Aces High

It appears that I've all but forgotten what a good night's sleep actually feels like.  Ever since I got switched to mornings about two months ago, my schedule has amassed to "sleep, work, sleep some more, work, rinse, lather, repeat."  Needless to say it's been kicking my ass worse than any bully I've encountered in my school years.  And believe me, BROTHERS, that is a LOT.  Couple that with the fact that my department team leader is just about as sharp as a bowling ball makes things a little bit harder.  I mean, seriously, I'm trying to get my OWN work done, and it never fails.  About two hours left of work, I've just about got everything done, and BAM!  Last minute bullshit that I have to deal with, which somehow makes me up to two hours, maybe more, late in getting off from work.  So you can imagine my joy and amazement when I came back from our vacation and I was told that he was gonna be gone for a couple weeks.  Thank.  Friggin.  God.  And, predictably, those weeks that he was gone, I was working with no pressure.  Get work done, go home.  Get work done, go home.  That is, until this waste of space came back TODAY, and I was (surprise, surprise) late getting off work.  Again.  Trust me, there have been many times in the past couple of months where I was just ready to quit my job, right then and there.  I'm not there to babysit anybody.  I'm not there to do someone else's job for them cuz they can't handle it.  I'm there to take care of my own business.  I'm there to bust my ass for myself, not nursemaid any incompetant douchebags that can't handle doing their own job.  That's the way I see it.  I'm right, they're wrong.  That's all there is to it. 

 - Side random thought:  Parents these days should still be allowed to whoop their children's asses when needed.  Maybe that way when they get brought along to places like my store they'll behave like they're supposed to.  Trust me, I've had plenty off ass whoopings handed to me as a child, and I can tell you firsthand that I've earned EVERY one of them.

Anyway, moving on...

A lot of things going on these past couple of months.  Our Ohio vacation has come and gone, and with great success, I must say.  Visiting my parents every year is always a good time, and this year was no different.  This time I had Heather in tow, and it was a relaxing week that we both needed.  Just about everyone in my family, from my mother, to my sister...yes, sister...to just about anyone else you can think of, had the pleasure of giving us the grand tour of everything.  Granted, I'm an un-country country boy from a small town, so I'll admit there's not a whole hell of a lot to tour, per se, but we all made it fun, regardless.  But something different, something special happened on our first night there.  I've talked about putting the pieces of a puzzle together, and on February 29, I made the final step I've needed to make for a long time.  My friends were in on it for months.  My family was in on it for months.  Everyone was in on it, and all I needed to do was man up, and get it done.  What happened, you ask?

I proposed.

That's right, BROTHERS.  I waited til it was me, Heather, my parents, my grandmother, and my aunt gathered together at the house, and for the second time in my life (and hopefully the last), I asked a woman I love dearly to marry this beer drinking, broken down bag of bones.  In that instant, I finally experienced that "perfect moment" that was referenced in the movie Star Trek: Insurrection.  The Perfect Moment in a person's life was defined in that movie as a moment where time just seems to stand still, and you feel that need to relive that moment over and over again.  Why is this, you ask?  Because of the answer I got, that no one in a million years would ever think I'd get again. 

She said yes.

Now, my future feels certain, for the first time in years.  I'm in love with someone that loves me back, with someone who wants to spend the rest of her life with me, no matter what flaws or shortcomings I have.  I've been happy this past year, happier than I could ever hope to be.  But not only do I have that, but I also have the added bonus of being validated.  I've finally been proven right, after years of confusion and uncertainty.  And on June 22, 2013, we get to stand in front of our closest friends and family, in my homestate of Ohio, and I finally get to say what Heather has been trying to tell me for months, and that everyone deserves a second chance.  And any mistakes that were made when I was married the first time, I know not to make again, as I'm older, wiser, and more mild-mannered than I was in my youth.  That makes me feel good about myself, and that's a feeling that I haven't had since at least 2002.  So to those of you that have stood by me through every step of the way, I say thank you, and I love you.  You know who you people are.

2nd Chance CD of the Week
Iron Maiden
Somewhere Back in Time - The Best of: 1980-1989 (2008)

Track List
Churchill's Speech
Aces High
2 Minutes to Midnight
The Trooper
Wasted Years
Children of the Damned
The Number of the Beast
Run to the Hills
Phantom of the Opera
The Evil That Men Do
Wrathchild
Can I Play With Madness
Powerslave
Hallowed Be Thy Name
Iron Maiden

    After hearing 2010's The Final Frontier a couple of years back, I've finally felt compelled to dip my toes into some of Iron Maiden's earlier material.  Obviously I'm glad I did, cuz if I wasn't I wouldn't be featuring them here, now would I?  This is more of a "Volume 1" of sorts, as this CD chronicles the best songs of their 80's era.  The second volume, From Fear to Eternity, would cover their music from the years 1990 to 2010.  But that's a blog for another time.  Back to this one.  If you're a Maiden fan, you'll be happy with the tracklist presented here.  My all time favorite 80's Maiden song, "Aces High" starts the album following a snippet of a speech made by Winston Churchill.  What follows is classic British heavy metal at its finest.

All the notable classic tracks are here, such as "The Number of the Beast," Wasted Years," and two personal karaoke favorites of mine, "The Trooper," and "Run to the Hills," among the 15-track setlist.  What puzzles me a little bit is that there are a few live versions of a couple of the songs that are on here.  Songs like "Iron Maiden," and "Wrathchild" serve as examples.  Those two songs were originally sung by the band's first vocalist, Paul D'Anno, but on the live versious, it's current singer Bruce Dickinson on the mic.  As a matter of fact, D'Anno isn't featured on here at all.  I love that and I hate it at the same time.  Sure, Dickinson KILLS on the live tracks, and he sounds great, but at the same time Paul D'Anno is all but forgotten.  I'll take what I can get though, as it's still a damn fine compilation.

Thumbs up.

Next blog I post, I'll rand and rave some more, as well as cover Iron Maiden's second compilation album, From Fear to Eternity.  Then next on the chopping block is the new Nightwish CD, Imaginaerum.  But like I said, a different story for a different time.

Miller