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 |   A third attempt at this blogging business. |
 30-DAY BLOG CHALLENGE WINNER FOR SEPTEMBER 2011 AND APRIL 2012!!  BLOGGING CIRCLE OF FRIENDS "BLOGGER OF THE WEEK" MAY, SEPTEMBER, AND NOVEMBER 2013 JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND JUNE 2014 After 380 entries and over 17,600 views, it was time to retire "Who Do I Think I Am??"  . Expect more of the same shenanigans and troublemaking you've come to know and love from me over the last few years. Tell all your friends, warn your family and hide this from your neighbors...this isn't your average blog.   
Thanks for stopping by and showing your support!    THIS BLOG IS NOW CLOSED.
Continue along on my journey over at "Still Figurin' Out Who I Think I Am" . |
| 30DBC PROMPT: "Invalid Item" Well hello there. I can't believe it's only a Tuesday...feels like it should be closer to the weekend already. Like I slept enough to miss out on life for awhile. My timing's off from this past weekend, I guess. You don't realize the routines you're in until they're disrupted. And it got cold out! I'm a hardened person from 38 years of New York winters as it is, but there's nothing like that day the temperature drops and suddenly you shouldn't be wearing shorts anymore. Like summer just kissed you and up and left without saying goodbye, and it's gone without a trace. Makes me wonder how I managed to survive last winter, having to crutch everywhere. Without gloves, even. I bought a cheap pair earlier this month, and copped a pair of stellar Carhartt ones from my uncle's, but really...on ten degree days through ice and snow, how did I survive that? I shouldn't be complaining...it's only October and it's in the fifties temp-wise. The worst is yet to come with the weather, that much I know. But summer, we hardly knew ya. Thanks for the ditch. You'll never hear me complain about it being too hot out, and I sweated my boys off this summer in a second-story room. I'm not judgin' you people who ski, snowboard, make snow-people and generally love winter, but y'all are crazy. Gimme 80 degrees in a comfortable environment. I'm open to moving. Make me an offer and be willing to put up with me. I don't need much or make weird demands. The hardest decisions I have to make are switching my laptop's browser back to Windows 8's tiled view from desktop mode after watching football on Sunday nights. So I'm house-broken. I'm neat and clean. Just take me to your warmer climate. BCF PROMPT: "Imagine you are one of the following, a 12 year old girl, 15 year old boy, 23 year old working person, a 59 year old millionaire or a 64 year old bee keeper. You live in one of the following locations: on a farm, in a mansion, on the street, in a boarding house, or with your aunt and uncle. Pick one person and one location; you are now this person and this is where you live and the diary is yours that was found from 1864. Start with: Some people might not have opened. Write a story or a poem using the information. Have fun!" Wow. What a way to go with options and stuff. Here's a poem about it: Untitled 10222013 You made me who I am, just a shallow business guy who's been all these things to a world that doesn't see them. You don't know my story, just like I don't know yours. Here's my journal. It's never been opened by anyone else but me. Lover, daughter, brother, friend. When will we meet again? Take my hand by taking my words. Let them mean something special to you... something more than I can tell you in person. We interpret things differently. They may not be easy to discuss. Your life was a triumph more than mine was a debacle, so what you can gain out of seeing this is something only you can answer. That is, if the question is ever posed through idle conversation. My words made you and you made my words what they are. Let's stay intimately separated once we, well, you know... get reacquainted. We all have better things to do. But until then, you're here and I'm there. And we can talk again when it's over and we found out what we needed to know. About you, me, and you and me. I can't get you there from here, but you can see me now. Don't let your voice quiet you, and let's just enjoy discovery for what it is. MUSICAL BREAK!! Haven't heard this song in forever. An ex-coworker mentioned them on my Facebook page, which you should like if you don't already at https://www.facebook.com/asongadaycuzIcan. THE DAILY BOX SCORE:  So much to cover, and I've been a bad friend when it comes to reading blogs. I love you guys...you're amazing. The WDC community is tremendous.  Did I mention that the Bills beat the Dolphins on Sunday? I really don't re-read what I write. It was a great Bills win, and one that would've mattered more if it was 1990 and they were still a bitter rival. Why it was necessary for Hova to have this video narrated is beyond me. The hometown Bills were more accomplished than the 'Fins back then. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6imZAB19C4w. Now neither team is relevant in the money-printing machine that the NFL is. The Patriots became cash cows after they switched their uniforms up, the Bills couldn't replace Jim Kelly like Miami can't replace Dan Marino, and the Jets...man, the Jets. Ugly, ugly, ugly. How they win is ridiculously amazing in today's NFL. I'm liking their uni's...that hunter green and logo. The Pats should've never gone away from the "Pat Patriot" helmet/uniform design. Those were some bad NE teams, but that look was great...here's a great reference for uniforms: http://www.uni-watch.com/. But really, those '90's Bills teams illed with destroyerness.   And the Sabres still suck ass. How can hockey teams be that bad? Why do players not want to perform for a city that's mad about the sport as it is, the GM drafts well, and ownership's committed to "Hockey Heaven" in Buffalo? OMG, is it still Tuesday? It's Tuesday somewhere.And that's where I depart from this to take a nap. Because life is better when you wake up, or so I've learned. Peace, gonna gonna GOODNIGHT NOW! Yep, I went there. Even the best poets know enough to stay away from bad hockey teams. |
| 30DBC PROMPT: "Invalid Item" What's up folks? All I know is I'm far too awake right now on a Sunday morning. A lot has happened in the seven-something hours since I last checked in, so let's hit that. Got a merit badge because I reviewed a few newbies; hence, the gain in Community Points you may (or not) have noticed. My upgrade got, uhhh, upgraded, via "RAOK Upgrade Brigade Group" . I have to remember to thank them. That's gift points I won't have to spend at the end of the month.And then there was the email from Wordsmitty ✍️  regarding a contest for the "Scariest True Blog Entry". Perhaps a "Blogging Bliss" promotion. I'll tell you what: I think I covered scary last night. And Halloween is something I don't normally do. Here's a Halloween recap of me: ** Image ID #1822824 Unavailable ** Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love. ** Image ID #1822825 Unavailable ** The "rent is too damn high" guy that was running for Governor of NY, Jimmy McMillan. And then there's me, as featured in the WDC 13th birthday tribute video, and a closer representation of how I look today: ** Image ID #1959052 Unavailable ** Damn, I'm cute. So I don't know what this Halloween madness is about. You want true-life scary? I sat in a jail cell once (albeit for a traffic violation). Shoes removed, earrings taken out, the whole nine. Yeah, I'm a hardened criminal, thanks to the Depew justice system I once worked for to get in place. Best Halloween costume ever? I wish I had pictures. I went to a party dressed up as a priest. I had a balls-out costume. A robe, a cross around my neck, a hat, a smoke tucked behind my ear, and a "bible" which was really Hustler magazine with papers over the cover. I had a flask full of Crown Royal in the pocket of the shorts I was wearing underneath my robe, and that night I learned how tasty Crown is when mixed with Dr. Pepper. You don't front on a priest. At least not one who'd eventually spend a Saturday afternoon/evening in a jail cell you didn't even know your village had. BCF PROMPT: "It's a Sunday!!" At least that's what I was told when I went to order another round of drinks once. Problems aren't bars being open on Sunday. Problems are people who go to bars on a Sunday. MUSICAL BREAK!! Jump up to the forefront and like my new Facebook page. I promise I won't get all karaoke on you. https://www.facebook.com/asongadaycuzIcan. And then watch me own a song or two when I've got the mic. It's a damn Sunday!! THE DAILY BOX SCORE:  I make rude faces sometimes. You'll deal with that. It's way too early on a damn Sunday anyway.I should be going back to sleep anyway. It's way too early to be wearing slippers and pajama pants. It's a football day, for crissakes! Peace, we get pretty, and GOODMORNING NOW!! |
