Wednesday

Gnarly wind in our neck of the woods last night.  A storm system blew through, and while it dumped a bit of rain, the wind was crazy.  Branches hitting the roof.  Stuff hurled around the yard.  It was a constant whoosh....and it crept into my dreams.  Add to that, we had a number of wildfires in the area, due to the wind and dry weather. I've spent the morning sorting out what was dreams, what was real.  I know that I wasn't wandering along Edgemoor Road near Oak Ridge and Clinton, trying to rent a vacation cabin in the wind with a fire creeping over the ridge behind us....

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I noted in a post a couple months back that I've been using a CPAP.  It's not been a life changing experience.  As I told my doctor a couple weeks back, I don't wake up as often overnight, but I haven't experienced that wondrous energized feeling post-sleep that some users report.  But then, even with the diagnosis, I noted that I wasn't often groggy or sleepy over the course of the day.  So, what are you gonna do?

But for the most part, it's not been an issue.  I do have a night, still, once every eight or ten days where I wake up somewhere around 4 in the morning wanting to fight the alien thing on my face...  The night before last was one of those, as I was due to replace my mouthbreather facemask.  I woke up sometime in the night with a bad seal across the bridge of my nose.  A small rivulet of air was shooting directly into right eye.

I replaced the mask (SPOILER ALERT, TOMMY).  No issues last night.

----

I hit six days this morning before my new movie resolution was fulfilled.  I picked the flick Afraid, with the AI as the Big Bad.  I like Waterson, I like Cho, but there wasn't much good about the flick......

----

I got thrown a pretty good curveball by a buddy last night.  I don't even know what to say, except that he had a sexual encounter that ended well, and it was his first since splitting from his wife.  And his even talking about it was out of character for him, let alone even engaging in the behavior that he needed to talk about.

I came out of the conversation (which was the curveball, since we normally talk about dorky shit) feeling happy for him.  He even got to have a pecan waffle at the end of the day, so....good for him.....

8

We lost my Dad 8 years ago tonight.

I miss him. 

I often wonder how he'd have reacted to the last 8 years.   Covid.   Two Trump Presidencies.  Seeing his grandson grow up.   I know how much i missed him when i was going through bullshit at the old job.   I know how much i'd have liked to have him there when I got married. 

I think about him often.  I miss him.  Very much. 

I hope I'm making him proud. 

vermin

The Monkey

 

Wandered out last night to catch The Monkey.

Really, really dug it. 

Hit's the Creepshow/Tales from the Crypt vibe that I tend to look for.

Appropriate, since it's based on an early Stephen King short story, many of which are fueled with that same energy brought by those old EC stories.

Before this flick, I'd never noted the resemblance Theo James (who stars in dual roles) has to James Franco.  I spent the first few minutes of his appearance on screen thinking a beefed up Franco had found his way back into a Hollywood feature.  But no, it's Theo James, and his verging-on-deadpan reactions to the horrors that transpire is perfectly executed.

It's not perfect, but it's good for a laugh, and it's the type of humor that I tend to think will hold up for me through multiple watches.

48

 I turned 48 this week.

Had to get a license renewed, because of it.  Wandered to the DMV in Athens a few minutes before it opened.  Had time to eat a biscuit sandwich and drink my coffee while listening to a little bit of the audiobook I was listening to.  It was a cold morning....we've had a stretch of those this week.  I watched people begin to line up at the door.  Such behavior was always an annoyance when I worked at the grocery store.  What's so important that you have to stand at the door to get it, like you're rope dropping at Disney, when the store opens?  Same for the DMV.  Are you going to sprint for the counter?

Like I said, it was cold.  I was enjoying the warmth of my vehicle, and the short stories of Ben Shattuck, The History of Sound.  I was going for a license renewal, and had only a couple other chores that weren't that pressing.  I figured I'd wait until they unlocked the doors. 

Which I did.  At about 8:29, I saw the inner doors unlock and open.  I got out of my car and walked the 20 feet to the outer door on my side of the lot.  I should mention that there were two doors on opposite sides of a small vestibule, at my DMV.  The line was about 8 people deep on the other side of the vestibule from where I parked.  The lady who unlocked the inside doors saw me walking up to that door.  She met me, and unlocked the door to let me in first.

Like I said, that behavior always mystified me at the grocery store.  What was keeping you from sitting in your car for a few minutes, listening to the radio, or enjoying a moment of quiet?  Is a can of Bruce's Yams that important?  Are you on that tight a timetable?  Will Jack Bauer fail in keeping the country safe if you can't get your Real ID by 7:04?

