Our Global Economic Crisis Claims Another One ...

Oh Iceland, I barely knew thee. Reykjavik was always on my list of places that I wanted to visit. Maybe some day but not now. So if the Government has failed what the hell is in its place? Is Iceland an anarchist state now? It happens to the best of us I guess. 2009 I guess is the year that job security becomes a luxury item. It has affected my immediate family and I'm sure someone you know has been affected to. Can I just tell you I think I am in shock. Enough has happened in the past two weeks and with all the stresses that have happened in it I'm feeling kind of numb. You could tell me a box of kittens was just run over in the street and I don't think it would phase me. My only fear is that I'll find myself alone one night and it will all hit me, and in case that night comes I keep a bottle of vodka under the pillow. With the exception of a few highlighted moments its been a pretty shitty January. Oh well.

February is right around the corner and bring on Groundhog Day! Not this weekend but the weekend after I get to go up to Vermont as well. Do a little visiting with friends and then its off to my old college to start my term on the Alumni Council. For those of you don't know where Lyndon State College is or for those of you want to reminisce I give you LSC-3-D.

Set Phasers for Fun

Well the past 24 hours have been good. While no one really walked out of Mohegan in riches we certainly all had fun. Right Sharon? Last night was fun while also being incredibly cold. For those of you didn't know last night I went to see Back to the Future at the Coolidge. It was a midnight showing so I got to Coolidge Corner a little early I thought about getting a bite to eat but I wasn't very hungry. So after a quick run through the Bookseller I settled into Starbucks for some Apple Chai and some quiet time to read and wait out my movie. I am very into this book Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson the weather geek in me just loves it but that is just the icing on the cake. Its well written and Erik has a way of portraying the times in which he talks about in such a way that you feel like you are there. Unfortunately for me Starbucks closes at 11, so I was booted into the cold. My only other option being CVS I decided I would just go wait in line. It wouldn't be too long before they let us in.

Boy was I wrong. A whole hour later I was finally able to to warm up inside the theater. Prior to that though we waited outside in line in 12 degree weather. I fortunately was prepared mostly for the wait but I was only wearing some old New Balances on my feet which didn't insulate well from the cold. I am fully convinced had I waited longer frost bite would have started to set in. It was that cold. I fared better than my younger theater goers who doffed skinny jeans, vans, and hoodies. Why we didn't have an EMO Popsicle could only be explained by their knack for finding warm pizza out of the dumpster behind the Upper Crust. What can I say I roll with an elite crowd. Actually I didn't know them and had nothing to do with their subsequent selling of said pizza to make a quick buck.

Finally after figuring out some fancy crowd control we were let in and led to the theater. Honestly I felt like I was nine again watching this movie and despite having seen it hundreds of times before on DVD it was so much better on screen. I can't wait for March when they do Karate Kid (hear that Melanie!.)

Arriving home at 3 AM didn't give me much time for sleep as some good friends and I were heading down to Mohegan for some fun. Moe introduced me to the Wizard of Oz slots which were very playable and allowed me to experience many bonus rounds, but my true moment of serendipity arose when we ventured into the new Casino of the Wind. Or is my friends like to call it the Alcove of the Wind do in no small part to its relative size to the other casinos. It was there though that I would find Star Trek the Slot Machine. To say I geeked out was an understatement and totally what I needed at the moment. Some may remember my post in 2007 on the Top Gun. Well this blows it away in every way. So far I have only seen them in the Casino of the Wind. The most fascinating part of this slot is that you can choose a persona as you have the capability to collect medals which allow you to play other slot games on the same machine as you advance in rank. Since its all saved, in two months I can go back and continue as if I was still sitting at the machine this afternoon. Not too mention it was just cool. I think the beauty of it was lost on my other gamblers but I enjoyed it.

By the way I'm just putting this out there. Why is it that you give people a chance to smoke somewhere and they completely destroy themselves. I mean I swear these people are smoking 3 times more than they ordinarily would at any given day. And as a precautionary note if you are that ADDICTED to something then should you really be gambling in the first place? Just a thought.