| 30DBC PROMPT: "Invalid Item" Hey friends. Been an amazingly weird few days. My body hurts...and I've been through pain before. It wakes me up before I can get out of bed. If you've ever had the feeling like you can't move, I'm right there with you. I think that segues nicely right into... BCF PROMPT: "Share your personal opinion as to what is scary and what is not, when it comes to the 'haunted house' experience." Hi players. Your boy right here hates moving. It literally effing sucks. Like really, did I catch the dead from being in Connecticut and spending time in my uncle's place after he passed? I don't know how else to say it. Putting one foot on the ground and chasing it with the other is a fucking process right now. I thought it was bad last winter, dealing with a broken ankle. Now? Forget it. Walking sucks. I'm amazed that I haven't defecated myself yet. And you wanna hear about scary? That's scary as all GTFO. That you're having problems at 38 years old taking care of yourself? Seriously. Life isn't normal anymore. When you have a sleep disorder and you're randomly napping twice a day, that's messed up. Especially when you can't fall asleep at night. And your lower back feels like it's been beaten and abused, but you have no reason for it to feel that way? I've pounded pavement harder than what my body feels like it's been through. And I know I put my skin and bones through a lot. More men, better men, have done worse to their souls. And I can't get out of bed without crying in pain. Say what you will, but that's scaring the bejeebus outta me. I don't need to hear politics and all the other bullshit rhetoric regarding healthcare. I have insurance. What I don't have is a doctor close to me. So all you Obamacare Nazis can stick that up your ass. Ain't no president gonna fly his ass to Cortland to take care of me. We can argue politics and the state of the nation like the day is long. The fact of the matter is they (politicians) don't care about us common folk. They care about getting elected. They like votes. They don't get sick, nor do they care about those who do. There's your goddamn opinion on scary haunted houses. From an Obama voter. Like I had a better go-'round with Clinton...at least I didn't bust my body up back then. MUSICAL BREAK!! You and I don't have a personal connection. Let's get one started. I started a personal Facebook page because I love music, and I love writing, and somehow they should coincide. https://www.facebook.com/asongadaycuzIcan I've already posted one song on there. I've locked down my boy DMFM for the next one. Like the page, share it with your friends, and let's have a conversation about beats, rhymes, lyrics, and then some. For the love, peace and war. THE DAILY BOX SCORE:  I can't lift my legs, but I'll karaoke the special place outta you. I mean that with all I have to mean anything with.Peace children, and GOODNIGHT NOW!! |
| 30DBC PROMPT: "Invalid Item" What's up, folks? This is the entry I didn't want to write. I started it earlier today, then took a nap in the middle of it, and it went away due to the magical refreshness of Windows 8. I don't mind it, actually. But I need to feel my hands on a keyboard while seeing words on a screen. It's been the craziest stretch of days. For those that don't know, my uncle passed away unexpectedly last week. Well, sometime in the last week. We don't know when for sure. I know Thursday is when we found out. We don't know exactly why yet. I hadn't seen him in around 25 years. Years! But from what I remember, he was always quiet. He kept to himself. Didn't bother anyone, and didn't want to be bothered. I can respect that. He lived in Connecticut. My mom and brother drove up to Cortland, picked me up, and we stayed out there for the weekend as we went through his cute little house. He'd probably rather I not refer to it that way, but too bad...it's my blog, and I call it like I see it. On a personal level, I don't know grief. I know sadness in all its colors and forms. I know death. I don't know how to process what's in-between. I know I saw things this weekend I can't un-see, smelled things I can't un-smell, and lived through something no one should have to live through. I know I need to be closer to people I should be closer to. It's not a question of how. It's a matter of doing. I'm not good at it. Perspective helps, when it doesn't shift. There's no instruction manual for what happened in CT. It just is, and we just are. What we do in the middle is what counts. I can't say much about it; what is there to say? At some point I'll slip back into my daily routine of little importance, while the world gets bigger and farther away. Unless I do something about it. Hey, if you're happy, more power to ya. And if you're not, well, I know it's not an easy thing to deal with, but you can. Changes come if you're willing to make them. Call someone; sometimes the best conversations are just hearing someone breathe. Everybody's got shit to deal with, and life doesn't get easier with age for most of us. I've been in depths that you can't imagine, and yet here I am. It's alright. Maybe you've been worse, but you're here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM0zINtulhM BCF PROMPT: "Tell me about a funny, memorable commercial you saw recently." My man CJ Reddick  , comin' up with a strong prompt. It's 11:30pm my time, so I debated going with the actual prompt for the 16th, which was something about being successful. Wasn't in the place then to address it, and honestly, if I have to tell you about success(es), then I wasn't very, ahem, successful. I don't trust people who claim to be what they are, because their actions should speak for themselves. Like, don't tell me you're the "funniest motherfucker around" unless you actually are. You're just wasting both of our time.So commercials. We're on that, right? I don't own a tv, so I don't watch enough to see commercials. But I try to get at least the Sunday Night Football telecast from NBC, and I've also been able to stream a few Notre Dame games as well. And my lord, the few commercials they play are maddening, if only because they play over and over! It's the same damn ones! Some damn Toyota car/minivan ad about a kid being bullied, and Stubhub's "Ticket Oak". Every damn time. I used Stubhub once to get Sabres tickets. Got a wicked reasonable deal on center-ice seats. Took my ex to her first game, and she loved it. She was so adorable about it. I was jacked because I'd never sat so close to ice level...we were a "hey, WTF??" away from the penalty box at FNC Arena. Great seats at a more than reasonable price. But this Stubhub commercial is funny to me. The way he says "Whaaaaat?" in the middle of him asking is classic and priceless. I love you too, Ticket Oak. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srT4hqYTYz4 MUSICAL BREAK!! Not one song can specifically define this past weekend in CT. Uncle Tom liked classic rock. He had an amazing old school set-up for his audio. Makes me miss my tapes, turntable and records. I shared Thom Yorke and Sparklehorse's version of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" on his Facebook wall, because after going through his cds, that's as close as we were. If he were me and I were him, we'd be pumping this from his truck when it needed to be heard. THE DAILY BOX SCORE:  I haven't been very active on Twitter lately, but I'll get there. @Fivesixer if you're so inclined. The rest stop in Massachusetts where we stopped for food is crazy bad. It's like a food court, which is ok, but I had to poop. Did my thing, came out, and thought about eating. Waited in line for a burger at their McDonalds (I don't fucking eat burgers) for about 20 minutes. Requested a refund on my #whatever value meal just to end up with a sorta ok piece of corporate pizza from Papa Gino's. Not great. I'll again take to my grave that the best pizza places are corner joints that you don't need GPS info for.And I'm calling this a night. We, you, me, we're closing up shop for the night. Thanks for coming out and seeing it thus far. Peace, take me home, and GOODNIGHT NOW!! I don't know where I'm goin' but I'll end up in your arms. |
| 30DBC PROMPT: "Invalid Item" What's up y'all? It's not your average everyday Thursday around here, that's for sure. Not only is football being played, but thanks to the NFL's greediness initiative to ensure all 32 teams get a nationally-featured primetime game, the Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills will be squaring off tonight in a mistake by Lake Erie tilt of up-and-coming clubs hoping to make waves in the league. I'm all for football 24/7/365, especially when it comes to the Bills, but count me among those who think Thursday games are a bad idea. It used to be that football was played on Sundays (primarily), until Monday Night Football came along and eventually turned the game into an event. It was a big deal when the schedule came out and your team was being featured that week...usually as a reward for a successful season the year before. Monday nights had a certain aura around them...the glow of the national spotlight, superstars rising to the occasion, and (the three most important words the league knows) revenue revenue revenue. The NFL has since expanded its offerings to Sunday nights and Thursday nights, squeezing out games to capitalize on the popularity of a fixed inventory of contests...under the current 16-game schedule there are few opportunities for a handful of elite teams to face each other. Opening up other days of the week means more exposure for the product. The question is, how much is too much? The simple risk/reward proposition is that teams playing on Thursday have a short week to prepare, but then have more time off before their next game. I'm sure if you ask any coach that's used to game-planning for a normal Sunday game, he'll tell you the short week is taxing enough and it's not a lot of time to properly install their system for the week. And while the players may appreciate national exposure, their bodies aren't built to withstand that type of a beating without having ample time to recuperate. Based on these two factors alone, that should be enough evidence to come to the conclusion that the product being offered on Thursdays is inferior to what you see on a Sunday. The addition of primetime games now is the equivalent of every