I can't go back to watching regular, weekly TV anymore. Between Netflix and the ability to watch everything on demand, it makes more sense to get in to a show, binge it all like you would a great book, and enjoy seeing the whole story that was years in the making.
When DVDs started becoming the norm, I got in to them big time. I would run to the video store in downtown Normal after getting out of class while I was going to ISU and I would get a bunch of movies at a time. A lot of my money those days went to that rental place, and it was well worth it.
I would walk away from TV for a while, instead focusing on other things in life. Then I got a place where the cable was free, and away some of my time went again. Specifically, I caught back up with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Later came watching Angel, but that I did watch weekly for the fifth season. The show that I really got hooked on when watching it was 24. I remember my roommate Will at the time and I sat down and started watching it. We were amazed. We stayed up way too late, and just purge ourselves of it. Will's brother Rob eventually joined us, and it was amazing. Through the first 2 seasons, we got hooked. But it was somewhere in that second season that things went awry for us. Maybe because that was the only two seasons out at the time.
Then cam Six Feet Under. That I binged and got in to before I had to wait and watch it episode by episode for the last two seasons. Still well worth it.
The Office, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Scrubs. Each holds a special place in my heart, but Scrubs gets a little more specific. After my broken engagement, I moved in with my friend Johnny. We both got in to the show. I had watched the first couple of seasons and he joined in. It was maybe in its fifth season at the time, but we still had plenty to watch.
We would sit and watch it, fast forwarding to the next episode after the credits hit. We would both be sitting there with drinks in hand, laughing away. He would be smoking in his chair, and I would be relaxing on the couch. Some nights he would pass out first, others would be me, sometimes both.
Then along came Netflix in to my life, and I got big in to the DVD side of things. Futurama was one that I got caught up on. Then they started the instant streaming, and I was a goner. More shows started to follow, to the point that I have more shows in queue than I can even think of. I am also waiting as more shows join up, and even have Amazon Prime to find shows there.
Too many good shows, not enough binge time.
I like the idea of seeing a full story these days. Give me the whole comic book in a graphic novel collecting 6 or so issues. Give me an entire season of a TV series. Make me fall for the characters and immerse myself in an entire section of story arcs so much that I want to come back again and again and again. Forget the single part a week, spread out over a year. And even forget a book a month for an entire year. Blah to that noise.
It isn't often that I will dip my toes back in to a series after it is completed. I did go through Simpsons several times, as well as Saved by the Bell. The Office went through a couple of runs. Six Feet Under I've been through three times, each time I believe with a different girlfriend. Scrubs has a special place in that I've binged the show only after major break ups in my life. The most recent time I sorta got burnt out on it. It wasn't too long ago that I decided that I didn't have time to re-watch stuff, I committed myself to only take in something new. I didn't have enough time in this life to repeat on TV shows and re-live the past. It was time for something new.
So here I am consuming. Game of Thrones. Arrow and Flash. The Man in the High Castle. There is so much out there that is of great quality that wasting time on watching something you've seen before just seems so fruitless. I would say that maybe it could exist in the background and white noise, but even then there is good music that you haven't heard that could also fill the space. Or random YouTube channels.
Wait...there is a world outside of TV, right?
From the back of my head to the tips of my fingers. These are words of a life being lived.
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
When I Was A Theater Major In College
To be, or not to be. That was the theater question.
Wandering around aimlessly during my senior year of high school, I debated as to what major I should jump in to for college. Being rather lazy, I chose theater at ISU. That was...interesting.
Say what I will about ISU theater, but the crowd there was very...not me. At the high school level, where I am enjoying it, it was fun. I got high praise and thought why not jump on that bandwagon at the college level. There is so much fun that I had during my semester and a half at ISU and so much the opposite that it really begs the question of what I was doing with my life and it showed me that I had no idea. I blame it in part due to the attitude of the people I did theater with at ISU, but I know it is also my own making in part.
Damn it, let's get to the actual story and some clarity. I first got a taste of theater at the college level when I went to try out for a scholarship. I was paying my own way through college and needed as much assistance as possible. I think it might have been summer time, and clearly way too late for me to change my major. The ISU theater building was composed of a couple of buildings. The room I went in to to wait while I tried out was clearly a classroom, but it was a theater classroom. Desks were pushed to the side to make space for stage space in the front of the classroom, and this room had windows on three sides. There was one door to enter and exit, and we all gathered around the edge of the room keeping mostly to ourselves. This was the first time I think I really met theater people outside of my own high school in a setting where we were going to perform.
I had no friends with me, but you could tell that there were factions of people there who knew each other. ISU has the tendency to bring large group of Chicago and suburbs of people down for the school year and this was clearly happening here. There was a couple of people that I recognized who I would alter share classes with and, of course, have crushes on. In particular, there were two girls, one a curly haired red head named Deliah, and the other a short haired brunette named Kerry. They were good friends and I really thought to myself that I would be happy being with either of them, but that would never be.
The thing that surprised me and showed me how unprepared I was for this experience was the number of people that were giving a performance to a wall. Apparently, and this was something I never learned to do in all my time of doing theater high school, talking to a wall was the way to prepare for a monologue. What I thought was funny and looked like crazy people turned out to be my undoing as I prepped my own way and didn't get any scholarships. That kinda irked me later on when I found out that a lot of those kids actually had their parents paying for their schooling while I didn't have the same luxury. I don't think I ever learned who actually got the money, but it irks me still to this day.
I don't remember the monologue I gave. I don't really remember doing anything in front of the people. But I do recall wanting to get out of there as soon as possible.
Flash forward to the actual school year. I believe I was in my green frosted tips phase for the hair, and had the thought that I would be meeting up with weirdos like me. At the first theater party that I went to, I actually got a little gothy makeup on and headed out with a group of peeps from my acting class. I stood out like a sore thumb. Really bad. One girl came up to me and said she was happy that I came out as who I was and I was comfortable being myself around everyone. I took the experience instead as a way to show that I had no fucking clue what was going on and that I might have made a terrible, terrible decision about my college path.
I had a couple of acting classes that first semester, and the teachers were really sticking their noses in the air at everyone. I was told repeatedly that theater kids fail, make no money, and never get recognized for anything. That, at best, I might be a background extra or end up working on a stage crew. That theater degrees were nothing. Basically, to not get in to acting. There wasn't so much the culture to learn that I thought would be the experience with a subject matter I did enjoy, but instead it was trying to tear you down at any moment. Even my classes that were the basic gen ed classes had more enthusiasm for the subject matter than my main course.
I get setting reasonable degrees of expectations for students, but we are just starting here, so would a little encouragement not help?
I signed up to help out in the prop shop as part of my practicum, a lab type of class work that was required for theater students. I did props in high school, so I thought this would be a good fit. The guy I had to help pretty much did it all himself, never taught me a think, but complained constantly about all the work he had to do and how much time he had to put in. There was some advice on how to get ahead in the theater game, but it added to the idea that the department was pushing people away as much as it could.
I did have a class to go with the practicum one, where we learned more about crafting the stage and set designs. The teacher there was the most encouraging, as he knew that many people probably weren't there to learn and were only there because it was required of them. I do clearly remember one rule that he said, and that was if you respect the tool, the tool respects you. He made this clear many times, as he did not want anyone to get injured while building sets and helping out.
The first time I heard the phrase "..and I'm just playing devil's advocate here" came from an asshole teacher who was a fifth year student helping out to get credit so he can graduate. I don't think he was a teacher or wanted to be a teacher, but he did get that phrase stuck in my head and hate it anytime I heard it. Anytime anyone would answer a question he had about a play or what happened, instead of just trying to steer the conversation another way or expand on what the student answered, he would belt out that phrase in a way that made you feel dumb for answering his question. You felt that you got it wrong, even if it was the right one and he was just trying to get a conversation started. I don't recall hearing that reply to any of my answers because I kept my mouth shut in that class.
Sigh. He would throw his arm in the air as if picking the thought from out in the open ether of knowledge that we all should have been sipping from as he did.
Annette. Antonio. Nick. Rachel? Deliah. Kerry. Johanna. Those were members of my class. There are many others, but the faces and names are lost in the past.
The big turn off for me started when we had to try out during the first week of our second semester. Part of our Acting 1 class was preparing us for how to audition during that week. We would have to do one monologue and one singing piece since there was going to be a musical that semester. I flopped the music piece seriously hard. I had no musical talent, and it showed. I couldn't even tell you what it was that I was supposed to sing, it was that bad.
Before I get in to my main monologue, I should mention that there were a few people from my high school who had graduated before me and went to do theater. There were the people in high school theater who never really talked to me and had an air about them that they were better than me even in high school. I never liked that, and I hoped that they were in the minority of what I would experience in college. I should have known better, but all things in hindsight.
As for the monologue, I had picked a good one. I took a speech from a comic book called Transmetropolitan. The main character is a journalist from a future city in the same vein as Hunter S. Thompson. I had a speech where he talked about new religions forming and alien lifeforms and just a wonderful takedown on religion. It was a speech right up my alley. It was something that they hadn't heard before and no one else would do. And I nailed it. The other theater students in the audience thought the same, and told me so afterwards.
I felt that I was on the right path. I thought that it would show off my talents a bit and get me noticed. But...then the postings came for who in the freshman class would get parts. We were told that there usually aren't that many to give, and that 95% of the freshmen probably wouldn't get anything.
Several did get parts. Double digits, if memory serves. I wasn't included in that number out of roughly 35-50 students who had to try out, if memory serves correctly.
