Here we go, after a long hiatus

Howdy! As mentioned in the previous post (the one that I posted nearly a year ago...), I'm not sure who reads this. Furthermore, I don't even know who still writes on Blogger. For me, I've been trying to keep it cool and quiet as well as on a low-key basis. There's been a lot of changes (positive and negative) that have happened since my last post. Perhaps the biggest shocker of them all was when I left SnS. For the longest time, I haven't 'advertised' the fact that I don't work there anymore, just because the way I left was a bit humiliating. I have been telling select people I quit, but truth be told I left on a bad note. I'm not going to reveal on here why I was terminated. But I will say it would be one of the worst ways that someone who has been with the company for 13 years would ever get fired. It's been almost 9 months now, but I remember it as if it were yesterday. My last day was on 8/20/2011. SnS brought a lot up in me, as it helped me build relationships with the workforce, as well as with people. I've had so many memories of that place, and I'll be straightforward honest: I miss it a whole lot. Don't get me wrong; there's a lot of things I won't miss about my first job. I don't miss mopping floors, dealing with drunks and spoiled rotten SIUE kids, drive times competitions among many things. But I miss the people (although some don't work there no more), and just being part of the team. What I miss the most was being the go-to guy among people. After all, I was the veteran, I was there the longest, and I enjoyed being the longevity guy. But it all had to come to an end. The last few years I worked there I was doing mostly overnight shifts. Some may think that it led to my eventual demise. Maybe so, but it kept me busy. On the other hand, it sucked a whole lot of life out of me. Which leads me to the next point.... Right after I was given the ax by the manager, I immediately started applying to places. Mostly places where I knew people who worked there. Target was the first place I walked into and filled out a long questionaire and application. At first I thought it was a waste of time since I thought I wasn't going to be looked at, but I gave it a shot anyway. I also applied to a few restaurants as well. Two days later, I did something what I never thought I would do. I applied for unemployment benefits. Yep, here I thought I sunk to a new low. I was eventually denied those benefits for different reasons. The next day (on Tuesday), I received a call from Target asking for an interview. I'm sure they were impressed with my openness and availability. So I aced the interviews and got drug-tested and I was on. I have been with Target since (for almost 9 months) and its going great. Do I like working for Target? Absolutely. I tell people these days that I'm proud to be a team member there and I'm very loyal. Of course, I was that way with SnS for a long time, up until the company was bought out by an Iranian, and I felt he took the company into the wrong direction. In fact, I still do. And believe me, I'm still very bitter about it. This month marks the 50th anniversary/birthday of Target. We've been doing a lot of things to celebrate the occasion. They've been doing a lot to get team members involved in many things. I haven't been there for a year and I feel like I've worked there longer. I remember when SnS celebrated their 75th anniversary about 2 or 3 years ago. And what did people do to celebrate? Absolutely nothing. The company did not do their part to motivate people. If you would've asked me a year ago (or even 5 yrs ago) if I would be working retail, I would have said NO. Many people believe retail is boring. Not so. Yes it does at times but I stay busy either way. Its certainly a lot stressful than SnS. You'd be saying the same thing if you knew what I have been through. Don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean that I think I could have started at Target a lot earlier. I'm glad I held on to SnS until my time was taken away from me there. But again, I'm still attached to it. On a personal note, it bothers me a lot that a lot of people that rubbed me the wrong way still work there. The boss that fired me is long-gone, and there's a new boss there. A lot of people have told me I've become more of a calm and cool person since I left that place. When I turned 30 a month later (September), I sat down and thought about so much that I missed while living my 20s. From that day forward, I've been living life. Of course, I still work long shifts at Target. But I still make time for what comes and goes. I'll talk more about it in a future blog. As for now, ciao!

so far....

I know, its mid-June and I finally have my first post of 2011 on here. But its been one weird year, not to mention fast-moving! So what do I say after a long time not posting anything? Well, I'll explain in the following paragraphs. I'm not even sure who actually still reads this, so in a way I still feel like I'm talking to myself. Not many people I know are on blogger, so I'll just kind of let it all out.

