Life is Hard (No Shock)

Every year for the past 5-7 years, about 3 weeks before Mother's Day, I get these emails from various businesses, this one in particular from Jeni's Ice Cream - yes, ice cream of all things:

Hey there.


We know Mother’s Day is a really difficult time for some people.

This year, like every year, we’re giving you the chance to opt out

of our Mother’s Day emails.



We’ll still send emails about new flavors and in-shop offerings —

we just won’t send you anything related to Mother’s Day.

As you can probably already imagine, I get a similar one just before Father's Day.  There is as stated a method of "opting out" in the emails for this; my question and statement is how do I opt OUT of these ridiculous emails?!  That's the puzzler.

I'm not entirely sure who exactly started this whole thing or why, for that matter, but it is one of many head shakers in today's world. Sure, I get it...if you've lost a parent, yeah, it may be hard for you to experience Mother's Day now that they're gone. But, should it be? And, is this really that loaded of a thing? I mean, do you completely have a mental breakdown because Jeni's Ice Cream, which you voluntarily signed up for the email list, sent you a message in your inbox that mentions "Mother's Day"? Hmm.

Let's be honest for a minute... If all goes well in your life, your parents will in fact pass away before you do. This is, um, fact. If that doesn't happen, well, you were probably unlucky on some level :) Next point, Mother's Day and Father's Day can just as easily be a day to remember your parents fondly (or not) as it is to actively celebrate with them, no? Again, hmm. And, let's not forget this one...both "holidays", if that's how you think of them (I don't personally), are more or less commercially driven holidays that once drove a thriving greeting card industry. So, in reality, what we're saying is "please don't make me remember my mother or father, of the lack of one potentially, on a commercially made up holiday". Yes, I think that's it exactly, no?

Again, let's be honest here for once, something we don't seem to actively do anymore... The younger generations post Gen X were raised to think that every day of their lives they're champions, that they do no wrong, and that life is nothing but good things. The reality is, though, that's untrue, and whereas I think it's great to keep your children from experiencing unnecessary hardships or traumas (of course), no one can completely shelter out all hardships, so, wait for it...whether you like it or not, we're all going to have a bad/hard/awful day here and there because (again, wait for it)...life is in fact "hard", not a game of trophies.

Once we've all digested that long overdue sentiment and said it out loud, in the grand scheme of life, is that commerce generating email about ice cream going to ruin your day so much that you need a method to "opt out"? If the answer is 'yes', I'd suggest just hitting the "unsubscribe" button instead. In fact, I think we'd all do some good for ourselves if we hit the "unsubscribe" button more often. But truly, if your answer is in fact 'yes', well, you're in for a hard life and some brutal reality that will in fact catch up with you eventually - hate to be the one to tell ya. So, buckle up...it's going to get rough, and that Mother's Day email that you received at one point that made you so upset in your younger days is going to look pretty silly later on...trust me.

Whew! Okay, I've gotten that off of my chest. Now, if only I could get rid of these phone calls where they keep calling me Kenneth and trying to persuade me to send personal info for a mysterious loan I never applied for. Ugh.

Just...Stop...the Updating...

Oh yes, 2026 absolutely DID start with a bang...in more ways than one, I'm afraid.  We're certainly off to a year of "winning" and, er, boy, do I feel good about where things are at (and yes, that was sarcasm).

On a note that's rarely even talked about, though, and admittedly minor in the grand scheme of "sh*t show" related items happening on a daily basis, I would like to point out a new epidemic that's probably touched all of us and yet no one really seems to be addressing:  endless updates.

I don't know about you, but I would swear just about every app and webpage under the sun, you name it, have been doing updates galore.  What kind of updates?  Well, usually they say something like 'security' but there are changes in page layouts, colors, how to login, overall functionality, and so on.  In fact, the list is endless.  Unfortunately, so are the inconveniences.

Google Chrome alone probably holds the record for the biggest number of updates on a weekly basis.  Dare I say there are perhaps four weekly?  It seems like every time I turn around, Chrome has an update and I get the dreaded "Chrome has been updated - check out the new features..."  Like I f***in' care about new Chrome features.  I mean, who does?!  And, well, if you do...you need a serious hobby, at least in my opinion.  At least half of these updates clear your cookie cache and then you need to reenter all of your info on your regularly visited pages, which usually triggers the secondary authentication issue, otherwise none as "adding hell onto your already hellish day".  There's no great feeling quite like the message "we don't recognize your device - is this a new device?"  Ugh.

Windows isn't far behind but at least lately it's slowed down slightly to possibly only one update per week.  God forbid you have more than one computer, though, with one being idle for a few weeks because it'll start downloading endless items once powered up, bringing your CPU to a crawl.  I'll give Windows credit where it's due, though, since it can usually now force the update and NOT have you lose all your open windows and information.  Of course, that took some doing and painful learning along the way but...

The real fun, though, are all the little updates that seem to be going on in various app's.  Yahoo Mail has become a freakin' nightmare, in my opinion.  I mean...how did we forget how to have standardized formatting in an email program?  And then, there's Outlook, of which suddenly decided to move buttons around, hide functionality, and the dreaded auto AI pop up's, with messages ala 2000's Clippy saying "hi, how can I help you today?"  My answer is usually "go f*** yourself" which strangely doesn't have an answer.

Seriously, folks, does EVERY app need to be updated?!  What happened to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality?!  Well, it obviously flew out the window and now we're being inundated daily with bizarre changes that sometimes you can't even get your heard around.  I tend to ask at least twice a day "who the hell would have asked for THIS change?!"  Apparently, it's some mystery person that's putting in requests to make our lives pure hell.

Technology used to be considered "fun", "exciting", and the "new frontier".  These days, though, it's more for the faint of heart, people who love to have their process changed daily for no reason, and/or have nothing better to do but submit weird update requests to programmers.  It's no wonder my 85 year old father can't figure out how to do the simplest task on a computer; I can't either.  All hail 2026!  It may just be the year that finally does us in.  Seatbelts buckled...

Ah, 2026...

Ah, 2026 is here (sigh)...  I guess I should be excited.  Is anyone?  2025 was, well, not really the greatest year in general, and whereas I wish I could say that I'm optimistic for this year, I'm, er, not.  In fact, I foresee more of the same:  constant political unrest, people treating each other less than optimally, more communication breakdowns, prices on just about everything continuing to go up to who knows how high, the job market tightening even more, etc. etc.  There's really not a lot to look forward to at the moment.  Hell, we're basically getting to a point where people don't want to communicate with one another at all and would rather talk to their computer generated fake "friend".  These are definitely strange times.

On a different note, I actually can't believe that I haven't made an entry in this blog since September.  Where the heck did the time go??!  I mean, I know what I've been doing...but seriously...4 months have gone by?  Geesh.

It's only day #3 of 2026 and I just glanced at the headlines a little while ago to see that we captured Venezuela's President Maduro.  Where the hell did this come from?!  Oh joy.  Yes, here we go.  The fun just doesn't seem to end, and I feel like everyday I wake up to see what other form of crazy has taken hold of the globe.

I've also had 2 weeks off of work and they've been anything but "vacation".  In fact, I don't feel rested at all, certainly not refreshed, and honestly not at all ready to return for another year with no real time off until Memorial Day.  How on Earth will I survive?  I have no clue.  I might in fact just go insane.

