New Year's Memories

I will attempt to access some childhood New Year's memory which will be difficult because New Year's is not a "kid" holiday but I managed to fire up a few brain cells and think of some memories.

Firstly, though, why is New Year's on January 1st? What signifies one year from another? If we keep track of the year with Jesus' birth, why isn't December 25th New Years Day? Huh? What about that Calendar keeper guy? Let's see what wiki or google has to say about that - I'll be back in a few minutes - discuss among ourselves...

Ok back after a quick look at some websites. Well, not much interesting there - Julius Caesar changed the date from Spring to January 1 without explaining it. January is named after a two headed god named Janus - one head looks forward and one looks back. There was still disagreement about New Years day until 1582 when Pope Gregory made it official. Thus our Gregorian calendar with Julian dates. Nothing real interesting or new there.

1582 seems relatively recent to me - in the vast context of things. Anyway, let's look at another year that I can remember - I think so anyway - New Years Eve 1976.

The girls are staying with downstairs Granma. Rob and I get to stay home but are within earshot of Gram - for safety and food and what not. I do not remember much but I can seem to recall laying on the couch and listening to a Top 40 Year End Countdown on the radio. For some reason, the song "Moonlight, feels right" is playing on the radio. I looked it up and yep- 1976.

I looked up the other top hits of 1976 and here are the top 5 of 1976.

1) Wings - Silly Love Songs - this song always makes me think of Le Mans Speedway. I have this specific memory etched in my brain of listening to this song in front of the change booth they had at Le Mans. I got some change and went to watch people play that giant pinball machine Hercules. It is a very specific memory and I remember every nuance of the place, the smell of the electric discharge in the air from the bumper cars, the sparkling lights, the change booth, the colors, everything. It's weird how the brain just holds on to a random memory like that.

2) Elton John- Don't Go Breaking My Heart -with Kiki Dee

3) Johnnie Taylor - Disco Lady - huh?

4) Four Seasons - December 1963 (Oh What a night) Someone had this album.

5) Wild Cherry - Play that Funky Music - remember this from a Midnight Special or Don Kirschner's Rock Concert

Anyway, I seem to remember listening to the radio and watching TV and of course "Moonlight, feels right" by Starbuck in case you were wondering.

The other New Year's Memory involved upstairs Gram aka Granma Patch. Nothing too clear as far as memories go but I remember watching a Dick Clark Special at her house. Also remember watching Carol Burnett after she went to bed because she thought Carol Burnett was filthy. They said "damn" during the Mama's family sketches. "Heathens!"

Those are the only memories I can seem to conjure about New Year's.

Anyway, Happy New Year and go out a create a memorable New Year's. Congrats to Pam and Dan who are making a memorable New Years by getting hitched.

Christmas Past

Our family placed a big importance on the tree. At some point, we decided to go to a Christmas tree farm near Half Moon Bay. My aunt, uncle, grandma, and our entire family would schlep over the Coastal hills in search of a tree. The tree farm was actually quite pretty. I remember the planted trees were next to these giant eucalyptus trees with Spanish moss growing in them, like a green spider web or mold. Anyway, we would hunt down our tree and make our kill, tie the tree up and strap it to the top of the car. Sounds very traumatic for the tree.

Once we got the tree home, it was time for the decoration ceremony. Only certain albums could be played - Andy Williams or Barbra Streisand. The tree was decorated with mainly homemade ornaments, mostly made by Mom, although a few home made ornaments by the kids made it up there - most memorably a bright pink elephant that Jennifer made. It was the brightest pink you ever saw and was made out of some kind of stone and weighed over 3 lbs.
After the lights, came the garland. Seems very 70's now but red garland completed the tree. The lights blinked in some sections and were solid in others. When I was in bed, the lights reflected slightly off the white paint of the bedroom door that was slightly ajar and it was very comforting for me to see those lights blinking. I would fall asleep watching the lights and waiting for Christmas to come. I remember waking up early one Christmas and got up to go to the bathroom. In the living room the tree was blinking and tons of presents were spread around the tree, including a bike for me. I looked at the name on the bike but didn't touch anything else and went back to bed to wait for the morning.

Ahh good times. Merry Christmas!

