Five Year Lay Off Anniversary and other stories.

(Note: I started this on November 6th with the intention of posting it that very day, but I got to a point where I needed to stop, and planned on giving it a proper finish later. I'm not really finishing it so much as I am adding an update to it.)

Today is the fifth anniversary of my getting lad off from Main Employer. I did a brief 3-year anniversary update here. So where am I at now as opposed to five years ago? Financially/living situation-wise, I've still got a ways to go. I'm currently making $1 less an hour than I did in 2008. I'll be getting a 25-cent raise in January. I've been having a hard time getting up on my workday mornings, and am seriously considering going back to night shift in January, so if I go back to night shift I'll be making an extra $0.50, which would add up to only making $0.25 less than I did in 2008. My car is paid off, so that helps, but I still have a long way to go to pay off my credit card. If I do get that paid off before I move out, then the credit card will most likely only be used for gas and groceries.

Being in a relationship helped me learn a lot about myself, though I'm not 100% sure in what ways. I love following my friends on Facebook, but I don't really have time to truly get to know anybody. I remember that being the case five years ago, the difference is that back then I was heartbroken about it, now I'm just kind of like, "Eh, whatever." I realized that if I play around on social networking sites too long, I get depressed, and there are plenty of other ways to stay occupied.

Besides having lost my job, my sister, my sister's cats, and a home-away-from-home to stay at in Louisville, the loss of Ear X-tacy Records has contributed to the hole in my heart that's grown in the past five years. A lot of small independent record stores have popped up in that time, and they're pretty nice, but I miss having a large independent record store that usually had what I was looking for.

Hypothetically, working on a day shift means that I have the potential to go out and do things at night, but that's hard to do since I work ten-hour shifts. This past Monday night, I was in bed by 8:00pm. When my alarm went off at 4:40am, I had a hard time getting up because I was basically only half awake. I got out of bed by 5:10, which was better than the 5:25 the day before, but I'd still prefer to have been out of bed no later than 5:00. It's gotten to the point where I might as well just take a shower as soon as I get home, and then go straight to bed. I missed out on the chance to see Danzig in Louisville mostly because it was on a Thursday and I didn't want to get to bed too late, plus as I mentioned in my previous post I'm kind of tired of spending money and making the drive to Louisville and back. I'm debating on going to the Kreator/Overkill show on November 21st, another Thursday. I've seen Kreator before, but I'd really like to see Overkill. The only way I see myself making it to that show is if I leave work a few hours early to take a nap, but I don't think that would help me get up the following morning. But since I have such a hard time getting up on work day mornings or going out on nights when I have to work the next morning, I figure I might as well go back to night shift.

Update:

1.I finally got a Playstation 3, a whole five years after I first intended to get one, but put it off due to getting laid off. I wanted it more as a high end Blu-Ray player than for games.

2.I didn't go to the Kreator/Overkill show.

3.A couple of days after my birthday, I visited a couple of new record stores in Louisville, Modern Cult Records and Guestroom Records. Modern Cult was pretty small, but has lots of potential. Guestroom Records was pretty sweet, I'd say it's as god an independent record store as Louisville is going to get in the post-Ear X-tacy era. They have a decent selection of CDs, and a HUGE amount of vinyl. They even sell Spin-Clean Record Washers! I'd love to do more shopping at these places, but I have enough music for now, and I'm trying to save money.

4.Christmas is two and a half weeks away, and it can't pass soon enough. I went to a Best Buy yesterday, and while it wasn't really even crowded by December shopping standards, it was still crowded enough to make me want to run over anybody that was in my way. While we're at it, I want to say that I have a tendency to watch videos of Black Friday shopping. My humanitarian side wants to shake my head in disgust at these people and what they'll do for a "bargain", but the side of me that just wants to watch the world burn laughs gleefully.

5.I've had no mandatory overtime this peak season, but I still feel like I can't get shit done! Case in point, blogging. I do have a mandatory OT day scheduled for this coming Saturday.

6.Winter hasn't even officially come yet, and I'm already sick of it! Who wants to pay me to move to California?

10-20-13

It's been about two months since my last post. I've basically been trucking along, doing a lot better now than I was this time last year, probably thanks to Cymbalta, Summer sticking around until this weekend, and not working in the Picking department. There was one week where I was miserable because I was dizzy the entire week, possibly due to the Cymbalta(?). Oddly enough, it started when I came in to work on a Saturday to work half a day of voluntary overtime, and ended the following Friday after leaving half a day early and taking a brief nap.

