Fandom things

I am not sure I understand fandom.

I like a lot of things. Nerdy things, sci-ency things, arty things, weird things, scary things, lovely things, pretty things, ugly things... you get the point.

More and more, I keep hearing and reading about how fans of things aggressively admonish the supposed thing they love. They focus so much time and effort in loving a thing, that whenever something is done with their fandom, it is seen almost as an attack.

I understand preferring one thing over another. I can understand someone who says that the prequel Star Wars films are better than the original trilogy. I think they are wrong, but that is my opinion. Maybe they fell in love with Jarjar Binks when they were a kid and it triggers that right sense of nostalgia. It can bring them back to a better part of their life, or and easier part. Maybe Jarjar makes them smile.

People are allowed to like things. There truly is something for everyone out there. Grabbing hold of a thing and making it your life can be troubling. Like or love a thing but don't let that thing govern and define who you are as a person. It is merely a part.

I like wresting. It seems silly to some people, but I like it. I have actively watched wresting for nearly 25 years, but it has always been in the periphery my entire life. At first it was something to do. Then, it turned out my friends got into it as well. When college and young adulthood happened, I started to be slightly ashamed of it. I would still watch, but I had no one to share it with. Still, I liked it and didn't really retreat into it. It was just entertainment. Now, I am a little less guarded by my love of wrestling. I still watch, but I will engage in conversations if someone wants one. I wear the t-shits like a badge.

Still, it isn't my everything. If I don't like it, I can watch something else. There are plenty of things that can fill that void. Hell, I can fill that void of bad things with other wrestling. I can give new things a chance if the current thing I like isn't going the way I would prefer it to.

I like things. I never call myself a fan of them. It feels like that word had an almost negative connotation these days. It seems that "fans" are the first ones to adversely react to the thing they supposedly love. If the thing I like suddenly does something I am not happy with, I can always just go find something new. Some day, I may even come back to the old thing. It is my choice.

Something to do....

I haven't looked at this in years.

I have been feeling anxious lately. The whole world is in actual chaos. People are unsure about how life works now. For me, I just don't know what to do with myself.

I fill my time. I still work two jobs, which is better than some people. I never applied for unemployment, so no bonus cash from the feds. Money isn't too important to me right now. I have that going for me. Thankfully, I have few expenses.

I decided to started writing this in an effort to do something. I spend a good bit of time trying to figure out what to do with myself. I sometimes get stressed at work from just having seemingly everything happen at once. Work can give me focus, though. At least when I go to work, I have something to do. I have something to work towards, even if it is the end of the day.

I am the only employee working at my "night" comic book job. The boss stepped up and is still finding his feet getting back to actual work and not just delegating. I just have to step up my usual tasks. It doesn't help that the comic book industry used everything going on as a springboard to screw more things up for me. I know it wasn't a personal attack. It is mainly poor timing at a terrible time to throw more chaos and stress on an already near mentally breaking time.

This is just a bit of stress relief. I have more hobbies than I can handle. I like too many things, but am not a true fan of any of them. Nothing is really "my thing". I still have a terrible habit of attempting to throw money at a thing in the hope that I'll enjoy it. I have bought video games and played them once. I buy books to flip through and pretend I may read them some day. I have models to build and paint and no desire to choose which ones to do first. An excuse of not wanting to screw it up is fleeting. I could always just buy a new one to attempt to get that desire feeling again.

Who knows? Maybe this will trigger something in me. Maybe I will start writing a bit here again. Even it if is just something to do. At least it feels like a slight sense of accomplishment. That is all work is now, a sense of accomplishment when I struggle to get started. Still, I didn't have to get back on here to write, Luckily, it was automatically logged in because this site is owned and run by Google. Saves some time.

All right. I think that is enough for now. We'll see how long this lasts. One step at a time...

Start the New Year

Part of what I wanted to do this year was to "do more stuff". It is a nebulous thing, but something I thought I could accomplish.

I went to the movies to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens for the second time tonight. It was good. I still think it is a great movie. I would absolutely see it again and contribute to it beating Avatar for the most profitable movie ever.

After the movie, I went to the First State to see my co-worker play a show with his band, The New Shields. It was a a bar called 1984 and focuses on  retro arcade games. I was not nearly good enough at Street Fighter as I used to be, and pinball was a bit too pricey for my blood. $1 per play is not ideal.

It was a good time. Plenty of cute girls. Me being too shy to say anything. I had fun hanging out with my friends. I ran into a guy I know from work. I even got complimented on my beard from some random guy. I'll take what I can get.

It was a good night. I should do it more often.

Halloween Mix for 2015

What is this? A post? No way!

Every year, I try to make a new mix for Halloween.

I say every year, but of course there were some year I skipped. I started in 2002, and made 5 through 2008. I started back up in 2011 with The Return, and have had an annual one since.

So, here is the list for this year:

Halloween 2015

1. 1. Rob Zombie – Transylvania Transmissions Pt. 1
2. 2. Rihanna – Disturbia
3. 3. Mötley Crüe – Shout at the Devil '97
4. 4. Tegan and Sara – Walking With A Ghost
5. 5. Kyuss – Demon Cleaner
6. 6. The Edgar Winter Group – Frankenstein
7. 7. 45 Grave – Evil
8. 8. The Atomic Fireballs – Man With The Hex
9. 9. The Fuzztones – She's Wicked
10. 10. The Fat Man and Team Fat – Mr. Death
11. 11. Johnny Cash – Ain't No Grave
12. 12. Dissection – Where Dead Angels Lie
13. 13. Scrappy Cartoon – I'm A Ghost
14. 14. John Massari – Killer Klown March
15. 15. Ozzy Osbourne – Hellraiser
16. 16. Anthrax – Bordello of Blood
17. 17. The Cramp – Human Fly
18. 18. Chvrches – Bella Lugosi's Dead
19. 19. Siouxsie and the Banshees – Spellbound
20. 20. Buddy Baker – Swinging Wake
21. 21. The Brass Action – The Devil Down Below
22. 22. The Fleshtones – Dracula A GoGo
23. 23. Ghost B.C. - I'm A Marionette
24. 24. Imogen Heap – Getting Scared

​As you can guess, it is fairly eclectic. There is some stuff from soundtracks, random stuff I found and even a video game song. There is also a supreme lack of Misfits and other Halloween-esque staples. I have used them a bunch of times. It is getting increasingly more difficult to come up with varied songs.

I still come here.

I am feeling antsy again.

I need to do something creative. I have no idea what that something is, but I am going to push my way towards... something, anyway.

I read an article recently that a friend of mine posted on Facebook, "Ten Rules of Writing" by Amitava Kumar. In it he discusses his influences for focusing on writing and his own personal philosophy on writing. It is fairly brief, but worthwhile.

One of the rules is to set modest goals. Most times I read suggestions on writing, the same thing is listed every time: write every day. Pretty simple, really. Kumar was the first to have the modesty part. He only suggested about 150 words. Truth be told, I am almost there as of this sentence. I thought that even I can do that. So, here I am giving it a go.

Now, one of his other rules is something I definitely work on: walk for 10 minutes.

Basically, get some exercise everyday. Granted, this is something I should probably do any way. I have even been talking with my more in-shape brother on a regimen to get into. I think it is more of a sign now that I have seen in on a list of suggestions on how to write well. Even thinking back to reading Stephen King's On Writing, he makes reference to going on walks a lot. (It was even on a walk that lead to him being hit by a car.) Still, even a walk is better than just sitting around all day. It could get the blood flowing to the right places to inject life into dormant brain cells.