But, hey, I'm still here...sometimes to my own amazement...and my body is still functioning enough to get me through another day (currently).  That IS something, after all.  What other "fun" things does 2026 hold for me?  I shudder to ask and I'm semi thankful there's no way currently to know that answer.

I do hope people have had pleasant holidays, though, especially if you're fortunate enough to spend it with family you get along with, good friends, etc.  As for the rest of us, well, at least there's art and music and films.  Here's to hoping that 2026 pleasantly surprises us.  One can only hope.

I Think We Can All Agree

Leaving politics out of it, I think we can all agree probably on one thing:  the world is certainly NOT headed in the right direction.  This statement alone could spawn about 500+ entries in this blog and I feel like every day of my life a new entry gets added to the list.

I'll say this - this is certainly not the "future" I was promised while visiting Epcot Center in the 1980's :)  I still remember riding Spaceship Earth as a child, seeing supposed glimpses of the future, one I think of an older man floating in the air while using some sort of computer device, and then I look around me today and think in a very David Byrne styled way, "...this is not my beautiful life...how did I get here?!"  Same as it ever was...

One thing I've learned is that pretty much all roads of modern "ick" lead back to one thing; the internet.  Now, I'm not going to sit here and say that the internet is "bad", etc., because it certainly isn't and it's brought about tons of improvements in day to day life.  Since we never as a group or society have ever really talked about "how" to implement the internet and what regulations there should be around it, that's a different story...and I believe that's exactly how we got here.  What do we do now?  No freakin' clue for it's a mess and only growing day by day, having spawned into a thousand mini threads.

Let me burden you with just one very minor example, if I may.  About 2-3 years ago, I was expecting an important phone call at any moment from an institution that I had never talked to before, meaning I would have no way of knowing what the incoming number would be (I think it might have been a doctor's call but I don't remember exactly).  I just happened to be driving at the time and a call came in, and like a fool, I answered it...you know, using my paid for product (cell phone) for exactly what it was intended for.  A crazy thing to do, right?!  When I answered the call, there was a pause...and then a voice said, "Kenneth?!  I'm calling you about your loan application..."

Well, this was a big mistake.  I've been plagued now with repetitive phone calls and texts, usually 2-3 times a week and 2-5 times per day, where I'm being hounded about some supposed loan application for my business (I have no business, btw), with promises of anywhere between 40k - 600k at a 7% interest rate.  Yeah, I know...you know exactly the calls I'm talking about, right?   That is, if you've answered and used your phone for what it was intended for as well.  Worst of all, every call and text begins with "Kenneth"...and if you haven't picked up on it already, my name is not Kenneth nor anywhere close to it.

At first, I was boggled because these calls and texts were coming in from every area code under the sun and yet it sounded like the same verbiage.  I then learned about how it's legal apparently to do call spoofing.  Why?!  Well, not sure.  As of late, these calls have a few classic styles of robot voice, where the voice uses different tones, I guess to see if the receiver will respond based on the gender and tone?  I don't know...I'm guessing because I really don't understand it myself.  The latest one has a slight exhausted tone to it, like "I've really been trying hard to get ahold of you but you're not answering" kind of thing, perhaps so that I'll feel sorry for the bot and call back?

This of course has rendered my phone basically useless, meaning I can't really ever answer the phone unless the number shows me exactly who's calling and I recognize it.  I just want to reiterate...this is a PAID FOR service...not something I'm given for free...and I'm hounded nearly every day for it.  Hmm.  Meanwhile, the government apparently doesn't see this as an issue, but then again they don't see many things as an issue so I'm not sure why I'm shocked by this.

The worst part is that I don't even understand the scam.  I mean, who the hell are they trying to get a hold of and how would this work?!  The message says "we've received your application.." but there clearly isn't an application, nor do I have a business like I already mentioned, so how would this work exactly?  I mean, if I did actually call back, wouldn't the first comment out of my mouth be, upon being asked for personal info, that you already have that info based on my "application"?  See, I don't even get it.  More than anything, I just want to scream at someone that I'm not f***in' Kenneth, for crying out loud, and this of course has spawned a thousand plus comments from me over the years about "Kenneth...what's the frequency??!"

Anyhow, this is just one measly example in a world of 10 million.  Maybe I should start a podcast about the stupidity of day to day life.  Not a bad idea.  I've often thought about making a "rant" website where people could call out various businesses and processes that drive them crazy.  These are all good ideas, of course.  Maybe I should start that business...but of course I'd probably need a loan...and then somehow I'd end up actually being Kenneth after all.  Sigh.

A Wish

I've pretty much had the same wish for the past 20+ years of my life and that is to suddenly come into enough money so that I no longer have to work a day job.  Now, I could go into that in gory detail but I won't.  I've always hoped for a rich aunt or uncle who somehow is smiling down upon me without my knowing it, suddenly writing me into their will and I inherit a small lump sum of cash, just enough to live comfortably.  The other option, of course, is to win big in something like the lottery, or in San Diego we have the annual Ronald McDonald Dream House raffle of which I contribute to every year.  Just for the record, I would NOT take the house; I'm more than content to stay exactly where I am and instead pay off my debts.

It should be said that I've never won anything in my life.  Nothing.  Zippo.  I don't even think I've won something like $20; it's almost absurd.  However, for things you don't want, I seem to have a bit of luck in that arena.  Hmph.  Therefore, I don't have much hope for the winning part.  Hell, I've been entering Sweetwater Sound raffles for 2 decades now and I've never even won a pack of guitar strings.  I just have no luck at all.

As for the rich aunt or uncle, well, I don't have one of those either.  In fact, all of my aunts and uncles have passed and they barely even acknowledged my existence at times (a whole different story there).  And so, my wish I think has fallen on deaf ears all the way around and I'm most likely proverbially screwed.

I would like to add, though, I don't have this wish because I either want to live a lavish lifestyle nor am I lazy and don't want to work.  In fact, I've always had this wish for the exact opposite reason; I just want to focus on my arts, and yes, I use that word plural because IF I had the time I'd be branched out probably in about 4-6 different directions.  I would dare say that I'd be just as busy if I was working a day job and quite possibly even busier.  I have sooooo many ideas that it's ridiculous; the problem is I have so very little spare time.

This leads me to a phenomenon that I've personally never understood.  In talking to people in the workplace over the years, when I've mentioned I've love 3-4 weeks off at a time rather than the ridiculous one week, I have often heard, "oh, well, you'd get bored.  I know I get bored being at home with the kids.  I look forward to going back to work usually."  Yes, this puzzles me beyond belief, and if this doesn't say something about what's wrong with society then, well, I don't what does.  Let me tell you super straight forward - this would not happen in my case, in fact it's physically impossible, in my eyes.

I don't think I've personally been truly "bored" in about 15+ years.  In fact, since life feels like it moves at a faster speed year after year, I have felt for some time like I'm on an unwilling roller coaster ride where the mechanism just keeps speeding up over and over even though I keep waving frantically to the operator to slow it down.  I don't remember what being "bored" felt like, it's been that long.  Now, that's not to say that I haven't had small moments of physical boredom, mind you, but it really has been at least 2 decades since I had to sit around and give it serious thought as to what I should be doing at that very moment.  In fact, my todo list is so incredibly long that if written out on paper it would probably cover the entire state of Rhode Island.

