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 |   A little bit of everything, colored my own way. |
 BLOG CHALLENGE WINNER FOR SEPTEMBER 2011 AND APRIL 2012!! ** Image ID #1901871 Unavailable **  After almost a year away, I've decided to revisit Blogville. I'm refreshed and ready...this time around it'll be a little different. I'll talk about a little bit of everything...music, sports, retail life, and more. It's not for everyone...you might not like it, but someone you know (and possibly detest) probably will! WHO THE HELL DO I THINK I AM??  We're gonna find out one way or another!  Relax, enjoy, leave a comment, tell your friends... A special thanks to Julie D - PUBLISHED!  for the 2011 Quill Awards image!"There is only one way...it is THE WAY." -Photo Jesus  "Can't you count to one??"  Thanks for stopping by and showing your support!  |
| THE PROMPT: "If you were asked to be the keynote speaker at a graduation ceremony, what would you say to inspire the graduates to work toward their dreams and attain their goals? Write your speech for us." Good evening, graduates. May I be the first to welcome you to the real world. For so long, you've been accustomed to a society that has a well-in-place structure...you wake up, attend class, socialize, study, and sleep, more or less. For many of you, the changes will be minor. You'll replace class with work and studying with family life. The order may even change, but the basic concept will remain intact. I'm sure you'll remain successful. However, there will be those of you who are highly affected by a perceived lack of structure. You'll find your organization and time management skills tested time and again, and your motivation to get from point A to point B may be taxed. Work may be a little more difficult, and you may even suffer from depression due to what seems like your life being turned upside-down. I ask that you remind yourself that you are not alone. There are still plenty of opportunities in this world. The burger joints will always need fry cooks, and the gas stations will always need attendants. Always remember that when the world's got you down...someone's always gonna have it a little worse. If that's not motivation for ya, I don't know what is.  Thank you for your time, and congrats, graduates. Go get 'em out there! MUSICAL BREAK: Fitting song...when this album came out it was one of my favorites. It's still a good album years later. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_RdhqF3qg0 VITAL STATS:  Pretty uneventful day...work wasn't too bad, the house is relatively quiet (relatively being used in context) and I'm pretty full off some tasty homemade chicken fried rice. I did, however, get a new toy today...a fantastic, large Black & Decker toaster oven  ! I know, I'm weird...but I love making sandwiches in the toaster oven and I left mine at my old apartment, 542, when my brother moved in. My good eatin' just got better! Also got an add-on disc of songs for Rockband...if I ever get a chance to play it! The boys seem to take the Xbox to their dad's house on the weekends I want to play it...that's just my luck. But I'm pretty pumped to soon be drumming along and singing this excellent tune... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okthJIVbi6g&ob=av2e.That's it for tonight...gonna go back to watching Monday Night Football and maybe get a full night's sleep. The challenge is winding down for the month....back at it tomorrow! Thanks for stopping over...GOODNIGHT NOW!! |
| THE PROMPT: "I deserve a ____________. Finish the statement and write about why you deserve it." I deserve a trophy, dammit. Ask any Buffalo sports fan what the one thing they want in their lives is, and they'll tell you in no uncertain terms: they want to see the Bills or Sabres win a championship once in their lives. Sure, we have Buffalo Bandits lacrosse, which has perennially been a powerhouse. And the AAA Bisons have a couple of championships, but that's the minor leagues, and their parent club New York Mets made a mess out of their proud farmhands. But our city has endured some downright tragic seasons, coupled with some epic meltdowns, when it comes to our major league franchises. Wide Right, anyone? No Goal, anyone? Wide Right: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_Right_(Buffalo_Bills) No Goal: http://proicehockey.about.com/od/history/f/no_goal.htm But why do I deserve it? Like many other fans, I stand behind them though the lean times. I may not be at a sold-out stadium or arena, but I watch and hope (and if you don't believe Buffalo to be a die-hard sports town, then explain why Ralph Wilson Stadium is almost always sold out even though the Bills haven't made the playoffs in over a decade, and First Niagara Center is pretty much sold out for the entire upcoming hockey season). I'm one of the many fans whose next day almost hinges on the outcome of the event the night before. We don't just watch the games. We turn them into something bigger than they really are, even when we have no reason to. They're a reason for us to come together...when we have nothing else, we've got the game. We buy the merchandise, year-in and year-out. And most importantly, against all better judgement, we hope. When the odds are stacked against us, we find every angle that gives us 1% more of a reason to believe the outcome will be in our favor. Occasionally, we're even rewarded. I don't deserve a trophy. WE, the city of Buffalo, deserves a trophy. Not just for our own devotion, but for those who came before us to bring, sponsor, support, and ensure we'd still have teams to root for many, many years later. MUSICAL BREAK: Totally unrelated, I was flipping through a magazine earlier and came across the mention of this song... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMrIy9zm7QY Right about now, Bills fans have reason to BILL-ieve.  VITAL STATS: I'm not quite delusional enough to think the Bills are going to contend for the Super Bowl this year, but they had maybe their most important victory in at least the last 10 years today, over one of the best teams in the league over the same period of time. http://wgr550.com/BILLS-BEAT-PATRIOTS-34-31-/11013769 Plenty of optimism and high expectations for the Sabres this year, even though they lost their first game of the preseason today. Hey, nobody goes 82-0 in hockey anyway.A very sporting entry, but you can't hold it against me. It's been a very, very big day for me and a lot of other people...an emotional day as well. I kid you not when I say we live and die by our teams. Today, we live. GOODNIGHT NOW!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSbBvKaM6sk&ob=av2e |
| THE PROMPT: "It has always struck me as funny how household chores are divided out. Who takes the trash out, who rakes the leaf’s, who sweeps the floors? How come I always get dishwasher duty whether I cook or not? Why do I end up walking the dogs when it’s raining? How come I always cut the lawn? So, surely we all have some daily chores stories, whether from your own home or from when you were a child at home with your parents or guardian. Therefore, your prompt for day 24 is….The Domestic Division of Labor." Great...another prompt guaranteed to win me no fans in the household. Actually, it's pretty simple around here. Jess the CWC and I do most of the cooking, prep cleanup and post-meal cleanup. We share that pretty well and who does what is usually dependent on our schedules. The boys load and unload the dishwasher. They also take out the garbage and recycleables. One of the boys does laundry, Jess folds it, and I live out of a laundry basket because I'm too lazy to put my clothes away. The boys also do some random dusting and vacuuming. I'm supposed to be cleaning the upstairs bathroom. Sometimes I do, but that depends on your definition of "sometimes". Tomorrow, for example, does not fall into the parameters of "sometimes". It does, however, fall into Jess'.  I'm also supposed to clean out the fridge, usually before garbage day. I say we all need to do a better job around here of eating leftovers, and then it won't be so hard to clean out the fridge. Lawn service? Part of the rent. As is the snowplowing of the driveway in the winter. "Next man up" is a good shovelling policy for the walkways. And cats? Jess takes the role of their butler. I'll fill the dish if they're outta food. Hell, I even had the pleasure of witnessing one of them puking last night, and I nearly gagged while cleaning it up. Otherwise, unless they're clawing at my naughty bits or trying to trip me as I'm walking downstairs, they don't exist. So it's a pretty good, fair system around here. Our house is spotless when it needs to be, is hardly ever a squalor, and basically always looks like people live there. And that's not a bad thing. MUSICAL BREAK: Tonight marks a new season of Saturday Night Live on NBC. Alec Baldwin hosts, along with the most amazing band since music was invented. They won't be playing this song, because it's old, but it showed up on my YouTube homepage and I thought I'd share, because it's one of my favorites. It should be listened to at full volume for maximum awesomeness. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FptCGmDLih4&feature=feedrec_grec_index VITAL STATS: I've determined that I'm no longer meant to spend extended periods of time in the sun. After helping my buddy clean up after having his folks' roof removed and carry a couple bundles of replacement shingles over to a ladder, I damn near passed out on his couch, came home and took almost a three hour nap. It was not a particularily hot day, nor was the work any bit strenuous (basically a ratio of five minutes of work to every hour of hangin' out), but the sun was bright and intense. I also have a history of heatstroke and sun poisoning, which probably worked against me. But I had fun, met some nice people and spent time with great folks, so it was so worth it. Made it up in time to catch the Sabres game...this team is going to be scary this year...scary good! Radiohead will probably play this tonight on SNL, and I'm always interested in how the live versions of their new songs turn out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfOa1a8hYP8OK, that's it for tonight my people. The DVR's set in case I don't make it all the way through SNL tonight. Hopefully I get up fairly early enough to get done everything I want to do before the NFL's unofficial Game of the Week, Patriots at Bills (Go Bills!). Take care, be well and have a great night! Til tomorrow....GOODNIGHT NOW!! |
