Aaaaaaand so.....
We are roughly a week and a half into our new life in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Road trips galore, a lot of traveling, a lot of visiting family, and a lot of moving furniture. My wife, yesterday, brought to my attention that while we've been getting settled up here, that I seem a lot happier. Truth is, I am. In Florida, we were close to almost no members of our respective families. That made for a lot of lonely, and often frustrating days. With Heather's family just a little over 5 hours away, and mine about 6 hours away, that can make for a lot of weekend trips, and overall, it would make our holidays a lot more easier to handle. On top of all that, almost all we need is right here in town. Ten minutes away or less, and I can't complain about that. Even Charlote, NC is only about 15 minutes away. Of all the places I actually HAVEN'T visited in this world, Charlotte is near the top of that list. I'm excited to see where things take us while we're here.
Now if only I can find a karaoke bar, I'd be set.
Switching gears right now, as I kinda rant and ramble a little bit. And I've got a short list this time around. Starting with.....
- Cheerleaders.
Yesterday on Facebook, I said the following about cheerleaders, "Ya know....with the exception of my mom and my niece, I never met a cheerleader I actually liked. In my experience, it's like it's been engrained in their system to have the ability to treat people like shit."
My wife swears up and down that every cheerleader she met in high school were nice, considerate, top notch human beings. To that I say "Consider yourself lucky." Everyone knows how I feel about bullying and how unforgiving I am to anyone that does it. In my experience, and in the schools I've been to ALL OVER THE WORLD, mind you, had been just as bad, and sometimes just a tad worse, than your typical bully. I know from my experience that any cheerleader I ever encountered (with very few exceptions) treated me, and most others dubbed "beneath them" like absolute pieces of garbage. It's like they know they're popular just cuz they wear a skirt, and now they can be a bitch just for the hell of it, and having a brain was optional. Jocks were just as bad. Only they'd kick your ass. I can honestly say that when Heather and I have kids, I would want them to be able to do whatever they want in school, be it sports, yearbook staff, honor society, student council, whatever. Just not a cheerleader, because I wouldn't want them to fall into the same category as I just mentioned. "But I'm a cheerleader?" So. F#$king. What.
- Tourists.
I've ranted and raved over the years about people I've worked for over the years at Publix. All stories 100 percent true, and some things I didn't mention here, as there were too much to touch upon here. But one thing that has ruined working there, for me that is, was the constant influx of tourists and out of towners that would come in to shop. I've learned that that tourists, for the most part, are the absolute dumbest human beings on the entire planet. They've been loud, they've been obnoxious, and they evidently leave their manners at home. That is not how I was raised. The way I was raised consisted of the following: Respect for others, know the meaning of a good work ethic, and be thankful for any good deed by another person. The people I've described had none of that. Up here, in Rock Hill, everyone is friendly, full of respect for themselves and others, and a willingness to go out of their way to help a stranger in need. Case in point, a couple days ago, Heather and I were trying to move a couch out of our Uhaul into our apartment, and some random neighbor out of nowhere came over and helped me move it in with no problem. Most of the tourists I've encountered in Florida wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire. No tourists here, no stupidity, no rudeness. So just based on all that, this town is A-OK in my book.
- The Great Khali.
I've been a wrestling fan for roughly 24 years, and if anyone wants to put that down and talk about how fake it is, well #1. Go fuck yourself. #2. Ask a guy like Kurt Angle how fake it is. Who's Kurt Angle, you ask? He won a Gold Medal in the Olympics in wrestling in 1996. He did it with a broken neck, and after wrestling professionally for 15 years went on record to say that pro wrestling is just as physically tasking, if not more, than any professional sport. He's had more injuries in his pro career than I care to count, and realistically should have retired a couple years ago. But I'm not here to talk about that. I'm here to talk about The Great Khali.
The Great Khali, from India. 7'3" and weighing 350 pounds. And quite frankly, the biggest waste of a WWE paycheck I have ever seen. He can't run the ropes, he can't sell getting hurt, and most all he does is slap his opponents' chest. It pisses me off. Dude can't even speak English so there's no way he can get any kind of character over, he just mumbles in Punjab or gibberish. Just a couple weeks ago, he showed up on NXT (WWE's minor league. They send big name guys down there every once in a while to help the younger folk out.) Of ALL the top notch talent they can send to your friggin' farm league, you send THE GREAT F'ING KHALI?! The least talented person on the WWE's payroll?!?! And to think that at one time, they booked (scripted) this talentless moron as World Heavyweight Champion! The only thing worse I can think of was when David Arquette won the title back in 2000. Seriously, WWE...PLEASE fire Khali. Please ship his ass back to India, cuz I don't wanna see him on my TV anymore. Like ever.
That's about it this time around. I'm now gonna go do something stupid to a stupid person.
Miller
Truth be told, I've always liked Aerosmith. Catch me at the Retro Room singing "Dream On" at Karaoke Night, it's a blast. The band from Boston had been on a major roll since their comeback album, Permanent Vacation back in 1987. Ten years after that comes this, one of the best albums to come out of the 90s. In my opinion, I always saw Nine Lives as a comeback album of sorts. After 1993's Get a Grip, I was actually starting to get tired of Aerosmith. That is, until I heard "Falling in Love (is Hard on the Knees)" on the radio for the first time that year. It took me roughly three years before I got the opportunity to hear the rest of the album, in full. First question that popped in my head upon hearing the 63 minute classic album was "What the Hell took me so long?" Even worse, the copy I had, I ended up losing between moving several times in the ensuing 14 years. However, after rediscovering it just a couple of weeks ago thanks to Spotify, I fell in love with the album all over again. It begins straightforward immediately with it's first, and title, track, and doesn't let go until the album's closer, the 8 minute epic "Fallen Angels."