I attended classes. I trudged on. There was a hallway that the theater kids claimed as their own on campus called the airport lounge. I never got the chance to hang out in that area. Never got invited to a game of four square that was popular to play. I tried. I really did want to connect with people. But outside of my classes, nothing.
I began to look toward other areas of friendship, with people who I felt cared about me and gave a damn. I still had connections with the people in the grades lower than me in high school. I had a growing connection with a strange group of kids that I worked with at Steak n Shake. I don't know if it was part me retreating from the rejection or retreating back in to the familiar with Steak n Shake were I knew what I was doing, or if the facade had been laid down about theater for me to the point that I didn't want to do it anymore. I never thought myself as a great actor who would make it big. I had a passion and I wanted to see what was next with it.
You have to surround yourself with some positive people at the right moments in your life. People who embrace life and encourage you to follow your dreams. People who will be there for you when needed. I never got that from the teachers and most of the theater kids at ISU. It was a special club with cliques built in and encourage in a way that I thought I had left in high school. I wish I had the courage to call some of the people out on it at the time, but I didn't. For as weird and unique that theater kids can be, you would think that taking someone in who is different would be the norm. That was my approach to the craft. Doing theater at ISU was my first big lesson that you can have all the talent in the world, but if you don't kiss the right ass or know the right people than out you go. You can call it showbiz, but this isn't Hollywood we are talking about here, this is theater in the middle of Illinois. Where they paraded the fact that a Star Trek actor and Laurie Metcalf were there. Where John Malkovich attended the school (albeit it very briefly but this was only mentioned in hushed tones and played down a lot).
Maybe if I didn't have the crutch of staying in the town I graduated in, maybe things could have been different. I think that and then know right away that it isn't the case. I know now what I should have known then, that you forge your own path. You make your own friends. You be you and let the world catch up to it. I had some good times in college. But ISU's loss would become my own gain. Due to the cost of paying for ISU, there isn't really a way that I could have stayed on and still paid my bills that were coming in. I started amassing a credit debt that wouldn't be overcome for years. Leaving ISU allowed me the chance to become a manager at Steak n Shake, but that is a story for another time. One that leads to some great people and decisions in my life.
I'm not done talking about college life forever, but I am done talking about the ISU theater part. For now.
Wandering around aimlessly during my senior year of high school, I debated as to what major I should jump in to for college. Being rather lazy, I chose theater at ISU. That was...interesting.
Say what I will about ISU theater, but the crowd there was very...not me. At the high school level, where I am enjoying it, it was fun. I got high praise and thought why not jump on that bandwagon at the college level. There is so much fun that I had during my semester and a half at ISU and so much the opposite that it really begs the question of what I was doing with my life and it showed me that I had no idea. I blame it in part due to the attitude of the people I did theater with at ISU, but I know it is also my own making in part.
Damn it, let's get to the actual story and some clarity. I first got a taste of theater at the college level when I went to try out for a scholarship. I was paying my own way through college and needed as much assistance as possible. I think it might have been summer time, and clearly way too late for me to change my major. The ISU theater building was composed of a couple of buildings. The room I went in to to wait while I tried out was clearly a classroom, but it was a theater classroom. Desks were pushed to the side to make space for stage space in the front of the classroom, and this room had windows on three sides. There was one door to enter and exit, and we all gathered around the edge of the room keeping mostly to ourselves. This was the first time I think I really met theater people outside of my own high school in a setting where we were going to perform.
I had no friends with me, but you could tell that there were factions of people there who knew each other. ISU has the tendency to bring large group of Chicago and suburbs of people down for the school year and this was clearly happening here. There was a couple of people that I recognized who I would alter share classes with and, of course, have crushes on. In particular, there were two girls, one a curly haired red head named Deliah, and the other a short haired brunette named Kerry. They were good friends and I really thought to myself that I would be happy being with either of them, but that would never be.
The thing that surprised me and showed me how unprepared I was for this experience was the number of people that were giving a performance to a wall. Apparently, and this was something I never learned to do in all my time of doing theater high school, talking to a wall was the way to prepare for a monologue. What I thought was funny and looked like crazy people turned out to be my undoing as I prepped my own way and didn't get any scholarships. That kinda irked me later on when I found out that a lot of those kids actually had their parents paying for their schooling while I didn't have the same luxury. I don't think I ever learned who actually got the money, but it irks me still to this day.
I don't remember the monologue I gave. I don't really remember doing anything in front of the people. But I do recall wanting to get out of there as soon as possible.
Flash forward to the actual school year. I believe I was in my green frosted tips phase for the hair, and had the thought that I would be meeting up with weirdos like me. At the first theater party that I went to, I actually got a little gothy makeup on and headed out with a group of peeps from my acting class. I stood out like a sore thumb. Really bad. One girl came up to me and said she was happy that I came out as who I was and I was comfortable being myself around everyone. I took the experience instead as a way to show that I had no fucking clue what was going on and that I might have made a terrible, terrible decision about my college path.
I had a couple of acting classes that first semester, and the teachers were really sticking their noses in the air at everyone. I was told repeatedly that theater kids fail, make no money, and never get recognized for anything. That, at best, I might be a background extra or end up working on a stage crew. That theater degrees were nothing. Basically, to not get in to acting. There wasn't so much the culture to learn that I thought would be the experience with a subject matter I did enjoy, but instead it was trying to tear you down at any moment. Even my classes that were the basic gen ed classes had more enthusiasm for the subject matter than my main course.
I get setting reasonable degrees of expectations for students, but we are just starting here, so would a little encouragement not help?
I signed up to help out in the prop shop as part of my practicum, a lab type of class work that was required for theater students. I did props in high school, so I thought this would be a good fit. The guy I had to help pretty much did it all himself, never taught me a think, but complained constantly about all the work he had to do and how much time he had to put in. There was some advice on how to get ahead in the theater game, but it added to the idea that the department was pushing people away as much as it could.
I did have a class to go with the practicum one, where we learned more about crafting the stage and set designs. The teacher there was the most encouraging, as he knew that many people probably weren't there to learn and were only there because it was required of them. I do clearly remember one rule that he said, and that was if you respect the tool, the tool respects you. He made this clear many times, as he did not want anyone to get injured while building sets and helping out.
The first time I heard the phrase "..and I'm just playing devil's advocate here" came from an asshole teacher who was a fifth year student helping out to get credit so he can graduate. I don't think he was a teacher or wanted to be a teacher, but he did get that phrase stuck in my head and hate it anytime I heard it. Anytime anyone would answer a question he had about a play or what happened, instead of just trying to steer the conversation another way or expand on what the student answered, he would belt out that phrase in a way that made you feel dumb for answering his question. You felt that you got it wrong, even if it was the right one and he was just trying to get a conversation started. I don't recall hearing that reply to any of my answers because I kept my mouth shut in that class.
Sigh. He would throw his arm in the air as if picking the thought from out in the open ether of knowledge that we all should have been sipping from as he did.
Annette. Antonio. Nick. Rachel? Deliah. Kerry. Johanna. Those were members of my class. There are many others, but the faces and names are lost in the past.
The big turn off for me started when we had to try out during the first week of our second semester. Part of our Acting 1 class was preparing us for how to audition during that week. We would have to do one monologue and one singing piece since there was going to be a musical that semester. I flopped the music piece seriously hard. I had no musical talent, and it showed. I couldn't even tell you what it was that I was supposed to sing, it was that bad.
Before I get in to my main monologue, I should mention that there were a few people from my high school who had graduated before me and went to do theater. There were the people in high school theater who never really talked to me and had an air about them that they were better than me even in high school. I never liked that, and I hoped that they were in the minority of what I would experience in college. I should have known better, but all things in hindsight.
As for the monologue, I had picked a good one. I took a speech from a comic book called Transmetropolitan. The main character is a journalist from a future city in the same vein as Hunter S. Thompson. I had a speech where he talked about new religions forming and alien lifeforms and just a wonderful takedown on religion. It was a speech right up my alley. It was something that they hadn't heard before and no one else would do. And I nailed it. The other theater students in the audience thought the same, and told me so afterwards.
I felt that I was on the right path. I thought that it would show off my talents a bit and get me noticed. But...then the postings came for who in the freshman class would get parts. We were told that there usually aren't that many to give, and that 95% of the freshmen probably wouldn't get anything.
Several did get parts. Double digits, if memory serves. I wasn't included in that number out of roughly 35-50 students who had to try out, if memory serves correctly.
I attended classes. I trudged on. There was a hallway that the theater kids claimed as their own on campus called the airport lounge. I never got the chance to hang out in that area. Never got invited to a game of four square that was popular to play. I tried. I really did want to connect with people. But outside of my classes, nothing.
I began to look toward other areas of friendship, with people who I felt cared about me and gave a damn. I still had connections with the people in the grades lower than me in high school. I had a growing connection with a strange group of kids that I worked with at Steak n Shake. I don't know if it was part me retreating from the rejection or retreating back in to the familiar with Steak n Shake were I knew what I was doing, or if the facade had been laid down about theater for me to the point that I didn't want to do it anymore. I never thought myself as a great actor who would make it big. I had a passion and I wanted to see what was next with it.
You have to surround yourself with some positive people at the right moments in your life. People who embrace life and encourage you to follow your dreams. People who will be there for you when needed. I never got that from the teachers and most of the theater kids at ISU. It was a special club with cliques built in and encourage in a way that I thought I had left in high school. I wish I had the courage to call some of the people out on it at the time, but I didn't. For as weird and unique that theater kids can be, you would think that taking someone in who is different would be the norm. That was my approach to the craft. Doing theater at ISU was my first big lesson that you can have all the talent in the world, but if you don't kiss the right ass or know the right people than out you go. You can call it showbiz, but this isn't Hollywood we are talking about here, this is theater in the middle of Illinois. Where they paraded the fact that a Star Trek actor and Laurie Metcalf were there. Where John Malkovich attended the school (albeit it very briefly but this was only mentioned in hushed tones and played down a lot).