For starters, back in January I almost got fired from SnS. Because of a lot of complaints going against me this was to be the last straw. My latest victim was a gal who apparently was the DD of a drunken loud group that said I was rude. Sure I was, but that was kind of the beginning of the end for me. Overall, I was showing signs of getting burned out of working overnights. I hated working 5 overnights in a row and 3 of those (Thursday, Friday, Saturday) were our busiest nights. Her complaint almost got me terminated, but since I have a cool boss, she just couldn't fire me. Instead, she put me on dayshifts and I was permanently banned from doing overnights. Truth be told I was very torn up about it bc I felt I had something taken away and it was an odd adjustment. It was like the feeling where you feel like the bad guy (or in this case, the bad girl) won. I should have seen it as a relief. Over time, I spent a lot of it rebuilding my reputation as a hard-worker and after going through a few people to take my place, I was back doing overnights again in March. I'm back to my old 5 night a week shift, and so far its taken a toll on me. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of goods and a lot of bads about it. So that's my update about SnS.

I still got my radio show on Sunday nights (!), and I still sleep a lot over the day. I have also tried to attend as many concerts as I can. Around the time that incident happened in January, I attended Girl Talk at the Pageant. In two words: fantastic, awesome. In March, I went to see the legendary country/rockabilly singer Wanda Jackson. About a month later I got to see Chuck Berry (again) and this time I saw him where he does it best (at Blueberry Hill) and I even got to shake his hand. Unfortunately he wasn't up for taking pictures, but all went well either way.

Over a month ago, I went on a 3-day roadtrip (2nd year in a row) with my friend Anthony to Kansas City and Des Moines. We went to KC's Rockfest and the next day, Lazerfest in Iowa. It was fun, as I also got to hangout at some of KC's Westport nightclubs. In Iowa, I briefly went backstage and helped Anthony with a couple interviews: one with one of the guys of Theory of a Deadman, and the other with My Darkest Days. After the show, I walked backstage and met up with members of Rev Theory and Seether. On Memorial Day, I went to Ribfest in St. Louis. It was a big ripoff, but I did get to see .38 Special and Molly Hatchet perform.

This coming Wednesday, I'm planning on going to see Motley Crue and Poison! I also plan to go to U2 and Sade this summer, but haven't bought tickets yet. Of course, I don't plan to wait that long! Here's to a good summer.

I also have been losing weight the last two months, which I hope I'll get into in a later blog.

its a little late, but my first post of 2011!

favorite songs of 2010

Alright, my last blog of 2010! I'll do what I do every year at this time, and name off my favorite tunes. Some of these are not ranked in any order.

1. 'Dynomite'-Taio Cruz. A song good for any occasion. And I still don't know what ay-oh means! No matter, this song is uplifting for anyone.
2. 'OMG'-Usher. I hate the artist, Usher, the producer, will.i.am, and I definitely hate Auto-tune, but somehow this song still grabs me. Maybe its the crowd cheer or the beat, I dunno....
3. 'The Cave'-Mumford and Sons. My favorite group to break through this year. The Brits, or the Irish, are coming!
4. 'Stylo-Gorillaz. Great album, and who else would include soul legend Bobby Womack?
5. 'The Resistance'-Muse
6. 'How Low'-Ludacris
7. 'Animal'-Neon Trees
8. 'Internet Killed the Video Star'-The Limousines
9. 'Dominoes'-The Big Pink
10. 'Holiday'-Vampire Weekend

As always, I like to critique about how the music industry as well as what radio people are playing nowadays. I'm no fan of Gaga and Katy Perry, because its all about looks and appearance. I still have yet to see their talent, despite of what everyone else says. I have taken a liking for Ke$ha, as she is definitely about the music. I'm also glad that rock radio has finally turned its back on 'corporate rock' bands, and playing more indie. Maybe I'm naive, but its starting to sound like 'alternative' music again. Rap still sucks as long as 'auto-tune' is in. I don't like Glee, so that's why you never saw anything from the 'Glee Cast' on that list.

good times lay ahead

So.....I thought I'd put a positive-themed title for my latest blog. Just the other day I was thinking about my close friends and peers around me and what they went through this year, both positive and negative changes that happened to them in 2010. Was it a good year for some? Probably not, but maybe it was all for the best.

