Rockers and Rollers: a book review

If you're a fan of AC/DC and/or cars, then you'll love lead singer Brian Johnson's autobiography, Rockers and Rollers. Set up more like a collection of anectdotes than an actual memoir, Johnson relates stories from his life from the point of view of what automobile he owned or his friends/family owned at the time, stating that the two constants in his entire life were cars and music. Johnson writes exactly how he speaks (except it's actually intelligble LOL) so every line is a hysterical piece of northern English slang and euphemism, and he doesn't mince words. I've never laughed out loud more in my life while reading a book. From the first (and only) car his father ever purchased, to trying to talk bassist Cliff Williams out of impulse-buying an Aston Martin while on tour, to the start of his successful racing career, every chapter is the kind of story guys would share over pints. You feel like Johnson is your buddy the way he casually writes, like he's going to give you a clap on the shoulder and share a laugh with you at the end of each tale.
The cars mentioned are predominantly European, so if you're an American muscle car nut you might not be up for hearing about Aston Martins, Porsches, Renaults, Ferraris, Rolls-Royces and the like. But a passion for motors is a universal language, so any automobile aficionado regardless of what makes and models they prefer will be able to understand how Johnson feels. The stories involving his fellow bandmates, not just in AC/DC but in his earlier band Geordie, will give you insight on his relationship with fellow musicians and life on the road.
Even if you don't know anything about cars and don't care, the way Johnson tells the stories will have you howling. It's a quick read which you can breeze through in less than 3 days but you'll be thoroughly entertained, and it's a reminder that rock 'n roll and cars have always gone together like peanut butter and jelly.
I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Christmas Haul

It was a pretty good Christmas. My mom was beside herself that my dad broke down and got her her own Wii and my dad is very interested in learning how to sync music to his new iPod. His only concern is figuring out the most effective way to listen to it at work while keeping the bluetooth headset required for work in one ear. The cats got stoned on catnip and Frankenstein was totally enthralled with his first Christmas ever. I got lots of great stuff.

A new peacoat
A new bathrobe
New pillows with satin pillowcases
Slippers in the shape of Gir from Invader Zim - my favorite gift as I had a pair like 4 years ago but they got wrecked and had to be thrown out when I had a bedbug infestation
Peanuts Collection 1960s and 1970s Volume 1 on DVD
Watchmen on DVD
The Essential Weird Al on CD
Rockers and Rollers: An Automobile Autobiography by Brian Johnson of AC/DC
Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk
$50 Kohl's gift card
Various candy and skincare/beauty products in my stocking
No pads for once LOL (inside joke from back when my grandmother was still alive)
$250 from my grandfather.

My other grandparents are paying off a medical bill as my gift and I haven't gotten the gift from my aunt yet but I can only assume it's yet another Nintendo sweatshirt from Hot Topic (seriously, I looove Nintendo but three's enough). I haven't gotten Wig's gift yet. I asked for Parker Lewis Can't Lose on DVD (only the BEST forgotten show of the 90s) but if he couldn't find it, a new ring or 2 to replace the 2 I lost at work this Season.

My grandfather, uncle, and my mom's cousins Raymond and his partner Tom and Julie and her husband and 2 daughters all came for dinner at our house. Olivia is 2 and Sophia's 3 months. Olivia's one of those toddlers that is too smart and clever for their own good. And y'know the old saying kids say the darnedest things. Raymond was telling a story of when he took her to some Santa's Village thingie and they're waiting in line and some other kid was acting up she goes "It OK Unky Raymond. I think he's retarded" Like where'd she learn that word? When we babysat her a few weeks ago she just turned to my mom and addressed her by her first name, like "Hey, Carolyn!" and my mom's like "Call me auntie!" Also it was quite funny to see how enthralled with my uncle Richard both Olivia and Sophia were. My uncle Richard's waaaaay out there. He's tapped. So they're just staring at him like "WTF?" He spent half the party watching Christmas Vacation and the other half watching Elmo because we put it on for Olivia but she wouldn't stand still...but he left it on, even after my mom's like "Y'know, Rich, you can change that..." no response "...unless you want to watch it..."

After the horde of people left I headed over to Wiggy's where Wig shit a brick when he got his special edition Nintendo DSi. We watched Santa Claus Conquers the Martian (Mystery Science Theater version of couse) which is our new Christmas tradition after it went over so well with him and Gahmstead last year.

...and WTF Luis Guzman is in Crocodile Dundee II? Sorry that threw me off. It's on TVLand right now and I look over and I see the one Hispanic actor who's in EVERTHING...besides Danny Trejo, but he's technically only in everything directed by Robert Rodriguez...and Bubble Boy.

Anyway, after the movie Wig gave me a different kind of Christmas gift if you know what I mean *wink-wink, nudge-nudge, say no more* We called it an early night soon after because even though it was Christmas it was still a Friday which means he HAS to go over Jack's with the rest of the gang to play 360. LOL.

Christmas Eve was fun too. In the morning after the overnight shift was over, a huge group of us went over to Denny's, including Ed our manager. I'm surprised we weren't kicked out for being loud, obnoxious and continuously talking about vaginas. Something about Christmas vaginas and everyone was replacing the word Christmas with Vagina in song titles...yeah, we're very mature. A couple of them were noticably drunk. How professional. Jason actually passed out in his aisle and John got a hysteriacal picture of him just curled up on a couple boxes. Not that Ed can do anything cuz John's also got a picture of him asleep on a shelf. See what I miss when I'm closed off in the RZone? Neither of them were as drunk as this one kid who was actually drinking AT work, having smuggled in old-school alocholic egg nog in a water bottle, but he didn't come to Denny's. Probably for the best. Good thing Season and the overnight shift are over tonight because he wouldn't have had a job still anyway.
Anyway, that was one breakfast/dinner/whatever that was chock full of innuendo. And male cleavage (Mikey makes some really convincing cleavage when he squishes his chest up, which is odd because he's a skinny guy and doesn't have man-boobs or anything). God we were there for like, 3 hours just stuffing our faces and laughing hysterically. And Ed paid for the whole thing as a Christmas gift to us - despite our protests. But we all threw in for the tip. It's bittersweet. I'm so glad Christmas is over and hours and general foot traffic in the store are going back to normal and I can get back on a normal sleep schedule, but I was finally starting to have a real rapport with some of the night crew (I don't see them much because we're in our own respective sections but after work we started getting to talking only in the past week and Dan's a funny-ass guy...and he's the only other person I know so far besides me and Wig that have see Dayjob Orchestra's video dubs on YouTube! I also got him addicted to iCarly LOL) There' always Facebook, which I HAVE to friend everyone on, especially to nab copies of John's pics of Jason and Ed sleeping and Mikey's hot tits LOL.
After stumbling home from Denny's I slept a little and headed over to Wig's. His friend and drummer Mikey was over and we all watched Dragonball Evolution and the Invader Zim Christmas episode. Then when Gahmstead came home we watched Dodgeball which I FINALLY got to see. Hysterical. Dragonball wasn't bad but it wasn't great. If you're a fan of the original manga and anime, it's worth renting because they get a handful of things right like character personalities and the balance of action and comedy, but took a lot of liberties with the backstory. I don't think they even used the term Saiyan once. If you're not a Dragonball fan, this movie doesn't hold up much as just an action flick. There's some cool martial arts stuff and a fiery lava Mount Doom-esque landscape where the final showdown happens and there's an evil alien (played by Spike from Buffy and Angel) trying to take over but it's too cheesy even for people who like cheesy.

