I wake up this morning and I instantly get the shakes. This happens when I sleep through the cold, either because it is extremely cold, or I somehow knock my blanket off of myself. I still have the shakes but it's not as bad as when I first got up. I found it hard to sleep last night, as some unruly young mid '20s people moved in recently into one of the vacant apartments on my "unit." I've noticed that they like to go outside to smoke and they usually stand in the general area near my window. They talk. They laugh. They act silly. They smoke their cigarettes. Now, if I stick my head out the window and yell at them then I would just confirm what my friends are already saying about me that I am the disgruntled old man on the block. Not so! Also, I've noticed that the school bus loudly arrives at 6:30am, parks and then proceeds to flash its big lights as if the police or ambulance was outside. *grumble grumble*
The following is just a bunch of random stuff. Pay it no mind if you'd like:
Games I want by year's end:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
DJ Hero
Uncharted 2
Left 4 Dead 2
Borderlands
The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition
Games I still need to finish:
Mass Effect
Resistance
Reading:
Fear of the Dark by Walter Mosley
Wired magazine
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (I'm rereading it)
Homicide by David Simon
Watching:
The Office Season 5
Friday Night Lights Season 3
First run The Office
Flash Forward
First run Dexter
First run Top Chef
PS: Here is a picture of me in Home.
I've had my Playstation 3 since March and I've yet to find any use for Home. Seriously, what's the point? If you really wanna look cool and groovy and have yourself a sweet pad you have to shell out your money and for what? For what? I know it's just like the 360's avatar marketplace, but that thing is actually sweet.
That's my Xbox avatar, all decked out and ready for the world. I got my GOW t-shirt on and my gnarly beanie with the headphones on. Yeeeeah son! Bam!
That is all.
Recently I've thought about going back and removing old music off of my iTunes. Because honestly, how many times can you listen to Luscious Jackson without wanting to strangle yourself? So I went through my playlist and I started to vividly recall when and where I first purchased the original CDs years ago. You see, a large part of my music library comes from my latter years in high school when I was in love (or so I thought) with one girl and I bought all sorts of albums just to fine tune my tastes to match hers. A heterosexual male listening to Deborah Cox "Nobody's supposed to be here" could easily have his man card revoked. Today, through digital downloads you can easily hide it whenever you're jonesin' for some Rome, or Kci & Jojo. But in the age of physical discs and cassette tapes, hiding anything was impossible. Just imagine me going into a record store (yes we still had those back then) and taking Brandy's "Never say never" album to the register. But hey! I was trying to swoon the woman of my dreams who loved r&b music and hated rap!
This is why I'm barely discovering some of the rap tunes from those days now. Until 2009 I had never heard The Lox "Money, power and respect" album besides the radio singles and songs from the videos. The same can be said for Ice Cube and his "War disc." And don't even get me started on OutKast's "Aquemini" or for that matter Snoop Doggy Dogg's No Limit records debut. As I said, I knew these albums existed, but being sprung on a girl who hated rap kept me from enjoying a lot of these gems.
I think back to 2002, right before Kazza and digital downloads completely took over my life. I was in Houston working at a Taco Bell in the Dairy Ashford suburbs, where I spent all of my money on rent, food and CDs. Walking into the Wherehouse music store every other Friday was my way of relaxing. I'd spend 90% of my time there combing meticulously through each and every aisle of used CDs hoping to find that one rare album that one could only find online or behind a glass case somewhere. It was my pleasure. I found quite a few things including some of Master P's early, early, early releases that he shopped out of the trunk of his car, and some very rare and out of print albums like Mona Lisa's first and only release. I even found a bootlegged copy of Gina Thompson's unreleased album from 1999.
A friend recently leafed through my iPod and mentioned something about my collection being old. Yes, it is old, and while I do not live in the past, I do in fact like to have moments of nostalgia. Everytime I listen to Ginuwine's "The Bachelor" I like to think of those days of sitting in gym class with nothing to do and pulling out the Walkman. How about the time I skipped school just to go to Best Buy where I purchased Triple Six Mafia (back when they were still called that) "World Domination." Then I think about the time I sat around with this one girl at her place just talking, and The Fugees "Killing me Softly" played on repeat the entire time. Now that's something.