Powerless

I don't know what it is. Maybe its the over all melancholy day I've had so far; knowing that I am going to be out late I really haven't done much. Maybe a touch of seasonal depression, or maybe my current mood is brought about truly by the current condition of so many I know in my life. Overall I am fine. I have everything I need, maybe not everything I want but at this point in time I'll settle for that. Whats troubling me are the amount of people I know who are in distress for whatever reason. The reasons are many from financial to medical to emotional and back again. While the reasons are varied they all carry one striking similarity. I can't help them; no matter how much I want to there is simply nothing I can do to help. Short of granting wishes, miracles or even simple medical marvels I can not do a damn thing to help these people, and I believe its starting to take its toll on me. Now mind you no one has asked for my help, but I am not the type of person who can just hear bad news or tales of struggle without becoming empathic.

It was just this week that I realized just how much is going on and it arrived at the same time I realized how much I can't solve all the problems. My natural response is to do just that, but that is up to the people with the issue to solve on their own. Otherwise it doesn't really go away, it just gets put off. Knowing that the responsibility is off my shoulders doesn't make it any less harder to see and while I offer as much support as possible. I fear its not enough. So I guess my next lesson to learn is to have a little faith.

Let Me Just Say This . . . Fuck Valentine's Day

Does that make me sound bitter? I hope so but not for why you think. As if Christmas didn't bring its own gifts and cards, and Thanksgiving wasn't enough to show how thankful you were. Nope you need to buy more pointless crap just to let your significant other how much you care about them. No pressure or anything, I mean it should be real easy to show them how special they are with the mass produced cards Hallmark is chomping at the bit to drive down your throat. Oh and don't forget the chocolate in any and all forms. Especially the cheap ones in CVS cause you know nothing says love like brown chocolate wax sold for $20. Wait there's more. FLOWERS who doesn't like flowers. Hell I like getting them and have given them.

Whats my beef then? Why the sudden caddishness? Maybe its the smugness of advertising, telling me that "Valentine's day is just around the corner, make sure to run right out and buy . . . " Shite! Enough, in the past week I have seen two friends lose a job, more who are still without jobs, and even more for whom job security went from being a given to a luxury. Hallmark doesn't care if you love your partner of 10 years. Hell they would sell "Thanks for the hookup last night, make sure to get yourself to the free clinic" Cards if they new it would sell and not piss off the masses. All they care about is the money. So works not going well make it up with a card. SCREW 'EM. Time to show people what really matters.

You want to send a message this Valentine's Day. Kill two birds with one stone. Do something nice, do something special. You want to make that person feel special do something unique not what every other poser is doing. At the same time send a message to the Hallmarks of the world. Your hard earned money is yours, we spend far to much of it already on things that are not necessary. Make a card, put some effort into it, make it special. Or you could always just throw some money at just to get it done. You tell me whats a better picture of your relationship?

This Valentine's Day leave corporations out of your love life, you'll thank me for it later.

Year of Projects

Maybe it should be considered a character flaw, maybe its a sign of a burst of creativity; call it what you will but I find myself with a glut of projects I want to do. Of course none of this has to do with work. That's a different beast. All of it is personal and in most cases artistic or creative. Whether its writing, carving, burning, mixing or cooking I got a project for it. 2008 was the year of the ideas so 2009 calls out to me to be the year of finished works. Its time to put nose to the grindstone and make some of these lofty goals a reality. The best part is though its all fun stuff. So it doesn't feel like work. At the same time though I still want to have fun, and I need to take a more active role in the social calendar this year. Instead of looking for those events to go to and waiting for invites; I'm going out and making them and being creative about it. Its not necessary to spend a lot of money just to hang out with people. I say this as I plan on going to Mohegan Sun this weekend. But its true and I intend to be doing a whole lot more once the weather gets better outside. For now though we have to find things to do inside. Like this weekend in case your not a friend of mine on Facebook feel free to check out the Coolidge Corner Theater for Saturday nights movie hosted by Johnny Cupcakes. Yeah I know its late but live a little why don't you. Nothing is more awkward than when I meet people in a bar or out anywhere really and I ask them "So what have you been up too?". Their reply is usually something along the line of "work and then I come here". Here being the aforementioned bar and such. Well that's all fine and good, but it leads to a quick conversation since I can't usually relate to that. I prefer to go and do stuff; anything, something, not just TV, not just Karaoke. I don't mean to offend and if I do, I apologize, but my life needs to be so much more than that. Maybe that's what others are content with but I am not. I'm not proposing you kill your TV and abolish the drink, but do get out and experience something. Don't repeat a song already created by someone else. Don't settle for watching a life less ordinary when you can live a life less ordinary. Create music, go sledding, make a sauce, do something and I guarantee you a day to remember and a story to tell.

Thanks for listening.