| THE PROMPT: ""What a lot we lost when we stopped writing letters. You can't reread a phone call.” ~ Liz Carpenter Write a letter to someone you care about, maybe someone you wish to apologize to, maybe someone you miss." I've had nearly 24 hours to ponder this prompt. I'll have another 24 to finish it. And I'm struggling. I started writing a cop-out, thinking there's no way I can do this. Then it hit me. I'm writing an open letter to everyone that I haven't been able to contact or wanted to contact, for one reason or another. It's the next best thing to a cop-out. Here it goes... Dear friends, acquaintances, and estranged souls, You've all been placed in my life for one reason or another. I respect that, and in some cases even cherish that. There are people I miss in life that I'd like the chance to talk to, but won't due to circumstances. Both sides are offended and are bullish enough to hold ground for sake of a grudge. I have no choice but to honor their feelings, as I have also been the same unwilling person that refuses to bend my beliefs just for the sake of continuing a relationship that wasn't heading in the right direction for myself or the other parties. I apologize for some of my behavior and actions, but I stand behind my decisions as being sound for the best interests of my own mental health. I am also aware that it takes two people to have a conversation, and while I haven't made the best of attempts at reaching out, at least I tried...and that's more than I can say about you. There are others that, for one reason or another, time has come so far in-between that picking up just seems so awkward and almost senseless. To catch up would take so long that my excitement wouldn't even let me know where to begin. To wonder what's next makes me wonder what happened in the first place. And if I can't remember, then why bother? I'll just be skeptical about seeing you again in a week when it's been nearly 20 years since the last time I saw you. No offense. Just sayin'. There are even some of you out there that I'd love to contact you just to know what you're up to and how much better your life is or isn't without me. But I know that would cause problems for a lot of people, and that would deflate my intent and just make things awkward for everyone. I care about a lot of people, maybe so much to a fault. To the ones I see when we can, I hope you know this. To the ones that time's gotten the better of, know that I'm still here and I haven't forgotten. And know that it's better for me to keep my feelings about you to myself. When a door closes and nobody opens it, it turns into a wall. And walls are what I've got around me from it. I just want to tell you all that I'm doing fine. I've got a great girl with a great family. You see the pics and statuses on Facebook. Maybe you read me. Maybe you kinda care. Maybe you think like I do, but you probably don't. And that's neither here nor there. If this letter was adressed to you, you received it because I was thinking about you, and that means you touched my life at some point. What you do with it is up to you...but I'm not waiting around. I've got no time for that, but I've got time to make the best of what I can out of this life. Thank you for taking the time to read this...my best to you all. MUSICAL BREAK: When I'm driving, I'm either listening to my iPod on shuffle or http://www.wgr550.com/. But when Jess the CWC picks me up, she's usually listening to this radio station out of Toronto, http://www.edge.ca/. I turned her on to them because they play such a better mix of music than Buffalo's leading Adult/Alternative station. Or so I thought. They played the following song today on my way home from work, and I hadn't heard it in years. I even interrupted our conversation so I could turn it up and sing along...even though the song is easily 15 years old, it's one of those that takes me back to that time and place, enjoying it with the people around me. Yet another band that I'll owe DMFM a beer at the bar in heaven when this song comes on the jukebox, for turning me on to them. Mind you, I hadn't heard this song in forever. When it was over, Jess the CWC was like, "Oh my God, they play this song all the time. I'm starting to get sick of it." Ultimate. Facepalm. Moment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG4KnYSaLZw&ob=av2e I'll never forget seeing these guys live, back in the day at LaSalle Park when Corporate Rock Suckage Radio http://www.wedg.com/ still actually played decent music and put on the yearly Edgefest concert. They played this song, and stopped halfway through the song because it was a hot day and some chick passed out. They scolded the crowd surfers, took a second, and picked the song right back up where they left off. A great moment in my concert history. VITAL STATS: About 100 views in three days when I've written nothing special. I expect over 1,000 for tomorrow's prompt, but if I told you what it was, you'd never click it. Just kidding...it's a good prompt. Should be interesting. The final product doesn't convey it, but I'm emotionally taxed from that prompt today. So many conflicting thoughts and images...I really wanted to opt out, throw a few coins thataway, risk whatever chance I have of winning this, and turning in a "Thanks, but no thanks" entry. I was that worked up over it. I'm glad I was able to come up with something, but this tells me one thing: I'm taking this too seriously and too personally. I really hope I can have a lot of fun with the next couple of prompts. I feel like I need it. Totally forgot that the lead singer of this long-defunct band was in town tonight doing a solo acoustic show. And of course, I left my phone at work and Jess the CWC had the car, and social networking failed me, so I missed the show. My boy Adam made it though, and I'm happy for him, but he said I didn't miss much. He'll fill me in on the bright tomorrow AM, and I'm excited for it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEbWEw_yvhMI may be the only person in the world who has that song's chorus as their ringtone. A SELECTION FROM THE RETAILING IDIOCY COLLECTION: According to a customer, one of my managers is a "F@#%ing IDIOT". Due to NY laws, if a pharmacist is not on duty, the pharmacy must remain closed, even if the store itself is open. A customer approached the manager and asked when it would be open, to which he responded, "About 15 minutes." The man then stated he just wanted to drop his script off, and he would just leave it. Mind you, our pharmacy is gated. And I don't mean "picket fence" gated. This is like mini-mechanical garage door gated. You're basically not getting in unless you're already in, and that gate isn't opening unless you're in and your key works. The manager told him that there was no one there to receive his script, and the man again said "I just want to leave it for them". But it doesn't work like that in NY...you're not forcing that little piece of paper under that metal gate, no way, no how. After another back-and-forth with the MGT, the guy just said "Never mind, you're a fucking idiot" and stomped along on his merry way. Needless to say, and I really like the guy, no matter what he did during the day, he was called a fucking idiot the rest of his shift. That was the start to a ribald day at the shop...And a good place to end up for tonight. Even if you didn't find it funny, we did, and all that ensued after. But I've gotta get goin'. Gonna sort my head out a little and relax before I get up early for manual labor tomorrow. Peace to my girl and my people, peace to you taking time out of your day to read this, and peace to the people at RJ's for some damn nice pizza and wings tonight. GOODNIGHT NOW!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdABlGoar9g |
| THE PROMPT: "You are putting on a dinner party, and have already invited all the friends and family that you want to attend. Now, you can invite three more people from anywhere in the world, and any time in history... who are they, and why? (no fictional characters!)" I think everyone's played this game in some shape or form, be it in random conversations with friends or having to write about it in essay form in English class. There may even be some psychological meaning behind the answers, but I'm either not smart enough or not crazy enough to know what they mean. Anyway, dear guests of the inaugural Bert & Jess the CWC's Fancy People's Dinner Party, please meet the Guests of Honor! (And no autographs until the dessert cart is put away!) Eddie Vedder, Lead Singer, Pearl Jam: A very interesting spirit...he's seen a lot as the lead singer for the most enduring band to come out of the Grunge era of the '90's. He wrote the lyrics to songs that have affected the lives of millions...those millions have grown up along with the band, and twenty years later, he's still writing original music. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWhkYsc2B8A J.D. Salinger, Author: Since we're not allowed to invite fictional characters, I'd ask the man who created possibly my favorite character of any book, like, ever. I would have to pick his brain...why he created him, who was he based on, how did you arrive at that plot, etc. I'm sure I can find answers if I look hard enough; there's this blog http://catchingsalinger.wordpress.com/ that'll probably tell me all I need to know, but why not hear it from the man himself. And since pulling Salinger up on YouTube only brings up documentary-type stuff, I'll give you a link to the only song I know that namedrops the man himself..."Got more stories than J.D.'s got Salinger..." (At least that's what he says in the original verson of the song, not in this live version.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEVfHmjKOrM&ob=av2e Marv Levy, Former Buffalo Bills Head Coach: The winningest coach in Bills history is known for leading Buffalo to an unprecedented four straight Super Bowls (unfortunately winning none of them), but his insight not only on the game of football but the game of life is legendary. He would be the 2nd-most charming individual at our party (besides me, of course ). It would be riviting to hear his anecdotes from the exciting time he led the Bills. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By9ad7mmk8k&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list...MUSICAL BREAK: To celebrate their 20th year, earlier this month Pearl Jam curated a weekend of concerts as part of PJ20. This is not technically a Pearl Jam song, but it's great nonetheless, and should certainly be considered one of the top 20 songs from that generation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbG9CNCettk&feature=related VITAL STATS: I think I've finally found a healthier pasttime on my 15 minute break at work. Rather than smoking two cigarettes, I take a 20 minute nap. My day felt a whole lot better after that.  I've learned that I don't properly know how to judge exactly how much rice to cook if the bag doesn't ask me how many servings I'll be preparing. So expect a lot of rice at that dinner party I was talkin' about up there  . The weekend's already shaping up to be a busy one...Sabres preseason game Friday against the hated Toronto Maple Leafs as part of a home-and-home series; Saturday I'm getting up early on what should be a beautiful day to join my boys DMFM and Adam in helping the clean-up after Adam's folks get a new roof, maybe goin' to the UB Bulls college football game, and then the back half of the Sabres/Leafs series, and then Sunday it's football all day and a third straight Sabres game. Sweet! I love being occupied!That's enough for tonight, y'all...gotta save up whatever's left in the tank for the home stretch of the "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS"  . I encourage you to check out some of the competition I'm up against...there's some talent there for your perusal. We'll do it again tomorrow...GOODNIGHT NOW!!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-4zfsy6rsM |