player in Little League ball getting a trophy at the end of the year just for showing up...regardless of whether or not your team's any good, they'll get the luxury of a national spotlight at least once a year, which brings us to tonight's game. In the world of the NFL, does anyone outside of Buffalo's or Cleveland's respective fan bases really care about this game? Neither team was expected to contend for the playoffs. Both teams are relatively young and have few bona fide superstars to market around. You can't tell me the league's schedule makers actually looked at the lineup of games for this week and determined this matchup to be worthy of attention befitting the league's goal of saturating the nation's collective fandom. Casual fans of the game aren't going to be staying up late for this one...even if for some reason it turns out to be an exciting game. In fact, I can point to two factors that would sway anyone toward avoiding this game: 1) The Thursday night games this season haven't been among the best football we've seen, and 2) Bills/Browns games within the last decade or so have largely been snoozefests between two bad franchises. Rather than picking a winner, I can see this game being lost by the team that shoots itself in the foot last. Forget about it being a "Battle For Lake Erie Supremacy"...it's more like the "Struggle Toward Mediocrity". I almost felt bad for the person in charge of having to market this game for the NFL Network, until realized that person's probably making a ton of money. The NFL is a bazillion-dollar empire. For a few months out of the year they will have you believing they're the only thing of importance. They'll go as far as dictating what types of bags you can bring into their stadiums, where you can park your car, and how you watch the games. This is a league that almost double-charges fans for the right to be able to watch games, if you think about it...out-of-market fans like myself would have to have something beyond a basic cable or satellite package to view the game, unless I wanted to watch it on a computer or smartphone, and even then you'd have to subscribe to another NFL-sponsored package for that privilege. To me, this says the NFL cares more about making every last dollar it can over providing a quality product. The list of things the NFL values more than money? It's blank. Employee safety? Fan comfort? Competitive balance? Consistent rule enforcement? Even the largest consumer-driven corporations at least make an attempt at trying to say they hold these basic ideals close to their black, greedy hearts. The NFL? Nope. The largest-grossing non-profit in the history of business ever would, however, like for you to have a seat cushion emblazoned with your favorite team and the NFL shield, at an unreasonable price for something your ass will make an imprint on for three and a half hours at a time. So if you're enjoying tonight's game on a thousand dollar tv, or streaming it on a device you paid a few hundred for before your monthly access charge, remember...like I said, the NFL is a non-profit industry that makes billions annually. Non-profit. Billions. Let that sink in. Go Bills! BCF PROMPT: "All of the power in the world goes out, including car engines. What changes in your life and how do you survive without electricity?" Interesting, if only to ask the question, "Why are car engines a part of this?" Maybe once electric cars are the primary mode of vehicular transportation, but to assume that all the electricity in the world includes gas-powered cars, well, that's slightly ludicrous. Google "Buffalo October Storm" and you'll see stories about how a few years ago a freak snowstorm crippled the area, taking down trees and power lines all over the place. I had a car during that time, and could go places (when it wasn't getting stuck on unplowed streets), but since everywhere I could imagine going had no power, there was almost no point. I've probably told this story before, but I managed once to go an entire spring at 542 without electricity. I was out of work the previous winter and fell behind on the bill. Legally they couldn't shut me off until the weather warmed up, and the lapse plus the delay in getting unemployment benefits led to me either having rent and food, or electricity. Having electricity was secondary to having a roof overhead. I managed. I had a battery-powered cell phone charger...a week's worth of AA batteries and candles were much more affordable than a few months' worth of electricity. I only shopped for food I could consume when I was hungry, and spent most of my days out looking for jobs. I'd come home, plug my phone in, write a little (my phone at the time had a really easy-to-use internet browser that interfaced well with WDC), sleep, wake up, and do it all over again. I managed quite well actually. If you ask me, I think the world would be ok without power for a couple of days at best. The most resourceful would survive longer, but eventually anarchy would slowly creep into the collective global conscience. Mob mentality would take place, because it's easier to riot than it is to find a practical solution. All of society's trash would turn Wal-Marts inside-out, screaming, "One day, we'll have power again and this 46" plasma tv will look great in the charred remains of my living room!" Think about it...a nation of disheveled Wal-Marts. Your street looking like the maternity department just puked and gave birth all over it. Your backyard has become the inside of a college dormitory's garbage can during Pledge Week. CNN is out front, using tin cans, string, and empty paper towel tubes to "film" the chaos while you watch it on the cardboard box your fridge came in. A fight has broken out over the last scraps of roadkill. The New World Order has seen the vanishment of politicians who withered and died without their interns and mobile devices. We become living persona of Lord Of The Flies. Everyone who's ever believed in a Zombie Apocalypse is rewarded just in time to see it happen, but not long enough to understand that those people really aren't dead; they're just lost without their iPhones and Facebook. The aggregate weight of the world shifts so much that Earth falls out of orbit and careens toward the sun, burning everyone except the crew on the spaceship of the movie "Armageddon", where Bruce Willis becomes de facto President and Ben Affleck doesn't have to hear shit about becoming Batman because he can live in space with Liv Tyler. In return, the planet doesn't explode, but becomes Hell, and that stupid Aerosmith song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo_0UXRY_rY) plays over and over as the sole remnant of music forever. On the plus side? No need to worry about Justin Bieber doing anything of significance. or having to deal with all those things you said would happen "once Hell freezes over". I still can't decide if I'd rather live in that world, or in reality.  MUSICAL BREAK!! For someone so sonically learned, it's becoming harder and harder to plug in songs that relate to my entries. Let's see if this works... THE DAILY BOX SCORE: https://www.wgr550.com...My home for Bills games, since the NFL prefers fans who spend lots of money for inferior product.  Still no hockey emoticon. I'll be pissed about this even more when the Sabres start winning. See you in 2017, give or take a few generations.  I'm still open to the WDC "Sports Desk" idea. Give me a few weeks to formulate a plan for it. There's a little interest, and a niche longing to be filled. Maybe a grassroots start is necessary...who knows. I expect one day to see it bloom into something https://www.grantland.com-style. ESPN started as a cable channel showing crap for a few hours a day and rerunning the same highlights show over and over. There's some models. Start small; get better and bigger will come. Testing out this to see if more than two videos can be posted in an entry. I came across an old entry recently that had three (although somehow two were the same). If you don't experiment, you'll never know. Donte Whitner was a marginal player on some legendarily lousy Bills teams and a legitimate draft bust before the Bills let him walk as a free agent. He turned that into the good fortune of playing for a Super Bowl contender in San Francisco. Now he wants to be known as "Hitner". This is the ugly side of fame and fortune in the NFL. They create these idiots, and they manipulate them by throwing tons of money at them and then marginalizing their abilities with subjective legislation for rewarding the public's "wow" factor for seeing "big hits" and then penalizing them after the fact. Selective discipline at its best. As long as there's a market for stupidity, the league will continue to let morons play in their league because it puts butts in their "officially branded" chairs. The average fan can't take his or her family out to dinner at a halfway decent non-chain restaurant, but expects them to support a mediocre crybaby talent who's forced to buy up all the "old" jerseys with his name on them because he wants a vanity nameplate on the back of his uni. Way to play for the emblem on the helmet and not the one on your back, "Hitner". Douchebag. http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9759786/donte-whitner-san-francisco-49ers-chan.... If I'm the league, I'm seeing a bulls-eye on your back now. At least Chad Johnson (Ochocinco) used to be able to catch balls and make plays...Whitner? Couldn't catch a ball thrown at him and wouldn't tackle his own jockstrap after practice. Now all of the sudden he's concerned about hitting and tackling? Please. He's legally stolen so much money from his tenure as an NFL player that he should be refunding all the bonus money the Bills paid him. What a conceited jerk (says the guy who hasn't won a 30DBC in years but holds on to "Champ" in his handle because, well, I was once, and at least I how flashes occasionally of doing it again, unlike Whitner, who shows why he sucks more than he's worth something). The NFL needs to stop rewarding players for questionable hits. Bigger, stronger, faster players need to see that the league's rules keep up with them instead of turning profits off them and turning them into vegetables shortly after they retire (when they're no longer marketable in their respective adoptive cities). Ugh...I didn't want to vent today, and then I did. Over some ridiculous dude doing stupid things. Yet I can't wash the NFL out from my mouth (and that's something I'm sure they love).And I'mma shut up now, because I'm going to need a nap before kickoff. Hit me on Twitter during the game (@Fivesixer) if you wanna discuss feelings about the NFL, power outages, or recipes for treats involving Reese's peanut butter cups. In fact, all topics are an open forum. If there's a mutual interest, we'll converse. Otherwise, 'til tomorrow, peace, don't hang the receiver out to dry, and GOODNIGHT NOW!! *Didn't work.* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saMUmG4HU1E |
