Monday, November 24, 2008

I can't sleep......

Once I fall asleep, I can sleep for 12 hours, but I am unable to fall asleep before 2 AM. It's 2:07 right now on a Sunday night and I am wide awake. I tried to sleep, but obviously it didn't happen. I did the LA Times Sunday crossword puzzle, but that only took up 29 minutes of my time (I usually do it in under 30 with a personal best of 21 minutes). I played Yahtzee and Word Whomp on Pogo. I read a chapter of Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (great book BTW, Shawn).

During the day there are a lot of things to occupy my time. When night falls, I worry about if I'm going to go to get a job. If not, am I going to go to school full time. If I do, can I afford it? When am I going to get married? How can we have a wedding if I am unemployed? Why can't I lose 30 pounds? (the answer to that is because every Monday, I try to start a workout plan, do 30-45 minutes on the treadmill and don't touch it again until the following week. But tomorrow, I'll start for real).

It's a different week with Thanksgiving coming up. A lot of places aren't going to interview. I've had a couple companies say they won't be contacting anyone until the New Year. So.....I will take the unemployment checks (I'm eligible for one year, woo hoo) and hopefully I will be working by MLK day. But I'm still going to worry until then. I'm going to be 40 in a year and 9 months. And yet I feel like I have no plan. I always said my work would not define the type of person I am, my family and friends would do that, but I'm not alone anymore. It's not like I'm afraid to work, and I've worked for some of the all time assholes in my life, so I can take abuse and criticism. Yet, I think going to school is the move. Most jobs, even on the entry level, require some type of degree. Since I will have 8 classes left after this, why not do it now? The market sucks and it doesn't seem like it's getting any better. Yeah, it's time to start looking for student loans tomorrow.....I promised people I would finish my degree, so it's time to live up to my word.

I feel better to put it in words. And now I'm getting a little sleepy. So maybe it's time to go to bed.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

And I have so little to look forward to.....but it could be worse

Since leaving the old jobsite on Halloween, I've had a lot of time to study and look for new jobs. I've been flip flopping on the idea of whether or not I am just going to go back to school and finish the last 8 classes I have and get my degree. I applied for Unemployment, so that's going to kick in soon. Anyway, it's stressful to me. So, even though I have a lot of free time, I don't go out and do things. But this week, I had plans for a couple of things I was looking forward to.

1. I saw Quantum of Solace
2. I was going to a taping of the Craig Ferguson show where James Lipton and Sarah McLachlan were going to be on. But before that, I was getting a tour of the CBS lot.
3. This Saturday a pub crawl then a birthday party at a bowling alley/karaoke bar. I love to singa about the moon-a and the June-a and the spring-a

At the start of the year, I wrote a blog on Myspace outlining the top movies I was looking forward to in 2008. They were Iron Man, The Dark Knight and Quantum of Solace. I am not a big comic book geek, but the first two seemed they were going to kick ass. And they most certainly did. I saw commercials for Quantum of Solace (piss poor name by the way, but I understand keeping with the Ian Fleming titles and the other ones left were worse) and I thought it was going to rock.....

Well, the movie was OK. Not horrible by any stretch, not phenomenal, just bleh. There were several well choreographed fight scenes but other than that, no real movement of story line and the villain was weak. And the Bond girl sucked. They should have had the other one be the main lady....Strawberry Fields....now she was cool. So that was a disappointment.

I woke up this morning, got dressed to go to CBS. Stopped at Pink's for a hot dog (which wasn't that good....especially when you take into account the line....it was a short line for there, but still took 20 minutes to order). Got bumped by someone and got a little chili on my shirt. A white dress shirt with blue lines...but I was able to cover it up. I get to the CBS Lot and my friend Dave is unable to make it for the tour. So he got his coworker Lisa to do it. She was wonderful. She took me to the Price is Right stage (I got to touch the wheel, It's not that heavy....I could probably make it spin for a long time.) The Dancing With the Stars and American Idol stages (both empty) and then she takes me to the Craig Ferguson stage. I hear someone say "she's on stage warming up" and I get goose pimples....Sarah McLachlan is my favorite singer. I turn the corner and it's some chick named Adele who is testing the mikes (check check sibalance) Lisa asks a guy when Sarah is going to be there he says

"Oh, she came in and taped it last week....we don't usually tape the same people the same day"

So I ask, who is going to be there.....

