The car situation hasn’t really been figured out, yet. I’m still looking around and haven’t found anything that I want just yet. I’m borrowing a pick up that my father had, and usually just riding with Allison. I figure I’ll lock down on a new car before the fucking ball drops next week.
I’ve said many times around this place that I adore and fucking love the holiday/winter season. However, it hasn’t felt like winter. It’s regularly 65 degrees here and that’s just wrong. I need that chill down my spine as I feel the breeze creep into the house, or see my breath hang in the air as I walk to the shop, or feel the crunch of the powder white snow collapsing against the ice. I don’t want to be working outside in jeans and a t-shirt. I don’t want to see girls walking around in something that isn’t an adorable sweater or jacket with rosy cheeks. The holiday season hasn’t felt like the holidays, not remotely. There’s not a shred of “joy” or “cheer” throughout the land. Just a mass mess of consumerism walking around looking for some stupid ass Video Game System to make our children grow fatter, lazier and more incompentant at anything other then Left, Right, Down, Up, Left, B, Select, Right, Down, A, Right, Up.
Yesterday, I had my mother’s family to deal with. Ironically enough, as a child, I couldn’t find these people endearing. I got older and despite their increased obnoxiousness, I can handle them easier nowadays. Although, we hold these xmas gatherings at my cousin’s house and I get it, “Your Rich!”, seriously. They had a entertainment system that Marvin would have whipped his untouched dick out and jacked feverishly. TV’s don’t need to be 70 inches wide and 18 feet high. I received about $300 in gift cards from Best Buy, Target, Restaurants and Barnes and Noble. I don’t enjoy getting cards because of the lack of sentiment attached but given that I know none of these people aside from these family gatherings, I can excuse them for it. What I dislike is that given the size of the family, each person is given a list of 12 people to buy for (not including the boy/girl-friends, you have to be family or married/engaged into it) Everyone has a different list and somehow, everyone gets the same # of gifts, other then my grandmother whom usually gets about 30 pointless gifts. I just got her a gift card to Cracker Barrel since she likes that shit.
Allison skipped this one because we agreed to just do one side for each family and she had to work last night. That’s a shame, she fits in more with my mother’s side then she does with my father’s side and she’ll join me tonight for that one. My father’s side is incredibly boring. Nothing happens, it’s the same conversations, same jokes and this time it’ll consist of less random syllables spoken during the Bengals/Broncos game.
It’s a complete contrast. Mom’s side is rather pretentious and money obsessed but they are at least alive. Dad’s side feels like a funeral with the awkward head nodding, small talk and general feeling of “I gotta get outta here” floating over the tiny house that belonged to my grandmother before she died and was brought by my aunt. I know for a fact at least 10-12 people who usually attend this aren’t because they don’t want to.
Gifts used to be dispersed but given the lack of closeness (in spirit, we all live close) between my intermediate family and the rest of my dad’s distant family, that’s gone now too. My uncles, aunts and cousins don’t feel the need to exchange gifts with my family. They’ll do their real Christmas later tonight away from us. It’s a fucking farce. It’s Christmas without presents, family warmth or anything. It’s thanksgiving but with less food.
I’ll do Allison’s father’s side tomorrow night and that’s about the same as my mother’s side in that they’re pretentious snobs as well.
The real issue was the decision if she would have xmas in the morning with my inmediate family, since she doesn’t have that with hers. My sister waited 2 years with her husband while they were dating before he did that with us, I took that cue and felt maybe it’s too soon and she completely agreed. It feels weird. She’s moving with me, in this very house in a few months, here all the time and yet, Christmas morning is still to “sacred" to impede on, she felt.
I spent way too much this year. $7,849. To be exact. To be fair, most of that was on my father's gift. Otherwise, it was about my usual average.
In the next week, I'll be having two Year in Review entries. One for my personal life, which is about 80% of the content in these blogs and a wrestling based one over ROH, WWE and TNA including my BEST OF 2006 lists including the top 25 MOTY's. The #1 is probably obvious but the rest of the list might surprise some.
I was supposed to do a “2006: Year in Review” for wrestling and my personal life but I figured I covered most of it in the blog over the year and my thoughts on the year in wrestling doesn’t interest anyone enough and I made my opinion known in the TSM Awards anyways.
2006 was good, for all the feelings of uncertainty it started with, I came out okay. I did well at school, I held a pair of good paying jobs over the year and I even managed to have a couple good relationships. Surprising considering the turbulence that 2005 offered but I fulfilled a childhood crush and even though it was short lived, it was good while it lasted. Later that year, I met a really great girl. Quite possibly the “right one”. It’s early, just four months into it but I get a good feeling with this one, a different feeling then the past ashes of love. My sister got married and that was very good to see. My entire family has been well and really, that’s pretty important to know.
The one thing that truly hasn’t altered despite my good fortune this year was the tendency to slip into these periodic waves of depression, shyness or just plain boredom. Lacking focus and ambition. I figure it’s a common sentiment that many here share.
Last night, I rang in the new year at a small intimate party with some of Allison’s friends and while it wasn’t bad, I was just in one of those moods again and she wasn’t particularly happy about it. I took her home and I only slept a couple hours. I woke up about 5:30 and haven’t slept since.
I took in this day off by going to an early movie at the AMC to see The Pursuit Of Happyness. Maybe not the best movie to watch while in a depressed funk but it was alright. Although I wondered why I bothered to come to the movies at 10:30 in the morning, alone. It was virtually empty, aside from a pair of older couples there for the cheap ticket. Allison, is a desk clerk at a hotel and it’s a busy day for her. I didn’t bother to check in with her today and either did she.
I intended to spend this day by watching some movies I got over the holiday break but I didn’t manage that. I spent it primarily here, on AIM and other message boards with a swirl of empty nothingness around me. I watched college football games involving teams that I had no connection nor interest in. I watched another pointless and idiotic episode of Raw, asking “why do I bother?” knowing full well, I’ll be back next week.
The main event for tonight was the classic football game for the ages. Something I wasn’t expecting but for 1 hour and 30 minutes, I was sucked in. The finish was so improbable that I’m still questioning if it really happened, but it did. A series of plays that’ll go down in history as the most incredible and shocking ever kept myself and the nation on its toes. Oklahoma nabs the INT and scores the td and with three attempts, manage to tie the game. With just 50 seconds left, Boise State starts the miracle. Who saw it coming? No one. They pulled off the Hook and Ladder on a 4th and 18. This play has probably worked 20 times in the history of football but if you ask me, tonight might as well been the first time. A stunner. Then Oklahoma sticks a dagger in the heart with an instant TD run by Peterson. Left with nothing to hold onto but the faint hope slipping against disappointment and somehow, they pulled it off once again on a 4th down and instead of getting the easy yard they needed, they went for it and nabbed the TD. Gotta kick the FG. Get another OT. Fuck that. Boise State went for it with the biggest balls ever. On a statue of liberty, another improbable play, they nail the fucking 2pt and win and just to top it off, it ends with the Hollywood finish of a marriage proposal. The most incredulous finish ever. I’ll remember this one for years.
In the process of this event, in the thread about the game, Marvin struck again. Marvin, in the midst of something implausible found the ability to insert his typical brand of banality and ham-fisted arguments.
I get on Marvin a lot, as do many others here. Do I hate Marvin? No. He can be a good enough guy from time to time although those moments are fleeting by the moment as his fervent worship for Baltimore sports reaches new levels. You can’t fault him for that. That is how some people are wired. What gets me about Marvin is that I’m disappointed in him by his actions. This place, as fucked up as it really is, is somehow a family and Marvin is our nutcase bastard cousin. He could be something better. Hell, we all could but especially him. He claims he expected to be the next “WP” and it appears he has accomplished that and I find that ridiculous. Maybe 2007 can change for him. It did for me after-all, in 2006. I might hope the best for him but I’ll keep egging him on because he needs it.
I don’t necessarily believe in resolutions all that much but rather just believe in setting goals. There is a difference between dreams and goals. One is false hope and the other is effort. I’m not 17 anymore. Fate doesn’t exist. You gotta get what you want by getting it. Generic preachy philosophy but it’s accurate.
If I do have any “goals” for 2007, these would be it
1). Escape this depression. I have no reason to be downtrodden, I have more then I could ever hope for and yet, I risk losing it because of this fear or awkwardness.
2). I turn 21 in a few weeks. I always thought by this point in life, I’d have an idea of where I’m going but it’s not happening. I have to find out what I really want in life for myself. Is this it? I’m glad to be a skilled enough person as a mechanic or office worker, there’s always a demand for those types of roles in society but is it what I want? Then again, how many of us ever actually get the thing we want. How the hell do you get it when you can’t even identify it.
3). Get new hobbies. Currently and for the past many years, those hobbies have been wrestling, working on cars or message boarding. I used to read constantly but this was before sports took a hold of me and I stopped. I got over 1,000 books in my office (which is really just my sister’s old room where I store my old shit). I am a creative writing major and Im constantly urged by professors in the department to pursue that avenue deeper and I think about it but wonder if my heart would really be into enough to really make it work.
4). Get new friends. Allison’s friends are good people but they aren’t my friends. I had a group of friends that I once honestly believed would stick around for years but it’s all gone away. An AIM conversation is becoming a rarity now. I can be friendly but trusting people is another matter in itself.
2007 could be anything. Everything really is possible, even the impossible. Just ask Boise State.
More stuff…
So I’m not going to take the job at Hustler, just yet. The job offer is permanent, so I’m told. I guess connections (wherever it might be from) have merit after-all. I will just stick with unemployment for now as I’m figuring this semester will be loaded with material.
I’m sure KKK and WP will be disappointed to hear that I won’t have any amusing porn store anecdotes for right now. Sorry, WP, can’t use my existence for your late night imagination.
-
I became addicted to a new TV show over the weekend as I was already deep into school-work. Everwood. On the surface, I always thought the premise of this story was antiquated and hokey but in reality, the show was really good. I’ve only seen the first season for now (My mother had it in her collection) and learning they canceled the show after I discovered it really disappoints me. I looked around and apparently the other seasons haven’t been released yet but I’m already waiting.
It’s a pretty simple show with good characters, interesting plot and I liked how the lead female was a classic girl next door in terms looks. That’s not always the case with TV dramas depicting teenagers. Katie Holmes, Jeanie Garth, Jen Williams, Mischa Barton are hardly “normal” looking girls but this chick
is and not only that, she completely reminds me of my first “love”…so its quite surreal watching the show for the obvious reasons…
The problem with watching shows about the teenage years (the well written ones, that is) that it usually forces you to connect with your own years and you sorta get sad/nostalgic about those days. Every movie or TV show devoted towards the early 20’s is always so god-damn negative and cynical. Maybe I’m crazy, but life isn’t bad. I figure all those movies were the work of people who ignored life and living in high school and are bitter about missing out on life.
A lot of those types are here and they have such scorching hatred for high school and popular society and create a false impression that they were better then it by not being apart of that world, but it’s a lie. Bitterness and contempt for something they could have prevented is unhealthy.
If your life sucked growing up, if you weren’t popular, if you didn’t get the girl…so what? Put it behind you and make it work this time around.
You only get a handful of years to make life worth living…don’t waste it by being bitterly pissed.
The first week of NFL action, was a disaster. Everyone tends to neglect that the first week of NFL action is poor because teams are just starting. Usually by week 4, is when things get rolling. The Bengals thoroughly embarrassed the K.C Chiefs despite a shaky offensive performance. A Cincinnati team with improved defense (held fantasy stud RB Johnson to 68 yards and 7 sacks, in addition to a pair of fumbles and an INT). The real embarrassment came from Green Bay and Oakland. (I’m willing to consider Tampa’s horrid showing as a mere aberration). Oakland has a sorry excuse of a QB. They knew this going into the season and were desperate enough to actually give Jeff George a try-out. Green Bay, was probably well prepared for the season they are about to have and despite a tremendously weak schedule, they will still have trouble reaching 5 wins. Oakland, really looked like a team that may be rendered winless throughout the entire season.
