Friday, January 25, 2013

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.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

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?

Friday, January 18, 2013

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.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

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"!