Halloween Funk (Not the George Clinton kind)

I should really be more depressed about this than I am. I haven't done anything on my list of things to do for October.

The costume I am wearing to my friend's party is recycled for a (number higher than 3) time. I don't know how many times I have actually worn it. I like wearing it though, and have definitely got my cost out of it. I don't want to say blatantly what it is, but if you have seen various pictures of me wearing he same thing on different Halloweens, it's that one.

I haven't even seen a hayride. I know they exist. There was a rumor, or a plan, to attend one. That sort of fell through. I'm not exactly sure how it dropped out from under me. I'm going to blame my lameness of covering for people at work as the excuse. Six day work weeks aren't fun. It kind of puts a damper on my whole desire to be festive. I did find out that one of my customers works for a near-by hayride. They actually stuck him in the corn-maze. He would fit in any attraction. He's bigger and taller than me. He pulls off the whole intimidating thing extremely well. I like to poke fun at his Scooby-Doo reading. I doubt it's for his wife.

I haven't even been remotely close to attending the PA Renn Faire. I've seen my friend, Paul, a couple times and he tells me about the shows. Once and a while, he busts out a photo of the event. I feel bad That I haven't been up there this year.

The zoo isn't even an option now. Animals are frightened of me. Maybe I'm projecting some negativity that they don't like or something. Still, no Lego exhibit and no new giraffe. No punching balloon and swaggering with peacocks. I'll have to be content to look longingly from my computer chair till next season.

I still don't even know how to get into Linvilla Orchards. No fresh pumpkins for me. I'll have to settle for buying them from a parking lot. I have made a couple out of clay for my store though. They are for a Halloween gaming event. I still have to paint a few of them.

Well, that's about it. I have a recycled costume for Saturday's party. I'm going to some shindig in Philly the following weekend. Well, at least, I am planning on going. I have no idea if I'm going to dress up for that or not.

Oh, and I didn't even make a mix for this year's Halloween. I'm am in quite the funk.

Things to do in October

I am not going to do all of these things. I should, but I won't. The pessimist in me is peeking out.

1. Figure out a Halloween Costume.

This should be an easy one, but is strangely difficult for me this time. The past couple of years I had some inkling of what to do for dress-up, but this time I got nothing. I typically make my costume, or even piece together something. This is making things difficult, because time is running out. It also doesn't help matters that there is one Halloween party I'm attending at the moment, and I have plenty of back up costumes.

2. Get Thee to a Hayride

Seems almost obvious being this time of year. I don't think I went to one last year though. I guess I just can't muster the group together. Well, any group together. I know they are expensive and whatever, but I don't care. This is my: Tis the season.

3. Go to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire

There are mainly 2 reasons for this. One is that I haven't been to the faire in a while. It's usually a good day all around. Plenty of people acting in character. Me feeling awkward because I don't look the part. I don't have any medieval clothing. Looking at buxom wenches. Being able to say buxom wenches and getting the actual wenches to giggle. The funny thing is that I'm not big on the whole weaponry thing.

The second reason is that a friend of mine is actually working there this season as a jouster. I mainly want to see him do what he loves. He travels the country hitting shields with lances, and he hasn't worked the PA Faire since I have known him. It doesn't hurt matters that he said I could have a complementary ticket. Frankly, I don't need the ticket, I'd gladly pay to see a good show.

4. Go to the zoo.

I haven't been to the zoo in ages. Not only is there a new baby giraffe, but there is also a Lego exhibit of animals on display. Plenty of people have said they would like to go. The problem with this one is timing. When to go? It is apparently open 7 days a week between 9 and 5. My schedule sucks when it comes to events during the week. Weekends are usually doable, but that normally conflicts with anyone else that wants to go. Such is life.

5. Pumpkin picking

This was a suggestion from my friend, Nichole. It usually doesn't occur to me, but I live exceptionally close to Linvilla Orchards. It's fairly well known in the Philadelphia area. I just about drive past it when I go to work. I have never been there. I have had friends that have worked there, but I never even saw inside the place. Still, Nichole and her boyfriend plan to going to pick pumpkins eventually. It sounds like a good time, and I could use some pumpkins that aren't local. Seriously, I had pumpkins growing in my yard last year. The leaves on those things are huge.

6. Halloween Parties that need attending

So far, I have 1 party on my docket. It's the week before Halloween. They would have planned it for the weekend of Halloween, but bigger plans for parties involved (read: not me) are occurring. Other parties could be moot if I can't figure out a costume though.

So, there you have it. A list of things I probably won't do. Lists are nice. Now, it's back to listening to Halloween mixes I've made over the last few years to figure out which songs I can't use for a new mix.

Messages Unlimited

I have a headache. I should just probably go to bed.

Well, not much has happened since I last wrote here. It has only been a day. I went and changed my phone text messaging plan. I was 94 messages over my alloted limit, which means a 10 cent payment for each. And that's only so far this month. So, I went and upped it to the unlimited one. Now, I won't feel stingy when texting people, and I can cause less guilt to people who text message me a lot.

I still don't have one functioning button on my phone. It's the "star" key, which eliminates my shifting to capital letters. It also doesn't allow me to lock my keypad. There is a reason I don't carry my phone in my jeans pocket anymore. I got tired of calling random people and sending the occasional request for overly expensive, crappy internet. Yes, despite my phone being from the bronze age, it still gets a rudimentary internet. It shows a satellite as it's image for it and everything.

Now, I just have to breakdown and figure out what new phone I should actually get. If I get one of those "smart" Phones, yet even more billing is in my future. Data plans allowing me access to the real interwebs could be too much of a distraction. We shall see.

I should sleep now. My bed is texting me.

Celebratory 150th post!!1!!

Christ, I haven't written anything in a very long time. And I honestly mean that. I'm calling on you, Lord. Grant me the inspiration to try to make something that is passably readable.

My choices for this late hour were slim at best. I could continue strolling through the internet, where I would waste time looking at things I shouldn't care about. (Jesus, I don't even remember the last time I looked at porn.) I could listen to some podcast that is waiting on iTunes. Granted, most of my podcasts consist of video game crap. Seriously, I don't even play video games that much any more. It's just one of those things I just need to keep up on. I could play World of Warcraft. Yes, I play WoW. I started at the beginning of the summer at the encouragement of a friend from work. I wouldn't say that it succumb my life because: 1) It's not like I had a real life to begin with, and 2) I'm not doing right now, am I? I could have started reading a book. God knows I have a lot of them. I wouldn't even know which one to begin with. There are literary pieces, sci-fi novels, biographies (ok, wrestling biographies), countless comic books and graphic novels, and magazines (both video game ones and ones about writing... go figure).

Instead, I popped on iTunes and am listening to daft punk's Discovery. It has enough energy and mellow parts to continue shifting my perspective. Of course, what that perspective is, is entirely up for debate.

If you have ever read anything I have written, especially here, I am not entirely forthcoming with things I should be writing about. I will never be a good writer because I don't discuss or lay on the table what is actually going on with me. I know my readership isn't huge, but this is the internet. Only God knows what will be seen by the wrong (right?) person. I could sit here in a semi-uncomfortable chair, drolling about my feelings. But, I don't do that. I don't have feelings, do I?

No, I do have feelings. They sting and squeeze like a bitch, though. Now, what could these feelings be about? You have 3 guesses and the first two don't count.

Did you know this is apparently my 150th post on this blog? I was surprised too. See, that whole thing in the beginning of the year really boosted my numbers. It didn't last long though, did it? I had a shallow attempt to write 500 words a day. I should get back to it. It would just be fairly tough trying to write that much while avoiding the object of my feelings.

I'm already running stagnant. I just stared at my keyboard and clicked on iTunes 3 or 4 times without writing anything. I'm not quite sure what to continue with. I guess that should be an indicator to stop what I'm doing. If I plan on writing more, I guess I just have to ease myself back into things. No need for a novella every time out, right? I need to start putting this English degree to work (even though a degree in English has nothing to do with actual writing).

In the cool of the evening

Hanker for a hunk of cheese.

I have no idea why I wrote that. It probably encompasses something Freudian. I have had an itch to write something lately. The problem usually arises as to when to write. I tend to involve myself in many other projects that take away from the whole focus on writing thing. It's probably this overload of information and activity that sparks the urge to chronicle.

At the moment, I am mainly just sifting through information. I need to settle on something to at least expand on. I little while ago a friend gave me some notes he made on a comic project. He wants to do the art, he needed someone else to write it. Granted he probably could have done it all himself, but a collaborative effort is sometime beneficial. I know there were a couple others that attempted to help, but things change. I guess it is now my turn to make heads or tales of it. Yes, I wrote that on purpose.