| 30DBC PROMPT: "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Good afternoon friends! Day Two of an unofficial 30DBC! Today's entry is brought to you by...*shuffles imaginary papers*...ummm, well, I haven't got a sponsor yet. Somebody get on that! Revenue! Spread the word! I've often stated I won't sell out this spot on the internet's corner of depravity and malcontention (and yes, my spell-checker has confirmed that "malcontention" is in fact a made-up word), but how cool would it be if one of my favorite brands offered me a few bucks to write, as long as I interjected some promotional spots into my missives? "Here's your Mountain Dew Comment Of The Day..." or "The Daily Box Score, brought to you by Marlboro Smooth, because menthol tastes better when it's coughed up the second time around". I think we might be on to something here. Anyway, a few entries back I bemoaned the lack of sports coverage on WDC. It's a niche that hasn't been fully scraped and scoured, and is in need of proper exploitation. I think a sub-theme for my entries this month should be the tackling of this issue...there are a ton of bloggers writing about every other damn topic here, so let's do this a solid and talk about sports. What I'd love to see down the road is the creation of perhaps a group blog...WDC's "Sports Desk" if you will, updated at a steady pace with commentary on a wide range of topics relating to the life inside and outside the field of play. I know this may only interest a few of us for now, but I think if those interested pooled some resources together, it could be a reality. Who's with me? Until then, I'm going to do my thing here like I always do. Yesterday my hometown Buffalo Sabres announced their team captains for the upcoming season (which starts tonight against Detroit...and I hate the NHL's new realignment, but that's another topic for another steam-blowing session). Some were excited about the "co-captaincy" of Thomas Vanek and Steve Ott, and I think it's an interesting move. Both are good players and respected teammates, but I'm leery about this and I raised this point on Twitter yesterday:  Allow me to explain. I took a peek at the Sabres' Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Sabres) to see who has worn the "C" over the years. The names stick out because in my opinion, the Sabres over the years have not valued these members of their respective rosters. Going back as far as I can remember, actual captains' tenures have not ended well with this franchise. I may not have all the details, but going back as far as I can, this is how I remember them: Gerry Meehan, 1971–74: Eventually became General Manager. Jim Schoenfeld, 1974–77: Traded. Danny Gare, 1977–81: Traded. Gilbert Perreault, 1981–86: A messy retirement and brief estrangement. Lindy Ruff, 1986–89: Traded, and eventually came back to coach. Mike Foligno, 1989–90: Traded. Mike Ramsey, 1991–92: Traded. Pat LaFontaine, 1992–97: Traded following a concussion debacle. Alexander Mogilny, 1993–94 (while LaFontaine was injured): Traded. Michael Peca, 1997–2000: Traded after sitting out a year in a contract dispute. Stu Barnes, 2001–03 Traded. From 2003-2008, the Sabres then rotated their captaincy monthly. To me, that says "When you have 2 (or more) captains, you have none". Having a leadership role as a player shouldn't be taken lightly, and if a coach can't decide on a singular voice to lead his locker room, it's a sum of parts that feel bigger than the whole but in reality don't connect. Perhaps part of it is that no one player could assume the role or stand out enough to make a difference, and another part is the coach not being strong or decisive enough to stand up with someone. (I should point out that from 2005-2007, Daniel Briere and Chris Drury served as co-captains, and were allowed to walk away from the team in free agency.) Going on... Craig Rivet, 2008–11: Traded after being sent to the minors. Jason Pominville, 2011–13: Traded. Thomas Vanek & Steve Ott, 2013–present. Notice any trends here? The tenure of nearly every Sabres' captaincy has ended in a trade, and most of them weren't pretty situations. And now for the kicker...both Vanek and Ott are playing for contracts next season, meaning there's a chance they could walk in free agency a la Drury/Briere. Or, if the Sabres fall out of contention in the revamped Eastern Conference, they could find themselves...you guessed it...traded, as rental players to Stanley Cup-committed franchises while the Sabres continue to get younger (seemingly another recurring theme in the history of the franchise that once proclaimed itself as "Hockey Heaven"). I'm not up to prognosticating the NHL season like I did for the NFL, but I can tell you I don't have high hopes for the Sabres this year. I don't see them making the playoffs, let alone being a major factor in the league. One or both of their captains will be traded as the purge continues to rid the locker room of "Lindy's guys". And let's not forget Ryan Miller...the team's de facto captain who would wear the "C" if there weren't an unwritten rule about goalies being captains. When your goalie is your loudest voice in the room, it doesn't always bode well, and Miller's proven that he's great but beatable...and sometimes combustible. Oh, and he's also in a contract year...not only is he playing for that, but he wants to be Team USA's starting goaltender in the Sochi Olympics. He's got a lot of work to do if he's going to carry a young squad and regain his Vezina-winning form. If this team doesn't start fast or fails to weather an early-season struggle, they have the potential to implode. As a fan, I hope for the best; as a realist, I just don't see a successful season for coach Ron Rolston in his first full year behind the bench. See? This is the kind of sports blogging the WDC world needs! BCF PROMPT: "What's your astrological sign?" Ahhh, the days of the bad pick-up line. What's your sign, baby? I'm a Leo...(said with a purring "rawwwwrr" while imitating a cat scratching a sofa). I was born under the guise of the sun and summer and all the fun that goes along with it. That's what I'm built for. Probably explains my seasonal-affective disorder as well...don't let them fool you when people from Buffalo say they can handle snowstorms. We're resourceful, if not outright dangerous at times, but not all of us are made to handle the weather (and I'll save the rest of that rant for when it's truly necessary). Too often, people forget that most horoscopes come with the disclaimer stating "For Entertainment Purposes Only". While they can occasionally bear an uncanny resemblance to some life situations, they're not actually fact-based (unless you get your "facts" from "sources" in the "stars"). Everything happens for a reason, sure, but not because the newspaper's "syndicated astrologist" suggested you should avoid real human contact or play a certain set of numbers to win the lottery. What does it say about horoscopes when your local newspaper publishes them in the comics section? Or when that same newspaper relegates them to the classifieds? And then the classified section shrinks over time because the economy is so bad that nobody can afford to advertise their used cars or junk trinkets, and the only jobs in those ads are scams for stuffing envelopes, inserting cd's and selling vacuums? And even then, those pages are filled with quarter-page ads for "job fairs in the medical field" and the used-car "Flavor Of The Month" dealer, with cute slogans and catchphrases you can't get out of your skull for cars not worthy of risking your credit score on? Whew...time to reel this back in before I start ranting. The sign...yeah, I'm a Leo. I'm the lion March is when it comes in like a lamb; the growling presence on the calendar of petulance and mediocrity and angst and complacence. Just smart enough to get by but not ahead on the food chain of whatever the world rotates upon. Great on land but not sea nor air. Strong when I need to be, silent if necessary, and dominant over my domain no matter what, but still capable of being reduced to a purring kitty in the right circumstances. King of the jungle, fool for the universe. <Insert your guffaws here.