A Short One To Ring In The New Year And To Make Sissy Happy

Wow, so like, 2008. What's up with that? It's been a roller coaster ride so far, let me tell you. The first thing I did in 2008 was to wake up and go to the gym, which I've been keeping up with for the most part since I first started going back in September. The greatest benefit of that is that it knocks out the need for me to make an insincere New Year's resolution list. Whew.

The first bad thing that happened this year is that Blu-Ray seems to have won the High Definition war. Warner Brothers announced their switchover to Blu-Ray exclusive the other day, pretty much sealing the coffin on HD DVD, which is the format I've been investing in. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, you don't want to. It's a total early-adopter geek niche, vaguely similar to the VHS / Betamax wars of old, and I'm angry at the fact that I even cared enough about that particular economic battle to be angry about the outcome, especially when I know damn well that it's a stupid thing to care about as long as we are still stuck with a retarded chimpanzee for a President who enjoys throwing his feces at brown people. Damn you, Wolfboy! I blame you.

The first fun thing I did this year was to go to my company's Christmas party on January 3rd in Atlantic City. I didn't bring my camera because, well, it seemed silly what with Atlantic City essentially existing as a dirty hole that caters to addicts of all types and also we were only going to be inside of a hotel the entire time. But I kind of wish I had because the view of Atlantic City and the Atlantic Ocean from my room on the 42nd floor of the Borgata Hotel was in fact pretty awesome. My bad. Anyway, good party. Ate some great food at Wolfgang Puck, hobnobbed with the company bigwigs, lost $100 at the roulette table. Actually the hobnobbing thing is a lie. I don't really do that; I'm extremely anti-social. I was in bed by 10pm so that I could get up at 6am to utilize their very fine gym and spa facilities. Their steam room, sauna, and cold plunge were awesome. So awesome, in fact, that I looked into finding a similar sort of bath spa in the Pocono area, only to find that no such thing exists here. Anyone want to go into the bath spa business with me? Seriously, I think it's a winning idea, but I can't do it alone.

Wait a second: didn't I just say in the comments of my last post that blogging about your personal life tends to bore people? Crap, I need to pay more attention to myself. Sorry, done now. You'll notice that I've removed the "messy life" nonsense from my page title as clearly my life is not in fact a mess. If my life was a mess, perhaps I'd be more interesting. It's simply my incomprehensible screen name now. Plus, people who name their blogs "My random thoughts and mental meanderings", or "my Socratic life" or some such have always made me snigger, until I realized that I was essentially one of them with my outdated blog name. Sometimes, I'm pretty slow on the uptake. If you're one of the two people who link to my site, please make the necessary adjustments. Or even better, take this opportunity to drop me. It's probably the right thing to do, as I haven't actually been interesting since I left Iraq at gunpoint, anyway.

Comments

[Miss Luongo]

1. Sorry about Blu-Ray.
2. Good business idea. If I had any money, I'd join you.
3. New Years Eve Indian food doesn't get a mention?

[Gary]

I hate High Def and everything to do with it. There's no way I'm spending thousands on a TV. The prices better drop A LOT before I even consider buying one. And if the time comes where I'll have to have one, I'll just stop watching TV altogether. I've already given up watching movies.

If you do create a spa make sure if they have massages that the happy ending is optional. :P

[messiestobjects]

@ Julie - Oh yes, New Year's Indian food was the first awesome food of the New Year... except that, of course it was consumed on New Year's Eve... technically still in 2007. But what the hey, it didn't come out of me until the morning of the 1st in 2008, so we'll include it.

@ Gary - High Def is actually extremely cool, but only if you're into movies, which of course you're not, and only if you have the proper TV and sound system. It's not widespread enough to be cheap yet, so it's understandable not to buy into it yet. I wish I had been smart enough not to, although I will say that 2001: A Space Odyssey looked and sounded AMAZING in high def, as did The Shining. It's a completely different experience, almost like they're different movies.

The happy ending will only be optional in any Thailand franchises I open, sorry G.

[Gary]

Yeah I know it looks frickin awesome but I have guitar stuff and pirate radio gear to buy and that's expensive enough as it is.

[Sissy]

Michael, I will take your tenacity into consideration and thank you for something new.

For two days now I've been ranting on in my head about ME and figured that tomorrow I will sit and unleash it onto my blog. Then you reminded me what my dad said when I presented him with my autobiography at the age of twelve: "Sissy, most people's lives aren't interesting enough for other people to want to read them."