A lot of hype and talk pours from the first week and people are already proclaiming that Baltimore is “back”, that Washington is already dead. That T.O and Drew Bledsoe are heading towards a collision by week 6. I get that the Media and talk radio need some material but they really pull stuff out of their collective asses to cover air.
Aside from obvious things such as Aaron Brooks being the most inept starting QB today and for the better part of his career and that GB isn’t going upward anytime soon…nothing is for sure in the NFL. Except the things that are for sure…
College Football, on the other hand? Complete bore. The only intriguing stuff is the near wins from the cup-cake teams and that hasn’t gotten anywhere and that element is gone now as real games get underway. I just wish they would go ahead and start the BCS bitching and the playoff complaints.
Baseball, is suffering again from NFL’s mighty hand as the summer which was ripe with interest is quickly fading outside the AL Central competitors. The Reds, are still hanging by a thread but with the Marlins being the Marlins…You probably should pencil them in for another WC berth and WS victory as America yawns in approval.
The high from the previous weekend being caught up in the wedding bliss and anxious excitement that surrounds it dissipated sometime Monday afternoon and has been sinking downwards. The first two weeks of classes, where things are still in the air and everyone including the professor is getting adjusted has settled and things are really starting to pick up steam now and Im trying to kill years of laziness by actually getting it done ahead of time.
I had 6 classes at one point, but I've scaled down to four classes. Figuring the other two classes are better suited for next semester where I can take those two classes in addition to the other 3 required classes for the Miami Plan. In case I never mentioned it, Creative Writing is my major.
This is the result of countless professors, peers and family/friends telling me that I am a polished creative mind. While my actual writing skills need touch-up, it’s wise direction to take. I don't think any major I would choose actually matters to me in the long run, as my future is probably set in some office anyways. I suppose I should be focused on Business-Management but despite my experience and skills in that department, I don't like business.
I really need to get a job though. Not because I need money (still got that saved) but I need something to fill up the hours. Everyone else I know (knew) is always working/schooling. I need something to do with the other 14 hours of my day, because the 'NET isn't it.
I do hate being single. I really do. The really annoying part about this is that im constantly reminded of my most recent ex, because I have a class with her older sister and we usually have lunch together. It's completely cordial but obviously the back of mind is thinking about my ex. I don't want to get back with her, but I do want that *thing* back again.
There are always options. Two of them are right there...
One would be my sister's best friend, the girl from the wedding that I mentioned. As of this moment, she is still with her boyfriend but things change and if that requires me to push the first domino...then it might just come down to that.
There is this other girl, this started back a couple weeks ago. It was just a couple days of constant eye contact but no direct communication.
Then, I finally went to her as we were walking towards the parking lot...we had a very lovely conversation that afternoon and we make the occasional chit-chat here and there and the eye contact has remained persistent...but I’m still feeling a slight chill of ice in her. I want to break that but in a rare occurrence for me...I'm nervous.
Maybe it’s the months spent here with people like WP and Marvin clouding my mind and injecting their issues through me because I’m rarely in the position to lack confidence.
I’ll figure this out yet.
Short notes
-Today was the first day that I was with Allison since saturday night and it was awkward walking to class holding hands. I felt like a 15 year old again. The really unusual thing was that we avoided eye contact today during class, which was weird because before saturday night it always constant. After class, we said goodbye as we go seperate ways for the day. The day after (or the day after the day after, in this case) is always awkward because you're adjusting to a new routine. I think after a few days, we'll get into a good groove.
-I went down to where I'm going to be working to check out the place and get comfortable. I think I'll like it here. Basically, all I'm doing is front-desk work, file-management and the occasional tune-up (I can do oil changes, brake changes and that's about it).
I should clarify that this place isn't one of those quick lube jobs but an old style car repair shop. I like that it doesn't have a real corporate structure and having my car worked on before by these guys, I know the work is quality and I've seen the interaction between customer and workers. It's not the type you'll get at the Jiffy Lube.
-My mother, informed me that she'll be having surgery on friday. It's apparently something involving her uterus but I didn't ask for information beyond that. It's a minor surgery, so I'm not that concerned but anytime a family member or friend goes through something like this, you can get paranoid.
I hate surgery. I've had over 20 surgeries in my life. It's just something that I got tired off and I've avoided the need for once since Thanksgiving weekend 2001.
Earlier last week, I decided since I wasn't involved with KKK's pick-em's this weekend, I would still elect to pick the games but without the spread. Here's how i did.
Predicted score first
New York 16
Buffalo 7
*Actual Score*
New York 28
Buffalo 20
1-0
*Buffalo, had a tease going but with Losman running the ship, they will only sink further. If anything, they should just tank the season and grab a new QB. Anyone will be an upgrade from Losman.*
Cincinnati 27
Pittsburgh 17
*Actual Score*
Cincinnati 28
Pittsburgh 20
2-0
*Very good game. Both of the QB’s were off today but Palmer got the job done when they needed it. Ben, choked. Ben, played horribly and he proved my assessment in regards to him still not being comfortable on the field. The accident mentally damaged him more then he’s letting on.
Rudi Johnson, was effectively shut down but the Bengals defense came up big time capitalizing on Ben’s many mistakes.
“YOU WISH YOU WERE ME!”- Jerry Porter.
Great trash talking from Porter to Chad Johnson but as usual teams are too worried about Chad and forgetting Chris Henry hanging around in the end-zone.
Of course, the next morning Odell Thurman gets arrested for DUI. Naturally, Chris Henry was on the scene*
Jacksonville 10
Indianapolis 14
*Actual Score*
Jacksonville 14
Indianapolis 21
3-0
*Jacksonville, will look back and be glad they dropped this game. They didn’t need the media hype surrounding them. The quieter they can remain, the better their success will be. Indianapolis, still has issues and I don’t think they can realistically be considered the team to beat in the AFC. Not with the way Cincinnati is playing on each side of the field.*
Tennessee 10
Miami 24
*Actual Score*
Tennessee 10
Miami 13
4-0
*I got half of it right. I underestimated just how bad Culpepper really is and the team as a whole. They really should have blown them out but they didn’t.*
Washington 13
Houston 17
*Actual Score*
Washington 31
Houston 15
4-1
*I said I didn’t care for either team and I still don’t. At least Washington took advantage when they needed to*
Chicago 20
Minnesota 10
*Actual Score*
Chicago 19
Minnesota 16
5-1
*Classic NFC Black and Blue game. Ugly and tight. Chicago impressed me in that they didn’t buckle against a real team. Minnesota, proved their worth by pushing Chicago all day. With the NFC, they have a good shot at a wild-card berth. *
Carolina 28
Tampa 16
*Actual Score*
Carolina 26
Tampa 24
6-1
*STEVE SMITH! STEVE SMITH! STEVE SMITH! Carolina killed Tampa with all those yards and Td’s from STEVE SMITH!…wait, you mean Carolina barely edged past Tampa? Maybe, this team wasn’t as good as we thought. Poor Chris Simms. First, he spends the whole week watching the media rip him, then he gets slaughtered in the game and to top his miserable week off, he loses a spleen and the season. Somewhere Major Applewhite is smiling.*
Green Bay 17
Detroit 14
*Actual Score*
Green Bay 31
Detroit 24
7-1
*Favre is back! Let the blowjobs commence. Look, it was against Detroit. Brett got to 400 and is 18 behind Dan Marino’s record. He has one more visit against Detroit this season, if he can find 10 Td’s throughout the rest of the season, he might get that record. Also, it's time for Millen to get the pink slip.*
Baltimore 21
Cleveland 7
*Actual Score*
Baltimore 15
Cleveland 14
8-1
-I guess people were a bit premature on jumping onto the Baltimore bandwagon*
St Louis 31
Arizona 27
*Actual Score*
St. Louis 16
Arizona 14
9-1
*I still don’t understand the ending sequence and I'm excited for the arrival of the Matt Leinert era*
New York 16
Seattle 13
*Actual Score*
New York 30
Seattle 42
9-2
*Well, I was pretty with that. Poor Eli, it’s bad enough that he inherited his last name but he’ll always be forced to live under the spotlight cast by his older brother.
Maybe if he didn’t suck in the first quarter all the time, he wouldn’t need to fall into a No-Huddle. If he does a No-Huddle, he’ll just get compared to Peyton. He can’t win at all. He’ll still win a conference title before Peyton does.
Couglin, getting ripped by Shockey will get alot of press and somewhat deservingly so. I'm more stunned that Shockey hasn't gone full blown T.O on NY yet*
Philadelphia 24
San Francisco 13
*Actual Score*
Philadelphia 38
San Francisco 24
10-2
*Philly, recovered from that humiliating collapse to NY by beating down the NFL proverbial JTTS*
Denver 10
New England 16
*Actual Score*
Denver 17
New England 7
10-3
*I usually don’t care for these two teams and think they get too much network love. Brady, really does need a go-to guy like Branch but I don’t think the team is hurting too much. I think the league has caught up and figured out Belichek’s scheme and without Romeo and Charlie, Billy isn’t adapting as quick as he needs to. Besides, Denver always had NE's number and I forgot about it*
Atlanta 26
New Orleans 17
*Actual Score*
Atlanta 3
New Orleans 23
10-4.
*Wow. First off, I’m not going to be an asshole. It was nice to see the city of New Orleans have something special, even if it’s fleeting. Let’s not go overboard and start claiming that this event will completely reverse the damage and that NO is going to thrive once again.
The game will be an emotional uplift for the city but the euphoria will be only brief.
U2 always makes a football game seem larger then life but dragging Green Day into wasn’t needed. Green Day is acceptable in their own little corner but they aren’t the right band for a football game and especially as a means to be spiritual uplift. How is “Wake Me Up When September Ends” (a protest song against war) supposed to inspire the crowd? The only reason they played that song because it was a recent hit and it’s still September.
The circumstances to the opening of the game were wacky and I guess we’re supposed to intrepret that as destiny doing its work. It can’t be a really bad blocking effort distracted by the intense noise? No.
Vick’s invincibility was shattered yet again. Back to the drawing board.
New Orleans and Cincinnati are undefeated and are looking like legitimate teams. Try saying that 7 years ago with a straight face*
I went 10-4, but that wasn't with the spread intact. I think I fared better on my off-week as opposed to when I'm actually playing in the pick-em's.
Random Stuff
Meet The Parents
Tomorrow night is the whole meet the parents thing. I’m fairly relaxed about this, its supposed to be brief, but after about 8 years of doing the “meet the parents” routine, it never is. I’ve been successful enough at this task in previous tries, so I think I have a decent enough handle on what to do and not to do. I wanted to do this over dinner somewhere in public, but the set-up is at her parent’s house. All I’ve been given about her parents (since they are so distant from each other) is that dad is a consultant for some law firm and the mother is a manager of some dog toy company. That’s it. I don’t understand how you live with someone for 17 years and don’t anything about them aside from their occupation.
That is a trait I adore about her (her independence and lack of needing), usually only child’s are emotionally attached to parents or demanding of attention.
Kroger Raffle
Apparently, a few weeks ago, I entered some raffle at Kroger’s (grocery store, for those who aren’t aware) and I got an call from yesterday them letting me know that I was the winner of a $100 gift certificate. Why is it that I win these meaningless raffles that I don’t even remember putting my name in for, but I never win those fucking gift baskets at the local carnivals.
