I work in the food business. And this time of the year is a total kick in the gonads for three weeks. An Italian food warehouse is odd to begin with. Nothing like the smell of salted cod fish to really wake you up. Panettone… The stuff I have had before tasted like roof shingles. And on and on… But working the warehouse means that only our telemarketers, salesmen, and truck drivers get, if any, goodies. I guess that our customers must think that our drivers load their own trucks. I can deal with all that. I only work four nights a week. A “real” hardship, sarcasm really hitting home. But the damned phone ringing every five freaking minutes with customers either wanting to add on to their orders or someone who forgot to put in an order before close of “normal” business hours. Trying to tell some of the later that our computers are shut down for the night get some pretty, shall we say, creative responses. Two more weeks of this and it’s back to the normal routine.

The past two days for me have been weird. Monday I can’t find my house keys until at home after work. Lucky I had a spare set. I tend to loose things. Today I thought I put my PSP and my head phones in my bag. They were not there. I could handle not being there. The head phones were another thing. Listening to either NPR or sports talk or music helps me keep my sanity. Needless to say, this pay check, I’m buying an extra set. Nothing like hearing a moron at work complaining about how bad a movie he watched was. And then telling every fracking soul who will give him the time of day. The work place is still there. But it was touch and go for a while.

I’m listening to Swing Out Sister just to escape the crappy Christmas muzak (miss spelled on purpose. that’s how I view pop singers who feel they must sing Christmas songs. Give me The Kinks “Father Christmas” and leave me alone.). Or some Les Paul. Thank God for an mp3 player that has a 16 giga byte SD card.  

Hope everyone has a stress free Christmas!

I’ve been to a few concerts in my life. I’ve wanted to go to more. All ways something got in the way of going to them. Go figure. But the person I’ve seen the most is Bruce Hornsby. Four or five times. I’ve like this guy from from the start. The two best concerts I saw him when he was just him and his piano. Never a dull moment and I never hear the same set list. I’ve seen Huey Lewis twice, Journey twice (Both times were with out Steve Perry and they only played with encore 90 minutes.), Rush (on my 30th birthday, how cool was that?), Bryan Adams (My favorite concert t-shirt: 69 just do it. I had more people honk at me. I wonder why? ), Rick Springfield, REO Speedwagon and Styx. I wished I could have seen The founding members of Little River Band play together. I had a copy of a concert they did some years back but It’s out of print now. I now watch concerts on DVD or on Youtube. But seeing a live concert is the way to go.

Zoz came from a book I read as a teenager called “Video War” It was about teenagers who like to play video games alot. A town wants to ban video games and they try to fight it. Anyways, one the main characters used Zoz as his nick name seeing how all you could use at the time was three letters. So I’ve used that in some form or another for the better part of 20+ years. Me, I like pinball games better. I grew up with them and if I see one and have the time I will spend a few dollars on one. Pinbot was my favorite.

Went in for a bone scan on my left foot. I’ve had a open wound on the bottom of left foot for the better part of three years, underneath and below my toe. My foot doctor had thought an infection may have gone into my bone. No word yet but a piece of something that was in the wound came out. I’m going to save it and give it to said foot doctor when I see him next. I’m Type II Diabectic and my feet circulation is a joke. I also work in a food warehouse where I’m on my feet 10+ hours a day. And my right ankle was fractured four years ago and never really healed. But I am working, not as fast but still do it well and fast enough to keep my job of 17 years. So am crossing my fingers on this one. So I am functioning on three hours of sleep and may be goofy in a few hours.

I’m not watching/listening to another Cleveland Browns game this year. It was a good thing I was filling in for a guy in a freezer because I was turing the air bue with profane comments about the game. I’m going to give up on “professional” sports. There are other things to entertain me.

I’m waiting to see how my holiday work schedule is shaping up. The people in the office want the 26th of December and January 2nd off for some damned reason. So us night shift workers are getting screwed again. I remember on year we had to load trucks on The 26th. But clock in at one minute after midnight after Christmas Day so we wouldn’t get double time. At least we’re getting a Christmas ham. OUr “Christmas Party” consists of them finding some local restaurant to cook up something cheap (for the drivers and loaders) and we may get a 30 minute break to partake of the food. No punch/alcohol. Did I say I’ve been there 17 years?