Let's be honest - life isn't great these days.  We're all going through some version(s) of tough times but one thing I always say...the answer to most people's issues is getting a hobby, and I mean one that actually really encompasses your time.  I think most people would seriously be more content if they had something that they really cared about to focus on, and of course that comes in a variety of flavors.  In my viewpoint, actual "boredom" is a bit of an enemy of human existence since we all want to feel useful on some level.  I can tell you firsthand that without my artistic endeavors I would probably perish because it's the only thing really in life that makes me feel like "me" and fulfilled as a person.  I simply can't stress this enough.

Having said all of that, if anyone would like to leave me a lump sum of money out of the kindness of their hearts so that I could explore these endeavors, I can only say that I'd put it to good use and try to make the best art possible.  I would most certainly write a huge 'thank you' to you in whatever art I created, and if so desired, hell, I'll even write you a song...just say the word.  Or, if you prefer, I'll make a film about you...it's your choice.  Since that probably won't ever happen, though, I'll make do with the chaos of living at least dual lives on a daily basis, probably until I drop from pure exhaustion.  I've never gotten much financial support in my life so I probably would be completely dumbfounded by it anyway, and I haven't exactly been brimming over with moral support either.  It's been a tough ride.

Now, if only I could ever take a real vacation...but that's another story as well.

Be Kind to your Fellow Artist

Times change, of course, with new levels of technology and ways of behaving being introduced into our lives constantly, and due to that the ripple effect tends to make an impact across most of our daily lives in ways we can't even foresee.  One thing that shouldn't really change, though, is the basic human desire and need for communication...and yet it has.

One thing that always stands out and irks me in modern life is the idea of "ghosting" someone.  This is fascinating albeit in a very negative way.  I've never understood it personally and strangely most people who tend to do this activity use the excuse of "...I don't have time for...".  Ironically, I probably have less time than they do and yet it doesn't take that long to simply give someone an answer on something or have a bit of a discussion where needed.  Still, this does seem to be a lost art.  Ghosting also seems to be a thing whether it's someone you barely know or a friend of 10+ years.

When it comes to art, one area that I advise not ghosting is with your fellow artist(s).  If you happen to know someone who is an artist type, say musical or film or a writer, etc., and if they so choose to share their work with you, you should absolutely a) make it a priority to check it out in a timely manner and b) respond back to the artist in one fashion or another.  I mean, this kind of seems like a no brainer, right?  The truth here is that the artist has put countless hours of their time and effort into their creation and apparently they think highly enough of you, the person they're sharing it with, so it's really not something to ignore.

I recently had an incident where someone was asking for me to share some of my not yet "hardened" work with them, something I usually don't really like to do for the obvious reasons.  Still, I obliged due to the request, shared the links, and...well, dead silence...and ultimately no response.  So, what's the big deal, you ask?  Well, no one had actually heard this material yet and now the very first person that did disappeared and didn't feel the need for any sort of response.  This of course triggers a series of unnecessary internal responses, such as 1) second guessing myself and the new material and 2) not feeling the greatest in general.  Yes, no joke...this still happens...even hundreds of songs later.  It's called being human, I think.

Whether I like it or not, this inevitably makes me start wondering if said person didn't like the song, but if so then why?  Well, there's no answer, of course, because there was no answer.  Or, was it something else?  Hmm.  As you can see, this is a lot of wasted energy that's brought about by someone else's lack of consideration, to be frank, and nothing to do with me personally.  Luckily, I'm experienced enough (aka old) to be able to talk myself off of my own ledge.  It also leaves me rather inclined to raise two middle fingers towards said individual.

I know we live in an age where especially younger folk think that "ghosting" is not just easier but completely appropriate.  Well, let me tell you...it's not.  In fact, it's things like that which have been bringing our society down all around us for years now.  So please, stop contributing to the problem and, er, do the right thing....for it's everyone's responsibility, whether you think so or not, to be decent to those around you.  After all, that is the simplest task we can do and it actually doesn't take that much effort.

I know we're all guilty of forgetting to follow up in a timely manner with someone, myself included, at one point or another.  Again, it's called being human and being caught up in this lunacy that we tend to call "life", and it's okay to an extent.  Still, let's collectively do what we can to be kind to one another.  I think we need that more now than ever.

Let's Face It - Movie Theaters are Doomed

I keep hearing the annoying question all the time about "what do we have to do to get people back in the theaters", and "...the film industry is in trouble...", "...this is a crisis...", and so on.  These questions are always strangely posed as a consumer related issue, and whereas I don't disagree that there are certainly problems, I'm not sure the consumer is solely to blame.

I just came from a movie theater for the first time since before COVID and I'll tell you this...I don't plan on returning.  Seeing a movie in a theater, specifically a mega plex, meaning an AMC or Regal, etc. is just the biggest pile of you know what ever.  Why on Earth would I WANT to do this on a regular basis??

Here, let me explain.  First off, you have to reserve a seat, of course.  Why?  Beats the hell out of me because 50% of the time I arrive and some dufus is either sitting in my seat or like tonight they take the seat literally right next to me while the entire rest of the row is empty.  I mean, seriously?  And so, I end up sitting in a different seat...so why did I reserve a seat again?  Not sure.

Next, I had the pleasure of sitting through 35 minutes of commercials, AMC pat on the back reels (talking about how amazing their theater was...wow), and the most god awful movie previews ever imagined (I actually thought 2 of them were a practical joke).  The scheduled time of the film was 7:45pm; it finally started at 8:20pm.  What was the win here exactly?  Nothing, because none of it was anything but complete torture, marketing, and just to be clear...when I watch a film at home, um, the film starts when I intend to watch it and press 'play'.

Then, there's the seat itself.  You know, these supposedly comfy reclining chairs?  If you ask me, they're gross (always strangely warm) and just kind of ridiculous but honestly they're the least of my complaints in the grand scheme.  However, if I want the seating to resemble something from my living room, then why not just actually BE in my living room?!  Hmm.

And so, to the film industry, I am going to give you the SECRET to resolving your movie going problems and ongoing questions.  If you really want to solve the movie theater going problem, you should:

1) Go back to the old movie theater format.  Please tear down all the mega plexes and never, I repeat never, build another.  At the most, a theater should show 4 movies in 4 different theaters all of the relative same size.  Preferably, movies should be shown in the old preserved theaters that are still standing, making absolutely no need for any goofy new theaters.

2) Get rid of reserved seating.  No one likes it and it simply has no purpose except for being a pain in the *ss, requiring people to purchase tickets online, jump through a bunch of hoops, and so on.

3) Stop trying to entice the masses with offering alcohol, wider food menus, and the idiotic "we'll deliver it to your seat" idea that tonight's theater had.  If you can't handle getting your popcorn on the way in, it must not be very important to you so please do without.

4) Stop making everything a touchless and digital experience.  If I'm going to a theater, believe it or not I actually want a little bit of human interaction on some level here and there.

5) And, last but certainly not least, and this one is not to be missed...  Above all...start focusing on making intellectually stimulating, interesting, daring, and overall creative films again.  Stop the nonsense; stop the dumbing down of plots; stop the pointless action films; stop the never ending idiotic sequels; stop trying to turn films into an amusement park ride experience; and for god sake's stop the super heroes already.  Hire real writers who actually have ideas and who can actually write a script.  Then, allow directors and film makers to do what they do best - create art.  Period.  Yes, it's really that simple.  "If you build it, they will come".  Let's not forget those immortal words...ironically taken from a film, of course.

