Holiday rant

So let's start this off by clearing this up before I begin.  I do not hate Valentines Day, but I do have some issues with it.  Now it's origin and traditional celebration is actually not problematic for me.  Although the bit about giving children valentines to ward off getting epilepsy seems unlikely to be effective, but remains hilarious to me.  And in regards to this I think I'm going to give random children valentines that clearly state this in the future.  Not sure of the legal ramifications for this, but I'm sure I will learn that soon enough.

Back on topic, my issue with Valentines is that its current custom is just expected vapid consumerism.   Which is interesting that the holiday happens to fall in the economic lull that follows the holiday season and precedes the increased spending on travel and vacations that tend to occur in the spring and summer.   So basically it is a well timed holiday that in the last 100 years has grown and changed significantly.  A holiday celebrating a Christian saint is now popular in many places around the world including many non-Christian regions.  And the average amount spent each year has been increasing, from 2010 to 2013 the amount spent for the holiday increased 23 dollars, up to 131 dollars in America.  And it is not as if I can sit here and chastise anyone for spending money for Valentines.  I have spent a good deal on the holiday in the past and a bit this year already.  But I still think it's bullshit that a holiday that is supposed to be about showing love and admiration for those in your life has become about buying said love and affection.  And yes those two things don't have to necessarily be related, but often there is some expectation that in this connotation that they do.  If someone were in a relationship and chose not to buy any gifts or flowers for their partner for the holiday, and this was not a previously spoken about ordeal, the partner would likely be disappointed or question the relationship.  The fact that the partner would be disappointed shows that the expectation for purchased good is entwined in the holiday.

Now of course this does not mean we need to spend a lot or follow the spending trends that are occurring.  But once again there are some societal pressures to do so.  How many stores this time of year dedicate at least one entire aisle to Valentines gifts or candy?  How much advertisement do we see around this time for "unique" or "personalized" gifts you can order right from your smart phone?  And all for a reasonable price with this discount if you order now.  And most of us at one point or another will fall for this trap.  And that is okay from time to time.  But overall this is not what I think should be the focus of Valentines.  As I said at the beginning I don't hate Valentines.  I just think it should be a hell of a lot simpler.  We shouldn't have to spend a ton of money to show our love.  We also shouldn't wait for one day a year to do so.  If I am in a relationship I try to show my love and affection throughout the year with small tokens or gestures to show how I feel and how much I appreciate them.  I may be making some broad assumptions here, but I am fairly certain most people would prefer being shown that they are appreciated more often than once or twice a year.  So fuck participating in Valentines for the sake of participating in Valentines.  Be good to your partner throughout the year, give small gifts and notes.  Don't wait for a holiday centered on consumerism to tell you  to be good to your partner.  Stop buying bullshit and get creative.  Make something, write something, create something that actually shows you give a fuck, not that you can afford things.

Happy Valentines day or whatever.... Dicks....

Welcome to the New Year

So in starting this new year I've been reflecting back this past one.  And it was a hell of a good one.  I got out of a seriously unhealthy relationship.  I moved out of state and started mostly fresh.  Which was terrifying but it has worked out reasonably well.  I live in the nicest place I have ever lived (that is not my parents house anyway) and have one of the best roommates I have ever had.  My job... well its' still my job but it  hasn't been terrible and it pays well enough to survive out here.  And the icing on the cake, I met one of the most amazing people, and although I don't know exactly where that is heading I am truly grateful for the time spent and memories had thus far.  And I can't wait to see where that goes with this year.  So it is official 2015 was one of my best years to date.  Here is to hoping 2016 is at least half at good.  And if your 2015 wasn't very good, well my 2014 was awful, so it can get better.

How I can keep up with this and nothing else in my life I'll never understand.

It is that time of year again.  Time to reflect back on a year of adventures and experiences.  Or if you are me time to make sure you kept up your on going plan to read 2 books a month every year.  So I will apologize now, this blog will probably be quite boring since its just a place for me track how well I have done on this so far.  So in no particular order here we go:

1. The Short Drop

2. Life and Other Near-Death Experiences

3. A Call from the Dark

4. Dexter's Final Cut

5. The Picture of Dorian Gray

6. Looking for Alaska

7-9 Hunger Games Series

10. The Time Machine

11-13 Miss Peregrine's home for Peculiar Children Series

14. Ready Player One

15-17 Maze Runner 1-3

18. The Martian

19. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

20-21 First two in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

22. Beautiful Chaos 

23. Binge

24. You Deserve a Drink 

Alright so I guess I completed my goal for the year a couple weeks ago.  Which means I can't finish any of the books I have started until next year, at least if I want to get ahead for next year(Which I always want to do).  Possible book reviews coming soon.  In pure asshole fashion as always.  You're welcome.  

