythm to mosh to. After they finished, they rolled out the screen with the drug-trash video again, which was really starting to 'deliver'. Parallel to the 'delivering', I began to feel the hall filling up more and more.

Carnifex came out third. And that's when it really started to smell like blood /m/ >.< /m/ . A mosh pit started in the hall that I had never seen before. The poor security guards could only manage to catch stage-divers from the enraged crowd. Involuntarily, the captain also began to sow pain and destruction. After such a meat grinder, the 10 minutes of setting up the next band seemed simply delightful. And of course, the alcohol-depress-drug video on the screen.

Further on, I don't remember who came out in what order and what happened, I only remember that in the middle of the concert people started to relax... you know what I mean. To hell with it, even the musicians on stage started doing the same. Cephalic Carnage even played a song about relaxing. Can you imagine a death metal song about 'relaxing'? O_o After listening to 7 out of 11 bands, I thought I should head home, firstly because I was already dead, secondly hungry, thirdly if I miss the bus, I won't get home at all, and hanging out on the street until morning, angry and hungry, is not 'true'. It's a pity I didn't listen to the headliners, but I had to choose literally between life and death. Getting out of that heat, I saw that all the bands were selling their merch. It's good that I didn't have money with me, otherwise I would have spent it all. Going outside, I saw a couple of people with bloody towels on their heads. Definitely the most metal thing I've ever seen in my life.

Shopping

A day after the concert, I decided to carry out my devious plan that I had been hatching for millennia—to buy myself a decent player. After long searches on the internet, I settled on the Samsung q2. Since I've been a Samsung endorser lately, I need to keep up the brand. This thing cost 129 bucks, at least that was the price posted on the store's website. Since money was tight, and I still needed it for the subway and buses—in short, I was 10 bucks short. Arriving at the store and finding it on the display, I saw that this pest really costs 129 bucks. I forgot to say, this store is the largest professional audio/video/photo equipment store in New York, and who do you think it belongs to? Jews. I grabbed one and started pestering him. The thing is, they had 3 identical Samsung q2 players, they only differed in colors. It turns out the price depends on the color too, as this man told me. Plus, all prices were listed as always without taxes, i.e., that's another 10 bucks on top. In short, I took the white one, which cost me 120 bucks including taxes, instead of the black one I wanted, because overpaying 20 bucks for the black color is not 'our way'. We got to talking with this man, he somehow figured out that I was Russian, because he has many Jewish friends from Ukraine living in Brighton. Now I'm as happy as an elephant.

Today, having found a decent amount of money in my pocket, the captain decided to go and pick up a kilogram of t-shirts. Such a selection, just walk and buy. I took 3 pieces, I would have taken more, but I also need to eat something.

Overall, everything is positive so far. The boss is announcing a trip to Connecticut for a copier, so we're waiting.