"Larry the Cable Guy"

MOTHERFUCKER!!!!!! GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!!!!!!

Why in the fuck would the website for the show say that the tickets were for that show and then she's not even actually there? It was the worst type of bait and switch. I was pissed off, but maintained my composure. Lisa felt terrible, but it's not her fault, she was really kind to give me a tour and take time out of her busy day to schlep some nobody around the whole lot. We looked around a little more, went to the CBS Shop (Bought a Letterman Late Show shirt....Lisa felt so bad, she used her discount) and got in the car and left without seeing ol' Larry.

I have no inherent problem with Larry, I liked the Blue Collar tours, but I am not waiting in a line for an hour and a half to hear him talk with Craig about electing a Kneegrow or eating at Stuckeys or whatever the hell he will say. I called Dave to thank him for getting Lisa to give me the tour and told him what happened and he said Larry was on the other lot and he had to wear the same shit he wears on stage in case he gets recognized. That must suck.

So I was driving home and moping...for several reasons, this being the most recent. I got a phone call from an old friend, Mike from my Option One days.....he tells me one of our old coworkers lost their house in the fire last week and he has a 4 year old son and a 1 year old daughter. They are safe, but have no home. So take that into consideration when you are moping about not seeing some singer. All in all, it sucked I didn't see Sarah again, but at least I am writing from my home. And as for the pubcrawl and the party later that night, I'll fill you in on the details...I predict I will sing Fiona Apple's "Criminal" because it is a fan favorite and I predict I will have a collasal hangover on Sunday. Until then......

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Maybe I need to let the PMOT come and play next time....

After high school, I went to college for a while. Actually, let's amend that.....I went to the college to meet friends to go hang out with and smoke pot, have a few drinks with and goof off with until it was time to go home. I had a 0.75 GPA my first year of community college because I only went on test days and such. My study habits sucked and they didn't get much better when I went to CSUN and tried to work a 40 hour work week and take a full load of classes. Let's just say that I never made the Dean's list. I kept taking and dropping classes and barely getting by. By the time I was 24, I had reached Junior status but was on Academic Probation. There was an incident that kept me from going to school for a year that I may get into at some point, but not right now. However, that was finally the time I got my head on straight and was working and taking one or classes at a time and getting decent grades (A's and B's) I found that actually attending the classes made a huge difference.

When I was 26, I went into the Mortgage industry, working for Ameriquest (again, another story I'll have to tell). Because the hours were so long and because I was making a good salary, I didn't go back to finish the 10 classes I had left. For the last 12 years, I worked for various mortgage companies, made some cash, pissed it away and now with the mortgage crisis, I'm without a job, I spent all of the money I made and seem to have no prospects.

My fiancee has a bachelors and two Masters Degrees. She is wicked smart and she has been pushing me to go back to school and finish since basically our second date. This semester, I went back to Santa Monica College and I am taking a history and a math class. When I'm done with those, I'm 8 classes from a degree in Speech Communication at CSUN. That and 75 cents will get me a USA Today, I know, but it's better to get it done. This is an experience for me. I'm one of the older people in the class (there are a couple senior citizens then me at 38). I don't remember being this annoying (although I am quite sure I was) but some of the people in my class are starting to wear on my patience. Is it the three Freshman girls who decided it's more fun to giggle and yammer the whole time than take notes? Or the six young Asian gentlemen who get up 5 times a class and leave, never together, never for more than a minute, then come back and sit down? Nah, I don't care about that, I just moved to the back corner where I can take my notes in peace. But today, I met a new classmate and he just might have to meet the PMOT.

