Soundtracked

Calling Dr. Love

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This week's theme: Guilty Pleasures

Ok...before I get into today's ridiculousness in music history, let's address the two topics of personal ridiculousness from yesterday: 1) My back isn't quite as bad as it's been the previous two days, but it's still not right. Heat and generic Motrin have helped, but the most comfortable position is laying down flat...which, as many of you are probably aware, isn't conducive for accomplishing most things one does on a laptop. I may have to find a better way to sit, or just give up and spend the rest of the day binge-watching whatever I can find on Hulu (because damn you Fran 💜 💜 💜 , I started watching Miranda   because it looked familiar- I swear I saw a clip of it in your blog!- and it's terrible but I'm almost all the way through the third season so I can't give up now ). And as much as I hate wasting an entire day staring at people acting, it beats the alternative of sitting and wallowing in my own personal discomfort. I have an ultrasound and blood work scheduled on Friday for unrelated stuff and the follow-up appointment for that on March 14, but dammit if this doesn't shake itself out sooner I may have to suck it up and get this checked out too. And I really, really don't wanna do that.

And then there's #2, which is the fact that it's -2°F and I'm definitely staying inside because (almost) no amount of Valentine love is getting me out to chase after it in these conditions. I (almost) don't care who ya are. Although going across the street to CVS yesterday wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be...even though the snot freezes to the inside of your nose as soon as you've spent more than three seconds in the elements, there's a point somewhere south of ten degrees where all cold is cold and there's no difference between 10, 5, 0, and -30 degrees. I saw a fun quote from a tv weather guy in Buffalo who impersonates Mark Twain on the side (and he's pretty good at it too...Mike Randall as Mark Twain- Live!  ): "If the thermometer had been an inch longer we’d have frozen to death." I'm not sure if that's entirely true, but I'm not keen on finding out. What I do know is that I find myself asking this question every. damn. year...

Every year I complain. And every year, nothing changes. You'd think I would've learned my lesson by now. Didn't Twain also say something like "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results"? Oh snap...that was Albert Einstein. Ahhh...all you people with crazy white hair and mustaches look alike anyway (apologies to the ladies with crazy white hair and mustaches ).

Anyway, on to today's selection for "The Soundtrack of Your Life" !

There aren't many bands you'll hear me actually say I hate. Even if I'm not fond of the music or the style or the message, I can at least respect the artist(s) because they have the talent and will to succeed at doing something I am not capable of, and "hate" is also a very strong word.

But I can comfortably say that I hate Kiss.

And I really don't have a great reason for it. They're not totally terrible enough that people like them out of pity or because they're awful. Their songs for the most part are catchy enough, I guess. They just don't resonate with me. Nothing about them is appealing to me. Not the makeup, or the costumes, or them when they take off the makeup and the costumes. I just...don't get them.

I've also never had them forced on me, which I appreciate, and I know how that can make you dislike something even more. Maybe it's just where they fell in terms of history and popularity and all that...but even though their peak years were slightly before my time, that's a terrible excuse; I like the Beatles, and they broke up five years before I was born. I guess all I really can say is "Nope, I don't like 'em, and I don't need to have a reason other than I just don't like 'em."

But...but but but but but: there are exceptions. There are always exceptions. There are two songs in the Kiss catalog I find tolerable. One is "I Love It Loud"  , which is probably the first Kiss video I ever remember seeing on MTV...so there was probably some shock factor of a sort involved with that, being a little kid and all.

And then there's "Calling Dr. Love", and just like I have no good explanation for disliking Kiss, I also don't really know why I enjoy this song more than anything else they've done...so I'm gonna blame it on file-sharing. Stay with me here...

At one point while working for the local consumer electronics company in WNY, I was sorta chosen to be the sorta customer service manager of their custom computer division. I say "sorta" because it seemed like the entire floor staff (that was assembled after a wholesale leadership change) was told they were in some kind of management position too, which surprisingly didn't lead to any power struggles or anything...going to the bar/restaurant next door together a lot probably massaged most of our concerns.