Everybody at my work got an increase in pay, mine jumped from $10.50/hour to $11.75. That made me a little happy since it meant I'd be making more than I made this time last year, and I'm now just a dollar under where I was at when I got laid off. This also means that looking to work somewhere else is pointless unless I can start at $12 to $13/hour. The bad news is they only top out at $12.50, or $13 if you work the night shift.

After last year's Halloween week fiasco, I'm taking Halloween night and November 1st off so I can enjoy my damn Halloween weekend. I don't plan on doing a damn lot on Halloween except watching horror movies. I'm also taking my birthday and the day after that off. Man, I wish my birthday was closer to Halloween so it would be easier to take a week off.

I can almost say that I've gotten tired of spending money, and I'm kind of weary from four and a half years of driving back and forth to Louisville with no place to stay overnight. While I can stand to get new glasses or have a tooth looked at, I figure now is the time to start saving money so I can finally move out.

Summer Of Drugs, or just Drug.

This entry's title was inspired by a Victoria Williams song that Soul Asylum covered. I was never much into the song, but always found the title amusing.

I had a neuropsychological evaluation done in late June, and got the results a month later. I was diagnosed not with dysthymia, but with Major Depressive Disorder. It kind of made sense, seeing as that I had basically been depressed since at least September. Not sad mind you, but I had basically felt like my body was on autopilot while my mind was somewhere else, and I had lost interest in a lot of things. The post-test plan has been to go to my medical doctor to get put on an antidepressant, and try to find a new therapist. I've not done a therapist search yet, but I have gone to my doctor and am currently on an antidepressant. I decided to try Cymbalta again since it seemed to be the medication I've tried that did the most good with the least worst side effects. I started off the first week with 30mg, then went to 60mg after that. I swear that I was feeling better within just a few hours of taking my first one. I did seem to have a little more energy, and while I still hated my job, I didn't hate it quite as much. I can't say I've noticed a significant improvement with the 60mg, and some of the side effects are bugging me, so today my doctor and I decided to just go with 30mg. I lost weight during the month of July, and I swear I had gained some weight since I started taking Cymbalta, but when I was weighed at the doctor's office today, I supposedly weighed two pounds less than my on my first visit three weeks ago. Either I've lost weight, and my belly is shaping up differently, or the girl at the doctor's office doesn't know how to use the scale. I always did find those scales that doctors normally use to be kind of odd. You know, the ones with the sliding things. I guess I'll have to use my mom and dad's scale to analyze my weight along with what I call "the Feel Test," which involves observing the shape of my belly, and how my clothes fit. Oh, and I was shocked when I saw how much the Cymbalta cost me: $40! I swear it would've only been $20 under my old pre-layoff insurance with Main ex-Employer.

My mom and dad decided a couple of months ago that it's about time for me to strike out on my own. While I don't think I can really afford it, I was active in looking for a place at first. I've been less active lately since the neuropsyche eval has cost me quite a bit (I've paid that office a total of $476 so far), plus I have some car issues I want to take care of. Looking for an apartment is almost as bad as looking for a job. There are too many things to factor into the search, like what areas I'd like to live in, or where I'd be willing to live if my favorite areas are too expensive, the cost of rent and if it covers utilities, if they allow pets, and looking to see if the place is a shithole. I looked up an apartment ratings site, and apparently every apartment complex is a shithole. The only thing that separates the higher rated complexes from the lower rated ones are that the higher rated ones have lots of ultra-positive reviews which were most likely done by people who work there, to make the score higher. There are only so many apartment complexes that advertise in apartment magazines and web sites, including Craigslist, especially in my preferred area, which is the Highlands area of Louisville. Seems like the best way to find an apartment in the Highlands is to walk around and see if there are any signs for apartments for rent, but I don't really have time for that. I sometimes think about settling for a place in the Shepherdsville or North Bullitt County area, but I'd kinda like to be able to vote for John Yarmuth.