> MUSICAL BREAK!! I had no clue what to put here. Sponsor!! I thought about using Chris Rock's video (again) where he lists short horoscopes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9yBPcn8IqU). Instead, I'm falling back on my hip hop roots and posting a love song under the shaded personal self-describing hymnal of what I think sometimes. Hey, it's who I am. When I'm down for something, I'm all-in. THE DAILY BOX SCORE:  Totally saw a man fall flat on the pavement today. I made a rare public appearance and was able to witness a man coming out of a local eatery/"mall", as they call them around here (but they're not like the mega-malls normal people shop at). He was older, and he missed the step that is the difference between an elevated entrance versus the sidewalk. As I was walking by this occurred in front of me, and I spoke in slow-motion perhaps for the first time to a person who wasn't at a cash register or tending to my body at a doctor's office to ask if he was ok. He audibly hit the concrete with a smack/splat sound. Thankfully, he was alright. I've seen a lot of weird and questionable things in Cortland, but this was a first for me in all my years of being anywhere. He still had the decency and frame of mind to appreciate my concern. I would've helped him up, but he was able to do so on his own power, and that's great, because I don't like to touch people I don't know. And still no damn hockey emoticon. Shame times x-amount of times the collective masses I know who would appreciate one on the world wide WDC empire. Personal healthcare is not an easy thing to find oneself through, government shutdown or not. The closest doctors here require an insurance card with their name on it. Greedy, self-loathing bastards. Then they want to know everything about you before you can be considered for their precious time. Well, fuck, I just want to know why my joints don't work the way they used to. If jobs require me to be agile, and I can't do what I did in the past, then give me an answer, and don't front on me because I don't have the records from a doctor I last saw years ago in a village a couple hundred miles away. I see your point, but see mine...touché, healthcare. Mad love and thanks to those who took the time to encourage me toward looking into seeing a doctor, but shit's crazy when it comes down to doing it. What's the point? No really, what is the point?? And that's where I'm leaving you good people for the time being. Lets just all get along for the common purpose of the written (on the internet) word. Respect...doth given, doth received. GOODNIGHT NOW!! |
| 30DBC PROMPT: "Invalid Item" Welcome back y'all! Don't welcome me back...I didn't go as far away as it seems...or did I? No, I did. And it feels good to be back, but save the welcome wagon gas mileage, at least until you hear me out first.I'd been experiencing computer issues...namely when I'd try logging into WDC all of my open tabs would automatically refresh (and that's when IE wouldn't just crash). Obviously, that leads to frustration, and I don't handle frustration well. And when I thought I was making progress, something completely uncharacteristic of myself happened: I became a microcosm of thoughts, even more than my own diminished sense of worth allowed me to already be. Basically, I started again to believe in myself in regards to certain things (which is normal), and then I let myself wear that "cloak of invincibility" where I get way too involved in something, only to completely shut down just as fast as I realize what I'm doing. So not only was I dealing with some technical issues, but I started to crack under the weight of criticism...words that never really bothered or deterred me in the past finally caught up to me. I was confused and angry, so I stepped away. Like a chickenshit. A coward. Because I don't like confrontation, even if I misinterpreted the point. Maybe I made something out of nothing. I know I'm being a bit obtuse, but for the first time in my life it seems like I was being dictated something that I had full control of until a certain point, and since I didn't know how to respond to it (and still don't), I bailed. A sincere "my bad" for slipping out the back door without leaving a tip or returning queries. Please know that I thought about returning to this every day since I last typed words here, but the doubt was too much to take sometimes and it really clouded my thinking...I hate writing when there's stuff going on behind the scenes of my thoughts. So here it is...I'm back to do whatever it is I set out to do since the first day I decided to start blogging. I don't remember that exact day and that's not the point. The point is, I don't have a specific reason for doing this. The important thing is that I do it. I find that I'm much happier and I'm more at peace when I share my thoughts first and care what anyone thinks about it second. That's blogging. There's a saying..."Opinions are like assholes; everybody's got one." Well, this is my forum for that. I'm not here for the audience as much as I'm here for myself. There's always a struggle going on in my head: half of the world is telling you to look out for others first, and the other half cautions you to take care of yourself. That's a hard map to figure out sometimes...which sounds like a good reason that I've titled my three blogs the way I have. So without actually hitting the reset button, let's do this continue. It's an unofficial month in the "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" , and Brother Nature has taken it by the skate buckles this go 'round. He was nice enough to let me know about it. The 30DBC and BCF are like second homes online to me...homes that don't care if I leave a few dishes in the sink or take my shoes off at the door, as long as I'm back in time for dinner and clean up after myself. I'd like to say I actually have a theme for the month picked out, but I don't, and my man Joel's predetermined "This one's about blogging" is fitting enough for me. The suit's tight and splitting at the seams (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oAaOL6wDtY), but you'll do this for me, my friends.October is now Blogtober. None of the pumpkin-flavored everythings you've come to love, and all of the bitterness autumn brings with shorter suns, empty pools and abandoned summer crushes. One dude's thoughts on football, hockey, and whatever else should come my way. I've missed out on a lot the last three weeks of not being around WDC, but in the greater scheme of things I never really had much to begin with and yet I'm still here. Let's make some magic this month...or at least make it somewhat enjoyable. BCF PROMPT: "Write a piece narrating a typical day for you. If you want create a fictional character and allow him/her to experience your day." Chh-chh-BANG! Chh-chh-BANG! I don't know about "narrative", but here...feast upon this while I think of something more appropriate to add: "This one's about the blogger's day." .Yeah, some of that has changed, but not enough of it, no matter what I do. I bitch about what I have and what I don't have, and then I bitch about having it and what it means. To paraphrase Chuck D, if I can't change the things around me, I need to change the things around me (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdG_6GdXJKk). It's hard to get out of old habits, it's harder to make new ones, and the in-between reveals itself sometimes as being the grossest place you can imagine yourself having to go through. You live to learn and learn to live. Days become your words when you're told you're poetic and don't believe what you're told...the world shows you more day after day when you're left to write nothing but your story for a crowd that will be surprised when you actually have something to say. My days lately have been nothing. Not "nothing special", but nothing. I don't burden anyone, and I don't wish to be burdened. I would like more from life, but I don't want its troubles anymore. I'm not ok with some things, and I know I'll have to deal with bullshit going forward...like "Slap me in the head first, I tell you what's up, and then let me wade further through the BS". Don't kiss me and pull my pants down, and then leave me hangin'. You know who you are, Kinney and CVS. Oh wait...that's right. I was writing about me...or something. I got sidetracked. Fucking internet...that always happens. I'd love to say I'm sorry for that, but you're not me, and you should be happy for that. My typical day revolves around pills you shouldn't have to take and feelings you shouldn't have to have, or vice/versa. "Shrug it off" is a blessing and a curse. "Be thankful...", etc. and then some (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGw8dWWlwN4). My days are so mundane. Pointless, really. Even though I can barely walk, I've applied for jobs online and can't even get an inquiry locally. I guess that would hem up my problems with the gov't, but naw man, we (me) still here. If you would have told me a year or two ago I'd be fucking stuck looking for a job, I would've laughed and crammed another beer through my gullet. I never asked for panic attacks, reparations, *sniffle sniffle* this cold I have, or my "friends" turning on me like I never existed, as much as I don't want to exist because of my past. Nothing's typical. If you haven't felt that by now, you will soon I figure. MUSICAL BREAK!! I'm not gonna lie...I took a nap between the last part of my entry and now. It wasn't great. What started as a meditative phase wound up being another jagged run of thoughts interrupted by occasional unconsciousness. I don't have a relevant song for this segment, so I'm going with this, because I was