So eff it, I'm not getting rid of my old music. Ya'll are just gonna have to deal with it.
No, not an actual ship. Several weeks ago I dropped and broke my old camera trying to take a picture of some birds outside my window. I got mad and eventually just threw it away. Then I started searching around for a new camera that was powerful yet inexpensive. I found one. The Canon Powershot A1100 which retailed at under 150.00 was calling my name from the bestbuy.com page I found it on. It had to be mine. My what a lovely machine. 12 megapixels. 12! My last camera was only 8 megapixels, and the one before that was only 4 1/2. It takes beautiful pictures like the one shown above, and it just feels so right. Oh, my... this looks like the start of a beautiful relationship. *Wipes tear*
I admit I am a bit strange. Throughout life I've often gone on these little side quests that have no relevance whatsoever to the things I should be doing. An example of this started back in early November. A friend of mine came over and I was scanning my Netflix instant que. I noticed that the show Coach had its entire series available to stream. I could not pass this up. It had always been one of my favorite shows. I remember it would come on right after Monday Night Football. Anyway, so I began this mission hoping to complete it by the time I moved in March.
After powering through the first three seasons I began to lull into season 4. Time passed and I got really busy with working and making my big move. After I got comfortable in the new place is when I really started powering through the series again. I made it all the way up to season 8 where they moved to Orlando. My friend Quint says this is when they jumped the shark. I refused to believe it, and well, I got stuck watching one terrible season. But I maintained. Now I'm up to season 9, the final season, and good lord, it is terrible. Seriously, it's really bad. I am going to stay with it, but it is really hard now. Since I've been watching other things lately on my Netflix que, I haven't had time to indulge in Coach. Nevertheless, I will get through it. (Eventually)
I'm expecting a great package later today. I ordered something from the interwebs and according to my UPS tracker it is officially "out for delivery." When I do get it I will be showing it off every chance I get. You'll just have to wait and see what it is.
Over the weekend I finished reading Watchmen. Note that I bought this back in high school, and while I've always wanted to read it, I never could actually settle my mind down long enough to get through the first two chapters. I had too much other stuff on my mind including, girls, grades, chess club, hanging out with friends and baseball practice. After high school was over I just got way too busy. I shuttered the book away in a box along with other things I was too busy to read. Splinter of the Mind's Eye was another epic story that I could not finish at that particular stage in my life.
After shuttling the box with me to Houston and eventually Oklahoma, I finally got time to read some of these quality reads. Watchmen remained the one I could not get through. Then they announced the movie. I could not watch it out of sheer loyalty to my high school self and my thirst for reading the source material from which a lot of great stories come from. After moving to Lake Worth, I finally decided to finish the book once and for all. As an added incentive I told myself that after finishing the book I'd hop on Charter OnDemand and rent the director's cut in HD! I will get to that eventually.
But I loved the graphic novel. It is truly a superb piece of writing. I've heard that the movie wasn't all that great, but I will be the judge of that for myself. Adaptations are almost always a departure from its original source. For example Carlito's Way was actually derived from two books written by Edwin Torres. The film stays relatively faithful to the second book while mildly sprinkling in call backs to the first. Wow! My brain contains a lot of useless information, I know.
Just let me say again...I'm not normal.
Last Night...(minus Keyshia Cole and Piss Diddy)
I realize that I am a grown man with way more important things to be upset about than a football game. However, last night's Dallas Cowboys loss to the New York football Giants was especially hard for me. It's just a game. I know this yet I repeatedly let things like this anger me to no end. But today will be a good day.
After the game last night I needed something to watch that was non sports related. I hit up one of my favorite shows: Street Customs, only to see that it was an old episode I had already watched. Instead I pulled out my Batman TAS Volume 1 and I watched a couple of episodes including the truly tragic Heart of Ice, which just tugged at the heartstrings. Seriously, If you don't feel anything after watching that episode then you must be a robot.