The film I saw tonight was beyond awful ("The Shrouds") but only made worse by the entire AMC Theater experience.  It also set me back about $40 for one person including the so-so popcorn and medium drink.  The mass exodus out of the theater really isn't only about the money, though.  There's simply nothing appealing about the experience and that's exactly the problem.  Change it already.

Of course, there IS ownership on the audiences as well.  We need to put the damn phones down, start paying attention, start being courteous to one another, and start allowing art to flow through us again for without it we're becoming a mere shell of what we once were, in fact we're moving closer and closer to looking like the very AI we all fear.  At this rate, AI will be more real than us.  Scary.

  

We're Being Invaded by...Bunnies?

Something very strange is hitting the internet this year and it's something I can't really get my head around.  Maybe it's just me (probably not) but almost everywhere I turn online I'm seeing this:

I mean...wtf?!  It's some bizarre ad for a "robot bunny", apparently "taking the internet by storm" or so they claim.  Um...huh??  I mean, why?!

I've said this countless times before but I'll say it again:  at times like this, I don't feel like I'm a human being nor of this planet.  For example, I can tell you firsthand that I have absolutely, positively, without any doubt in my life no reason or desire at all to have a robot bunny crawling around my house.  In fact, the mere concept of it boggles my brain.  Why would ANYONE want a robot bunny doing a limp hop throughout their home?!

Yeah, sure, it's Spring...Easter is on the near horizon, and so on, but how in the hell does that equate to a robot bunny?  In my head at least, "Spring != Robot Bunny", to put it in technical terms, nor do I see how that equation is changed to a positive for anyone.  Ah, but then again, this leads me to my other old rant about none other than marketing, something that I've simply never understood...ever.

Going back to my comment about not feeling human, I'll openly admit that I often hum or sing along to various ditties from commercials, etc., and may even say something akin to the fact that I really like a specific commercial or presentation.  What I don't do because of this, however, is buy the actual product...unless I'm already buying the product, if you know what I mean.  To be even more blunt, half the time I know the song/ditty really well but have no clue what the product actually is or what it's for.  In other words, marketing for the most part simply doesn't work on me nor do I think it ever really has except for possibly when I was really young, like pre 20's.  Ever since then, however, I simply feel rather immune to it and often wonder why companies waste the money.

It's then that it hits me...SOMEBODY is  buying the product due to these stupid commercials, right?  I mean, if no one bought it, they wouldn't advertise!  So, bringing this back to the bunny above, some damn fool out there is clicking on this idiotic looking robot bunny and then possibly purchasing it.  Why you ask?  Beats the living sh*t out of me.  All I can tell you, though, is that if YOU'RE that person, well, you're ruining it for all of us since we all now have to suffer from watching this goofy little yellow bunny hoppin' around on our screens.  Also, just for the record, I'm not sure bunnies actually come in the color yellow either - sorry, I just needed to throw that in there as well.

Seriously, folks, we need to wise up as a population and stop the madness.  There have been a lot of proposed boycotts lately but how about we all just agree at the very least to boycott the robot bunny?!  Ah, that would be a dream most certainly.

They're Coming for your Keys

Let's be honest:  lots of things in our day to day lives have been under attack for awhile now.  Why?  Well, there are various reasons, some I think fairly misguided but with good intent, but sometimes I can't even wrap my head around what could possibly be the gain.  Even better, it's hard to know the 'who' and the 'when' behind the attack, and so we're all basically becoming completely paranoid 100% of the time that some mystery person(s) is going to jump on us at any moment from anywhere and for any reason.  It's kind of akin to one of my cats that's always on guard, as if some mystery animal is going to fall from the sky, perhaps by parachute, at any given moment simply with the intent to scare the living hell out of her.  Yes, it's exactly like that, actually.

So, what now, right?  It's the CTRL key.  Yes, you read that correctly...the damn CTRL key, the one on the right side of your keyboard, to be specific.  If you're like me and aren't regularly subscribed to the latest keyboard related news (and why would you be...that's quite a question in itself), you won't learn of this bizarre attack until you purchase a new, say, laptop in particular, and you'll go to do something akin to a CTRL 'A'  or a CTRL 'C' and find, low and behold, there's no CTRL key to do this with.  Yes, that's right, it's been 'repurposed', now with that annoying little Microsoft CoPilot icon, their latest invention that they're pushing on us in every new version of Windows, um, without asking us, of course.

So, then, how do you do a CTRL 'C' exactly?  Well, I guess they expect you to stray from standard typing and do it all on one hand in 2 separate annoying keystrokes...OR...right click the mouse in about 3 keystrokes.  Makes sense, huh?!  Let's slow down all productivity so that we all have access to this annoying new 'feature' that at least most of us a) didn't ask for and b) are desperately trying to remove off of our taskbars in the first place.  Wow.  Yes, this IS the world we live in now, sad to say.  We've finally become a nation of "please, break everything that's currently working more than adequately".  Hmm.

Now, there are apparently work arounds, one being installing some new program called Microsoft PowerToys.  Yes, you read that correctly...PowerToys.  I know what you're thinking, and I know exactly what that name made me think of.  Hah hah.  I can only imagine this was the developer's personal inside joke, not unlike the old "Little Mermaid" phallic symbol on the VHS tape cover ploy by a disgruntled employee.  The bad news is that the PowerToys workaround is not working on my laptop, and did I mention that this is my work laptop?!  Yes, that makes it even worse considering I use the right CTRL button about a thousand times a day in my work life.  I mean, I use the left CTRL key way less than the right one...couldn't you guys at least take that one instead??  Can we at least negotiate which key on my keyboard you will needlessly hold hostage?!  That'll probably be next,  you know...where you'll have to pay a ransom fee to get access to the keys you're used to.

And so, the moral of the story is that truly nothing is apparently safe anymore, and my cat had the right idea all along, waiting for the mystery parachute animal to fall at any second.  I've always said you can learn a lot from animals...so there.

Who passed the gas?!

For years, I've heard about the warnings behind propane and gas grills  I mean, I've been using gas grills since I was about 14 years old and have never had a problem.  I simply thought the dangers were overly exaggerated.  Well, I guess not.

The gas grill I have now was left by the previous owner of the house.  It's basically a huge grill, way larger than I would ever need, and because of that it of course sucks up the propane like a thirsty camel in the desert.  As an added bonus, upon moving in and first opening the grill, there was the lovely surprise of an entire family of rats living literally inside the grill, with them scattering in terror upon lifting the lid.  I had been wondering where that strange odor was coming from and...well...er...

In any event, the grill got cleaned, etc., and I've been using it off and on ever since.  For such a large grill, something that is built in to some concrete and tile and was probably fairly expensive, it's bloody awful.  In fact, it works way worse than any of the Weber's I've owned and I can only chalk it up to the enormous size of it.  It's one of those things where nothing ever cooks even close to evenly on the thing, almost to a maddening degree.  It also takes forever for it reach its ideal temperature.

I've taken to cooking pizzas on the grill, though, and it's become a favorite thing of mine.  For whatever reason, though, this particular day about 2 months ago the grill wouldn't light.  This was a first.  Now, I've always gone against the grain and lit the grill with the lid down.  I know, I know...they say DON'T do this.  Yeah, whatever, pish tosh.  So, again, I'm clicking the igniter and nothing's happening.  I was a bit tired that day so I kind of had a lapse in judgement, where I silently thought to myself, hey, did I forget to open the propane spigot?  Weird.