Before and After

I started this blog as a log of my gym goings and hopefully keeping track of it would encourage me to go more often and with more zeal. Well, "FAIL". Yes, I failed. I know the lame Hallmark saying "If you never quit, you never fail" or something but I feel like I failed. And, that's ok. Thank you Stuart.

I still go to the gym. I still exercise but just not to the degree I need to. I want to. I am capable of it. I have the time but something is holding me back -- that thing is the treadmill. Oh how I hate that contraption. Maybe I should run outside - yeah, 40 degrees outside in the dark. Yeah, sign me up.

Anyway, failure is not an option and I plan to crank her up. (remember those road signs that advised truckers how to drive on the way to Reno "Let 'er drift" "Hill ahead - crank 'er up")

So to encourage me I have found some before and afters of some famous people.

For the Love of Fark

I am a big reader of Fark - a news aggregate web site that posts news articles and then has forums where you discuss the article in question. What's funny about Fark is 1) the headline and 2) the comments.

Here is todays sample: There is an article in some Florida newspaper about how the Obama Transition team wants to get an update from NASA and here is the headline they posted:
"Barack Obama's transition team is all "NASA, what's up?" NASA is then like "GTFO" So Obama's team is all, "WTF?" NASA: "I told you GTFO, you don't know shiat"

GTFO = get the f*** out

As usually happens with Fark, the link to the article gets overwhelmed with views and crashes. They call it "link is farked". So I go to the forum to see what the article is about and there is a lot of confusion because some people read the article and some couldn't - leading this guy to comment:

"This thread makes me pee out of my butt."

And another comment:

"I can't RTFA article; it's like getting slapped in the face by a dick made of words.A big, throbbing, verbose dong."

RTFA = read the f-ing article

So people post their pithy comments and I chuckle at the word choice people use.

I guess it is one of those "you had to be there".

Well anyway, I enjoy it and that's all that matters.

Go Fark!

Dream Time!

Had some real crazy dreams last night. So here they go:

I am at a mall and there are people looking for volunteers. I agree and they say they would like me to film what I see for a documentary. I agree. They had me a camcorder and ask me to film away. I have no idea how to use the camera.

There is a program button and I touch it. A screen pops up and says "Jesus and Mary Chain - Sociological experiment" I hit "ok" and the action starts.

The action as it turns out is like a 60's Comcert with trippy lights and people dancing and wiggling about. I try to capture the action but have lots of issues with the camera. While I am filming I am wondering what experiment they - the Jesus and Mary Chain people - are trying to prove.

I put the camera down and prepare to walk out of the mall. As I do, I realize that the "experiment" was just getting the volunteers. Here is a random pic of the Jesus and Mary Chain

The other dream dealt with driving. I was on 880 and trying to drive to work. A friend was in the car with me. As I was driving, I realized that I was sleeping behind the wheel. I am awake enough to know that I am asleep behind the wheel but too sleepy to do anything about it. I tell my friend that I have fallen asleep and he has to grab the wheel and drive the car. I try to open my eyes but I can't - my eyes won't open. I can move my feet and hands and try to steer the car to the side of the road. I am scared that I will crash because I can not see anything. I try to force myself to wake up to drive. I succeed and open my eyes and drive to work.

Weird dreams!! No more late night eating for me. On the training front, some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I am still going to the gym and 3x weekly I do some aerobics. The bad is that they do not involve the treadmill. I hate that machine!

So I am set back a little on my progress chart but still think I can hit 3 miles by the end of the year. After my car got broke into, I had to walk to work for 3 days, so that was 4 miles each day.

Finally, I heard about a webcam from this guy who lives in the Tenderloin. He lives across the street from Glide Memorial Church and runs a live webcam from his apartment. It is fascinating to me to watch and just be a fly on the wall. Check it out at http://adamsblock.com

Holiday Aftermath

Hope Turkey day went well for you. I had a good one. Both of my sisters used the day to announce their weddings and I am happy for both of them

On Sunday my car was broken into. 4th time in a year if you want the count. I am beyond angry or upset but I do have to move faster than I thought. Got to get out of the ghetto. They got nothing by the way. Good day sir!

So I made the best of it and walked to work tiday. So I got some exercise and refuse to let it get me down. You know the saying when life gives you lemons. Go get some tequila and salt.

The hand pic is just because