in the mood for it earlier and streamed the entire album before I tried to access WDC. THE DAILY BOX SCORE:  I go away for three weeks (almost) after WDC's birthday week and climb back into emails and I still don't see anything regarding the predictive text equivalent of items and stuff around here. Almost obtrusive, if you ask me. I don't like it. Y'all see that WDC birthday tribute video? I think that was me around the 4:45 mark, holding up the photoshopped barcode. Sorry I wasn't wearing my sexy face. The YMCA hockey league champ t-shirt was all I could muster for Blackberry Central in lieu of an actual photo shoot. I'm a nerd for this kind of stuff, I know. http://www.alancross.ca/a-journal-of-musical-things/2013/10/1/teaser-for-hawksle.... So many things to cover, and so little time in my head. Bills, Sabres, government, you name it...I missed it. If I had to be thematic about October, I think I'd like it to center around sports, which is probably the biggest diversion I have right now. Who would've thought the Bills would beat the Ravens? The Sabres aren't gonna be great. Stay tuned for more sports talk...I feel it comin' on this month. Unless the government shuts me down for being awesome. I think I had a lot more to add, because I've missed out on saying a lot the last few weeks, but the wagon is full and ready for me to pull it out and up over some of the nonsense going on in the world...I'm looking forward to adding my two, three and/or five cents toward worldly events and not-so-otherwise occasions. My words. My opinions. Be that as they may. I'm back, mawfuggas. Even if this entry took me eight hours including a nap to write. Peace, this ain't your forefather's Americana-ista-lama-lama-ding-dong-ola, and GOODNIGHT NOW!! Oh hockey, how I've missed you. |
| 30DBC PROMPT: "How much of yourself are you prepared to share in your blog? Or perhaps the better question is- what aren't you prepared to share in your blog?" Howdy folks...sorry, had to take a few (forced) days off, but more on that later. I'll try to make up the lost ground in the "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" over the next couple of days, but I'm making no promises. Gotta say, while it felt kinda nice to not do anything WDC-related the last couple of days (I didn't even do so much as log in or check emails), it's good to be back and attempt some writing.And what a better way to dive back in than blog about blogging? I'm totally ok with this concept, if only for personal reinforcements and reminders to myself, among other things. Now, ya gotta keep in mind that what works for some may not work for others, and what I enjoy you might despise. But that's what makes us all the wonderful individuals we are, dig? I'm probably an oversharer, or at least I think I am. I don't know if there's a topic out there that I won't touch (and if you want to call me out and say "On such-and-such a date, when the topic was 'x' and you didn't have an entry...", well, that doesn't mean I declined to discuss whatever it was that day...it just means that for whatever reason, I didn't write a blog entry that day). All blogging is to me is a different digital image of myself...my thoughts, my pictures, my opinions, all transferred and reimagined into words that are placed in front of you through the chicanery magic of the internet. It's another way of filtering how you see me. I've told secrets and confessed sins. I've looked equal parts intelligent and idiotic. You've probably cheered and rolled your eyes when reading what I have to say...sometimes in the same entry. We've had some pretty good times up in here, to go along with some awkward moments, I'm sure. But there isn't likely to be anything I wouldn't share. Well, besides the PIN number for my ATM card...but if you're that interested in the nineteen cents I have in the bank, it's ****. Dammit...even when I try typing it here those stars come up. Must be the NSA's way of telling me I'm too much of a nuisance even to myself when it comes to information I allow to go into public domain from straight off the top of my head. BCF PROMPT: "Overcomer. Reflect on this." Four words, right? How hard can this be? Harder than it looks, if only for the fact that while I can share practically anything, it doesn't mean I will (unless you start trying to get my blog drunk...once it starts running around with a lampshade on its dome while clutching a bottle of the hard stuff, be careful; that's when the real trouble starts). I tend to get particularly defensive with the language when it comes to reflecting (for lack of a better term) on things I've personally had to overcome. I feel like it's almost as of I'm watching a special human-interest story on CBS' 60 Minutes that runs for the entire episode and feels like it's fifty-five minutes too long. Like the things I do are so dramatic anyway..."Man, I had to overcome the urge to spray the cheese right into my mouth instead of on the cracker" or "Today, I overcame the counter help's difficulty with the 'Murican lane-gwayge at the Mack-Donnels". So I'm gonna do something other than what you may or may not know me for (and pick one; won't bother me either way), and I'm gonna think about what this prompt means to people other than myself. Like real "overcomers". (As a brief aside, I'm a little jealous that I never thought of the idea to use the word "overcomer" to describe a person before, like "Billy just shoved 18 marshmallows in his mouth...he's a real overcomer when it comes to his diabetes".) The history of the world is filled with feel-good stories of how people have overcome one tragedy or improbable situation after another on the path to success as a regular human being. Truth is, the majority of people go for long stretches of a baseline marginal existence, with minimal ups and downs that are easily navigated. A much smaller percentage see unprecedented success, and a similar amount of po' folk people know what it's like when the lows get crazy low. In the end, all that's remembered of most people is that their lives are what they made of them. They're not defined by their riches nor their struggles, but how they helped or coped. As for me, I don't consider myself an "overcomer". I'm an undergoer. Life constantly changes, and so are we even when we're not noticing it. It's not always where you end up but how well you adapt once you get there. I'm not an expert on this subject yet, but if I ever become one, remind me that I've been in one place way too long and it's time to find somewhere else to go. MUSICAL BREAK!!  Well, it's 12:30am, so I feel slightly better about bringing up the fact that I started addressing these prompts on September 11th, and we all know what this day in history has brought us. I'm not going to beat the same drum everyone else is regarding what it means, and I don't mean that in a minimizing kind of way. I will just point out that this particular album as a whole, when released in 2002, raised questions about its relevance to the day in question (although it was recorded and ready for release long before any tragedy occurred). All of the information you need to know is here on its Wikipedia page, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_Hotel_Foxtrot, including this: "Though Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was recorded before the September 11, 2001 attacks, critics perceived references in the album to the attacks. For example, Jeff Gordinier of Entertainment Weekly compared the two towers of Marina City to the World Trade Center towers. Also containing similar themes are the songs 'War on War' and 'Ashes of American Flags' which contains the line 'I would like to salute the ashes of American flags.' The song 'Jesus, Etc.' also contains these lyrics: 'Tall buildings shake, Voices escape singing sad sad songs... Voices whine, Skyscrapers are scraping together, your voice is smoking.'" I still maintain YHF is one of the 10 greatest albums of all time, both sonically and lyrically. It prepared us in part for a post-9/11 world by reminding us that we need to write our future with notes from the past written in a different font.  Something about this time of year always makes me want to hear this album. THE DAILY BOX SCORE: 4: Days since the meltdown the last time I tried to write a blog entry. I was unaware then that the worst was yet to come. Sunday I rendered my computer virtually useless for most of the afternoon and next day by trying to stream the Bills game from an, ahem, untrustworthy source (if you're desperate to see any kind of live sporting event and someone recommends First Row Sports, go ahead and throw your computer out of a moving train over a body of water). I wound up downloading what I thought were updates to Flash and Media Player and some other things, but it was all the crap that makes computers unresponsive. I still don't think I cleaned everything off the machine...I tried running "System Restore" a bunch of times, and every freakin' time my laptop started back up I basically got a box that said "Well, we tried, but we didn't fix anything because we think your anti-virus program is running, so stop that and we'll try it again". WTF?? First of all, I know it's bad form and all, but my Norton anti-virus protection is expired. Second, my computer says Windows Defender is turned off. After uninstalling everything that Windows says had been changed, I got the new and improved Windows notorious "blue screen of death 2013". Everyone remembers older computers and the "blue screen of death", right? Only this had a larger, modern font and, no bullshit, included a frown-ish emoticon of :( before