New Car
I was supposed to get a new car, I thought in September but the month went by and I never came close to looking. I really don’t need a new car, I’m still driving that my old car that my sister finally gave back to me and it’s still good and everything. I just have this desire for a new one and it’s not even a specific car in particular.
The Job
It’s almost a crime to make good money doing virtually nothing. It’s like a government job.
Cory Lidle
Six days ago, Yankee fans didn’t even care about Cory Lidle (if they had even remembered him to begin with) but now there is this great outpouring of grief and sadness because of his death, which occurred in an unlikely circumstance. I still need to know when something can be called “tragic” and when it can be referred to as “freak accident”. Are we not allowed to use that term anymore? Is it another victim of PC America?
It sucks for his family, team-mates and friends but as a whole, a collective nation of strangers, let’s drop the emotional tears and just let it be. It’s only a story because of the profession of the victim.
Besides, we’re finding out that the guy wasn’t nearly as experienced as he claimed to be and someone that inexperienced shouldn’t have been in flight during those weather conditions.
TV Shows
-There are a lot of new television shows out there today and already some are getting axed but here’s a quick review of the shows I’ve covered…
Fox
Justice
-It’s a decent enough show that is loaded with unlikable characters and over-the-top directive with tacky gimmick laden camera effects and very loose holes. D+
Vanished
-Just one of the new shows to revolve around a kidnapping and like the other shows with this theme, it’s struggling. This one struggles with a horrible cast, shaky plot and wide open logic gaps. This is just off two weeks of viewing. I can’t imagine how much worse it got and the rating free-fall gives me an idea.. D-
Standoff
-I like this show only for the two main characters but the rest of the show is completely generic, boring and uninspired. C.
‘Til Death
-This has been a weak season for new comedies and this one is a leading cause. Brad Garrett isn’t leading man material and the comedy has been atrocious. It’s getting a push because of Brad Garrett but thankfully, Garrett will follow Jason Alexander’s footsteps. F
NBC
Heroes
-This has been a good hit for NBC and they needed one like this. Loaded with intriguing characters, interesting plot developments and superb special effects, this show is clicking. It’s going to be a fun time seeing where these characters are going and how they get there and once they do, what happens. A.
Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip
-The West Wing, set backstage of a fictional SNL-type sketch comedy show. That alone is wacky enough but throw in an proverbial all-star cast and writer and you might have something. It’s still missing something but it’s getting there (but it better move fast before the ratings continue to drop). I still fail to see why a sketch show is so important to this fictitious network. In the show within itself, it’s called a SNL rip-off. So when America doesn’t care about SNL anymore, why should we care about a show about the backstage world of SNL? Great show, great characters, great actors and good writing is strong enough for now but it’ll need to grab something sooner or later. B+
Friday Night Lights
-Probably the BEST new drama on TV right now and it’s getting ignored because NBC decided to put it in a death slot against DWTS, Baseball, and House. This show would have benefited being held off until mid-season for Sunday nights, where it’s ideal to replace FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA once the NFL season is over.
It also suffers because many interested viewers will have already read the book or/and seen the movie and that isn’t helping people get into a TV version. The show itself is greatly built and executed. A+
30 Rock
-Another show about a fictional sketch show, only this one is a 30 minute version, has less comedic moments and its one appealing character will be a part-time edition. I’m expected to watch a show that forces Tracy Morgan, one of the worse actors of our time to carry a show alongside Tina Fey? Alec Baldwin, deserves better. C-
Kidnapped
-Probably the biggest bust of the new season, although it’ll actually finish out it’s ordered 13 episodes on the death cloud of Saturday. Everything about this show was just unlikable. The kid wasn’t cute or interesting enough for us to concern ourselves. D.
ABC
The Nine
-A great show hurt tremendously by the morons in charge of the schedule. It gets the LOST lead-in but that’s more of a negative then anything. LOST is a complex show that drives that fan base around like a roller coaster and you can’t expect them to stick around for another 60 minutes of. Great show that I hope sticks around. B+
Ugly Betty
-The biggest new hit and I’m surprised that I like this. Originally, I felt this would be short-lived but it’s very engaging with a fantastic cast that is entertaining. It’s light, comedic and has good plot. It’s a huge diversion from the complex serialized shows flooding the airwaves. B.
CBS
The Class
-The pilot was atrocious , which is a shame because the following episodes were pretty solid. It still has character overkill and could use a little cutting but they have 5 very likable characters that can carry the show. If they keep things on those five, the show could have legs. C+
Smith
-It’s already gone which is a shame because I felt it was a good show and Im surprised it didn’t capitalize off NCIS/Unit for the lead-in. I’m not surprised it was canceled, but just so early. Which they could have gone 13 episodes and wrapped up the bank robbery angle. C.
Jericho
-As good as Smith was, Jericho is that bad. Which explains why this show is getting an audience. I only watched the pilot and I couldn’t take it anymore. D-
Shark
-The early reviews said it was “House in Court” and it was DEAD on. Shark isn’t as great a character like House, though. This show is basically James Woods eating up the camera and loving it and that’s all I need from this show. Neglect the horrible support cast, the boring case stories…just 60 minutes of James Woods. B-.
CW
Runaway
-Luckily, this show is on the CW and it can coast a little longer with the pitiful ratings. It’s a shame because this is another good show with a good cast and premise. It’s a little heavy on the teen side of things but it’s a WB show, what’d you expect but the adults are good here. B.
Football Picks
None this week. I fucking suck and I have no will to go through another worthless display.
Update time
+Work is still the same. I was expecting it to finally hit me with some wave of panic but its been a steady ride so far, despite some trouble within the corporate structure itself.
+On the relationship front? Its getting stagnate already and that’s because of the routine we are forced to deal with. These “lunch dates” aren’t doing it for us anymore so when we do take our trip later in July, it’ll be very much welcomed. I know it doesn’t make sense, but we live 30 minutes apart and she works the night shift…but I happen to work a mere 5 miles from her house…so we just have lunch “dates”…as I said in the previous update…thing will change (for the better) once school starts for us.
+My father, (I don’t know if I have mentioned him before or not) finally got a hair-cut this afternoon. This is monumental because it was the first time in 6 years he cut his hair (and that was just at the request of his dying mother, just weeks before her passing).
It’s beyond awkward. I’ve always known him to have obscenely long hair but now that he is reaching the gray hair stage of life, he hacks it off all for a purpose that he resents. (his daughter’s wedding).
I have had only one similar experience to this and that was with my beard back in 2003. For 11 months, I never brought a razor to my face (which is topped by clean shaved head). It had become my identity around town, I had the Mountain man beard, as opposed to the hobo beard. I finally cut it off for reasons I don’t recall but I remember the shock of seeing my bare face for the first time in 11 months. I was almost paralyzed in fear.
Since then, I’ve grown out my hair and kept it at acceptable business style length and kept the beard neatly trimmed because it is in the opinion of many that I am just downright better looking with stubble-ish beard as opposed to the clean shaved or mountain beard deal.
+I am buying a new car in September. In 5 years of driving, I have owned 3 cars...
My first car, was a hand me down from my uncle 1993 Chevy Lumina. I was 15 and still running on the temps, when he was going to junk the car but I asked if I could have it so I wouldn't have to buy my own car right away once I got my license. He handed me the keys...
I used the car only as practice for 6 months and I never had any personal attachment towards it. Once I had my license, I kept that car for 3 more months until I bowed down to peer pressure and sold it for a measly $800 bucks and then I brought this...1999 Dodge Avenger. I loved this car as it looked good, drove good and had a fantastic sound system already installed.
I kept this car for 2 years and loved driving it but I agreed to help my sister out after her car blew up and instead of making her buy a new car(she could barely pay for college), I gave her my car and brought a 2002 F-150 lightning
I have driven this truck ever since and I'm going to keep it as my company vehicle (as the one we have is old anyways and they are basically buying it off me)...so I don't know what to get.
I don't want another truck for all the obvious reasons as well as just plain tired of driving one. I'm looking towards another mid-size car like the first two but they weren't good on gas mileage (which wasn't a concern for me then, but is now) but I refuse to get one of those generic Camry's or whatever.
I'll keep you updated on the car hunt status.
Change the world, one by one
When I graduated high school, after collecting piles of envelopes stuffed with cash from uncles and aunts and the rest of the family circle, My mother handed me this box.
It was a leather box and inside it was this small card about the size of an index and it read that. The box had belonged to my grandfather, who died before I was born and she handed it down to me as I was the first male in her side of the family to graduate high school.
I know it's trendy to hate your parents and pretend like they don't matter but it's bullshit. They do mean something, for better or for worse. Maybe I was one of those lucky few in this world but I actually like my parents. Not because I have to but because they are genuinely good people with good hearts who care about the important things in life (love, family etc). I've been blessed to have a father who made a good living for me and my older sister and a devoted mother who I consider a friend more then a mother. My girlfriends have also felt like she was a friend more then a mother. She is the kind of person you can talk to for hours about anything. Its sad that alot of people are afraid of their parents, and for that I'll never understand it. Get to know where you came from.
Today is Hallmark's big day to celebrate mothers. Just another beautiful thing (motherhood) that Hallmark has raped.
----
Apparently I'm over in Leena and Tekcop's world. That's good company. I'm just me, and unlike 95% of this place...I'm not a gimmick looking for attention and jockeying for a spot on the social status here. So I'm content as #3 on Leena's list.
The Path I Chose, I had to Follow
If there is no road, there is no tommorow
Hold On, Hold On for as you long as you can see
It doesn't matter, nothing matters for it's only make-believe now...
I can't even begin to explain how much I regret the decisions I made throughout my life and that's expected. You can't show me one person who did everything right from the start. I do, however feel like I am way behind where I should be. I'm 20 years old and I lost almost 1 and 1/2 years on my life by waiting until I went to college and once I got here, I haven't really gotten anywhere. I still feel stuck as the same 18 year old I was, the day I grabbed that diploma from Dr. Carter (my HS principal, who I hear is dying of cancer...which is a shame. He was one of the very few good ones).
I see my friends, already changing things. Some for the best and some for the worse, but change nontheless. I can't change, beyond my haircut. Fuck, I even have the same fucking wardrobe as I did 2 years ago.
Every time, I think I got the urge to get the fuck up...something always comes to me and brings it back down and I can't remember how things got to be this way.
It used to seem that there was always something to make you happy and get you through the days...I had a really, really good month in January. It's always been a running theme in my life...I start the years off in a incredible fashion and it derails sometime around labor day into a complete mess.
Then, somehow it fixes itself up and disappears and I get another brief glimpse at the concept of happiness...
Oh, the girl from the other day? She's giving us another creature into this world.
Lesson: Don't have drunk sex.
I decided to stop the personal bitchy-emo fest of my own and wanted to focus on this excellent piece of awesomeness.
The Ballad of Lacey
In case you don't know what that is, it's a hilarious music video of Jimmy Jacobs's love for Lacey. The video alone is worth checking out the entire storyline has been a fresh burst of energy for the wrestling business.
While Vince McMahon and Triple H are destroying the babyfaces on Raw, Kurt Angle looking like a third wheel in the Mania program despite being the champion...
You have this wonderful simplistic story that used the modern-day technologies of the Internet to advance storylines. It's a classic storyline "Wrestler falls for another girl, girl has no interest in him. Wrestler's blind love gets his ass kicked". What this does was add a intentionally hilarious take-off of that storyline, Jimmy Jacobs was already perfectly over the top at the shows, so much that he intentionally botched a top rope spot to put over the storyline.
The lyrics to this song is a perfect blend of kayfabe and using IWC terms (the market that it's intended for).
Jimmy Jacobs did all of this on his own, the video, the myspace and to really live out the storyline....He even stays in character on AIM.