All in all it was a good end to a mediocre year.

Popping in

Just popping in so the blogosphere doesn't think I'm dead. Lately I've been busy with work or being in pain because of work. If it's not my back it's one of my knees. Or my feet. Or my arm. I've been constantly getting headaches too and while they're not severe I hope it's not a sign that I could end up getting cluster headaches like my dad. Plus I've started getting panic attacks at work, something which none of my coworkers have any sympathy for. It took them 15-20 minutes to get someone to cover for me so I could go to the break room to calm down. And yesterday my manager Steve told me I should just quit. The only people seemingly on my side and willing to help me out at work are my other managers Ed and Aaron, who actually produce helpful solutions. Ed has recruited not one but three people to work RZone overnights with me and on nights I'm not there so more stuff is getting done. And the other day Aaron actually ran over to Shaws to buy my Advil when my backache was unbearable. Aaron also almost looks like Rick Astley so whenever he's working I have Never Gonna Give You Up stuck in my head the whole time. This time of year's always horrible and there's always some things that get worse and some that get better. I try to remind myself that there's only 3 weeks left, but those are going to be three loooong weeks.

When I'm not working or in a stupor trying to recover from work, I'm working on 3 crochet projects - 2 scarves, one for Wig's sister and one for his mom, and a blanket for our friends Katie and Fetus' baby. They found out they're having a boy and are naming him Seamus Joseph Conley. Fetus is fiercely proud of his Irish heritage. I have a feeling the middle name Joseph is for our friend Joe Tilton who died last September. Fetus was really close to him. All three are made up of granny squares so I'm seeing granny squares in my sleep right now. Other than that most of my Christmas shopping is done. I have a few more people I need to get gifts for and I don't know what to get them yet. My dad finally broke down and got a Wii for my mom so me and Heather are going to get Wii Fit Plus so now she doesn't have to complain that I won't move the system into the living room. Me and Heather are getting dad an iPod Nano and I got Wig a Nintendo DSi bundle that we had on Black Friday because it was too good to pass up and his DS is broken. Heather asked for Aquasaurs, these prehistoric fish you hatch in an aquarium.

Speaking of which Heather's actually STILL working despite threatening to quit when the manager failed to have the schedule out on time and then told her last minute she had to work when she already had plans. Instead the manager apologized and said it was all his fault. She's actually going to stick out through the whole Season and however long into January ToyZAM is open for. She might even transfer to Spencer's once it closes (they're owned by the same company) but that's a might. She jokes that she's going to work for three months every 19 years.

So after seeing many Etsy CreateCrochet Teammates and a few of my close friends make fan pages for their Etsys (Etsies?) I jumped on the bandwagon and made one too. I'm planning on some fun Fan-only promotions in the future. I've spent a lot of time in the past couple weeks networking and connecting with everyone on the CreatCrochet team- following any blogs or Twitters they have, favoriting their shops, and becoming fans on FaceBook. The more connections, the more word spreads. The CreateCrochet team is a great community. We recently did a swap where we were matched up and got to know our partner through convos and we had to make a secret gift for each other. I was matched with a woman from Vermont and it was fun getting to know her. I felt bad because she had a mild stroke and it's crazy because she's only in her late 20s. But she's doing OK now. She made me a reuseable Swiffer pad and a scrubbie and I made her a set of regular-sized and mini brain slugs (Mommy and Baby to represent her and her 2-year old daughter) in the same variegrated pink I made Flav's out of. I'm aiming to join a couple more teams, one for my jewelry and hopefully find some local ones. If you're on Etsy and not on a team yet look it up. It's a great way to network, get your items some more views, get tips and support and have fun doing your craft.

Tonight I'm getting together with a group of former Toys R Us Medford coworkers. It's something we do 2 or 3 times a year to catch up, have some drinks and have fun. We'll be going to Border Cafe in Burlington. Jill usually orchestrates the plans and other regulars always include Lynnette, Noelle, Joanne Ellard, Amy Struppa, and Melissa Cashman. Last time we got together Aimee Walkup was back in the area after moving the North Carolina and getting married. It was funny because a lot of us were wondering whatever happend to her after she quit and boom there she was. LOL. But I look forward to getting buzzed on margaritas before pulling an overnight LOL.

I wonder when we're putting up our tree. Probably this weekend or next weekend. My dad has a reputation as a Scrooge or a Grinch because he hates Christmas decorations. He just doesn't like the hassle of digging them out, putting them up, and then having to clean them up after the holidays. I'll admit the tree is a bit of a pain in the ass, hauling it upstairs, putting it together. (I'm allergic to pine so we can't have a real tree. Real trees are a hassle too though. Cutting it down or going to the lot and picking one out, hauling it back home, trimming it, watering it, sweeping up shed needles) And of course our cat Wyatt always has to try to climb it, and we have no idea what the new one, Frankenstein, is going to do when he first sees the tree. But I can't wrap any gifts until the tree is up because I have nowhere else to put them. If I try to shove them back in the back of my closet while they're wrapped, the wrapping could get ripped. So, no wrapping until I can put them under a tree.

Beating up a zombie to Queen's Don't Stop Me Now is one of the greatest moments in cinema history. Why don't I own Shaun of the Dead on DVD? Watching it edited on Comedy Central is subpar.

Seasonal Update

I have to get back in the swing of blogging more frequently. It's been too long since the last time I updated. So even though it's 2 months before New Year's I'm going to make a resolution to update my Blogger, Twitter and FaceBook on an almost-daily basis.