| THE PROMPT: "We’re all afraid of something. Write a formal complaint to whatever scares you the most." Dear failure: sit down. We need to have a little chit-chat. Seems to me you like to put a little scare in me once in awhile. You come around when you want some attention and try to throw your weight around. You try to get into everyone's heads, just so they can point out how much better they are than me. And too often, I let you get in mine. You think you can drag me down by mulling all the possibilities and outcomes, no matter the situation. You like to laugh at the mistakes of others and tell me I'll end up just like them. The problem, failure, is that I'm not like everybody else. You don't own me. You don't control me. You're there, but you motivate me. See, I remember what it was like the first couple of times you brought me down, and I'm determined not to feel that ever again. And it's not really you I have to overcome. By overcoming myself, I know you stand no chance in succeeding with your plans. That, sir, is more than mere peotic justice. It is a mantra, and one I carry with me through everything in life. Remember those kids you sent after me in school to make fun of me? The ones that thought I was nerdy and couldn't play sports? I showed them. Remember the girls you showed me, but never allowed me to touch because of my looks? Who got the last laugh there? And that boss who didn't like me, only because he thought I was a threat to his job security? Looks like the better man ended up with the job, didn't I? So you see, failure...for challenge you lay before me, there's a man willing to look you in the eye and not back down. I will not be a failure. That is all. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0O_QD-UZ8M MUSICAL BREAK: Sad news today in the world of college/alternative rock. A legendary band has decided to no longer continue making music together. I'll admit...it took me awhile to get into this band. And after awhile, I fell out of love with them. But you can't take 31 years of greatness away from them. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/r-e-m-break-up-after-three-decades-201109... Fitting and cliche, but I'll go there anyway: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GFRcFm-aY&ob=av2e VITAL STATS: Pretty boring day and not much else going on, so I'll leave you with a few of my favorite R.E.M. songs, kick a hole in a the speaker, pull the plug and then jet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWkMhCLkVOg&ob=av2n http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZUmrpzmYCg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=559eWB93jW4&ob=av2e That's it for tonight...up early today, up early tomorrow...have a great night y'all. GOODNIGHT NOW!! |
| THE PROMPT: "Write an essay or blog about on what life for you would have been like had there been no Writing.com." Hmmm...good topic. That's like asking me what the last 10 years of my life would be like without it. Let's do some quick math...say I spend an average of an hour a day at the most on this site every day, and now I had to do something else instead, that's 3,650 hours of my life (give or take) that I'd be doing something else. Certainly, that'd be plenty of time to finally learn how to play guitar, and maybe I'd be in a band after a few years. Boom...10 years knocked out right there. More likely, I probably would've came across some other web community for writers. Google found me Stories.com (WDC's infant stages), so it's likely I would've joined some inferior website. I could've gotten myself into all sorts of trouble. I may not have gone back to NYC. I wouldn't have stayed up late at night talking to Gaby ~ Quiet contemplation  . I wouldn't have imagined as much about what it's like in other parts of the country, or world for that matter, because of the many friends I've made here over the years. I haven't always had the "paid membership", but I think from the time WDC instituted it up til now, I've had it more often than not. Let's say that seven out of ten years, I've been a paying customer. And five of those years was on a quarterly basis, and two of those years I ponied up for a hole year. Again, simple math (which I think is a lot to be asking someone when talking about writing ): 5 years quarterly breaks down to ($20 x 20) + 2 years annually ($50 x 2), which equals $500. $500! What the hell theoretically would I have done with $500? I wouldn't be $500 richer today, nor any other day in the last ten years, fo' sho'. Maybe I'd have a few more cd's that I was like, "Well, I'll get it next paycheck cuz I've got to re-up my WDC account..." and never did. Or a new pair of sneakers for work instead of a yearly commitment. And maybe those weeks when I was extra-tight on funds, I'd actually have a little more food in the fridge and wouldn't have to be converting all my spare change at a http://www.coinstar.com/ machine (but man, do I love that soooooo much more than rolling dirty money by hand  ).But truth be told, I'd need a bigger bookshelf. Ever since I was a teenager, I'd do all my writing in notebooks. I've saved almost, well, pretty much everything...it adds up. I have a modest bookshelf with one and a half shelves taken up with notebooks. But when WDC came around, and this is a testament to its power and dominance in the online writing industry, I stopped using notebooks. After I transcribed and typed out my favorite selections from the years past and get the itch to write something new, I'd just do it all on WDC. I remember the first time I was not going to be able to renew my membership and was going to be locked out of my portfolio...I blew threw almost a ream of paper and an entire black ink cartridge (see...more money I would've saved right there ) printing up everything just so I wouldn't lose it. Those days now live in a 1-1/2" three-ring binder.So I would've still written...but I wonder if I would've written the same items. Probably not. I think knowing that the community could finally see what I was doing influenced my style. I like to think that it was my most creative time period. Different styles emerged, different things came out of me that I've never seen before or after. I also think that the use of color and the template helped keep me more focused...there was something that felt new to me about writing...the borders were out of the way when the lines were taken off the page, because there was no page. Just words in a box, and I could put any different words in those box and maybe, just maybe, someone would actually say something about them. I can't tell you how liberating that felt. My favorites from those days are here: "The Computer Age" . I hope you get a chance to enjoy them. But back to what I was saying about the bookshelf...not nearly everything I've ever created is on here at WDC (thankfully) and there's still some things I have on here that I'd like to have a back-up for. And since there was no WDC, I'd have the money to spend on more notebooks, pens and bookshelves to house everything that wouldn't have an online home. MUSICAL BREAK: More simple math (ugh!) to supplement my point...say you spent $2 a day on coffee at Starbucks on your way to work, and you were lucky to hold your job for ten years (working an average of 270 days a year), you'd have spent $5400! So don't tell me that by spending money on some form of internet release is frivolous...if the doctor told you ten years ago you had a condition that meant you couldn't have coffee and could only replace it with free tap water, all you'd have to worry about is a little bump in the water bill, no? And what to do with the rest of that $5400. That said, a funny little ditty from some Canadians with their answer to a common question we've all tried figure out since we were kids. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHacDYj8KZM VITAL STATS: I don't understand why I dislike working nights so much. I love my 8am-4pm four days a week, and I hate my 2:30pm-10:30pm shift one day a week, when I hate waking up early to deal with crabby-ass people, and prefer sleeping in and dickin' around a little before I go in to a quiet, nearly empty store where people aren't so aggrivated when they shop. Can someone explain this connundrum to me? Please, and thank you.That is it for this kid tonight, y'all. Gotta check on some things and be prepared to turn it back around at 8am, so the vultures can pick at what's left of me for another eight hours. Gotta love 'em; the belly they supply the food for sure does. GOODNIGHT NOW!! |
| THE PROMPT: "Plug your city or hometown...it doesn't matter if it's where you're from or where you're at." Snow. Chicken wings. And snow. Chances are, those are the first three things that come to mind when I tell you I'm from Buffalo, NY. There's the four straight Super Bowl losses and the "No Goal" fiasco also. And for the old-timers, United States President William McKinley was shot here back in 1901...he'd be proud to know he's got a mall named after him now, I'm sure. Sure, the economy has affected proud cities all over the nation and world, and we're no exception. Lots of buildings downtown are empty and the steel mills left a long time ago. Once the nation's 4th-largest city, there's still plenty to love about my hometown. Consider:  The beautiful, quaint Elmwood Village...one of my favorite spots in the city. Full of little shops and legendary bars, it might be the most interesting part of town to people-watch. Some of my favorite places have closed, but you won't be able to walk a block without finding something that catches your eye. For the 21+ crowd, The Chippewa District is where it's at for the bars, clubs, and all sorts of alcohol-induced tomfoolery. Barhop the night away up and down the street. It's been a few years since I've been down there...I don't even know what bars are still open anymore. But if you have a copy of https://www.artvoice.com you'll never be lost for fun. Hang on to that Artvoice when you head to The Theatre District...Shea's Performing Arts Theatre is a great venue that hosts a lot of nationally touring plays. We saw Wicked there on Mothers' Day, Jess the CWC will be going there to see The Lion King, and next February we'll be there for the return of http://www.raintribute.com/. Surrounded by lots of fine dining, http://www.sheas.org/ is a wonderful date night. When you come to Buffalo, come hungry! But don't ask me to take you to the Anchor Bar, originator of our famous chicken wings. I can think of at least 10 little pizza places and dive bars that serve up bigger, better, tastier wings, like my favorite, http://www.thepubwebsite.com/. There's also http://www.buffalowing.com/, a nationally renowned festival celebrating the chicken wing that attracts tons of people, including national celebrities and competitive eaters. Besides wings, there's Beef On Weck and, only the world's best local taco chain, http://www.mightytaco.com/. And that's just a small sampling...Anderson's, Frank's Sunny Italy, Buffalo Chophouse...anything you can think of, it's all better here! Can't talk about Buffalo without the Olmstead Parks and the Frank Lloyd Wright buildings and designs., and how well they tie into the infrastructure. Speaking of infrastructure, you can easily get from one outer suburb to another in about 15-20 minutes. How? Ask a Buffalonian. They'll tell you: Take the 990 to the 290, merge onto the 90, and if you don't wanna get off at the 400, stay on the 90 and take the 219. And the 90 to the 33 is the quickest way downtown, unless you live near Rt. 5 or the 190. I know that means nothing to the uninitiated, but trust me...any set of directions with five or more words per step is too much. Sure we get a lot of snow...you don't ? But what The Weather Channel never tells you is that Buffalo sees all four seasons. The nasty winters, the gorgeous springs, the hot summers and the colorful autumns. Nobody sees their favorite season for as long as they like though...unless you're a skier/snowboarder. I know I'm leaving out a lot of things, but the best thing about the city of Buffalo has to be the people. We're known as "The City Of Good Neighbors", and I really believe that. Where else would you be, shovelling your car out of three feet of snow, when flying over the snowbanks come random strangers with shovels ready to help you out, leaving never to be seen again? Every adult has at least 3-4 stories like that, and it seems like they add another Good Samaritan to their list every year.That's the city of Buffalo...for every season without a major sports championship, and for every snowstorm punchline, there are a million reasons why this area is one of the best around. Many may leave, but Buffalo never leaves their hearts. Buffalo, NY...This Place Matters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT11IdWPvfc MUSICAL BREAK: They're not my favorite band, but nobody's arguing that they're the most successful musical act to hail from "The Queen City"... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdYWuo9OFAw&ob=av2e http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-kHleNYIDc&ob=av2e And I can't find a good version of "We Are The Normal" from their 1993 breakout, Superstar Car Wash...it almost feels like a paean to the people Buffalo. VITAL STATS: I've got a bit of a man-crush on the  Just remember when you point at someone, three fingers point back at you.  Taco night and the first preseason game of Sabres Hockey!! Whoo hoo! Sabres win over the hated Hurricanes, 3-1. First day back at work. Every five minutes people were complaining we were "Out of this, and never have anything!" Well, you're very greedy for wanting everything, and very ungrateful for not wanting anything I have on my shelves...if we were always "out of everything", our shelves would be empty. Then your claim would have a little validation, and I'd accept you being so pissy. (Or, I didn't almost kill anyone today, kinda.) That's my night folks. Gonna go do some stuff that doesn't involve me chaining myself to a laptop for almost all night. Thank you, and GOODNIGHT NOW!! |