Right now, his away message reads "I <3 Lacey.". In a business where the top name in charge of the biggest monoply loves to shoot on national programing, you got guys like Jimmy Jacobs staying in character and using his own creativity to propel this storyline.
This proves that if you let a wrestler be in charge of his character and gimmick, he will know what to do with it better then most writers ever do. The WWE and TNA, really don't have a handle on this. WWE could use creativity like this, in a big way.
Last night, i was trying to get some of my work done for my class today (in half-hour, actually) but I kept getting interupted by various circumstances.
A). My ex-girlfriend, whom I remain friendly with had to start up a AIM convo about her current relationship and said "you actually understand me, so you know what to say"
-Okay, If I understand you so damn much, why did you leave my ass? I don't need flattery to offer my advice but don't cheapen it by acting like you still need my words and wisdom. You just want to vent. I am cool with that, I've been there. It's just not right, to still claim I was the right guy for everything about you, when I was obviously not that guy. (Of course, she does like to say from time to time "I really do believe you are my soul-mate, it was just bad timing for us". Like I need to drag myself down a bottomless pit, with you. Again)
B). The O.C
-This show, used to be awesome. Remember season 1? It was the perfect show in every way. Season Two, slipped a little but the final episodes made up for it. Now, they are going head-first into cliche land. Marissa is a coke-head, now? How long did it take Kelly Taylor? I don't recall Joey Potter or Jen ever having Cocaine issues. Ryan, looks 35 now. Seth, to his credit (being the oldest actual cast member) still looks 18.
It's like they are throwing everything into one giant machine and shaking it up. How did Summer Roberts go from being the hottest girl on TV to being "ehhh", in just two seasons? Even Taylor, leap-frogged her.
C). My Dog, Gibson
-When we first got this thing, he was adorable. 2 Months later, it's been a diaster. You can't contain this thing. We have a large backyard for him to play with our other dog, a more relaxed dog but once he comes inside? He's a beast, and not in the trendy sense of the word.
D). This fucking place
-Even if it was zombie-land last night, I was still here.
I finally wrapped up my paper about 2 am.
Update time
-Tomorrow will mark my final full day of work at the place I’ve been employed for 2 ½ years. All throughout this week, I’ve felt like a ghost around that building. My office is empty minus the cpu, TV and mini-fridge that I’m not taking with me. I basically been giving my successor the run through in regards to the job but he seems to get it which renders me worthless. I’ll miss a couple of the guys down there but I’m thinking we’ll stay in touch by some means.
As you might recall, I am still bitter at my boss for his actions but I’ll have to put it aside because despite me leaving, I’ll be seeing plenty of him over the years including my parent’s anniversary party next week and my sister’s wedding as well. I can play nice but my respect for him vanished.
I intended to stay out of the work force for awhile because I wanted to focus on school and I was burnt out on working…but I got an intriguing offer from a pretty well known international corporation that is Head-quartered pretty close to me. (This should be obvious…I think). It doesn’t pay as much as the previous job but the benefits and potential future options are much greater.
-
I said in a previous entry that I was going to be getting a new car in September and that is still my intention…
I’ve been driving my old Dodge Avenger that I had given to my sister for the past 2 weeks (I since sold the truck to the company) and I finally got off my ass and headed down to the Auto Mall.
THE AUTO MALL
-It just so happens that I live in close proximity to one of the largest Auto Malls in the Mid-West. It’s basically what the name implies, a giant assembly of dealerships from Chevy, Ford, Dodge, Toyota, Saturn, Hummer, Lexus, Honda etc, etc.
Price isn’t too big of an issue for me because I’ll talk the price down anyways. I just wanted a car with good gas mileage and fun to drive. I can fix my own car, so the issue of car maintenance that scares some people away isn’t a problem.
My father and I headed down to the mall and we went to the Ford dealership, which a good friend of his owns.
I could see the writing on the wall. I have nothing against Fords, I just drove one of their trucks for the last couple years (This was the same dealership I brought the truck at) but I didn’t want to get another truck and I’m not a fan of their cars. I knew that my father’s friend would likely give me another good deal and while I appreciate an “in” like that, I knew I would have to decline.
I think the real reason I did this was because a part of me wants to stop getting by on who my father knows. I spent the summer working in a position that I never earned because of that connection my father gives me.
My grandfather didn’t give my old man much, so he relied on himself since he was teen. He never wanted that for me, so in essence despite being 20 years of age, he still does favors for me. I value his actions but there comes a time when you just need to do it for yourself.
After dropping a good dosage on for my tuition and putting money away to prepare for no job for awhile, I decided I would just wait a couple months before really pursuing my new car. I’ll keep driving the Avenger for the time being since my sister is driving her fiancés old car. However, that car has nearly 175k miles on it and that car isn’t built to last that long. It wasn’t that great on the road during the winter when I drove it and I can only imagine it’ll be worst now.
-
I doubt anyone remembers back around spring time but I mentioned my old high school female friend who spent years admonishing people for teenage sex only to get knocked up at a frat party…
We kept in slight touch via AIM over the months but she moved in with her grandparents (yes, her parents weren’t happy) about 70 miles south in Kentucky, so we haven’t seen each other until last week where she came up here for her brother’s birthday party.
We bumped into each other at a Kroger’s Grocery store and well…
Yeah. It’s always a slight jolt when you see a close friend for the first time in a obvious pregnant state. I’ve always known her as this skinny model girl and well…not anymore.
It didn’t last long as the small talk quickly wore off.
It just made me realize how I haven’t really been in touch with any of my close friends from just a couple years ago. I actually miss a couple of those fuckers.
-
I start classes on Tuesday. I still remain here with my jaw on the floor realizing how fucking expensive my tuition and my books are. Books shouldn't be this high priced but I give all these schools credit for milking every dime out of every student (and their parents).
Bravo.
It might stand, right now as the best weekend of the year for me. In fact, it was. Without any doubt in my mind, I'll remember the weekend of May 20/21 for quite some time.
How often does a childhood crush come to fruition when you least expected it(observe the thread in LSD regarding my ex and her boyfriend)? I hadn't expected it to occur but I'm glad I did. How often do you find the girl that everyone always said was the one for you, and you knew it all along but it never could happen and you let it go by and you moved on.
I spent all day with her saturday, embracing the sun with her friends and her family. I don't know what led to this, it just happened with a kiss that sent a pop bang shot through my heart.
There are different kinds of kisses, that kiss was the kind of kiss that blows you away. The kind of kiss that is 100x better then some worthless fuck, the type of kiss that lingers physically and emotionally for awhile.
She is away on vacation right now and I'm already counting the days til I see her again and start something, that will probably define not only myself, her but my childhood and my future to come.
I spent the last few months feeling down because of two girls that made me down. One girl cheated on me (something that has been covered well enough here) and the other girl, who was my best friend and I guess in some ways, still is but losing her questioned my will to give "love" another try.
Things have a way of working out for you, if you let it happen.
You can be a worthless loser like WP's gimmick and always think about it, but never actually do anything. He'll never know moments like this weekend, he'll never realize that a stripper is paid to flirt and smile at him. He can try to play Freud and analyze my relationships but he can't talk about something he never been through. WP, might be able to analyze a wrestling match to intricate details but he can't speak on love or anything remotely similar to it.
I'd rather actually do the real thing, feel the realness with the chill down her spine sending her into shivers.
I’m still groggy. Not physically, but more mentally. Lethargic, is probably the most appropriate description. It comes and goes, always has for me. Usually there’s a trigger but in this instance, I’m happy in theory (new job, steady new relationship that is still fresh, doing great in school).
I even redesigned/arranged my room out of complete boredom. It made me wonder, while a good move financially to leave the campus and stay home. I think it had more psychological damage then I had anticipated. I got out and I just ended right back here.
It’s not like I’m 27 and still living at home, but I always felt you should be gone by 21 at the latest. That milestone is very close.
I have a solid relationship with my parents, although it can slip into standard family theatrics from time to time but that’s probably a given for all paternal situations until a 3rd generation comes along and you figure out exactly what they were doing.
Speaking of parents, Allison is pushing to do the “meet my parents” routine sometime soon, just to get it out of the way. I understand where she’s coming from, but she has a very tumultuous relationship with them, which always means as the new boyfriend, I’m basically fucked right out the gate or that I’ll really have to shine.
Oddly enough, I’m not rushing to have her meet my parents despite my good relationship with them and that I already know my parents adore her just by my descriptions and pictures.
To be fair, my mother “loved” all my girlfriends in the past. Except one, which was a doozy of a situation that I couldn’t even begin to cover in a simple blog.
My father’s take? “Get it while you can”. He is, if nothing, a man of simplicity.
I balanced my work schedule for Tuesday, Thursday and Friday afternoon (noon-5). That’s not a lot of hours, but it’s a pretty fucking easy job.
Maybe not easy for MECCA, but for any general worker with focus. It’s a office role but without politics. It’s almost a perk to get paid for it.
So, fuck NFL picks. This weekend was a total catastrophe for me and the local team.
This week we’re going into a deluge of endless Evil TO Vs Sir Donovan F McNabb Of Philadelphia
I’d auto-block ESPN but it just so happens to be the start of the MLB Playoffs.
Quickie predictions
National League
San Diego Vs St. Louis
-St. Louis, completely fell ass backwards into the playoffs but to assume they will roll over and die is a mistake. Pujols will extend this to at least 4 games
San Diego in 4.
Los Angeles Vs New York
-Offensively, I love NY. LA has the pitching match up. This could be either a fantastic tight series or a collection of blow-outs.
New York in 5.
American League
Minnesota Vs Oakland
-I really like Minnesota but I think the bandwagon might topple over on the way to Oakland. That being said, Santana will go twice and get it done there.
Minnesota in 5.
Detroit Vs New York
-Detroit suffered a similar fate as St. Louis and actually squandered the division title on the last day of the season, which was ridiculous. Like it’s NL counterpart, the Yankees have a questionable pitching staff but it’ll rely on it’s offensive explosiveness to out-muscle the Tigers.
New York in 4.
NLCS
San Diego 4
New York 3
ALCS
Minnesota 4
New York 2
World Series
San Diego 1
Minnesota 4
It’s official. I have no ability in predicting football games anymore. I correctly predicted (excluding the meaningless MNF game) FIVE games cumulative in College and Pro football pick-em. That’s FIVE FOR THIRTY! I’m not good at math but that’s like a .166 average.
That wasn’t the worst of it over the weekend, though. Friday afternoon, I came home and found my sister standing in the kitchen making dinner which was weird since she hasn’t come over much since the wedding. I asked why she was there and she shrugged, telling me that she was told to come over and start dinner. We made light conversation wondering and speculating on the cause of this apparent family meeting. Finally they each arrived and after we sat down for this prepared dinner, which was beyond weird enough but they finally came out and informed us that they had decided it was time to move and “retire”. Having already made the arrangements and found a house in some small town in Pennsylvania where my mother knew she’d get work as a teacher and my father whom has saved a comfortable amount would essentially work out of his garage doing custom jobs on cars. This didn’t drastically affect my sister, as she’s already on her own with a husband and probably with kids very soon.
Of course, I’m not married. I’m not “settled” in by any means yet. Obviously, I can’t follow my parents down there. They plan on selling the house and this will leave me with a decision to make. I’ve mentioned before here that I wasn’t planning on staying home much longer especially after I already had a brief taste of living on my own. It was time for me to seriously start looking ahead but I’m not really concerned about where I will go (I’ll either get an apartment of my own somewhere near by, probably Middletown because of how dirt cheap it is in comparison to other towns near-by) or I’ll made the serious jump and move in with Allison, whom will be room-mate free next year in Oxford. That’s scary for me, to realize that after just 2 months together, I am willing to live with her. It’s because of this feeling that I don’t want to do that.