The only way I can see myself living on my own is if I work voluntary overtime. I think 40 hours is too much time to spend at that place as it is, but I guess working 50 hours and going home to my own place, especially if it's closer to my stomping grounds, would be preferable to working 40 hours and going home to my mom and dad's house. And if I can stick with an antidepressant, it might not be so bad. It is nice to know that I can make more in a 10-hour OT shift at my current job than I would working 20 hours at Megalomart. I guess I'll try to start doing voluntary OT the week after Labor Day.

Speaking of Labor Day, it seems like it took forever for Winter to finally leave the Ohio Valley, and now it's almost the end of Summer. There's no telling anymore what Fall/Winter weather is going to be like, I'm kinda hoping it will be milder than last season. But again, who knows? All I do know is that, god damn it, I want to move to California!

4th of July 2013

Here's how my Memorial Day weekend went down. I had a hard time enjoying it because I was so pissed about having to work on Monday. I can't remember much about that Saturday except for going to see a midnight showing of The Wiz. On Sunday, my girlfriend and I went over to a friend's place. I probably should have given some sort of cut-off time since I had to work in the morning, but at the same time I was just kind of like, "Eh, fuck it." We finally left around 3:00am, and I got home before 4:00, which gave me only an hour to try to get any sleep. I couldn't sleep, so I was cranky as Hell going to work. We only worked five hours, which was half a day, but it was enough to ruin my holiday. I went home and took a nap until about 4:00pm, and tried to enjoy the rest of the day.

Now it's Independence Day. I got the day off, but my couple of days off were almost ruined by car trouble. Thankfully, I didn't have to spend the entire couple of days off at home.

Why am I even writing about this?

HOLIDAYS! What are they good for?

I noticed recently that I have a few posts which are supposed to be "Part 1", but I never follow them up with Part 2s. One of them was one of my first entries, "The Saga Of The Past 3+ Years". Honestly, I'm not sure what else there is to write about that time period (2007-2011) that I haven't already written. I recently mentioned a topic that I wanted to do for the "Radio Tales" series, and I would still like to do that if I ever get the time. I do hope to conclude "What kind of music do I listen to?" in the near future. Unfortunately, in this case "near future" means "in the next couple of months if I'm lucky."

Obviously, I haven't been feeling up to writing. As much as I enjoy not having to work Wednesdays or having to put up with that place for more than a couple of days at a time, the splitting of my weekend seems to work against me as far as getting things accomplished goes. Plus, I've been pretty overwhelmed with the 10-hour work days and having to do things for my parents. I would like to find another job, but since I'm having some neuro-psychological testing done, want some new glasses, and should probably go to the dentist soon, I kind of need the insurance for the next few months.

I am really annoyed that my department has to work on Memorial Day. I can't remember last year's Memorial Day, but I'm pretty sure that they had last July fourth off, because I remember it seemed like everybody was off then except for Outbound. But you know, back then it was Main ex-Employer, now it's The Parent Company, and so the rules with Main ex-Employer no longer apply. The only reason I can think of as to why my department has to work is that The Parent Company must really love to waste money. Have I ever told you what my department does? We count stuff. While what we do is important in the grand scheme of things, we don't really play a direct part in getting product out to the customer, and thus we're not absolutely needed on holidays. I figure they might let us go home early, but probably only two hours early. That doesn't do me any favors because I still have to get up at the ass crack of dawn, and since a normal day for me is ten hours, leaving two hours early just gives me the equivalent of most peoples' regular work days. Meanwhile, my girlfriend has the night off. Fuck me running.

What kind of music do I listen to? Part 1

"What kind of music do you like?"

I hate when people ask me this question, because I listen to so many genres that I don't even know where to start, plus I don't listen to a lot of newer music, at least not the kind of newer music that seems to dominate in Red States. If I had to break down my favorite genres by decade, it would look something like this. Keep in mind that this is what I like now, and not necessarily what I've liked in the past.

• 1950s: Rock n' Roll/Rockabilly, which can pretty much include '50s Country and R&B as well.
• 1960s: R&B, Surf Rock, British Invasion, Garage Rock/Psychedelia. And I guess some Country as well. I also have a fondness for Burt Bacharach-style Jazz, or whatever you want to call it.
• 1970s: Glam Rock, Punk Rock, R&B/Funk and some Disco, a limited amount of Heavy Metal and Prog.
• 1980s: Alternative (includes too many sub-genres to list, will elaborate later), Thrash/Speed Metal (including Thrash/Punk Crossover), early Death Metal, Hip Hop, early '80s R&B (especially with the Mini-Moog bass), Electro-Funk, and a lot of stuff that was popular, but don't care to split into categories for now (will elaborate later).
• 1990s: Alternative (again, will elaborate later), Thrash Metal, Death Metal, post-Thrash Groove Metal, Techno, early '90s Hip Hop.
• 2000-2013: This is where it starts to get tricky, but the only genres I could say for sure that I liked were Garage Rock and Dance Rock, but I've been trying to focus more on finding music that "moves" me regardless of genre, which a lot of times is music that reminds me of older music, especially New Wave or Synth-Pop.