Maybe if I didn't have the crutch of staying in the town I graduated in, maybe things could have been different. I think that and then know right away that it isn't the case. I know now what I should have known then, that you forge your own path. You make your own friends. You be you and let the world catch up to it. I had some good times in college. But ISU's loss would become my own gain. Due to the cost of paying for ISU, there isn't really a way that I could have stayed on and still paid my bills that were coming in. I started amassing a credit debt that wouldn't be overcome for years. Leaving ISU allowed me the chance to become a manager at Steak n Shake, but that is a story for another time. One that leads to some great people and decisions in my life.
I'm not done talking about college life forever, but I am done talking about the ISU theater part. For now.
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
My Thoughts On The Best Voice In Music Today
There are many who don't know this about me, but I am head over heals for Norah Jones.
The first time that I heard about her/saw her was on an SNL episode that was playing in the background at a gathering of peeps at my friend's house. I was sitting on the couch and had a couple of drinks. I believe this was when I was recently single and was just hanging around. I heard her voice, looked at the TV from the couch I was on, and just feel in love. She was playing the piano and singing along. I couldn't tell you the exact song, but it was the sound of her voice that entranced me.
Coming from a guy who loved Nine Inch Nails and all sorts of eclectic music, this is saying something. I never really got in to an artist because of their voice. It was always the sounds that were played with the voice sometimes adding to the music, or distracting it a bit but still complimentary. This was one of the first times that I heard a voice and fell in love with that voice.
Mind you, I had been watching a lot of American Idol, and I had heard singers through the years from various bands/groups/solo artists. Voices could be distinctive in their sound, but there never was one that entranced me as much as when I heard her voice. Because of that, I went out and got her CDs, and continued that tradition for every new album she puts out.
There is something about her voice that mesmerizes me. No matter how angry or upset I get, her voice relaxes me and melts all those worries away. I have no clue as to why her voice and not others, but it just does that to me.
I'd love to see her perform live some day, but I'm not sure when that day would happen. Living in the live music capital of the world right now, that opportunity should come up. I'd love nothing more than dressing up in full goth/metal gear and then just swooning at her in during the concert, if only to put everyone off and moving away from me as I relax and enjoy the show.
Typically when I'm in the car and jamming out to music, I don't care if people sing along or jam along. Sometimes I will encourage it. But when she comes on, no one is to sing along. You would only distract from her voice and ruin it. If someone picked this song at karaoke, I would leave the venue until the song is over. No one ruins Norah. No one. Which is why I got so pissed at a former girlfriend one time. She knew this rule. She knew my appreciation of Norah. Yet what happened when a particular song came on? She sang along with it. On multiple occasions. This was not OK. I even let it be known, and what did she do? Sing even louder. That particular song she liked is now ruined and no longer in my play list.
Now, this may just come across as obsessive and kinda creepy. I'd like to state that is not the case. There is such an appreciation for her voice and her artistry that is so superior that I want to do nothing but encourage her to make more music. So I will keep buying it, I will see the concerts, and I will continue to be a very appreciative fan.
Side note - it is very weird to write about this while not listening to her music. But if I did listen to her voice while this was being written, then there wouldn't be anything here for you to read.
The first time that I heard about her/saw her was on an SNL episode that was playing in the background at a gathering of peeps at my friend's house. I was sitting on the couch and had a couple of drinks. I believe this was when I was recently single and was just hanging around. I heard her voice, looked at the TV from the couch I was on, and just feel in love. She was playing the piano and singing along. I couldn't tell you the exact song, but it was the sound of her voice that entranced me.
Coming from a guy who loved Nine Inch Nails and all sorts of eclectic music, this is saying something. I never really got in to an artist because of their voice. It was always the sounds that were played with the voice sometimes adding to the music, or distracting it a bit but still complimentary. This was one of the first times that I heard a voice and fell in love with that voice.
Mind you, I had been watching a lot of American Idol, and I had heard singers through the years from various bands/groups/solo artists. Voices could be distinctive in their sound, but there never was one that entranced me as much as when I heard her voice. Because of that, I went out and got her CDs, and continued that tradition for every new album she puts out.
There is something about her voice that mesmerizes me. No matter how angry or upset I get, her voice relaxes me and melts all those worries away. I have no clue as to why her voice and not others, but it just does that to me.
I'd love to see her perform live some day, but I'm not sure when that day would happen. Living in the live music capital of the world right now, that opportunity should come up. I'd love nothing more than dressing up in full goth/metal gear and then just swooning at her in during the concert, if only to put everyone off and moving away from me as I relax and enjoy the show.
Typically when I'm in the car and jamming out to music, I don't care if people sing along or jam along. Sometimes I will encourage it. But when she comes on, no one is to sing along. You would only distract from her voice and ruin it. If someone picked this song at karaoke, I would leave the venue until the song is over. No one ruins Norah. No one. Which is why I got so pissed at a former girlfriend one time. She knew this rule. She knew my appreciation of Norah. Yet what happened when a particular song came on? She sang along with it. On multiple occasions. This was not OK. I even let it be known, and what did she do? Sing even louder. That particular song she liked is now ruined and no longer in my play list.
Now, this may just come across as obsessive and kinda creepy. I'd like to state that is not the case. There is such an appreciation for her voice and her artistry that is so superior that I want to do nothing but encourage her to make more music. So I will keep buying it, I will see the concerts, and I will continue to be a very appreciative fan.
Side note - it is very weird to write about this while not listening to her music. But if I did listen to her voice while this was being written, then there wouldn't be anything here for you to read.
Monday, June 27, 2016
Midwest Road Trips to Champaign Urbana
I take Road Trips these days when I get out of Austin. Travel through a couple of states kind of Road Trips. Years ago, I used to take mini road trips that took me as far away as Champaign Illinois.
Today I was presented with a weird nostalgia trip reminding me of the trips to that city I used to take, to the mall that was there, and to the shopping that I would do just to get out of Bloomington.
My first trip to the area was in my senior year of high school. Some background - I used to have long hair, down to my shoulder long. I had a friend at the time that was all about cutting that hair. I told her that it would have to wait until I was done with all the theater stuff, as my drama teacher loved me having long hair. After the last play, I let my friend Michelle have her wish.
If memory serves, and it could be a little rusty on some of the details, there was someone else that went with us. The three of us headed off and went shopping at the mall. I told Michelle she could have a few hundred dollars to get whatever she thought I should dress up in. She decided to give me a slightly preppy look, which contrasted nicely with my tshirt wearing, black everything, Superman and Nine Inch Nails shirt wearing days. To say it was a change is an understatement.
New shoes, some Doc Martins I believe, some pants changes, and a few shirts later we were all set up. I got my hair cut to something short and preppy looking. To say that there was a reaction on the following day would be an understatement. There were tears as people saw my hair was all gone. Women wept, and men sang depression songs in my honor. The best reaction came from my drama teacher. I had a class with her and I clearly remember her walking in towards her desk, glancing at me, taking a step forward and then one huge step back and turnaround to stare at me. I don't remember what was said after that, but I do recall that she was Shocked.
I had enough clothes for the entire week. I will say that I didn't hit it off with any ladies with my new look, but I think I did it in part because I was trying to chase down Michelle and get with her, and if it would require me to dress as she wanted, then it was worth it at the time.
In the years that followed, I would take trips with friends to that town several times. I had this group of hippie people who took me to the vegan store over there and we made a day of it. There were other trips with friends, girlfriends, parties, and so much more. It would be a meet up spot for my parents to visit as it was sorta a halfway point between Bloomington and Indiana were they lived.
I remember hanging out with Michelle when we were of drinking age. She had gone to college in Champaign and enjoyed it. She worked at a Cheddar's, and if memory serves we went out to the bars that night. The details after that get a little hazy, but I remember having good times.
There was this one time I was dating a red head, and she was of a younger than 21 age. This made going to the bars in Bloomington rather difficult. The bars in Champaign had a policy of allowing kids aged 19 and over in. You weren't supposed to drink, but I bought drinks at the bar for them. We were drinking beer, Bud Select I think. I felt really uncomfortable doing that and being in the bar, so after that experience I swore never to date anyone below the age of 21 again. It stuck.
I saw an ex-girlfriend's best friend sing with a band there. It was when I wasn't drinking I think, so I again felt uncomfortable (in the same bar as the previously mentioned girlfriend) again and just wanted to leave the place.
I once bought a belt at the Meijer in that town and that became my work belt for years. Years. It lasted so long that when I finally had to get a new belt, it was because it was falling apart.
There was a Hot Topic in that mall, so it was the only time that I could really shop for all the dark clothing that I was in to. Every time I would visit that place, I would fall in love with one of the female employees there. They had that goth look to them and had green or blue hair and it drove me insane. The look was just something I was in to but never actually dated anyone with that look after my first girlfriend. It was only recently in Austin that I started seeing the blue or green hair again and it stirred those memories and feelings in my head. I'm thankful the look is still around, and I am enjoying falling in love with new people in the same look all over again.
That was the town that I got all my tattoos at. Where I first watched Cowboy Bebop. I knew a lot of people that went to college there to get out of the college town we lived at in high school. One friend got in to theater there and she deserved it. It was a very selective program. If I could go back to high school and live in one of those alternative pasts, going to school there would have been fun and exciting to try.