I’m more bothered by the prospect of my parents being at least 5-6 hours away from me. I’m not dependant on them but it was always nice, even when I was living at Miami to know that it was just a short drive away if I needed something or they needed me. Sure, I got other family and even a couple friends around but they aren’t your parents.
To make matters worse, having found out my parents were moving and I was out of a home, that fever from two weeks ago crept up again and with the girlfriend out of town, I was left to my own devices and this allowed me to catch up on various movies and TV shows that I hadn’t seen. What, you think I was going to give you a report on those shows/movies? No!
However, I will stay I was greatly entertained by this movie called “Pretty Persuasion”. Granted, it wasn’t the most original plot but the acting was good especially with the hammy greatness of James Woods. I think he automatically improves the quality of every movie he appears in, even if they are all the same smarmy character. I mean, look at this list
Salvador
Diggstown
Straight Talk
Chaplin
Casino
Nixon
Ghosts of Mississippi
Contact
Vampires
Virgin Suicides
Any Given Sunday
True Crime
Riding In Cars With Boys
Scary Movie 2
Stuart Little 2/Hercules/Easter Egg Adventure/Recess/Final Fantasy/Grand Theft Auto/Scarface (Voice)
Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story (Yes, they actually made a movie about him)
What an awesome dude and his TV show rocks too.
I don’t want to turn this into a running diary of my work-life but I think what happened today needs to be told because of absurdity of it all.
Fridays are designed to be laid back, we usually ship on those dates and that really means we aren’t actually working on the products. We had a small part order to send to Centerville which was only about 40 minutes from our building.
I grabbed one of those rookie kids, I mentioned in the last entry and handed him the keys to our company pickup and we loaded the parts and he left.
This was @ 11:00, Shawn (the kid), should have been back around 1:30 by our estimates. It was 1:00 when my assistant hands me the phone while I’m eating a late lunch with another manager in the conference room.
“It’s Shawn”, she says as she backs away…
“Yeah, what’s up? Everything go all right?” I ask him and he stutters to begin with but he finally blurts out “Yeah, I got the stuff dropped off okay. But there’s a problem” and I get this gut punch feeling creeping up…
“What is it?” I ask, fearing the answer.
“Well, the front tire…it’s flat, well it’s popped actually. Shredded up.”
“Okay, well change the tire” I say, uncertain of why he needed to act like it was a big deal. Then he drops this bombshell on me…
“Well…I don’t know how to change a tire”.
I nearly choked on my chicken sandwich, okay…this kid isn’t the brightest guy but he’s a hard worker and a decent all around person but HOW IN THE HELL CAN YOU BE 18 YEARS OLD AND NOT BE ABLE TO CHANGE A MOTHERFUCKING TIRE!!!!!
Anyways, after soaking in the absurd notion that he was incapable of simply putting a spare on…I decided that instead of sending someone else his way, and because I didn’t want to embarrass the idiot, so I got directions to the gas station he pulled over at and headed down there.
Here is the problem, the moron not only can’t change a tire but he couldn’t give proper directions at all. I followed his directions as her told me them and he wasn’t even within distance of where he led me.
I tell him to go inside the station and get the address, so I can have my assistant map quest the right directions and shockingly, the numb nuts didn’t fuck that up.
I got the right directions as I was amazed by this whole sequence of events that I had to laugh at it.
I turn into the station and He’s sitting on the tail gate just staring at the ground fumbling with his cell phone.
I look at him and before he even utters a word, I simply inform him
“Don’t. Whatever. Look, this is the first and last time I’m doing anything like this for you. Get the jack out from under the passenger seat and the spare is under the truck.
It’s one thing to teach my girlfriends over the years the art of simple car care, but not when someone that I trust to handle machines worth hundreds of thousands for international big money corporations.
Is this how my father felt when he tried to “teach” me when I was 14 how to change a tire. Luckily for Shawn, I was more patient then my father ever considered being.
Finally, he got the job finished. I gave him a golf clap applause when he finished. He didn’t even say a word during the whole process other then yes/no answers.
I went inside the station and brought us a couple waters and told him I would drive the truck back, and he could drive my car back to the office.
He struggled to say “Thanks” but I cut him off and told him “No. I was just doing my job, my job is to lead my workers. We all need to ask for help at some point, it’s not that big of a deal. It’s cool. Don’t do it again though”…
Then I playfully slapped him and told him to scram.
It was really awkward to be honest, I was and still am stunned that someone couldn’t manage a process like changing a tire at the age of 18 but I guess I shouldn’t be all that surprised.
-
This weekend is a holiday but it’s not really for me. I’m working a little tomorrow afternoon and part of monday. Sunday will be good though. INDY 500/Coca-Cola 600 along with my GF coming home that night, so we can see where it was all building to all these years. She’s coming home earlier then planned, and I have to say I’m nervously excited.
Here is the problem…I known her my whole life. We pretty much grew up together and our families are close. Each family has always expressed hope that someday we’d end up together and apparently…My father had always believed it’d be her. He even kept a picture of us together on Hallowen from when I was like 10.
I had one of my rare intense honest talks with my father a couple days ago and he told me, that for the first time that he thinks I figured it all out as far as girls are concerned. I’m just concerned the families will get more involved then they should and ruin everything that we waited for.
Usually, I try to plan out my relationships but with her, I figure we ended up together the way we did and that wasn't even expected, for me at least. We decided to go on a trip together in a couple weeks.
I'm not worried about the transition from friends to couple, i've done that before with modest success. Maybe it's too fast but its like we already been through the bullshit most new relationships endure already...it doesn't hurt to skip a couple levels.
-
Wrestling is boring me these days. I got like a pile of unwatched DVD’s just stacking up.
I never intended to network, especially during school but I found myself in the process of this on Monday.
One of my classes is Art History: Concepts in Digital Media. I don’t care much for art, I mean, I appreciate the talents and creative process involved but I’ve never made it a point to care about this subject.
So, I’m taking this class because Miami University has this fucking idiotic concept called The Miami Plan. Essentially, no matter what you’re majoring, you have to fulfill requirements in specific fields not directly relating to it. For instance, X number of credits in Cultures, Science, Math, English, Fine Arts, Foreign Language and others that I forget. Luckily, some cross-over. I needed one more credit for Fine Arts. I elected this class merely because it slotted perfectly in between two other classes and because the professor has a reputation of being fairly well-liked.
So, I’ve been taking a class that I don’t care for aside from presence of the girl that I have mention in the previous entries. On Monday, while chatting with this said girl, she had asked me about my previous jobs and such.
It was at this time, my professor begun to eavesdrop . I told the girl that I had worked as a welder for a couple months before moving onto doing assembly work (which, as my loyal readers know lead me to the office job over the summer). My professor asked me about my history as a welder and this leads to her offering me a nice sum of money to construct a metal design that she had created and wanted to use as a canvas for a painting she plans to place in her Los Angeles Art Gallery.
So, she gave me the sketch of what she wanted and it wasn’t really that difficult to put together. I called up my old job and asked one of the key welders if he could loan me the metal I would require for the job, and not only did he offer me whatever I wanted, but would do the job for me as minimal cost (I didn’t tell him the actual price I was offered).
So, while in the process of talking to a girl that I’m pursuing, I managed to “network” myself into a pretty nice situation that’ll not only pay well but actually give me amusement of saying something I built is being viewed by snobs in Los Angeles.
I’m used to building things that a lot of people see on a daily basis but that’s all thankless work. This, once it’s completed will be recognized in some form. It’s pretty surreal.
Since my team representative in the KKK pick’ems, are lazy bastards and took a early bye week, this means I’m also “off” but that doesn’t mean I’m not looking at the games.
Here are my picks
New York Jets @ Buffalo Bills
-People are getting too excited about Buffalo. I get that 1-1, is probably the best you can expect from this team but it’s really drastic to get excited. The Jets, on the other hand, have problems of their own. This makes this one of those dreaded coin toss games.
It really can go either way with two sub-par teams. It’s a toss up, but I’m thinking Buffalo takes a quick fall back to the basement.
New York 16 Buffalo 7
Cincinnati Bengals @ Pittsburgh Steelers
-This is the GAME OF THE WEEK. Is it merely hometown bias? Perhaps but you can’t argue the importance of this game especially with the resurgent Baltimore franchise.
Cincinnati has a very potent offense crowded with targets, and a defense that has shown great improvements in stopping the run and continue their usual trend of picking off hapless Quarterbacks. It suffered a trio of rough injuries, most devastating being David Pollack’s season ender.
Pittsburgh, has a QB that appears to still be feeling the effects not just his most recent surgery but the near death experience just a few months ago. You see the change in Roethlisberger, beyond the cosmetic appearance. He really doesn’t look secure as he once did. It’s understandable, but on the field, a QB can’t doubt himself because it’ll damage the team.
Carson Palmer, suffered an severe injury just 9 months ago that many felt could be a career ender and has rebounded to his 2005 form, already. With an abundance of contempt stored within him against the Pittsburgh franchise, you have to assume that Palmer will never be mentally prepared and intense as he’ll be on Sunday on Heinz Field.
In my opinion, the playoff game last January between these two has elevated this rivalry among the most vicious and passionate stage of hatred in the NFL. With that level of animosity, it’ll stay close by sheer will but in the end, Rudi Johnson’s fresher legs and Palmer’s determination should be the deciding factor.
Cincinnati 27 Pittsburgh 17
*Bonus Prediction*
Replays of Palmer’s injury during the telecast: 106.
Jacksonville Jaguars @ Indianapolis Colts
-These two always play to Jacksonville’s style. Indianapolis, is usually forced to strip it’s identity of high-octane offense and play smash mouth football.
We all know that a certain element of the previous Colts teams that played a crucial role in their success is no longer around and that is James. This is the first game in which his absence will be felt. It’ll be an ugly game because that’s Jacksonville’s style and they’ll force Indy to convert to it.
I’ll go with Indianapolis to pull it off, despite their issues.
Jacksonville 10 Indianapolis 14
Tennessee Titans @ Miami Dolphins
-Remember when Miami was going to win the AFC Championship and that Daunte Culpepper was going to blaze through the NFL with complete dominance? Remember when Vince Young, appeared unstoppable?
It never really existed. Miami, was an overblown sexy pick by the media and the sheep that followed them. While they had (and still might) have a outside shot at the wild-card, they have been exposed as frauds in that regard. Culpepper, still hasn’t improved and you can’t blame the injury as Carson Palmer suffered a equally severe injury and has returned to form, with lesser healing time. It appears more and more that Culpepper was merely a product of great system and WR corps.
Tennessee, is a mess. Kerry Collins, can never really be your franchise QB. Not anymore, he had a couple miracle seasons in NY and Carolina but reality sunk in. This guy was so bad, Oakland dumped him for Aaron Brooks. Vince Young, is still a very long way from developing.
This will still be the game Miami needed to shake the cobwebs off and gain some confidence via a solid victory.
Tennessee 10 Miami 24
Washington Redskins @ Houston Texans
-There probably isn’t a set of teams that I have less interest in then these two respective teams. I really don’t care what happens. I’ll take Houston, just because Joe Gibbs being 0-3 feels right. (What a shitty year for Gibbs. His football team starts off 0-2 and gets embarrassed by Drew Bledsoe on national primetime television and his star race car driver, Tony Stewart failed to make the “Chase For The Cup” but his hapless rookie driver stumbled into it, forcing them to shift the marketing campaign.)
Washington 13 Houston 17
Chicago Bears @ Minnesota Vikings
-The other day, some morons in the NFL thread actually challenged the validity of calling Chicago a favorite for the super bowl.
