Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Depression sets in...again
At times, life really sucks dead whale dick. I was let go from my previous job because I'm a big guy, talk loud....and therefore intimidated people. That was October 2010. I had one job from December 2011 to Feb 2012...a contract job that I had hoped would turn permanent. It didn't. Then in June 2012, I got a part time job at a deli, and another part time job at a dine-in theater. The theater started giving me TONS of hours, so I quit the deli. Now, it's come to this: the theater has WAY over-spent the hours it has for us schlubs in the kitchen, so our hours have gone from 48+ all the way down to 16-24. At $8.50 an hour, with a kid and a pregnant wife....it just doesn't work. A good chunk of wifey's check goes to insurance.
Rent. Cable/internet. Car insurance. Electric. Gas. Gasoline. Water/sewer/trash. Misc bills. School loans. Credit cards.
It just keeps adding water to our pool, and we're chained to the bottom in the deep end. Right now, the water is up to our chins, and still rising.
I can't quit my job, because I won't get unemployment for self-termination. I'm looking desperately for a new one, but the job market is still VERY poor right now, and with the exception of one nibble on my resume, I've had nothing from anyone.
I really hate this existence sometimes. Makes me wish that the "Next World" that the Mayans predicted would in-fact come true.
Rent. Cable/internet. Car insurance. Electric. Gas. Gasoline. Water/sewer/trash. Misc bills. School loans. Credit cards.
It just keeps adding water to our pool, and we're chained to the bottom in the deep end. Right now, the water is up to our chins, and still rising.
I can't quit my job, because I won't get unemployment for self-termination. I'm looking desperately for a new one, but the job market is still VERY poor right now, and with the exception of one nibble on my resume, I've had nothing from anyone.
I really hate this existence sometimes. Makes me wish that the "Next World" that the Mayans predicted would in-fact come true.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Heat and hotels
It was really interesting, this past week, to watch human society devolve into something resembling barbarism (more on that in next blog). On Friday June 29, an intense storm whipped through a good portion of the United States, including here in Ohio. There was plenty of rain, and winds at times were in excess of 80mph, which is equal to a weak hurricane. Power went out in something over 1 million homes in the Central Ohio area, and some are still out as of writing this (July 7th).
The first night wasn't bad, most people thought something like "oh, it'll be back on shortly". However, as the hours went by and reports were emerging from the radio broadcasts, it was looking more and more like it was a bigger issue.
I was lucky enough to be sent to the store to get ice that first night, and got three bags. We put some essentials in a couple coolers: milk, eggs, cheese, yogurt...basically things that Kiera would eat. The temperature before the storm that day was 98 degrees, but it cooled off rapidly after that storm came through. The temp quickly climbed again after the front zipped through.
Saturday morning, after hearing on the radio that the temperature forecast for the next several days was in the 90s, we started looking into hotels. After calling every single hotel in the phone book (borrowed), we were out of luck. Either they were all booked up (thanks to the power outages, and a volleyball tournament Nationals), or didn't take pets. I'm sorry, but there was no way that Lola could stay locked up in a house without air conditioning.
My wife's mother, Sally, was also looking for a hotel for herself and her other daughter Krista (and her two kids), but she took a more direct route: she went to hotels and talked to them face-to-face. We were all eventually booked into a hotel for the absolutely outrageous price of $180 (after tax) per room...actually one was a little cheaper, because there was a pet charge.
One night on a rock-hard bed later, and we started looking for a cheaper hotel. We found one for about $50 cheaper a few buildings down from the one we were in. We got all our stuff together, got checked out, and went to the new hotel. Unfortunately, that hotel lost power about 5 minutes before we got there. We stayed in the lobby for about 20 minutes, to get out of the heat. However, the front of the building was basically all glass and was warming up quickly now that the AC was off.
Keep in mind that in our car there was: a pregnant woman (Paula), a 2 year old child (Kiera), a dog, and myself. We went down the road a few miles to a pet store that still had power, and sat there for a while to cool Lola off, change a diaper, and get some water for everyone.