| THE PROMPT: "Today's prompt is about craziness. Write whatever you want about it! Crazy memories, crazy videos, crazy people you've met, crazy ideas - anything at all! Just go wild!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdEE5Ph4p3A As unoriginal as it is, I couldn't resist. Craziness? Yeah, I know a little bit about it. Everything's crazy. Your house is crazy in the morning. There was a crazy ending to the game last night. The neighbor's crazy. The cat's acting crazy. Gas prices are crazy. Snow in the month of May is crazy. Andy Samberg, in The Lonely Island's song "Lazy Sunday", says "Mr. Pibb and Red Vines equals crazy delicious!" (YouTube that one on your own, folks...it's crazy to think I'm gonna do all the work for ya. Better yet, Google it...you'll get better quality videos.)So you get it. Craziness is all over the place like oxygen. But I don't think people are very quick to acknowledge its presence until it's too late. Who goes to work and says "I hope it's crazy in there today!"? No, it's usually the foreshadowing sentiment that "Ugh, it's gonna be crazy in there" when usually it isn't quite as bad...and that's how "crazy" gets a bad rep in this society. Ergo, what does craziness mean when referring to fun? "That party last night was craaaaaaazy!" is a statement that, I believe by law, cannot stand on its own merit. It has to be backed up by at least some sort of factual evidence, much like saying "Oh, you don't wanna know" is a lame and punishable way of trying to hide something that we actually do wanna know. And let's not forget how subjective "crazy" is...one person's crazy is another person's walk in the park. Whatever you and I would consider "crazy", trust me, has probably been already attempted by someone who didn't get the memo regarding its absurdity. May Uncle Angelo RIP for driving that motorcycle with one hand while sitting on it backwards and pantsless. But seriously, craziness comes in all shapes, colors and trends. One size fits all, and it doesn't discriminate. You and/or a family member may share in its glory. And it affects all of us, from all walks of life, many times on a daily basis. Don't tell me that His Holiness The Dalai Lama has never in his storied life uttered the phrase "That's crazy!" when the McDonalds drive-thru attendant tells him they've run out of hamburgers. In summary, do you want to know where I think all of the craziness exists? Look in the mirror. And embrace it. Cuz it's a crazy world out there. MUSICAL BREAK: You've already had your ticket punched, whether you know it or not. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJVr0vJK2rs&ob=av2n VITAL STATS: Spent the day at my boy Adam's house with his crazy-awesome folks and DMFM, watching one of the craziest Bills games I've seen in some time...a last-minute, come from behind, 38-35 victory that saw a total of five lead changes in the second half. This is for the out-of-towners that couldn't rejoice in victory with us:http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=310918002 Sing with us! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHbnQXsyDrE That being said, going back to work tomorrow will be a little less painful. Does anyone even participate in this "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" anymore? Trolled around a little last night...  Sundays are always good when you do nothing but watch football with good people and your team wins.That's it for tonight y'all...gonna send out my prompt for tomorrow's entry so you can all get back at me for how I've disected, misdirected and totally went AWOL on your prompts. Peace, love, and GOODNIGHT NOW!! |
| THE PROMPT: "Vincent Van Gogh said, "If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint', then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." What is your 'you cannot ____' voice always ragging on you about? Work with your can do Journal and go for it! Having doubts? Write it out!" Not that I have a running database of quotes in my head, which would be awesome, but what's interesting to me is that I've never heard this quote from a really famous creative guy from around the way. What's even funnier is, of all the things that do run in my head, the guy with the "can't (or won't) do it" voice is probably the hardest-working man in my head. There's two important factors at play here, for me: 1) My brain's wonderful sense of knowing the least-favorable moment that an anxiety attack should occur coupled with its impeccable timing on delivering a stellar anxiety attack at that moment, and 2) My creatively crippling self-doubt. Luckily, I can muster up enough will to talk myself down, lower my shoulders and bust through that to see something to fruition. Most of the time, at least. Don't ask me how I do it, because I don't have an answer. Maybe it's my fears of failure and letting others down that motivates me. Usually when I get so worked up about someting in that way, it's the end result that makes me think I was foolish to be so nerve-racked in the first place. Admittedly, there are a lot of things I think I can't do by myself or on my own. Starting a new job, travelling alone to somewhere I really hadn't been to in years, even this contest...those are all examples of the voices in my head saying I couldn't do it. But I had to. And how? Sometimes, you just gotta do. With a little encouragement and the right self-motivation, you can ignore those voices and do just about anything. MUSICAL BREAK: Fitting song for today's entry... fake mustaches included at no charge! Man this song always puts me in a great mood! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QpkC-ID8Zc&ob=av2e VITAL STATS: We've temporarily added another member to the family today (and no, Jess the CWC didn't steal any baby girls...yet). But one of her boys has a friend that's had a tough go at the game of life, and recently was in a bit of a really bad relationship that was only getting worse, so we've taken her in for a little bit to get her feet on the ground and feeling better about herself. She's going away in a few weeks to stay with friends out of state, so we'll see what happens after that. Bet y'all thought Jess was a lil preggers and we hid it, didn't ya? The Music Is Art festival was a really good time! Lots to see and do, and the bands I wanted to see, well, ok...two of the three bands I wanted to see were amazing! Why can't I say 3/3? Wellllllll, some guy figured the house and car keys were in his girlfriend's purse, since she used the car last, and not on the kitchen counter where they always go. So he went out to the car, hooked up his iPod, everyone came out and got in the car thinking he had the keys, figured he should turn on the car to get the iPod going, and realized he didn't have the keys. It took Jess the CWC about half an hour to get into the house... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3cxkYu4NyA ...no easy feat, to say the least. She definitely earned the Pepsi she had after that...but that a-hole guy's mistake meant they had to miss the first band they wanted to see. Re: the first bullet point...I hope a few of you can appreciate that there's nothing sadly funnier than seeing a fat boy cry. I know, I know, I'm goin' to hell for sayin' it, but it's funny. And why, to quote Dane Cook, is it funny? Cuz it's true, hence, funny. The only thing worse than having two days of vacation left is realizing that you only have one when you thought you had two. Monday's really gonna piss me off with that "Damn, I really thought I didn't have to be here today" mentality. And the part that pisses me off even more? I wrote my own damn schedule for this coming week  . What the hell was I thinking?Ok y'all, that's my Saturday for ya. Due to a mix-up in the prompting schedule, I won't have to write the prompt for the 18th. I'll hit the bloggers up with the prompt tomorrow night for the 19th...hope nobody's confused. I'm cool with it. Gonna relax after a busy day today for a busy day tomorrow. Peace and GOODNIGHT NOW!! |
| THE PROMPT: "Give us your definition of blogging." This is interesting, because I think since its beginning, what we've come to know as "blogging" has changed and certainly evolved over the years. Take, for instance, this website. In its inception, Stories.com did not have a blogging tool, because blogging didn't even really exist ten years ago. People kept online journals here and at other pre-Facebook social networking sites, but to call those "blogs" seems premature. Now, if you ask me, https://www.writing.com is probably one of the Top 5 sites with tools available for blogging. The game has shifted in so many ways, and you don't have to be very web-savvy to take advantage of the features WDC offers. Blogging to me is more than journalizing your day/week/life. Anyone can tell you how their day goes, share a random story or promote a product. Blogging involves a certain bit of creative storytelling also. A blog isn't a daily rundown; the blogger is promoting himself/herself in a way that makes people want to see more of what that writer has to say, in my opinion. I can tell you I went to the store, but you won't care unless you know what I got, how I got it, and the crazy way the cashier handled my purchase. If it's well-written, informative, strikes you as funny or the style just captivates you, you'll want to read more. You've often read me say that writers are attention whores, and it's true...sure, some of us do it to get things off our chest, but mainly, we want a reaction. That's the validation for doing what we're doing, and most writers would be lying if they said they didn't want that. Blogging, I believe, is also another form of entertainment. I classify it in the same category as tv shows, movies, sports, and music-making. You have your favorite tv shows and actors, and you try to keep up with them whenever that timeslot is open. Same as your favorite band putting out a new cd, or your favorite sports team's game is on...you're going to want to check it out. And from having worked in a book store, I know people get worked up when their favorite author comes out with a new book. I don't watch a lot of tv, don't see a lot of movies, and I listen to a ton of music, but if those forms of entertainment can be considered "guilty pleasures", then blogging is mine. And I've heard feedback from a lot of people about it, saying that they enjoy reading it for one reason or another, which makes me feel good about doing what I do. And the numbers don't lie either; everyone who has a WDC blog knows how many views they get and (not sure if this is still true...haven't checked in quite a few years) can see the origin of how anyone came across their page (I believe it's disabled if it's outside of WDC, but again, I don't know...anyone wanna fill me in?). All that said, I think it's also an advanced form of communication. Not as advanced as the cell phone, but c'mon, does anyone write letters anymore? Even the simple art of calling someone just to say hi is falling by the wayside (but maybe that's just me). I can honestly say that in my previous blog, "I'm Studying You" , I had a cell phone that allowed me to blog right from the comfort of my own bed, without having to even lift my head. As a testament to the craziness of blog-love, in the course of about 2-1/2 years, it had 11 5-star ratings and over 9,000 views. Sure, that doesn't qualify it as "Greatest Blog Ever" or anything, but it's proof that we can do damn near anything without having to do much, and people notice. And don't let anyone say the same was true 10, 20 or 50 years ago.MUSICAL BREAK: Now that I've overthought the prompt a little, it's time for sad, creepy clowns. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwOMnIuAGOY&ob=av2e VITAL STATS: My pennance is crushing me....I'm in charge of the prompt for this coming Sunday, the 18th, and I have no clue what I'm gonna pull off yet...any suggestions? It's gotta be good, given how critical I've been of some of the prompts already this month. I've gotta have in it late tomorrow night. Yikes. Tomorrow is the big Music Is Art festival in downtown Buffalo. It was created by Goo Goo Dolls bassist Robby Takac (from Buffalo) and it's free...it features tons of bands, DJ's, exhibits and charities. There's only a few bands I'm looking to see, including my buddy Josiah (from Letterset, who I've mentioned in this space before) in his other band, Sunday Radio. Here's a few links:http://www.musicisart.org/ http://www.myspace.com/sundayradio http://www.goodcharamel.com/?select=artists&data=agentMe http://www.reverbnation.com/andrewjextravaganza Just some bands with people I've met over the years whose music I'm looking forward to hearing. The Buffalo Sabres' new ownership has purchased zambonis (ice clearing machines) that employ a laser removal system. How frickin' sweet is that? Our zambonis have laser beams! This is gonna be one kickass hockey season! First, the arena's name changes from HSBC (bank) Arena to First Niagara (bank) Center, now to be more commonly known as the "F'N Center"...and now this!! Fantastic! http://www.wgr550.com/pages/10914926.php?contentType=4&contentId=8946692 That's it for today folks...early, I know, but I wanted to dive in to this today. Maybe I'll get around to feeling out some of the competition a little more (like I should be doing). But there's chicken fingers on the way, so we'll see. Be good to each other, and yourselves. I'm sure I'll have something good for you tomorrow as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh7bYNAHXxw Ted Black, president of the Sabres, promised not to do a Dr. Evil impersonation when talking about the new zambonis. I, however, could not resist. GOODNIGHT NOW!! |
| THE PROMPT: "Music speaks to our souls. What songs have made an impact on your life and why?" Anybody who knows anything about me will know that I love music as much as life itself. Any time I can play what I want to hear is a good time, even in the not-so-good times. And I don't think music always affects us solely because of the music or lyrics (although those may be the main reasons). It's the songs we have that we can attach to specific moments or people that really tend to shape who we are musically. They don't even have to be your favorite songs...but it just has to be a song that gives you pause whenever it comes on, and can take you back to another time or place. Here's a brief musical history of myself: I grew up as a child of the '80's with a steady stream of oldies...'60's classics all the time like The Beatles and The Beach Boys. I loved The Beatles, but even as a child I could recognize how music could affect me emotionally when I heard this song and started crying over how beautiful and sad the story was. I may have, in my elementary years, been the first "Emo" kid, and I couldn't have been more than seven or eight years old. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSAoEf1Ib58 Into my early teens I developed a love for hip-hop music. Call it my "rebel years" I suppose...you were either on one side of the fence with it or the other, and there weren't a lot of people in lower-middle class white suburbia on the same side as I was. I didn't so much mind gangsta rap...the beats were almost as shocking as the imagery, and even though the lyrics can be poetic if taken out of context, it grew tiresome. I drifted more toward the party rappers for their fun styles, and the politically-motivated ones who spoke of struggle and dealt with issues of race and stereotypes. They made the most sense to me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB0NM6reiRE These two videos are excellent examples of how a well-directed video can provide the story the lyrics are trying to tell. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQAssqqYQ-E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am9BqZ6eA5c&ob=av2n The early '90's...I was graduating high school and "The Grunge Era" was all the rage. It was angst and melody and rhythm and dirty-sounding and my ears loved it. These guys were singing about my teenage years, essentially...they knew what I was dealing with. I know it sounds corny and cliche, but we gravitate toward what we can empathize with. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJOMTrM37n4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbgKEjNBHqM&ob=av2e As I got older, like so many others, tastes change. I mellowed out a little bit. I didn't need anger so much as I needed intensity. I wanted the music to sound like the words. I wanted real emotions from music. Yup, I'm Emo. The guitars shreiking and kicking in at around the 1:32-mark of this song...the perfect example of what I meant by the music sounding like the words. And I couldn't listen to this song for a long time...the personal significance I attached to it was very real (but that's another story for another time). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO_3KRIk_bQ That's all the emo I'll share...don't need you people getting tear stains on my watch. Nowadays, I'll listen to almost anything but country (you can blame an angry step-dad for that). With over 14,000 songs on my iPod, no two days are ever the same. For good measure I'll throw in a couple more of my favorites...once I get started, I keep thinking "Oh my God, you can't leave out this band! You can't leave out that band!" But I've gotta draw the line somewhere. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrhRjlpG1RE&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_RSJ6xuHbE&ob=av2e http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-oimbtVdf4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBH97ma9YiI&ob=av2e http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbEwHJX95QE&ob=av2e Whew...time to stop...you're a trooper if you actually watched any of that. There's a story or meaning of some kind to me behind every one of those songs. Each of them, along with countless others, has played a role in shaping me to be who I am today. I hope you enjoyed them, and maybe checked out some of their other works too. MUSICAL BREAK: Yeah, I think I'll skip this segment of tonight's entry. Instead you get: SPORTS BREAK: With all of the violence, injury and labor unrest in sports nowadays, it's very rare that you come across stories like this of fans helping out rival fans on their turf. I'm a Notre Dame fan, and I applaud the University of Michigan's fans who came to this ND fan's aid. http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/6973459/fans-help-save-man-notre-... VITAL STATS: Fall is definitely in the air...it's a long-sleeve shirt kinda day. Makes me sad that summer's no longer with us. Came home from an appointment today to a ton of peanut butter chip cookies...whoooo! You also know fall is in the air when there's a batch of beef stew on the stove, courtesy of Jess the CWC.That's it for tonight. I believe the total running time of this entry will end up at around 96 minutes  ...plan accordingly! Til tomorrow, GOODNIGHT NOW!! |
| THE PROMPT: "What are your favorite places within the Writing.com community and why? (Use links in your blog if you like.)" I can't say I totally have a favorite "place" within WDC, because I know I don't take full advantage of what WDC offers anymore like I used to, and I really only use it for blogging. And while I'd love to say that this place here is my favorite, I won't...that's like voting for yourself when you're not supposed to. But I can say undoubtedly that I've enjoyed the pleasure of the many friendships I've made with other members over the years. That's what makes WDC what it is...the people and the community. A good number of us are friends outside of WDC as well, which I think not only enhances our WDC experience but allows ourselves to show off our creativity in a different aspect. I will, however, plug a contest I used to take part in (and win on occasion) way back in the day:
It's been quite a few years since I entered anything in it, but almost like the "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" it's a daily contest based on a prompt. It was fun and I recommend it. I learned how to bang out my point in 20 lines or less. MUSICAL BREAK: Ever get into one of those moods where everything's bothering you and you just can't shake it? I was driving down the 290 on my way home, and this song came on...for a second I felt a little flush, as if my troubles fell off the car as I was driving. It felt good. This song might not do the same for you, but it's amazing even at 60 MPH what some songs can do. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rR48-5W_CI VITAL STATS: Happy Three Year Anniversary to the one and only, beautiful and talented  Jess the CWC!! Hockey season's almost here...got to hang with my boy Adam and watch the Sabres' prospects win the championship game of the prospect tourney in Michigan...gonna be a good year for the blue and gold! And check out this article about some things ownership has done regarding season tickets...I think this is a really nice gesture.http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/6970871/buffalo-sabres-players-owner-terry-peg... That's it for today....whew, just before midnight too. Not like I'mma turn into a pumpkin or anything. Anyway, we're back it again tomorrow...GOODNIGHT NOW!! |