So I think I'm having a quarter-life crisis. I'm turning 25 this month. On the one hand that's not old at all, but on the other it's 5 years from 30, and nothing I had planned to have accomplished by now has come to fruition. I'm still living at home, and I'm no closer to starting my career and getting married. I realized that subconciously I've been trying to recreate my youth. Over the past year or so I've been slowly collecting all my favorite childhood shows on DVD, the most important being Peanuts specials. For some reason, Snoopy will always stick out in my mind as being a big deal when I was growing up, and recently I've been rewatching the specials I already have on DVD or VHS and have been trying to collect the rest that are available on DVD (no small feat as there were over 130 made between the 1960s and early 2000s and not all of them are on DVD yet) I've been on the Peanuts wikipedia page and I found out there's a Charles Schultz museum in Santa Rosa, California that I MUST go to - and there's even a statue of Charlie Brown and Snoopy in Santa Rosa center. Other series from back in the day I've amassed in my nostalgia stupor include Garfield, Adventures of Pete & Pete, Darkwing Duck, Inspector Gadget, Clarissa Explains it All, Alf, and Punky Brewster. Not to mention all the old movies I have as well. I'm too young to be freaking out about my age and trying to recapture my youth, but right now the desire to relive the simpler times in my life is at full force. But it's not necessarily a bad thing. Those were some great shows and the fact that they're on DVD and I can watch them whenever I want is great - especially when there's bonus features because I'm a trivia whore.

They're having a Price is Right Live event at Foxwoods now through the 18th. Being the game show whore that I am and the fact that it's only 2 hours away and $25 for a ticket, me and Wig are thinking of going next week. Who knows? We might luck out and win some awesome prizes. It's worth the shot. I'd fare a lot better on Cash Cab, Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy though, it's less up to chance and more reliant on my unending cache of useless random trivia. Also I just found out that there's a little sci-fi convention being held the 21st and 22nd in the Framingham Sheraton (the castle on the Mass pike) and fucking Brent Spiner is going to be there. Only my favorite actor who played my favorite character in the entire Star Trek universe. And tickets are only $35 for the whole weekend. I've already started overnights for the season, and getting weekends off is normally impossible this time of year, but my manager is a fellow nerd and he totally understood. I only really need Friday off so I can sleep and be well rested and get there early then I can do my normal Saturday overnight after I get back from the con. I don't need to go Sunday unless I miss Brent on Saturday and he's going to be doing signings on Sunday too. But I think Sat will suffice. But if I couldn't get the days off, I could function on a couple hours sleep and still work and go to the con. I can forgo sleep for one weekend for Brent Spiner. I know I'm being a total spaz right now, but this is a big deal. I've been a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation since I was eight and Data has always been my favorite character, so this is a lifelong dream.

In other news, I had a couple Etsy sales a few weeks ago. Two in a row. I also joined an Etsy Team. It's the CreateCrochet team and it's wicked fun. Every month there's a new challenge theme. This month's is "winter" and the possibilities are endless. You make your item, list it, and it gets featured on the blog and in treasuries. Every week there's a featured seller and I was the featured seller 2 weeks ago. I got much love for my brain slug amigurumi as usual and a bunch more hearts but no sales. We're also doing a swap right now where we were matched up with other members to convo back and forth and get to know each other and make each other surprise gifts. I have to work on the swap and the winter challenge item plus some new ideas I have for the shop. I don't know what I'm going to do for everyone for Christmas yet. I have a lot of ideas that cost a lot of money but no money to pull them off, but I don't know what I can crochet for everyone that I can get done in time. But I'll think of something and pull it off last minute.

I actually had a decent Halloween for the first time in years. Me, Wig, Inyx, Sin and Ed went into Salem. It's so overrated and overcrowded and has been totally ruined by the tourists. But the highlight of the day was seeing a DeLorean decked out just like the one in Back to the Future! Complete with a Marty McFly and Doc Brown for photo-ops. They were collecting donations for TeamFox for Parkinson's Disease research and any donation allowed you to take a picture in the driver's seat. I love the Back to the Future trilogy and I love DeLoreans because we share the same initials, DMC. My dad used to joke I was named after the DeLorean Motor Company, and I'm even considering keeping my maiden name when I marry just to keep the coolest initials ever. More pics on my flickr.

I had a job interview a couple weeks ago. While the position was in Beverly I had to go to the main office in Sudbury for the interview. It was for a part-time music teacher for a daycare/school called Next Generation Children's Center. I thought the interview went really well but I got a rejection letter literally 3 days later. With my license still pending and no experience, it's next to impossible to get a job in anything remotely teaching related. But I'm not giving up yet. I have a list of online resources for private school job listings someone my mom knows sent her for me, and there's the option of private lessons. I'm also seriously pursuing the idea I had for a children's book: Hayden Go Seek. I don't know whether I want to do it like an I Spy book or for younger children where you lift open flaps to find items, but the plot is that you have to find specific orchestral instruments, parts of the musical staff and composers. Also my eBay sales have been steady. No huge hauls but I'm getting a few bucks for things I don't need anymore (or promotional items I got for free or for as little as a penny!). Although I'm having some issues with a couple buyers not having paid yet. They're already late, it's been over a week, but I try to be understanding and lenient. I mean, there could've been a death or medical emergency and they haven't been online in a week. Who knows? But if I still get no reply or payment in a few days I will file a claim with eBay. This is the first time I've had this problem on eBay, although I had it once on Etsy. Generally I get paid instantly or within the first 3 days. I pride myself in having 100% positive feedback and everyone praises my fast shipping and communication. I'd hate for my reputation to be tarnished.

And my car has been in the shop TWICE in the past month for leaking coolant. The first time was a cracked something-or-other valve and then 2 weeks later the radiator went. When they were replacing the radiator, they found that the transmission lines were rusted and one broke so those had to be replaced. Fortunately, the guy that does all my repairs is a close friend of my dad's and didn't charge any labor. I still owe my dad and my grandmother a ton of money for helping me with car parts and repairs. :(

And we have a new kitten! Heather's friend couldn't keep him and she didn't want to see him go to the animal shelter, so she brought him home. We were supposed to find a new home for him but we got too attached and kept him. His name's Frankenstein. He is the most obnoxious pet I ever owned but he's adorable. And my parakeet Gemini died the other day. Sad, but not devastatingly sad as I wasn't too attached to him, and he was old for a parakeet and I think het got sick in the past couple months.

I saw Boondock Saints II: All Saint's Day. If you haven't seen the first one, what the fuck are you waiting for?! And if you have, see the sequel you'll fucking love it! It was much like the first one with the action and the spurts of comedy but it had a deep backstory that Saints fans will appreciate. Wig and I both give it two thumbs up.

Well, I think I'm going to work on some crochet projects and rest before my overnight shift. I'm going to try to blog more often so my few readers know what's going on. Until then...

PortCon, Wheel of Fortune, and the Death of Many Legends

So I didn't have a chance last week to blog about PortCon Maine, which was actually 2 weekends ago, so time to blog about it now.

