Re: Solutions

Well, the New Year is about to be upon us. Actually, depending on your part of the globe the New Year has already arrived. And with the arrival of a new calendar year comes the question of resolutions, a brief history of which can be gathered from the good old Wikipedia.

Currently, my resolution is 1280x800, I mean you know how that classic joke goes. In 2014 though, for real, I might finally have to get a new computer. But if anything, my resolution will likely only be smaller. I mean it will just be an entirely different dimension. Because that's what happens as you age, you reach new dimensions, and it affects how you view the world.

At the moment my resolution is brandy and bourbon infused and it adds a soft hue to a landscape basked in a continuing-to-fall powdery layer. The thermometer might read 4, but hey, who's to say what [fahren]hei[gh]t's we might get to next year.

So anyway all you inhabitants of the planet, Happy New Year.

Snappy New Year's

Well, I haven't a surfeit of time for writing here, but that's just as well as people put together a whole mess of aggravating gobbledygook this time of year in an effort to, well, I'm not sure what really. I guess they want people to think they're good in making some sort of resolution, or want people to think they're profound or who knows the hell. It's really not a bad thing to want to improve yourself and arbitrarily selecting the day someone arbitrarily selected, since the day you start making the change is pretty arbitrary no matter what, is fine. It's the just the usual case of social media throwing it further in one's face.

Then enters the conundrum of addressing this as I'm doing and not being guilty of some of this as well as inevitably in reference I may incur some sort of differentiation of language. As can be seen, I'm not closing 2012 in any special manner, just incurring the usual circular reasoning loops.

On a related note, there's got to be some sort of (I am loving this phrase today it seems) tracking for the inverse relationship between internet posting and positive mental health. Prolific can be a problem.

Speaking of problems, I have a slight one with the new Bruno Mars song sounds exactly like a mash-up of The Police's "Roxanne" and some other Police song. Lazy research by me, yes, but lazy song creating by Mars' crew. That shit sounds exactly like a Police song. That's why you just change the station or turn the radio off. 

Considering that this blog gets a reasonable number of hits from folks googling how "deaf people are jerks/assholes," I figure I may as well recap my encounter with a blind man the other day. I'd just finished running and it was a little before eight in the morning. He said something, and I noted his stick so I went over to see if he needed help. When I asked, he responded in Spanish, so I said, "No habla Espanol," because I don't (the grammar on that is probably even wrong). To this he responded sarcastically "Parlez-vous Francais?" In spite of his sarcasm, I answered honestly with "un peu," because I do speak a little French.

This left him thoroughly confused and eventually I directed him to the bus he wished to take. I'd have walked him there and let him hold my hand if he hadn't been a jerk to me. "I ask three or four people for help, you are the first to help me," he said, but he didn't sound very grateful. He struggled mightily to interpret the direction I gave him which were only as complex as "walk one block straight, the same direction you've been walking. Then you'll cross one intersection to get the bus going west, which is to the left." He just started walking left, and I re-explained multiple times. 

Given his initial savvy joke, I didn't really know what to make of his struggles to understand my directions as far as seriousness goes. But it did make me not want to be helpful sometimes. 

Some are blind, some are deaf, some it's literal, some just to metaphorical effect. Who cares, get drunk, spend time with some friends and family. Happy New Year.  

Touchdown

I had this very specific thing in my brain whereby I wanted to post an entry before the year ended from good old London.

Well, I'm here, I think this place is great, and I've got to run out and get some booze, but a happy new year to all those on and off the Internet, who do and do not read this blog, and even who I do and do not know. Even if you're an asshole, so long as perhaps you stop being an asshole on account of having a happy new year. I think that's meant to be capitalized as it is considered a proper noun, but what're you gonna do sometimes, right? Right.

See you (or at least type to you) in 2012.

Cheers.

New Year, Same Me?