| THE PROMPT: "How would it affect your life if we suddenly lost all of the services and technologies we rely on everyday? No electricity or gas service? No water or sewer? No telephone? No television? No internet? No radio? No gasoline?" Wow, way to get all "Little House On The Prarie" on me...oh, wait, I think they had running water at least. Sad to say, but in this day and age that was almost actually me once. I'm not so proud to admit that I had no electricity for a few months...which meant no internet, no hot water, and limited access to a phone and a radio. And no, I wasn't in jail. And ya know what? I managed. I didn't spend a lot of time at home. I took short showers. It was spring/summer, so I wasn't very reliant on gas for heat. I had a battery-powered charger for my phone. Got most of what I needed of the internet from the phone, and whatever more I needed I got from the library. Didn't even know I had batteries in my radio til I tried it one day. And when I lost my car, I realized I was fortunate enough to live in a place that was only a 15-20 minute walk away from all of the things we consider necessities. It wasn't easy being unemployed, living on your own, and having only basically the place you live and the clothes you wear. It was definitely a rough stretch of life. But sometimes that's what we have to do to be able to appreciate where we are now. A lot of people will never understand what it's like shaving down your life to its last dollar, and not being sure if that dollar is gonna be with you the next week. I was pretty much one rung above homeless, and that's because I had lived in my apartment for so long that my landlord considered me family. He let me slide here and there on the rent, knowing that I'd bounce back eventually. And that's one debt I'm still repaying, although it's almost done. Without getting into too much detail, I put myself away in a hospital for awhile. Stress was getting to me in a bad way and I couldn't function normally. I had to give up everything, and I mean everything, to do a reboot on my life. I gave up a $15/hr. job, a nice car, a lot of people, and all of the spoils that came with that...just to preserve my mental health and well-being. It's easy to write about what we'd do in the situation of having nothing. It's another thing to be pretty much living it. I survived, but I don't know many who could. A lot of you probably have family who would bail you out in that situation...I didn't. How did I do it? Perseverence, mainly. There were a lot of days that I didn't get out of bed, but I made the days that I did count. I got lucky, too...you don't make it out of something like that without a little bit of luck. In my case, luck really was a lady . She gave me a reason to live when every other door seemed like it was slamming shut on me. She was that great beacon of light in my darkness. She was every cliche every romantic movie has spit at you while I was every cliche any PSA regarding failure has ever delivered. 'Nuff said.I guess the moral of this entry is find someone who loves you when the lights go out and you have damn near nothing. At the end of the day, at least you have love. MUSICAL BREAK: Gotta say, I still had it better than this guy I think. Just one song that kept me on the positive tip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK_WfF6hf2E&ob=av2e It's horrible quality, the video. But if I can emerge with somewhat of a smile on my face, you learn to live with lower quality things. VITAL STATS: The views are shockingly through the roof. I don't have much to add. I've been trying to relax. This prompt took a lot out of me. I don't share this kinda stuff very easily. But I had to.That's it for tonight. Gonna make the best outta this vacation. GOODNIGHT NOW!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbLRqJ3T4DY&feature=related |
| THE PROMPT: “Write about yourself as you would a fictional character, in the third person. Try to view yourself as objectively as possible, detailing your appearance, mannerisms, perceptions and attitudes etc or just whatever comes to mind and only what you are comfortable sharing.” This is cool, cuz I've had this conversation with many people over the years about how awesome it would be to have action figures of ourselves, complete with a push-button that makes it say all of our personal catch-phrases, and has personal-effect props. But I'm actually gonna try to play to the prompt this time. Bert walks in to the room and nods his head at a few people he recognizes. His cargo shorts don't quite fit him right; his gut seems to overtake his legs. Without much more of a hello, he heads to where the beer lives and makes himself at home seemingly, by grabbing the tastiest Sam Adams from the fridge. Damn his shoes look old and beat....but I guess that's what you get when you've walked his miles in those kicks. Now he's settled...dude never quite seems right in his skin. "Oh, this is your party?" he asks me, because it's usually all about him. He asks me if he can do anything to help, but I don't need him. I'm here to celebrate, and I didn't ask Bert to come to work. Shorty's invited because a party isn't a party unless Bert is playin' Bert. See those people laughin'? When there's a crowd, there's Bert with a joke or two. He can break it down! Last year's trends? No matter. Effed up hair? Who cares...the dude can spit a good game. I didn't even know he knew the guys in the band that are playin'. But look at him on stage with all of that swagger! Like he's been there before, and he probably has. I know I saw him, but where'd he go? I swear I saw him right here like, two minutes ago. What? He left? And what happened to the pizza and the beer? That's the best I could do. I don't like talking about myself, let alone the fact that sadly, I'll never have an action figure made in my likeness that says the random things I say. MUSICAL BREAK: Since I don't have an action figure in my likeness to spit out randomness like "Word!" and "Uhh, just sayin'" and "DROP THE BANHAMMER!", you'll have this video. Cuz Legos are awesome and so is stripped-down, straight-up rock with fantastic lyrics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q27BfBkRHbs You might like this cuz I did...three years on Wednesday, Pretty Lady. VITAL STATS: Not even sure if I want to stay up for the second Monday Night Football game...I've got two players still left but I'm down like 90 points in my Fantasy League. Special, and I mean "special" with finger quotes, thanks to the millionaires on my FF team who forgot to show up on an otherwise glorious day. If I ever get the opportunity to have an action figure made out of me, can I not blow it like the MLB did, so I can wear a hat that says FDNY?http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlesports/2011/09/12/mlb-prevents-mets-from-honori... I've seen several articles about this, and I find it ridiculous. Who the hell does Joe Torre think he is? I don't care what his role is...just get it, old guy. Understand what it means. Traditions of the game will withstand a one-day tribute to a national tragedy that you yourself took part in days after. What a hypocrite. Ugh. My action figure will hate cats. And spit real saliva. And when pressed, will likely say the wrong thing at the worst time. And it'll be too intoxicated to appreciate or enjoy the fun it's having. But it'll come with a slice of pizza or a burrito, for sure.Gonna put an end to this madness now...my thoughts are cramping and I should get some rest. We'll do it again tomorrow though, right? GOODNIGHT NOW!! |
| THE PROMPT: "Today marks the 10-year anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, this tragedy touched us all. It changed the course of history and altered our lives forever. Today is a day to reflect on those events and remember all of the innocent victims that were lost. The human spirit is always enduring and perseveres even through a horrible tragedy such as this. Write about your feelings, thoughts, emotions, anything that comes to mind, both then and now." I remember, like so many others, exactly where I was and what I was doing on that tragic day. It was a weekend of all sorts of ups and downs for me. The Saturday before, I had my car impounded after a party and had to work Sunday on four hours of sleep. Then on Monday, my roommate at the time and I would meet up with friends at a bar called Razzberries down the street for karaoke. I met a girl that night that I'd wind up dating for a few months, and we were up pretty late. I was fortunate on Tuesday that there was a co-worker who lived a block away from me and could take me to work. I'm not the kind of person who wakes up early, pours a cup of coffee and relaxes before I go to work...it's basically get up, shower and go. I was definitely feeling the effects of the night before on the short walk over to her apartment. It was a gorgeous morning...the sun was bright, the air was clean and warm, and I felt pretty good for being so tired. That was not the case at the opposite end of the great state of New York. As I made it up the stairs to her apartment, I could tell she was still getting ready and had the radio on. I said hi and she had mentioned something had happened in New York City, but we couldn't figure out quite what. We still had about a fifteen or twenty minute car ride ahead of us to make sense of things, but we knew this much for sure: a plane hit the World Trade Center. We were stunned, but still unaware of the extent this tragedy would become. We wondered if maybe the pilot was drunk! It just seemed too bizarre. We worked for a local consumer electronics retailer at the time, and the scene as we walked in was surreal. A sales floor normally bustling with employees was quiet. Everyone in the building was sitting as one huddled mass in front of the 32" and 36" tv's. The towers had just collapsed...and I was wondering why we were watching on these tv's when we had another room with all the 52"+ big screen HDTV's. Not only that, but how were we supposed to work? Sure, this happened eight or nine hours away from us, but some of us had real, live connections to NYC. All morning long we had people stopping in just to catch a few minutes of coverage, or buy an extra tv for their business or wherever they may be going to. While it was refreshing that life didn't stop for us, I know personally every few minutes I had of downtime was spent trying to soak up as much knowledge about this as I could. But the one thing about that day that stands out the most wasn't the act itself, or the miraculous work being done by the first responders. It was our company's owner, and his ranting. He came into the store early in the afternoon and threw a fit about us having all of this coverage on, and demanded we put on something else. I didn't care if his company was worth nearly $20 million a year...this wasn't the time to play "hands-on, know-it-all" owner. It was about real people...the people he employed that had connections to the tragedy, and people affected by it. This wasn't a car crash happening at the intersection where his store sat; it was a bona fide terrorist attack on our country. The days and weeks thereafter were different for me (as they were for a lot of people, I'm sure). Instead of coming home, reading the paper and jumping online to see what was going on at a new website I had just come across called Stories.com, I was flipping on to CNN to see what the latest reports were. I didn't normally watch a lot of tv, but I was riveted to the coverage. My final thought on this, after having 10 years to digest it, is that out of tragedy I believe the United States has emerged as a stronger country with a more urgent sense of community. We didn't let the terrorists win. Oh, and that co-worker I rode in with that morning? Even though we've moved on both out of that neighborhood and on to bigger and better things, every year on September 11th we exchange messages about it. It's one little gesture among everything out there that ensures we'll never forget. MUSICAL BREAK: In between breaks in football games and checking on my fantasy football team online, I noticed a lot of people posting tributes, statuses and videos commemorating 9/11/01 in one way or another. One I think was particularly fitting, given the overall