Happy new year everyone. Here's hoping it's a good one. Or at least not as bad as the last few.
I decided not to make any New Year's resolutions this year. Well, I didn't decide as much as I just didn't.
However, I did make a New Week's resolution on Monday — I resolved to not get road rage. This has been a serious problem for me in the past few months. One day, I realized that I sort of wanted to be angry at all the poor drivers on the road. It was possible that, deep down, I was afraid that without my hate and anger, I'd be nothing.
So I gave it up this week. Hasn't been easy, but I've more or less done it. Granted this has left much more rage and ire for my co-workers, but I'll work on that later.
I didn't intend on this from the beginning, but I think I may make a New Week's resolution every week. Next week, I'll focus on going to bed on time. Maybe eating right or exercising the next. Nothing to committal, just a week.
Let's see how it goes.
TBL
PS Someone loves you — let them, and don't forget it.
I had a dream the other night where I was Spider-Man and I was having a cyst removed.
This has been a really weird week. Long, too. We're learning the new system at work, with brand-new computers and everything. Thing is, there's so much to learn that everyone's really stressed out about it. Me less so, because I don't have to get started with the new stuff until Monday, but just about everyone else.
However, because we've got the new system, my boss decided that I can't take day after Xmas off as I had planned. He and his boss will be gone and he wants me there to make sure the paper actually comes out. I'm not mad at anyone in particular, but I'm upset at the situation.
Essentially, this means I'm not going to be able to make it home for Xmas. I could come down Xmas Eve and drive back on Xmas, but that's quite a bit of driving. The folks said they might come up here, which would be nice, but the original plan was just so much better.
So take all that, add to it that the only response I've received to the Go! 24/7 reader survey we've started said the paper — that thing I spend 40+ hours each week on — is a waste of time, and that's just about where I'm at. Balls.
Perhaps because of all of this, I just couldn't get it together today. I went through many moods, none of them good, and accomplished little. It's the kind of Saturday you dream about all week.
I also went to see "Hamlet 2," which was showing at the K-State Student Union. It's pretty funny in parts, but there's quite a bit of oddness to sift through to get there. I went by myself, something I hadn't done in a while. It wasn't as depressing as it sounds, but I wasn't exactly on a cloud when I went in either.
And that's my life right now. How are you?
TBL
PS I ordered and have been listening to "Got to Fly" by Marian Call. She's a geek singer/songwriter, and the album is full of songs about things like "Firefly" and "Battlestar Galactica." What's more, she's really good too. You can check out the album at http://store.quantummechanix.com/Marian-Calls-Got-to-Fly-Geek-Tribute-Album_p_8-53.html. It's limited to 1,000 signed albums (I'm somewhere in the 200s), and I'm surprised there are any left.
Once you’ve been tagged, you have to write a post with 14-16 random things, facts, habits or goals about you. At the end choose people to be tagged, listing their names and why you chose them. You have to tag the person who tagged you.
1) I'm a little mad a SueJin for tagging me with this. Not because I don't want to do it, but because she has much more interesting stuff to say — a very hard act to follow.
2) I fear whales. I love them, but it's hard to comprehend a living being so huge.
3) I've been working out on the Wii Fit for about a month. Baby steps, but I'm noticing some effect.
4) I took a 12-week Citizen's Police Academy in Junction City.
5) I went to KU for the first half of my senior year, then went to and graduated from Oklahoma State.
6) While I was at KU, I participated in an eating study. I was given the low-fat diet, and by the end I was so sick of eating the same stuff that I lost interest in food.
7) Now I'm a food critic, one of my many hats as editor of Go! 24/7.
8) I have a bunch of ideas for stories that I've never written. I don't know why I haven't forced myself to yet. The other night, I added a twist to one that I think people would love. And I'm not usually that hopeful with my work.
9) I still haven't made my mind up in the election. I'm leaning, but I don't exactly feel confident in it yet.
10) Poor grammar is a turnoff.
11) I've never seen "The Godfather." But I have seen "Spiceworld."
12) I think earthquakes are a superior natural disaster to tornadoes, mostly because of the waiting associated for the latter (usually for nothing). With earthquakes, the ground shakes, you stand in a doorway, it stops and you put on Leno.
13) Most hotels don't have a 13th floor. I do.
14) I can't remember which room in my family's house is the family room and which one is the living room. The family was mostly in the one room, the same one we did most of our living in, so it got very confusing.
15) I couldn't resist the urge to buy a pack of new Marvel trading cards, even though I know what a waste of money they are. I also couldn't resist on two other occasions.
16) My truck is named Sophia. The longer a person knows me, the more likely they are to refer to my truck by her first name.
And now, tagging time! There's one for SueJin (even though she's already done it), one for Jeff P, one for Kim Lee, Melody Jones and Andrew Heaton. Have at it.
So the MTV VMAs were pretty terrible this year. I won't get a chance to say this in a timely fashion in Go! 24/7, so I'll just say it here. Lucky you.
Perhaps it's unfair to say, but I'm not sure the Video Music Awards have been any good this century, with each year getting worse. In its 25th celebration, MTV made it up to Britney for the 24th, didn't know what to do with the Jonas Brothers and left a bad taste in everyone's mouth.