Anyway, I'm in class tonight. I'm taking down all of my notes on how to solve a quadratic equation by using four different methods (trust me, It's as exciting as it sounds) and I look over to about 2 on my clock and a little dweeb with chin pubes is spitting tobacco into a clear Arrowhead bottle. I hate spitting....it grosses me out. And for an hour (before we went on break) I couldn't be drawn away from this little bastard spitting. When something grosses me out, I am not tolerant, not quiet. I was pissed. We're not even supposed to have drinks in the class, let alone hand carried spitoons. And if you are going to do that, for fuck's sake get a cup that isn't clear so I don't have to see it edge down to the bottom. I was a basket case until about 10 minutes before the break when he put the dip in the bottle, capped it and put it all in his backpack.

I decided not to say anything because he had stopped and I thought that would be it. The break was over and we're taking notes and with about 20 minutes to go in class, he pulls out a Gabby Hayes size golfball o'chaw and starts spitting again. I start to shake inside. I am repulsed yet I cannot look away. I break out our patented family sigh....keep mumbling "that's so fucking gross" under my breath and am holding a pencil in my left hand like Heath Ledger. The class ends, and this kid rockets out of his seat before I can say anything and is gone in a heartbeat. I am not able to bitch him out in the manner I felt I so richly deserved. So I will hold it in until Tuesday....but if that little peckerhead tries to do it again, I will make him swallow the chaw and pour the bottle in his backpack. I will go off meds for a couple days in advance to make sure I am crazy enough to do it and I will keep you posted.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Eloquent Eloquence

I've been posting comments on Pajiba for about two months. I wanted to make it on their top ten comments list. I set a goal and made it to 7th place the following week. Three weeks later, I made it to #1. I'm not a smart man, so I have to take my victories where I can get them. So here's a copy of that post...it won out of like 5000 or so.....give or take....There was a post going around saying not only was there going to be a sequel to Bull Durham, but Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins' characters were together as husband and wife. If you've seen the movie, you know how little sense that makes...and therefore, my post:

What.......the.......fuck??????

There are so many things wrong with making a sequel to Bull Durham. In the first place, if they were going to do it, it's about 15 years past its shelf life. And in no universe would Annie and Nuke end up getting back together.

Here are a couple other movie sequels being planned that make just about as much sense:

1. Godfather 4 - A Voodoo priestess resurrects Michael, Sonny, Fredo and Moe Green and they take a cross country drive from New York to Las Vegas to see Barbra Streisand perform for the last time. Hijinks ensue as they are chased by the zombie Barzini and Chief McCluskey. Along the way, they pick up a kid (Shia Labeouf) and teach him Omerta and the way of La Cosa Nostra.

2. Smokey and the Bandit 4 - Bandit runs for Governor of Georgia against Buford T. Justice who for some reason is married to Sally Field's character, Frog. Hijinks ensue as Big Enis and Little Enis (Pat McCormick and Paul Williams) dress the same although one is 6'8" and the other is 5'2". Bandit learns he has a son (Shia Labeouf) who also has a knack for fast driving and fast living. Special appearance by Billy Ray Cyrus as a perverted father.

3. Citizen Kane 2- the Wrath of Kane - Charles Foster Kane (Shia Labeouf) rises from the dead to avenge the loss of Rosebud. He does this with Yellow Journalism and 250 pounds of dynamite.
4. Casablanca 2 - Beach Party - Rick (Shia Labeouf) and Louie (Christopher Mintz Plasse) hit Spring Break with $10,000 Francs and no rules!!!!!

5. Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull - the world is at a precipice, this time caused by the specter of nuclear annihilation, and Indy's struggle is once again to ensure that a precious, mysterious object remains safe from those bent on destroying humanity. And there's Aliens!!!!!! And he has a kid....played by Shia Labeouf.

You see, none of those movies make any fucking sense, as this new Bull Durham wouldn't either. It was a great sports movie and while it would be good to see the characters again, they are hinging it on a plot point that totally pisses on the ending of the first movie. For Christ's sake, people, let sleeping dogs lie.

Yep, that was the winner. And now that I have won (and got a free t-shirt, if you know me, you know I love my t-shirts) my thirst for more cannot be sated. I will let you know if it was just beginners luck or if I am snarky enough to take the crown again. I think I'm sarcastic enough to do it!!!!!!