We checked a couple more hotels down from the pet store. This one was really great. Still no rooms, but they were awesome when they heard our situation, and called several competing hotels around the city for us. They found a Comfort Inn just North of the I-270 loop around the city. On our way up there Sally, Krista, and the two kids called us (THANK ALL THE GODS FOR CELL PHONES!!!!!), and we checked on another main road en-route.
They found one! It was another Comfort Inn, and it was about half the cost of the first hotel. We ended up staying there Sunday and Monday night. Power was restored late Monday, and our neighbor texted me. I called off work on Tuesday so I could get all our crap out of the hotel and into the house while Paula was working.
Krista's power was finally restored on Wednesday afternoon, so they're back home now.
The temperatures for this past week have been brutal. Starting with Friday, June 27th, they have been: 98, 90, 93, 91, 95, 100, 98, 101. And it's supposed to be 105 today.
Our AC unit is working almost constantly, the dog is panting, and everyone is drinking water on an hourly basis. Things are supposed to get back to normal (in the 80s) by Monday or so.
Keep cool, everyone.
The first night wasn't bad, most people thought something like "oh, it'll be back on shortly". However, as the hours went by and reports were emerging from the radio broadcasts, it was looking more and more like it was a bigger issue.
I was lucky enough to be sent to the store to get ice that first night, and got three bags. We put some essentials in a couple coolers: milk, eggs, cheese, yogurt...basically things that Kiera would eat. The temperature before the storm that day was 98 degrees, but it cooled off rapidly after that storm came through. The temp quickly climbed again after the front zipped through.
Saturday morning, after hearing on the radio that the temperature forecast for the next several days was in the 90s, we started looking into hotels. After calling every single hotel in the phone book (borrowed), we were out of luck. Either they were all booked up (thanks to the power outages, and a volleyball tournament Nationals), or didn't take pets. I'm sorry, but there was no way that Lola could stay locked up in a house without air conditioning.
My wife's mother, Sally, was also looking for a hotel for herself and her other daughter Krista (and her two kids), but she took a more direct route: she went to hotels and talked to them face-to-face. We were all eventually booked into a hotel for the absolutely outrageous price of $180 (after tax) per room...actually one was a little cheaper, because there was a pet charge.
One night on a rock-hard bed later, and we started looking for a cheaper hotel. We found one for about $50 cheaper a few buildings down from the one we were in. We got all our stuff together, got checked out, and went to the new hotel. Unfortunately, that hotel lost power about 5 minutes before we got there. We stayed in the lobby for about 20 minutes, to get out of the heat. However, the front of the building was basically all glass and was warming up quickly now that the AC was off.
Keep in mind that in our car there was: a pregnant woman (Paula), a 2 year old child (Kiera), a dog, and myself. We went down the road a few miles to a pet store that still had power, and sat there for a while to cool Lola off, change a diaper, and get some water for everyone.
We checked a couple more hotels down from the pet store. This one was really great. Still no rooms, but they were awesome when they heard our situation, and called several competing hotels around the city for us. They found a Comfort Inn just North of the I-270 loop around the city. On our way up there Sally, Krista, and the two kids called us (THANK ALL THE GODS FOR CELL PHONES!!!!!), and we checked on another main road en-route.
They found one! It was another Comfort Inn, and it was about half the cost of the first hotel. We ended up staying there Sunday and Monday night. Power was restored late Monday, and our neighbor texted me. I called off work on Tuesday so I could get all our crap out of the hotel and into the house while Paula was working.
Krista's power was finally restored on Wednesday afternoon, so they're back home now.
The temperatures for this past week have been brutal. Starting with Friday, June 27th, they have been: 98, 90, 93, 91, 95, 100, 98, 101. And it's supposed to be 105 today.
Our AC unit is working almost constantly, the dog is panting, and everyone is drinking water on an hourly basis. Things are supposed to get back to normal (in the 80s) by Monday or so.