Well, no sooner had I convinced myself that might be the case, after a little bit of time, I decided to push the igniter again.  It was like in slow motion...where as my finger was slowly pushing the trigger, my brain was saying "...but you did turn the gas on...and it's been pouring into the lid for the past 45 sec...".  And that's when I had fully pushed the igniter.

WHOOOSH!!!  No kidding, the lid literally flew open like Arnold Schwarznegger had pulled it with all his might, and also all the smaller doors in the back and front blew out equally loudly.  For a moment, I thought I was in "Christmas Vacation", when the uncle lights his stogey at the Christmas tree and burns both his coat and his toupee.  The kaboom noise was beyond belief, especially since all the doors are pretty heavy, and I stood there and let out a very loud "Aaaaaahhhhh!"

My first thought was...am I on fire?!  Nope, I seemed okay.  Did I lose any limbs?!  Nope, they're all there.  Actually, I think I'm alright.  What about the house?!  Is IT on fire?!  Nope, it's okay.  In fact, the only damage seemed to be the doors and the lid blowing up with such tremendous force.  Wow.  Let's just say I was extremely lucky for once.  I also looked around sheepishly.  Had any of my neighbors seen me do this?  Nope, I don't think.  Nice.

After collecting myself, I continued on and placed the cooking stone on the grill, and so on, although slightly shaking still.  I felt like a total idiot.  What was I thinking?!  Geez.

And so, yes, apparently all those warnings about the gas grills, propane, gas, etc., is real.  It's no joke so take it seriously.  Meanwhile, I still light the grill with the lid closed...I'm just more careful now.  Some people never learn ;)

Why Post?!

There are many things in modern society that I could rant about for hours upon hours but one that never ceases to burn my proverbial arse is the classic user review.  I'm referring to pretty much any user review at this point, whether it be a product on Amazon or a restaurant/food establishment on GoogleMaps, or even a product on, say, Macys.com.  It really doesn't matter where it is these days; it's all completely pointless.

I mean, why do we DO this?!  It's all so very confusing.  Let's think about this historically, mind you.  I think the whole reason the user review began was to give businesses a chance to have regular folk speak out about products that they love or don't really love rather than having professional paid writers/reviewers do it, probably with a percentage of them being slipped a dollar or two to lean one way or the other.  That's how it started, I think.

Like many decent ideas, this has completely gone astray.  These days, you have people with absolutely no idea what they're talking about whatsoever saying "this is the greatest" and then you purchase said product and you're like, um, this is bloody awful.  So, what's the point?  I know, you're going to say "it's all a matter of opinion".  Is it though?  I would argue 'no'.

For example, this has been a long standing argument in the film category for decades, where one person says film A is better than film B.  Sure, this is where subjectivity comes in...provided that the person(s) doing the talking has actually some knowledge about film ('...knowledge', you say?  What's that?!).  Have you ever been in a conversation with two 10 year olds arguing over which cartoon is better?!  That's what it's like.  If you have no knowledge on said topic, you can't possibly defend your position.  This is one area where user reviews have really failed for any Joe Schmoe can leave a review and have absolutely zero clue about what they're saying, and you, the reader, don't really have any idea if the source is trustworthy.  Ah, but it says 5 stars, right?!  It HAS to be good!

Another major failure is that the paid reviewers actually knew how to write and use grammar, etc.  Wow, that's really gone out the window, hasn't it?  Ugh.  Some argue that language skills are overrated and unimportant (all that matters is math, right??) but I would still say that without communication you might have the greatest ideas in the world but no one will ever know about them if you can't share that info.

And then, lastly, user reviews can fall into the category of "business wars", where people have a weird biased competitive liking of a certain business so they'll post over bloated reviews just to pump up sales and state their opinion.  Even worse, the business itself will have their friends and family post bloated reviews just so they show up higher in the lists, or purposely post negative reviews about other businesses to try and drag them down.  I also can't fail to mention the most bizarre of the user review...the one that is reviewing, say, the material on a CD or album and instead it's talking about how the UPS man delivered the product 2 days late.  Stranger even yet, there's also the occurrence where the category could be about a movie and the reviewer is instead talking about a video game.  It's all very puzzling.

I think there's only one thing to do, really, and that is to completely nix the user review idea and (gulp) go back to professional reviewers.  Having said that, we do need to put regulations into place so that businesses can't pay to inflate their sales but we've really no other choice.  The way things are, there's a billion tons of data out there for us to peruse; unfortunately, it's 90% garbage.

It's Not Allowed

There are two foods that are simply banned and not allowed in my household:  Cheetos and Doritos.  Yes, that's right, there's an "if you see this snack, call 1-800-XXX-XXXX" 'wanted' style poster on my kitchen wall, warning everyone of the potential danger.  They're armed...and dangerous.  Beware!

They're probably 2 of the worst foods for you, although I have no proof to back up that claim but that is a logical guess.  They're also 2 of the best foods for enjoyment...ever...in my opinion.  In fact, they so "have my number" that I simply can't resist them, hence why they're not allowed in the house.  I've gotten a bit better at resisting the Doritos urge (my personal favorite is the Tapatio variety...my god) but the Cheetos urge, my crutch being the Flamin' Hot variety, do tend to call me in like Satan on the steps of the Vatican.

I liked regular Cheetos, especially Crunchy but sometimes Puffy, enough as it was, but once they invented Flamin' Hot it was all over.  I mean, it was immediate and complete total love.  It was like someone invented the perfect food to literally do me in.  Resistance was futile.  I'd just look at a bag and could feel 5 lbs. of fat forming around my abdomen.

And then, I got older, and my stomach got worse and worse.  These days, if I eat something like Cheetos or Doritos, it's pure bliss going down and then hours of pain after.  Due to this, I've had to really stack up my resistance factors but still the evil does call to me on occasion, sometimes in the middle of the night.

Last week, I stupidly read a headline that said something like 'people were going crazy over this new Flamin' Hot variety'.  Dumb, dumb, dumb, because I immediately was on a quest to find a bag of the new Flamin' Hot Cajun Cheddar Cheetos.  This prompted an accidental bumping into Crunch Buffalo Cheetos at the store.  Foolishly, both varieties ended up in my pantry at the same time and, no joke, both disappeared within a matter of days.  Having said that, the stomach pains still haven't stopped.

The funny part is that neither lived up to the hype.  I mean, I could almost argue that the flavor wasn't that great.  Ah, yes, but it's something about that damn crunch that gets me every time, coupled with the heat, and so the addict in me comes out in full force and the next thing I know over half the bag is gone.  On average, it takes two sittings to down a bag and that's only because I force myself to stop; I mean, I could easily eat the whole bag in probably a matter of 7 minutes.  When they say that these foods are chemically altered to psychologically stimulate people to eat them, it's no joke.  This sh*t is powerful.

Even weirder, though, we as a society seem to be obsessed with "crossover foods".  They're everywhere these days, and why?  I have no clue.  I personally don't like them...I mean, the regular Flamin' Hot Cheetos are literally a perfect food - how can you possibly perfect it?!  And yet, we try, and then idiots like myself down the bag in a marathon fashion while not even liking the flavor.  In fact, it just makes me that much more likely to now go buy a bag of regular Flamin' Hot Cheetos so I can down those since I didn't get satisfied the first time around.  It's clearly a ploy.