context of what I do here in this space. While it's important to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice and those who came to their aid, the work didn't stop there. New York City had a lot of work to do to rebuild not only the areas marred by this tragedy, but the collective psyche of the population as well. I think this video perfectly speaks to that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iul3ujcBGwU VITAL STATS: From that point on after 9/11, if you told someone from out of state you were from Buffalo, NY, they were very apologetic and comforting...like, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry to hear about the tragedy...you guys must me going through hell right now. My condolences...let us know if you need anything!" That's nice, thank you...you know, what I really need is a map, so I can show you just how far away Buffalo is from NYC . I will say that when travelling out of state a few years after, we did use the "We're from NY" card a couple of times to get better bar service and a little sympathy from the local ladies. I know, we rolled like scumbags. Some nice pre-game tributes going on at NFL stadiums today. My Bills, in their swanky new red, white and blue unis, trounced the Kansas City Chiefs by a run-up of 41-7. I've got the Sunday Night Football game on NBC right now...Dallas Cowboys at the New York Jets in the new Meadowlands stadium. Classy move by Dallas defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, wearing a cap with "FDNY" embroidered on it. One of the things the owner of the company I worked for at the time did was start selling t-shirts through his apparel company that commemorated the day. "God Bless America" was one, "FDNY" was another. I definitely grabbed the FDNY shirt; my boy DMFM was a volunteer fireman at the local hall. His organization wasn't called upon to contribute to the clean-up, but I wanted to represent. I personally want to take a second to thank all of those who defend, preserve and educate us about our freedom every day, from the troops to the cops to the firemen to the doctors and nurses to the teachers. It's an amazing thing you all do that allows us to do all the little things we do.That's it for tonight, folks. Go out and tell someone you love 'em, cuz while hopefully the words I'm about to speak never happen, you never know when some crazy-ass terrorists who haven't learned their lessons the first time about the United States decide to pull some stupid shit again. Peace, and GOODNIGHT NOW!! |
| THE PROMPT: "How do you cure writer’s block? Do you have a special ritual that you go through when you encounter writer’s block? Or do you just suffer through it and hope it clears up or goes away?" I dislike talking about myself as a writer. I've only been published a handful of times if that, and in 10+ years on WDC I wouldn't exactly say I'm successful. The stacks of notebooks I've kept over the years have only meant that I'm old and was once prolific, and even the local community newspaper I interned for in high school has changed their name to http://www.metrowny.com/. {Ed. Note: You wont see me on that site...I was there before the internet was THE INTERNET.} But as I've mentioned before, part of a person who writes and/or considers themself a writer has the psyche of an attention whore. And I mean that with the best of sentiments. It's like a five year old who helps mommy bake cookies and is proud for you to have a taste. While we write to vent or share, we also want someone to notice. And if we take any bit of pride in our work, we want feedback. It's a fine line we walk, I guess, between personal triumph and ego. And as anybody with any sort of creative sense can tell you, they've tripped that line just as often as they've failed to make it out of the gates. So for me to come on here and tell you how to cure "writer's block", in all honesty, kind of feels like me walking into a dentist's office and suggesting a cure for cavities that involves sugar, alcohol and rocks. I don't feel very qualified. All I can do is tell you what's worked for me in the past (when I was a much more prolific writer with a hell of a lot more time on my hands). My internship (back in 1992-'93) was at the-then Metro Community News. They started me out writing up the Nuptials, then moved me up to covering my high school baseball and softball teams. I even got a feature story here and there that would run in all of their editions in the county. In my free time, I began to write poetry. When the internship ran out, poetry stayed with me. At first, when I experienced "writer's block", I'd just write myself through it. In retrospect, it's some of the worst and most embarrassing writings in my canon, but I have no regrets because it kept me in the game and kept me active. I wouldn't change that early era of my "writing phase" for anything. As I got older, I went though a stage where I felt I had to add visuals to my work. I have at least two notebooks that have illustrations or collages in lieu of titles. That alone was inspiration enough to pull me out of whatever mental block I was having...using images to stimulate my leaden creativity. After awhile, once the concept seemed gimmicky and boring, I found myself fresh with new ideas...for a little while. I also took some time away. Whether one was because of the other is neither here nor there; either way, I had time and a whole new set of life's experiences to draw from...almost a different set of colors to paint with. Older, wiser, blah blah blah. But even that dries up. I had to do something totally different. Once I had gotten back into writing decent poetry again, I caught myself slipping. And slipping into that place where I had been years before, of trying to write myself out of "writer's block". I was old enough now to realize that I had to put on my big-boy pants and try something different. Something out of my comfort zone. I'd try off and on to write novels, but after a couple days I'd lose interest in them. The story would only stay with me for so long (even if I was using my own life to pull characters and plotlines from it). And when ideas would overflow but the poetry didn't fit them, coupled with life's circumstances, in order to combat my own verson of what writers call a block, I joined the relatively new revolution...I began to blog. My first blog, "I'm Studying You" , was born out of the boredom I was having from not being able to poeticize things I was seeing and/or dealing with. It started slow....very slow, as I was new to the concept. Eventually, I caught on. Of course, it'd be nothing without my detailing of the chasing after Jess the CWC (three years on Wednesday! ). I made a lot of friends around the world from that place. And then, almost as quickly as I flipped the script on what I did to myself as a person who write, I dried right back up. I didn't just hit skids...I damn near self-destructed (if you can call finally getting the girl in the end and landiing two jobs "self-destructing"). That blog was growing tired. My writing was just misery, and that's not life. Life's motion...it's the ups and downs. But the ups that weren't so common became unnoteworthy, and it's always easier to write about pain and misgivings and unfortunes. And I didn't want to take that route, plus I believe it violates the Terms Of Service now in the relationship between the CWC and I. So again, with the itch to write, I started this blog. Again, to a slow start...a lot of my old blogging friends have dropped off, but a few are still around. And to make it more interesting for me, I joined this challenge. And here we are! The moral to this entry is: Sometimes you have to break out of your comfort zone to get out of the rut you're in. Don't be afraid to challenge yourself to do something different, because if you don't try, you won't know what you're capable of. MUSICAL BREAK: I know a lot of you don't like hip-hop, but I grew up on it and it's a big influence on me. And it's my blog, so I'mma party how I wanna. This song actually kinda ties in to the prompt a little, and there's a line or two in it that not only can I identify with over the course of my time having been someone who's been through a bit of the "being published" game, but I feel like I've lived them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGB0DQb487Q VITAL STATS: I passed up two parties on my first day of vacation to give you this entry. So peace to Paul, who turns 30 and happy birthday...you're up on me big-time in fantasy football but you've got 3/10 down and I haven't had a player go yet. I like my matchup. Sorry we couldn't make it tonight. And G-Stam, not gonna make it. Sorry. Once the anger got to this kid, all bets were off. Sadly, a deep breath and a beer wouldn't be the answer, kind sir. The nap was nice, but stupidity doesn't take naps. And I'm sure you know that. I'm supposed to come up with a prompt for this contest in a week or so....and I'm not feeling that. Any suggestions would be helpful. BILLS FOOTBALL TOMORROW!! I'm not excited or anything...even though our team kinda sucks, I think we're actually gonna win. This entry is a little late, but you'll have that. "Tomorrow" doesn't begin until I wake up the next morning/afternoon. Especially when I'm on vacation. BONUS TRACKS!! Make it really feel like the bonus tracks you used to have to press fast-forward on your cassette players to hear, back in the day, and wait three minutes before you click the link. Or don't, and click it whenever your brain tells your finger to click it. This is a remix; the original blew my headphones-encompassed mind back in '88. The message is simple. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdmH3AfUo_Q Headphones are the best way to listen to music...you hear everything in the song. That song was groundbreaking at the time, as PE and The Bomb Squad was, for the production value. And I can't keep in deviating from the prompt any further without this classic frat-boy rant. I can't say it's their worst song, but it's one of their top three "worst popular songs"...and I respect them like life itself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBShN8qT4lk STRICTLY FOR THE INITIATED: Fight for your right to party, a lotta years later with a lot of better actors (and a half-hour later) here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evA-R9OS-Vo One more link...a band I also passed up seeing tonight in my fit of anger (deservedly) and playing right around the corner from me. A cover band, but a solid one nonetheless...http://www.strictlyhip.net/ I fully, completely expect a different mood tomorrow. Jus' sayin'. Hope all y'all see better days. Til tomorrow (and that's when I wake up), GOODNIGHT NOW!! |