It was just Inyx and I, as Wig had the opportunity to make $120 and get some of his old parking tickets paid off and get his license renewed in exchange for working with his father and uncles. We got up to Portland quickly and checked in. The convention was back in its old location, which was the South Portland Sheraton but is now the Wyndham, which is a much better location than where it was last year. It's right across from the Maine Mall and only a few blocks away from a lot of major restaurants and a Hannafords.
After an easy set-up, we headed over to the Maine Mall for a quick dinner at Panda Express. There was a David's Bridal there and Inyx thought it'd be fun to look around. I saw a couple on display that I kind of liked because they had old-fashioned elements, but I didn't see any I really wanted to try on, but Inyx weaseled her way into getting a fitting and tried on a dress herself and sent a picture to her boyfriend in Maryland to see if he'd freak, but nothing fazes him. We also went to Michaels because I forgot to pack my glue gun. Then we went to the hotel's pool and hot tub.
Sin arrived the next day after a delay because her friend Ed's car was in the shop and business went as usual. Friday night we went to Old Country Buffet with a group of other Artist Alley people. It was us, Sin and her group, Zodi-ack! a mother/daughters business also from Massachusetts, and a couple of Zodi-ack!'s friends. The food was decent, because OCB is really luck of the draw, depending on when you go there's shit to choose from or there's a good spread. At one point, someone got a taco, and another said "They serve tacos? At a Chinese food place?" And her friends are like "This isn't a Chinese food place! What made you think that?" and I go "Did you think the 'Old Country' was Thailand or something?" And hilarity ensued. I think the staff was happy when we finally left. Then we went swimming and hot tubbing with Sin and her crew.
Saturday after Artist Alley closed we all went to Olive Garden. Instead of squeezing into Ed's car, we threw Sin, Ed and Anzu into Inyx's truck bed, because it was only around the corner. I don't know if it's illegal in Maine to ride in the bed, but it is in Mass. But Anzu kept making Mexican migrant worker jokes and talking in a bad Mexican accent. On the way back from Olive Garden Sin's sitting up on her knees and dancing and waving her arms and when Inyx took a wide turn she flew forward and landed in Ed's lap. I have 4 videos of the entire trip to and from Olive Garden with the stop at Hannaford's to buy booze, including Sin's spill. They'll be up on YouTube eventually. Hannaford's wouldn't let us purchase the alcohol because not all of us had ID.
We all decided that the entire crew for PopCult and Plastic Love are going to dress in steampunk for ConnectiCon so now the race is on to get some Victorian-ish clothes and accessories that look like they came out of a Jules Verne novel. It's going to be fun. ConnectiCon is alway the big con because we have the Artist Alley Networking Party. Fortunately, it's not until July 31 so I have a lot more prep time.

After I got back from PorCon, Wig and I met up at Dunks w/Flav, Ricky, Alison, Jay, Gantz, Tony and Joey. Alison was down in Boston to celebrate her birthday. Mark and Katie also arrived and later Doug. We spent most of the time looking through yearbooks and photo albums reminscing about high school. Wig and I left early because I was exhausted after 2 conventions in a row and very little sleep. I've actually been out of it for a while, sleeping til 1130 and noon most days. I'm trying to get myself up at 9 to get shit done, but 10/1030 is all I can muster.

Yesterday, I drove an hour to Marlborough to Solomon Pond Mall because the Wheelmobile was there holding try-outs for Wheel of Fortune. As everyone knows, I'm too good at that game and it's my goal to get on there and/or Jeopardy. The ride was easy, just 93 and 495, but long, but it took me 20 minutes to find parking. But I only had to stand in line for an hour and a half before they began to call out names from my application group. Alas, they didn't call me :( But while I was at the mall I took the opportunity to get the AC/DC Chucks and also ended up getting Thundercats Season 2 volumes 1 and 2 for $9.99 each and Season 1 volume 1 for $20. Considering when they first came out, each volume was $60 each, this was a great value.

Of course, you all know that last week was the Week o' Celebrity Deaths with Ed McMahon dying at 86 on either Monday or Tuesday and Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson dying Thursday. Then yesterday while in line at the Wheel of Fortune event, Wig's brother texts him to say Billy Mays died. At first I insisted it was a prank because so many deaths already happened last week somebody's starting a rumor. I couldn't look it up on my phone because internet on my phone sucks. Wig called his friend Guru to look it up online from a reputable news source and it's unfortunately true. The report so far is that he was unresponsive yesterday morning but no foul play is expected. Saturday he was in a minor plane accident and hit his head, but he insisted he was fine and didn't go to the hospital. My theory is he had a concussion that he didn't treat and fell asleep and you know you're supposed to keep concussed people awake. But we'll see what the autopsy says. I'm devastated, he was an icon. Easy to parody, very memorable. I won't be able to laugh at the YouTube poops anymore. Would it be in bad taste for Wig to continue on with his spot-on impression? What will become of the reality show Pitchmen? And who will promote products like OxiClean and Mighty Putty now? Vince is good, but nowhere near the same caliber of Billy Mays. Incidentally, Wig wants to create a tribute song in the style of Dethklok, the death metal band from the Adult Swim show Metalocalypse. One of the suggested titles is "Sinfomercial" I'll post lyrics as soon as they're written. He already has one line about Zorbeez sopping up your blood or something. Meanwhile, jokes about Michael Jackson molesting small boys continue on even after his death while simultaneously everyone praises him for his memorable music...much like when he was still alive. And Farrah Fawcett's death seems merely a footnote. Who's going to die next? With all the rain and celebrities dropping like flies, someting apocalypic is going on...It's been a fucked up summer.

Who Watches the Watchmen...in IMAX

So as you can tell from my subject line, I got to see The Watchmen. Wigster and I went to IMAX yesterday. The movie was EPIC. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to read the graphic novel before seeing the movie, which is half laziness half inability to buy it half not knowing anyone who owned it to borrow it from (except Ricky but that doesn't help because he's on the other side of the state). Still, I went into the movie with certain expectations from what I've read in Entertainment Weekly and what bits and pieces I did know about the comic. Ironically, Wig and I know more about the Watchmen than his brother who actually works in a comic book store for a living. Ironically, Wig did get to read part of the comic and it was one of the few parts that was changed. It was Rorshach's flashback to when he was looking for a kidnapped girl, and he found out a guy murdered her and fed her to his dogs. In the comic, Rorshach handcuffed the killer to a furnace then gave him a hacksaw and set the house on fire, watching as it burned to the ground and no one escaped, whereas in the movie he handcuffs the man to the furnace but instead hacks him to pieces. I loved the cinematography and the aptly chosen and placed music. Entertainment Weekly complained a bit that the scenes were too close-up and cramped in their effort to look like a comic book and it prevented scenes from playing out and moving naturally. I think the comic book panel-esque scene blocking was perfect since it IS a comic book. It made it look like a live-action comic book which was the intention all along. My only beef was: too much blue penis. Don't get me wrong, I'm not offended or uncomfortable - I love cock. But it was unecessary. I mean, Dr Manhattan doesn't need to wear clothes - he's beyond clothes at this point since he's pure energy and time and whatever - but he can. Sometime's he's got a blue Speedo-thing on, and he can even dress up in a suit and tie. Why doesn't he wear that blue Speedo all the time? I mean, is he beyond modesty too? I don't understand how the other characters didn't get distracted in the middle of important conversations. Imagine, "We're close to nuclear war. We got to...um..." *eyes slowly shift downward* "uh....Jeez, John! Cover up, I can't concentrate!!" At least it was proportionate. I was expecting something gargantuan the way everyone in the media was commenting on it. I just feel bad because the guy has perpetual blue balls and there's nothing he can do about it. They'll always be blue...