As you can see, I'm pretty scattered out. It's probably easier for me to say what I don't like, which is usually middle-of-the-road music (MOR), mainstream Hard Rock, Pop-Country (1990-2013, basically file under "MOR/Hard Rock") folksy singer/songwriter stuff, and I hate to say it, Blues. While I can appreciate the impact Blues has had on Rock and Metal, a lot of it just sounds the same to me, or at least the general Blues formula just doesn't do it for me. Plus, I need some Rhythm to go with my Blues. I don't like most R&B from the late '80s to today, or a lot of Hip Hop from after 1995.

To elaborate further on what I mean by "Alternative", a short answer would be that it's the kind of music you would hear on Sirius/XM's "First Wave" channel, or that you could find on the Left Of The Dial box set, and the '90s equivalents of those bands. The long answer is that it is a bunch of genres that spawned from Punk, my favorites of which are:

• New Wave
• New Romantic
• Synth-Pop
• Hardcore (but only from about 1980-1986)
• Goth Rock
• Industrial
• College/Indie Rock (which itself is pretty hard to nail down)
• Alternative Metal
• Grunge (which could also be lumped under Alternative Metal)

Around 1996, real Alternative Rock seemed to go back underground, while commercial Modern Rock radio pushed bands that were a watered down version of the popular early '90s Alt-Rock. It angers me to no end when people refer to bands like Nickelback or Shinedown as Alternative. I should also mention that Pop-Punk and Emo are like the "kiddie pool" of Alt-Rock.

BTW, I don't like Sirius/XM's "Lithium" '90s Alt channel. Every time I turn it on to Lithium, I hear the same old stuff that I can hear on the local radio channels. I got to hear XM's old equivalent to it a couple of times, and I freakin' loved it since they played a lot of stuff that's been forgotten.

I'm thinking that I'll have to continue this topic later.

Should we talk about the weather?

This post could also be called, "Fuck you, Ohio Valley!"

I mentioned the weather in my last post, and this weekend is a good example of what I've had to put up with. On Saturday, it was sunny and had gotten up to about 72 degrees. When my girlfriend and I walked into a store between 5:30 and 6:00pm, it was sunny and warm. When we walked out about an hour or so later, it was cloudy and seemed to be about 10 to 20 degrees colder than it was when we went in. Today, it's in the upper 30s and raining. Areas north of me have gotten snow.

Fuck this shit.

Update, March 13, 2013

I'm glad that I left the Picking department when I did since they've had mandatory overtime for the past few weeks. What's funny about that department this year as opposed to last year is that there didn't seem to be any point after Peak at which they were ungodly slow, they've either been steady or ungodly busy. I do remember having OT almost every weekend in March last year, and they seem to be ahead of schedule this year. I really hope that their OT ends soon, because I'm tired of having to smell the guy I refer to as Ol' Stinky Bastard more than two days out of the week.

March usually brings about a lot of changes where I work, and it will be interesting to see what kind of shit they come up with this year. They've already sent the Wednesday-Saturday manager of my department over to the other warehouse.

I still think the department is okay. I think I like the leads on the Wednesday-Saturday (A2) shift more than the manager/lead on the Sunday-Wednesday (A1) shift, mainly because the A2 shift leads seem to have more confidence in us newbs and started letting us learn some of the more advanced stuff as of two weeks ago, while we've been stuck doing the same old job on Mondays and Tuesdays. I still hate getting up early in the morning. I had an even harder time than usual this year in dealing with the switch to Daylight Saving Time. I'm seriously considering trying to get on the night shift in that department when the chance comes up, but I also figure there is more potential for Spring/Summer fun if I stay on the shift that I'm currently on.