I went to one of those small comic conventions on Sunday. I wanted to make a day of it. It wasn't that far from my house, and I set my alarm to wake me at 10. Unfortunately, I set it to PM instead of AM. I finally awoke at 1:30, and the convention ended at 4. I made it down there close to 3, and thought I would be staying for the remainder. I didn't. I was actually home by about 4.

Still, while I was there, I talked with the one comic publish that showed his face there. Ever one else was a vendor selling their wares of beat-up comics and bootleg DVDs. I actually wound up buying about 8 books from the guy. He was from Ultimate Comics Group. Apparently, they are based in Atlantic City. The guy I talked with was, John, the COO and Editor-in-Chief. He also happened to write all the comics.

I usually like to give some credit to independent publishers. They are at least trying. So far, I have read about 4 of the comics I bought. They aren't really that good, but they aren't exactly terrible. The last independent book I read was Dinoman. It was self-published by a couple guys who thought they created the best thing on Earth. They were wrong. The premise was fine, but the execution was wrong. The art was pretty bad, something I could have done in 8th grade and the line tool in MS Paint. That could have been forgiven if the story was actually interesting. Instead it was all gay jokes that were just derogatory and didn't really seem appropriate in a book called Dinoman. Needless to say, my store didn't carry it. I even had some people read it just to show them how a comic shouldn't be.

Now the couple I read of the Ultimate Comics Group stuff could use a little work, but so can much of the professional stuff out there. It was standard superhero fare. It didn't hide what it was. Most of it was typical good guy vs. bad guy. People have super powers, some are good and others use power for their own gain. There were some glaring mistakes with the layout and structure of the comics, but nothing that couldn't really be fixed. Useless panels, poorly placed word balloons, and bad pacing were just some of the faults.

See, what I admired about the Ultimate Comics Group, is not only did they have a full color comic that was self-published, they had several. I'm talking over 20 books. They make it seem that they have been around a while, but the publishing dates on the few I have are from late 2009. It's hard enough to get one book out a month, but they want to seemingly do at least 3. They even have a distribution deal with the secondary distributor of comics in the country, Haven. John even told me why they didn't go with Diamond, the main distributor of comics (almost a monopoly). Diamond requires a minimum that's too high. Basically, you pretty much have to guarantee a certain amount in sales for it to be in their catalog. Haven is a little more forgiving. I even checked Haven's site, and the books were there to be ordered.

Now, will I order them? Probably not. I do want to keep reading them. I will try to grab the ones I missed whenever I see their booth again. The 4 that are order-able are the ones I already bought. I think I want to support them because they are trying and I feel there may be some potential there.

News bit.

It's really too late for me to write anything of length. I'll just say that Easter was good an bad. Good in that it was a nice day and seeing family was good. People generally got along, and even my mother and father were in the same room for extended lengths of time. The bad news is that this comes in the wake of my Aunt Trudy succumbing to cancer at 2am on Sunday.

I will write more on this in a bit. To be honest the reality of it hasn't really hit me yet. She was only 54, and usually in good spirits. Her funeral is Friday, so I have off from work. I will write soon, I hope.

Seems like 500 Days till Summer

I have a headache. It is rather annoying.

I just finished watching (500) Days of Summer. I am a huge sucker for these types of movies. It's not really a romance movie, but it's not really a comedy either. It is definitely fun, and sad, and hopeful. Zooey Deschanel plays the perfect girl next door roll. Maybe not in the movie, but I would have died trying to get her to notice me if she was next door to me growing up. Nowadays, I would probably awkwardly smile when I would see her on the street, picking up her mail. Still, even disjointed as the movie was portrayed, it told a good story without the need of an over the top cast. I liked the little sister character of the protagonist, but she filled the typical "too smart for her own age" template.

Other than Zooey Deschanel, the movie entered my radar because the director, Marc Webb, has been tagged to possibly direct the next Spider-Man movie. I needed to see something of his work if I could make an accurate judgement as to if I feel he could do it. Granted, I am not an expert in the movie field at all. My only experience were bit parts in student films and writing scripts for classes. Still, the powers that be feel they need to relaunch Spider-Man with a fresh beginning. Apparently from what I know, Sam Raimi, the director of Spider-Man 1, 2, and 3, had a conflict with the people with the money. It could have been timing, direction of story or maybe he just couldn't find the right role for Bruce Campbell. Sony, the company that can make a Spider-Man movie, feels they want to cash in on a still acknowledgeable product.

Relaunches are weird. For the most part, they can work with comic book adaptations. Most of the time, the comic a movie is based on has been around for at least 40 years. This is different than remakes of movies, like Halloween or the upcoming Nightmare on Elm Street. Too many things are being remade in my opinion. Some of them are fine (Dawn of the Dead), while others seem unnecessary (Psycho). The more annoying ones are the too soon remakes of stuff that is younger than me (I'm looking at you Karate Kid). Still, comics skirt the issue because it's just another story with those characters. There doesn't need to be a progressive story between some movies, like Hulk and Incredible Hulk. Of course, the latter was far better as a comic movie fun. It can work extremely well with a connecting story structure, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Of course with Dark Knight, I have no idea how they will top that for a sequel.

From watching (500) Days of Summer, I think Marc Webb can definitely pull of the atmosphere of Peter Parker (Spider-Man in secret identity mode). There was one sequence in Summer that I thought the main character was Peter Parker. Hell, he even looked exactly like him, sweater vest and all. My only concern is the action scenes. Doing those is a bit different than trying to make your actors come across as real people while dealing with what Love means. The depth of Spider-Man and his inner conflicts can definitely be portrayed by Webb. I just don't know if he can make the punches count.

All I know is that I will boycott a remake of Back to the Future.

With Music And Knowledge

I am starting to believe that I won't do some things in my life. One of those things is actually play World of Warcraft. To the people that know what that is, they are probably breathing a sigh of relief. There is a high addiction curve to the game. It creates a new social environment that combines all the positive and negative aspects of online anonymity. Maybe there may be more negative aspects than positive. Still, I seem to be keeping the damn thing on the periphery.

The way I have been accomplishing not having my life sucked into the internet world is through exposure to other hobbies. I have been buying and downloading a lot of music both lately and in general. As with many of my entertainment purchases, I tend to get the impulse buy out of my system when I get home from the store. I still have loads of DVDs that are still shrink wrapped, usually horror movies that are accrued near Halloween. I even have seasons... seasons of shows that I still figure I will get around to watching. All of this also goes for video games and music.

In the past week, I have loaded onto my computer well over 200 songs of various artists and genres. Granted, some of this is done for work reasons. I just like listening to background scores while working. It gives me mood that sometimes music with words just can't accomplish. Also, words are sometimes inappropriate for the family store environment of work. The problem I have whenever I get into music mode is that I get horde mentality. I want as much of it as possible. I need the variety. The problem is I never really give all the new music it's fair share. So, I have spent the last two nights reading stuff on the internet while listening to new music.

It's definitely opening up some stuff to me. While watching wrestling, I realized that the WWE apparently has the rights to use the Civil Twilight catalog. At first, the radio played song, Letters From The Sky, was used for one of the video packages back in October. I rewatched it on YouTube after it was considered well done according to one of the articles I read. I took note of the band and album and proceeded to acquire it. I gave the whole thing a listen, and noticed one of the other songs was used tonight for another video package. This time Human was used to highlight the coming match between Bret Hart and Vince McMahon at Wrestlemania.

I mentioned in the last blog post, I grabbed the new Gorillaz: Plastic Beach. At the same time I also snagged Slayer: World Painted Blood. I was so tired from work, that I fell asleep listening to Slayer. It seems almost wrong. Currently playing in my car is High on Fire: Snakes for the Divine. All of this and I still have to listen to the RZA albums I downloaded, The Servant, Dan Black, and a few other things here and there that need preview before I can turn them on in the store.

So, what comes of me listening to music is that I still need something to do with my eyes. Since I am in front of the computer most of the time while listening, I tend to just surf the web. Problem is I need direction whenever I web-surf. I can't just click aimlessly. I know plenty of people that find all sorts of crap on YouTube or whatever, but I need words. Usually, I can just run through my normal sites for comics and wrestling, but lately they have been slow news days. I have needed to fill that visual void with other stimuli. Tonight, that was how to get started in World of Warcraft. I have done more reading on this topic than I probably should have. I still haven't decided to play the game or not. I have a better idea on the terminology now though.

Who knows? Maybe all this could be considered research for a story or something.

Pens aren't chewy.

I am sitting in front of the computer trying to think of something to do. This is bad when it is 2:30 in the morning and I have work in less than 8 hours. This things happen though.

I have no real purpose to write right this moment. I have had no moment of clarity. I mainly think it is just to give me more awake-time before I drift off to dream world. Unfortunately, I know that will shortly become work prep.

I'm chewing on a Bic pen. It's almost like a nervous thing. Oral fixation except, I have never smoked. Well, I have never smoked with any regularity. I have had a cigarette or two in my tenure of life. That ended 10 years ago when a Newport caused me to vomit on my birthday. Menthol is not my friend.