I'm a bit self-conscious about my image to all people, and some people may get the feeling 'I don't want to change' about me. Mostly because I've been working in the same place since high school, and its like I never went to college (despite of the fact I wasted 7 years of my life there). Hey, I keep an open mind, and I practice what I preach, and look towards my options. Everyone is uncomfortable with change. I hope to make a huge step in 2011, so look out.

And speaking of high school, since the last blog I attended my 10th high school reunion. After being reluctant about going for the longest time, I was actually talked into going from a couple of my peers, and I never thought I'd say this, but....I'm actually glad I attended. From what I remember, there was a little over 525 people that graduated out of my class. I would say at least a quarter of those people attended the get-together, with several of them bringing their spouses/boyfriends/girlfriends, etc. But it was good times, and I got to catch up with just about everyone. The music, the weird 'fish-eye' photobooth, and the alcohol made it really fun too. I would hate to include alcohol in the mix, but it was the only way to get everyone loosened up! Some people have really changed, while there was the 'other half' that haven't. Some of those people I have not seen or talked to in, well...10 years. Just think, where did the time go? In the end, we all agreed that we shouldn't have to wait another ten years for our next reunion.

Getting back on facing challenges (sorry, I got too carried away with the whole h.s. thing!), I do find myself extremely lucky to be employed. I don't want to talk about the depressing economy, but it has had an effect on just about everyone. You pretty much have to be Amish not to be affected by it. Some of my friends were recently laid off from their jobs. Of course, they were disappointed, not discouraged. The lesson here is to hold on to what you got, until its gone. And of course, have a backup plan. Unfortunately, I was raised more about security over freedom. But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

So, 2010 wasn't that bad for me, fortunately. I admit, I have slacked off on writing blogs. Blogging was more fun when more friends were involved. Now for some reason people are into 'microblogging' or simply statuses on Facebook. As for 2011, on the other hand, will meet tougher, if not greater, challenges. Just remove the 'lle' from that last word, and what do you get?

catching up!

I say this all the time but I'm wayyyyy overdue to write something on here. What I need to do is set a time where I can write exclusively on here. There's so much I would like to write about, its not even funny. Like always, I have been very busy. I mean, extremely busy. I'll explain in the next paragraph.

Most of you know how political of a guy I can be (lol), and thankfully the long-anticipated mid-term elections are over. I spent a lot of time in October volunteering on my days off as well as filling in shifts on my days off from work. What did I do? I was pretty much your worst enemy. I'll put it this way: if you don't like political calls coming to your house, then yeah that's what I'm talking about. My family always hated those calls, especially the recorded ones. But I actually talked to the people asking them: 'Hi this is Jason of the Illinois Victory Center and I was wondering if you can support the Republican team of Bill Brady (GOP Governor candidate for IL), Mark Kirk (GOP IL US Senate) and (local GOP candidate inserted here, mostly John Shimkus and Dwight Kay)?'. What was it like? I had a lot of fun, believe it or not. I wasn't crazy about it at first, because I saw it the same way as telemarketing or selling over the phone, something I never wanted to do. But all I did was ask for support (and their vote!), and it wasn't a problem at all. As for the negative feedback, I got used to it. And believe it or not, I actually came across some conversational people while helping campaigning.

And now the results: I was actually satisfied 70% with most of the outcome for the elections. I always figure: Hey, you can't win 'em all. The only two that disappointed me was the IL Governors race and the NV Senate race. I'll start with the IL Governors race. Most of us already know, because of the highly publicized matter, about the whole Rod Blagojevich thing. I still can't believe we're still waiting for the trial to happen. I just hope this guy gets what he deserves. His #2 guy, Pat Quinn, took over as Governor in Jan. of '09, and by that time the state of IL has plunged into billions of debt, as well as several job losses. These are just a couple of issues that tried to be played in the election. Earlier this year, Bill Brady won the GOP primary and one of my friends Jason Plummer (from Edwardsville) won the Lieutenant Governor race. It was quite a busy year for both of them, as they traveled around Illinois campaigning tirelessly, as well as knocking Quinn. I honestly thought Brady/Plummer would have won. And they almost did, by not even 50,000 votes. It turns out that Pat Quinn only won a large handful of Cook County and Brady won just about every county in IL. It makes a lot of people sick hearing about it, that Chicagoans make some of the decisions for downstate Illinoisans.

