Whether You Care Or Not
It’s been months since thoughts from my head have been regurgitated onto this page. There are plenty of reasons for that, none of which I plan on writing here. However, I am now back by request and hopefully more frequently (an empty promise I make to myself after every blogging dry spell).
Now is a good time to start again, however, since the summer is basically over and the season is a changin’. The Spring/Summer catalog of shorts, tanktops, flip flops and bathing suits has been thrown away and the new Fall/Winter catalog full of sweaters, scarves, beanies, and gloves (or t-shirts and jeans if you live in Southern California) has been sent out. You may know either from previous blogs or just by knowing me that I am not a fan of the [Fall/]Winter season and much prefer the Spring[/Summer] season. However, I am trying to stay a little bit more open minded this year since I have a lot of great things going right at the brink of the season switch.
Since my last post in June, a lot has happened. Pluto is no longer a planet. Mel Gibson went insane. Katie Couric left the Today show and started CBS Nightly News. The Crocodile Hunter is no longer with us. The Dodgers are still in first place (woo hoo!), but it has been a rocky ride (and it still is). As far as what I’ve been up to, though, well, there’s still been a lot.
The good news is that two of my early New Year’s “goals” (not resolutions!) have been realized: piano lessons and fitness training. I have weekly piano lessons and am [almost] disciplined enough to practice on a [semi-]regular basis. I have had six sessions with a personal trainer at the gym and I’m going 3-4 times a week and feeling great about it. There is still more work to be done to officially complete my 2006 goals from January, but the summer definitely helped point me in the right direction.
I also made one of the top three purchases of my life: I bought a MacBook. I have never been more in love with a piece of machinery or happier to see upwards of $1000 dollars leave my bank account. I can’t endorse a product more than that. Go buy a Mac, people.
Of course, I also “discovered” a game called World of Warcraft, which, for all intents and purposes, has pretty much consumed my life for the past few weeks. Unfortunately, I don’t think it is a passing fad and so I am working on controlling my near-addiction, which I have done well recently, but did not do well with early on. Despite all of this, I would reccommend this game to anybody. It is maybe the most fun computer game I have ever played.
Also over the summer I went to a lot of theater, a wedding, and I helped my [beautiful, talented, sweet and loving] girlfriend move into a condo in the valley with her friend. In the past years of my life this would have constituted a blog in and of itself, but while I know it will not make life any easier having her further away from me, I also know that it isn’t really a problem since we are both adults and able to handle the “distance” (all 30 minutes of it).
I’ve planned a NY trip and a Vegas birthday trip to happen in the next couple of months. Now, school has started up again, and so has a new softball season. So things are in full swing. I’m hoping some regularity in my schedule will help normalize things a bit more.
So now we’re all caught up. I hate these kinds of blogs, though, don’t you? They are like those Christmas cards about the kids of friends you haven’t seen in decades. The best part of it is that, in this case, anybody who would actually read this page already knows all of this information. Doesn’t that just make me feel important? Hopefully there will be more “meat” in my next blog.
Well, I’m back from my much anticipated vacation and back into real-life mode. This vacation was equally relaxing and stressful if that makes any sense – which it doesn’t unless you know the specifics. Unfortunately, I don’t want to write about the specifics, but let’s just say there was a lot of drama during my trip.
The point of this post is to sum up a few bits of information I learned about myself while on this trip:
It was a fun trip overall. It was much needed and I think it was just what I needed. Now, it’s time to get back on track. At least the Dodgers are in first place. Woo hoo!
Finally, anecdotes from my life. Here comes a mish mosh…
Last night we played a double header to finish off our season and won both games, beating the first place team 15-11. My sister is back from school so she joined in. We all played great and they were maybe the best games I’ve played. I played a little first base too, which has been fun.
However, the real fun didn’t start until I got home, when I got to deal with my leaking water heater and the havoc that it wreaked all over my garage. That means no shower, call a plumber, be late to work, deal with an insurance company, and spend money – basically all negative events. Aren’t I lucky?
