Spam

Okay, one last thing to say.

Last week I got a comment on my DIY project post.  It was someone I don't know and it could have been spam, but if it was, it was the kindest, nicest piece of spam I've ever gotten.  LOL.  Here it is:


Hey! Follower of your site, and know that you're a huge Doctor Who fan. Just wanted to share an infographic that my team and I made- not trying to be spammy, and please delete the comment if you're not comfortable with it! Also loved your post on biological family-- I'm from a small family, so extended family is an odd concept for me as well. 

See what I mean.  As far as spam goes, it was lovely.  She included a link to the infographic in her comment and it's pretty freaking neat.  So I'm linking it here.  As she pointed out, I love all things Doctor Who and I'm getting so excited for the 50th anniversary special coming in a few short months, as well as the next Doctor coming at Christmas.

Thanks, Sophia, for pointing me towards the graphic you and your team made!!

1982 (Bonus)

Speaking of 1982, DC Comics recently re-issued the trade paperback for the maxi-series Camelot 3000.  The series debuted in December 1982, and though it was intended as a 12 issue monthly series, it didn't finish up it's run until sometime in 1985 (oops!)  

It's been years since I read the book.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to read it monthly (or so) when it was first published because I didn't have access to a comic book store.  I do recall sometime in 1983 my folks stopped at a shop after visiting with my uncle.  They had the current issue of the series, which I think was #4 or #5 and I grabbed it.  I must have read that thing 100 times.  It wasn't until much later when I finally had regular access to a shop that I was able to read the whole series.

Knowing that the book was from the early 80s and that Mike Barr was the author, I went into this revisitation a bit wary.  That soon passed as I realized I was up way past my bedtime on Sunday reading and enjoying.  Thoroughly enjoying.  It really holds up so much better than I thought it was going to.  As I left it last night, I have the last two issues to finish and I intend on climbing into bed and doing just that as soon as I hit the PUBLISH button on this post.

I'm so happy this book turned out to be as good as it is.  A lot of times I'll go back and re-read something from back in the day, something I adored, only to find out that it was definitely something from it's time and only it's time.  This book has aged, but it's aged well.  I highly recommend it.

1982

Where the hell does the time go?  I should be much further along than 1982 by now.  I just started the 1993 playlist this week.  My time management skills seem to be at an all time low state right now.  I've got to work on that.

Anyway, today I'm looking back at the music of 1982 and what I took away from it and where it brought me back to when I was listening to it again.

This was the year that music really, really, really came alive for me.  MTV couldn't have been bigger.  That 80s British Invasion was in full force.  New Wave and synths were the sounds that made me smile the most.  Even the traditional Top 40 crap that I adored was catching on and adding the cold electronic sounds.  Look at songs like "Gloria" by Laura Branigan.  Definite synth pop influences, but thoroughly Top 40 pop music.

ABC was big that year with "Poison Arrow" and "The Look Of Love."  Both those songs still sound as new and fresh to me today as they did back in the day.  Culture Club hit it big.  It still kind of boggles my mind that someone looking like Boy George did back in 1982 was able to become a superstar.  Dexy's Midnight Runners were another unlikely hit.  Duran Duran took full advantage of the platform MTV gave them.  Eurythmics.  Spandau Ballet. The Motels.  Men At Work.  The Waitresses.  All these huge names made a big splash in 1982.

As I was getting into the 1980s playlists, I was really getting excited for 1983 and 1984 to come up.  I just remember them being such great years.  But 1982 really surprised me.  I don't remember it being as amazing a year for music as it was.  

Again, it wasn't a big LP buying year for me.  I'm surprised that the only albums I owned were Fleetwood Mac's Mirage, Pat Benatar's Get Nervous, Asia's Asia and Olivia Newton-John's Greatest Hits Volume 2.  I'm surprised I didn't get beaten up more in high school looking at these selections.

What The Fuck...?

DIY

I'm not a very crafty person.  I don't really possess those skills.  My dad can imagine something in his head and draw it or go out to his workshop and create it without a second thought.  I think that ability skips a generation, because I suck at such stuff.  It doesn't keep me from trying, though.