stating "Oops, a problem has occurred with your system. Windows will need to restart." The not-so-awesome part? It happened about ten minutes after I'd gotten the audio of the Bills game to start streaming from a legit source, and it was in mid-word, which sounded like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cVlTeIATBs but for about ten times as long while my system took its sweet-ass time trying to figure out what to do on its way to restarting.Once it restarted, it wouldn't recognize any Wi-Fi signal for about a half hour. None. Not the one I use, none of the neighboring private sites...nothin'. I finally managed to get connected, but wouldn't stay on for long stretches. And as Monday rolled around, it would "connect", but my internet status was "limited", which is just a fancy way of saying "you ain't got shit". And once that was finally resolved, I had audio but no video from web sources outside of YouTube. More cleansing, more attempts at restoring, more f-bombs, and more cute little vignettes from Windows later...still no better off from it. As of today everything seems ok, but I'm making no promises. What have I really learned from this? That it takes about a minute to attract any kind of program that'll wreak havoc on your computer's registry, and 10-15 minutes for your computer to tell you it'll try to make things right, only it won't. Pretty cool. :/  And yet what's amazing about not having reliable internet this week on WDC is that I've managed to further prove my theory that you're loved more when you go away for awhile (as asinine and self-centered as that sounds...trust me, I don't mean it to be like that). And some blog entries just have a great set of legs...not mine, of course, but one in particular I'd read probably a week and a half ago (and was probably written long before that) was still gaining comments regarding its simple declaration and opinion that something a lot of people put their faith in doesn't actually exist. Astounding. Someone convince me to get over myself, put on my big-boy pants, and make the call to go see a real doctor. I'm pretty much Ambien-dependent now...I've overcome all my sleep issues of the past by simply not sleeping at all! Ok, that's partially a lie, because I do sleep, but not without Ambien and a host of other pills, and I can't sleep if I take nothing. And my headaches and hand/eye coordination are still a problem, along with pain and stiffness in my hips and lower back. If I lie flat, my back feels like I'm laying on rocks the size of my hands (and I've got smallish hands, but that's not the point). I refuse to admit I'm falling apart.All that, and I thought I had more to add. But I think I better post this and try to get outta here...I've already seen a flicker of white once while typing this, which means switching tabs might not be a recommended idea. Peace, I would like to salute...and GOODNIGHT NOW!! *Fun fact! This video coincidentally had 1,776 views when I first watched it. |
| 30DBC PROMPT: "On the last day of the Official Birthday Celebrations, I want you to remember back to your first days as a Newbie on this site. Tell us about how it was way back then (if you are really old, *cough* *cough*) and/or how you felt coming into such a thriving community. Did you think then that it would grow and evolve how it has over the past years/months/weeks? (Bonus points for welcoming a newbie in the "Noticing Newbies" forum.)" Well, I'll never learn my lesson. The warning signs...always ignored. And now, the failsafe copy/paste function has failed me as well. I need to type better and faster rather than laboriously watch my words. I typed up 90% of an entire entry. Most of it revolved around links that were once posted in Elle - on hiatus  's blog entry, "Why you yellow bellied ingrate!" . There are some great links to archived WDC pages, including some from the old Stories.com days. Be sure to check the comments section too, because there are more links in there worth checking out as well.I spent way too long typing out an entry that is gone. Again. I'm beyond pissed about it too. It's not like I've never written a blog entry before about what WDC was like 12 years ago when I joined, or how it's pretty much nothing like it used to be. And go figure...the one time I dread repeating myself for the fifth or sixth time, that's the time Internet Explorer decides to wait until I'm just about finished to crash. Happy birthday and whatnot. I'm not typing it all up again. I probably jinxed myself to typing "long live Stories.com" in bold text and bitching that there were no torch emoticons. Hell, we were lucky we had emoticons back in the day. WritingML was bold, underline, italics, a few colors, and maybe margins. The most disputed part is whether ports were ever totally free and had no restrictions based on how many items you could keep in them. I say at one time this was the case, as there originally were no upgrades or premium memberships. But what do I know? I can't even use the internet without it proving me to be a fool. Most of the people that helped me out on this site aren't around anymore. But there also weren't as many, if any, groups dedicated to helping newbies like there are today. Of course, there also weren't so many ways to get lost in this website either. That's all I have to say. Check out the links in Elle's entry. That's where it's at. Forget anything else you think I might've said about it. BCF PROMPT: "Finish this sentence with a story: It's a secret but I know I can trust you..." I had a lovely diatribe about this lost in the ether as well, about how I don't trust anyone and don't wanna be trusted right now. Four or five solid paragraphs of absolute piss 'n vinegar about how you can't trust people who say "trust me" and that life is supposed to be "you get what you give" and vice versa, but it's not. Secrets aren't meant to be told anyway. About the only thing you can trust these days is that nothing and no one is reliable. Expectations are unrealistic, unless you're expecting failure. Wow...I was in a pretty bad mood when I originally typed up what I had to say. It's amazing how much worse your mood can get when you foolishly lose an entry. THE DAILY BOX SCORE: Normally the computer just loses a Wi-Fi signal once I'm cozy and ready to fall asleep watching "Love American Style" or Dave Chappelle comedy routines on YouTube if it's gonna do anything crazy. Last night I lost 17 minutes of a 47 minute episode of Oprah (yeah, her) where she interviews Chappelle about why he quit his $50 million contract and crazy awesome tv show. Had a connection...the video just played and stopped, with no chance of cueing it up to the spot I lost. And today's International Cassette Store Day. Google it yourselves. I did it once already and I'm not going through it again, nor am I going to explain to you why it was so important to have a sharpened pencil handy when your tapes got eaten. And with that, I'm gonna try to calm myself. GOODNIGHT NOW. |
30DBC PROMPT: "If you could have thirteen wishes, but each wish has to benefit a DIFFERENT person (one person can be you), what would you wish and for who? (This is your chance to do a lot of good in the world  .)"'Sup y'all? It's Friday...the first Friday in September, in fact...which means this coming Sunday will be the first full weekend of NFL football that means anything in more than a few months. And if you're anything like me (and judging by the different kinds of people who read this, you're not), you love football and you know that WDC doesn't have very many places for the sports fans that reside in us to go. Most writers are probably content with having ESPN or Fox Sports do the heavy lifting, and there is no shortage of fan-based content available on the internet (actual content varies by intelligence). It's high time someone around here decided to take a look at the upcoming NFL season! And I'm nominating myself to do that, since I don't think anyone else would seem to mind. Besides, I haven't written an entry that was central to football, or any other sport for that matter, in a long time. It's fair that you should know that while my personal allegiances may always be with my hometown Buffalo Bills, I'm by no means a homer. I'm not gonna sit here pretending the Bills are gonna go 16-0, or shock the world and even make the playoffs this year. I may be a fan, but I'm not stupid. Now, if someone were to grant me, say, thirteen wishes? Well, on account of that I might be willing to stick my neck out a little. Is it just a coincidence that the Bills have gone thirteen years without making the playoffs? I think anybody reppin' 716 would tell you that they have one wish in this life, whether they're barely old enough to tell you football means to them, or old enough to remember the old AFL days, it'd be this: I want to see the Bills win the Super Bowl at least once in my lifetime. This sentiment has been shared by so many fans that's it's sprung quite a Queen City legacy...https://borninbuffalo.net/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products.... I can't say I don't feel the same way. I know I've uttered those words in reference to both the Bills and the Buffalo Sabres (who have their own version of the shirt as well). The one thing I can predict with the most sincerity is that there is more optimism about this year's version of the Bills than I've seen in the recent past. While that likely won't translate to on-field success, I think the organization is finally headed in the right direction after years of failure and, even worse when you're trying to rebuild a franchise and get back into the playoffs, stunning mediocrity. If there were a way to multiply a wish thirteen times to break an unlucky or unfortunate run, then that would be the magic solution. Forget the pundits and prognosticators; if the fans united in spirit and will, couldn't they just send out positive vibes that cause quarterbacks to stay healthy, defenders to not miss tackles, and coaches make the right decisions? Not just for the team, but to also end their own suffering? To ensure their Septembers of high hopes are matched by Decembers of "Finally, this is OUR year!"