Back to crossovers, though, why are we obsessed with this?  I get emails all the time lately about the BBQ Chicken pizza.  I mean, huh?!  If you want BBQ chicken, why not just eat BBQ chicken?!  Why do you need that in pizza form?  Then, we do pizza flavored other things.  It's all very puzzling and it personally drives me a bit nuts.  Now, I'll admit that I do like some of it, that is when I do indulge, but for the most part I try to steer clear, if nothing else for the sake of my poor stomach and intestines.

For this round, Cheetos definitely won.  Score - Cheetos 10, me 0.  Ah, but I'll avoid ya next round, I swear, I swear.  Oh, if only.

  

Scatterbrained

I hadn't realized that I missed posting in June.  Hmph!  I've been trying to post at least every month but apparently I forget on occasion.  Even worse, I get these ideas for a blog post that come to me usually at odd moments, and I mean to write them down really quickly but by the time I get to my computer they've flown out my other ear, to be lost for all eternity.  I do remember one of them, though, and perhaps I'll still post it so I'll leave that out for now.  Other than that, though, I'm at a loss.

So, how are things with everyone?  I will say things are decent here.  I've of course been incredibly busy, hence the lack of writing in some regards, and time is simply passing by at a continually alarming rate.  I did manage to get the EP printed and released (check!).  I also managed to get some t-shirts in motion (double check!).  I am still struggling with the second EP, a task which feels like it may never end at this point, but I literally almost work on it nightly, doing my endless tinkering.  Just call me the tinkerer; it's better than the other words that some have called me.

I also had my 6 month follow up at the derm's office.  Yes, that's right, I have 5 more spots that have formed on my head.  Oh joy!  If these are surgically removed, I'll be up to 17 total.  Ridiculous, especially for someone who 1) never leaves the house and 2) basically lives in darkness.  I can't help but feel like this is a conspiracy of sorts.  At this point, I'm considering getting a toupee since at least it would cover up the majority of my head from the sun on the rare occasions that I actually leave the house.  Hell, Thomas Dolby just did it, why can't I?!

Knowing my frustration, my dermatologist finally offered me the option of using the chemo cream option to help burn off any remnants on my scalp before they turn to all out cancerous spots.  And so, I've been doing that for a week and a half and...low and behold...absolutely nothing.  My next door neighbor used this same cream and his entire scalp and face turned beet red, with the skin coming off like a really bad sunburn, etc., which means that the cream is doing its job.  For me?  Nothing, apart from a slight shinier sheen to my skin.  I mean, how can I possibly have the skin of iron that the chemo cream can't penetrate when I'm obviously so very susceptible to actual skin cancer?!  Yes, folks, this is my life.  I'd be a liar if I said I was shocked by the irony in this.

In other news, my eye conundrums simply continue but so far, fingers crossed, it doesn't seem like my retina has torn again...yet.  I had a lot of fun with ordering glasses this year, however.  Imagine trying to take an eye test, where they're trying to figure out the correct prescription for you by asking which version in the little hanging glass thingy looks better, and then imagine that you can't really see straight to even tell.  Yes, that was the fun I had, and I literally had to order about 6 pairs of glasses from Liingo.com before more or less getting it right (it's actually hard to say that because, well, I don't see well enough to say that with full confidence).  I will add that all the folks that I dealt with at Liingo.com were absolutely amazing so I can't recommend them enough.

I eventually decided to get more expensive lenses put into my frames because I figured it might be a better idea given my situation.  Well, this opened a whole new can of worms because apparently your basic level optician doesn't seem to understand that you may not see well enough to answer the questions in a straight forward manner.  This led to minor arguments, discussions, sending glasses back repetitively, and so on.  My personal favorite was that this particular optician, of which I don't think has any business being in the business, insisted on taking my new frames that I had just perfectly fit to my face and then bent them in a manner that's left them completely crooked.  Hmm.  Yes, that's service in 2024 for ya.  Needless to say, I don't recommend this optician; in fact, I'll go out on a limb - she's a complete idiot.  She may be nice and sort of pretty...but she's a complete moron, in my opinion.  Avoid at all costs!

I know I had something else to share but I'll be damned if I can remember what that was.  I seem to say this more and more these days.  The older you get, the less you remember, and sometimes that's actually for the better.  And so, I'll end here.  More later...hopefully.

Yet Another Month

It's been awhile since I've posted but figured I'd poke my head out here.  I've been extremely busy between work and music so I've had little time for anything else.  I'm busy enough that I usually am quite stressed in general, running around the house like a lunatic, trying to get as many tasks done as I possibly can in the smallest windows of time possible.

I've got my day job, music, writing, both large and smaller house related projects to figure out, artwork for CD's, sending off songs and mixes for potential new video ideas, usually some doctor's related appointments, normal chores, and of course play time with the cats.  I usually end my days with watching at least a portion of a film before passing out and going to sleep.  Most of my days are fairly exhausting, to be honest.  My cats are convinced that I'm boycotting them.

I've lost track of the last time that I mentioned Mohs.  I had my "last" appointment almost a month ago and so my head is starting to look more healed.  I've had 12 excisions so far...and I go in again in mid June to be reevaluated, of which I'm fairly certain I have at least 3 more spots that will need to be removed.  This madness just never ends AND I rarely ever leave the house - seriously.  In fact, I didn't really leave the house much before but now that I have to douse my body in sunscreen even if I'm running over to Starbucks for a whole 3 minutes, it's made me even more of a hermit.  I'm sure the neighborhood thinks I'm a guitar playing vampire or something along those lines.

On top of that, I've been fighting with my vision again.  I had a weird occurrence just a little over a week ago where it seemed that I saw a lightning bolt out of the corner of my eye.  Well, there was no lightning, mind you, and the vision in my bad eye suddenly got a bit worse as did the distortion/crooked lines issue.  I finally got ahold of my retina doctor but he doesn't seem too terribly concerned at the moment.  This either means that weird things are to be expected in an eye that's had 2 retinal detachments or that he's looking forward to making more cash for a potential boat purchase when I have to go in for a third surgery.  This remains to be seen, I guess.

Has anyone else had issues with progressive lenses?!  My prescription altered greatly with last year's retinal detachment and so my new glasses are pretty wonky.  The reading/progressive area is now fairly powerful and I'll tell ya...I can't see sh*t usually in these glasses.  I mean, it's ridiculous.  I heard somewhere recently where some people suggest NOT getting progressives, which are ridiculously pricey, by the way, and instead just having multiple pairs of glasses for different purposes.  It sounds like a pain in the ass either way but I'm thinking I might explore it since I'm getting tired of bumping into things constantly.  Hell, even pouring coffee can be challenging at times, especially with a bad eye.  I can't even count how many times I've spilled or knocked something over in the past month.

That's pretty much my life at the moment.  As soon as something amusing happens, I'll be sure to write about it here :)

You are Reading "Low Value Content"

I was slightly amazed to look at my stats and see that people actually read this blog.  Wow?!  I'm seriously both honored and humbled.  I know my Marillion Weekend posts from over a decade ago get a lot of hits so that's probably the majority of it, but then again I'm getting daily hits so I'm thinking that maybe people are just randomly stumbling upon it.  My thinking is that people are so wanting something to read now and then and not have to deal with pay walls, signing up, etc.  Well, you're welcome...and thank you for reading!

Due to the number of hits, I made the goofy decision to maybe try signing up for Google AdSense.  Now, I say that like I know exactly what that is, of which I don't.  I get the concept...you know, those annoying little ads that display on the side and title bars of a page that then take you to some bizarre product that you didn't even know existed, and now maybe are a bit scared to know that it actually does.  You get the drift.  And so, I signed up for Google AdSense...and received a bizarre "no" in response.