Am I claiming that Chicago will be in Miami representing the NFC? No, but it’s far from outlandish to consider them a realistic possibility. Especially, with this suffocating defense and apparently, improved offense. We’ll find out if Chicago’s improved offense is just the effects of playing two very poor teams or if it’s legitimate.
Minnesota, has been a slight surprise but it’s hardly indicative of what to expect down the road. I think they’ll give Chicago it’s most difficult test to date but given the quality of the teams Chicago dispatched, I believe that any NCAA DIV.I-AA school could pose a greater threat.
Chicago 20 Minnesota 10
Carolina Panthers @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
-A world without STEVE SMITH is a really shitty one for the Carolina franchise. Already stumbling out of the gate at 0-2, despite the usual preseason hoopla from the media isn’t how they envisioned the season to start.
Luckily, they collide into another divisional rival with a similar tale but much more dreadful display thus far. Carolina, will benefit greatly by facing a team that appears to be falling apart.
Carolina 28 Tampa Bay 16
Green Bay Packers Vs Detroit Lions
-Ugly. Favre, in a dome vs. Jon Kitna, on football field. Sounds like thanksgiving for any opposing corner in the NFL. It’ll either be a sloppy grotesque performance by each team or a shootout exposing the really weak defenses.
Let’s go in between and say
Green Bay 17 Detroit 14
Baltimore Ravens Vs Cleveland Browns
-I said this on Sunday, but I’ll repeat it. People are greatly focusing on the incredibly putrid teams in Oakland, Detroit, Washington, Green Bay, Tennessee and Tampa Bay and have severely overlooked Cleveland.
It’ll be an ugly game but Baltimore and its newfound offense will turn the switch late in the game to put it away.
Baltimore 21 Cleveland 7
St. Louis Rams Vs Arizona Cardinals
-What you have here is a really bad Kurt Warner playing against a team that appears be searching for something and keeps wandering away from where it started. The bottom line, if Kurt Warner is on the field, you generally take the other team.
Probably high scoring, yet boring.
St. Louis 31 Arizona 27
*Bonus prediction*
Warner Sack Total: 6
New York Giants Vs Seattle Seahawks
-Last year’s game was fairly memorable for specific reason. It went down to FG’s last time around and I’ll stick with that theme.
New York 16 Seattle 13
Philadelphia Eagles @ San Francisco
-Philly, could easily fall quickly as they are probably still stuck figuring out exactly what the hell went wrong last week. Philly, despite being disorientated should still manage to get it done this weekend.
Philadelphia 24 San Francisco 13
Denver Broncos @ New England
-Each team hasn’t necessarily been all that impressive this season, but that’s the mantra for the NE, to lay around in the weeds for awhile and strike around week 10 and we’re back to New England blowjobs and whiny blowhard fans.
This will be the game that really gets the “Cutler!” fan base increased as New England wins in typical NE fashion.
Denver 10 New England 16
MONDAY NIGHT
Atlanta Falcons @ New Orleans Saints.
-In case you missed it, the city of New Orleans was decimated by an brutal hurricane. It’s okay, only black people lived there. However, in the wake of this ruin was a franchise with no direction other then the road to San Antonio, TX.
Then came the resurrection. Almost gift-wrapped by the city of Houston, Reggie Bush landed in the collective outstretched arms of The Big Easy.
Despite the controversial nature surrounding Bush, he has been a brilliant marketing machine since his arrival in New Orleans.
This game will mark the return to the SuperDome, which was used as a staging area during the hurricane. The game is sold out and with NO starting off 2-0, the fans are expected to be emotional.
The reality, despite the potential tearful return “home”, they face a very good Atlanta Falcons team that has Michael Vick fully utilizing his potential, an stud of a RB in Warrick Dunn and a tremendously beefed up defense.
It’ll be a somber return for New Orleans.
Atlanta 26 New Orleans 17
*Bonus Prediction*
Reggie Bush stats: 89 Yards, 10 rushes. 1 Td
Last Wednesday, my dog Grace (2 year old German Shepard Lab) went missing. This isn’t the first time this has happened. She gets out quite often, runs around and returns the next morning. Not any different from most cats, she has a natural sense of direction. In fact, it had become so routine that last Wednesday, no one was really too concerned. Come Thursday evening, panic sank in as she hadn’t returned yet. We sent the necessary calls to local police, vet offices, pounds etc, etc. She had her tags on her collar, so we figured that if someone found her, they would know where to take her. After no luck, we proceeded to dig around some more, placed reward signs at the usual busy sites but still nothing was coming around. We figured it was a lost cause as it had been about a week and now and if she was coming back home at all, she would have by then.
This afternoon, while having lunch with Allison in the commons at school, I received a phone call from my ecstatic mother telling me “We found her!” and after breaking through her long-winded nearly incoherent rant, I figured I should head home and see about this. I got home and I was greeted by Grace wearing a funnel type contraption around her neck. I got the detailed story after this.
On that Wednesday night that she got out, a man had picked her up in a red pickup truck and for whatever reason decided to let her go and left them behind a local pizza joint where an older waitress whom worked there saw this occur as she was in the front parking lot. She didn’t catch the plates or anything because she didn’t think much of it at first until she realized my dog was still outside the back area of the pizza place and hadn’t caused much of a ruckus, not because she was shy or anything but because she was in pain and laid down on the cold wet pavement. She took Grace to her daughter’s house which coincidently was only a couple blocks away on the other side of my house and it was there they realized she had a deep gash on her thigh. However, her collar was no longer intact which also meant no identification.
The next morning, She took her to a local vet and he treated her for the wound, which they couldn’t determine if she had been stabbed or if she self inflicted the wound in some manner. According to the lady, she placed information regarding the discovery of Grace in various locations including other vet offices, local grocery stores etc, etc. My mother had persisted in calling every vet office and pound within a 40 mile radius asking if anyone had seen our dog and gave a through description and we even e-mailed photos to these places but nothing had happened.
This morning, on a whim, a very paranoid friend of my mother happened to be taking her cat to the vet because the cat appeared ill and while she was there, she noticed one of those photos of my dog that the old lady had put up onto their bulletin board. She immediately called the number on the identification sheet and after a quick description, she knew it was our dog. My mother was called and she left work right away to go to the house and that’s where she found Grace laying on their couch comfortably despite the hindrance of the funnel device.
So let’s rewind, the vet’s office had treated and released a dog that was a virtual match for a dog that was reported missing and was called about repeatedly throughout the week and to boot had the location whereabouts of the dog posted right in their main hall. The old lady that took Grace to the vet even told them that it wasn’t her dog but they never put two and two together. Granted, dogs get reported missing constantly and they probably get about 30-45 of these calls per day, so I can understand letting it slip the first time but not for a whole week.
My mother paid the old woman for the vet bills, dog food and a reward and Grace finally got to come home. I’ll be honest, I’m not attached significantly to this dog. I have my own personal dog (Gibson) that I care for and is in my ownership but they are best friends, so it was more rewarding to see my dog get his best friend back because I know he wasn’t happy alone.
We’re still not quite sure exactly what was the circumstances of the man in the red truck and the mysterious wound but quite frankly, it doesn’t matter right now. She’s home, she’ll be healthy after a couple more weeks of rest and she probably learned not to leave the house again.
I’m sitting here in the dark with nothing except the glow of this screen and the sound of some random infomercial keeping my mind from lapsing into a blank state.
Supposedly, I have to be at work in 3 ½ hours and I believe I will be there because that is what I do. Im not remotely tired by any means. I tried to sleep not so long ago but it took me nowhere. By my count, I’ve slept 10 hours in the last 5 days. I’ve done less in longer stretches of time so I’m used to this, a insomniac you could call me.
Ever notice you aren’t happy during these hours? That’s because everything is shut down, except for your biggest distraction, your own mind. That is running at full speed.
You try to avoid the self analyzing conversation by listening to music, flipping around 1850 channels and realizing that nothing is on and nothing is just a repeat. You might even read a book.
I picked up this book and I read the first 30 pages and I observed the notes written in the margins (me at 14, when I first read this fucking book) but I realized, this is a depressing ass book. (Why wouldn’t it be) no wonder so many fuckin’ dumb teens love this book. So I put it back on the shelf.
I hate the summer. Life reaches the absolute peak of misery. The suffocation of the summer night creeping right up through the floorboards and the long endless hours just fucking torture you. How can anyone find this stupid season endearing. It made sense as a child, we didn’t know any better and we got 12 weeks off school.
What’s so great about summer now? I remember summer used to mean swimming every day, flirting with random girls at the local hang-out spot and then long nights and late mornings. I still stand that SUMMER OF 15 is the most exciting time of our lives and nothing can beat that. That summer was everything to me, before it changed. That is truly our final chapter of our adolescence because it’s from there, everything becomes serious.
Summer of 20 sucks. I work so damn much because I was too stupid to turn down a good offer. I surrendered most of my social connections and my relationship as of right now is bordering on the line of extinction and I’m not even bothered by that.
This is a girl, I dreamt about as a horny kid. My earliest masturbatory fantasy and now that I pulled this thing off, Im not really involved in this. We try to convince ourselves that it’s just a matter of bad timing but within us, we’re well aware of the fact it’s just not there as much as we had hoped it could be.
So a fantasy is ruined. That’s why It’s always a mistake to end up with that first crush of your life. Why ruin something like that? I think we’ll probably keep this charade up until school starts and we’ll slide apart. I’m secure that we’ll remain friends as we were before.
A few entries ago, I had mentioned that I was going to be weighing my options about my job and my scholastic adventures. I hate my job but I’m not stupid, This pays really good and it’s fairly easy for a guy like me with my skills.
However, I don’t want to become my father. I respect the hell out of him. He’s a good hard working honest guy, with a tremendous heart and has always been the life of a party. So obviously, aside from looks…I’m nothing like him. I made it easy for myself, I’m a dick and I hate people. However, we each were standing in the exact same spot at age 20 except he was already married.
He left school to provide for his wife and family. He had his reasons and in his eyes, I can see he regrets that. If I leave school for good, what would it be for? More money and nothing else. Is that honorable?
I got about 6 more weeks to hammer down and make this decision. Either way, I lose.
In other not-so depressing aspects of the world, The MLB Mid-season has arrived and I’m stunned the local franchise isn’t in their usual fire-sale mode right now as the old group of morons finally left town (figuratively speaking) and some competent people took over. It’s startling. 1999 was a fluke season for me but I actually feel like this new regime really intends to create a winning ball-club. I’m still I’ll be crushed sooner or later but the feeling of hope is a nice one. I mean after-all, the god damn BENGALS turned things around.
The World Cup has finally ended, so Americans can resume not giving a shit about the real FOOTBALL for another 4 years. What will we take out of this whole experience? Shitty referees and a “icon” (So I’m told) going spastic on the biggest stage of them all. Why don’t we like this sport, again? It reeks of Americanism.
CiCi’s
- I think I expressed my hatred for this place once, in KKK’s blog. In case you are lucky enough to not have one of these fucking rattraps in your neighborhood, CiCi’s is a low-rent cheap pizza buffet resturant designed for the legions of soccer mom’s and their brat kids.
Granted, I’ll give credit to the creators of this place because it was a bang-up idea to force fed a endless supply of crappy pizza in various forms ranging from the standard selections to things like Chili and chedder, Tuna fish (yea, you read that) and a chocolate chip pizza. Just think of a nasty pizza combonation and they have it.
I always avoid this place, I don’t care if it is only $3.99 for unlimited buffet. The pizza, (the normal kind I would eat) are cardboard with putrid sauce and the cheese tastes dated…combine that horror with a throng of brats running around hopped on sugar playing wack-a-mole and leaving piles of crusts on the plates. I feel sorry for the poor Mexicans forced to clean the dishes and such.
