Let's Give Back

Let's be serious for a minute, shall we? Have you ever seen how many charities exist out there? There are so many charities in the world today, it's hard to know where to even begin. I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to select a charity out of a list of charities in which I could compete for and earn them money or whatever. The list wasn't even that long. but I had a hard time choosing. I had heard about maybe half of them, and even with some of those, I couldn't tell you what their main mission was. Some are very well known, and pretty much everyone knows what they are setting out to do, but others are lesser known, and I feel bad for them.

Giving to charity is great, and it makes you look great in the public eye, especially if you are a celebrity. If you have a lot of money, you better be giving to something, damn it, or else you'll look like a jackass. And that just goes without saying. Everyone knows that if you have a chunk of change, you better share that chunk. Well, I don't have a chunk. I hope to someday have a chunk of change, but for now, I only have what I need to get by.

The trick, I've found, is figuring out which one to support. Sometimes the choice can be obvious. If you know someone that had breast cancer, you would probably select a charity that raises funds for research for a cure. If you know someone that has like, childhood diabetes or something, you would probably support that. And so on and so on. But what if you don't know anyone with these things? What if you're like me and you don't really have a cause that's near and dear to your heart? I guess you could probably spread the wealth to a bunch of different charities, but even that's hard because if you're gonna give, you probably want to have an impact, and that means giving all of your efforts to one thing, I would assume.

There are so many good causes out there, and I had been thinking about it. I bet if we all chipped in a little here and there to something that is worth it, we could all make an impact, even if it's a small one. I remember having discussions with Slot Attendants at the casino, talking about if everyone they helped and serviced their machines and stuff tipped just a dollar each, how rich they would be. Just a dollar, man. And the cumulative effort would be greater in the long run than just one person tipping five bucks every now and then.

Hell, I have made political contributions before, yet I have never made an donation to a charitable cause, other than maybe the Can-a-thon. I think I should reevaluate this, and try to find something that I can help out with, and I encourage all of you to do the same. Find a cause, and help out. I'm sure it'll make me feel like a better person, and I bet it would do the same for you.

My Week Off

I really didn't mean to make the blog be a weekly thing, but that just happened didn't it? Well, I'm happy to say that I'm back and refreshed. Let's go over what lead to my most recent blogging absence.

You know what suck? Teeth. That's right, teeth. Not all teeth, as teeth are pretty nice when you want to chew food. But sometimes, you have to clean them. I didn't understand the importance of this until it was much too late, and I am currently paying for it, both figuratively and literally. You see, when I was a young lad, not to long ago, I liked to drink Faygo. Faygo is a brand of cheap soda pop you drink when you have no money. Well, I liked to drink it anyway, mainly because I was a huge fan of the Insane Clown Posse, and they rapped about it a lot. It was cool to drink a lot of Faygo all the time. What I didn't realize was that I was destroying my teeth slowly but surely. I drank so much sugary soda pop for years, and didn't really stick to a strict regemint of tooth brushing, and therefore, developed cavities. Lots of cavities. Even after I switched to Coke, because it tastes way better, I never really took oral hygene seriously, like many young people in the world.

My dad and my brother both had gone through a lot of dental work in their lives and I had my share as well. I guess bad teeth just runs in the family. Total bummer. So as my teeth continued to decay, they started breaking off, as gross as that sounds. As they broke off, they eventually started getting infected and other gross stuff, and then started to hurt. So I suffered with tooth aches off and on for a while, and eventually decided to get them fixed so I wouldn't suffer anymore.

So that's where I've been. I got five teeth pulled on Friday, September 10th, and it was a trip, let me tell you. My good friend Sean helped me out when I couldn't do anything for myself, and I am forever thankful for that. He drove me places, helped me get the medicine in my mouth, helped me choose the proper pudding flavors to eat. I showed him my thanks with vodka and instant Netflix, which I think he really enjoyed because he stayed at my apartment for four days. So I sat on the couch, stayed low and lazy and didn't blog for a while. All in all the experience has been rather positive, even though I can't really eat much as far as solid food still. That's okay though, I mean, I do it, even though it hurts. They also gave me a prescription of Oxycodone, which I had never experienced before this. If you don't know about this drug, it makes you high and awesome. It makes you happy and tired and dreamy. It makes your arms and legs feel funny. It makes me want to take that all the time. That's not a good thing. Isn't that what Brett Favre got hooked on in the 90's? Well folks, I can see why.

Anyway, I had this fear of the procedure going into it, and after it's all done now, I can say with certainty that there was not really much to be afraid of. I came out of it knowing I won't have to worry about those broken, painful teeth anymore, and I get to get legally high daily. I also got closer to my friend Sean during this time, and that means a lot to me. Friends are neat. I didn't miss any work, which kinda sucks but I need the money, so whatever. I just trip balls at work and get paid for it instead of being just bored and get paid for it.