I'm listening to the new Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach. So far, it has a 80s feel in my opinion. Most of the beats so far seem almost sampled from new-wave tracks. I am trying to dig out the cuss words. If it's a clean record, it can be played in my store without many problems. Of course, I'm not sure how well some of the clientele will take to songs with Mos Def, Snoop Dogg, and De La Soul. Part of me wants to see if I can pull out what will be the single. If there is a single at the moment, I'm not aware. I have a decent ear for music. I can usually tell what could be catchy enough to grab a hold of an audience. With this first listen, nothing is standing out yet.

I finally watched The Hurt Locker. I thought it was good. I like the actor in it... I forget his name. There are a lot of actor in Hollywood that I should know according to TMZ. I know I liked his work on the failed show, The Unusuals. The explosives that he has to deal with in the movie are ridiculous. It's completely realistic, mind you, the bombs are just complicated and enormous. My favorite line I can remember is, "There's enough bang in there to blow us all to Jesus. If I'm gonna die, I want to die comfortable."

Oh, I have even been carrying a note pad with me to seem all professional like. It's not working. I have it with me all the time, I just never take it out to write anything down. I would make a terrible secretary. I only have stuff written on two pages. It's mostly article ideas... I should just call them blog ideas. It's stuff to write about. I just haven't really gone to the well of it yet. I probably will soon.

Well, that's it for now. I will go and sleep... or attempt sleep. Hopefully this time I won't get woken up at 6AM to let my dog in. That wasn't fun this morning.

Sick - I am against it.

I am not feeling well. I think it is a cold or something. I love that I get colds towards the end of winter.

It started off as a sore throat and migrated throughout my body. A Sucrets and plenty of fluids subdued the pain for a bit. A couple Tylenol helped along the way as well. Now, I am just tired, achy and not looking forward to working in the morning.

I really didn't do too much this weekend. The onset of the cold started, but I still found my way to the bar Friday night. Some fun was had, and people got plenty intoxicated. I did not and just drank my beer while talking with various people. Overall, I think everyone had a decent time.

I didn't do anything on Saturday. My sister and her family came over, so I basically stayed with them. I really wasn't feeling up to heading to the bar again. I did get a couple beers though at a St. Patty's Day function over at the school near me. It was a church fundraiser, and my mom was helping with the food preparation. It wasn't too bad. The chicken was all right, the ham was standard, I liked the cabbage though. Vinegar is my friend. Even as a kid, I would drink it sometimes, which probably isn't good. What can I say, I liked the smell when I was dying eggs at Easter. In any case, only my brother-in-law and myself went to the thing. My nephew threw a tantrum, asking why he had to go. Free food and making his grandmother happy weren't good enough, so he had his video games taken away from him.

After the family left, I stayed in the rest of the night playing video games. I usually don't play that often. So, I got some matches of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 under my belt, and realized that I am average at best. It also didn't help that I looked down and realized that it was 4:30 AM at one point. I had forgotten that tit was daylight savings. Spring forward and all.

Sunday was a rather lazy day. The productive portion had me travel to the Gamestop to pick up my nephew's birthday gifts, Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver. What sucked it that I preordered them there with the intent to get the little doodad that was supposed to come with the preorder. They only had one of the figurines. Apparently, they don't give a shit if you preorder. The employees just take the shit they want anyway. On the receipt and all there wasn't even a customer service number to call. I couldn't even find one on their website. This just teaches me that preordering anything is a futile task. People are assholes regardless. I even tried asking a friend who works at another Gamestop to find one, he tried 3 different stores and came up short. I don't understand how you can run out of something the day of release when you are supposed to have enough to cover the people that preordered it. So, don't preorder any games people. It isn't worth it.

The night consisted of Internet shenanigans and watching The Guild on the Xbox. This was followed by about 15 minutes of playing Explosion Man.

WOW: The things I think about

I don't know if I have really been busy. I do stuff, sure, but I spend most of my time thinking about the stuff I should do.

I have a few friends trying to convince me to play World of Warcraft, or WOW for short. Some of my time has been spent in the pursuit of more knowledge of the game. I have had lengthy discussion with both seasoned players and novice ones alike. Thankfully, they few that are encouraging me to play tend to be of the more novice sort.

So, what is WOW? Many people know what WOW is, but there may still be some that are scratching their heads. WOW is a massive multi-player online role-playing game. or MMORPG (usually it's just MMO). What this means is that people play with and against one another over the Internet. Players assume roles of different characters with different abilities and appearances and typically work together to complete some goal. In WOW there are two warring factions fighting for control. The funny thing is that there is an over-arching story for the WOW universe, but it definitely falls behind the insensate need to have the coolest stuff.

The rumor mill behind WOW is that it was originally a product for the Games Workshop line. I sell the Games Workshop models at my store under the table top miniature games Warhammer and Warhammer 40K. WOW was originally just Warcraft, and was a real-time strategy game. Basically, with an RTS, you would build units to win a certain scenario, like the land is infested with undead, wipe them out. How it is based on the GW product is a little fuzzy, but noticeable. Warhammer has race that consist of Humans, Orcs, various types of Elves, Dwarves, and goblins. WOW has all those races as well. Overall, it doesn't really matter as a comparison. I would rather have stock on WOW than Games Workshop any way. It's more guaranteed income.

You see, there are a lot of people playing WOW. The advertisements boast over 11 million subscribers. That's over 11 million people paying WOW about $15 a month. This adds up to a whole bunch. And that's the thing. With that many people, it is generally becoming part of the norm.

I originally approached WOW in the camp of fear. Among the news reports were various cases of addiction. There are stories of people losing their jobs over wanting to play the game for longer and avoiding work. Some relationships have been destroyed by it because of addiction. On the flip side, some relationships have started as well. There are also reports of people that have met through the game that wound up marring one another in real life. A friend of mine traveled to Colorado to meet a girl and brought her back here, because they met through WOW. Granted, they aren't together anymore, but the power of WOW is crazy.

Currently, I have sitting in my email account, a trial version of the game. My friend from work sent it to me, so that if I use it it would link our accounts. Basically, it's like a mentoring program. If I am in game, and so is he, he can send his character directly to me, so we can play together. Usually, to meet up with other characters, you would have to have your character travel through the game-world over possibly hundreds of miles... walking. As an added bonus, when the linked accounts are working together, there is an extra experience boost. More experience means a quicker growth towards a better character. It also helps that if I were to stick playing the game for a couple months, my friend would some special in-game stuff. It's a referral program.

As of right now, my mind isn't fully made up. I have a few other things I want to do, and fear that I may be addicted to WOW and not accomplish them. I still have a couple games I want to play and finish, then there is the whole blogging thing I keep avoiding. There is also the ultimate dream of actually writing something creatively, like an honest to goodness story. So, for now, I will keep doing research and let my friends talk my ear off about their in-game adventuring.

Ending One Minute At A Time

I feel an overwhelming urge to banter. The problem with that is that I am alone. You sort of need someone to banter with. It's the whole feed off of what someone else is saying. Sadly, there is no one to talk to at this time of morning.

I want to write. I know that is a general thing. I want to write in some capacity for a living. It would be great to get paid for inane monologue-ing.

This weekend has been weird, at best. Granted there hasn't been any sort of major drama or anything of the like to really complain about. Mainly, it was just a lazy weekend. I never did celebrate my actual birthday, and this weekend was the last chance really.

I sort of hate my birthday to a degree. It depresses me. There is always expectations with a birthday, and I never feel like I live up to them. There was one birthday when I had a party and did some ridiculous shit, but I don't remember doing half of it, so it doesn't count in my head. That birthday is also the reason I don't drink too much anymore. I had a habit of drinking vast quantities of hard liquor that have since subsided. I personally do not like blacking out. I don't care how fun I am with others while in that state. At least I am a happy drunk.

Still, I rarely make plans for my birthday. I sure as hell didn't do anything this year. I turned 30 and just left it at that. I am grateful to everyone that wished me a "Happy Birthday". I am even more thankful for those that went out of the way for cards and/or gifts. I don't really expect much. No one knows what to ever get me anyway. I usually shop for myself when it comes to fun things, like music or dvds. What I should have requested was mix cds. I did get one of those. I still have to listen to all of it. (Getting through 5 discs is tough sometimes without transferring all to my ipod.)

Friday night was rather tame. I spent the evening over a friends place watching the Olympics. We didn't do much. I didn't drink much either. A fair amount of people showed, and I left around 1:30 when everyone decided to head to bed. I just spent the rest of the night watching wrestling that I recorded earlier. Saturday was lazy as well. I woke up late and finally made it out around 7:30PM. I headed to the Gamestop to reserve a couple games for my nephew's birthday. I picked up something for myself as well, whenever I get a chance to play it. The worst part was parking, as there was no spots at the store. So, I walked for a couple hundred yards, or what felt like it anyway. After getting home, I spent the rest of my time watching episodes of The Guild on my Xbox 360. It's funny, and Flecia Day is heart-fully crush worthy. I wound up going out around 11PM.