Speaking of Spring, I've been ready for it since September, and I wish it would get here already! While we haven't had as much Winter this year as areas west and north/northeast have, we've still had more Winter than last year, and it's been enough to annoy the shit out of me. The average high temperatures for the past couple of weeks were supposed to be in the 50s, and we've been well below that for most of the time. I've been envious of Austin TX's temperatures for a month now, and I also envy my ex-coworkers who just moved to Las Vegas, NV.

I've been needing to do some cleaning at home, especially in my bedroom, but have neglected it because, well, I can't stand to be there! It seems like my choices are either stay home and get stuff accomplished while losing my mind, or get out of the house for a little while. I'm not just sick of home, I'm sick of Shepherdsville, too. Hell, I'm sick of even working in Shepherdsville, but I'll deal with that down the road. I'd love to move to a bigger city, especially one not quite so cold in the Winter, but I'll settle for moving to Louisville. So why don't I move out? Well, I don't quite have the money at the moment, plus with my dad currently being wheelchair-bound, I kind of feel like I'm having to take care of my mom and dad. Once my dad can get a prosthetic leg, he might be able to get around again. I'm pretty sure my car has finally been paid off, and I'll be able to do something with some stock in May, so moving out in late May or during the Summer is almost looking possible. But, I have no living room furniture or stuff for the kitchen, and I figure that stuff could get expensive.

One thing I've been wanting to write about for what was supposed to be my "Radio Tales" series was how different the demographics for Rock radio stations, especially Modern Rock, are between Austin, TX, and the Louisville, KY area. I mention this because I was highly disappointed that 93.1 The Fox went back to being an Active/Mainstream Rock station with a heavy emphasis on Hard Rock and Lite Metal after a three year stint as a Modern Rock station. Here's the history of the station in a nutshell: It started in 1993 as a sort of AOR station. Sometime between 2000 and 2002 it became more of an Active/Mainstream Rock station. In early 2009, they started incorporating more Modern Rock type stuff, eventually going full on Modern Rock around October '09, and staying that way until going back to Active/Mainstream Rock in February 2013. I'm surprised that it lasted that long as a Modern Rock station since the majority of the Rock audience in the Louisville Metro area seems to lean more towards Hard Rock, and I seemed to be one of the few people I knew who preferred it as Modern Rock. There's a lot about the Louisville audience that I want to touch base on, but I'm afraid I'm going to save that for some other time.

I want to end this post by saying congrats to my blog buddy Natalie on her new baby!

Shift/position update

Well, I've been in my new shift/position for two and a half weeks now. The job is okay, but I'm still not quite used to getting up so damn early. To make matters worse, I have yet to make it to bed on a Sunday night before midnight, so I'm usually dragging ass pretty bad on Mondays. The 10-hour thing still bugs me. I kind of miss having three days off in a row, but I'm glad that I only have to put up with that place for two days at a time.

I still haven't recovered fully from the peak season.

Dad news and another shift change

My dad is doing much better since his leg was amputated. His kidneys seem to be functioning normally again. He'll be doing physical therapy pretty soon. I am kind of wondering if this will throw a wrench into my plans for moving out in the near future.

I got a shift transfer at work! It's not just a shift transfer, but I'll be going to a different department entirely. I'm not sure what I'll be doing. I know that one of the jobs that that section does is horrendously boring, but I might not even be doing that particular job. I'll be working Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, from 6:30am until 5:00pm. That was actually my #2 choice, my first choice was Mondays through Thursdays, 5:30pm to 4:00am, but I'm fairly happy with the shift I got since I won't have to work every Sunday, Saturday, or my least favorite night, Wednesday, and I won't have to work more than two nights in a normal week, maybe three if I have to work overtime.

Worst weekend ever

Thursday: My mom thinks my dad has the flu, due to some symptoms like chills. He stayed in bed almost all day.

Friday: My mom took my dad to the ER sometime before 2:00 p.m. His leg is swollen. I was hoping to hear something from her while she was out, but she has no cell phone, and she can't make long distance calls at the hospital. Sometime after midnight my girlfriend suggests that I call the hospital, where I find out she just left about ten minutes before. She made it home sometime before 1:00 a.m. She told me that he didn't have the flu, that most of his flu-ish symptoms were related to his leg, and that they also think he might have renal failure.