There was this one comic shop that had a very stereotypical comic shop owner. The place was called Other Realms. When you walked in, he would bark at you to but your bag away or leave it by the door, and this was whether or not you had a bag. He sat by the door behind the counter, and would jump up if you went to a part of the store that was outside of his eye path. I remember bending over to check out the comics on the bottom rack and he shouted at me wondering what I wanted. I said I was just browsing and he had a huff at my comment. I checked out a couple of the long boxes that were in eye sight of where he sat, but I wasn't in there for 3 more minutes. I'm sure he thought that he protected himself from another theft or something that stupid, and I think that helps to explain why that place isn't there anymore.
During one road trip, back when poster shops existed, I bought a few posters. One was a subway size poster of Jack Nicholson in the Shining walking through the garden at the end of the movie. Another was a shot from Chasing Amy where the two lead characters were sitting in front of their TV playing video games. I had both of those posters up for the longest time at the places I lived at. The Chasing Amy one was especially significant because I wanted to make sure that where I lived and whoever I lived with, we would share the bond they had and how they got along. We wouldn't go through the same story as the movie, but that friendship would be strong.
Sometimes it really burns me that I didn't take the chance to leave Bloomington to go to school in Champaign. There was a whole different world just an arm's length away from town that I could have experienced. I could have gotten a job there and had some fun. Me not wanting to advance myself as a person and stay in the town I lived at held me back a lot. I could probably be at the place I am at now living outside of town way back then, and I probably would have gotten some dates with those Hot Topic girls.
I'm glad I have a chance now to still give that a try.
Today I was presented with a weird nostalgia trip reminding me of the trips to that city I used to take, to the mall that was there, and to the shopping that I would do just to get out of Bloomington.
My first trip to the area was in my senior year of high school. Some background - I used to have long hair, down to my shoulder long. I had a friend at the time that was all about cutting that hair. I told her that it would have to wait until I was done with all the theater stuff, as my drama teacher loved me having long hair. After the last play, I let my friend Michelle have her wish.
If memory serves, and it could be a little rusty on some of the details, there was someone else that went with us. The three of us headed off and went shopping at the mall. I told Michelle she could have a few hundred dollars to get whatever she thought I should dress up in. She decided to give me a slightly preppy look, which contrasted nicely with my tshirt wearing, black everything, Superman and Nine Inch Nails shirt wearing days. To say it was a change is an understatement.
New shoes, some Doc Martins I believe, some pants changes, and a few shirts later we were all set up. I got my hair cut to something short and preppy looking. To say that there was a reaction on the following day would be an understatement. There were tears as people saw my hair was all gone. Women wept, and men sang depression songs in my honor. The best reaction came from my drama teacher. I had a class with her and I clearly remember her walking in towards her desk, glancing at me, taking a step forward and then one huge step back and turnaround to stare at me. I don't remember what was said after that, but I do recall that she was Shocked.
I had enough clothes for the entire week. I will say that I didn't hit it off with any ladies with my new look, but I think I did it in part because I was trying to chase down Michelle and get with her, and if it would require me to dress as she wanted, then it was worth it at the time.
In the years that followed, I would take trips with friends to that town several times. I had this group of hippie people who took me to the vegan store over there and we made a day of it. There were other trips with friends, girlfriends, parties, and so much more. It would be a meet up spot for my parents to visit as it was sorta a halfway point between Bloomington and Indiana were they lived.
I remember hanging out with Michelle when we were of drinking age. She had gone to college in Champaign and enjoyed it. She worked at a Cheddar's, and if memory serves we went out to the bars that night. The details after that get a little hazy, but I remember having good times.
There was this one time I was dating a red head, and she was of a younger than 21 age. This made going to the bars in Bloomington rather difficult. The bars in Champaign had a policy of allowing kids aged 19 and over in. You weren't supposed to drink, but I bought drinks at the bar for them. We were drinking beer, Bud Select I think. I felt really uncomfortable doing that and being in the bar, so after that experience I swore never to date anyone below the age of 21 again. It stuck.
I saw an ex-girlfriend's best friend sing with a band there. It was when I wasn't drinking I think, so I again felt uncomfortable (in the same bar as the previously mentioned girlfriend) again and just wanted to leave the place.
I once bought a belt at the Meijer in that town and that became my work belt for years. Years. It lasted so long that when I finally had to get a new belt, it was because it was falling apart.
There was a Hot Topic in that mall, so it was the only time that I could really shop for all the dark clothing that I was in to. Every time I would visit that place, I would fall in love with one of the female employees there. They had that goth look to them and had green or blue hair and it drove me insane. The look was just something I was in to but never actually dated anyone with that look after my first girlfriend. It was only recently in Austin that I started seeing the blue or green hair again and it stirred those memories and feelings in my head. I'm thankful the look is still around, and I am enjoying falling in love with new people in the same look all over again.
That was the town that I got all my tattoos at. Where I first watched Cowboy Bebop. I knew a lot of people that went to college there to get out of the college town we lived at in high school. One friend got in to theater there and she deserved it. It was a very selective program. If I could go back to high school and live in one of those alternative pasts, going to school there would have been fun and exciting to try.
There was this one comic shop that had a very stereotypical comic shop owner. The place was called Other Realms. When you walked in, he would bark at you to but your bag away or leave it by the door, and this was whether or not you had a bag. He sat by the door behind the counter, and would jump up if you went to a part of the store that was outside of his eye path. I remember bending over to check out the comics on the bottom rack and he shouted at me wondering what I wanted. I said I was just browsing and he had a huff at my comment. I checked out a couple of the long boxes that were in eye sight of where he sat, but I wasn't in there for 3 more minutes. I'm sure he thought that he protected himself from another theft or something that stupid, and I think that helps to explain why that place isn't there anymore.
During one road trip, back when poster shops existed, I bought a few posters. One was a subway size poster of Jack Nicholson in the Shining walking through the garden at the end of the movie. Another was a shot from Chasing Amy where the two lead characters were sitting in front of their TV playing video games. I had both of those posters up for the longest time at the places I lived at. The Chasing Amy one was especially significant because I wanted to make sure that where I lived and whoever I lived with, we would share the bond they had and how they got along. We wouldn't go through the same story as the movie, but that friendship would be strong.
Sometimes it really burns me that I didn't take the chance to leave Bloomington to go to school in Champaign. There was a whole different world just an arm's length away from town that I could have experienced. I could have gotten a job there and had some fun. Me not wanting to advance myself as a person and stay in the town I lived at held me back a lot. I could probably be at the place I am at now living outside of town way back then, and I probably would have gotten some dates with those Hot Topic girls.
I'm glad I have a chance now to still give that a try.
Saturday, June 25, 2016
I Ain't Afraid of No Remake
Finished watching the latest from Netflix - the new Voltron cartoon. Wow.
I was big in to Voltron back in the days of childhood. I would occasionally pick up the latest action figures they had, or be on the lookout for them at garage sales. I was a fan, but there has been enough distance that it isn't something that is sacred or unchangeable in my eyes.
Cue the latest series. Wow, it did some good work. Roommate even sat down and watched some of it with the same impression. Who knew that good kids shows could make in to an interesting anime experience.
There are many shows that could benefit from this type of nostalgia mining that brings back these retro shows in new lights. Some of the approach to re-imagining these shows can work, where others you can tell little to no effort went in to it and it is purely a cash grab.
With that, let's look at the Ghostbusters movie coming up. Personally, the trailers didn't sell it to me. They just weren't funny. Then I saw a video online where an editor compared the international trailer with the U.S. one and there is a world of difference between the two. Essentially, the timing was better for the international and it helped make the jokes land. It also brought a bit of a creepy vibe to it, which I believe is what the film makers want with this edition of the Ghostbusters.
Cut to a Jimmy Kimmel appearance for the entire cast and they played a small scene from the movie. I was impressed with it. You got to see an actual scene as opposed to a poorly cut together trailer. And it looks like it worked. I;m holding out optimism, if only because Bill Murray is fully behind this edition of the movie. If some of the original cast/crew can appreciate what is going on with the movie, you better believe that it definitely helps. Check out how much Evil Dead was awesome with the latest movie. It ruled and had the backing of the creative team from the original.
'
Is it misogyny that is the problem with the reaction to the trailers so far? I believe so. Not 100%, but you can't deny it is part of the problem. Hell, when Bill Murray was asked a few years back what kind of Ghostbusters movie he wanted to do, it was him who suggested to make it all female. Maybe that helped plant the seed in my head that it would be OK, but I really don't see why it has to be remade to be like the original. The original is standing by it's own merits, let the remake stand on their own.
And that is why I like this Voltron. It takes some good parts of the original, and lands some excellent twists to the story as well as making it feel fresh in it's own right. I didn't think I would find myself liking it like I did but the first season ended on a cliffhanger and I want to see more of it right now. So it must be doing something right. Let's hope the new Ghostbusters does the same thing.
I was big in to Voltron back in the days of childhood. I would occasionally pick up the latest action figures they had, or be on the lookout for them at garage sales. I was a fan, but there has been enough distance that it isn't something that is sacred or unchangeable in my eyes.
Cue the latest series. Wow, it did some good work. Roommate even sat down and watched some of it with the same impression. Who knew that good kids shows could make in to an interesting anime experience.
There are many shows that could benefit from this type of nostalgia mining that brings back these retro shows in new lights. Some of the approach to re-imagining these shows can work, where others you can tell little to no effort went in to it and it is purely a cash grab.
With that, let's look at the Ghostbusters movie coming up. Personally, the trailers didn't sell it to me. They just weren't funny. Then I saw a video online where an editor compared the international trailer with the U.S. one and there is a world of difference between the two. Essentially, the timing was better for the international and it helped make the jokes land. It also brought a bit of a creepy vibe to it, which I believe is what the film makers want with this edition of the Ghostbusters.