The future is out there, and I can't wait to meet it

The vacation is over.  Back to all the fun at work.  I had a great vacation though.  Spent a week with my sister in which we accomplished being ninjas and day time drinking.  Although these events occurred on different days for our safety and you know not getting arrested for puking on a small child.  Also saw the new Star Wars film, and fuck yes it is good.  I tried very hard not get my expectations particularly high, but this turned out to be unnecessary.  J.J. Abrams did an excellent job, hopefully Disney can keep this up for the rest of the trilogy and all nerds can live happily ever after.  

My first week of vacation I was supposed to be very productive, which didn't really happen.  I worked on a few projects for youtube, but am not nearly as far ahead as I was hoping for.  The lack of productivity was worth it, I had a fantastic week and have been unbelievably happy.  Realistically I think this is the longest things have gone well for me.  I'm not sure if that means bad shit is around the corner or if for the first time I'm getting it right.  Either way it was worth it.

Horn Intro

So it's been a week and I'm already being awful about updating this thing.  We are off to a brilliant start.  But i'm having a fantastic week.  Like seriously amazing week.  I can't remember the last time I felt this good.  I'm about to make Harry Potter joke here about Felix felicis, so yes I'm that cool.  Can't wait to start my staycation.  It has been a long year at work and this is the first time I'm really taking time off since we got bought out two years ago.  What is ridiculous is i'm sure after day three i'll be bored out of my mind and part of me will wish I was at work.  Let's hope that is not the case and I can actually enjoy chilling out.

Back to Modern Times

Although depending on when you read this, the title could be incredibly outdated.  So I suppose back to my current time in my existence.

Apparently I was quite productive in 2011.  I do have to assume this was also mostly related to still working at TCCI and have unbelievable amounts of free time at my disposal while at a computer.  I no longer have that at my disposal.  Not that I'm actually doing a different job now than before.  Although working swing shift is a different experience altogether.  My free time is typically limited to a couple of hours as long as a day is not busy now.  Oh well, less nonsense for me to write and you to read.