Saturday: Ugh. Long story short, an ultrasound was done on his organs, an MRI was done on his leg, and they ultimately had to amputate his leg just above the knee. He seemed to show some immediate improvement on the surface after they amputate it. They're still uncertain at this point how his organs will fare.

Dealing with this shit really makes me wish I didn't have to work this week, but who knows, maybe work will keep my mind off of it?

Observing personal anniversaries

This part was written around January 11/12th:
It was looking pretty scary last week, but I didn't have to work overtime last weekend, nor did I have to this weekend. Somewhere down the road, I'd like to update my resume and what I call my "application cheat sheet" so I can look for another job. But since my typically clutter-rific room turned into a fucking mess during the peak season, I've spent part of my past couple of weekends trying to straighten it up.

My car should be paid off in either February or March, and if I get a tax refund this year, it will go toward paying some debts. The realist in me thinks I should continue living at home so I can pay off my last debt quicker, but my other side is screaming for me to move out. I'm not saying that I won't be able to pay that last debt every month, just that it would be more like paying the bare minimum living on my own as opposed to being able to pay double that or more at home. So, I'm kinda hoping to move out in the late Spring. I just hope I'm not in a position again where I end up out of a job and have to move back home.

This part was written on January 15th and 17/18th:
It looked like overtime was a possibility for this weekend, but that turned out not to be the case.

I've been thinking a lot about anniversaries. It seems like those anniversaries that end with a 5 or a 0 tend to be the most observed. 2012 was the 10th anniversary of a lot of my last holidays in Austin, the most significant being Halloween, my birthday, and New Year's Eve. And it was the 10th anniversary of my last Christmas visiting Kentucky as an Austinite. 2012 was also the fifth anniversary of my last visit to Austin. I was hoping to visit again sometime over the past five years, but getting laid off kind of fucked that up. While there are more fun things to do in Austin than in Louisville, the only time I feel any urgency to move back is during the Winter months. I think that if I were to move back to Austin, it would be nice to have the income and time to really enjoy Austin. You know, like getting to see all the movies I want to see, especially those that might not even make it to Louisville, and going to concerts. 2013 marks the 15th anniversary of my moving to Austin, the 10th anniversary of my last New Year's Day in Austin and moving back to Kentucky, and the fifth anniversary of 2008, the first in a series of Years From Hell.

Wait, 2008 was five years ago? God damn! Compared to 2008, I feel like I've got a better handle on some things, but on other things I'm even more confused. Namely, I'm even less confident in deciding what I would want to do for a career. But on the other hand, I seem to have gotten good at not trying to please people who probably don't give a shit about me, and at not getting too attached to coworkers.

I just realized that next January 1st will be the fifth anniversary of my sister's death. I still haven't quite gotten used to life in the post-sister era.

An Incomplete List of My Favorite Stuff of 2012

Well, here it is, a year end list of my favorite stuff in Entertainment. Some lists will probably be updated.

Movies
I didn't get to see near as many indie/art/foreign films as I would've liked since my girlfriend's taste in movies is more mainstream than mine, or at least she doesn't keep up as much with what all is out there than I do. There were a lot of movies that I generally liked, but these were my favorites.

The Avengers - I liked it so much, and it came out so early in the season, that it pretty much blew my cinematic load for the Summer.
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower - I loved the book, and I loved the movie. I could probably relate to it to the point of being painful at times.
The Silver Linings Playbook
The Cabin In The Woods
Tucker and Dale vs Evil - Not actually a 2012 release, but it did make its Louisville big screen debut last year. This was way better than I expected.
John Carter - I'm a sucker for epic Sci-Fi fantasy. I seriously want to drop a deuce on anybody who just wants to talk about what a big flop it was, especially if they haven't seen it. Just fucking see it, and if you don't like it, then you can continue to bash it, but otherwise shut the fuck up. Actually, dropping a deuce on them is too good, a better punishment for them would be to make them watch "Manos: The Hands Of Fate" on an infinite loop for the rest of their lives.
21 Jump Street - Probably the funniest movie of the year. I was almost crying from laughing so hard within the first ten minutes.
Shut Up And Play The Hits - Make a movie about one of the few "bands" to come out in the past 10 years that I'm actually enthusiastic about? I'll totally buy the Blu-Ray without seeing it first! And I'm so glad that I did. (BTW That band would be LCD Soundsystem.)
Django Unchained - The last movie I saw in a theater in 2012, but definitely not the least. This might possibly be my favorite Quentin Tarentino movie.