Cut to a Jimmy Kimmel appearance for the entire cast and they played a small scene from the movie. I was impressed with it. You got to see an actual scene as opposed to a poorly cut together trailer. And it looks like it worked. I;m holding out optimism, if only because Bill Murray is fully behind this edition of the movie. If some of the original cast/crew can appreciate what is going on with the movie, you better believe that it definitely helps. Check out how much Evil Dead was awesome with the latest movie. It ruled and had the backing of the creative team from the original.
'
Is it misogyny that is the problem with the reaction to the trailers so far? I believe so. Not 100%, but you can't deny it is part of the problem. Hell, when Bill Murray was asked a few years back what kind of Ghostbusters movie he wanted to do, it was him who suggested to make it all female. Maybe that helped plant the seed in my head that it would be OK, but I really don't see why it has to be remade to be like the original. The original is standing by it's own merits, let the remake stand on their own.
And that is why I like this Voltron. It takes some good parts of the original, and lands some excellent twists to the story as well as making it feel fresh in it's own right. I didn't think I would find myself liking it like I did but the first season ended on a cliffhanger and I want to see more of it right now. So it must be doing something right. Let's hope the new Ghostbusters does the same thing.
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
My Life and Times with the Anime Cult
So let's talk about anime.
I am a fan of the style, either in the movie, TV show, or comic style. There are a few greats that stick out for that I recommend, but anime isn't something that I have dove head first in to.
Flash to years ago when I was just a young lad growing up. My first foray in to the Japanese culture came through playing some old school Super Nintendo RPGs. The first one, and the one I fell for, was called Breath of Fire. I played it, the sequel, and got in to Final Fantasy with Final Fantasy 3 on the SNES, or 6 in the regular series.
I became friends with this kid named Justin. He was big in to anime, Final Fantasy, and Japanese culture. It really was from him and him wanting to watch things that I fell for some of the anime. In particular, I believe that this is where I was first introduced to Record of Lodoss War. It was big at the time, and I think it was big for me. I remember buying the Chronicles of the Heroic Knight series on VHS and watching it. I had mixed feelings about both series, as I felt like it was something I should be interested in, but I just wasn't getting in to it.
Side story - Justin once stayed at my house when we were 15. We rented an anime to watch that night and it ended up being some sort of tentacle porn thing. Yeah, not exactly the thing you want to watch where your parents are in the next room. I remember being very confused and not too interested in what was going on with the characters and the weird tongue stuff. Thankfully, I blocked out anything else that happened that night. I think I tried to fall asleep as soon as I could.
Flash forward some years and the next big thing I remember being shown to me was Cowboy Bebop. To say that this was a world of difference would be an understatement. Also introduced around the same time - Akira. Between these two, I really wanted to get in and like some more anime.
My comic book approach to anime is limited to two series. First, Akira. The books and the movie couldn't be more apart, as the books just went leaps and bounds beyond what even the movie did. It had me set on all grounds.
The next major show or movie I can remember came very recently in watching Death Note. I think I saw the live action movies first some how, which I believe I can blame Netflix for. The movies were good, the animated show even better, and the books were the icing on the cake.
Somewhere in that era came Princess Mononoke. It fell a little flat for me. Either I didn't really click with what was going on, or the concept was just a little beyond me. Again, my approach to anime sometimes leads me to knowing I should like it, but it just isn't clicking. The feeling I could best relate it to is that there is a mirror universe version of me that is loving all this stuff, but I am really iffy on.
The Animatrix got me fueled a little on anime again at one point. Go-Lion, which Voltron is originally based off of, was something I dabbled in, but I couldn't divorce myself from the animation which was very much more blood, guts, and adult than what was re-cut to fit in to a children's show in the states.
I have recently watched Attack on Titan, which was very boring and dragged in spots, but is something that can be very good at times.
Samurai Champloo, from the same creators of Cowboy Bebop, also was one that I had to continue watching until finished. Love/hate relationship.
At some point, Vampire Hunter D was a thing, but I think I fell more in love with the concept and the look of the movies/show than I ever did the actual story.
I think that is what gets me about anime. At times the story can seem so high concept, or so simple, and the animation has to really sell it. I am very fickle when it comes to anime hitting me at the right time with the right kind of tastes that I have. I can't just sit down and watch something that is either great with the anime or great with the story, there has to be that balance between the two. That's where the beauty of anime lies.
I am a fan of the style, either in the movie, TV show, or comic style. There are a few greats that stick out for that I recommend, but anime isn't something that I have dove head first in to.
Flash to years ago when I was just a young lad growing up. My first foray in to the Japanese culture came through playing some old school Super Nintendo RPGs. The first one, and the one I fell for, was called Breath of Fire. I played it, the sequel, and got in to Final Fantasy with Final Fantasy 3 on the SNES, or 6 in the regular series.
I became friends with this kid named Justin. He was big in to anime, Final Fantasy, and Japanese culture. It really was from him and him wanting to watch things that I fell for some of the anime. In particular, I believe that this is where I was first introduced to Record of Lodoss War. It was big at the time, and I think it was big for me. I remember buying the Chronicles of the Heroic Knight series on VHS and watching it. I had mixed feelings about both series, as I felt like it was something I should be interested in, but I just wasn't getting in to it.
Side story - Justin once stayed at my house when we were 15. We rented an anime to watch that night and it ended up being some sort of tentacle porn thing. Yeah, not exactly the thing you want to watch where your parents are in the next room. I remember being very confused and not too interested in what was going on with the characters and the weird tongue stuff. Thankfully, I blocked out anything else that happened that night. I think I tried to fall asleep as soon as I could.
Flash forward some years and the next big thing I remember being shown to me was Cowboy Bebop. To say that this was a world of difference would be an understatement. Also introduced around the same time - Akira. Between these two, I really wanted to get in and like some more anime.
My comic book approach to anime is limited to two series. First, Akira. The books and the movie couldn't be more apart, as the books just went leaps and bounds beyond what even the movie did. It had me set on all grounds.
The next major show or movie I can remember came very recently in watching Death Note. I think I saw the live action movies first some how, which I believe I can blame Netflix for. The movies were good, the animated show even better, and the books were the icing on the cake.
Somewhere in that era came Princess Mononoke. It fell a little flat for me. Either I didn't really click with what was going on, or the concept was just a little beyond me. Again, my approach to anime sometimes leads me to knowing I should like it, but it just isn't clicking. The feeling I could best relate it to is that there is a mirror universe version of me that is loving all this stuff, but I am really iffy on.
The Animatrix got me fueled a little on anime again at one point. Go-Lion, which Voltron is originally based off of, was something I dabbled in, but I couldn't divorce myself from the animation which was very much more blood, guts, and adult than what was re-cut to fit in to a children's show in the states.
I have recently watched Attack on Titan, which was very boring and dragged in spots, but is something that can be very good at times.
Samurai Champloo, from the same creators of Cowboy Bebop, also was one that I had to continue watching until finished. Love/hate relationship.
At some point, Vampire Hunter D was a thing, but I think I fell more in love with the concept and the look of the movies/show than I ever did the actual story.
I think that is what gets me about anime. At times the story can seem so high concept, or so simple, and the animation has to really sell it. I am very fickle when it comes to anime hitting me at the right time with the right kind of tastes that I have. I can't just sit down and watch something that is either great with the anime or great with the story, there has to be that balance between the two. That's where the beauty of anime lies.
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Back In My Day, We Bought Books At A Store
Slowly I am converting my book collection to try and go all digital. My plans includes picking up a Kindle and using Amazon like crazy. There will be some road bumps in this, as I know I will continue to go to the used book stores of the world to pick up whatever may find itself in my gaze.
Book stores are slowly going away in the world, but much like comic shops they continue to advance in spaces in the digital world. There are still many that are active and around. For the longest time in Bloomington, Babbit's Books would have massive selections of used books that I could find on the cheap. Some of the books would be very old and expensive at times, but you could always count on them to have a couple of the old Far Side or Calvin and Hobbes books for a couple of bucks or so.
I used to take road trips to Chicago specifically so I could hang around a mall or two, or visit the four floors of books that was Boarders back in the day. The store was right along Lake Shore Drive, and I would park my car at Shedd Aquarium and hike it all the way down to it. I vaguely recall going there with some friends, but I know I definitely went there a couple of times by my lonesome.
There was a basement, main level, and two stories above that. I remember the two floors above always had new books, DVDs, and much more. There was always remodeling being done, so I never got to see the place in full glory.
It was at this place that I decided to get my first independent comic book collection, which shall be called a graphic novel from here on out. Usually I would pick up whatever my comic shop owner, Jim, would recommend. But this time, before the time of Amazon suggested readings, I would find something on my own. It was the first time that I can recall that I really saw a huge amount of graphic novels in one area.
So what caught my eye? A little collection called The Last Temptation by Alice Cooper. Yeah, I was in to the dark stuff. It was the artwork that ultimately sold me on the book, and I have had it in my collection since. The story was definitely on the weirder side. The book was done in conjunction with an album of the same name, of which I still don't think I've listened to as of this day. Picking up the book was a very good decision.
I remember that this was also the book store that I first discovered movie scripts being sold in a book store. I picked up a couple of Kevin Smith ones, as well as Tarantino's original screenplay for Natural Born Killers. I think I only ever read the Tarantino one, and the others have been lost to the ages.