At work, I had my cubical adorned with lots of my favorite geeky things.  I had toys and posters and pins and buttons.  But over time, I noticed things started going missing.  Coincidentally, the office "pharmaceutical enthusiast" (that's the politically correct way of saying "crack whore") kept commenting that her son would love some of those things just before they'd vanish.  So I took everything home.  I found new homes in my office for most everything, but all my buttons and pins ended up living in a bag.  Until tonight.  A few weeks ago, I had an idea.  I had a picture frame just sitting in my closet.  The reason being that I cracked the glass on it while trying to frame something for another diy project.  I was pissed, but what could I do.  I was convinced I would find a purpose for it someday, so I didn't toss it.  It's been sitting and collecting dust for three years now.  The idea I came up with was to make a button displayer.

On Sunday, I ventured out to Jo-Ann Fabrics, a store I don't think I've ever been in alone before.  Ken is well versed in Jo-Ann's.  He's crafty, he likes to sew, all that jazz.  He didn't feel like going out on Sunday, so I did myself.  I knew I needed about a yard of fabric and enough foam to sit under the fabric.  It took me a while to find what I was looking for, but I did it.

Tonight, I put this all together.

Here's the glassless frame, complete with matte.

I bought a khaki colored fabric.  I was going back and forth between this and a gray fabric, but the gray one wasn't quite the shade I had in mind.

First thing I did was pull the matte out to use it as a guide.  The foam needed to be roughly the size of the matte to fit properly.  Ollie chose to supervise this part of the project.

I got my scissors out and lined up the matte.

And then Lucy decided I wasn't good enough to do this on my own.

In fact, she was ready to help.  But first she needed to make sure her paws were clean.

Ollie was keeping an eye on her, making sure she cleaned up properly.

Then he came in for a close inspection.  Deciding she didn't do a good enough job, he chased her away.

I cut the foam down to size.

Next up, I draped the fabric out to see how much bigger it was than the foam.

I laid the fabric out flat.

Ollie jumped in to help with the next part.  I flipped the back of the frame and the foam over and pulled the fabric over, wrapping it all up.

Then I shooed Ollie away.  His "help" was getting old fast.  As I pulled each side of the fabric around, I taped it down to the back of the frame.

This is what it looked like after it was pulled and taped down.

Next step was to place everything back into the frame and secure it.

And this is what I got.  Since I'm not a very crafty person, I see the mistakes I made.  I could have/should have pulled the fabric a little bit tighter.  I also should have ironed it, taking out the crease from when it was folded, but (a) I don't know how to iron and (b) I don't really care enough.  I'm going to cover this with buttons.  Who cares about a crease?  I certainly don't.

The next step was my favorite.  I took the bag of pins I had and started attaching them.  I was actually surprised when I had as much extra space left as I did.  I thought what I had would cover the frame completely.  There's a lot of room left to add more.  New York Comic Con is coming up quickly, too! 

I have one step remaining and that's to actually hang it on the wall.  I need to find the right spot in my comic book room to do it.  It will mean moving a few things around, but that's for another night.  I'm a little too tired to do that now.

Teeth

I'm a couple of days away from finishing the 1992 playlist on my iPod.  Today, Kristin Hersh's brilliant album Hips And Makers shuffled on.  I haven't listened to this record in longer than I can remember and that's a crime.  This was probably one of my most played albums of that year (and beyond).  Something about the production and her voice really touched something in me.  I went to YouTube looking to see if she ever made a video for the song "Teeth," one of my favorites on the album.  There is no official one, but a couple of "lyrics" videos along with some cell phone concert ones.  But I found this cover, which captivated me.  I think this guy nailed it.

1981

Continuing the talk about relistening to my iTunes library..

It was fun getting to the 1981 playlist.  The 1980 one brought me right back to the house we had just moved into in Port Ewen and my early teen years.  The 1981 list was a lot more of the same.