The bar was fine tonight. There wasn't many people,b but a good time was had regardless. I spent the night talking with my friend, Joe. I also started to open my eyes to the bartender. She works there most Saturdays, but I'm not usually there then. Still, she was a cute. It didn't help matters that there really many other girls in the bar at all. That could have been a major point for my attention towards her. Still, the sole other girl at the bar bought me (and everyone else) a couple drinks, for which I am thankful.

Thank God. The hiccups went away. That part sucked. Apparently, I become the stereo-typical, cartoon version of an Irishmen while drinking. If only I had bubbles or something surrounding me, it would complete the appearance along with the hiccups and red nose.

Well, that's all I got for the moment. I guess the writing desire has passed. Maybe inspiration will hit me when I awake. I wouldn't hold my breath though.

Suck Hard (that doesn't sound right)

I should be sleeping. I have to work many hours on Wednesdays. Here I am, though, toiling away at nothing.

My birthday, as a day, sucked hard. I wanted to murder many people. It was filled with every troglodyte and ridiculous person I could imagine (with a possible exception of a few named evils). I worked alone the entire day. My boss was off down in Baltimore securing mounds of product support for an upcoming project. This is something i am not looking forward to. It's the defeatist in me. I'll go more in depth at a later time.

What didn't help matters is that my normal relief couldn't show. I understand why he wasn't there though, so I don't blame him. I just account for it under my horrible luck for the day. His main job has been calling him away for overtime to get their on project done ahead of schedule. When he called me around noon, he didn't sound good. It was reinforced when he told me he was at work till 8AM.

I was hungry, tired, achy, and nearly on my last nerve. I actually called our other store just so I could have a voice to complain to that could display a modicum of sympathy... even if it was faked. My back has been hurting or a few days due to some unknown reason. I think I am sleeping wrong, or now my bed is trying to torture me. I wouldn't put it past my bed. It did come from a witch, and may be a delayed spell. I have been taking some meds to make it through the day. I just hate doing it. It also aggravates me that my butter fingers are more prominent when it pains me, physically, to pick up something I dropped.

I have a lot on my mind right now, and I am trying to sort through it all. It's one of those things where nothing is really important, except to me. If only I could split myself like Multiple Man and get some shit done. Sadly, there is only one, now 30-year-old, me.

I wound up picking up the new DC animated movie, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. It's really good, and I will go more into it later. I want to check out all the other extras with it. I would recommend it to anyone on the fence.

I just hope tomorrow is better. It is looking like a big week for new comics, which means the shit will hit the fan and I may just be aggravated in the morning as well. The boss' daughter is working with me in the evening, and she said she was going to bring cupcakes to celebrate my birthday. That's at least one positive to look forward to.

I still have no plans concerning birthday celebrations. For the most part, I just want to have fun. Snow is looking to be a hindrance. I believe I have a new fluffy, white nemesis.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday. I am now 30.

I have no idea how to celebrate my birthday. I'm not really one for grandiose plans. Most of the time I try not to plan things because plans have a tendency to fail. So, at the moment, I have no real plan to celebrate another year of my birth.

I didn't do anything this past weekend for it. Nothing looks to be in the books for this weekend. All I know is that I will probably be working by myself all day. My boss is taking a trip to Baltimore to meet with some Games Workshop heads for lunch. Knowing my boss, it will be some long conversations. There may be a chance that I have some relief in the form of my co-worker, Gregg. I don't know if he's coming in or not. He has a real job that actually supports his family, so he may be off doing that.

So, I may be all by my lonesome. My bosses daughter trumped my own birthday with bigger news. I don't think I should go throwing it around the internets. Let's just say it's good news for her. She also told me to call her to come into work if I am, indeed, alone.

There is a lot of change lately. It seems odd. Work is going well. We seem to be doing a bit better after last week's annual sale. A guy came in asking about our store, because he was opening one across the way in the mall. It's a sports collectible store, so it would only compete with us in the bare minimum of ways. In fact, my boss will stop carrying sports cards in general, if the guy doesn't carry game cards. It's really not that big a deal for either store. Sports cards are only in our store for the kids that just want a pack of cards.

I also found out that one of my friends from EB was let go. It sucks that I won't be seeing him as frequently. I guess I will just have to try and keep up with him as he kicks my ass in Xbox.

I think more change is on the way. Things are just shifting.

I have no expectations for gifts for my birthday, just like Christmas. All I know is that I get to buy stuff for myself afterward. I am going to Suncoast to pick up some DVDs though. I get an extra discount on my birthday. A chance would have it, the new DC Animated title Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, comes out today. I love all the DC animated stuff, so I will probably buy the most expensive copy that will work on a regular DVD-player. I haven't gotten into the whole Blu-Ray thing. No High Def TV at home.

I will now throw together a mix to use a a draft. I want some new things to listen to at work.

Enjoy your Tuesday.

Challenge complete

I'm still awake, and I am sort of bored. This amounts to me writing more stuff. I have to get tired somehow.

My birthday is the 23rd. For me that's two days from now, but chronologically, it would be tomorrow. I will be 30, and I have no idea what that will mean. So, in honor of me feeling old, let me go self-flagellate.

So, many people know that I was seeing someone way back in November. Her name was Alicia, and we had a few dates. It was fun. It got to be around Thanksgiving and things were quickly falling apart, apparently. This will be a abbreviated version of the whole ordeal.

We would talk nearly every day. There were times our schedules would conflict. I would tend to be leaving work when she is normally going to sleep. So, it makes sense that we would sometimes not communicate. The last time I talked to her was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. It was a brief talk. With the hectic family craziness of he holiday, we didn't talk on Thursday either. I wound up heading into downtown Philly for the big meal. My brother was getting married at a hotel, so he offered dinner. In my mom's hotel room, my call reached voice-mail. My call hit voice-mail again on Friday while I was waiting for the wedding reception.

I wound up watching my brother's place the next week while he was on his honeymoon. He lives in Havertown, which is where Alicia originally hails. She knew I would be watching my brother's place, and we were attempting to make plans to eat at a place around there that she liked. I didn't hear from her all week. The last thing I got was a text message about how she was busy and would call me the next day. She never did.

I tried one more time to call on the following Saturday, got the voice-mail, and gave up entirely.

It was annoying trying to explain the situation to people. With ,many other relationships, there tends to be a reason for them to end. I felt like I really didn't have one. So my response was constantly, "I don't know what happened." The terrible thing is that when I started seeing her, it seemed like the knowledge that I was dating someone spread like wildfire. Almost everyone I knew seemed to bring it up. Unlike that, when we weren't seeing each other anymore, no one got the message. So, I had to explain the whole situation a thousand times. It was excruciating.

So, fast-forward to January. Wounds are pretty much healed. I am just going about enjoying a typical Friday night at my usual watering-hole. Lo and behold, who walks in, but Alicia.

It was mainly just awkward. I never called her back because I felt if she wanted to deal with me, she had to make the move. I didn't hate her at all. She probably had her reasons for what she did, and I understand that. I wasn't going to go say anything to her. Instead she came over to me.

She wanted to explain herself. She gave reasons of the holidays making everything crazy, work getting busy and weekends of skiing. They all made sense. Two of my friends were present and participating in the conversation, one good and and bad. The good friend, B, was exceptionally cordial. She got Alicia a seat, so she could sit and talk. B even asked the guy next to me to move over when Alicia was forced from her previous seat by a returning patron. B was nice and friendly. The other friend, J, wasn't that nice. She would would rub my back (which just felt creepy) and whisper in my ear, "She's fucking lying, don't trust anything she says." That type of remark was just getting me pissed. I was more annoyed by my asshole friend than I was with the girl who ignored me while we were dating. J has since apologized for what she did, after getting told I was annoyed by others.

In any case, I talked with Alicia for the rest of the night. After telling her that I write a blog, she challenged me to write about this night. I didn't really want to do it. We talked about what's been going on. She told me about skiing and showed me pictures of snowy mountains. She said she still has the stuff I got for her for her birthday, and even my copy of True Blood season 1. She wanted to get it back to me, but I told her she should watch it before she does. It was the reason I gave it (borrow... she refused to let me buy it for her) to her in the first place.

The night ended with some goofy antics. B was posing with Alicia's fur coat. Alicia said we should get together for lunch or something, so she can get the dvd back to me.

We haven't talked since.

So, there you have it. I wrote about it. I am going to attempt to write more often. I have been greatly slacking for various reason, and really none of them good. Hopefully, inspiration will hit him in the coming days.