I'm not sad about my book collection going away, save for a few of the really special books that I want to try and save if I can. I enjoy the adventure of the hunt for the book. Finding the good deal on something I know that I will enjoy. The smell of the bookstore. The hours spent browsing through the aisles. I hope that the idea of the book store never goes away. I think that the last book store that will ever be around will be one big library that collects them all. An Alexandria type of place that has some natural disaster hit it and everything gets cleared away, lost in the echos of time.
Monday, June 20, 2016
Craving Some Tasty Memories
Call me a sap, but I miss some great late night pizza places. Or just pizza places in general. OK, it really comes down to food.
Jake's Pizza in Normal had so much goodness with it. The big deal was this really thick pan pizza that had lots of sauce on it and was delicious. Between that and the extra greasy, extra buttery bread sticks....hunger!
The bread sticks were a special and a meal to themselves. When the hunger for pizza came on, there was a great 2 slices deal with a soda for something like $5. To a hungry teenager, this was filling and within budget. It also happened to be right in the heart of the two blocks referred to as "downtown Normal" by the college campus. Great places like a game store, the post office that I had a PO Box at for years, and a movie rental place were all right there. This downtown scene also was home to two comic book stores which was impressive for a small town.
To the food, the memories are ingrained in my brain for that place and that pizza pie. I was lucky enough to have some friends work there and they called me up when the business was closing. Not enough traffic, which was weird to see. There must have been something else, because many pizza places popped up all around it afterwards. That would be something I would visit that town for in a runaway for the weekend type of excursion.
I miss making my own food at Steak n Shake. I used to be a manager way back in the day, and would get comp meals all the time. I would grill myself up a burger that was so greasy and so delicious that there would be grease dripping off my hands after I was done eating. It isn't a good burger if it doesn't leave a puddle of grease on your plate to soak up afterwards. I try to get it around here in Austin, but they squash the shit out of the burger while it is cooking making all the grease escape and get thrown in a grease trap instead of in my arteries.
There is an ice cream shop in Caseyville Illinois that serves the best home made sherbet ice cream. How good is it? I specifically brought a cooler in order to get a couple of tubs of it and take it back home with me the last time I visited there. I would visit that place as a kid and get an ice cream cone that was vanilla and sherbet twist that was a foot tall for a couple of bucks. On a hot summer day, nothing could cool me down better.
Wings, Etc. was, you guessed it, a wings shop. It was a chain that had a bunch of stores in the midwest. My friend was the manager there when it first opened and I visited a lot and got addicted to the wings. The place would burn down and then be re-built, and I visited quite often until it closed up shop due to poor owner decisions. There was a Sunday special that they ran for 10 wings and a 35 oz beer for $6. Couldn't pass that up, so I was there every Sunday. That is where I cut my teeth on feeling some hear in the sauce. My personal favorite was a tweener sauce that was midway between a straight up HOT sauce and a medium temp sauce. I can now create the sauce on my own, but nothing could really compare to throwing back a few on a Sunday, watching the Bears play, and playing on the video game machines at the bar. I made some good friends that way.
My friend Joe ended up running a self serve frozen yogurt place of his own called Chill Out in the downtown area. Unfortunately he closed up shop after a couple of years due to about 10 other froyo places popping up after he started his business. They were chain places and since chains are about the only thing that really sticks around in that town, that is what succeeded. There were so many different varieties that they offered, I seriously kept going back each week even though I had to watch my sugar intake.
I don't know why food connects with me so much, or why I was all hungry for some of these tasty treats. I did skip lunch today, maybe that might have put food on my brain. Food is another sense, so mixing the food with the memory makes it a little bit clearer in the old brain. I don't know if I will ever experience food like I did that food way back in the day, but I can at least have some fun in trying to re-create it myself. Or, in the rare occasion, visit the place again that brought all the memories there.
Jake's Pizza in Normal had so much goodness with it. The big deal was this really thick pan pizza that had lots of sauce on it and was delicious. Between that and the extra greasy, extra buttery bread sticks....hunger!
The bread sticks were a special and a meal to themselves. When the hunger for pizza came on, there was a great 2 slices deal with a soda for something like $5. To a hungry teenager, this was filling and within budget. It also happened to be right in the heart of the two blocks referred to as "downtown Normal" by the college campus. Great places like a game store, the post office that I had a PO Box at for years, and a movie rental place were all right there. This downtown scene also was home to two comic book stores which was impressive for a small town.
To the food, the memories are ingrained in my brain for that place and that pizza pie. I was lucky enough to have some friends work there and they called me up when the business was closing. Not enough traffic, which was weird to see. There must have been something else, because many pizza places popped up all around it afterwards. That would be something I would visit that town for in a runaway for the weekend type of excursion.
I miss making my own food at Steak n Shake. I used to be a manager way back in the day, and would get comp meals all the time. I would grill myself up a burger that was so greasy and so delicious that there would be grease dripping off my hands after I was done eating. It isn't a good burger if it doesn't leave a puddle of grease on your plate to soak up afterwards. I try to get it around here in Austin, but they squash the shit out of the burger while it is cooking making all the grease escape and get thrown in a grease trap instead of in my arteries.
There is an ice cream shop in Caseyville Illinois that serves the best home made sherbet ice cream. How good is it? I specifically brought a cooler in order to get a couple of tubs of it and take it back home with me the last time I visited there. I would visit that place as a kid and get an ice cream cone that was vanilla and sherbet twist that was a foot tall for a couple of bucks. On a hot summer day, nothing could cool me down better.
Wings, Etc. was, you guessed it, a wings shop. It was a chain that had a bunch of stores in the midwest. My friend was the manager there when it first opened and I visited a lot and got addicted to the wings. The place would burn down and then be re-built, and I visited quite often until it closed up shop due to poor owner decisions. There was a Sunday special that they ran for 10 wings and a 35 oz beer for $6. Couldn't pass that up, so I was there every Sunday. That is where I cut my teeth on feeling some hear in the sauce. My personal favorite was a tweener sauce that was midway between a straight up HOT sauce and a medium temp sauce. I can now create the sauce on my own, but nothing could really compare to throwing back a few on a Sunday, watching the Bears play, and playing on the video game machines at the bar. I made some good friends that way.
My friend Joe ended up running a self serve frozen yogurt place of his own called Chill Out in the downtown area. Unfortunately he closed up shop after a couple of years due to about 10 other froyo places popping up after he started his business. They were chain places and since chains are about the only thing that really sticks around in that town, that is what succeeded. There were so many different varieties that they offered, I seriously kept going back each week even though I had to watch my sugar intake.
I don't know why food connects with me so much, or why I was all hungry for some of these tasty treats. I did skip lunch today, maybe that might have put food on my brain. Food is another sense, so mixing the food with the memory makes it a little bit clearer in the old brain. I don't know if I will ever experience food like I did that food way back in the day, but I can at least have some fun in trying to re-create it myself. Or, in the rare occasion, visit the place again that brought all the memories there.
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Random Thoughts For A Random Playlist
Fun idea! Hit the random button on a playlist and write about what songs pop up! Toots fun!
Song 1: Just a Girl - No Doubt
I'm trying to remember the first time I listened to this band. The exact time escapes me, but they were the one band that I listened to with a female singer at once point. I vaguely remember their Spiderwebs video, and it was their Don't Speak song that ended up playing some mornings while I was getting ready for high school.
The big part of me listening to my own kind of music happened after the big Divorce in the family. I used to get ready for school in my aunt's house we were staying at temporarily, while I took the city bus across town in order to stay at the high school on the west side of town that I was attending. We technically lived in the Bloomington side of town, and I should have transferred to District 87, but it was notorious for being the "bad" district. Is seeing the friends and people that I met later in life who went to that school, I very much could have found friends there and made it. Not sure what was so "bad" about it.
Song 2: Bulls on Parade - Rage Against the Machine
Now this was one I remember listening to at my cousin's house when I was 15. I remember the album, and I think I owned it at one point. I vaguely recall seeing the music video for this one, but I clearly remember the album cover for this one and for the self-titled album. I believe my cousin was the one who listened to them and got me hooked on them. I spent some time with him when I was 15 and he was 16. We traveled the town of Crestwood Missouri with his friends, singing songs like this one and Smashing Pumpkins.
At the time, I had a Dennis Rodman shirt that was his book cover when he was sitting naked on top of a motorcycle. I wore it one day while down there with his friends and they all pointed and didn't know what to say. Looking back, I was probably embarrassed, but I was the only one with balls to do it. The incident happened at a mall that is now dead, like most malls are these days.
I was a rebel, and Rage helped me with that small aspect.
Song 3: Inside Out by Eve 6
This is another song that I can't pinpoint when it came in to my life, but I remember it being the song that me and my friends listened to in the latter days of high school.
This might have been the first song that I learned all the words to from a band I didn't know by listening to it. That may sound weird for me to be almost 18 and appreciating music like that, but I didn't realize the poetry in the words of most bands. Admit tingly, I thought that all bands sort of screeched or made weird noises and would sing a chorus every now and then. I chalk that up to me not taking the time to listen to the music and appreciate the poetry. It is very different these days.
This might be a song I need to sing during some karaoke event, if that ever happens again in my life. I am tone deaf, and me trying to sing really flaunts this fact.
Song 4: This Is A Call - Foo Fighters
For the longest time I was all blah towards Foo Fighters. To me, they seemed like a pop version of Nirvana. What can I say, I damned Grohl for starting his own band after Nirvana. I've change my tune a bit in recent years, as I think they are actually more rock than most rock bands these days. I like to play them when I need something that just rocks that I haven't heard too much. They aren't too deep on the poetry level for me and they just play their fucking instruments.