| THE PROMPT: "Where do you turn to and what do you see when you're lonely?" Lonliness? Pshaw! Not only did I practically invent lonliness, I invented a remedy for it also. I like to call that remedy "Being Alone While Not Being Lonely". The book I wrote about it is in the "Get A Life" section at your local bookstore, or library if the thought of paying for something useful gives you hives. I don't totally mean that, by the way. Truth is, the points in life where I've felt lonliness are few and far between. Even during an almost 10-year stretch when I lived primarily by myself, lonliness was hardly a visitor. The only problem was when it overstayed its welcome at 542 (for those that are unfamiliar, 542 was the nickname bestowed lovingly on the apartment I spent nearly 1/4 of my life, and the bulk of my twenties, in). It's an ugly place, lonliness, when it's all you've got. Most thoughts of feeling lonely though were generally fleeting...five minutes later I was off writing something, reading something, walking somewhere, calling someone or failing miserably to take a nap. Self-engagement of some sort; any sort. But sometimes, there'd be nothing to write. Nothing to hold my attention. Nowhere to go, no one to call, and certainly no want to entertain the good old terror naps that I'd have. Then what? I never wanted to be the one to catch myself feeling too sorry for myself for so long, and I never wanted anyone to catch me either. I had music. For me, at least, it was self-engaging enough while having to do nothing more than select a disc and press a few buttons. There were sounds I could investigate. There were lyrics to interpret. Voices telling me what I wanted (or needed but didn't want) to hear. It became images to process and thoughts to file. Ideas, ideas, ideas. Ideas of things to do. Ideas of what more I could hope to bleed out of life, so I wouldn't have to wonder why I was feeling like I was or had nothing. Music has a strange power over some. To a lot of people, it fills a void in the background. It's on, and you hear it, but you're not listening. You might sing along, but do you really know the words? You're humming the riff of the jingle you heard in the commercial, but do you even remember the product that jingle was created to promote? But to others, it's the soundtrack of their entire life. We still buy the cd because we love the feel of the book in our hands as we're reading the lyrics while the song plays, fighting for some kind of understanding of what the songwriter meant. We're trying to relate to something in ways unlike others relate to topics like relationships, family, love, hate, stress, etc. We go beyond hearing it...we become it. The melody is our blood; its tempo our tempo. We understand/rationalize/sympathize. We make it our own. With music, you can never be lonely. I don't know if I could live a life that sounds like it's tuned in between two radio stations. MUSICAL BREAK: There are other ways of battling lonliness. This video shows you how. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CAYFIpi89k&feature=fvst VITAL STATS: I've determined over the last few days that I'm gonna go to work one day, run my mouth a little, and my boss (all four-foot-nothing of her) is going to connect with a solid right cross to my grill over some stupid joke I make either about her, or at her expense. And I've also determined that she won't get fired for it either. Why not? Because I flat-fuck deserved it, that's why. And it's kinda sad... I wish I had an example to share, but there's just too many and I don't remember all of what I've said yesterday or today that's prompted the sneers, dirty looks or comments she makes referring to me as "an ass". But all of y'all would be laughing your asses off, fo' sho'. I'm a big jerk. Tomorrow I get to sleep in with damn near no plans at all until the afternoon/evening. That hasn't happened in awhile. Usually on my days off there's one reason or another for still being up super early. Nope, not tomorrow. BONUS TRACK!! How about another round of applause for lonliness? Football season has started, which means this most important fact: Hockey season is right around the corner! I'd never seen this video before, and I really hoped it'd never end. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QV5x9y_TRQ That's all I can give ya tonight, folks. Much love, enjoy your weekend, stay safe, and call a friend. GOODNIGHT NOW!! |
| THE PROMPT: "Imagine the abstract part of you (mind, soul, spirit) is a house. What rooms are in the house? Which room is your favorite, or are you afraid of, or do you find yourself in most? Describe one of these rooms in detail, or give us an overview of the whole house full of rooms." It would be a very deceiving-looking house. Plain in appearence and of average size, but once you're able to open the doors, everything inside opens up. The main floor is a typical house: kitchen, dining room, living room, bathroom and bedrooms. Adorned yet non-descript, fancy for their charm if nothing else. The basement, however, is the true sense of the house. As large as the house but not partitioned into actual rooms so much as segments (almost in thirds), most of my time is spent here. On one side is a lounge. Bright, fun, and playfulness describe every trinket and bit of decor. Ideas run as rampant as the wine. It's a gameroom by day and a disco at night. The opposite end features a library of partially useless and nearly endless knowledge. Books line the walls in subjects of all sorts. There are a few archaic-looking desks and chairs, and the air reeks of seriousness. Work will be done here, no question. You can spend almost as much time getting to either side of the basement as you'll spend in a room. A series of dark hallways can intersect and take you on a maze-like path. There are no guarantees that you won't end up where you started. It is in these halls that the visions are created for the work and play that will be accomplished. They're dark and non-inspiring, forcing you to your own devices in hopes that you're able to find your way. This is the house inside my mind. And it's not for sale. MUSICAL BREAK: I realize it's nine minutes long, but it goes from sparse, quiet and sad to something almost grandiose and hopeful. They also have possibly one of the Top 5 band names in all of history. Enjoy responsibly. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1gLQ7ae8zk&feature=related VITAL STATS: Football season is underway!! Last day of work for another week. Whoo hoo!! Not much going on (man, I've been boring lately) over my way, but if you'd be so kind, say a prayer to whomever you pray to for Julie D - PUBLISHED! . For those who haven't heard, she hasn't been around as much lately and has recently lost someone. Condolences and best wishes from us. Peace everybody. |
| THE PROMPT: "Write an experience where you were scammed by a transaction. How do you fight with it?" Ok, let me hit you off with NY State Law regarding the use of gift cards. Basically, they're non-refundable, they're not supposed to expire, and I believe you're not penalized for not using them after X-amount of time. Fair enough. A certain video-gaming empire that shall remain nameless (because they don't merit the promotion) has several games available to play for free on a certain, large-scale social networking website. However, in order to advance faster in one of their particular games, you have the option of paying for add-ons to the game. I don't consider myself the gaming type (unless it's Rockband and you put a mic in my hand), but I do enjoy playing this one game in particular. It's a nice way to relax and unwind after the day is through. Even playing daily for a little while, I wasn't advancing fast enough for my liking. I decided to start paying a little here and there to move up and add to my experience. The game provides you different payment options: credit card, social networking credits, and the parent company of the game itself even had its own gift card, made available to fine retailers everywhere. There's a gift card out there for damn near everything these days .Rather than be tempted to blow all my money on a weekly basis by attaching a credit card number to this game (and as a warning, I should let you know that a lot of these games actually store your credit card info, in the event that you'd like to use your card at a later date...that's a scary thought. I'm ok with Apple storing my credit card info when I want to purchase music from iTunes, but a social networking site? ) I opted to go the easy route and buy one of the parent company's gift cards. $25, added enjoyment, everyone wins!Until the day....wait for it....wait for it...this wildly successful gaming franchise made the decision to stop honoring their own gift cards. After I had already purchased one. No warning, nothing...and of course, as per NY law, I had no recourse at all. I emailed the "support staff" to explain my situation, and within a day or two they credited my game's account with the appropriate $25 worth of virtual currency. Problem solved...and I'm happy. A day or two later, a new "payment option" showed up in their system. They had decided to go with a 3rd-party payment system, or, essentially, a different company that you could buy a gift card from to use to purchase more "virtual currency" for this game or other games as well. Sweet! Yeah, well...that lasted only a couple of months until the same thing happened again. Bought a card, and they had removed the area within the game to add the card. I emailed support again and explained my issue. Only this time, they gave me a complete runaround. "Restart your computer." "Reload the game." "Uninstall and reinstall the game." "We'll escalate this to another level of attention." "Clear your cache." And my favorite, "Read the forums regarding this game to solve your problem." Why are you a support staff at all when you're basically telling me to do something I myself along with many other members of this game's community already do on a consistent basis?  After about a week of going back and forth via email about this, they apologized...and credited my account approximately 5% of the $20 I paid in the first place. Five. Percent. Of $20. Which made me triple-times .What did I do? What any normal consumer would do. I went to every forum and help group associated with this game and lit the company up, from post to post. In the end, it got me nowhere else, but at least I got it out of my system and exposed them as money-grubbing cheats. Yeah, I know it's only $20, but $20 is $20, ya know? I've also pretty much stopped spending money on this game...occasionally I'll put $20, but the game doesn't even take my Visa debit card (which came from my employer and is now how I get paid every two weeks...so there's money on it, but they just don't take it), so I've gotta beg the missus to let me use her card if I absolutely need to keep my spot in the game. And I know what you haters out there are gonna say..."Why would you spend that kind of money on a free game?" Hey, I don't tell you what to spend your money on. WDC is a free site, but how many of us have paid memberships? I'm not blowin' $20 every week or two on coke. I'm not goin' to the strip clubs every weekend. I don't need the latest, greatest sneakers that are out there. Bills get paid; dinners get made. Don't judge me. Sorry....thinking about this whole situation has fired me up again. MUSICAL BREAK: Great song to not only sorta tie into the entry but take my anger down a notch, but not so far down into whiney-baby territory. One of my top-10 favorite bands, fo' sho'. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkFdbdQLaNk&feature=related VITAL STATS: Thanks for stopping by...like it, hate it, care to share? Leave a comment! By the time I press save I'll have hit 1300 views, so say hi so I can thank you for coming and wasting a few minutes of your day with me . And if Facebook sent you over here, leave me a comment there too! Us attention whores like to know who's spying in on us and from where. I'd stay and play around a little longer today (it's well overdue) but with about an hour or less left in my shift at work today I was asked if I'd come in at 5:45am tomorrow instead of my customary 8am time slot. Suuuuure...not like I sleep anyway! So I'm gonna preempt my activities tonight in hopes that I can get to bed at a decent time. I love me some "go in early, go home early" business!That's all I've got for today...like my man http://www.jimrome.com/ says...GOODNIGHT NOW!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HNgqQVHI_8 |
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