Wanting Cartoon Network to start showing more of Green Lantern The Animmated Series. I have the first two episodes on my PSP and want to see more…

Still haven’t watched Captain America First Avenger yet. And I’m NOT looking forward to The Avengers movie next year. The next Batman movie I can’t wait for and am avoiding any news/spoilers…

Debating on picking up the new Tom Clancy and Stephen King books. Both have disapointed me with their last offerings. 

Starting my diet January 1st. Halloween candy killed me. 75% off and it’s all gone. Did I mention I’m Type II diabetic? So I’m off my yearly sugar indulgence until next year. Three Musketeers and Milk and Cookie Hershey bars will be the death of me. So, I’m back on keeping that intake down to a slow intake. Just the pasta bread (carbs and carbs are my kryptonite). At least I’m three plus years on not have a cigarette. Man being able to breath easier is so much better.

It’s been almost a year of not buying comic books. Man I was spending as much on comic books as I was smoking.

Time to start another load of laundry. And another hit of Diet Mountain Dew. I need the caffeine…

Another year of inductees and still my favorite bands/artists ain’t in. I’ve been to the place in Cleveland when they offered a free admission and let me tell you I was underwhelmed. Exhibits yeah, but not interactive. I’ve heard the museum in Seattle is interactive but this one not so much. Guns and Roses and The Red Hot Chili Peppers should not be in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame yet. Not when Rush, The Carpenters (Yes The Carpenters I said it), Journey, The Little River Band (Not the touring band, the original members. There’s a big legal stink out it.), and Stevie Ray Vaughn. I’m so over it. I think the place doesn’t belong here anyways. We coined the phrase but Cleveland has contributed little else. Soon I’ll post my favorite concerts. One hint, he ain’t in the Rock Hall.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, blogging more than once a day means I have no life. Yeah, this is my life. I think…

Anyways I was on Netflix looking for something to watch and there are a number of shows that I liked that never got a second season. Here’s a few:

Firefly: The first weird western in the future that was good and the only Joss Wedeon show I liked. And it got made into a movie. “I Aim To Misbehave” is one of my favorite lines.

Space: Above And Beyond: When Fox was trying anything and this worked. The only silent episode and that worked.

The Adventures Of Brisco County Jr: Two Words: Bruce Campbell. Yes I have his autobiography “If Chins Could Kill”. And he’s one of the reasons I watch “Burn Notice”

The Unusuals: Jeremy Renner before “Hurt Locker” and it’s funny.

Vengence Unlimited: Michael Maddsen in a great role. I have the boot leg on DVD somewhere.

Caprica: That show had such promise but screwed the pooch. From the same guy who gave us the remake of “The Bionic Woman”. Go figure.

Threshold: A quirky sci-fi show that never got the audience it so deserved.

Those were the one that jumped at me. If there are any that I missed and should try and find, let me know.

I’ve never been a fan of remakes of movies or tv shows. Taking the idea and turning it on it’s head I’ll take a look at. Battlestar Galatica is the only successful remake/re imagined TV show/Movie I’ve seen. “Star Trek” is a close second.  The reason why I’m doing down this path is “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”. I saw the original on Netflix. I saw all three movies one night of being not able to sleep. Disturbing set of movies. I tried to read the books with no luck there (I tried to read “The Da Vinci Code” with no success either.). So along with a host of other movies to add to the remake list is this movie. Doesn’t Hollywood get it? “The A-Team”, “Lost In Space”, and a host of others. And don’t get me started on George Lucas with his re-editing of “Star Wars”. Never has my inner geek got raised in up-roar when I saw “Stars Wars” again with Greedo shooting first. Had I not gone to see it with friends of mine, I would have walked out of the theater and demanded my money back. So out of out side of being conned into seeing “The Phantom Menace”, I have not seen another George Lucas movie since. Back to “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”, I like the actors who did the roles. I can’t imagine anyone else playing the roles. Yet Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, and David Fichner are good but why oh why do we need another remake? “Spider Man” next year. Ah well, the last movie I paid to see was “Iron Man II” and I wasn’t impressed with it. Time to close for now. Brian