I will hand it to IL voters on one thing: replacing a Republican in President Obama's old Senate seat. The national media considered it an 'embarrassment' for our Prez, but to me, just because he had an 'R' next to his name does not necessarily mean he's entirely conservative. I did help campaign for Kirk, but there were a few things that he agreed with Obama on, such as cap-and-trade. But I do hope he does his duty well. As for Quinn, I of course was very disappointed. I was even embarrassed when I heard a national talk radio pundit say 'Illinois didn't want change'. I actually debated with a few people about it too. Many people thought Plummer to be a 'silver spoon', but if anyone can name anything positive that came out of Quinn while he was Governor, be my guest. (lol) I was amazed that Nevada didn't want change either as they re-elected Harry Reid. I don't know much about Nevada, nor have I ever been there, but from what I hear the state has been in financial trouble as well as its flagship Las Vegas.

Well, getting off politics, not much has been new with me. I only attended one show since my last post and that was Vampire Weekend. Great show, and easy to say my favorite band to have come out within the last few years. It was just announced that U2 will be at Busch Stadium in July, and Girl Talk will be in January. I'm very excited, that's all I can say. I almost attended the Suicidal Tendencies show last week, but it was the same night as election night.

I'm also in the process of buying a new car! A girl I work with may sell me her Mustang. I'm very excited about that too. There's a lot of things I'm still eagerly awaiting, but there are still challenges to meet before 2010 is over. I'll be again working Thanksgiving, which I'm not happy about. I'm very likely to spend it with my maternal side of the family like last year, and perhaps taking in Black Friday. Last year was the first time I worked on such day, and it was different watching hoards of people get in line for the big sale. The only thing I'm splurging myself on this year is an electronic reader. I'm definitely torn between the Kindle and the Sony E-Reader. Both have their pros and cons, not even outweighing each other. I definitely can't wait to buy something I can finally take with me everywhere I go, book-wise! On Thanksgiving weekend is my 10th high school reunion. For the longest time I didn't want to go, but a few people encouraged me to go, so I just thought 'Oh, what the hell....'. Truth be told, I'm very nervous about it.

I hope this gives you an idea about my current life. Catch ya all later!

birth days and online social networking

I wrote a similar blog like this on Myspace about oh, 3 years ago, but here's a revised edition. Today is my birthday (I'm IXXX, I think, in Roman numerals, lol). And if you're reading this, thanks in advance (laughs).

But I came on here to relate this special day to online sites like Facebook and Myspace among others. Actually, Myspace is pretty much dead so Facebook we'll stick with. For everyone, birthdays come once in every 365 (or 366) days. Seems like a long time, until we find out how fast we're getting old!!! Everyone has their own birthdays traditions and celebrations. But one thing that always sticks out in my head (and apparently everyone elses) is how many birthday wishes they will get on their Facebook wall. Every year its gets better for me, but every year I also tell myself enjoy it while I can while its still popular. More and more people go on Facebook every day, at least that's what I believe.

I personally don't like to wish people happy birthday on the Internet. If I do, I will make sure they know in person or through text, if I was really good friends with them. There's always that feeling in me that if someone wishes me a happy bday on Facebook, I feel that I have to return the favor and then I have to check the birthday listings day-by-day on Facebook. I know this makes me sound like a snob or bad person, but I hope you get kind of an idea where I'm coming from. I just like being fair and treating people the same way back. There's many different groups of friends on Facebook (family, close friends, people you never talk to, people you never met, etc) and sometimes I divide it that way. I believe we're all guilty of that :). The wrong way of thinking is 'who your real friends are' are the ones who actually wishing you a happy birthday. Some girl at work told me this recently. I can understand that most people are like me, they shouldn't feel the urge to wish someone a 'Happy bday'. I get that way too, all the time.

I'm not saying you shouldn't wish me one, but I will definitely try to do it when your special day comes, that's what I'm saying. Well, what's my plans for today? Maybe catch up on sleep, thinking about City Museum, Lumiere Place and definitely a big dinner! Or organize my music catalog on my computer....