Keep cool, everyone.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Concert Review: Gwar, Kylesa, Ghoul, Legacy of Disorder
Well, I survived again. I went to see Gwar this past Sunday, and was in the mosh pit for almost the entire show, not just Gwar. The doors opened at 630pm, and the concert started at about 715.
First up was a band called Legacy of Disorder. They are a metal band from New Zealand that have a really good heavy sound. They're a four-piece band with a singer, guitar, bass and drums. They were good, but as an opening band, not many people were getting to into them. Which is a shame, as I see a lot of potential in them.
Second band playing was a death metal band called Ghoul. These guys are from Oakland, California. As a four piece band, they have an incredible sound. With names like Cremator, Digestor, Dissector, and Fermentor, they have hoods covering their faces, growling lyrics, and a rather impressive stage show. Actually, their stage show looked like a cheap imitation of Gwar (see earlier posts or later in this one), but it was really entertaining. Like Gwar, they squirted "blood" (basically just colored water that comes out in the wash or in the shower) into the audience, have foam-latex characters that wander out on stage to be "killed", and a decent amount of in-character interaction with the crowd. A lot of voodoo overtones are in their music and stage show, with Baron Samedi as a song and a character on stage.
The third band, I'm sorry to say, didn't really belong. Kylesa is more of a mix of psycedelic, progressive, and just plain weird rock. They are a five piece band, with two of them being on drums. The lead singer had some weird hand-shaking wiggly-wobbly thing that made me think of drugged out dream sequences from low-budget movies. They didn't have that bad of a sound...but each song sounded basically the same. The band didn't interact with the crowd at all, except to say "our last song of the evening is...". Overall, I'd give this band a 3 out of 10. Not good for a metal show at all.
Finally, Gwar came on. This is the second leg of a long tour. The main tour was put on hold for a bit when the lead guitarist, Flattus Maximus (Cory Smoot) died in his sleep on the tour bus due to a coronary artery thrombosis brought about by his pre-existing coronary artery disease, and they decided to continue as a four-piece band and dedicate the rest of the tour to him and his family. Instead of replacing him with the same character, Flattus, they retired him, saying that the character returned to their home planet (confused? Read their "history" on their website...link is on their name above).
On this tour, the story is that Gwar bought the deed to Death's castle, and they're checking it out. Long time whipping boy, Bonesnapper the cave troll, brought them a house-warming present: Snookie from Jersey Shore. Gwar proceeded to enthusiastically dismember her (it's all fake, remember!). Turns out that "Death" is actually one of their main enemies, Sawborg Destructo, and he's hidden the World Maggot in the basement to try to eat Gwar. They also had a run-in with the janitor of the Castle of Death.
As for the tribute to Cory Smoot...it was really pretty touching. After the last song was played, the stage went dark, and the house lights stayed dark. Suddenly, a spotlight shone on Cory's guitar that was now sitting in it's guitar stand on stage. Frank Sinatra crooning "My Way" came over the speakers, and the audience started singing along, holding their lit lighters in the air. After the entire song played through, no-one really moved or said anything for several minutes, until the house lights finally came on.
If the rest of the bands were at a volume level of nine...Gwar upped it to about fourteen. I stared off just to the right of center stage, two people back. With the wave motion of the crowd, I soon found myself to the extreme right, up against the rail that separates the crowd from security and the stage. I got knocked down, into a plastic garbage can, was helped up, knocked down, was helped up, crushed against the wall and rail, and generally felt like a ping-pong ball. Right now, I feel like I went through the entire Biggest Loser exercise program during the two hour Gwar set-list. My legs and feet feel like jelly from the constant moving, pushing, bracing; I have a rather nice bruise on my side, and my arms feel wobbly from pushing back against the crowd.
As I said, I got right up front, which is (technically) one of the safer places to be in a Gwar pit. And because I was there, I got hit full on whenever they sprayed the "blood" around.