Why?  Apparently, I have "low value content".  Hmm.  Now, in expanding upon what that means exactly, I had to waste about thirty minutes of my time skimming through page after page after page of, well, ridiculous rules and regulations.  Everything limiting porn to guns to the war in Ukraine to politics...  On and on.  Then, it moved into "unoriginal content" via screen scrapes, "doorways", content that can easily be found on another site, created by AI, and so on.

Let me be frank - I'm pretty sure I haven't exposed my naked body or anyone elses in this blog.  Fairly sure, actually, so I should be safe there.  As for guns and the war in Ukraine, again, I'm sure I haven't crossed any lines.  I don't believe I have any "doorways" unless that's considered a link to my other blogs, which would make absolutely no sense to me at all.  So, I have to guess that I'm being accused of either screen scraping, which is pretty outrageously bizarre, or they're simply saying that my content has literally no value whatsoever to anyone in the world.  Hmm.  Yeah, that doesn't hurt at all :)  Thanks Google!

Needless to say, I deleted the request for the AdSense account and shrugged my shoulders.  I guess in this world you can post as an authority on any number of topics that you may actually know nothing about, and that's apparently okay.  However, if you just maintain a regular "blog", of both your thoughts wrapped in with some comedy and silly things that happen during your day to day life...well, sorry, you're kaput.  Oh, I probably shouldn't say "kaput"...that'll probably generate on a report somewhere.  Yep, flagged again.

And so, dear reader, of whom I at least greatly value your eyes and time, I just felt it was my duty to let you know that you're indeed reading "low value content".  You've now been warned.  And yes, I write every single word...the old fashioned way...using my brain and fingers.  You have my guarantee!

A Cut and a Chunk Here

And so, the beat goes on...  Have I mentioned that I've had more Mohs done?  Yeah, it's a blast, seriously.  Mohs in general really isn't that big of a deal but when you're in the "blooming" phase, as my doctor recently put it, it simply gets very old quickly.  I'm now approaching procedure number 12 and from the looks of my scalp, I believe I'll have at least 2-3 more to add to it afterward.  I keep telling her, "...but I don't want to bloom!  I don't want to bloom!"  I'm not sure who's watering the seeds but I wish they'd stop already.

I've always been a very careful person and I've rarely had any accidents, falls, major cuts, no operations up until about 4 years ago, etc.  Well, at this age I seem to be making up for lost time.  I've lost count of the number of scars I have, especially on my head and facial area, and now I even have one on my left forearm.

So, this latest one is considered an "excision" rather than Mohs.  What's the difference?  Well, from what I can tell, it's simply that they cut, dig, and sew up right away, whereas with Mohs they cut, dig, and then study under the microscope.  If you're lucky, they then sew; if you're unlucky, you start over and do it again, kind of like some weird boardgame where you keep getting put back to the "go" square.  The bottom line is that one you're out in about 35 minutes while the other is 2-5 hours, depending upon how many times you go back to the "go" square".  Sounds great, right?  And you thought Monopoly was tedious.

Strangely, this excision on my arm is very itchy.  In fact, it's been nearly impossible to not scratch it, although it's the area around the excision that itches, and that's mainly because once you've been cut in this manner you more or less lose all feeling in that exact area, at least for a while.  It's a strange thing having all these little patches with no feeling.  I also have noticed a large amount of orange bruising on my arm which caught me slightly off guard.  Other than that, it's been pretty easy and straight forward, and I will honestly say that it's way easier addressing wounds that you can see right in front of you versus something on the back of your head.  You have to get pretty good with a mirror to slather antiseptic from a cotton swap while looking in a mirror at the back of your head, that is if you don't want to slather it accidentally on your ear my mistake (unless that's the intended target, of course).

All of this is going on while I still have a healing Mohs spot on the back of my head.  I don't know why but the ones on the back of my head heal much worse than the front.  My skin is fairly sensitive so I tend to get mild eczema break outs around the stitches...it's all fairly annoying.

I will say that I'm now getting to know the other "regulars" at the derm office, often chatting with them in the hallway, comparing notes, and so on.  I recently chatted with someone who readily admitted he's a nudist...yeah, you do the math on that one.  Honestly, I don't even want to think about getting these sorts of cuts down...well, there.  Geez.  He showed me one of his scars but luckily not one in that area.

Ah, life...  As they say, it beats the alternative!

I Think It's All Gone

Call me crazy but I think we're living in a new society.  Now, this isn't going to be some crazy political post, and quite frankly I can't handle those myself, but I would be amiss to not mention things around me that seem terribly obvious and yet no one seems to be commenting on them.  What am I talking about?  Well, for starters, mayonnaise.

Okay, that's not totally true.  This is NOT a post about mayonnaise...but it does start with mayonnaise, and I think it's a perfect example of what I'm referring to.  So, pretty much since the dawn of time (slight exaggeration), there has been a staple of a product called Hellman's Mayonnaise in the east and Best Foods Mayonnaise in the west (same product, btw, just two different names).  This has literally been the mayonnaise of the whole entire country since, well, I was born (the dark ages?).  This product is a staple because it's been consistent beyond belief.  It had a rich texture, full flavor, etc.  Well, not anymore.

Maybe you don't eat or use mayonnaise as much as I do but this product has absolutely, positively, hands down, without any doubt, changed.  It is not the same product.  Hell, just look at it!  Yes, even the color of the product has changed, where it was always just a slight creamy off white and now it has this grayish tint.  And then, there's the taste...  What I loved about this product was that it tasted "good" and not at all like icky bizarre Miracle Whip.  Well, those days are definitely gone.  Take a glob of this new version and tell me your thoughts.

So, what's my point, you ask?  We in this society are getting a snow job.  Products are being altered, changed, cheapened, and who knows what the heck else and no one seems to be noticing.  How is that possible?  I mean, seriously?!

Another one which is more well known is the "pint" of Haagen Daz ice cream.  Maybe you don't already know this but it's no longer actually a pint.  Hmm.  They have stated that they had a choice...either raise the price or decrease the quantity.  This is apparently a phenomenon that's happening to a whole slew of products out there.  If you're like me, you're probably thinking that they decreased the quantity AND increased the price...and I'd dare say you're correct, or at least that's what it seems like.  If nothing else, though, it rolls off the tongue easily to say "I want a pint of ice cream", and it's not quite as easy to say "I want a pint minus two ounces or 14 ounces of ice cream please".  Yes, it's simply not the same, is it?  No wonder math is more important these days.

Ah, but the list of products seems to just grow every day.  More and more products are cutting corners, changing ingredients, and probably, well, poisoning us all in the name of saving themselves a little cash.  Pretty soon, I wouldn't be shocked if water is no longer the main and only ingredient in water...but I shudder at what they'll use to fill in the gaps.

When and where does this end?  Have we no pride in anything anymore?  Will a Twinkie no longer have the infamous lasting 7 years cream center and instead something just shy of shaving cream filler?  And better yet, how have we not noticed?  One thing for sure - I'm beyond tired of the "supply chain issues" excuse.  C'mon, COVID's over, at least as an epidemic.  This is just a money grab, some strange and bizarre experiment to see if the American public notices.  And the scariest part?  We apparently don't.  Sigh.