Maybe some people are that rushed.  I should remember not to judge.

I am not.  Yet I got to wander in and out of the DMV in about 13 minutes.

And that was because the self-service kiosk wouldn't take an acceptable new photo for my license.

The lady at the desk who had to take a new photo told me not to worry about it, as the kiosk only works about 40% of the time.

Joke's on it, I say.  It's nigh impossible to take an acceptable photo of me.....

-----

The birthday was uneventful.  It was cold.  We had to load up trucks with a temperature dipping toward 13, with a wind chill around 5.  Which isn't a lot of fun when you're dipping your hands into water.  It's a job I love, but that's probably my least favorite part of it.  I used to love the cold.  But ever since I was put onto blood pressure meds a couple years back....I don't like it as much.

I got a little cash from my mother for the day--something she doesn't have to do, but something I'll use to maybe buy those concert tickets I'd mentioned a post or two back.   Go take ourselves out to go do something fun.  Maybe hit a hockey game, or something.  That's something she and I commented:  we were usually good for at least a half dozen Knoxville Ice Bears games, but our last was in February of 2020, about 2 weeks before everything shut down for Covid.  For whatever reason, we just haven't made time to wander back.  (Pricing, is part of it....they're pricing is a little beyond what I think the value is).  But maybe I'll spring for a game with mom's birthday money.

-----

Speaking of the cold being a pain, I also have psoriasis, which makes me just charming as hell, I know.  The only time it really bothers me is if I have to spend a lot of time outside in the cold, dry air.  I try to drink as much water as I can, and moisturize, but it only goes so far.  There have been a few nights where lying on it at night becomes torturous.  I know I've made Shyam aggravated with tossing and turning trying to find a comfortable position.

Temperatures were only slightly warmer on Friday, when I ran my route.  I did have one customer do me a solid, and save me about 50 minutes on my day, when he called to ask if I was delivering to him.  I told him I was, and he told me he didn't need anything....the snow earlier in the week had killed fishing business.  I was thankful to him for saving me the trip.  It gave me time to go wandering looking in a couple shops for Shyam's birthday, which is coming next week.

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My New Year's Resolution, such as it was, was to watch something new, flick-wise, at least once every 7 days.

Of the last 7 days:

Love Hurts  (2025)   A Dumb but enjoyable gun-fu flick starring Ke Huy Quan.  A couple of Goonies Easter Eggs in there, with Sean Astin's casting as his boss.  Dumb, but fun.  Won't bear the weight of much thought.  This was our Valentine's Date movie.

Captain America: Brave New World   (2025)   I liked it.  The folks who start hatebombing MCU flicks even before they come out mystify me.  Look, Superhero fatigue is alright.  I get it.  But molding that into a carapace of indignation about the State of Cinema is tiresome.  Again, it was what I wanted it to be.  There've been a couple MCU flicks that have really stretched the envelope of what these movies can be (Winter Soldier; Black Panther....maybe Ragnarok), but for the most part, they're just fun SF/Action flicks.  That's what Brave New World is.  It's something of a sequel to the much maligned Incredible Hulk (which is an ugly flick that I still kinda like).  

Midsummer Night's Dream   (1935)    Damn, what a busy flick.  I know it's a busy play, and I guess they need to be applauded for translating that much frenetic stage energy to screen.

Elevation  (2024)    Interesting concept.  14-year-old me might have been all over this flick.  But 48-year-old me felt like the world didn't feel enough lived in, and that middle aged man is also aggravated when a car that's been sitting for 3 years starts up, let alone a car sitting in an area like Boulder, Colorado, with higher altitude and 3 winters of cold weather, doesn't have deflated tires and just starts right up with a battery that hasn't gone dead and gas that has stayed vital and hasn't had too much condensation from water in it.....

nephews and movies

Took the nephew to see Captain America: Brave New World.   We both dig it. 

Tuesday

I boogered up yesterday.  I wrote a mopey-assed post instead of doing the right thing and wishing my Mom a Happy 73d birthday.

I got her a lift kit for her Nissan Murano.  And a 35 pound box of beef tripe for when grilling season gets here.

Thoughts

I'm much happier in my job now than I was.  I haven't once in 25 months woken up sad that I have to go do what I do.   Haven't spent a weekend or a vacation dreading going back to work.   Haven't had to deal with a District Manager visit,  or seeing somebody less qualified get promoted ahead of me. 