Anyway, a random fact: David Hayter, who wrote the screenplay adaptation of Watchmen is also the voice of Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid video game series. He also co-wrote the screenplays to X-Men and X2. You never know, that might be a question on Cash Cab. I could've just won you $50. You'll be thanking me.

But we also enjoyed Fuddrucker's because Phantom Gourmet has some "March Meal Deals" and one of them was a 1/3 burger, fries and a soda for only $4.99 which is mad cheap for Fuddrucker's, plus we haven't had it in forever. One of the most delicious hamburgers you could ever eat. We had, like an hour to kill because we went straight there from doing errands so we wandered around Jordan's, which is a labrynth of furniture. Everytime I go through that store, I just go deeper and deeper into the bedroom section or the home office section and then I don't know how to get back to the theater. But we made it back to civilization in due time. I always try to pick out what kind of furniture I'd get for my future house. They had sculptures that were giant versions of Monopoly pieces. They had them all: the racecar, the shoe, the thimble the top hat. I want them! But they were $70 each. Still they're so deliciously random and kitschy. There was also an ottoman that looked like a giant dice, so I'd love to get all those together and paint a floor like a giant Monopoly board so I could play giant Monopoly. The money could be beach towels LOL. Do you find it wrong that only one company makes the game Monopoly? (Think about it...thank you Steven Wright)

So yay I got a new phone finally. I decided to renew my contract with Sprint just one last time (because I have a severe learning disability and I can't tell shitty service from good service). It's just cheaper. With my grandfather's government discount, my plan is only $35. I don't want to spend extra - even if it's for a better plan - right now. So, I have another 2-year contract and once that's up I'll be finally at a better paying job and I can move on to a slightly more expensive but significantly better plan. Besides, I wanted the Samsung Rant and that's a Sprint exclusive. It's so pretty and shiny and purple and it charges properly!!! I'm excited to have a great phone for once. YAY!

Amusing Friday...A Musing Friday

I had a funny moment w/a customer today: she just happened to be quite large and she decided to take advantage of our Buy one Get on Half Off on the 20-packs of Philips AAs. She literally said, "Never have too many batteries. I eat through them...not literally." I'm thinking, "Did she just make a fat joke about herself or just making a joke about figures of speech?!" So I just politely chuckled, but that phrase choice is just priceless right there.
Then Flav and Ricky stopped by unexpectedly, so that was a pleasant surprise. I couldn't persuade either one to buy a Wii though. Although I will admit, if you're only casually into playing video games, the DS would be the better choice. It's more casual-gamer-friendly and there's a bigger variety.
Everyone is familiar with my cheesy string of composer puns (I'll be right Bach, can you Handel it? I'm going Chopin...etc). Well, today I came up with a great idea for a children's pop-up book that teaches about classical music and composers. It'd be titled "Hayden Go Seek." It's so clever I'm afraid it's already taken, so I'm going to have to research that. It's a slightly better idea than my old classmate James Peters' movie idea: "Bach to the Future." I don't think that the great German and Austrian composers of the Baroque and Classical eras realized the extent of punniness their names would amount to.
Then I was looking at stuff on Etsy, namely stuff with skeleton keys and vintage typewriter keys, and I found one made with a really rare typewriter key for a punctuation mark known as an interrobang, which is a combination question mark and exclamation point. Y'know, for when you have to exlaim something incredulously like "He did what?!" Instead of using both a question mark and and an exclamation point you'd just need the interrobang. First off, I just love the name: it combines the word interrogate with BANG! It's a question with pizzazz! Actually, it's because "bang" is printer's slang for exclamation point. It kinda makes sense. It's for sentences with a bang. But now I'm thinking "Damn, that would've made a great band name, or company name." You already have a built-in logo. But now it's too late. Wig would never rename Umbilical Cord and I don't have the wherewithal to start my own band, and I'm kinda already established as StringTheory101 on Etsy. But yeah, the interrobang. It was invented in the 60s and was basically only used in printing and on typewriters for the 60s and 70s. It was a fad - and I didn't think you could have punctuation fads. That'd be like not using semi-colons anymore.
So when I got home from work today and brought in the mail, there was one of those "We're sorry we missed you" things from the Post Office for when they can't drop off a package cuz they need a signature. So it's for me, it's certified mail and it's a letter, not a box or anything like that. So I'm hoping this is my long-awaited degree from Berklee. We'll see tomorrow before work. Woot. Also my tax return dropped into my bank account either yesterday or today so now I got a huge chunk o'money with which to pay bills. Yay! And it'll be gone in less than a month...
Where do all those people come from in the Verizon commercials? I mean one minute there's no one, and the next there's an army of IT guys and operators. And if you need that many people per account making sure it's working right, then your service isn't as good as you make it sound. I think I'm gonna stick with Sprint and their pretty laser light shows LOL
Well, that's enough amusing musings for now. I somehow lost 3 hours because last time I checked it was 8 and now it's 11...so I think it's time to put the computer away and either do something productive or call it an early night and get some much-needed rest

A Little Humor to Start Your Day

So I'm just looking for wedding dresses in a couple different places since Pyramid Collection no longer has the awesome dress that I really wanted. And I'm looking on one website and I just had to click on this thumbnail. I'm not into the dress but I just had to wonder why she would pose in front of what appears to be a giant sculpture of a vagina:

She's also very surly looking for a bride. Maybe she's one of those Bridezillas The Learning Channel warns you about. God I hope I don't turn into a Bridezilla, but I do have 8 months to plan a wedding and doing it as cheap as possible while still looking nice, so I'm warning everyone now that things could get ugly.