Even now, I find it hard to type while listening to the music because I just want to go all Animal on a drum set. Instead, I'll post this and then just slam my hands in to the bed. I'll be careful of the one hand, it is still slightly damaged.
Song 1: Just a Girl - No Doubt
I'm trying to remember the first time I listened to this band. The exact time escapes me, but they were the one band that I listened to with a female singer at once point. I vaguely remember their Spiderwebs video, and it was their Don't Speak song that ended up playing some mornings while I was getting ready for high school.
The big part of me listening to my own kind of music happened after the big Divorce in the family. I used to get ready for school in my aunt's house we were staying at temporarily, while I took the city bus across town in order to stay at the high school on the west side of town that I was attending. We technically lived in the Bloomington side of town, and I should have transferred to District 87, but it was notorious for being the "bad" district. Is seeing the friends and people that I met later in life who went to that school, I very much could have found friends there and made it. Not sure what was so "bad" about it.
Song 2: Bulls on Parade - Rage Against the Machine
Now this was one I remember listening to at my cousin's house when I was 15. I remember the album, and I think I owned it at one point. I vaguely recall seeing the music video for this one, but I clearly remember the album cover for this one and for the self-titled album. I believe my cousin was the one who listened to them and got me hooked on them. I spent some time with him when I was 15 and he was 16. We traveled the town of Crestwood Missouri with his friends, singing songs like this one and Smashing Pumpkins.
At the time, I had a Dennis Rodman shirt that was his book cover when he was sitting naked on top of a motorcycle. I wore it one day while down there with his friends and they all pointed and didn't know what to say. Looking back, I was probably embarrassed, but I was the only one with balls to do it. The incident happened at a mall that is now dead, like most malls are these days.
I was a rebel, and Rage helped me with that small aspect.
Song 3: Inside Out by Eve 6
This is another song that I can't pinpoint when it came in to my life, but I remember it being the song that me and my friends listened to in the latter days of high school.
This might have been the first song that I learned all the words to from a band I didn't know by listening to it. That may sound weird for me to be almost 18 and appreciating music like that, but I didn't realize the poetry in the words of most bands. Admit tingly, I thought that all bands sort of screeched or made weird noises and would sing a chorus every now and then. I chalk that up to me not taking the time to listen to the music and appreciate the poetry. It is very different these days.
This might be a song I need to sing during some karaoke event, if that ever happens again in my life. I am tone deaf, and me trying to sing really flaunts this fact.
Song 4: This Is A Call - Foo Fighters
For the longest time I was all blah towards Foo Fighters. To me, they seemed like a pop version of Nirvana. What can I say, I damned Grohl for starting his own band after Nirvana. I've change my tune a bit in recent years, as I think they are actually more rock than most rock bands these days. I like to play them when I need something that just rocks that I haven't heard too much. They aren't too deep on the poetry level for me and they just play their fucking instruments.
Even now, I find it hard to type while listening to the music because I just want to go all Animal on a drum set. Instead, I'll post this and then just slam my hands in to the bed. I'll be careful of the one hand, it is still slightly damaged.
Monday, June 13, 2016
The Healing Time
Typing has been something of a hassle lately, what with the arm in a brace. I can still type at an OK pace, but I have to correct myself a lot as well as use only my left thumb for the space bar. Using a mouse is next to impossible, and a track pad isn't the best to work with at times.
I'M sure I'll be writing a lot more soon. First I want to get my hand strength up so I can type without pain. That's what happens when you friend runs over your arm with their jeep. So trust me, there is a story in this.
Like there should be.
I'M sure I'll be writing a lot more soon. First I want to get my hand strength up so I can type without pain. That's what happens when you friend runs over your arm with their jeep. So trust me, there is a story in this.
Like there should be.
Saturday, June 4, 2016
Trying All The Oreos
I've got a sweet tooth hankering right now. To help either fuel or disperse that feeling, let's talk about the many flavors of Oreos that I've had throughout the year.
Much like Cheez-its, which I will definitely write about some day, I used to bring the various varieties of Oreos that would come out and share them with co-workers so we could all give them a taste. I got a list pulled up next to me that goes back to 2012, so away I go.
Candy Corn - This was one of the first that I brought in to work to see how the experiment would go. Sure enough, they tasted really bland, just like candy corn. If memory serves me right, they lasted a couple of days on the shelf next to me, so that is telling that they weren't very good at all. 4/10
Gingerbread - A step up! Gingerbread was also on the vanilla Oreo cookie, and it had a cinnamon blast to it that was much appreciated by all who had it. 7/10
Rainbow ShureBert - Not sure what was going on with the name, but this Oreo was also on the vanilla cookie and had a bit of the candy corn flavoring to it, meaning that it tasted a little waxy. There was a definite improvement form the formula that was used for candy corn, and having some of the lime taste in there was a great balance. 6/10
Halloween - Not really a flavor variety, but I did bring it in to work. A regular Oreo with your creme dyed orange with a decorative Halloween themed shape on one side of the cookie. These were popular, but I think more so because they were just a regular Oreo and that was a good palate cleanser from all the variety ones. 9/10 - only because it is standard with no special gimmicks, and this is about gimmicks!
Birthday Cake - Now this one was a definite winner. Oreo made them on both the chocolate and vanilla cookie, and there were at times tense debates in the office about which was better. For my money, I liked the vanilla cookie better, only because the mix with the chocolate cookie seemed to cut at some of the taste of the filling. You'll find that for the most part, unless you need a chocolate balance, some of the better varieties were on the vanilla cookie so you could taste the special cream flavoring. Chocolate - 7/10 Vanilla - 9/10
Watermelon - You would think this would be similar to the sherbert one, but having just watermelon made it taste like you were dunking a vanilla cookie Oreo in to a glass of Hi-C. Really sweet, and really missed the target for what it could have been. 3/10
Strawberries n Creme - This was a variety for the chocolate cookie. It had a good blend of the strawberry and creme flavor to it. I'd be half tempted to see if they could make a strawberry cookie to go with this one, but then you would miss out on the chocolate taste that reminds you of a half and half shake from Steak n Shake. 7/10
Caramel Apple - Now this one was on the weird side. This was made on a vanilla cookie, and tried to mix a caramel and apple flavoring that just wasn't a good mix. It could have been because I wasn't a fan of caramel apples, but I do remember this one sitting around on the desk for a long time after it was opened. 3/10
Limeade - Now this was a good Oreo. Solid choice. For a long time I had a desire to take this one, mix it with the lemon Oreo, and have one mega Sprite flavored Oreo. My boss was living in Boston when this was out, and so she specifically brought over a box on a trip to the office and left it at my desk. Taking that first bite of the Sprite flavor...magical. It was everything I was hoping for, a lemon/lime mix that held up so well. But if I am looking at grading just on the lime itself, it would still be solid. 8/10
Root Beer Float - I don't recall this one. I think I picked it up, but I might have missed it. If that is the case, then the flavoring obviously didn't hit and it was easily forgettable. ?/10
Fruit Punch - Apparently Oreo did not learn anything from the watermelon, as this seemed to try and repeat the old recipe of that one. Not a fan, and glad it went away. 2/10
Pumpkin Spice - Calling all you basic bitches! Just joking (maybe). This was a standard flavoring not really doing anything too daring. It was on the vanilla cookie, and was just forgettable to me, but appreciated by all the pumpkin spice loving people around the office. 6/10
Reese's Peanut Butter Cup - Now this was a good combination with the chocolate cookie. I've seen this back at the store often enough that I think it might be a regular flavor that they put out like the lemon. Imagine taking a bite of a Reese's with an extra layer of chocolate covering it. The flavoring was that spot on. 9/10
Marshmallow Crispy - Rice Krispies in the cream of an Oreo on their vanilla cookie. This was magical. It was so good, I seriously wanted them to put out a frosting for cakes with this. In fact, if I ever see that they put out an Oreo frosting, I'm buying a box of Rice Krispies with it to make this frosting. I've been a fan of Crispy M&Ms for years, even going to the extent of a having a friend buy a package from oversees to bring it here to the states when they weren't available. I imagine Oreo wanted to call it Rice Kripie Oreos, buy a licensing deal must have fallen out. Too bad, because I would definitely have diabetes if this was a flavor available all year round. 10/10
Cookie Dough - Blegh. This came out on the chocolate cookie the same time as the Marshmallow one. Was there a competition between these two or something? I don't know, but the winner in our office was clear, as this one was just left on the desk for days in the office. Being a fan of cookie dough, I wondered how Oreo was going to translate that taste. They didn't, as it tasted more like bad coffee than anything resembling cookie dough. Would it be better on the vanilla cookie? Probably not. 1/10
Red Velvet - a chocolate flavoring on a chocolate Oreo. Nothing really special here, except the price of the packaging effectively went up as this came in a package that was about 2/3rds of the size of a regular package of Oreos, but cost just as much. Very blah all around on this one, but there were some in the office who appreciated it. Since I was buying, I stopped after the two packages were gone in a week. 5/10
S'mores - There was a bad marketing decision, as this should have easily been called S'mOreos. The cookie changed on this one to a graham cracker cookie instead of your usual vanilla or chocolate. The move was a smart one, as going in any other direction might have made this cookie go south. This was a solid one, and one that I backed up and shelled the extra cash to have a few extras in at the office. 8/10
Toasted Coconut - This one I don't remember much. I remember having a coconut flavor, but there wasn't much said about it around the office outside of "I don't like coconut." Maybe you have to be a fan, but this one was just thrown out there and kinda worked. 6/10
Key Lime Pie - Back to the graham cracker cookie, and it was a good choice. I don't think I have ever had key lime pie, but this was essentially the limeade Oreo on the graham cracker cookie. It was a good choice, solid cookie, and was popular with co-workers who had key lime pie before. Solid. 8/10
And this is where the journey ends. This was the point when I moved to Austin. If I wanted Oreos, I would have to buy the whole package for myself. I did with the cinnamon buns Oreos, as well as the fudge filled Oreos, and the cake batter Oreos. None matched the way that the Marshmallow ones did, and they didn't do as bad as the Fruit Punch ones. Effective flavors.