Filling in Sunday

I am being a giant nerd right now. Granted, I can't really escape the whole nerd thing, but I am overdosing at the moment.

I am listening to a Dungeons & Dragons podcast, flipping through a rule book for Warhammer 40K, and attempting to think of what models I want to build. I spent a good portion of last night discussing these things as well. I didn't even do it at work. Most of it was talked about at the bar.

The current D&D podcasts I have been watching are a good intro for people who would like to play the game. They are video podcasts, and involve a mixed group playing. The Dungeon Master (the guy who runs the game) works for Wizards of the Coast (D&D's publisher) as a creative director. All of the players are the writers of Robot Chicken from [adult swim] on Cartoon Network. One of the writers plays the new version of D&D, and another has played earlier versions, the rest of them are experiencing D&D for the first time.

I have a weird fascination with D&D and role-playing in general. Much like many of my other interests, it is something I like to know about, but rarely experience first hand. I don't play any RPG (role-playing game) currently. I have friends tat play, so I get the stories and happenings from them. It's a good conversation if you understand the code language. I still struggle with the people that attempt to discuss computer online RPGS (affectionately called MMORPGs). Terms like DPS and aggro are still foreign to me.

One of the funny things about the Robot Chicken D&D podcasts is that they are now coming with DM commentary. Much like a director's commentary on a DVD, the DM commentary is a voice over to help explain things that are going on. It's funny re-watching the first video and finding out that the initial planned game had to be scrapped and a new adventure needed to be created in hours. It's pretty interesting because the DM gives tips on how to run a game. Rule number 1: Wing it.

The Warhammer 40K stuff comes mainly from work. I have been at my job for over 7 years now. I don't have a set army for any of the games we sell. I haven't even played a full game, with the exception of Lord of the Rings. Fun fact: LotR is the game I personally have the least amount of models for, but have played the most (at 2 games). I do have models for some of our other games. Many of the younger crowd like talking about the games, and want me to play. Friends of mine outside of the shop are even playing 40K. So, I think it's about time I actually do something about it.

So, at this moment, I am glancing at the Olympics, listening to Smodcast (Kevin Smith's audio podcast... specifically the Too Fat To Fly episode), and trying to think of what army I want to build.

More Dreams May Come

I didn't want to get out of bed this morning. Of course, most people don't want to get out of bed in the morning. Very rarely is there proper motivation to start the day. Still, this morning was because of a dream.

I like dreaming. It is pure escapism. I was sort of happy in my dream last night. It dealt with normal things. I don't often dream about extreme stuff. Not many zombie apocalypse or flying dreams for me. Most of the things I deal with are situations that could be probably considering the elements involved.

I had a dream about a girl I had a crush on in grade school. I know, that was a long, long time ago. I doesn't help matters that I spent the majority of my scholastic life with her. Grade school, high school and even college were all the same places for the two of us. I wouldn't say we were really great friends, but we were definitely friendly. We never dated. Would I do something for her if she wanted? Yes, I would. Would I ask her to do anything for me? Probably not. I tend not to ask any body for anything. That's not a good thing.

Anyway, the reason she probably showed up in my dreams is that I see her occasionally. She is still in the area. I passed her at my mall when I was out of the store getting something from CVS. Still all smiles and happiness, she never fails to make my day a bit brighter.

Oh, I should mention, I dream about mundane things. This wasn't a wet dream or anything. In fact, I rarely have those. The whole point of the dream was revolving around her losing her car and her mom or some maternal figure had an option of two for her. The other was going to go to me for some strange reason. I mainly didn't want to leave because I just wanted to spend time with her.

See, the sad thing is that I believe she is married. She occasionally passes my store, like twice a year or so, waiting for her former boyfriend, now husband. He reads comics. I have no idea who he is. I just think it's funny that she wound up with a guy like that.

I don't know. Maybe it's Valentine's Day. Maybe it's the mortality thing that my 30th birthday is next week. It could be just about anything. It definitely doesn't help that I'm listening to Blues right now.

I just figured that I should write something. I don't typically like putting names to things. I highly doubt she will ever read this, but on the off chance she stumbles by, no need for her to feel... whatever. I should sleep. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow.

Maybe my dreams tonight will be pleasant.

Snowpocopylpse Part 2: Ramifications!

What's this typing thing? I have no idea. OK, where was I?

Well, it's been a while since I have written anything. I am a lazy bastard. It's late at night, or early morning depending on when you keep track of time. I just watched the new Star Trek for the first time. I am finally listening to a mix I got from a regular from work. It's eclectic, and 5 discs, so I have a lot ahead of me. On to the show...

Snowpocopylpse Part 2: Ramifications!

When I last wrote here, it was a Monday night, and the previous afternoon, I left work for a few hours due to evacuation. I haven't written for a while for various reasons. Some of them for sheer procrastination on my part, and others for lack of having the computer access to do it. Despite all my attributes, I cannot type in the dark. I am a glorified hunt-and-pecker.

So, Tuesday was interesting at work. It was the only day in a span of six that the mall was open all of it's hours. Part one shows days one through three, Wednesday was closed due to snow and Thursday was a late opening. Tuesday was interesting because of the conversations created by little ol' me.

As I was handling my typical work stuff, (I can't remember exactly what it was, all I know is that I was behind the counter) my boss calls over to me. He said, "Kevin, I have to chastise you." He didn't say it with any malice that I could determine, so I was just confused. He was on the phone and talking with someone...obviously. He is usually on the phone, so it could have been any number of people on the other end.

When he got off, he walked towards me and stated, "This is me chastising you." Still puzzled I wondered what I did. He said that apparently my statements on my blog were incorrect. At first I thought, why is my boss reading my blog? Then I thought, what did I write that was incorrect? Most blogging is personal and opinion. Facts don't really come into play a lot when it comes to personal voice. My boss then told me that it wasn't him that read it, it was Aubry, the Marketing Director of the mall where I work.

It is at this point where I want to greet my new reader. Hello, Aubry. I didn't think this thing had any legs, but now it is creating stirs at work. If only I could direct this in some advertising capability I could ask your advice.

It turns out that apparently, Aubry has a program that sifts out any mention of the mall. The program is through Google, and since this blog site is run by Google, it only makes sense that it would get priority in selection. The mall took a huge hit with the press over the last week. With two evacuations in as many days, there was quite some negativity being thrown about. With today's access to the Internet, just about anyone can voice their opinion. Like me and this here blog.

It was then time to try and determine what the hell I said that was false. I couldn't think of anything off the top of my head. Most things I write tend to just end their life on the screen after I successfully purged it from my brain. My boss asked to see the blog, in an effort to find the culprit. He was.

Granite Run Mall's management is completely inept and has no real proper response to an emergency.

This is what I could come up with. Now, I fully understand that the mall has an emergency response plan. I have seen the papers handed out to the stores with the proper routs and such for an evacuation. The problem is that, the mall didn't implement any of this when the mall was evacuated.

So, I hold true that inept is a proper description for the mall management. I was evacuated when a firefighter came to my store and told me to leave. No mall representative was there to tell me anything. Even if the evacuation was called by the township and not the mall, since the mall falls within the township, the mall should have announced the evacuation.

My guess is that the mall just wants us all to die so it can loot our bodies.

Even when speaking with other managers of other mall stores, they didn't think any mall emergency plan was enacted. And if the carbon monoxide is false, that's what other news sources are stating it was. It could have been just diesel fumes, which could injure people just the same. Still, it was something that the mall knew about and took their time in letting anyone else know.

No mall representatives speaking of the incident that caused the evacuations. My boss tried to get answers, but they just clam up.

People aren't going to the already struggling mall with new like this. Hell, it really doesn't help that employees of the two video game stores in the mall were sick and couldn't open the stores. This was even Tuesday. I didn't see one of the workers there until Thursday.

Thank God, the mall is across the street from a hospital.

Snowpocolypse 2010 Pt. 1

Well, work has been interesting over the last few days.

I wasn't there from Friday around 5PM till today (Monday) at noon, but interesting stuff happened between now and then. To start things off, Snowpocolypse 2010 Part 1 shut the whole mall down on Saturday. Talking with my boss, they left a message on the mall office phone line to tell everyone. Schools get broadcast over every airwave. Malls get a phoned in recording that may decide to not take your call.

This is par for the course for Granite run Mall. I know when I first started working there, there was a huge snowstorm one morning. I even was taking the bus into work. All public transit was so delayed that the bus I got on 20 minutes after I thought I missed it, was actually the one before my usual bus. I was dropped off at Springfield Mall's parking lot, to await my actual bus. It came careening towards me, fish-tailing through the snowy goodness. It was an exciting trip. It took the mall a few hours to close.

See, for Granite Run Mall to close, and probably many other malls, it takes the anchors to close. For Granite Run, there are 3 anchors, so 2 need to close. Sears is always the holdout. JC Penny or Boscov's usually break first. For Saturday there was an unprecedented prior closing before anyone was actually there.