Weren't we supposed to be the cool kids?

I live in California. I am embarrassed today. For a state that is supposed to be so liberal and open minded when it comes to letting people do what they want to, to see Proposition 8 go down in flames is a disgrace.

I am a heterosexual man, the vote doesn't affect me personally, per se. But we all have friends who are affected. To think that on the day we elect a black President we can still be so discriminatory to another group of people is tragic. As a friend of mine said "I guess gay is the new black". Now, I don't mean to even insinuate that the travails of gays and blacks are the same, as I would probably be attacked from both sides as the big dumb white guy who has never seen a day of discrimination in his life. But I can still feel bad about the events and it is my right to ask WTF? How did this happen? A lot of people are citing the Bradley effect, but over 5 million people are saying that gays don't have the same standing that "normal" people should and I don't understand it.

I don't want to go anymore into the details about it today. Shame on us here in the State of California for this. You think we'd have known better by now.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

These are the ABC's of me, baby....

What a special day in history today is. The fact that our nation chose a man to be President who a scant 221 years ago was counted as 3/5th of a person is great indeed. Let alone how far things have come in the last 40-50 years, before I was born. It doesn't even the scales by a damn sight, but we get closer every day.

My name is Rubble44. I have never blogged before. But I have a lot of opinions. I have never had a hard time saying what I feel about basically any subject. My friends call me the Prime Minister of Tact because my filter is a little bit squiffy. Trust me, it used to be a lot worse. Let's just say Pharmaceutical drugs have helped a lot.

But that doesn't mean that I'm a mute now. I like people to know what I am thinking. I spend a lot of time over at my favorite new website, Pajiba, giving opinions on whatever the current topics of the day are. Since I left my job a couple days ago, I'll have more time to pontificate about what I think is right and wrong with the world. Since I don't expect too many people, if any, to read this, I'll just do this for me, maybe...as a little journal about what I am thinking.

So let's begin, shall we?

1. I'm going to use a shitload of ellipses........I type that way when I send emails, when I IM, everywhere. If you don't like ellipses, you can fuck off right now.

2. I live in Southern California. I am from Western Pennsylvania. What I love, I love completely and without question. What I hate, I loathe with the intensity of a thousand suns. A couple of people I hate, just to get started:

Kobe Bryant and Laker fans in general. This is a bad guy. Petulant, whiny, doesn't give a shit about anyone but himself. Oh, and he's a fucking rapist (allegedly). And yet Laker Fans will break their backs to suck his cock. It goes to show, if O.J. Simpson was still playing when his shit went down and he was on the L.A. Raiders running for 2,000 yards, he'd still have a huge fan base here in Los Angeles. And God Forbid you speak about it. Because all you will hear is how you are a hater. But you ask why they like him and they say 81. Great answer dumbass, now go back to your job at FootAction and leave me the fuck alone. Oh, and his wife is a bitch too.

Anyone on the Hills - I have never watched this show, but I know these people. And I hate the world for that. I would like to bitchslap that little cunt Spencer for taking up any of my gray matter with his douchey beard and spotlight whoring ways.

Paris Hilton - Dumber than a shit sandwich and polluted like Lake Erie in the 70's

Tyra Banks - Self importance mixed in with the brainpower of a popcorn fart.

Elton Brand - Fucker backstabbed the Clippers......I will never forgive him for that.

Kanye West/Poop Drizzle and all of these other modern rappers - They think they split the atom, but Rakim and Chuck D would eat these bitches for lunch. Rap music has been dead a long time to me. I won't even get into the ones with the dances and misspelled names. That's for the tweens to listen to...speaking of which

Miley Cyrus - Creeps me out to the highest of creeptivity. I don't like it when 15 years olds try to act 25. William Raymond, you should know better.

I have a ton of others, but this is only a first blog, not a manifesto.

3. I love a lot of things as well. It's more fun to bitch and gripe.....but I will also give props when they are earned. Not today, but someday soon.

I had a whole blog ready about Proposition 8. But it looks like it is going to lose according to CNN, so I will just go to sleep now