Hi! This is Vince with a lawsuit against Scientology

So tonight I've come across the most bizarre bit o' information in the entire interwebs. Thanks to TV personality Olivia Munn's obsession with the SlapChop, I gathered from the comments that Vince, with his buggy eye and unneccesary headset, has an ongoing lawsuit with the Cult -er - Church of Scientology. Sounds made up? Of course it does. But it's a litle too elaborate for someone to make up. And who in their right mind would think ShamWow + Scientology + Underground Comedy Movie + Lawsuit = Awesome rumor

A comment on heyolivia.com led me to this blog -http://skepchick.org/blog/?p=5490 that has the whole story. I googled that shit to confirm it - I mean as much as you can confirm something on the internet (if the same exact story exists in numerous sources - especially reputable sources - it's usually true). You'll have to read the whole thing for yourself, but I'll give you a quick rundown:

His full name is Vince Offer - and that isn't even his REAL name. His real first name is Offer (apparently it's Israeli, he said in an interview his dad was Israeli. Shlomi might be his real last name according to a Scientology website I found but I can't confirm that) and he was a Scientologist. In the 90s he started making The Underground Comedy Movie with a handful of fellow scientologist actors. The Scientologists fucked him over royally in retaliation against the movie and ruined his movie career and his business. So he started selling some kitchen products at flea markets and swap meets until he came across the ShamWow and the SlapChop - both products he outright owns - and began selling them on infomercials. He also realized he could sell the Underground Comedy Movie via infomercial, which despite the fact that it's considered one of the worst movies ever made and is the most offensive movie ever made, has sold very well. So he is using funds raised by the sales of these 3 products to pay for his ongoing lawsuit against the Church of Scientology for almost ruining his movie, ruining his business and nearly ruining his life.

Also, back in the 90s he sued Anna Nicole Smith for backing out of her contract for the movie and the Farrelly brothers for allegedly stealing scenes from Underground Comedy Movie for use in There's Something About Mary. The Farrellys are like "We never even heard of him or his movie"

So buy the ShamWow and the SlapChop. Even by the Underground Comedy Movie if you like extremely crude, offensive b-movie quality sketch comedy. Support a man's right to stand up to a made-up religion for fucking him over. I'll never look at those commercials the same way again

Absorbing the Hate

Testy

So after much deliberation about whether to play it safe and apply for a preliminary license or to just go for the initial license, I went for the initial license and paid the damn $100 fee today. I love how it costs less for a license to operate a potentially dangerous vehicle than it does to teach. I guess it's the need for extensive background checks to make sure they're not giving a total pyscho pedophile a teaching license that makes it so steep. I would've had to do it no matter what, so I can't really complain. It's another step completed toward starting an actual career.

Then tonight I took the Jeopardy online test. I didn't do as well as I thought I would. It's all luck of the draw what questions you're gonna get and I got some crappy questions. The thing that sucks the most is that one question was on the author of the book Out of Africa, which was referenced in the book Alex and Me which I JUST READ YESTERDAY!!! and I couldn't remember pseudonym the author wrote it under. And I couldn't run and look it up in Alex and Me because I only had 15 seconds to answer. I don't know when the test results will be sent to me, but I'm not too concerned about whether I passed or not. Even if I passed I still have a very slim chance to actually get on Jeopardy, so I'm not going to get my hopes up. Still, it doesn't hurt to try, so there's always next time they have an online test.

Also, Wig finally ordered my engagement ring today. It kind of loses its surprise and romanticism when I actually picked it out, but we're not very traditional, plus it wasn't going to be much of a surprise anyway. We had decided a long time ago that we were going to get married, it was just a matter of waiting until I was out of college, got a good job, and we could afford to move in together. So I always knew he'd propose, it was just when. Plus I'd rather pick out something I'd like since I'd be wearing it every day for the rest of my life (although I can trust Wig's choices, he knows my tastes). The ring itself isn' a traditional engagement ring either. My sister is making fun of me because A)I had to tell Wig what ring to get and 2) because I picked it out of the Pyramid Collection catalogue and it's only $70. Whatever. It's not how much it's worth, it's what it symbolizes. We wouldn't even bother with a ring and a proposal since we're already definitely getting married, but I like to be a little traditional and I want a new piece of jewelry to mark this milestone in our relationship.

Which brings me to another point, Wig and I have always wanted to keep the anniversary of our first date, September 9, as our wedding date. Last year we were saying how cool it would be to get married on 9/9/09 but I was trying to think realistically about cost and planning and wanting to be able to move in with my new husband after the wedding and not being able to afford all that just 9 months from now. But when the topic came up again last week, Wig was adamant about having that date and said he'd do anything he could to make it happen. So save the date, it's likely I'll be getting married on 9/9/09. It's going to be a medium-small ceremony. I want most of my family and friends there, but it doesn't have to be fancy, extravagant or expensive. Ironically, my mom also brought up the fact that she knows an aging Justice of the Peace that has a large gazebo in his backyard and has offered to marry me and/or Heather. I think my mom knows him because he's a patient at the office she works at. She had mentioned him years ago and I forgot until she brought it up again last Sunday, saying that we (my sister and I) need to get married before he kicks the bucket so we could use his gazebo. Then we could have the reception at Anthony's or the Marconi Club which are both owned by family. And my dress doesn't have to be more than $100. I want something medieval or Victorian looking - something just from another time. There are a couple dresses from Pyramid Collection I like, but I'm not above checking out David's Bridal and their $99 sales. I don't know what I'd do for my bridesmaids. I still want a maid of honor and bridesmaids because there's my sister, Wig's sister, my cousin and my closest and oldest friends I'd like to be part of the ceremony. I'm definitely not going to make them wear ugly dresses, I promise. So I got some planning to do. I hope I can pull it off. If not this year, next year is definite.

But on that note, I leave you with a quote from Zoidberg on Futurama "I've had it with this game. I'm going for a scuttle."

Apparently, fail is everywhere

So this is an actual screen-cap of a window that pops up when you don't qualify for an OTX survey (commonly associated w/MyPoints, e-Rewards, InboxDollars and other survey for money sites). Is the intrawebs so rife with fail that they have to point it out so blatantly? Also, this isn't even technically fail. It's not like I suck at taking surveys. I didn't even know Survey Fail existed until today. At least it's not Epic Survey Fail. That'd be hard to live down.

Anyway, life has been pretty inconsequential the past couple days. I've been working, and yesterday I hung w/Der Flav. We went to Jo-Ann Fabrics and Friendly's, where we were apparently served by a Lizard...

I'm trying to finish more craft projects so I can finally put something else on Etsy, but it's so hard to find time, and when I have time, to find the motivation. There's always something else to do, or I'm too tired. I just have to glue the eye on the Brain Slug, so that can go up tomorrow, and I started a new scarf, a red and white striped homage to Waldo of Where's Waldo fame. I also want to make teeny scarves out of leftover yarn for pets and dolls. I got the idea at Wig's house. I had a very small amount of blue left and his youngest cat Nibbler is just sitting there on his lap being retardedly adorable as usual and I said "I know, I'll make a scarf for Nibbler. A kitty scarf" But I didn't have enough blue yarn left for even that. But the idea stuck. People dress their pets in ridiculous things all the time, how 'bout cat and dog-sized scarves? They'd also be suitable for dolls and teddy bears...*shrug* It's something for the the little balls of leftover yarn that aren't big enough for anything else.