Anyways, I’ve only been there 4 times before. The first time out of curiosity and the others I was dragged to. Such as this afternoon.
I had only worked ½ a day, since I was ahead of schedule, I planned on just meeting with my gf and going out to lunch with her and such, but she informed me that her little cousin turned 7 today and her family was meeting @ CiCi’s for her party.
This would be the first family function with her as her official boyfriend, while I’ve known them for years…it becomes a whole different game now…so It was in the environment of the place I hate above all else and a bunch of fucking kids.
I grinned through it, putting on my best face. I had two slices of crummy pepperoni and left it at that. I actually didn’t mind conversing with her family but I swear my stomach was plotting doom against me for putting that lethal poison inside me.
I survived the event, gave her a ride to her work (she’s a hostess at a Italian resturant that I can’t even pronounce and of course, works til midnight) and I vowed to my stomach that I would NEVER EVER inject that shit into me again.
I warn you, if you haven’t been there before…and you start getting curious…just pass. Fucking pass. Trust me.
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"Work".
Heh. Actually I’m really getting into the whole “Boss” thing. I haven’t fucked up yet, which surprises me because aren’t things supposed to go wrong at first.
The only problem is that my best workers, had some nerve damage to his gums and had to have surgery to take out his teeth. So basically, he has no teeth right now and can’t be fitted for replacements for another 2-3 months.
It’s not that hard to work with him despite his difficulty with speaking but he’s having trouble. He’s physically weakened from all the painkillers and treatment they have shoved into him and that is where my concern lies.
He’ll have to keep taking this medication until they replace them…He’s getting behind but not enough that I can’t cover for him but I know I can’t have him missing time for the next 2-3 months on a consistant basis.
Aside from his current condidtion, he’s the best guy I got since he knows the stuff inside and out.
I’ll give him a couple weeks to adjust to the physical change. He should have my job, really. I don’t do that much physical stuff anymore. I’d rather be in the field working it, but the paycheck differential changes my tune rather swiftly.
-
Sports.
Hockey. I don’t get OLN, so I’ve been missing out on the playoffs, which is a shame because I actually enjoy playoff hockey more then I do playoff basketball but since I can see every team in the NBA on a regular basis and follow the season…it’s easier to get into it…
That make sense? Anyways, my point is I wish I could see the games. I just don’t get why NHL agreed to a network with such low visibility. Didn’t Spike offer a deal?
Basketball.
I’m not really a fan of any of the 3 remaining teams but I am thoroughly enjoying this post-season as it’s certaintly been the best post-season I can recall in my life-time.
It seems like it’ll conclude with Miami Vs Dallas. This was probably (after Miami/Lakers), the network’s dream match-up. You got star power with Shaq/Wade/Riley Vs Dirk/Cuban and it escapes the NJ/SA/Detroit trap of ratings death.
Both teams are tremendously popular, although Miami more times then not bores me (aside from Wade).
Dallas is just fun to watch, and so is PHX. I’d love to see the Suns bump off Shaq and go into Curt Henning circa 1990 all over the court. I’m talking 360 flips and somersaults.
Tennis.
Okay, Maybe I’m a rarity but I like the “FRENCH OPEN” as America has so nicely dumbed the name down for our understanding. I dig the whole clay court stuff. It’s just different from the normal thing. I wouldn’t want to see it all-year long but it’s good to see different styles and methods every once in awhile.
Wrestling.
Are we supposed to be excited about ECW revival? I’m not, It already has mistake written all over it. There’s still way to much McMahonisms going into this deal that completely forces me to be reluctant.
Smackdown is a wasteland right now, yet despite the chaos…it’s still more entertaining then Raw.
I guess we’ll be having the SS debate for the next 6 months and no one will ever change their stance. It’s sort of like a smaller scale Bret/Shawn deal.
I recently ordered the remaining editions of the ROH MILESTONE SERIES (Better then Our Best and 100th Show), I finished 4YA and Arena Warfare and Best in the World. Dragon Date Challenge and Supercard of Honor is on the horizon.
Best in the World, was just flat out superb. The tag main event of Joe/Danielson Vs KENTA and Marufuji, Strong/Evans Vs Briscoes were tag team wrestling with two very different styles.
I loved the SHIMMER match, as it’s refreshing to see good american women’s wrestling. Martinez, Haze, Danger and Lacey were very enjoyable along with being attractive, so it’s the best of both worlds so to speak. Although, Lacey was the weak link of the group.
The main event really sets things up for the Danielson/KENTA title match that is all but likely to occur in August and of course, Joe/Danielson II. The first match in ROH for the title was greatly underlooked thanks to being overshadowed by JvPII 2 weeks later.
Just a quick side note
My Top Ten Samoa Joe Matches
1. Joe Vs CM Punk- Joe Vs Punk II
2. Joe Vs Kenta Kobashi- Joe/Kobashi
3. Joe Vs AJ Styles Vs Christopher Daniels-Unbreakable
4. Joe Vs CM Punk-All Star Extravaganza II
5. Joe Vs Bryan Danielson- Midnight Express Reunion
6. Joe Vs Austin Aries-Final Battle 04
7. Joe and Lethal Vs Homicide and Low Ki-Nowhere to Run
8. Joe Vs Necro Butcher-Something to Prove
9. Joe Vs Chris Sabin-No Surrender
10. Joe Vs AJ Styles- Sacrifice
The show always included a solid Yang/Rave and Daniels/Shelley match-up, but over-all this show is just setting up the next four shows which went to an whole new level. If you are looking to start with ROH, you need to start with the Milestone series. Right now, ROH is having a Buy 3 Get 1 Free sale, which means you can get all 7 shows for merely $120 bucks and toss in an extra DVD and there’s a lot of quality to get and not just ROH shows but Straight Shootings with a host of big names and the Secrets of the Ring series with Raven, which he goes into through details about the psychological aspects of working, the politics, how to format a match and structure it to the crowd. It’s a different style from the standard shoot programs and Raven goes into EXPLICT details on how he designed the Dreamer, Sandman and Punk storylines from the ideas to the actual execution.
I strongly rec’d the Raven SOTR series, because it’s quite informative, intelligent and often times, flat out funny.
Once again, I’d like to say you’re welcome for being the catalyst in the WP=Banned domino effect. I knew my rambling would do some greater good for this place sooner or later.
That being said, I’ll miss him slightly if only because this place is boring without someone like him. Someone needs to step up to the plate. We’ll always have Marvin, though he’s just a couple more sad tales away from a horrific catastrophe.
Random things
My sister and her husband, came home yesterday from their honeymoon in the Bahamas and we learned that it only took 4 days for him to pull off his first bonehead maneuver, as he lost his ring somewhere in the ocean. According to 90’s sitcoms, it usually took 20 years and a garbage disposal for husbands to pull off the “lost ring” incident, but it took him just four days. At this rate, I might not have to get him anything for Christmas.
Speaking of my sister (which by the way, after this entry, I’m probably done with the references), her friend re-invited me to her place for the Bengals game and since she was only a few miles away, I popped in for a few minutes. A couple other people were there but it sans boyfriend. That clued me in right away, exactly what was her intention with this invite.
After about a ½ hour of small chit-chat and casual observation of the game, I decided to keep her in suspense and left early. In all honesty, I do think she’s a great girl and her being friends with my sister really helps me out but until she officially does something with her bf and until I get confirmation that the girl at school isn’t going to get moving…I’m not going for the kill just yet.
Why haven’t I? I know what it’s like to be the other guy. I know that her BF is probably completely unaware that his girl is talking to another guy and making her intentions blatantly obvious. Either way, whatever she does…I’m the bad guy in this situation. I need to know that she’d be doing this for the right reasons and not just to get my dick and leave it as that.
I can wait this situation out as long as it may need be.
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Looking through the NFL Week 2 thread, it appears the usual suspects are incapable of logical statements.
The big issue is the validity of proclaiming the Chicago Bears to be NFC Championship contenders. The argument is essentially that it’s “Only Week 2”. Which is utterly stupid because the meaning of contenders/favorites is that they are considered a legitimate candidate for that status and they clearly are. There isn’t a real argument against it, but a couple morons still go around saying “It’s too early to proclaim a team to be a contender”.
Chicago was a playoff team last year despite a shitty offense. Chicago, retained the quality defense and significantly improved its offense. All logic clearly indicates that Chicago is an obvious contender for the NFC Championship with it’s beefy defense and improved offense.
Chicago, is a legit contender. Argument over.
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I finally rented Madden 07 a couple days ago and I can safely conclude the magic of Madden is gone. It’s generic and formulaic now. I remember back in that 2001-2004 timeframe, where Madden was GOD. It was everything that mattered to a young punk ass kid. Now, I’m 20. I rarely play video games.
I don’t have anything against video game players, but it just seems as if by a certain age, video games don’t have any importance anymore. What is sad is that I know 45 year old losers who collect welfare and spend their days playing video games.
How could you even live that type of existence? Maybe, I’m silly for expecting myself to be better then that but If I appear to be heading down that path…I’ll buy the plane ticket for you to fly in and waste me.
Tonight is WWE’s presentation of Unforgiven. On the surface, it isn’t that bad in that they actually pushed this card and established that isn’t intended to be the standard “b” ppv even though that is what it is. Slapping on a pair of gimmick main events (TLC and HIAC) in a desperate attempt to boost buy rates is pathetic, as if those two matches and the hard-sell of Trish Stratus in her farewell match is supposed to justify such a ridiculous price.
WWE isn’t the only mainstream wrestling promotion to be floundering, TNA has yet to really get going since signing with Spike TV. People keep waiting for them to turn the table, but it’s ultimately just another wannabe WWE production.
It’s clear that the ONLY meaningful American wrestling promotion is, Ring Of Honor. Especially with the NOAH partnership.
ROH, has been incredibly strong for the past 2 years with only the rare occasion of dropping under expectations and consistently blowing everything away.
Now, excuse me while I go and put my hopes in KKK's pick-ems on the fucking Cowboys.
I find it ironic that KKK sloted me in as the rep for the team I hate most in the NFL, aside from Cleveland.
On Wednesday night, while I was standing in the pouring rain looking into her eyes, with the shriek of thousands around me rushing to get away from the deluge…I answered my own question and confirmed my doubts.
She smiled and nodded her head and I took her in and gave her a kiss on the forehead. We didn’t speak to each other for a ½ hour. We just stood in the pouring rain looking out over the river and we finally turned around and headed back to our seats.
It was strange, to break up peacefully. We actually enjoyed the night more this way. A part of me hates that it wasn’t the relationship I dreamt of years ago. I can’t tell what the fault was but I suspect it was just the fact we went into this whole thing trying to fulfill a childhood dream and didn’t realize that it was just that a dream…
It never worked, right from the start. Our schedules alone kept us apart, the spark didn’t extend past that first night of passion (which was just years of tension exploding)…
It’s rare to honestly mean “we’re still friends” but in this instance it is.
The real awkward part is having to see her family again, they are probably more disappointed in the extinction of this relationship then we are.
It’s for the best, really. School is starting in 5 weeks anyways. Miami, home of yuppie hot white pussy. Cool.
School D. Work
That’s rightl; I finally came to the decision. I’m taking this really big risk and I’m giving up my cushy well paying office job to go to school full-time.
I could stay on this track and be a top guy before I’m 25 and be making ridiculous money…but it’s not what I want to do.
I said this last time, I can’t be my father.
So, I’m sticking with school. Im going to spend money to get a degree that I’ll probably never use.
Weddings.
This is the wedding season, for me at least. In the next 6 weeks, I’m attending 3 weddings. One for a co-worker, my cousin and my sister.