At the same time, I find myself often completely uninterested in the non-self topics people post, and immediately assess the posts as autobiographical blurbs hidden behind public interest jargon. It's a lose-lose arena. Post about yourself, and people are bored. Post on your interests, and people see through it as your way of saying, "This is what I do when I'm not writing about myself."

Personally, and regardless of my interest level, all posts fly. It all lends to peeling away the layers of who we are and what makes us tick.

[messiestobjects]

Yeah I guess... I'm actually not really sure what my motivation is for continuing to blog though. I've always enjoyed writing, even though I'll never write the great American novel, and I suppose that keeping a blog is slightly more dangerous and exciting than keeping a journal the old fashioned way. Not to mention more socially acceptable here in the information age.

I think that I have many small, different reasons for continuing to blog. Originally, it was a way to wean myself off of obnoxious mass emails to friends and family about how exciting my life was, so that the people who actually cared could check up on whether I was still alive in Iraq or not if they wanted to, rather than risk boring those who didn't care with my emails. Over time it also became a way to vent frustrations over the madness I was witness to over there. I also noticed then that it helped to organize my thoughts about certain subjects when I put them down for an audience, even if it was only an audience of one or two.

For a while after that it was a combination of habit, and the continuing vanity of showing off my travels and my photos, regardless of whether anybody wound up caring or not... I just wanted a place to put things, and maybe get some feedback. Like a brain dump. Yeeaahhh, a brain dump, that's the ticket.

I guess it continues to be combinations of those things and other things, depending on the day, the post, my mood.

I've been going back through my blog over the last few days, assigning categories to all of my past posts as that's a blog feature I'd never utilized, but recently decided it was a good idea, which is probably where this comment comes from. It's weird to go back in time and see where my head was two years ago... Which, Hey! Another reason to blog. To remind myself of who I was.

[Sissy]

"To remind myself who I was."

...I do think it is time for a sissy post on this topic.

In other news, I started blogging because I was convinced I had something to say that the WORLD needed to hear. Thank God learning the truth didn't cost me any money and no more time than it was already costing me keeping it all in a journal.

I love this blog. It's a good place for me to hang and feel......cool. (I am so pathetic) But moreso, there's something about something over here that gets me all exestensial and provokes self-searching thoughts on a diverse range of topics and issues. Like, I'd never in a ga-zillion years consider reading a sci-fi book until you gave a really objective overview on the author and content. And I hated Mexico until I saw your pics and considered perhaps I am too harsh. Oh, I could go on, but I have a post to post on something I lost.

[messiestobjects]

Aw hell Sissy, blushing is bad for my complexion.

I'm glad you're considering sci-fi... it's good for the neurons. I have a post about sci-fi in general kicking around in my head; I'll see you there!

I'm also glad you think I provoke self-searching thoughts and existentialism, but something tells me you're pretty good at getting there on your own, drama queen! :)

[Sissy]

Drama Queen.

I'm a sucker for flattery.

[messiestobjects]

Well, you're a Drama Queen in the most flattering manner.

[Sissy]

And I rank high among the best, yet, no one can beat the best of the best. Of the best. I don't even try to compete.

[messiestobjects]

No, no one can beat her highness. But competition is unnecessary; No one really wants to be the best of the best of the best. Look at what that kind of pressure does to a person. Yuck.

[Sissy]

Yeah, sadly enough, I know how being the best at something can affect a person.

But, really, we shouldn't be talking about Julie like this.

[Sissy]

BAH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

[messiestobjects]

Yes, of course you're right. Um, Julie, might go totally off the deep end if she thinks I'm talking about her.

[Miss Luongo]

I know people talk about me. I'm interesting!

[messiestobjects]

Shh! Julie, be quiet! Julie might hear you.

[Sissy]

And to think of all those years I wasted on paranoia, certain that everyone was saying bad things about me behind my back. As it turned out, no one cared enough to talk about me behind my back.

Fuckers.

For not talking about me behind my back.

Whatever.

[messiestobjects]

Sissy, I talk about you behind your back all the time.

[Sissy]

sniffle. hic. weep.

That is....so....I feel...so..honored.

thank you.

weep.

[messiestobjects]

(pss psst pss sissy psst pss) You're welcome.

[Heather]

You guys are so in love with me it's not even funny.

[messiestobjects]

I win!

[Sissy]

So much for Stealth Maneuvers.