Okay, I have a account there. Why I did so in the first place is a mystery. Then I got all these friend requests. Ones from high school. Big fracking mistake. I don’t how it is with other peoples’ high schools but I think mine is the most messed up. Out of a class of 300 give or take, maybe about 100 or so are on Facebook and the rest are not interested at all. It tells me something about that experience. So after a year of that, I dumped that group of friends (I had my ex step-brother wanting to friend me. Really? the guy was a pain in my ass during HS and at home.). So now outside of family and people I like, the only reason I’m there is to play Bejeweled. How wrong is that? I have the new version on my laptop but the one that’s on Facebook is much better. Go figure. The main reason I don’t post there is I get to rant here with out someone being nosy about what I’m thinking about whatever I’m thinking and getting the third degree about it. Say one thing out of context and you think you’re committing crimes against humanity. yeah, I tride to quit the account earlier and got the third degree from my sister. Yeah, Xanga is my to think out loud with out pissing off family. And seeing how Facebook is so every where, I’m liking Xanga a lot more. With everyone connected to the site, it’s so danged easy to find information on people. Ah well. Time to get off my lazy but and rejoin the family. Brian

Since I’m with Netflix Streaming I’ve been watching more British shows of late to go with the American shows. I’m watching on Netflix “Murder In Suburbia”. I call it a version of “Cagney and Lacy” A bit of humor with out the CSI. “Torchwood” is another one. “Sherlock” An updated version of Sherlock Holmes.  “Top Gear UK” The American shows are “NCIS”, “NCIS Los Angeles”, “Castle”, “Body Of Proof”, “Top Chef”, “Chopped”, “Justifide”, “White Collar”, and “Burn Notice”. I’ll be watching more now that Winter is settling my neck of the woods. I wish Cartoon Network would show more of “Green Lantern The Animated Series”. From what I heard, this is better than the movie. I downloaded it from the Playstation Network to my PSP. I may be closer to 50 than I want to be but I still love my cartoons.  I listed “NCIS” first because there aren’t a lot of shows that combination of humor going for it. “Castle” is because of “Firefly”. Nathan Fillion is a great actor and there is still good writing going on. “Body Of Proof” because Dana Delany still looks hot and it’s funny. Still can’t figure out “Top Chef” or “Chopped” but I do watch them. There are a few more shows I watch that either are a impulse watch or my memory is in serious need of more data storage. Why oh why isn’t there a USB port to have a thumb drive to go with it.  Going to cut off for now and re-watch something saved on my memory stick. Maybe “Dual Survival”. That show is about two survivor experts with “unique” personalities that are put into different survival situations. Fun and informative.

A few years ago a friend of mine was going through a rough patch in life as we all do and I made a disk of songs that got me through whatever life was dumping on me at the time. There is no set list here. I have it on my mp3 player as a set and hit ramdom. Again there is no real order. Boston “Don’t Look Back”, Jackson Browne “Running On Empty”/”The Pretender”, Night Ranger “The Secret Of My Success”, Styx “Fooling Yourself”, Little River Band “Help Is On It’s Way”, Utopia “Just One Victory”, Queensryche “Best That I Can”, Journey “Be Good To Yourself” 10000 Maniacs “Trouble Me”, Andrew Gold “Thank You For Being A Friend”, Bob Segar “Like A Rock”, The Eagles “Get Over It” Earth Wind & Fire “That’s The Way Of The World”, Extreme “Stop The World” Stevie Ray Vaughn “Caught In The Crossfire”, Howard Jones “No One Is To Blame” Jon Parr “Man In Motion”, Kansas “The Wall”, Mike And The Mechanics “The Living Years”, Mr. Mister “Kyrie and Neal Schon “I’ll Cover You”. That’s a partial list. Any combination of these songs for me keeps me out of the dumps. If anyone has any songs/set lists that keeps you from going insane, I’d like to “hear” them. Brian

The Kinks “Father Christmas” The Eagles “Please Come Home For Christmas” Paul McCartney ‘Wonderful Christmas Time” The duet that Bing Crosby and David Bowie did Anything by Trans Siberian Orchestra

   

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