But, that isn't where the fun stops. Not only did we lose sales for Saturday, but Sunday was hit as well.

After only being open for about an hour or so, an alert was passed through the mall for evacuation. I say passed because the mall doesn't make any announcement over a public address system or anything. Some one hands to go to each store and tell the to leave. For Sunday, there was a reported carbon monoxide leak in JC Penny. It was spreading through the mall, and apparently people were getting sick. The mall closed for the rest of the day. So, there goes the entire weekend's sales.

The mall was already open for two hours when I showed up at noon on Monday. Shortly after starting work, I received a phone call. My brother's girlfriend's father... let's just shorten that to my roommate's father works for Sears and listens to the emergency response calls in the area. He overheard something about there being another leak of carbon monoxide at the mall today. This was at noon, there wasn't an actual evacuation until 2PM.

I knew it was coming. I warned the boss. Close to 2, I could see people funnel out of the mall. No one came to say anything to us until after I noticed many other stores, including Sears, already closed. Granite Run Mall's management is completely inept and has no real proper response to an emergency. I sat in my car for a couple minutes until the initial wave of panic and anger passed through the crowd. Then, I went home. My boss stayed for a bit to try and get answers. He didn't get any, despite the futile anger towards the firefighter who was just doing his job.

I sat at home, greeting my brother as he showed up at 4PM. I didn't know if I was actually going back to work. I typically close on Mondays. After a phone call to his girlfriend's father, my brother told me that the mall opened an hour ago. So, I went back to work. I even beat my boss there, who only lives 5 minutes away. I then worked the remainder of my hours, only losing 3. I didn't walk through the mall, but people were telling me that nearly 30 stores/kiosks didn't open when the mall reopened. It also didn't help matters that the mall left it's doors open to ventilate the place. It was positively frigid in the later hours.

The store didn't do too bad for a single day, even being closed for 3 hours. It just didn't do well for 3 days including a weekend. The problem that rises is that there is another storm coming, and a repeat could be in the cards.

On comes Snowpocolypse 2010 Part 2.

If we are closed Wednesday, which is highly likely, I will lose another 13 hours in one shot. This will not be fun.

Plent Hulk DVD

DVD review time.

I haven't been doing much, but I have watch something new. So, instead of ruminating on my boredom of being stuck inside all weekend, I will write about something I watched.

Marvel's last animated giving is Planet Hulk. It's feature length adaptation of a Hulk story-arc from the comics a couple years ago. In fact, it's a Hulk story I feel every one should read. It presents Hulk in a great manner and really tells a great story throughout. The movie wasn't too bad in that respect.

With the desire to change mediums, some things are lost and/or added to any given story. Something that can better help the flow. Overall the movie was good, I only had a couple problems with it.

They did a good job with the intro to the story. They summed up why Hulk had to leave Earth in the same way it is done in the comics. Even the guys that did it are all there, Iron Man, Dr. Strange and Nick Fury. Most of the important stuff is there. That Hulk can be beaten being a main factor. Hulk isn't as tough as he typically is when he shows up. Oh, and there is no Banner.

The thing that bugged me was that there wasn't a couple characters that should have been involved. Even ones that had a pretty important impact in the original comic. The Brood is nowhere to be seen. She isn't even mentioned, even though there are a few brief cameos by other cosmic characters, like Gamorra and Starlord from the Guardians of the Galaxy. I can sort of understand why she isn't there. Her main contribution was sort of taken away when they didn't follow through with Meik's entire story. Meik never matures to the Alpha native, which defeats the usage of the comic ending.

Oh, and there is no Silver Surfer. Apparently, there is some legal reason why he's not there. They instead substitute Beta Rey Bill, of Thor fame. He's not a bad addition, and they definitely make him tough enough. Bill really is a bad ass. He has the power of Thor for Christ's sake, a Norse god.

The ending was cut a bit short compared to the comic as well. I can understand why. In the comic it is definitely a sad ending, with less room for openness. With the ending they chose, the story can really go any way they want it to. The comic directly leads into World War Hulk, and I don't think that is in the cards right now for the next feature animated movie.

It is definitely something worth seeing if you like the animated comic book stuff, especially if you like the Hulk. I think it is one of the better ones Marvel has come out with, but it shies in comparison to the DC stuff. DC just has a better crew designing and developing their animated projects. The extras are pretty cool. I haven't checked out the commentary, but watched the featurettes. They have one that talks about creating the movie, which is how I found out about the Silver Surfer thing. Also, there is another that talks about the comic. They didn't do a whole Hulk review, just the stuff about Planet Hulk. There are a couple motion comics, that just seem weird to me, and a episode of Wolverine and the X-Men featuring the Hulk.

Overall, I would greatly recommend the comic. If you watch the movie first, and liked it, you will probably enjoy the comic. The same goes for the inverse. Planet Hulk is a comic I can sell to anyone looking for something good to read. It is a solid story. The movie is good, but not great.

I want to apologize for this entry. I am tired and under motivated to write right now. It's nearly 4AM and I have work at noon. Also, something is making me feel like my creativity is being sucked out of me.

Not Motivated

I am very lazy this weekend. I haven't really thought of anything to write. I also missed writing for a day yesterday, not that many noticed.

The run down of Friday consists of mostly work. There was a part that involved my boss telling me I didn't have to go into work on Saturday because of the impending snow storm. Too bad I don't work Saturdays anyway. The whole day at work was reflecting people's fear of the snow. The morning was crazy with people. Many people had to get to the store, or mall, just to get their supplies for being sealed up in a house all weekend. Since we are an entertainment destination, we sold a few boardgames and plenty of comics.

This snow has ruined many things. I was supposed to head to a party on Friday night. Two of my friends share a birthday, so they were having a party at one of their places. All of that was destroyed when the snow fell. Suddenly, roads were getting slippery and unnavigable. It didn't help matters that I needed a nap.

I didn't make it out. I instead watched wrestling, Burn Notice, the end of Robin Williams stand-up on HBO, and Bio-Dome. I guess I wanted to finish up the night with some torture. Nothing really stands out as memorable. Burn Notice was good, but next weeks episode looks better. I did learn how to make a microwave into a bomb though.

I haven't even stepped foot outside today. I was supposed to clean my car off, but didn't get around to it. It just looks like a pile a of snow in a rough car-shape. I'll just have to do it on Sunday. I also keep forgetting that Sunday is the Super Bowl. I have nothing invested in the game. I don't even know where I will watch it. I'll probably just watch it at home.

Doctor, Mr. MD.

OK. Time to play catch-up. I missed a day of writing and feel pretty guilty about it. My car trip home from a party can only drag out so many words. It was a solo story after all. I had no dialog. I doubt people would want to read me talking to myself... even though that is kind of what I do when I write these things. It's just not aloud.

I passed out early last night. I got home from work, and promptly passed out as I attempted to watch ECW. Turns out there won't be an ECW in about 3 weeks time. WWE is changing the show to NXT, because they ache to be hip, and fail miserably at it. Anyway, I didn't see the end of the show because I slumped in my computer chair with the blog in one tab and video game stuff in another. I awoke 2hours later, and thought it was best to get the trash out instead of trying to force myself to write some inane gibberish. So, I pushed that gibberish off till today.

I needed to wake up early today anyway, so sleep was a good thing. Typically on a Thursday, I don't usually have to be up until work, and that's not till 5PM. I usually sleep in and claim that I am trying to catch up on sleep. In reality, I just like dreaming. Still, I had a doctor's appointment at 11Am, so I needed to be up well before I normally am, but late enough for me to get some extra hours sleep.

I had to see the doctor because my mom is worried about me. She is a mom after all. I have been having some stomach problems over the last week, so she made me an appointment to see the doctor. Luckily, she works in the doctor's office, so I had an easy in.

On the way in, I decided to finally listen to a podcast that was on my iPod since early December. It was from Talkradar and was the roast of one of the hosts, Dan Amrich. Dan was also the host of another podcast I listen to called OXM. He had a good, nearly 3 hour, roast because he left his lengthy tenure at OXM for a World of Warcraft Magazine, and eventually left that when offered a job at Activision. Activision is one of the biggest video game companies in the world. Still, I enjoy the guy, and find him very funny. He even has his own parody band called Pallete-Swap Ninja. In any case, it was fun to hear accolades for someone I respect and has been in the video game writing business since 1993.

While seeing the doctor, I had to go over all the problems I could remember having. I know on Saturday I felt nauseous and feverish. After that though, I was feeling batter, and didn't want to see the doctor. The doctor still wanted to do some tests, and the final test was the most feared. The rectal exam.

Oh boy, that was unpleasent. I even knew it was going to happen. It was just wishful thinking that he would bypass it. He didn't want to do it. I didn't want it. It just had to be done. Thankfully, there was nothing negative on the test results. Turns out I am apparently on the recovery swing of whatever decided to attack me. I need to eat more fiber, to get me more regular. That's about it.