I don't even miss the vacation time.   That was useless.   You couldn't sell weeks back.  So you used it or lost it.  And since Shyam didn't get vacation time until the slow parts of the year,  most of my vacations were staycations.  And you'd have to spend at least a day cleaning up and catching up when you got back. 

I do miss the income.  

I'd be lying if I said I didn't. 

We don't want for anything.  Don't get me wrong.   We have food.   Clothing.  We can go out to dinner.  We have the ability to fix things if they go awry.   We're not hurting. 

But some of the little things we used to go do,  we don't. 

Concerts are the big things.   The things that brought this little more on.   Saw a double bill online for Rev. Payton's Big Damn Band supporting Gaelic Storm, both bands I dig.   Even if they were coming closer,  I don't think I'd go. 

Once upon a time, it wasn't unusual to hit 10 shows a year or more.   Not excessive.   I know people who go to dozens.   But I haven't been to a concert in a couple years,  I don't think.   And that galls me. 

I just haven't wanted to spend the money. 

Disney is another reason.   I'd love to be able to take Shyam back to Walt Disney World.   But I don't think it's in the cards for a few years. 

It was doable with the old salary. 

I guess that's the trade off.  More job satisfaction,  lower stress.   More time to actually enjoy hanging out with friends and family.   Those other things were fleeting anyway.

Keep reminding myself that,  instead of spitting useless venom about the lying liars of the world.  

And if i want to take her back to Disney,  or whatever,  maybe I should go find myself a part time job.  So,  I'll sit l shut the hell up about it. 

Or sell pictures of my behind on onlyfans. 

For $2 a month.....

yup

Royal Rumble

A brief thought on wrestling:  I used to watch a ton of it.  I don't anymore.  Not because I don't love it.  But because there's so much out there.  I mean, the WWE alone can put out 10-12 hours a week.  AEW can do 8 or 10 on a PPV week.  I don't often hunt up TNA, New Japan or any of the others often, but luckily we live in an age that you can find pretty much anything you're looking for, if you look hard enough (and hear enough about it)

That said, I did watch the 2025 Royal Rumble last night.

It's my favorite night of the Sports Entertainment Year.   It's the only show of the year that I really want to watch live.  I don't do that a lot because Shyam isn't a big fan.  I feel bad about commandeering the living room TV for a 3 or 4 hour stretch.  But she knows how excited I (and Ripley, our orange cat) get about the Royal Rumble.  So she did paperwork and listened to a podcast while Ripley and I watched.

I won't say that it's the closest pro wrestling gets to an actual sporting event, because honestly, Kenny Omega/Will Ospreay or Gunther/Cody Rhodes may be violent, and it may be theater, but it takes just as much timing and athleticism as any gymnastic routine, synchronized swimming event or ice skating display out there, and each of those three is in the Olympics.  It's violent theater, though, so we don't respect it.

But it is theater.  

And most of the time, there is an anticipated outcome.  

The thing with the Royal Rumble is that it's an amalgamation...a potential amalgamation, anyway....of several stories, happening all at the same time.  It's one of the few nights of the year where you can't always make a good guess at what all will happen at the beginning of the night.  It's about potential, I think.  There's a lot of potential for a lot of fun with a Royal Rumble.  There's a lot of potential for surprise.  And there's a chance that you'll see something new, which feels rarer and rarer as I wander into my 40th year or so of wrestling fandom.

A few thoughts.

The Women's Rumble was pretty good.  It's always interesting, because this one seems to carry more NXT performers, from year to year, and I don't always watch a lot of NXT--usually only if a particular match got a lot of buzz.  So it's interesting to see new faces....I liked the spot that put Charlotte, Bayley and Bianca Belair in opposition to the representatives from NXT.

I don't think anybody was surprised to see Jordynne Grace show up, as it was announced earlier in the week that she'd signed a contract with WWE after leaving TNA.  Grace was easily the best part of TNA for me over the last couple of years...the only reason I ever searched out a match, with apologies to the talent over there...I just haven't seen anything that's set my world on fire from TNA in a while...at least since they ran Scott D'Amore off.   But I digress.  I really liked that she got a good showing, and that spot with Piper Niven was the highlight of the Rumble for me.

One thought:  Did they screw up eliminations at the end?  Did Nia Jax get eliminated too early?  Seemed a little awkward and disjointed at the end, but that could just be me.  No arguments with Charlotte winning.  Glad she's back.  