Yeah, it was fun.
Before:
After:
Will I go to Gwar again? Of course. Will I get in the pit again? Might.
First up was a band called Legacy of Disorder. They are a metal band from New Zealand that have a really good heavy sound. They're a four-piece band with a singer, guitar, bass and drums. They were good, but as an opening band, not many people were getting to into them. Which is a shame, as I see a lot of potential in them.
Second band playing was a death metal band called Ghoul. These guys are from Oakland, California. As a four piece band, they have an incredible sound. With names like Cremator, Digestor, Dissector, and Fermentor, they have hoods covering their faces, growling lyrics, and a rather impressive stage show. Actually, their stage show looked like a cheap imitation of Gwar (see earlier posts or later in this one), but it was really entertaining. Like Gwar, they squirted "blood" (basically just colored water that comes out in the wash or in the shower) into the audience, have foam-latex characters that wander out on stage to be "killed", and a decent amount of in-character interaction with the crowd. A lot of voodoo overtones are in their music and stage show, with Baron Samedi as a song and a character on stage.
The third band, I'm sorry to say, didn't really belong. Kylesa is more of a mix of psycedelic, progressive, and just plain weird rock. They are a five piece band, with two of them being on drums. The lead singer had some weird hand-shaking wiggly-wobbly thing that made me think of drugged out dream sequences from low-budget movies. They didn't have that bad of a sound...but each song sounded basically the same. The band didn't interact with the crowd at all, except to say "our last song of the evening is...". Overall, I'd give this band a 3 out of 10. Not good for a metal show at all.
Finally, Gwar came on. This is the second leg of a long tour. The main tour was put on hold for a bit when the lead guitarist, Flattus Maximus (Cory Smoot) died in his sleep on the tour bus due to a coronary artery thrombosis brought about by his pre-existing coronary artery disease, and they decided to continue as a four-piece band and dedicate the rest of the tour to him and his family. Instead of replacing him with the same character, Flattus, they retired him, saying that the character returned to their home planet (confused? Read their "history" on their website...link is on their name above).
On this tour, the story is that Gwar bought the deed to Death's castle, and they're checking it out. Long time whipping boy, Bonesnapper the cave troll, brought them a house-warming present: Snookie from Jersey Shore. Gwar proceeded to enthusiastically dismember her (it's all fake, remember!). Turns out that "Death" is actually one of their main enemies, Sawborg Destructo, and he's hidden the World Maggot in the basement to try to eat Gwar. They also had a run-in with the janitor of the Castle of Death.
As for the tribute to Cory Smoot...it was really pretty touching. After the last song was played, the stage went dark, and the house lights stayed dark. Suddenly, a spotlight shone on Cory's guitar that was now sitting in it's guitar stand on stage. Frank Sinatra crooning "My Way" came over the speakers, and the audience started singing along, holding their lit lighters in the air. After the entire song played through, no-one really moved or said anything for several minutes, until the house lights finally came on.
If the rest of the bands were at a volume level of nine...Gwar upped it to about fourteen. I stared off just to the right of center stage, two people back. With the wave motion of the crowd, I soon found myself to the extreme right, up against the rail that separates the crowd from security and the stage. I got knocked down, into a plastic garbage can, was helped up, knocked down, was helped up, crushed against the wall and rail, and generally felt like a ping-pong ball. Right now, I feel like I went through the entire Biggest Loser exercise program during the two hour Gwar set-list. My legs and feet feel like jelly from the constant moving, pushing, bracing; I have a rather nice bruise on my side, and my arms feel wobbly from pushing back against the crowd.
Yeah, it was fun.
Before:
After:
Will I go to Gwar again? Of course. Will I get in the pit again? Might.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Moshing
With the Gwar concert coming up this Sunday (April 22), I've decided to (try to) explain what moshing is. According to Wikipedia,
"Moshing, in a strict sense, is a style of dance whose participants push or slam into each other. It is most associated with "aggressive" music genres, such as hardcore punk and heavy metal. It is primarily done to live music, although it can be done to recorded music."