Thankfully, I’m going on vacation next week. Boy, do I need it. The only crazy thing is, there is so much to get done before I can leave, I feel like the next week will be a total whirlwind, which it will be. I have nothing to really complain about, though. A week cruise through the Mediterranean should be enough to lighten my mood.
Okay, I’m done with the vent session. I now return you to your regularly scheduled event already in progress…
There’s so much I could write about. The queue of topics in my head is pretty endless, despite the lack of posts recently. Unfortunately, I’ve decided to let loose about a topic I never thought I’d write about in this space. Yep, I’m talking about American Idol.
I’ve put my foot in my mouth many times before. I once claimed I would never own an Apple computer (my primary machine is now a Mac Mini). I used to discount rap as music and then ended up listening to it extensively, albeit during my college days. Most recently, I’ve ranted about the ridiculous world of reality television (even in this forum), and I have specifically denounced American Idol. I was able to successfully skirt the show even though my entire family is obsessed with it. However, thanks (or no thanks) to my lovely girlfriend, I got sucked in this year and ended up watching almost every episode this season. Worse, I followed the season. After allowing myself this horrific fate, I will make two points.
First, I will never watch/follow a season of American Idol again. My mom claims she says this every year and then watches anyway. I will truly make an effort to not slip on this promise. I just can’t stand the insanity. Regardless of what anyone might say, I contend that it is true, pure reality television – fully producer-manipulated and likely fixed to some degree. That’s easy to get away with and it’s even perfectly okay (see: Quiz Show). Plus, hey, it makes great television…but that doesn’t mean I have to watch it. It’s just such exploitation. I mean the fact that the Top 12 go on tour after the finale, and that the finale is basically one giant publicity stunt to promote that tour just makes me sick to think about, let alone actually have to watch. (Not to mention the performances were painfully bad.) So, no more Idol for me, no matter what you say.
Second, I am going to discuss this year’s results. (Ironic, isn’t it? Denounce it, then discuss it. I’m sorry, this season was an anomaly.) In my opinion, the winner is essentially irrelevant, given that their success or failure in the music industry is yet to be determined. In fact, it’s entirely possible that the “losers” will be more successful than the winner in the long term anyway. Also, who’s to say that America’s votes aren’t entirely meaningless and not just a ploy to keep the viewers involved? We could all vote and then the producers could just determine who to send off anyway. Either that, or they could rig the phone systems. If we can’t even get an accurate count for our presidential election (see: 2000), then why do we believe the guy that comes out during the finale and “validates” the results?
Putting that aside, though, it’s clear that Katharine was a better singer than Taylor, but Taylor was clearly a better performer than Katharine. Over time, Katharine will almost certainly improve her performance skills and Taylor will likely improve his singing (especially with the help of computers in recording studios). The important thing to note here is that none of this matters. Many could argue (see: my sister and my girlfriend) that Katharine had the better voice and thus should have won the competition. I must admit I was sort of rooting for Taylor the whole time because I thought he was entertaining. However, Katharine is a fabulous singer, and she is incredibly gorgeous (one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever seen), so I could not have been upset if she won. However, either one of these people, including any of the Top 12, could score a huge hit single or album. It’s a total crap shoot. The point is, my sister and girlfriend obviously see this as a singing contest instead of what it truly is: a popularity contest. (Not to mention that someone from the south always wins because the people in the south who have nothing better to do with their time all sit and vote for them.)
You can see why this show is not for me. I’m glad I’ve let all of these opinions out so I can finally put this godforsaken show to bed. Man, I miss Arrested Development.
There’s a new look and feel folks! That’s right, this is the brand new Bryanfriedman.com, and it’s better than ever. Check out all of the changes:
Here’s some final notes about this blog since I know most of you know nothing about blogs:
That’s it for now. I’ll be posting stuff more frequently. Hopefully it will be a better mix of content…some deep thoughts, short essay kind of stuff like I’ve been doing, but also some more light-hearted, simple, perhaps shorter posts to keep you interested.
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