As I reviewed the playlist, two things were evident.  LPs were still a waste of money and this is the year I really discovered the singles wall at Record Giant.  Sundays tended to be grocery shopping day in the Curley household.  Every Sunday morning we'd get in the car and head out to the grocery store.  The store my mother shopped at was part of a strip mall, so while she and my father did the grocery shopping, I'd spend my time shopping elsewhere.  I'd read magazines in CVS, poke around the card store and more importantly, agonize over what 45 I was going to buy that week.  I loved that part of my weekend.  There were so many songs out there (but only 40 of them really counted) and it was always a challenge picking out the best of with the allowance money I had designated for records.  I bought awesome stuff (to me then and to me still today) like "Arthur's Theme" and "Bette Davis Eyes," Stars On 45, "Private Eyes," "Theme From The Greatest American Hero" (in an awesome sleeve) and "Our Lips Are Sealed."

While my tastes were still pretty straight forward Top 40 pop, New Wave music was starting to hit and become more mainstream and I was starting to notice.  Not very much hit big in 1981, but what I heard I really liked.  Music was getting better and I was getting lost in it deeper and deeper, slowly but surely.

Looking back, my LP collection didn't grow by much in 1981.  And I never upgraded a couple of these album to cd or digital since then.  I need to look into that.

Week

This was a hard week.  The entire thing.  And I know I probably made it more miserable for myself than it really was, but I'm just happy it's over and I'm ready to start fresh on Monday.

Last weekend we spent the weekend in New York City.  We stay with our friends George and Steve when we go down there.  It's great to see them whenever we can find time.  Our plans were to include Tony & Paul, a couple the four of us met on one of our cruises a few years back.  They live in Jersey, not far from the city.  Haven't seen them in about a year and a half.  But unfortunately they had to cancel.  They have two new puppies and one was very sick.  It's unfortunate, but I understand.  Steve had made post dinner plans for Saturday, as well, and they fell through, too.  Saturday didn't come close to panning out the way it was intended, but it was still a whole lotta fun.

The drive home Sunday was kind of eventful.  We headed out at 2:30.  It's about a two and a half hour drive from NYC to home.  The GPS had us scheduled to get home exactly at 5.  Until we hit 4 o'clock.  Traffic on the Thurway was at a complete standstill.  For as far north as we could see.  No clue as to why.  We assumed an accident.  So we sat and waited for traffic to start moving again.  And waited.  And waited.  We waited 90 minutes.  Parked.  Car shut off.  On the highway.  Turns out a box truck caught on fire about 3 miles ahead of us and it cripped the highway for a big chunk of the afternoon.  If we left NYC ten minutes later, we would have hit the back up at the last exit before the accident and could have taken a detour.  Our timing sucked!

I took today off of work because I needed a day of solitude and slacking.  I got my solitude, but I didn't get to slack.  I ran errands and other crap today.  I'm kind of pissed at myself for spending the afternoon out, but at least all that crap is done and I have nothing on my agenda for Sunday now.  I think that actually works out for the best.  The weather Sunday is supposed to be nicer than today (showers all day long).

Aren't you glad you asked?

Irked

I don't know why it's so damn hard to take me at my word when I say something.  Seriously.  I'm getting kind of sick and of, among other things, declining something because I can't afford it and then having someone try to convince me that it's not that expensive and because they're buying it/doing it/going to it/etc that I really should.  I don't decline something and say I can't afford it because I can afford it.  I say I can't afford it because I can't.  

I'm getting sick and tired of people who won't answer questions when we're having a conversation.  Rather than either answer it or say that they aren't comfortable answering it, I get the runaround.  If the conversation of electric bills comes up and I ask you what yours is, either tell me or tell me it's none of my business, don't beat around the bush.  It's tiring and it makes me not want to ask you anything.

I'm so sick of people thinking I have a hidden agenda* or an ulterior motive.  I really don't.  I don't have the time nor the energy to play that game.  I am the person you see.  I've got nothing going on behind the scenes.  Ain't nobody got time for dat.

I try not to be jaded and think of friendship as a two-way street, but maybe I'm just naive.  And people wonder why I don't want to leave my house.

*Unless stalking people's pictures on Facebook for shirtless shots counts as a hidden agenda, but then again, I'm pretty open about that.  Never mind.