That's how I feel every time I run into any group of tourists...
The wedding is less than six months away, and I wait in anticipation for probably the greatest day of my life...take two. Not too long ago I explained to Heather that for a period of about 6 or 7 years, I was more or less one of the worst people on the planet to know. Five years ago I was angry, dejected, and broken, in just about every way possible. I came down here at that time to heal, everything from my heart to my dignity. I did that just in time for me to meet Heather late last year, and I haven't looked back since. The person I was before that I once was has been dead and gone, and has been for quite a few years now. Being with Heather pretty much clinched it for me. And to know that I am finally going to be truly happy, with someone who actually cares about me, someone who doesn't care about what materialistic possessions I may or may not have. This is it for me, and I'm not looking back. Even though, having pyrotechnics at the reception and not having to wear a tie to the wedding would have been nice. But hey, I'll take it lol
Things at work have been pretty stagnant as of late. Since transferring to my current location a year and a half ago, I've had the idea of going full time planted in my head by many. A year and a half later, I'm in the same position I've been for the past five years with my company. The only difference in the past year has been the fact that I've been placed on the evening stock crew. The group of people who work through the shipments we get every few days. Which just so happens to be a full timer's job. So let me get this straight...I'm working like a full timer, I'm being treated like a full timer, and I don't get ANY of the perks? I'm still topping out at 35 hours every week, when it should be 40. Some of the best workers they have there, I work circles around on a regular basis. I'll go so far as to say I'm probably the best grocery clerk they have at that damn store, but when asked about it, my managers say that I'm not heading up in that direction anytime soon. So, once again I'm getting jerked around. Working full time is something I have worked at for years, and they downright refuse to give it to me, even though I've earned it again, and again, AND AGAIN! At this point, I don't even want it anymore. Every fucking time I've been up for a raise I've gotten it. Which is fine. That just makes me the store's highest paid part timer. And I get carte blanche to just mosey on up to at least two or three of the full timers on my crew and ask them how it feels to know that this lowly part timer is a better worker than they are. So Publix can pretty much take their full time and shove it up their asses. I'm just there for the paycheck now, that's it.
Usually when I write these things I pick out a CD to review, "The 2nd Chance CD of the Week." But since this is the end of the year, it's time for a little something like this...
2nd Chance CD of the Year
Rush
Clockwork Angels (2012)
Tracklist
Caravan
BU2B
Clockwork Angels
The Anarchist
Carnies
Halo Effect
Seven Cities of Gold
The Wreckers
Headlong Flight
BU2B2
Wish Them Well
The Garden
This should really be no surprise that I'm picking something like this as the best album of the year. I've been a huge Rush fan for a number of years. A lot of people I know aren't fans of them though, and to them I've always asked them, "What's wrong? Too highbrow for ya?" Asking that usually illicits some anger to a degree. But I digress. Clockwork Angels has essentially been about five years in the making, as the power trio from Canada had been working on this little gem since touring for their 2007's Snakes and Arrows album, another favorite of mine. The first little bit of this album was actually heard two years before the album's release, in the form of it's first single, "Caravan." I heard the song the day it came out and I was excited almost immediately. When the B-Side to "Caravan" was leaked onto the Internet, "BU2B" my degree of excitement only grew that much more. Clockwork Angels was originally supposed to hit shelves in the summer of 2011, but had kept pushing it back since they weren't finished with making it. I'm glad they did, too, because Clockwork Angels would become a modern day masterpiece. This was probably the best album that Rush had released since drummer Neil Peart reformed the band after a soul-searching, four year long motorcycle road trip. Clockwork Angels is a concept album (and we all know I'm a sucker for concept albums) about a person living in a utopian future who becomes unsatisfied with his life, and he leaves his life behind to find answers to his questions on his own. With Peart writing the lyrics for the entire album, and members Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee taking care of the music aspect of it, there was nothing stopping this album. If you're looking for the best songs that AREN'T the singles, I highly suggest "Headlong Flight," "Seven Cities of Gold," (complete with a kickass Geddy Lee bassline intro), and the album's ending song, "The Garden." A deal was even reached between the band and science fiction writer Kevin J. Anderson to write a novelization based on the lyrics heard one the CD, which is something I have never heard of before. I haven't read the book just yet, but I have a feeling that it will soon have a place on my bookshelf. I'm curious as hell to see how Anderson interprets the album into his own words.
This is the end of 2012, and the last blog I'll write for the rest of the year. It's been full of ups and downs, but rest assured that I'm ready for whatever's to come in 2013.
Deuces!
Miller
