Friday, January 27, 2012

Happy Apartmentversary





Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

This weekend is shaping up to be pretty fun. Tomorrow morning, I’m heading to Vacaville with Nurse & some of her friends for some good ol’ fashioned paintball action. Bubbles & I are having brunch on Sunday, then I’ve got a basketball game in the early evening. In between, there’s always different activities that will pop up & I may even start prepping for the big Super Bowl party next weekend. Good times indeed. Oh also, my mom got her PSeye, so she, my brother & I had a nice little family chat over our PS3’s… and even the kids got to see us on the TV. This however caused a problem as it was right after they had been put to bed… but they heard their dad talking to somebody… found out it was us… and then they wanted to stay up, even after a few minutes. Kairi basically had a hissy fit screaming “I WANT TO GIVE THEM HUGS & KISSES, DADDY!” “Baby girl, they’re on the TV, you can’t give them hugs. For the last time, go to bed!” So after we blew her a few kisses, she basically ran up the stairs crying. I think she just hadn’t had a nap or something. She does that. Oh well, they do get to go to grandma’s this weekend too… so I may get to see them again when they’re not so cranky. Ah technology… if only we could hug & kiss it… and not make it feel creepy. Don’t worry, we’re working on it.

Also, today is my 1 year Apartmentversary!!! One year ago today I moved into this happenin’ four-bedroom unit… and I’m the only roommate from that day still here. Not sure what that means… but I’ll take it as they’ve moved on… and three lovely ladies moved in. HOLLA!!! Yet another reason for the big Super Bowl party next weekend!!!

Last night, Nurse & I watched “50/50” starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt & Seth Rogen. The story is about a man in his twenties (Gordon-Levitt) who is diagnosed with cancer and given a 50/50 chance of survival by his doctors… and of course, how he & his family and friends react to news of that magnitude. From what I understand, it’s based on one of Seth Rogen’s best friends who had a similar situation… and of course, making a comedy out of cancer is always tricky… but this movie actually does it pretty good. Seth Rogen plays the best friend who tries to help… while also occasionally using it to his advantage to hook up with chicks at bars as the compassionate caregiver. Angelica Huston plays the mother who is a bit over the top & smothering… but you realize that it’s her baby that has cancer. How would any mother react to that? It’s one of those movies that has it hilarious moments… but it also has points where I actually teared up quite a bit because it reminded me of my Wingman & when he had to go through chemo… and I wasn’t even around for most of the rough stuff. It was a few years back when I had just moved out to Denver & just had to hear about it from afar… and even that sucked balls. Oh well, I highly recommend this movie if you get the chance, just be prepared for a swinging of emotions.

After that, we watched “Real Steel” starring Hugh Jackman. Set in the near future (like 5-6 years from now), Charlie Kenton (Jackman) is a former boxer / deadbeat dad who fights Rock Em Sock Em Robots for a living… sorry, in the near future, instead of men boxing… they have robots do it because they can go all out… and somebody wins as opposed to all the rigged decisions, overly hyped BS (I’m looking at you Mayweather-Pacquaio) & lingering brain injuries that happen in today’s boxing. Okay, so he’s the… I guess trainer / mechanic for these robot boxers… but he’s lost a few fights & generally sucks at life. One day, he gets a call & his ex-girlfriend died… and kazaam, he still has an 11 year old son that he’s never seen cuz he ran away. The kid’s aunt wants to adopt him but the uncle wants to go to Tuscany for a month or so… and Charlie basically sells that month or so for $100,000 saying that he’ll babysit the kid while they go & he can reinvest that money into his robots. Well, the kid’s pretty cool & wants to build that father-son relationship… and the story goes from there. Basically it’s Rock Em Sock Em Robots… meets Rocky, the ultimate underdog boxing movie… with a whole father-son relationship thing that always gets me… sprinkle in the hot chick from “Lost” (Evangaline Lilly) and you’ve got a pretty decent movie. I recommend it. A LOT better than I expected… and here’s some news…