Just Say No

It was announced that Joni Mitchell was going to come out of retirement to do one (now two) special performances at the Hollywood Bowl later this year.  I actually hadn't heard about this but I saw it written in an email and apparently it was blasted all over the news, the internet, etc.  After being rather shocked by this info (she is 80, after all), I then realized that pretty much everyone on Earth now knows about this performance.  This means that ticket demand would probably be fairly outrageous.

Now, I've purchased a lot of tickets in my life; in fact, one might say I'm a ticket buying expert.  I've been through all the phases of this dreaded event, from camping outside to physical in person lotteries to online purchases to scalpers, and so on.  I think I've seen it all.  What I've never seen, however, is the below.

I made a point to jump onto Ticketmaster a half hour early this time around, mainly since they tend to open ticket buying lobbies earlier than the posted time, something I personally think is completely bogus but probably helps prevent the website from crashing.  The lobby opened at the fifteen minute mark, I had to validate my account which admittedly took longer than I would have liked, and then I sat idle in the lobby for the next 15 minutes.  When the buzzer finally went off to say that ticket buying was live, I got this message:  "You are now in the queue...23,130 people ahead of you".

I'm sorry...what?!  23k people are ahead of me?!  This defies all belief.  How is that even possible??  I had to do a double and triple take, mainly because I've never seen a number that high in my life in a lobby and, well, my eyesight isn't good.  But yes, it DID say 23,130, and I could only sit there and scratch my head.  Prior to this, I thought being number 1,000 was bad...but 23k?!

As you can probably imagine, I didn't end up buying any tickets.  To add insult to injury, the only tickets that were available that I would be interested in seemed to be $1250 - $1450...per seat.  Um...?  Nothing like spending a mortgage payment or two to see a show at the Bowl.

So, let's back up...  This WHOLE bs via ticketing agencies was all about scalpers, etc.  The agencies and the artists wanted to cut back on scalping, especially back in the day when there were literal "ticket brokers" in business doing this sort of thing.  The solution the agencies evidently came up with was jacking up prices so that only the super rich will actually be able to buy tickets, and also allowing every average joe the opportunity to buy and then sell tickets at a profit, in essence taking the scalper problem from 10% of the market and making it 60%.  Yes, folks, this is the world we live in...and even weirder no one seems upset about it.

Now, I don't blame Joni, mind you, since I doubt the 80 year old has anything to do with ticketing whatsoever.  Still, I think it's time for us to say as a society that enough is a enough.  I say just say 'no'.  Sorry, Joni, but it t'ain't worth it.

Meanwhile, I'm still sitting in the lobby...and I now have only 19,510 people in front of me.  Hmph.

Things We Don't Have

I heard the most fascinating thing the other day while grabbing some food.  This particular establishment had a line up of large coffee thermoses, if you will, kind of like in the style that, say, Einstein's used to have, with probably about 6-7 varieties.  While making the difficult decision, a worker came up, interrupted my thought process, and asked, "Let me know if you'd like any coffee that we don't have."

This, of course, puzzled the living heck out of me and left me momentarily speechless.  How exactly does one answer this question?!  What does that even mean?!  These were the initial things that popped into my head, and then about all I could manage to squeak out was a "um, okay, thanks."  I mean, what can you possibly say to this question after all?

I then pondered this even more.  Was he saying that he had more coffee in the back and that he'd get it if it was requested?  Or, was he asking for opinions for possible additional flavors and styles, like, "...I really wish you had X coffee..."?  My personal favorite hypothesis, though, was that he meant it literally; "let me know if you'd like any coffee that we don't have".  Hmm.

I then couldn't resist but run with this in my mind a bit.  Maybe this guy ALWAYS talks like this - could you imagine?  He walks into a bank:  "Hi, I'd like to withdraw some money...that I don't have".  "Here's my ATM card...that I left at home".  "I'll place the funds into my wallet...which is in my other trousers".  Or, maybe he asks other patrons at the food establishment, "Tell me if you'd like to order something off of the menu...that we don't actually make".  "Would you like to add avocado...which we don't keep on hand?"  I mean, imagine the possibilities here!  This could be a very interesting world to live in and it immediately made me want to be his friend, just to see exactly how far this curious line of communication could actually go.  Then again (sigh), it's probably more much likely that he either had a slip of the tongue or it was simply a language barrier.  Still, ah, yes, I much prefer my version.

We all know that communication is going down the toilet.  The English language has certainly been bastardized by the likes of texting, laziness, and an overall feeling that proper communication is simply unimportant.  I personally think it's a huge part of what we all hate about daily life now and the demise of common courtesy...and yet most people don't seem to want to admit it or do a thing to change it.  Therefore, I stand on my lone island, the defender of the language, kind of like Joan of Ark as she burned at the stake, while everyone else around me attempts to communicate via a series of grunts, emoji's, and bizarre shorthand.  I'll continue to use complete sentences, dammit, no matter what, even in texts.  Grrr!  Oh, wait, that's a grunt...please ignore.

And now, I think I'll go play some music...that was never made.

The Beat Goes On

I'll admit that I'm running out of titles for these posts.  Geez.  I also keep wanting to get back to more amusing entries but alas that's been a bit difficult over the past couple of months.

I guess first up I'll say that my eyesight has moderately improved over the past 2-3 weeks.  In fact, it improved enough that I was able to drive myself over to see Devo in Del Mar, which actually turned out to be the best show I saw all year long (albeit I didn't see that many).  At that time, I still drove with an eyepatch over my bad eye, especially at night with all the glare of the lights.  Once I got into the venue that evening, it was a bit disorienting trying to walk amongst other people without bumping into them or other objects, and I mainly kept to myself.  Alas, I got through it and ended up having a great time.  Oddly, I had never seen Devo before.

About two weeks later, I finally stopped using the eyepatch while working.  I found that the double vision had gone down a bit and therefore I could make it through the day without the added inconvenience of this material hanging over my eye.  I still don't see great at all, mind you, but it's nice to be able to have my eye "open" again and without a huge amount of double vision.

I found that I could start trusting driving a bit more as well as getting back on my bike, all of which I took slowly and with extra caution.  I just recently graduated to not using the eyepatch while driving period, and I also made my first long drive since probably 5 years ago, with driving out to Arizona to see friends and family.

I wish I could say that everything's been better but a very dear friend of mine experienced a terrible tragedy in his family of which I won't go into here, and then just days later my aunt passed away, hence the trip to AZ.  It was all very earth shattering and hard to get a grip on.  I was pleased that I could actually make the journey, though, and I dare say that I wouldn't have been able to do it only a week or two before.

This week, I finally had Moh's appointment #8, the last of the original group.  I was supposed to have this one done back in early October but I had to cancel due to the retina detachment.  2023 has been...well, quite a year, and certainly not a good one for me at all.  I had grand plans of getting tons of things done this year, least of all music projects and also starting on a major house renovation, and basically everything has been delayed repetitively due to all the dramas going on.  I know I've said it many times before but getting old(er) is hell, I tell ya.

At this point, if I'm still breathing past the first of the New Year, I'll consider it a "win" because, well, wow.  More so than ever, I wake up each day happy being able to see another day.  Now, if I could only get back to business, per se.

I'm now looking ahead to having my usual 2 weeks off over Xmas, something I greatly look forward to every year and that usually gets away from me.  Ah yes, but not this year...we're going to make the most of it, right?!  I said, right??!!  Yes, right!