Cell phone woes
I used to own a sidekick. It came with its own data plan that included text messaging all for 20 clams a month on top of my regular plan which was only 30 a month. 30 + 20 = 50 a month. That wasn't bad at all. Then I bought a T-Mobile Shadow, and its data plan was also 20 dollars, but if I wanted unlimited texts that would require an additional 15 dollars. That on top of my regular plan had me paying 65 dollars a month to use a totally awesome phone and all its features. After I moved 6 months ago I decided to downgrade my plan. I sold the Shadow to my brother and I bought a cheapie 30 dollar Nokia. The monthly rate for this was 30 dollars plus 10 dollars for X amount of texts a month.
What I am ultimately getting at here is that I want an iPhone. I've done the comparisons with other phones, and I've decided that I really, really, really want an iPhone. What is stopping me is the 90 dollars plus that I will end up paying for usage of this incredible device per month. I played with an iPod Touch the other day and I thought to myself, so this is basically an iPhone without the phone usage. I wanted one to begin with, but after that, now I really want an iPhone!
When it's cold outside...
Texas weather has always baffled me. Midway through the month of September we have had cold, rain and immense Texas heat in my neck of the woods. I can't wait until Fall truly gets here so I can feel that crisp air while listening to the Halloween soundtrack and immersing myself in Fall goodness! Yes, I need a life. Stop reminding me.
Walking into work yesterday I realized that my mood shifted and I immediately became very angry. I still can't figure out what triggered the mood swing. My only theory is that my weekend was over and it was back to the boring repetitive cycle that is work. I find that this happens to me a lot. I'll be in a good mood then bam! I'm the biggest grump on the face of the planet.
It doesn't help that a good friend of mine called me an asshole through another friend. I think back now and yes, I have been an asshole to him. I don't even know how I could possibly rectify the situation. I'd apologize, but then it wouldn't change anything because then I'd say something else to this cat that would offend him. In all seriousness the days of the past are gone. He's married now and has a son. Our lives are headed in opposite directions. I understand now that my brand of humor could offend someone that spends 100% of their time being an actual adult, while I spend 100% of my time being a bachelor with too much time on my hands. I wish him all the luck in the world. But I really doubt we'll ever be close friends again like the old days.
Mind you I am an adult capable of having adult conversations. But whenever I get around old friends the old me comes back. You know, the me that was a snarky jack-ass who hates everything and everyone. Granted, that me is still around in some respect, but it comes to light more when I'm around these guys. Nevertheless, I am attempting to curb this Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Jack-ass complex before I end up doing way more damage than has already been done.
Wow! Do you know that I just spent 30 minutes from the time I wrote that last paragraph just browsing online? Seriously, I need to take some sort of time management classes because I honestly don't know where the last half hour went. I'm cutting this off here. Maybe tomorrow we can pick up where we left off.
It's football time once again. In America NFL action signals the end of Summer, and the beginning of my favorite season: Fall. Why is it my favorite season? Simply put, I enjoy it. The crispiness in the air, the scattered leaves on the ground, and the anticipation of a damn good football game on Sunday.
Yes Fall. When Halloween and Thanksgiving are just around the corner. When staying in to play Madden is the new hotness over going out in that weather. When slipping on a sweater or a windbreaker to go outside and toss the pigskin around is cause for a celebration. When you're outside raking up the leaves and catching a quick conversation with the neighbors on how well your team is going to fare this season.
The Fall season also reminds me of those good times I had during high school. Because of an existing medical condition I was not allowed to play football in high school. (yet I could play baseball) But my love for the game made me want to be around it in some form or another. I became the team's video guy after the previous video guy bowed out for personal reasons. I traveled with the team, huddling by myself with a jacket on standing on top of the roof of many a press box as we rolled through small town after small town. I lugged around equipment, set up in whatever rat hole stadium to get the job done. However I did get to ride on the team bus, hang out in the field house, participate in team dinners, and I even had access to the cheerleaders. (more on that later) It was well worth it.
NFL on tv was and is my favorite thing to watch. Football brings us hunter-gatherers together as we all share a common bond that is our favorite team. "What's the score?" the pizza delivery guy asks as he hands me my game fuel. "Who just scored?" another guy might ask inside the convenience store he ran to for either a beer run or because his wife needed something. Huddled masses keep their eyes on tv screens inside the Jiffy Lube. The neighborhood bar might erupt with glee because of a game changing turnover within the final two minutes.