So I'm going to continue work on my Waldo scarf as I watch Stargate. I've never seen it all the way through, but I got it for mad cheap at FYE last week. (see http://nocturnalinfernal.blogspot.com/2009/01/coupon-whore-strikes-again.html).

Sundays are usually spent with Wiggy. I have mixed feelings about having tomorrow off. Sure it's nice to not have to go into work (especially when it's going to snow AGAIN), I get to sleep in, watch Phantom Gourmet and get some stuff done before going to Wig's. But on the other hand, I'd rather work tomorrow since it's time and a half and have a different day off. Especially when hours are still bad and I'm down to three days again this week.

WTF? Richard Kind - the obnoxious guy from Mad About You and Spin City - is in Stargate? I also saw French Stewart's (squinty-face guy from 3rd Rock from the Sun) name in the credits too. Ran...dom...And now I leave you with that useless bit of information

Delicious Fat-food

KFC's double chocolate chip cakes are the win.

So, the credit issue on my graduation evaluation seems to have righted itself over the weekend, because Kenn Brass replied to me and said everything was where it should be and when I looked at it again, he was right. But it was DEFINITELY missing last Friday when Grace Aldrich mentioned it. But I can't complain, that means I don't have to panic anymore.

Seriously, for the past couple of years I've wondered if going to Berklee was a huge mistake. On the one hand, I've been dicked over a bunch of times: The vast majority of required courses for the Music Ed major have only one scheduled class which filled up quickly, meaning there were a bunch of courses I couldn't take when I was supposed to - on top of that there were courses you had to take before you could take other courses, this all made some things take longer to complete. Then on top of that was the issue with the Music Ed proficiency. This covered everything: I had to do a solo on my principle instrument, demonstrate basic knowledge of one woodwind and one brass instrument and piano, conduct a vocal arrangement, demonstrate the vocal ranges, do a powerpoint presentation for a lesson unit, and teach a children's song by rote. I failed the solo, rote song, powerpoint and conducting despite the fact that I felt I did OK. When I went to make it up, I still didn't do too well on the solo and the rote song, and the Music Ed chair, Cecil Adderly basically said I wasn't going to graduate as a Music Ed major and to switch to Pro Music. He wasn't even going to give me another chance. He made it seem like I was unfit to teach, but it was just nerves. It's one thing when it's little kids but another when it's a panel of professionals scrutinizing your every move. And maybe I wasn't ready to teach then, but now I've had some time to work things out and will probably do better if given another chance. So anyway, I switched to Pro Music, but instead of the one more semester of student teaching I would've had under the Music Ed requirements, I now had 2 more semesters because there were 2 classes I needed to complete for Pro Music and I couldn't take them at the same time, I had to take one before I could take the other.

The good thing about that though was the last class I would've had to take, Final Project Seminar, Kenn Brass the Pro Music chair AND teacher of the Final Project Seminar literally told me I did NOT have to take the class, I could do the project on my own time and just check in in his office hour and submit the project for credit. He's like, "You don't need it, save yourself a couple of grand." So while I still had to wait out the extra semester and work on a project to be eligible for graduation, I at least didn't have to pay for an extra semester. That man is the shit. He is the best person at Berklee. I wish I'd known Pro Music was an option, like, 4 years ago, I would've done that instead of crawling through the Music Ed timeline with all it's speed bumps, and I probably would've been done sooner and with less stress. But they still haven't perfected the time machine, so I have to accept the fact that I had to deal with some bullshit.

The one thing I don't regret about going to Berklee is the experience. If I had gone to UMass Boston, the other college I was accepted to, I wouldn't have gotten a concentrated music repertoire and I wouldn't have become a better musician. Thanks to Berklee, I now better understand music theory and am a better keyboard player and can play clarinet pretty well and know the basics of trumpet and flute even though I didn't pick those up as easily as clarinet. And of course, I gained a lot of knowledge about the philosophy of education and lots of tips and skills for teaching. Then there's the handful of really cool teachers I had and the friends I used to hang out with on the Beach (the stretch of sidewalk in front of the 150 Mass Ave building where everyone hung out and smoked between classes). I've lost contact with all but Zac in New Jersey who I still talk to on the phone at least once a month and I got to see when I went to AnimeNext in Jersey last July and Catherine who used to live in Springfield but now lives in New York who I used to IM all the time but I have her friended on FaceBook now.
So while I was raped of 6 years of my life and more than $60 grand of my money (and my parents' and grandparents' cuz they pitched in), I did still learn a lot and had a pretty good time going there. Plus I have bragging rights. While many people consider Berklee students to be pretentious jazz players, there's a lot of people who are awestruck whenever they hear I go to Berklee, since it's such a famous school. So it'll look really good on my resume for anything music-related.

Anyway, today I worked for 4 hours and then hung out w/Flav as I do every Tuesday. My friend and former co-worker from Toys R Us Medford Jill got a really good quality bootleg copy of Twilight and made me a copy. Then my co-worker Lars gave me a burned CD of a band call Powerglove who makes rearrangements of video game music in, like, speed metal style. It's Children of Bodom meets the NES. So hurray for free stuff. But I left Twilight under my register and I'm not working til Thursday night. Maybe I'll swing up there real quick tomorrow to grab it so I don't have to wait 2 days. Heather will be more interested in it than me. I saw the movie in the theater and thought it was really well made and very close to the book but I can't imagine watching it over and over. The books are good but they're not rave worthy. But Heather loves it.

Tonight Flav and I got BK and KFC - she got BK and I got KFC, not both of us getting both, we're not fat kids - and watched YouTube Poops and Shamwow parodies. Tomorrow I'm hanging out w/Wig as I do every Wednesday and lovin's shall ensue.

I would totally order the Hard & Heavy CD collection, but I already have like, 90% of the songs on there either on the original CDs, Best of albums or other compliations. But the free bonus DVD w/Bret Michaels is very tempting. How can I order just that?? I'll wait like a year and someone will trade it in to Newbury Comics or sell it on eBay I guess.

But now I'm going to continue watching reruns of classic South Park episodes and then I'm gonna go to bed. I've been really tired lately and my body doesn't like to get up in the morning. I'm all like "I should get up, get some chores and crafts done, start doing Wii Fit again." at 8 or 9 in the morning but my body's like "Nooo! Roll over! Comfy warm bed sleepy sleep" until 11 or 12. I dunno, I got up at 930 yesterday so there's hope for me yet. We'll see what happens tomorrow. G'nite!