? To freeze their asses off in Ralph Wilson Stadium for something more meaningful than a $9 beer? If only, fans. This is the NFL we're talkin' about, not some disco where playin' the wall just right and hopin' the blonde in the tight jumper is gonna ask you out on the floor where you can show her off in front of your buddies while proclaiming "Dreams really can come true!" I know it's a cliché, but there's a reason they play the games. Every team has a chance once the ball's kicked off, but only one gets to hoist the Lombardi Trophy in February. While I'm 99.9825% sure it won't be the Bills this year, and I hope all of my friends following their favorite NFL teams have seasons that provide lots of exciting memories, I'm not gonna go as far as to offer a full-blown statistical analysis that quotes analytics (the new phrase and process du jour in the NFL-and other sports now as well- this year, so get used to hearing it). Here's thirteen wishes/thoughts/tidbits for the 2013 NFL season (that may or may not be entirely true, and feel free to mock me for them in December): Peyton Manning will throw for more touchdown passes in week 1 than the Oakland Raiders will rush for the entire season. (Ok, so I know this is cheating just a little bit because Denver played last night, but c'mon...the Raiders are gonna be historically bad this year. Wait...which idea was more obvious again?? ) I wish we could go one year without people hearing stories in the local news about Bills fans getting caught in the act of making love on the bleachers during blowouts when half the crowd has already left to finish gettin' smashed in the parking lot beat the traffic. I think people sell squares and start office pools based on which game will be the first one this becomes newsworthy. Adrian Peterson of the Vikings will go over 2,000 yards rushing again this year (if he stays healthy), because his quarterback will be playing for a roster spot as next year's third-stringer somewhere else. When injuries start piling up, some NFL team is gonna sign Tim Tebow. But he won't play a down this year. At least not at QB. I wish the rash of injuries this preseason (especially with knees) we saw was just a fluke. But more teams are starting to err on the side of caution as well when it comes to noticing injured players (especially those who have suffered concussions), so expect numbers on weekly injury reports to rise...but that's not necessarily a true indication of an injury's severity anymore either). AFC Division Champs: New England, Cincinnati, Houston, Denver. Wild Cards: Indianapolis and Baltimore. NFC Division Champs: Washington, Green Bay, Atlanta, Seattle. Wild Cards: San Francisco and Detroit. All four NFC divisions are gonna be tight races, and the four teams in each division are really gonna beat up each other. At least one fourth-place NFC finisher would be in contention for a wild card spot if they played in the AFC West. The NFL will have a serious push-back in at least one city from fans regarding its new policy regarding what kinds of bags can be brought into the stadium (ladies, this means no purses...and all bags must be see-through, without being bigger in size than roughly a gallon freezer bag). I read an excellent blog post from a woman's perspective about this a few weeks ago...http://thebroadsside.com/2013/06/26/491/. The New York Jets' starting QB in December of 2013 is not currently on their roster. Their head coach in September of 2014 is not currently employed by any of the league's 32 franchises. I wish the NFL would drop their wet dream about having a franchise in a city that doesn't love it, Los Angeles, and announce during this season that it's fine with where all of the teams are located. Except Jacksonville. You might be a great city, but your support for an NFL franchise sucks. If the league ever wants to establish a minor league system, you'll be considered. But until then, please move your team to someplace else, where people actually want to see your team play, and preferably with an NFL-caliber quarterback in tow as well. And please, do something about your dreadful superhero wanna-be outfits uniforms. Serious, this design http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/21215/uni-watch-analysis-new-j... actually had competition and was selected because it was better than something else? You should be able to do better than that, Jacksonville, and the NFL knows it can too. The Bills will finish the season with somewhere between four and seven wins, but they'll look a hell of a lot better than their stretch a few years back where they finished 7-9 three straight seasons. The 49ers will beat the Broncos in one of the top three lowest-scoring games in Super Bowl history, primarily because it will be played in New York during a snowstorm. More people will be watching to see how corporate greed reacts in inclement weather rather than just to see the commercials.I think I speak for the majority of football fans when I now declare that yes, we are in fact ready for some football. BCF PROMPT: "What memories, if any, do you have of high school football games?" Believe it or not, your boy over here went out for his high school's football team in both the sophomore and senior years. I never made it through summer practices to game eligibility though...I dislocated and broke my left pinky finger in tenth grade, and broke my right shoulder again the summer before twelfth grade after initially breaking it as a junior during wrestling season. The pinky to this day is still crooked. While I was considered to be a great player whenever we'd play pick-up football at neighborhood parks, parking lots, or wherever else we could play when the nuns chased us off of Villa Maria Academy's lawn, I never amounted to much in actual practices for my school's team. I was a running back and a linebacker, and probably the shortest kid on the team. I tried hard, but I never could remember the playbook. And even though I was in great shape from lifting weights and wrestling, my love of the game wasn't enough to overcome my deficiencies when the pads were strapped on and I was running up against much bigger kids who'd been playing organized ball for years. So I did the only thing I could do...I became a fan. I tried to get to as many home games as I could, and sometimes we could catch a bus with the cheerleaders to the road games. I remember the team not being great, but not being horrible either my senior year. Sometimes my friends would sneak a little booze into the games, and we'd hide out under the bleachers passing it around, trying not to get caught. In the twenty years since I graduated, I don't believe I made it back to another game at my school's field. In certain respects, I wish I was still a student there just to have that experience again of going to the games from a teenage perspective now, with the glut of technology and information that's available. They've had some pretty good teams recently and overall the local high school scene seems to have improved talent-wise, but I don't think you'll be confusing Western New York with Texas when it comes to football anytime soon. But it's still a fun way to kill an evening or a weekend afternoon. MUSICAL BREAK!! Back when MTV was still showing videos, this was one of my favorites. It showed funny moments, bloopers, highlights, and cheerleaders. It was a good time to be about ten or eleven years old back then. THE DAILY BOX SCORE: I just noticed there still isn't a hockey emoticon. And there aren't any hockey moments in the Dire Straits video either. I smell some kind of tandem shenanigans going on. I still prefer http://espn.go.com/nfl/'s coverage over http://www.nfl.com/'s website. Both essentially report the same headlines, but the commentary pieces from ESPN are allowed to have a little more of an edge to them, and the individual team reports aren't ran by the teams themselves (which allows for both factors to exist out from under the NFL's umbrella). NFL.com's coverage would be akin to a country having only one primary source of news media being run by an offshoot of whatever form of government is in control. ESPN.com (and other sites) can offer contrasting opinions on certain matters, rather than having to toe the company line. But I'm not entirely a fan of the new way ESPN's expanded their coverage of the teams...it's gonna take some getting used to because of them moving away from a divisional format. Oh my...this may be the second-best commercial of the young NFL season: http://www.youtube.com/user/OldSpice?v=C-UciSePPPwWell people, I've run out of things to bring up on a near-perfect evening for the greatest American pastime that isn't played on ice with a puck. Peace, the kick is up, and it's GOODNIGHT NOW!! |
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Also, I learn a lot of my random facts by being that one person who reads all those tiny little things especially in nature/science museums. So many awesomely amazing things, and some museums contradict their information and I'll call over an expert and be like... uhhh, contradiction?? 