Bucket list item number 37 - Repost from sometime in 2011

Alright so my bucket list includes the making of a list of all of the bands I have seen and to keep it running. I have no idea where to begin with this but I think I'll just start listing bands I have seen in no particular order until I come up with a system. So um... yeah here we go.<br /><br />1. Chuck Ragan<br />2. Hot Water Music<br />3. Ben Nichols<br />4. Tom Gabel<br />5. Lucero<br />6. Against Me!<br />7. Tim Barry<br />8. The Get Up Kids<br />9. Pretty and Nice<br />10. Thursday<br />11. Circle Takes the Square<br />12. The Locust<br />13. Poison the Well<br />14. Throwdown<br />15. Divide the Day<br />16. Nevea Tears<br />17. Bleeding Through<br />18. Martyr AD<br />19. Calico System<br />20. Saves the Day<br />21. Say Anything<br />22. Armour for Sleep<br />23. The Catheters<br />24. Appleseed Cast<br />25. As Night Falls<br />26. With Honor<br />27. It Dies Today<br />28. Shai Hulud<br />29. Madball<br />30. Everytime I Die<br />31. Superheros of Hardcore<br />32. New Found Glory<br />33. H2O<br />34. RX Bandits<br />35. The Color Fred<br />36. Taking Back Sunday<br />37. My Chemical Romance<br />38. Melee<br />39. Stretch Arm Strong<br />40. Mc Chris<br />41. Mc Lars<br />42. The Matches<br />43. Whole Wheat Bread<br />44. Big D and the Kids Table<br />45. The Vandals<br />46. Assorted Jelly Beans<br />47. Pennywise<br />48. Bad Religion<br />49. The Bled<br />50. Letter Kills<br />51. 18 Visions<br />52. Yesterday's Rising<br />53. Anti-Flag<br />54. Guttermouth<br />55. Bouncing Souls<br />56. Atreyu<br />57. Juliet Lewis and the Licks<br />58. Rilo Kiley<br />59. Tegan and Sara<br />60. Lady Tron<br />61. Blood Brothers<br />62. Thrice<br />63. The Faint<br />64. Bright Eyes<br />65. Depeche Mode<br />66. Franz Ferdinand<br />67. Daft Punk<br />68. Panic at the Disco<br />69. Dresden Dolls<br />70. Sigur Ros<br />71. Tilly and the Wall<br />72. Fucked Up<br />73. Off<br />74. Audacity<br />75. Death Hymn Number 9<br />76. Pinback<br />77. Crystal Castles<br />78. Alkaline Trio<br />79. Cursive<br /><br />Alright so I think I have come up with a system, at least one that will help me remember shows a little better. We shall be doing this by location. So more or less ignore the previous list, which shall be deleted upon completion of the rest of this list.<br /><br />Lets start with random locations that I don't typically go to:<br /><br />The Pond<br />1. Elton John<br />2. Back Street Boys<br />3. Mandy Moore<br />4. E.Y.C.<br />5. No Doubt<br />6. The Distillers<br />7. Garbage<br /><br />Random arcade thing in Redlands/Loma Linda<br />8. F.o.N.<br /><br />University of Redlands<br />9. The Adolescents<br />10. TSOL<br />11. Breakdance Vietnam<br />12. Broken February (showcase as well)<br />13. Eve 6<br />14. Finch (SD with NFG as well)<br /><br />Club Moscow<br />15. As Tall as Lions<br />16. The Union Line<br />17. Lilofee<br /><br />Coffee Shops<br />18. Far From a Masterpiece<br />19. The Flower Thief<br />20. Red Letter Day<br />21. The B Sharps<br />22. Hobo Jazz<br /><br />Train Station<br />23. Blue Print Car Crash<br />24. As Night Falls (amongst others)<br /><br />LA Pride<br />25. Joan Jett<br />26. The Start (CSUF, and random LA club as well)<br /><br />Coachella<br />27. Thrice<br />28. Tegan and Sara (Henry Fonda, HOB)<br />29. Lady Tron<br />30. Daft Punk<br />31. Bright Eyes (SOMA, The Grove)<br />32. The Faint (SOMA, The Grove, GH)<br />33. The Blood Brothers<br />34. The Locust (GH)<br />35. Sigur Ros<br />36. Franz Ferdinand<br />38. Depeche Mode<br />39. Dresden Dolls (the Grove)<br />40. Pinback<br />41. The Futureheads<br /><br />Warped Tour<br />42. 18 Visions (Chain, SC)<br />43. Yesterday's Rising (SC)<br />44. Stretch Armstrong<br />45. The Bled<br />46. Thursday (GH)<br />47. My Chemical Romance<br />48. Bad Religion<br />49. The Vandals<br />50. MC Chris<br />51. Big D and the Kids Table<br />52. The Color Fred<br />53. Katie Perry<br />54. Jeffery Star<br />55. Guttermouth<br />56. Letter Kills (SC, SOMA)<br />57. Every Time I Die<br />58. Against Me! (GH, Chain)<br />59. Say Anything (Chain, Avalon, HOB, Grove)<br />60. Anti-Flag<br />61. Juliet Lewis and the Licks<br /><br />Sounds Like<br />62. All or Nothing HC<br /><br />Bamboozle Left<br />63. Piebald<br />64. Something Corporate<br /><br />Verizon Amphitheater<br />65. Green Day<br />66. Blink 182 (amongst others)<br />67. Jimmy Eat World<br /><br />Hollywood Palladium<br />66. New Found Glory (amongst others)<br />67. Rx Bandits<br />68. H20 (Chain)<br /><br />San Diego - some university<br />69. Further Seems Forever<br /><br />LA Shows<br />70. Hot Water Music<br />71. Strike Anywhere<br />72. City and Colour<br />73. Alkaline Trio<br />74. Cursive<br />75. Gaslight Anthem<br />76. Murder By Death<br />77. Fucked Up<br />78. Off<br />79. Audacity<br />80. Death Hymn Number 9 (amongst others)<br /><br />Riverside<br />81. Assorted Jelly Beans<br /><br />San Diego<br />82. Brand New<br />83. Rilo Kiley<br />84. Reeve Oliver<br />85. Hot Like a Robot<br /><br />HOB<br />86. Social Distortion<br />87. Lucero<br />88. Saves the Day<br />89. The Bouncing Souls<br /><br />The Grove<br />90. Hello Goodbye<br />91. Mindless Self Indulgence<br /><br /><br />I am going to stop here for today as I have pretty much have only my old stomping grounds left to do.