You can read the entire article here.
In its most basic form, moshing is a bunch of people running around and crashing into each other while a heavy metal concert is going on around them. However, there are a few different kinds of moshing: push-moshing, hardcore dancing, circle pit, and wall of death.
The wall of death is a very violent act (hence the name) and people have been seriously hurt during it.
That video clip was from the Summer Breeze Festival DVD...the metal band Exodus playing Strike of the Beast.
The band Gwar has a different kind of moshing. At least at the concerts I've been to. The crowd is pushed up as close to the stage as they can get, so it's one big mass. The fans sway mostly side to side, with a little bit of front to back. A pit does open up in back of the main crush of people, though, and that one is the circle pit.
That's a "blood cannon" that one of the characters, Bonesnapper the troll, is spraying over the crowd. No, I've never participated in a Wall of Death. Yes, I've been in two Gwar pits, and I plan on being in my third this Sunday. I have a white T-shirt ready, as most of the frequent Gwar concert-goers wear to see how soaked with "blood" (see one of my previous blogs about my last Gwar concert) they can get. I will take pics of before and after the concert with my phone, and post them the next day.
Until then, so long.
"Moshing, in a strict sense, is a style of dance whose participants push or slam into each other. It is most associated with "aggressive" music genres, such as hardcore punk and heavy metal. It is primarily done to live music, although it can be done to recorded music."
You can read the entire article here.
In its most basic form, moshing is a bunch of people running around and crashing into each other while a heavy metal concert is going on around them. However, there are a few different kinds of moshing: push-moshing, hardcore dancing, circle pit, and wall of death.
That video clip was from the Summer Breeze Festival DVD...the metal band Exodus playing Strike of the Beast.
The band Gwar has a different kind of moshing. At least at the concerts I've been to. The crowd is pushed up as close to the stage as they can get, so it's one big mass. The fans sway mostly side to side, with a little bit of front to back. A pit does open up in back of the main crush of people, though, and that one is the circle pit.
That's a "blood cannon" that one of the characters, Bonesnapper the troll, is spraying over the crowd. No, I've never participated in a Wall of Death. Yes, I've been in two Gwar pits, and I plan on being in my third this Sunday. I have a white T-shirt ready, as most of the frequent Gwar concert-goers wear to see how soaked with "blood" (see one of my previous blogs about my last Gwar concert) they can get. I will take pics of before and after the concert with my phone, and post them the next day.
Until then, so long.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Celtic music mixed with.....
I don't know what people's music preference is, but there's been a bit of a surge of celtic music sprinkled into other forms lately. For instance, Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys are pretty much classified as punk, but with so much celtic influence and instrumentation that they've carved a niche called "celtic punk". Click here for the video of Dropkick Murphys song called Going Out in Style.
Punk music probably has the best sound to put to celtic music, but heavy metal hasn't been lacking for it either. There's a group called Eluveitie that has put out a couple albums. Click here for their video for Thousandfold.
The symphony orchestra playing with Metallica seemed to tone down the "heavy metal" sound of Metallica, yet it still sounded fantastic. In contrast, I think the celtic music with punk and metal actually enhances the sound of the music, making it richer, instead of softening it.
Punk music probably has the best sound to put to celtic music, but heavy metal hasn't been lacking for it either. There's a group called Eluveitie that has put out a couple albums. Click here for their video for Thousandfold.
The symphony orchestra playing with Metallica seemed to tone down the "heavy metal" sound of Metallica, yet it still sounded fantastic. In contrast, I think the celtic music with punk and metal actually enhances the sound of the music, making it richer, instead of softening it.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Too much to do, so little time
I know, it's been a while. I've been taking care of the kid, and with that and all the other Mr. Mom type stuff that goes on in a house, there's been precious little time to devote to writing. I have a few ideas perking away, and I should be able to post in a couple days.
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