You pump your fist into the cold air and dance a jig over the brown grass. You eat some pumpkin pie served to you in the middle of a McDonald's Game Break on Fox. The heater will kick on just as Jim Brown finishes his pre-game analysis. Chris Berman and Mike Dikta make their picks as one of your friends comes inside from the cold, takes off his coat and finds solace inside the confines of your living room. Hot wings anyone?
The NFL is here again. Let us all rejoice.
Last night I toyed with the rain gods and they smited me in the worst way possible. So as I was coming home I noticed that the lights around Lake Worth were all out. The business mecca that I call home was totally pitch black. Then I get to my apartments, and voila, we have electricity. I immediately jumped on Facebook and updated my status to say "Power outage in Lake Worth! My apartments were unaffected though. I'm about to turn all my lights on just to mock everybody."
So I turned on Sportscenter, grabbed my laptop and got comfortable on the big couch. While on AIM my lights started flickering. A few minutes later I was sitting in the dark. So instead I spent most of the evening texting people and listening to angry music on my iPod. I eventually crashed.
So now I know not to play with fire anymore. The more you know....
I didn't get up until noon. My power is back on but it's still raining. I opened up some windows so I could hear the rain falling. I love that sound. So now I have my whole day planned out. Since I can't go anywhere I'm just gonna chill here and enjoy some college football. I even made myself out a little schedule. Peep...
I wanted to see TCU's game, but it's on ESPNU, which I don't have. I would get it, but it wouldn't be worth it outside of college football and/or basketball. College baseball I don't care for, neither do I really give two sticks about college softball either. but then it comes with ESPN News. So I might look into it.
But right now it's pizza time.
A few points to make since this is my first day back from an exasperating but much needed four day weekend.
- Today is the ten year anniversary of the Sega Dreamcast. If you'd like to read my thoughts on the Dreamcast you can find that here.
- Barbershop: The Series was a really great show. It was funny, witty, and there was continuity throughout the show. Toni Trucks deserved an emmy for her portrayal of Terri Jones, the character previously played Eve in the movies. Toni played the character better in my opinion, but that may be because she actually had time to fully develop the character, as opposed to Eve, who only had the two movies. Also, Omar Gooding did a really great job filling in for Ice Cube playing the part of Calvin.
- I'm nearly finished reading Watchmen. It's been at least 12 years, but I'm almost there.
- Trish Stratus is hosting RAW next week. I will most definitely be DVRing.
- Got in some quality time with Madden 10 and COD4 over the weekend. COD4 is addictive as hell!
- I speak Bocce.
I've probably seen the movie Fight Club at least 20 times in the 10 years that it has been out. I like the way the narrator talks in the film. Hence, I've always wanted to write a Fight Club-esque book myself. Because drawing from my own personal life, I'd be the perfect specimen. I work a nothing job where endless, mindless repetition is a requirement, as well as having no personal life. It would be great. I'd talk about my Pepsi addiction (which I'm working on), my love of the horror genre, and my near archival knowledge of the Star Trek franchise.
Then my alter ego shows up and attempts to knock some sense into me.
Okay, back to reality...
My internet was out completely yesterday. I got to do some good cleaning, and I caught up on the new season of Top Chef. I usually write throughout the week, taking Friday off to lounge around and do nothing. So this week I just switched it up. Today I'm back writing, and preparing for the weekend that is to come. I have articles to write for my music blog, as well as things to do for my new/old website that will be launching soon. It's kind of funny when your internet goes out. It's as if you're life blood slowly drains dry. How did we ever make it out of the stone age without the internet is the question I always ask. When it happened I said to myself, wow...now what do I do? So I cleaned. I cleaned and I watched tv, something I've been neglecting for some time now, even though my cable bill is sky high, and I fork over the dough each month, I still treat it like a red-haired step child in comparison to the internet.
Oh, and I cleared a lot of hard drive space from my macbook. Porn, music I don't listen to anymore and video files of Lebron James dunking on people all ended up on my Seagate external HD. Yay me!
From the Fred Mertz "Va va va voom!" files...
I'm still not clear on what it is exactly that she does, but she looks really good doing it. She's young, pretty, and comes from money. To me it seems like she's doing her damnest to be like Rihanna, but nevertheless, she looks good. Keep it up youngsta!