Speaking of back....How about that pop for Alexa Bliss?  I think she brings a real wild card of a personality to the womens' division, which occasionally suffers from a bit of AEW-itis, where the only motivation from the participants is "I wrestle good."  I know it's ostensibly a competition, but we likes our theater, and Alexa Bliss brings that by the oodle.

I'll pause for a second that I'm interested to see what they do with this working agreement with TNA.  There's a weird part of me that would very much enjoy seeing the crossovers...seeing the Hardys work a match or two in the WWE again...maybe at a Wrestlemania.  Maybe even have a TNA match or two on Wrestlemania Weekend.  In the past, the bulk of their crossover has been limited to NXT, and I predict that'll be muchly the case over the course of this agreement.

There's also part of me that dreams of seeing the TNA tape library (or digital library, if you will) added to the library of stuff on the WWE Network.  I know they have their own service that you can go watch old PPVs and whatnot, but I don't want to pay for it and Peacock.

But I digress.

The tag match between DIY and the Motor City Machine Guns was exactly what I thought it would be.  I keep rooting for Tommaso Ciampa to get a kick ass singles run, but he and Johnny Gargano are great together, so I'll take what I can get.  Sabin and Shelley are also fun, and I enjoyed the two of of three falls match, though I was hoping for a bit of reset time between falls, like you'd get on the old WWF shows.  Even if it were just 30 seconds.  (And maybe they gave it, and I'm misremembering:  I was eating supper during the tag team match, and my attention was diverted, I admit).

Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens was brutal.  Owens is probably my favorite guy in the WWE--I've dug his particular brand of mouth-running badass since I first saw Kevin Steen in Ring of Honor.  I don't know that any match gets as much cringing empathy from me as a ladder match.  And the final spot, which saw Owens folded up after crashing through a ladder gave me a bit of pause.  That just looked fucking painful and goddamn dangerous.

The Men's Rumble I enjoyed very much.  There were a couple small gripes, but the overall event was a lot of fun.

I had a feeling about Jey Uso.  Especially after that match against Gunther on Saturday Night's Main Event (which was probably the best singles match from Jey that I've seen).  The largest part of it, though, is that it astounds me just how over the guy is with the crowd.  The level of audience participation with his entrances reminds me of Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson at his WWE peak (he still was getting Yes! Chants at AEW).  He sells merchandise.  It seems like a logical move.

I just haven't been impressed by a lot of his singles matches.  That match with Gunther was really, really good....and to be honest, I've chalked a lot of that up to Gunther.

I had a brief thought, at match's end, if they would actually go through with Logan Paul winning the match and going to challenge Gunther at Wrestlemania, giving Gunther a nudge toward the babyface side of the ring for a while.  All said, having Jey win and work a program with Gunther (who fills that Bret Hart, make anybody look good role of old) wouldn't be a bad thing.

I really liked the interplay between Seth Rollins, Roman and CM Punk.  And I'm guessing they're edging toward a confrontation.  I was kinda nonplussed when Punk won clean over Rollins at the inaugural Raw on Netflix.  Didn't see that one coming.

I liked the pop that Joe Hendry got.  There might be something I'm missing with Hendry...I just haven't seen enough of him, perhaps.  The people seemed to like him, though.....and maybe that's what TNA needs right now, somebody to give them another look.

And Cena.

Cena makes me feel old.

Because I'm about 3 months older than him, if I recall correctly....2 months and 3 days, it appears after a quick Googlemachine Search.  

I can remember bitching about the WWF/E continually shoving John Cena down my throat 20 years ago.

I don't hate the guy or his work, though.  He had some hella good matches with Randy Orton, and I remember his feud with Umaga with particular fondess.  He's just not always my taste.

And I guess his being the final guy eliminated last night might be my only big gripe.  And it underlines my concern with Jey Uso.

John looked fine, until that last segment on the apron.  He looked rusty as hell, right there.  And not entirely comfortable out there on the apron.  And Jey is not the guy who's gonna carry somebody right there.  Gunther could.  Punk could.  Rollins and Reigns probably could.

And it come down to nobody realizing Cena might need a little carrying there for that particular spot.

I dunno.  I just didn't like that final bit of fighting.  Didn't ruin the match or the night.  I just thought that could have gone a little better....and I might have liked an apron fight between Jey Uso and Logan Paul a little better....Paul probably couldn't carry somebody in the spot yet, but he wouldn't need to be carried, either.

My only other quibble:  I'm just not real sold on having Jacob Fatu do a program with Braun Strowman.   I felt like their match last week went just about as perfectly as you could have it go.  But having them continue to get into each others' hair points to a continued rivalry.  But we'll see how it goes.  