Afterward, I decided to treat myself to some shopping. I bought a couple DVDs and the Them Crooked Vultures CD. I consider it entertainment prep for the apparent Wrath of God snowstorm that will hit the area. I really don't want it to be that bad. I'm not even going to be at work for it. I just would like to go to my friends' birthday party Friday night.

Blinded by Nature

I am distracting myself with just about anything I can at the moment. I should be writing though. Here is my attempt to actually get some shit done.

Well, I guess I should talk about the trip home from my friend's LOST party on Tuesday. Me being me, I was one of the last few to leave. Such is the way of Kevin. I am usually afraid to leave too early for fear of missing something important. Still, I walked out some time around 11:30 or so. I'm not exactly sure on the time, but it was late. I know I was in my car around midnight on the way home.

So, the trip goes like this. There is already a slight snowfall on the ground. It's making everything look pretty, like a movie set. Warm glow of street lights, reflecting snow, creating hazy rainbows of comfort. After a brief turnaround realizing every street I crossed was One Way in the opposite direction I needed to go, I eventually found myself on the proper roads and on my way home. I even passed a couple cop cars that had some unfortunate motorist pulled over. It was when I was almost on I-95 heading south, that I noticed something. I am behind a salt truck. I hate being behind trunks in general, like most people. In this weather, I dread it.

My car is not the best one out there. I love it though. For what I paid for it, it has lasted me, and treated me extremely well. I have no real qualms about my car. It does have it's flaws though. One such flaw is that it's windshield washer sprayer doesn't work. I don't know what the actual problem is. I don't think it's the sprayer, but rather the reservoir that holds the wash solution. I have filled it a couple times, and it is usually empty. There is probably a leak. Anyway, it doesn't seem like that should be a priority in the whole "send car to the shop" department. So, to counter cleaning my windows, I always wash my windows whenever I get gas and occasionally, when needed, I use a spray bottle with glass cleaner. I used to use glass cleaner, now I use windshield washer fluid in the bottle. It actually works better.

While on the highway, stuck behind a truck, I decided to attempt passing it while on the double-decker bridge. I did, but there was a price. The truck's back spray coated my windows. If it was just rainy, especially a hard rain, it wouldn't have been a problem. My wipers would have held their own. It was the temperature coupled with environment that blinded me. The back spray of the truck created a mist of small droplets of water that held dirt. It was when attempting to use my wipers that created a frozen dirt shield on my window. My back window was clear as crystal.

I was in the far left lane when this happened, of course. Even with so few cars on the road, I needed to navigate as quickly as possible with limited visibility over to the right side most lane for an exit. I nearly hit the side wall, and various other walls as I made my ext down one of the off ramps. Thankfully, the exit I chose was near where I grew up, so I knew the area. In fact, the last time I was there was for a car breakdown. I pulled off the road into a parking lot, and washed my windows as best I could with the spray bottle. It worked to a point.

To keep myself away from potentially other scary moments on the highway, I instead decided to travel the back-roads home. It was a longer trip, but at least nothing bad happened, even though I did traverse through Chester.

I screwed up

To make it short, I didn't write anything on here last night. I passed out shortly after coming home from work. I needed the sleep. I had to get up this morning for a doctor's appointment.

So, as a place holder, and reminder, I will try to relate two stories tonight. That is if I can stay up and Burn Notice doesn't take all my attention. Be on the look out for my death-defying drive home from a LOST party and a trip to a Doctor's office. Granted, the doctor's office one will have about one cringe moment. I'll get to that later.

LOST Party Premier

My blog was brought up as a joke tonight. I thought that was actually funny that it was even used as a topic of conversation.

I am exceptionally tired right now. This rant may seem a little more incoherent than normal. I didn't get my usual nap after work on Tuesday. I came home aggravated at staying late at work. I ate some dinner that may not have been fully cooked chicken, and then I made my way into Philly to my friend's place for a LOST party.

It was good to get out tonight though. I saw some people I haven't seen in a long time, and a few I have never met before. It was a way to bring people together. My friend, Eric, threw the party. As per usual, he went a bit overboard with design. It doesn't help that he is an artist, professionally. Hell, I even looked at the book he is currently published in. It was surreal.

Tonight was the premier of the final season of LOST. This show has been a unifying point for my group of friends. Theories are typically discussed and surmised whenever any of us are together. Of course, that happened at a peak level tonight, especially during the 1 hour preview (read: catch-up) show preceding the actual premier. Smoke monsters and after the bomb segments were the highest point of discussion. What's funny is that this show doesn't really bring about arguments. It's more of an interpretive thing for whoever is watching. It is through discussion that all the ideas are thrown on the table and people start to attempt to see where the show is heading. Just about everyone is wrong in the end though.

I'm not going to talk about the actual show. Too many other bloggers do that with better detail. I'll just say that I enjoyed the show. I dislike that supposed major players are being brought in this late. I also thought the Tim Burton / Danny Elfman style beginning was much funnier than it was supposed to be. I guess the smoke monster costs a lot to make good, so the rest of the computer generated animation has to suffer.

The party had island food as well. I ate a plate of... I forget what it was called. It was rice, topped with a hamburger patty, scrambled eggs, onions, peppers, mushrooms, and other spices served with a brown gravy. It was pretty decent, but probably not something I would order in a restaurant. Some of the other guests brought food as well, there were plenty of cookies, including "fishbuscuits" (a LOST reference), sushi, ribs, pie, and appropriately labeled beverages with Dharma logos.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable night. Eric's daughter, Estella, is great. His one cat, Louise, decided to lay in my lap for almost the entire show. I had that after a movie bathroom feeling when I finally stood up. It was a pretty long drive home. Snow was starting to come down. I nearly got into a couple accidents on the way back on I-95, but I think I will save that story for tomorrow. I need some sleep.

NRA: Too Sweet

I got a membership to the NRA today. I don't even own a gun.

Granted, I have nothing really against the organization. I just wouldn't think I would be on their mailing list. The envelope came with a neat little plastic card and everything. At first, I thought it was a credit card. I was just thinking minutes earlier that I need a credit card. Rather, I would like a credit card. Need is an oftentimes over used word. Still, if it was a credit card, I probably would have accepted it. It would be funny to have an NRA credit card. I have a feeling that people at stores would probably be more cautious around you when you would use it.

I got exceptionally pissed off today with a single phone call. My brother called to ask me to pick up "the gray box switch thingy from Radio Shack.: What he was referring to was the AV Switch I use to change the input of the television between the cable, DVD and Xbox 360. He thought I should just go grab another. He didn't know, that it isn't some cheap piece of equipment and actually originally cost me around $30. My brother took some initiative and switched the faulty outlet where the television is connected. While reconnecting the plugs, the picture on the TV wasn't working. He called me, but I can't do electronic repair over the phone. I just hate that I was basically asked to just throw more money at the problem and maybe it would go away. I wanted to break something after I was on the phone with him.

My coworkers were slightly worried because I kept slipping the "f-bomb" while children were around. I usually restrain myself. I tried to squeeze the store's computer's mouse to death, but it didn't work. My brother called back a little later. Turns out the problem was just a loose wire. Go figure.

For some strange reason I got really tired, really fast around 12:15 tonight. I watched most of wrestling and still needed to write this, as well as fill out a few chances for the church's drawing. I still have to do that last one actually. Still, I fell asleep at the exact moment the final segment of wrestling aired. It was like pinpoint timing. I had to read the results on the computer. Granted, I could just re-watch the program to see the end, but that would take me fast-forwarding through 2 hours of TV.

So, tomorrow is February 2nd. It is Ground Hog Day and marks the moment when some rodent out in western PA decides if we have 6 more weeks of winter. It is also, probably more important, the final season premiere of LOST.

I am heading over my friend, Eric's, place for this viewing. Eric is a little obsessed with the show. The themed party will supposedly be catered with an island theme, complete with Lost style labels on things. Our friend, Ken, is even coming from NYC and bringing ribs for the occasion. Other than seeing good friends and watching a good show, having some of Ken's ribs would be reason enough to have a party. I have had them one other time, and they are delicious. The boy has skills when it comes to a rib-rub.

Well, I need to still go write out chances. I'm going to go do that while watching a podcast. I hope everyone (all 3 of you) have a good day.

Death Race causes Marvel Delay.

I got some news today that annoyed me. It was work news, so it shouldn't really worry anyone else.

The job is fine. I just found out that our shipment had some problems. My store is not alone in the problem. In fact, it is nearly all the stores that receive Marvel Comics that are the ones effected. Turns out, over the weekend, there was an accident. Thankfully, there were no injuries reported, but it seems that many comics were destroyed. This is pretty significant in that it will definitely impact sales. Many of the major Marvel titles for this week will be short in number. They have to allocate as much as possible. Of course, it's from my warehouse that has to allocate the most.