Presidential Grandkids… from JOHN TYLER!!! - This story sounds too impossible to be true… but allegedly, it is. Former U.S. President John Tyler was born in 1790, and he was the 10th president of the United States in 1841. Of course we all know that… and if not, how dare you call yourself an American? Anyway, believe it or not, he actually has TWO LIVING GRANDCHILDREN!!! For a little perspective consider this: When Tyler was born, George Washington was giving his State of the Union address. When Tyler became president, the civil war was still a good 20 years away! But how is this possible? Here's some math for you: Tyler had 15 children, and in 1853 he was 63 when his son Lyon Gardiner Tyler was born. Lyon had six children, with two of them, Harrison Ruffin Tyler and Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr., born when he was in his 70s in 1924 and 1928 respectively. Both men, now in their 80s, still live in Virginia. If you think this is unlikely, you are not alone. On Twitter, people are calling this unbelievable and saying it boggles the mind. What’s most remarkable about this… is that not only there being fathers having children in their 70’s… but during times when the average expected life was in the low to mid 40’s… back to back generations… and if Harrison and Lyon jr (I’ll call him LJ) had children in their 70’s, it would be back to back to back (a veritable three-peat of golden year reproduction). Also… the odds that a situation like that involved a former U.S. President, where the chances of that are like one-in-a-billion to begin with. That’s the real math involved with this occurrence. We’re talking basically a one-in-a-trillion shot, maybe more. Those are some tight odds. I wouldn’t place a bet on it. Then again, I’ve got better ways to spend my money…

New Way to Make It Rain - By now, you're probably familiar with the term "flash mob"--strangers simultaneously performing choreographed routines in public places from out of nowhere. I personally did a Where’s Waldo Flashmob Bar Crawl this last Halloween, if you’ll remember. Well, now there's a new trend sweeping the nation - Cash Mob. Similar to flash mobs, cash mobs are organized online through social media, and happen in the same sudden, simultaneous fashion. However, cash mobs are designed to boost local business and they're popping up everywhere from Los Angeles to Norman, Oklahoma. Cleveland attorney Andrew Samtoy created the first cash mob in November, and there are now 36 around the country, with more expected to grow. Here's how it works: A bunch of customers flood a store at one time, grab a bunch of items, pay for them, and leave. Except for those last two steps, we used to call that a snatch & run in high school… er, people I heard about did that… in place near where I lived… by hearsay. Anyway, the cash mobs are not protesting big business chains such as Wal-Mart and Target. Instead their goal is to add a financial boost to the local economy. There's already a cash mob being planned in Brooklyn, N.Y., in a few weeks. Want to start your own cash mob? There are some rules to follow: The event must be announced one week in advance on Facebook or Twitter, the business has to be locally owned, and everyone has to spend at least $20. To find out if there's a cash mob near you, go to cashmob.wordpress.com. Sound like a good idea? I think so. Besides, if you have to get useless stuff, you might as well do it with friends… even if you may have to wait in line for a bit because there are a few dozen people rushing a ma & pa establishment… but you’ll get to meet people while waiting. Not horrible at all. Then people will be passing by & say, “What? What’s in that place that so damn amazing?” Boom! New potential customers. I like it.

Scooby Snacks – Okay, so picture this if you will… a four-year-old U.S. boy who announced to his teacher at school snack time that he wanted to share pulled nine bags of marijuana out of his jacket pocket, police said on Wednesday. Police in Meriden, Connecticut were called to Hanover Elementary School Tuesday afternoon after the young special needs student displayed the drugs, authorities said. Meriden police said the nine individually wrapped bags of marijuana appeared prepared for sale. Hanover Elementary School principal Miguel Cardona called it an "extremely unfortunate" and "isolated" incident that was not witnessed by any other students. "What's so disheartening is this is really an adult issue and problem and adult behavior put a student at risk," Meriden schools superintendent Mark Benigni told Reuters. "This student had no idea what he brought to school or what the substance was," he added. Hmm… the perfect cover… Authorities are not releasing the names of the student or parents and police said there is a possibility for arrests pending the outcome of the investigation. The Department of Children and Families is also looking into the incident. So what do you think? Did the kid get into the parents’ stash? Or did some guy on street hand him the packets and say “Be sure to share with all your friends at school” laughing as he walked away? Seriously… four years old. That’s like my nephew Vinny pulling a dime bag out of his pocket & saying “Wanna get high?” As my boy Kanye would say, “That sh*t cra…”

Anyway, that’ll do it for today. Hope you’re all having a great weekend by the time you read this stuff. First month of 2012 is almost gone already… do you still have your resolutions in place? Still no soda for me… and I’m working out occasionally… and as you heard from last entry, I’m kind of dating… sorta… maybe… at least getting out there & meeting people. So far so good. Have a great weekend everybody!!!

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