But anyway.  If I'm grading the night, I give it an A-.  As much as multiple nostalgia entries in a Rumble can grate, I might have liked one more.  Or maybe one more surprise.  Am I the only one still interested to see Nick Aldis do something in a WWE ring?  Maybe have Aldis surprise everybody by taking a spot in the Rumble.

January

 Got one of those bits of news that punches you in the balls yesterday.

A friend and his wife (whom I also consider a friend) are divorcing.  They've been together as a couple for about 15 years, I think, and married for about 11 or so of those.

I'd kinda wondered if something was amiss.  I hadn't seen her in a few months.  I'd chalked it up to her returning to school and not having a lot of spare time outside of work and that.  But things went awry here in the past several months, and they'd kept it close to the vest for a bit.

I'm sad for them.  They were a good couple.  Probably our best friends as a couple....at least the ones we'd see the most.  We were all a pub trivia team for a good long time.  Going back to 2010 or earlier, though we hadn't played as regularly the last few years.

I guess it's just one of those things that comes with aging.  

Doesn't make it feel any better.

-----

January isn't my favorite month.  It's the coldest part of winter.  You get done with the craziness and bustle of the Christmas season and New Year's, and instead of festivity, you're met with the grays and browns of Tennessee in Winter.  If we get ice and snow, the last few years especially, it comes in January   And I seem to have a propensity for bullshit hitting in January.

Cars breaking down.  Trucks getting stolen.  Sickness.  Dad's surgeries somehow seemed to fall in January, especially his bypass.  I got fired in January.

Other bad things happen in other months, but January seems to draw more than its share of stress and misfortune.  I'm never sad to see it go.

----

One minor thought.  The group who runs the Trivia game we go play will often put up notices if a show is cancelled, and a reason.  The last week or so, there have been a couple cancelled for host illness, or a car broken down.  But there have been a handful cancelled because there isn't adequate staff for the restaurants to stay open for the night.

I wonder how often that will happen over the next four years.

Far Sector

Go check yourself out Far Sector, by NK Jemisin & Jamal Campbell.

For the past dozen years or so on the Facebook,  I've kept a tally of what i read,  but this year. I wanted to keep better track of what comics I've been reading, if I'm reading collected editions. 

This one was a new one, for me. I really dig DC's Compact Editions. I first found them last year... I got Thomas a copy of Watchmen for Christmas. Every now and then one of the publishers will put out a smaller format collected edition, and they never give it enough time, or find enough outside the box marketing to make it work. This is DC's effort, and i hope they stick it out, because I really dig them. (My take is that they really should pour some resources and give it time for the format....DC, Marvel and a half dozen other publishers have a significant enough catalog to think outside the box when it comes to putting stories out there into new hands.....

I don't want to digress from the book itself, but I will, for a minute: I hate the way the comics industry has run itself for the past 30 years. It's become one that caters to collectors and investors almost exclusively, leaving those of us who just want to read a good story less and less willing to gamble on something new because the price tag just gets too high. I'm an Old Fart, now, who's only gotten back into the comic store as a regular visit in the last couple of years (shout out to Comics Unlimited in Cleveland, btw). Mostly, I buy trades. This became especially true when Marvel (just as an example... all publishers are more or less guilty) was charging 4 bucks for a single issue.... it just made more sense to find the trade six months later for 15 or 20 bucks, since I was past the days of waking up excited for New Comic Day. I still buy 3-5 single issues a month, but nothing like the dozen or more I'd throw money at 25 years ago....

But to belabor a point, even with trades it gets pricey, when you get into deluxe editions, and beyond that epic collections and even more the Omnibus.... it can be tough if you're still a fan of tactile reading but you don't feel like spending $100 every week at the store. 

I really like these Compact Collections DC is trying. They aren't using the glossy paper, and you can find the whole run of a story for 10 bucks. 

And you can gamble on something you might not have normally. 

I really dig Jemisen as a writer, but had only heard bits and pieces about this one. 

I liked it a lot. 

Nerfs the Green Lantern ring a bit, but it makes a better story if you don't have another green powered Superman around. 

Good SF story... new Lantern Sojourner Mullein is stationed at the City Enduring, a Dyson- style city of 20 billion, made up of 3 species who live with their emotions dampened in the name of peace.... and then the murders begin. Good cyberpunk mystery ensues. 

Like I said, I liked this one....

And I might not have wandered across it had i not liked the Compact packaging (and price).