Patiently Waiting

A few months ago, I received a very exciting piece of electronic mail to my Yahoo! account. Finally, after months of ripping off a certain blogger and friend of mine, he had succumbed to my assaults, and sent me an invitation, which read like this:

Brad,

Would you be interested in being a guest blogger at Big Dave and Company? I am thinking sometime in July after the Fourth. Pretty much anything goes with the exceptions of politics and religion, and anything else obscene. The only real rule is that we don't use last names and we try not to let on where everyone lives, although you make it clear that you live in Nashville so that is okay I guess. Let me know if you are interested and we will get you set up.

Thanks

- Big Dave

Obviously, I was thrilled to get the chance to display my talents on a bigger stage than this little old blog. As you can see, he mentioned after the Fourth, and he also mentioned the month of July, but he never really said that it would be the 4th of July. More specifically, he never said it would be in 2010, either. This all must be true because I responded and told him I was interested, but he never set me up to do it. Now, I have been silent about it this whole time, and I understand if I went out and said something on this blog that would have made him change his mind, and by blogging about it now, I am kind of sort of cheapening the experience, but it's been on my mind since June, so you can understand my confusion, right?

I had a great idea for a blog post right around the time the email was received, and the material is still relevant. So if I were to get the chance to write as a member of the illustrious company, I would be able to write an entertaining blog post, whenever that happens. If it never happens, I would totally understand, as that is his blog and this is my blog, therefore, I don't need a venue to write. I have one already. If I wanted to write stuff, I can do it right here, like I do all the time anyway. I'm not calling Big Dave out, I'm just stating something I been thinking about for the past three months.

If it never happens, I understand. If it does, look for it. It should be entertaining, I hope.

Additionally, I wrote an essay for the Big Dave and Company essay contest and won it, so I guess he likes my writing. Or I should say, the panel of judges liked my writing. After it was announced, my excitement was slightly crushed by Mike-a-licous when proceeded to bash the name of my blog. WHERE DOES HE GET OFF BASHING MY BLOG'S NAME? He doesn't even write his anymore. He hasn't for a year. See? Well anyway, I guess I could explain the name. Ever listen to the Offspring? Well, I did for years and years, and my favorite song by them is Come Out and Play (Gotta Keep em' Separated) and when I needed a name for the new blog, that just popped in there. I didn't put much thought into it, and now it's stuck.

If you have a better idea for the name of my blog, as it is obviously "lame" or "gay" or whatever derogatory name he chose to call it last week, then I would like to hear your suggestions. I'm open to criticism if it leads to improvement. This means you, Mike-a-licious. You think you can do better? You can't even write your own blog, yet you have the balls to call me out on the name of my blog? You come up with something better, ya sack shaver.

What this whole rambling blog post amounts to is the fact that I like to participate in the Big Dave and Company experience, weather it be his almost-award-winning blog or the podcast, which rules, by the way. You can listen to the podcasts on iTunes or by streaming it from this website. Totally worth your time, I promise. And maybe someday, I too can entertain the masses for real by contributing. Someday.

A Wednesday Twofer. Double Post of Doom.

So if you follow me on Twitter, which I'll assume you do, you may have noted that I talking about how yesterday felt like a weird day. It's hard to pinpoint how yesterday was a weird day, because the actual events that took place weren't that weird, it just had a weird feel to it. Like, the sun wasn't out yesterday, and it has been out for weeks, or so it feels. But the main thing I noticed about yesterday is it became very clear to me that a certain era of my life had ended. See, when I work on the weekdays, which I don on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, for the past year I have worked with the same, regular coworker lady. I refer to her as nice, regular everyday coworker lady, but let's call her "Mary" because that's easier to type. Well, yesterday was the first day that she was off at her new job, and I was still at this regular old job we used to share. I realized how much of a partner she was of mine. We had our regular things that we did, and we didn't even have to mention them. We would just go about our day, her doing the things she did and me doing the things I did, which were less than the things she did. It was routine. People, like autistic kids, need routine. Anyway, like I said, yesterday she started her new job elsewhere, and I just had this feeling of being left behind. Like, I was flying solo for the first time. It was weird, because I liked working with Mary, even if she talked a lot. She is what you would call, a "talker." Sometimes it would irritate me, other times it got me through the day. I would also try to get her through things that were going on in her life at the time by dishing some wisdom to her, which I think she appricated. Well, that era has ended now, and it just felt weird.

Also, I saw about 6 or 7 different people with the same pen as me. Totally weird. I like to check what pen people are using and hope they somehow didn't grab my pen, because I like to put my pen in my mouth a lot as a habit. If someone used my pen, I would be grossed out a little. Things just felt off yesterday, and I guess I have to get used to it. Mary is off doing her new thing and getting paid a lot more for it, and I have to live with the reality of what it is, I'm still here. I just have to make do with the new arrangements, and go forward.

***Subject Change***

This is where you get the two-for-one deal today.

I have had a very limited, albeit positive experiences with Craigslist. I met Dave, whom I am in a band with now, through Craigslist. The only experience I have had with it is right there. I was super nervous meeting someone and making friends through Craigslist, but it worked out great! Now I am having those same feelings of being afraid of the internet. I am in the market for new drums, and I have found some on the cheap on Craigslist. I am so afraid of being ripped off, because I know when I go meet the guy who's selling the drums, I won't be able to just say "no, these are not as advertised" and walk away. And if I do do that, will he get pissed and put an axe to the back of my skull? Crazy is crazy, people. I don't trust the internet, or Craigslist for that matter. $200 is a lot of money, but not for drums. I'm going to do this, but that doesn't mean I'm having anxiety about it. I need new drums, and these are a pretty good deal, I think...