The classic question as the new year arrives is "do you feel any different?" This same question follows the birth of humans, not just the anniversary of the date when we started keeping track of the years following the death of a certain fellow (also noted as Anno Domini). The classic answer is "no." Why should you? Unless some very significant event happens to coincide, you're really just a second older, so a rather arbitrary designation means little, but is celebrated. I have nothing against people heavily into their birthday or the new year, it's just not really a big deal to me. Doesn't mean I don't enjoy the way the celebrations sometimes go.

And while I've found many New Year's celebrations to be a bust, 2010 becoming 2011 is perhaps the best I have on record. No reason to redundantly reference the end of my last post of 2010, even though I just did it by making that reference, but you know what I mean. My resolution might be to call people out for not only not enjoying themselves, but rather actively sapping the fun from others. No names or anything (and not just because I forgot this girl's), but I happened to encounter an individual just last night who seemed so hell-bent on not having fun. Perhaps her version of fun is to not have fun. That seems like a contradiction of sorts but I think you follow. As usual, this is not to say I am never guilty of this gripe, but I think it is rare and has probably been quite some time since I've done so.

My goal for as long as I can remember has always been to spread mirth and make things as joyful for as many people as I can. Not everyone can sense this. Me and Pink, so Missundaztood... I was verging on detailing the events of 12/30-1/3 as they were rather absurd, but while this may be a personal blog, I don't know, it seems a little silly to chronicle it. Those strange memories and interactions can stay amongst the group that witnessed and participated. One interaction that I will cite, however, took place at a bar on a Sunday evening. This bar is known to have live band karaoke, which is one of my favorite things to participate in. Lacking the ability to sing, write songs, or play an instrument, it's the closest I will get to being in a band. One thing of which I may have a surfeit, is energy. So much so that, after singing rather energetically and continuing to get down, two patrons asked me if I had any powder, their assumption here, if you are not familiar with that lingo, that I must be on coke in order to be doing what I was doing. Don't worry mom, I can report that I have been coke-free since '83.

Long story somewhat abridged, if you're being a sourpuss in 2011, I'm liable to call you on it (except probably not). In addition, I had occasion to attend my first ever Chicago Blackhawks game recently, prompting a friend and I to speculate as to how they switch the surface from basketball court to ice rink, and back. Said friend speculated that the ice lay beneath the b-ball boards and was correct, with the following video serving as proof. It really is a fascinating vid. How that relates to being a sourpuss you ask? Look, just don't.

And it might be very 2010 (since the article was written in 2010) but this review of Keith Richards's memoir "Life" in the form of a fabricated response by Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger is quite awesome. I am a fan of many Stones tracks but didn't know much about the behind-the-scenes bits beyond Keith doing a lot of drugs. The article gives a pretty excellent (and, I think, even) summary of events. Whatever, read it if you want. Whatever, according to a friend, was voted the most annoying word of 2010. It has actually been voted as such two years running. Can it win out in 2011? Let's do whatever we can to keep it up there.

Seems like enough hogwash and jibber-jabber for now. Later on folks.

Ring It In

I'm sippin' on a Four Loko with my homies and I thought I should go ahead and crap out one more post before the New Year is upon us, even though it's upon many of you in other parts of the globe.

I went on my last run of 2010 today and it was a balmy 55 degrees so I decided to do said activity sans shirt. This always invites heckling and I'm down with that. The first line I got was a very sarcastic and morose "Happy New Year," from some schlub. But that's cool. As always I don't know why my goofy shirtless figure inspires ire and slightly more mild derogatory responses but it does. Anyway, I don't let that ruffle me, and I talk about that shit more than enough in here. And plenty of folks gave me horn honks and smiles, so I'll take it.

There were some other bits and pieces I meant to go about discussing here but man, I am getting rapidly lokoed and I've got other business to attend to. Shout outs to all of my WesTech homies who made it out to the Chi and shout out to all of my WesTech homies that could not and shiiiiiiiiiiit all my other homies and family folks as well.

So have a safe and happy New Year celebration all. Dress like an asshole (I will, and always do), get down, do your thing, this holiday is no big deal, but yeah, make it count. Dave Matthews it up, because it's not where but who you're with that really matters.