Oishii desu yo

Tonight I got together with my friend/anime-convention-partner-in-crime Inyx and the gang for our New Years celebration. Since we technically work for Inyx helping her set up and sell buttons and other wares at the conventions, she also likes to give us all a year-end bonus. Last year was Best Buy gift cards, this year was dinner on her. It was me, Inyx, Catherine "Ninja Shuichi," Xaqu (Zack) and Inyx's boyfriend Chris from Maryland and we went to Bisuteki Japanese Steakhouse in Revere. Wig would've gone too but he had to do something for his grandparents tonight. My mom got a free copy of the Entertainment '09 coupon book at the most opportune time because there was a coupon for a free entree with the price of another in it, so I saved Inyx $23. It was that Benihana kind of thing, where there's a huge Hibachi grill on your table and the chefs come out and prepare the food right there with fancy chopping and flipping moves and onion ring volcanoes. Our chef was funny cuz he messed up a couple times and he was joking about it, like saying the shrimp was still alive and the lemons were bad. I thought the food was pretty good but Inyx and Chris are used to a much better Japanese steakhouse in Baltimore so they were disappointed. They give you a lot, though. You get a bowl of some Japanese mushroom and onion soup, then white rice, and then the dinner comes with whatever you ordered plus a side of shrimp, noodles and vegetables. The cocktails were pretty good too. I got one that had vodka, Kahlua, Bailey's, amaretto and milk in it. So while nothing to brag about, it was an interesting evening with decent food. I'd go again.

So tomorrow I'm working 930-130, one of only 3 days I got this week because hours suck right now. Everyone's hours are in the shitter, I think some of the people who haven't been there as long or have a more limited availability only got one day. Fortunately, we're able to pad our paychecks with our Earned Time hours, which are usually used for time off. At Toys R Us the Earned Time accrues pretty quickly, so it's not like a waste. (The first year I worked there I accrued enough Earned Time from January to July to take the entire week I went to London off fully paid, with leftover, so that's more than 40 hours in 6-7 months). As soon as I can physically have my degree and teaching license in my hands I can talk to Jim Devaney at the McGlynn about a teaching job. I'm so lucky to have a shoe-in in this economy. I should also look into substitute teaching in the meantime. Apparently Medford and neighboring cities - especially Arlington - are hurting for substitutes. It doesn't pay a lot though, $50 a day ($60 in Arlington), but if I'm doing subbing in the day and Toys R Us in the night and weekend then it'll make a bit of a difference. Plus it'll give me experience and further put my foot in the door. The only thing that's going to suck is not knowing if you're going to work until that morning and getting the call at like 630AM.

Anyway, I got to make some Brain Slug amigurumis to sell on Etsy. I got to look for patterns for some other shapes too. Probably go with animals and foods.

I think Gavin Rossdale of Bush has an oral fixation because he has a song called "Mouth" and a song called "Swallowed." Just something to ponder.

And on that note, I sign off. Until next time, stay bloggy.

Closing out '08 with Epic Fail.

In case you haven't already heard or were directly affected by it, all first-run 30GB Microsoft Zunes worldwide froze on New Year's Eve. The reason was faulty programming that didn't recognize Leap Day, therefore making the Zune think it was already Jan 1, 2009 and then for some reason not recognize the year 2009. So Zune owners across the globe were a combination of confused, shocked, pissed off and panicking because they didn't have their precious music. People were accusing Microsoft of purposely selling faulty hardware to force consumers into having to buy one of the newer model Zunes - most likely the 80 or 120GB because who's going to to downsize from 30 to 16, 8 or 4GB? Many were comparing it to the XBox 360's Red Ring O'Death and the problems with the first batch of Vista. Some have lost faith in Microsoft altogether. Lots of people, mainly the more technologically talented, were taking apart their Zunes to remove and reinsert the batteries to reboot it. If they were just a little more patient, they would've found out about the new update that was available the next day. It sucked that everyone had to go a whole day wihtout their music collection, but I think a lot of people overreacted. Although at first Microsoft wasn't saying much and tech support wasn't even working because of inundation of people, in the end they got the update out in around 24 hours and it was quick and painless. Still, it shouldn't have happened in the first place and it's pretty funny that such a juggernaut in electronics programming could fuck up something on such a grand scale like that. I mean this is a bigger mistake than Nintendo making the Virtual Boy...wait, I take that back. At least Zunes don't give you migraines, make you go blind, had only 13 games 2 of which were playable and force its creator to feel so ashamed that he quits Nintendo, placing him in a situation where he got hit by a car and died. (Google that shit, it's true. Guy's name is Gunpei Yokoi)

Anyway, my New Year's was uneventful. I didn't have any commuting issues on the way to work since it just started snowing when I left and it was still really light. My Zune was dead so I was forced to listen to the radio. It was OK cuz WFNX was talking about the best movie deaths and it was fairly entertaining. I wanted to call in to say the scene in Maximum Overdrive when the guy is pummelled to death by soda cans by the possessed soda machine and the first can nails him square in the nuts, but the line was busy then my phone died. Work was pretty slow and by the time I left at 430 the snow was almost stopped but the roads were still pretty shitty. It took me almost an hour to get home but the only problem I had driving was having to go really slow. Then I went to Wig's and we watched Step Brothers which is hysterical. But for some reason the cable wasn't working right so very few channels weren't working so we couldn't watch the ball drop. Instead, we watched SpongeBob cuz the Nicktoons Channel was, like, the only channel that was working. I didn't get any alcohol cuz I didn't want to fight through Kappy's horrendous parking lot in the snow. But we did get Domino's.

New Year's Day I worked and it was even dead-er. Then I hung out with Flav and crafted and watched Big Fish. If I'm not called into work I'm gonna hang out with her again, try to start walking again and probably watch another movie. I told work I could work today if they needed me cuz there are no hours right now and I need to get as much as I can. But they probably won't call me in. I'm going to have to use my Earned Time to pad my paycheck until hours go up again. This usually only happens for 2 or 3 weeks after Christmas, but in the past I've always still gotten plenty of hours because I'm spoiled rotten at that job.

Maybe That 70's Show shouldn't be aired on ABC Family. They have to put a "Some Content Not Suitable for Children" disclaimer at the beginning of each episode. This really isn't the channel for pot and sex references. I mean, it's owned by Disney. Besides, That 70's Show reruns are already on, like, 3 or 4 other stations.

Well, that's all for this post. I never know how to end these things except like, "That's it!" or "The end" or "Until next time..." It's dumb...

The End

The Mary Tyler Moore Show was one of the greatest TV shows of the 1970s. Hands down.