That's the other thing. I don't know what these are worth. I really don't. I've read nothing but good reviews on these particular drums, and I know that any other drums than the ones I'm currently playing will be a serious upgrade. I just don't want to be wasteful. Hopefully, I will be pleased by my decision. Hopefully I don't get killed.

Thanks.

Project 365

I'm a big fan of remembering when certain things happen in my life. I love to chronicle things, or archive things, or whatever, so I can look back and easily reminisce. I'm a very reminiscent person. I used to write blogs on LiveJournal, just so I could look back and know what I did on any particular, random day in the past. I used is just to write down what I did that day, so I could look back sometime and say, "hey, what day did I eat a veggie burger? Oh, March 13th, 2005." Why do I need to know this? This is not a rhetorical question. Why do I feel the need?

I may not know the answer, except to know that I love reminisce. Well, along comes the iPhone into my life, and with it, an app called Project 365. The idea of it is to take a picture everyday that will help you remember a certain something about that day. PERFECT! All I have to do is snap a photo, and I will instantly be able to look at that later and know when, what and where things happened. Now I can look back and know that on June 7th, my wife and I ate falafel sandwiches from Kebab Gyro's for dinner. A good day, that was.

Without the app, and without the photo, June 7th, 2010 would have been completely forgotten, forever. I figured out pretty quickly back in 2005 that writing everyday, about everyday, is hard. Anyone that follows my blog will know that I have a hard time writing everyday. Taking a quick pic and saving it to the app is so much simpler, and I feel that my life is better off with it. I love the app, and I'm really glad I have it. Because everyday is not to be wasted, and to forget any day, that is wasted in my opinion. I will have a much better time remembering 2010 with this app than other memories that have faded. As I noted before, I don't remember 2007. Not that I did drugs, cuz I didn't, I just don't remember what happened. I don't remember what I did on a regular day. I don't want that to happen anymore. And it won't, with Project 365.

From A to Z

I was walking around work and thinking about vowels. Not just how they are held to a higher standard than other regular letters, but how you can pair a vowel with just about any other letter and it will mean something. This got me to run through pairing the letter A with every other letter in the alphabet and see if that is true. This also got me thinking about how great my job is that I can walk around thinking about vowels. But it's true, indeed. Vowels are so versatile. Let me illustrate.

AA - Alcoholics Anonymous

AB - Awesome Bumps (inside joke) or American Bandstand.

AC - Air Conditioning

AD - Anno Domini (as in 1979 A.D.)

AE - A clothing company. I do not buy AE

AF - Air Force

AG - Chemical symbol for Silver

AH - The subtle sound of relief

AI - Artificial Intelligence

AJ - Apple Juice

AK - An assult rifle

AL - I can call you Betty, and baby when you call me you can CALL...ME...AAAAAAAAAAALL

AM - The Morning

AN - The form of an indefinite article used before words that begin with a vowel

AO - The catchy part of a song called Snow by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

AP - Associated Press, or Alternative Press. Or a warning not to step in someones urine.

AQ - ...Well, ok not every letter works in this situation. Fuck, mang.

AR - Well, dudes who go scout bands to sign them are A&R guys, whatever that means...

AS - as in...well, I just used it didn't I? Yeah, as in as.

AT - Where you AT?

AU - The chemical symbol for gold, or you trying to get the attention of someone you don't know

AV - Audio/Visual

AW - Delicious root beer

AX - What you chop stuff with

AY - What you ask when you want to know the reason for stuff

AZ - everything. From A to Z

And that's what we just did, folks. We went from A to Z, and had a laugh in the meantime. Isn't the alphabet fun? We should do this more often...

I want to be a toys-r-us kid

I'm totally stalling today. I know what I am supposed to do, but I am just doing other things to stall.

I really should go to the car dealership and get the oil changed on my car. It's important to change the oil every 3,000 miles or so, or so they say. Well, I don't want to. It's free. I get oil changes and whatnot for the first whole buncha miles or years or whatever. I just don't want to drive there. I don't want to do it.

I also should hang up the clean clothes I pulled out of the drier this morning, but I don't want to. Instead, I'm uploading CD's on to my wife's computer. I'm managing the files on my iPod, so that all the music that I have neglected to put on it are on there now. No, I don't want to do the things I'm supposed to do. I don't want to.

I don't want to go run on the treadmill, but I should. I'll regret not doing it. But I don't want to. I just want to sit here, watch Lost on instant Netflix and play Call of Duty. I don't want to take a shower, but I have to if I want to leave the house. I just don't want to do anything right now. I would rather just sit here. That's what brings me to the blog today. I am totally wasting your and my time. I just don't want to be a grown-up right now. I don't even want to capitalize the title of this blog.

wah, wah, wah...