As promised, Britney started the evening. Unlike last year, where she did the impossible by bringing her career to an all-time low, Spears did not sing. However, she did star in a skit with Jonah Hill — and if you haven't seen her suck the funny out of a great comic actor, you didn't see her on "How I Met Your Mother." Spears did the same with Hill, but was given the applause due a blind man winning at Frogger.
The pandering kept coming for Spears, who won all three awards for which she was nominated (using the same speech for the first and second acceptances). Before you get outraged at this, remember that these are the same people who broadcast "The Hills."
Host Russell Brand continued the unfunny comedy, in his monologue and throughout the evening. Brand — evidentially a scene stealer in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" — made the mistake that many do in his situation, and mocked President Bush without actually being funny about it. Given that it was the VMAs, most of the audience would probably be open to any sort of jab at the sitting president — but out in TV land, we're still a bitterly divided country.
I wondered at first if it was just me, that I couldn't take the joke. Then I laughed my head off at the "American Dad" episode entirely making fun of Bush. Perhaps it was the venue, perhaps it was me, but I feel comfortable saying that Brand simply wasn't funny.
The host was also able to piss off no less than four performers by making fun of the Jonas Brothers' promise rings. When forced to apologize later (after Jordan Sparks, of all people, ripped into him), Brand did so, but threw a "but I'm right" at the end. He also demonstrated poor timing and judgement throughout the evening.
But, in addition to Britney not performing, there were some good points in the show. Christina Aguilera gave a solidly good performance (one that, had Spears made last year, would have saved her career). Rihanna was also impressive, giving the VMAs' requisite "dance with a hoard of oddly dressed backup dancers" performance.
But the star of the night was Pink. Though her vocals were a bit muted — who was running the sound board that night? — she sang a great song in a unique and entirely exciting way, giving the kind of performance that all award-show musical numbers should aspire to be. Check it out:
But in the end, the show was still nothing but a bunch of self-congratulatory noise. Hopefully MTV will learn from their darling Britney's example, recognize this as a low point for the network and spend the year just trying not to be quite so terrible.
So it appears that I'm physically unable to post on here with any regularity. I could promise to do better, but that hasn't worked in the past. Instead, I'll vow to post as infrequently as possible. If I'm right, you'll be hearing from me in two day's time.
So, what's the big what what? Well, a few weeks ago I went on vacation. It was nice, but the time leading up to it was pretty rough.
That entire week, I had to balance work, preparation and a couple projects I had been working on — namely, watching the last three seasons of "The X-Files" before "I Want To Believe" came out, and watching "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog." I was able to complete the former (though I'm still not sure if the effort was worth it, I did enjoy season 8 and 9 more than I thought I would). The latter proved an expected and enjoyable treat.
For those who aren't hip to it already, "Firefly" and "Buffy" creator Joss Whedon and family decided to put together an online musical during the writers' strike staring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day. The end product, as you can imagine, is really, really good. Even now, I'm still digging on it, and I'm chomping at the bit for the soundtrack CD. Check it out for yourself at DrHorrible.com.
But anyway, then there was California and Comic Con. I won't bore you with all the details — mostly because there were four solid days of details — but it was completely awesome. I was definetly in the minority of atendees since I wasn't dressed up as some obscure character from an obscure anime.
That's what I think I learned most about Comic Con — it's not for the casual fan. Now, before I made the trek, I would never have considered myself someone who takes this stuff lightly. But once I got there, and I saw the 130,000 people who take Comic Con more seriously than I did, I realized that I was definetly in the shallow end of the nerd pool.
Still, lots of fun. In addition to going to panels for Marvel, the upcoming "Watchmen" film, a panel with Kevin Smith, Zack Snyder, Judd Apatow and Frank Miller and seeing Joss Whedon, I got signatures from several of the business' superstars, such as Joe Quesada, John Cassaday, Jeph Loeb and John Cassaday. I also got to meet Alex from The Stack (a hilarious Web show about comics) and the guys who make Penny Arcade, Tycho and Gabe.
Nothing was cooler, however, than seeing Stan "The Man" Lee walk right by me, grinning from ear to ear from behind his signature sunglasses. I was literally dumbfounded — all I could do was stand in my spot and stare, mouth agape. Before you ask, his three body guards making the Flying V from "The Might Ducks" prevented anyone from getting close to the creator of about half of the things around him, but he did get a standing ovation from the other gawkers near me.
The big event closed with a showing of the Buffy musical episode "Once More, With Feeling," complete with parking tickets and cell phones waving (I'm hoping this information makes one Melody Jones very, very jealous). I've got pictures from the trip up on Facebook, and I'll try to move them over to MySpace in a day or so.
Since I got back, things have been go, go, go at work, and getting back into the swing of things outside of work has been an uphill battle. Still, what little free time I've had has been nice.
This weekend, while not quite as eventful or enjoyable as the last, was pretty cool. Had a goodbye dinner for some good friends on Friday night, which was a great send-off. Then yesterday, I went over to Topeka to buy a new suit and get some sushi, neither of which I've had for some time. I was a little nervious buying the suit, since it was a pretty big purchase, but I'm just saying Uncle Sam picked up the tab with my economic stimulus check. I'll be heading back to Topeka next weekend to pick it up.
Which brings us to now, where I can finally cross "blog" off my to-do list. Now, i've just got to see to the other couple dozen items. But for now — courage.
TBL
"The world is a mess, and I just need to rule it." ~ Dr. Horrible