I'm thinking of maybe getting back in to the routine of bringing in the variety in to work for everyone to try at my new job, but this can get a little pricey if I try to consistently leave a package going in there. I think I'll stay away from it for now, but I'm hoping that changes someday soon.
Thursday, June 2, 2016
The Board Games I Will Kick Your Ass At
There are two board games that you will lose to me if we play. Hands down, no exceptions. They are two of the most hated board games that people play.
Risk and Monopoly.
Let's start with Monopoly. My family played that almost religiously. Thanks to my mom's side of the family, this got passed down to me and my siblings. It is to the point that we were cut throat in getting certain properties, made impossible trade deals to get them, and almost always had our own strategy that would work to win.
With this, I was able to tell you immediately where you piece was after a roll of the dice no matter where you were on the board. This muscle has grown a little weak in recent years, but give me a game or two to get it back. There was even a point that we all knew the mortgage rate for properties, the rent rates, and the cost of houses/hotels.
We were serious when it came to playing games as children. You know how some families take many hours/days to play a single game? We had that shit on clock work. Away we went and had games done in under an hour at times. Competitive, we most definitely were.
Moving over to Risk, that was the second game we really got in to as we got older. Monopoly was the kid's game, Risk was the next step. Again, we conquered the board and lands of Risk in under an hour as well. We were all fast paced enough to want to get the shit done.
We knew the lands that touched each other, we knew exactly the strategies that would win you certain continents, and we always broke up each other's continents if they held it too long.
Fast forward to next weekend, were my family is gathering for the next year of our family Risk tournament. We typically have about 10-18 people show up, roll some dice, and try to conquer all 42 countries. First round divides us all up so that there are about 5-6 players for the final table, or the second round. Most families would take a few days just for the first round, but we have it done in under a couple of hours, if that. I have been proud to host once and have won twice, even breaking the streak that we had going where the host typically won the tournament.
How crazy do we get in to this tournament? There are small trophies of some kind for the first person out at each table. We have a Whale prize for the person who defends the most times in a single battle with only one soldier still left standing in their country. We have a pitchfork that gets passed around for the player who rolls 6-6-6 roll on attacks that they get to keep at the end of it. There is even the championship belt that I made from one of those WWE championship belts. I did a couple of conversions to make it say Risk Tournament Champion, and it gets passed from the previous year's winner to the new winner each year. My uncle even designs a t-shirt for us each year that he brings, as well as a special champion's tshirt.
So we get a little crazy. If you knew the family, you would understand.
There are also various card games we grew up playing, and many other board games, but those were the big two. Coming from big families, you find ways to pass the time with what you have, and as long as you have a deck of cards or a closet of board games, you were bound to kick some one's ass.
Risk and Monopoly.
Let's start with Monopoly. My family played that almost religiously. Thanks to my mom's side of the family, this got passed down to me and my siblings. It is to the point that we were cut throat in getting certain properties, made impossible trade deals to get them, and almost always had our own strategy that would work to win.
With this, I was able to tell you immediately where you piece was after a roll of the dice no matter where you were on the board. This muscle has grown a little weak in recent years, but give me a game or two to get it back. There was even a point that we all knew the mortgage rate for properties, the rent rates, and the cost of houses/hotels.
We were serious when it came to playing games as children. You know how some families take many hours/days to play a single game? We had that shit on clock work. Away we went and had games done in under an hour at times. Competitive, we most definitely were.
Moving over to Risk, that was the second game we really got in to as we got older. Monopoly was the kid's game, Risk was the next step. Again, we conquered the board and lands of Risk in under an hour as well. We were all fast paced enough to want to get the shit done.
We knew the lands that touched each other, we knew exactly the strategies that would win you certain continents, and we always broke up each other's continents if they held it too long.
Fast forward to next weekend, were my family is gathering for the next year of our family Risk tournament. We typically have about 10-18 people show up, roll some dice, and try to conquer all 42 countries. First round divides us all up so that there are about 5-6 players for the final table, or the second round. Most families would take a few days just for the first round, but we have it done in under a couple of hours, if that. I have been proud to host once and have won twice, even breaking the streak that we had going where the host typically won the tournament.
How crazy do we get in to this tournament? There are small trophies of some kind for the first person out at each table. We have a Whale prize for the person who defends the most times in a single battle with only one soldier still left standing in their country. We have a pitchfork that gets passed around for the player who rolls 6-6-6 roll on attacks that they get to keep at the end of it. There is even the championship belt that I made from one of those WWE championship belts. I did a couple of conversions to make it say Risk Tournament Champion, and it gets passed from the previous year's winner to the new winner each year. My uncle even designs a t-shirt for us each year that he brings, as well as a special champion's tshirt.
So we get a little crazy. If you knew the family, you would understand.
There are also various card games we grew up playing, and many other board games, but those were the big two. Coming from big families, you find ways to pass the time with what you have, and as long as you have a deck of cards or a closet of board games, you were bound to kick some one's ass.
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Been Gone Longer Than I Wanted
I've been neglecting this for far longer than I wanted.
Mixture of keeping busy and having events come up made the days of being on here very slim. I also slipped in to somewhat of a depressed state, so I'm taking that as a sign that I need to keep up with this for mental sanity.
I've come in to a bit of a financial type of situation. I always knew with my current expenditures and cut in salary that I would begin to need to make up for the difference somehow, and that time appears to be now. Back in to the ebay business I go, this time to finally clear out the remaining comics that I have, and possibly to start on the video games.
Part of me is thinking that the big bonus we are expecting this year at work around the holidays will prove to help fund the remaining debt on my last student loan, and then I can work on the monthly business of the credit cards. I just had the taste of being out of debt, but here I went spending money to help me feel like I could find myself in Austin by spending money. Not the smartest part of me, but soon I hope to have a couple of expenses cut down so that I can tackle that debt demon and put it out of its misery.
I'm posed with the possibility of also getting a second job, which may end up proving fruitful as a door guy at a bar. It wouldn't pay much, I'm sure, but it would be something to help me out. Again, at the point that needing that something to do for the money would help with balancing out the main bills until I can pay everything off. Sigh. It really is this financial stuff that can bring me down. I loved the days of knowing that I could go a little crazy from time to time and still bounce back from it. Now I don't have that safety net, and it is causing me stress. Points to anyone who finds that the leading cause of stress in life can be financial difficulties.
I've also found that I find myself hanging around a lot of couples. Good for them, but it is starting to get to me at times. I am happy, I see them happy, and I want to share this happiness with someone else. But then I look at my finances and am thankful that I don't have that going on, as that would be added expenses and stress that I don't need. I've been down that path in life and it took me years to get out of it, I don't need it again.
I also didn't get much reading done either this past week, much to the dismay of the stack of books next to my bed. I've been tackling more online videos on YouTube and Hulu. I'm about to cancel the Hulu account simply because I can't afford it anymore, and I have enough stuff to watch between YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. One blog post sometime will be about that and how I've approached and liked the different services, but not for now.
And with this, I transition to the ebay tab on my computer screen. Time to put up some auctions and get the ball rolling on liquidating the last four long boxes I have.
Mixture of keeping busy and having events come up made the days of being on here very slim. I also slipped in to somewhat of a depressed state, so I'm taking that as a sign that I need to keep up with this for mental sanity.
I've come in to a bit of a financial type of situation. I always knew with my current expenditures and cut in salary that I would begin to need to make up for the difference somehow, and that time appears to be now. Back in to the ebay business I go, this time to finally clear out the remaining comics that I have, and possibly to start on the video games.
Part of me is thinking that the big bonus we are expecting this year at work around the holidays will prove to help fund the remaining debt on my last student loan, and then I can work on the monthly business of the credit cards. I just had the taste of being out of debt, but here I went spending money to help me feel like I could find myself in Austin by spending money. Not the smartest part of me, but soon I hope to have a couple of expenses cut down so that I can tackle that debt demon and put it out of its misery.
I'm posed with the possibility of also getting a second job, which may end up proving fruitful as a door guy at a bar. It wouldn't pay much, I'm sure, but it would be something to help me out. Again, at the point that needing that something to do for the money would help with balancing out the main bills until I can pay everything off. Sigh. It really is this financial stuff that can bring me down. I loved the days of knowing that I could go a little crazy from time to time and still bounce back from it. Now I don't have that safety net, and it is causing me stress. Points to anyone who finds that the leading cause of stress in life can be financial difficulties.
I've also found that I find myself hanging around a lot of couples. Good for them, but it is starting to get to me at times. I am happy, I see them happy, and I want to share this happiness with someone else. But then I look at my finances and am thankful that I don't have that going on, as that would be added expenses and stress that I don't need. I've been down that path in life and it took me years to get out of it, I don't need it again.
I also didn't get much reading done either this past week, much to the dismay of the stack of books next to my bed. I've been tackling more online videos on YouTube and Hulu. I'm about to cancel the Hulu account simply because I can't afford it anymore, and I have enough stuff to watch between YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. One blog post sometime will be about that and how I've approached and liked the different services, but not for now.
And with this, I transition to the ebay tab on my computer screen. Time to put up some auctions and get the ball rolling on liquidating the last four long boxes I have.
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