Music - Recorded
I seem to buy fewer new albums every year, partially due to lack of funds, but also due to lack of interest in newer music. I bought very few albums that came out in 2012, and the only two that I really liked were Metallica's "Beyond Magnetic" EP and Ministry's "Relapse". Mine is probably the only year-end list that you will find those on. While most of the other albums I bought were disappointing, there were quite a few songs on the radio that I liked, thanks to 91.9 WFPK and 93.1 The Fox. Not all of these came out in 2012, but they seemed to get attention in 2012. I've linked the songs to videos. Videos with asterisks are ones that I also consider among the best videos of the year.

Fun. - We Are Young (Come on, it was one of the biggest songs of the year, do I really need to link the video to it to give it more views?)
M83 - Midnight City
Mayer Hawthorne - The Walk
Jimmy Cliff - One More (For some reason, this song makes me want to start a revolution. And as far as I'm concerned, "One More" and "The Walk" were THE Songs of Summer 2012.)
Wild Flag - Romance*
Ryan Bingham - Heart Of Rhythm
Muse - Madness
The Shins - Simple Song*
Old Crow Medicine Show - Bootlegger's Boy
First Aid Kit - Blue (This song amused me because one of the singers from First Aid Kit reminds me of a less annoying Dolores O'Riordan)
Band Of Horses - Dumpster World (I love the Crosby Stills & Nash/America-esque beginning and end bookending the Hard Rock middle.)
Alejandro Escovedo - Man Of The World
The Naked And Famous - Young Blood
Alabama Shakes - Hold On
Bruce Springsteen - We Take Care Of Our Own
The Lumineers - Ho Hey
Of Monsters And Men - Little Talks* (Everybody compares The Lumineers and Of Monsters And Men to Mumford And Sons, but they really remind me of Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros, or more specifically the song "Home". Since Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros put out a new album in 2012, I thought these were their new songs when I first heard them.)
Gotye - Eyes Wide Open* (While I thought "Somebody That I Used To Know" was an interesting song compared to everything else on Pop radio, I thought it was okay at best. I was much more intrigued by "Eyes Wide Open.")

Music - Live
I only went to a few concerts this year, but they were pretty big deals to me. All shows were in Louisville, except the Danzig show. I linked the set lists to the band names.

Anthrax (Expo 5, January 29) - This was my fifth time seeing them, but the first with Joey Belladonna on vocals. Gene Hoglan filled in on drums since Charlie had a family emergency. Although I feel weird at most Metal shows anymore, and I was cranky because I had to work the next morning, it was still a pretty good show. I left when they played "Got The Time" because of my self imposed curfew but also because I had seen them so many times that I figured there were no surprises. I would've definitely stuck around a bit had I known that the next two songs were "Deathrider" and "Medusa". As for openers, I missed Death Angel and all but one of the local bands playing on the second stage, but got there in time to see Testament. I'm not a huge fan of Testament on record, but they were pretty jammin' live. The one local opener I got to see were Stonecutters, who I'm pretty familiar with, and they rock.

Jane's Addiction (Louisville Palace Theatre, March 23) - The stage show was really good, and they seemed to play well enough, but something about the sound was really weird. I don't know if it was the general acoustics and/or my shitty seats, or if it was the mix. I was glad that I got to see them, but wish I could've seen them when they played in Indianapolis to see if the sound was any better than at the Palace.

The Psychedelic Furs (Headliner's Music Hall, April 4) - This was my second time seeing them, it was quite a different lineup from when I saw them in Austin in 2000. I thought for sure that there was a set list for this show, but the Indianapolis set list is pretty much identical to the Louisville show.

Danzig (Egyptian Room @ Murat Centre, Indianapolis, IN, June 1) - I started to write an entry about the Danzig show and my trip to Indy, but never finished it. Anyway, it was great!

Fishbone (Headliner's, September 7) - Fishbone tend to be considered one of the best live bands ever, and if they come to your town, I suggest you go! You know a band has to be great when they play a pretty long set, mostly full of songs you don't know, and they fail to bore you.

One thing I want to mention: while I'm not a fan of crowds, I was disappointed by the size of the crowds at The Psychedelic Furs and Fishbone shows. It's like, geez, no wonder some people call Louisville "Loserville"!