Obviously the first two are merely “show up” deals but the sister one? That’s big. I’m just an usher, which feels dumb.
I never got weddings, really. I’ve been to over a dozen (I lost count) and probably 2-4 of them are still active.
It’s just another excuse for getting drunk and that means nothing to me. However, watching my grandmother get trashed is worth at least an hour of amusement.
Reds.
So, the Reds are actually still in contention as we near the trade-deadling. On March 1st, I never would have imagined we’d be in this place. Playoffs or no playoffs, I’m exicted to know that for the first time in awhile, it appears we got an intelligent GM and owner that gives a fuck.
I thought about writing out some long rant against WM22 tonight, describing my apathy towards it...
Then I realized... I spent the last few weeks already displaying that sentiment. What else could I really add? I don't think it'll be a horrible show, I really don't. It won't be special though. It could have **** matches out the ass and It still wouldn't feel special because I haven't been given a reason to give a shit other then "It's fucking Mania".
I'll give quick predictions on each match
Triple H Vs John Cena
Winner: Triple H
Time: 24:45
Rating:**1/4
Rey Mysterio Vs Kurt Angle Vs Randy Orton
Winner: Rey Mysterio
Time: 17:30
Rating:***1/2
Hard-Core Match: Edge Vs Mick Foley
Winner: Edge
Time: 13:00
Rating:**3/4
Vince McMahon Vs HBK
Winner: HBK
Time: 20:30
Rating:***
Money in the Bank
Winner: Flair
Time: 18:00
Rating:***3/4
Trish Stratus Vs Mickie James
Winner: Mickie James
Time: 8:20
Rating:**1/4
Chris Benoit Vs JBL
Winner: JBL
Time: 13:50
Rating: ***3/4
TBS/Kane Vs Carlito/Masters
Winner: Carlito and Masters (DQ)
Time: 5:30
Rating: *1/4
Torrie Vs Candice
Winner: Candice
Time: Too long
Rating:DUD
Boogeyman Vs The T's
Winner: Boogeyman
Time: 3:45
Rating:*1/4
Undertaker Vs Mark Henry
Winner: Undertaker
Time: 10:25
Rating:*3/4
They probably throw Mexi-Cools Vs MnM on the pre-show.
I'll have complete response to the show, probably tommorow morning.
The first day of school part…XIV
I remember when the night before the first day of school used to wreck my nervous system. Weighing on my mind was the depression that summer was over and those 3 months of soaking up the sun, playing ball with the boys and swimming non-stop would cease for 9 months. Wondering if the new teachers would like me, and more importantly, did anyone change?
The older we get, the anxiety regarding the first day of school changes. In high school, minus frosh year…the first day didn’t bother me. Unlike when we were kids, you kept in close contract with most of your classmates. School would only present itself as a nuisance in your social life. In high school, my summers were built around two things, baseball, camping and the summer romances. The first day of the school year traditionally signaled the conclusion of those two hallmarks.
Today was the first day of my sophomore year in college and it was the same as always even if I was at a different campus this time around. Faces all look the same and you instantly meet new people.
Some people are bored by the first day activities when you get 2 hour lectures about the policies of each class and the expectations of the course. (Not me) If you are lucky, you’ll get a professor who takes advantage of the small class size and does the hokey “Tell the class about yourself” routine to kill time. No one really ever remembers anything someone says during these things, but it’s almost a perverse requirement to do this.
On Tuesdays and Thursday, I have a short schedule of just two classes. Creative Writing: Short Fiction (The problem is, this is a senior class but I was pushed into it by my advisor and previous English prof‘s recommendation) and Survey of American History.
Creative Writing is precisely what you would expect. Young hipster emo-fag who couldn’t cut it as an actual writer decides to teach it. He seems alright enough and I can tell he isn’t going to be one of those pretentious wannabe Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society assholes. He gets the game and I can respect him enough on that accord.
The important factor of the class besides the absurd easiness of creative writing is the quality of the girls in the class. This can’t be understated. You get the hot English/journalist major chicks who want to hone their skills as writers combined with the dumb blonde seniors taking the class for graduation requirement purposes. Mixed in with a couple fat losers, socially awkward Morrissey loving dorks and that puts me in a good position.
History was a different story though. History isn’t my strong suit and there’s a reason I avoided it my frosh year. This subject always depends on the educator and how they present the concept of History.
I don’t want some fucking textbook pushing fucker that probably has no understanding about anything. I’ll take a history teacher who cuts through bullshit and not shy from his/her opinion. I got the latter in my history professor. There is nothing like a 60 year old bitter lady with a TRUE sense of history to educate you on things outside the textbook. She is obviously a compulsive chain smoker with penchant to recall on her glory days back in the 1960’s. Who knows if I’ll learn anything but it’ll be fun as hell.
M/W/F is basically the boring trio of classes with Anthropology (course requirement), Algebra (another class I avoided last year) and Environmental Geology. These classes will depend on good professors to bring up my interest. The important thing about day one is never the classes but getting a feel for the social climate.
I told myself to avoid the urge to jump into a potential relationship catastrophe for the moment but well, you can’t help it sometimes. Put yourself in a situation surrounded by girls and you can’t avoid it.
I can almost never live up to my word.
I thought I meant it when I said I was going to stay away from a job for at least a couple months but this new opportunity is really enticing.
The job is mine for the taking. Pay isn’t as high as what I’m accustomed to but with the schedule flexibility and the environment I’ll be around makes up for it. Besides, it’s only minutes from school and home. My old job was a 40 minute commute.
It has to be a dream job for a lot of people and what’s funny is, I don’t really care for the stuff but the job just literally fell into my hands.
Oh, the job? Think of a famous person from the Cincinnati area with a history of controversy that didn’t play baseball but knows a lot about balls.
Yeah, that place.
I didn’t want to have to take a job but I feel like I have now since...
My mother, after 10 years of working for the same day care company was laid off last Thursday via “budget issues”. They fired a qualified and experienced employee to replace her with a cheaper and less experienced college transplant.
My mother took the job as a thing of personal passion. She didn’t need the job but she loved little kids and was good at it. I’ve already offered to help out and all that such but she won’t allow it. I think it really broke her spirit because that job was important to her.
It’s bullshit. It isn’t some mass corporation with scumbag execs looking to line their pockets, it’s a fucking day care center and even they can’t get away from fucking politics.
I’m well aware of the fact that I’m typing this at 4 am in the morning and I’d like to pretend I'm up for a reason but there isn't. I do have classes in just a few hours, so that isn’t a wise move on my part but that is sorta the fun of it anyways.
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Pertaining to the forum, I’ve reached the conclusion that this place has and this is a appx. estimate, only 23 people with functioning brains. The rest are running on fumes or died horribly awhile ago. EHME is a prime example.
On Saturday morning, driving back home after crashing at Allison’s apartment, I was fairly relaxed and took the scenic route as opposed to my regular routine (after all, I wasn’t in any particular rush to get home). Right now, is my most favorite time of the year. The weather is just right with the heat dying out, the crisp mornings and evening chills creeping in just before the icy freeze of winter’s gloom arrives and you get this build up within, a rush of events in the form of holidays, family gatherings, mass rushes of shopping euphoria and forced kindness in the spirit of the holiday season.
Football is in full bloom from high school (playoff football is a huge deal in SW Ohio), college (the madness of the BCS strikes again, and no matter what the “playoff!” enthusiasts will say, they know that the current format offers so much more intrigue) and pro (the contenders and pretenders separate and the race to the super bowl begins). Movies, the good movies that studios have complete faith in to be academy award candidates are rolling out alongside the family comedy blockbusters that drive the art house elite into frenzied coffee fueled rants about the decline of something that I ignore because they aren’t worth the time to pretend to give a shit.
I drove along with some innocuous music serving as theme music for the long drive and I happened to drive pass a Best Buy, which was oddly placed into a vacant mass of land occupied on its own as if it was mistakenly dropped there and no one bothered to move it to the proper location that was swiftly replaced with another Wal-Mart Super Center. There was a long line of people sitting around the side of the building apparently waiting for the release of yet another stupid game system.
After all the reports that came out about the PS3 release and the backlash that occurred, I couldn’t believe these people (likely the same ones that sat in the same spot a week ago) buy into the promotion that they MUST own these over-priced game systems as soon as humanly possible regardless of all the likely glitches and product dependability issues that always occur from these initial launches. If you can’t wait 3 months when the price will likely drop, the bad editions will be tossed aside and there’s no having to stand in a line with someone who hasn’t showered in a 2-3 days, then I’m can’t really feel sorry for those that wasted a tremendous chunk of money on this product. People are getting robbed and attacked not just by SONY/Nintendo but by regular assholes and I can’t help but to feel like they probably had it coming.
I kept driving along when I somehow ended up behind a dump truck full of dirt, rocks and assorted materials. It was an impassable one lane road, so I did the common sense thing of dropping back a decently measured distance to avoid those pinging rocks and clumps of dirt from colliding with my car. Generally, I won’t care about getting a little dirt on the car or even tiny scruffs from the falling rocks but I still plan on selling this car very soon and I wasn’t looking to lower the value of the car. My intention didn’t work out to my hopes as my impatience got the best of me and I moved in closer and decided I would simply just slingshot past the truck knowing the risk that would occur on a narrow one lane road. I signaled to the driver that I was passing and I began to proceed and about half-way pass the truck, he suddenly sped up as we went into a curve that gave me zero room to make that pass, forcing me to dropping back behind him and as you would imagine with his increased speed and my now close proximity, the rocks bounced off the shaking truck and pinged right onto the hood.
I dropped back again further and finally he disappeared. Once I finally got home, I surveyed the damage to the hood and while it wasn’t drastic, there were noticeable dents and marks. It won’t hurt the car and it can be fixed fairly easy but it’s kind of annoying to see the scruffs and some of the paint chipping away. It’s disconcerting because this was my first purchased car and even though I stopped driving it for awhile, I still had an attachment to it. It was a beautiful, shiny fresh car when I first brought it way back when and now it’s becoming old, used up and faded from its once beautiful state. I guess that’s the course of life for everything, isn’t it?
On Thursday, 11/16/06, my oft-mentioned friend from the past finally gave birth to a supposedly healthy boy (I say this because I never got how they determine health for a freaking infant that’s been alive for no more then 2 days, give it some time to catch a disease or something before labeling it “healthy”). Named the kid, Jason James. Apparently, no real significance. However, that just made me wonder about something.
In all of life, I have to imagine naming your child has to be one of the more stressful tasks possible. It sounds silly but what you name that kid will most likely determine his course in life. Also, will parents stop trying to be creative with names? Throwing extra letters, or changing a letter in a regular name to make it different. I’m stick of the different spellings for names like Sean/Shawn/Shaun. Can’t we have some international vote about what will be the official proper spelling of these names? It seems parents think they win something if they have the most creative name for their kid. Im talking regular folk, not the celebrity nutcases that name their kids, Apple or Suri. At least those kids can point at their parents and we understand. Regular kids with regular parents don’t have an excuse. I did bring this up with Allison though and I learned a lesson.
DON’T.
I learned that girls have pre-named all their future children before we (males) even started killing our prospective kids with scrambled Cine-Max. All I ask if that if I ever do produce a spawn boy, that he’d have my father’s first name for his middle name like the past 4 generations of first born sons in our family have. (I.E, my grandfather’s given first name is my middle name). However, I learned that David (my father’s first name) doesn’t fit with her pre-approved names for any male child. I made a compromise, I would get to name all the dogs. I think it’s a fair trade. Oh, yes. It’s only two months into this thing and we’re already having that “kids/marriage/future” talk. That’s further ahead then I ever really got with my previous ex’s. Scary.