Anyway, our showroom featured a short wall of Sony laptops, a glass case with pagers and cell phones, and an area where we did consultations for desktops we built (if I remember it correctly). In one corner we had a large projection screen tv with a Sony computer hooked up to it. That was what we primarily spent most of our time playing with, because our company wasn't tremendously busy. We surfed the internet on it, and between the lot of us we had a pretty wild and varied Napster library on it.

Our boss in particular was a Kiss fan, which is probably where I picked up "Calling Dr. Love" from. It was just so cheesy and corny and campy but it was also awesome in some kind of gross pubescent teenage boy way that still somehow managed to be appealing to me in adulthood. It's what I think of when someone uses the term "Cock Rock" (see also: AC/DC; Van Halen; hair metal in general). Also, there were many hungover mornings (and afternoons ) at the Advantage Computer Company because of the bar/restaurant next door that I mentioned up above, which may have influenced some most of my poor decision-making around that same life-era .

For the record, I personally put a lot of "rare" (at the time) Nirvana, Weezer, Pearl Jam, and Radiohead songs on that computer. I know this because I still have a couple of the cds I burned from that desktop before we closed up the shop so we could be incorporated back into the company's flagship location. That's also when I learned I really must've been the customer service manager, because after everyone's various reassignments and the move back I was definitely the Computer Department Manager. We celebrated the move mostly by sulking and yelling "Fuck 'em!" a lot in the back commercial sales and new-build areas while packing up because we didn't want to be incorporated, and the night crew often took turns having pints next door for the last month or two because why bother waiting for closing time? What a great time to be gainfully employed!

"They call me Dr. Love...I've got the cure you're thinking of."
Lyrics.  

And I know today's Valentine's Day and all, but that's not why I chose this song. I really didn't know what I was gonna pick...but I was screwin' around before callin' it a night yesterday and I went to play a round of SongPop 2, a Facebook/Android/Apple game thing that kills about as much time as I ever need killin', and a kid I went to school with sent me a challenge of Kiss songs (it's basically a name-that-tune/band game with hundreds of categories, and there's five songs, and the fastest wins), which reminded me of my contempt for Kiss. Easy enough for me...and so I've satisfied a week's worth of guilty pleasures, and now I anxiously await what next week brings us. I swear to all your gods, I'm (almost) not interested in being anyone's Dr. Love. I mean, never say never and all, but I'm (almost) pretty sure I'm relationship-proof now. *crosses fingers, knees, ankles, eyes, and names off that list *

Some random notes for today...

Today is PandaPaws Licensed VetTech 's birthday! Happy birthday!!

Tomorrow is the big day!! Package #2 will be raffled off over at "The 30DBC Mega-Raffle Extravaganza!" ...for only 5,000GPs you can take a chance at this insanely amazing prize package:

From "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" : One in-depth Blog review and a BC MB
From Patrece ~ : Two reviews of Fiction (no poetry; word limit up to 10,000) and a MB
From Princess Megan Rose 22 Years : Three reviews, a 10k Awardicon, and a Pemberly Romance MB
From PandaPaws Licensed VetTech : Three in-depth Poetry reviews and one MB
From Prosperous Snow celebrating : Four Poetry reviews and an Awardicon on her favorite
From Matt Bird MSci (Hons) AMRSC : One CSFS MB

That's what you get! All of that! And...weeks #3 and #4 are even more crazy! Seriously! Memberships and stuff! And it benefits the "30-Day Bloggers Group" , which gives out the prizes every other month for the "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" . So yeah, get your tickets now!! Well, after you're done reading this. I can't say for certain, but I wouldn't want you to miss anything else of importance I might have to add to this entry while I'm thinking about it.

Speaking of prizes and giveaways and fundraisers, everyone's pal ~Minja~ is offering some sweet deals on exclusive and non-exclusive Merit Badges over at "Exclusive MB Shop Fundraiser" ...purchases will benefit "The Quills" , because you know them ain't cheap . You can view my shop here: "Norb's Shop" ...and there are links there that'll take you to the other shops as well.

And finally, just because I'm not your Valentine, that doesn't mean you still can't be mine...Happy Valentine's Day folks!