So, this coming Wednesday will be highly annoying for me. I will have to make a sign telling of the shortage. A sign no one will read. I will then have to tell everyone that walks in what the sign means, because they are morons and cannot understand English unless it is present by guys and girls in spandex. I will also need to keep track of what we actually get in, so that all of the customers that reserved certain books that are short, will still get them when we get the remainder of the reprint. Then people will complain that it is a reprint and not a first print. Fate just likes screwing with me on Wednesdays.

This Sunday was rather bland. I had wanted to head to Target for a completely different reason than for 3D glasses. Apparently, there was a 3D portion of the Grammys tonight which was a Michael Jackson tribute. I watched the Grammys, and they were all right. Still, I wanted to head to Target for simple shopping.

I haven't been shopping in a while. I need to get a couple things and occasionally like to browse. I mainly want to get some blank CDs. I am still happy over getting a functioning CD-player at work. I have a few soundtracks I need to bring into work to fill the silence of a Monday. Three of them are the Back to the Future soundtracks. Still, I didn't make it out. I had to stay home while dinner finished cooking.

We had a small Thanksgiving here. I had to wait for a turkey, stuffed with stuffing of course, to finish in the oven. It was nice. My brother, Matt, and his girlfriend's son was over. The hardest part was trying to explain how to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to the two of them. They have a Wii in their household. After dinner, I hopped on the Xbox to play a little CoD:MW2 online to show what you can do against living opponents. It was fun. I don't play as much as many others, but once and a while it's great to just shoot some people without repercussion.

So, other than that, I did watch the Grammys. That was after I watched Death Race 2000. Now, this is a movie worth seeing. It has unnecessary nudity, but it fits in the plot of the movie. It not only has David Carradine, but also Sylvester Stallone. I could have sworn, but when I was a kid, I thought I had the Hot Wheels version of Frankenstein's (Carradine) car, Monster. I just can't find any pictures of it on the interwebs, so I may now be mistaken.

Snowy Birthday Wishes.

Man, I am out of it this weekend. Everything just seems to feel odd.

It probably started on Thursday when I wasn't feeling too well. I think I am sick with something. I'm not quite sure what. It's not something that really knocks me on my ass, but it sure as hell keeps me from 100%. From stomach problems and body aches, to headaches and eye strains, I feel like I have hit a lot of symptoms for something larger, without getting the whole show. Not that I am complaining, mind you.

Today, I would like to say Happy Birthday to my friend, Dawn. Her husband set up a surprise birthday party for her this fine afternoon/evening. It was planned and prepared by dawn's mom. It was a common consensus that Dawn's mom should go into business party planning. She is extremely good at it. Today's theme was casino. The tables were all draped in red and black, with different playing card suits as centerpieces. There were poker chips, dice and a deck of playing cards on each table as well. There was even a toy slot machine that eventually led to the winning of prizes.

The problems started t arise when many people started to bail on the party, almost including the guest of honor. There was a snowstorm that swept through the area that caused many to panic. Of the group of friends, I am associated with, there were only 4 of us to make it. Not a great showing for people that have know the girl since around high school. It also didn't help matters that the location of the party didn't show up on google map searches. It really wasn't that hard to find in the end though. It had a pretty visible sign right at the entrance.

Things were starting to get hectic when the party planners were worried that Dawn wasn't going to come. The apparent cover was someone else's 30th birthday party. Sadly, it was someone from dawn's youth, but not necessarily a priority friend. Dawn wasn't feeling that guilty if she didn't make it. It didn't help matters that I-95 was shut down due to an accident. Dawn was in traffic with her husband for probably around an hour. She eventually walked in and was surprised, but it was nearly the zero hour for the reveal just to get her there.

Over all, it was fun. I had a good time just talking with the other few people I knew. The food was good and there was plenty of it. The music selection was varied from a traditional party fare. There was a dance floor, which no one used. The kids there were highly entertaining with their antics to keep from being bored. It's amazing what children can do to keep themselves busy and distracted.

There was talk of heading out to Sugar Mom's in Philadelphia afterward, but that didn't happen for me. I wasn't feeling too well, and I wound up needing a nap anyway. Naps are sort of a reset button for me. Now, I just have to wait for my 30th birthday.

These ears can hear.

We finally have a new CD layer at work.

Ok, so it isn't technically new, but it's new to the store. The old one broke early this week for failure to play CDs. It was selective about what it wanted to play. At first I thought it was only burned CDs it was avoiding. It turns out it was anything with a slight scratch or scuff. Only the most pristine were even considered for play, i.e. the player read them and counted the tracks. Most discs I would put in would read as not there and try to be spit back out. If it read the disc, it was a 10% chance it would play it. Even with those odds, a couple CDs were played. Granted, some of the CDs only played for a couple songs before the player gave up.

My boss likes to call me on Fridays to see when he can come in. Friday mornings used to be a day off for him. I usually had someone else to cover the time with. With our store being short staffed, my boss doesn't get much time home. The usual conversation consists of him asking how crazy it is. Most of the time it was rather quite. Once and a while, something happens when there is a ton of phone calls or just annoying customers, and it makes me extremely irritable. He doesn't want to walk into that, so he wants a buffer. Still, the only bothering me this morning was how quite it was because I couldn't listen to any music and had to rely on mall sounds.

During our conversation, his wife over heard him. She suggested he just take their CD player from home into the store since it wasn't getting any use there. It's old, and it works, so that's fine with me. It even has a 5 disc changer so I can just set up a few discs and let them play. I didn't do it today because I wound up getting the CD player at around 3PM. I settled for listening to the Dragon Age: Origins soundtrack my friend Gregg got for me.

I felt like crap a couple hours ago. Lack of food does that. Now, I have some chicken in me, but I don't think I will make it out to see the Poison cover band a friend asked me to see. I will probably gather up enough strength to just head to the bar and have a drink or two, just to get out of the house. I'm not really in the party mood, but you never know what the night may present.

On another note, I want to see The Losers when it comes out. It's based on a Vertigo comic under DC's imprint. It is about a group of black-ops characters that get betrayed by their government, and they want a little payback. It's more of a revenge kick than Burn Notice, but I think it looks good just he same. Here's a link to where I saw the trailer: VIDEO: The Losers – The Full Trailer Now Online

Damned and Lost

I'm frickin' freezing, Mr. Bigglesworth!

It's cold in my house. It is apparently getting colder and colder this weekend. If I were a meteorologist, I would assume any dramatic change of weather would be the end of days. To quote my friend Paul, "Al Gore is a fraud. There is no global warming."

My body also aches all over. While, sure, some of that could be attributed to just being old, I don't think that is the full case. For starters, it just really started today. I would think it would be a gradual thing if it was normal wear and tear. I think my body is fighting something. I don't know if it is a flu or not. I am still pretty active, and not really lethargic, except for the idiocy to not sleep on a regular schedule. I'm not nauseous, much. There are occasional bouts of upset tummy, but nothing producing anything. Most of it just comes down to not focusing on it. I think it is trial of willpower.

Everyone seems to want me to play Dragon Age: Origins. Next to Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age seems to be the RPG people are talking about. My biggest problem is that I don't really dedicate time to playing many games. Dragon Age is up my alley, with the whole fantasy aspect were decisions actually have consequences. The company that made it, Bioware, has a track record for allowing choices to be made that effect the story and/or game-play of the video game. I played their original RPG, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic on the original Xbox. It is a great game, so I am not surprised that Dragon Age isn't also awesome.

I spend way too much time learning about video games than actually playing them. I am probably a scholar of it at this point. I have no practical knowledge of the product, but I know what everyone else tells me. That can probably be about many things concerning me. I typically listen to 2 podcasts a week dedicated to video games. I even read a magazine or 2 a month on the subject. That doesn't count the websites I check for news on nearly a daily basis. I probably put more work into learning about video games than I do leaning about comics.

I more than likely follow video games as a hobby instead of comics because comics are my job. Video games are escapism for me. There is only so much comic rumors I can take. Just like wrestling, I usually can tell what path the comic industry will take, but I will follow it regardless of what happens. With video games, options open up. With such a significant price tag attached, as well as time committed to playing the game, a lot gets invested by the consumer.

right now, there are about a dozen or so game I would like to be playing. right now, though, I am settling for Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes from Liberty City. It is a disc version of the downloadable content available for the original game GTA4. I am currently going through The Lost And The Damned, where I take the role of the second in command of a biker gang. I have only played for a little while, but it interesting how the gangs story happens at the same time as the original GTA4's protagonist's, Nico, does.

I never even beat the original GTA4 game. I asked for GTA4: Episodes from Liberty City for Christmas, and it was the only game I got. I am playing it before I get something else, like Dragon Age.