The Gruesome Twosome Tour: Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper Tour notes.
A couple months ago, I celebrated my 32nd occurrence of the universe revolving around me. It was generally pleasing, and to make things interesting, a friend of mine suggested we go to this concert. I thought it was a groovy idea, and made plans to really enjoy myself watching Rob Zombie and the old dude that was traveling with him. I didn't know much about Alice Cooper, didn't care much before tonight. I'd grown up listening to Zombie whilst fragging every noob that dared peek out from behind their sniper rifles or driving Sweet Tooth's Ice Cream Truck. And I'd heard he put on a good show.
Having seen the show tonight, I can offer the following tidbits:
First: Make sure the girl pouring your beer can give you proper head. My friend and I made sure to instruct her on this over three pourings.
Second: Alice Cooper will perform first. Leave after his set is finished. You will have just been ruined for all other concerts.
I have to say, when I went to the show tonight, I was expecting AC to hobble onto the stage behind his walker, croak out a few old tunes that just aren't relevant anymore, and then be carted off to the local geriatric ward. And then the REAL show could begin. How wrong I was! Alice Cooper put together a masterpiece of songs classic and new in what can only be described as a magnum opus of Rock Opera. From his beheading, to his hanging, being run through in an iron maiden, his swordplay on stage, interaction with the fans, his ability to sound very close to his recordings, but still differently enough to know it's him, and just every, last, minor detail had the polished touch of a master of his craft. Between the illusionist theatrics and the quality of sound and performance, I'd say the ticket price was earned on his act alone.
The same, however, cannot be said of Rob Zombie. Now, I'll still listen to his albums. He's got great music to kill to. That being said, you may as well just pass up his section of the act. I could not have been more absolutely bored with the guy that I'd come to see. His albums are now quite obviously manufactured, with 85% of his gravelly, snarly trademark growl missing from his live performance. And what is there of his voice, is only there for eight of every thirteen words. Now, I appreciate fan interaction as much as the next guy, I LOVE to sing/scream along. But seriously, if you can't keep your breath to perform more than one and one-half lines at a time, why are you performing the song?
And that's to say nothing of the stage presence and theatrics, or lack thereof. Yes, I know his videos commonly feature clips from B-movies, but the dude performing the white-man's-da
Seriously? This is what I get from a dude whom I thought rocked harder than most? Zombie, you seriously need to take some performing lessons from your touring partner. I'd see him again, but you'll be lucky if I buy your music instead of just downloading it anymore. It was disheartening to have the concert end on such a downer.
But, to those of you thinking of going anyway, I say: GO! The Alice Cooper performance ALONE is worth the price of admission! But unless you're masochistic with your music, don't stay for the Zombie Followup... he will bore you out of your mind.
An excellent perspective on the "morality rpg" trend:
"It's strange. I am drawn, like a spacemoth to the Hawking Radiation, to being the most unselfishly heroic tool in all of these morality games: your KOTORs, your Fallout 3s, your Fable 2s, etc.
Something just, I don't know, happens.
Partly I think we can blame how choices in these games are presented to the player. You all know the standard joke here, but I'm rolling with it anyway. To wit: Essentially, you are given a situation to which you may respond with an array of dialog choices. These invariably range from A) Inhumanly saint-like, to B) Casual indifference, to C) I will murder everything you ever loved via skullfucking.
The problem is that I, personally, fall somewhere between A and B. Maybe an A.1) Merely saint-like. Y'know, like in real life. So, A comes on a little strong while B is basically rude. And C, well, that's super rude. Some games manage to make their choices more nuanced than others, but you're still basically looking at A, B, and C.
To my mind, Fable 2 comes off the strongest here because there aren't dialog options. Since your actions alone determine your morality, there's no weird disconnect between the professed beliefs of your avatar and your intents as a player. Conversely, half the charm of Fallout 3 is in its dialog. Plus you get to say one thing and do another! Both good and evil pale before the might of the bastard alignment."
Well said, Brian. Well said.
In. Fucking. Credible.
Way to go, US Government. It was bad enough that you even considered a bailout package for the banking system when they got caught with their pants down, busy fucking everyone they could when they knew there would be no way to repay their lousy loans with the costs of energy affecting everything. It was worse when you came up with a $350,000,000,0
And now we get to find out that you made no conditions or stipulations as to what's being done with that money... money produced at taxpayers' expense.
Well, the whole purpose of the bailout was to restimulate the economy, which, thanks to the complete idiocy of the people who were supposed to be behaving in a responsible manner with the money they controlled, has been dying quicker than an erection at a geriatric tupperware party. These fuckwads basically screwed everyone by making poor financial decisions in the interest of personal gains, then the majority of them made quick exits with huge severance packages.
Essentially, they bankrupted most of America's credit system.
So you, the government, says "Oh my god, we gotta help all these poor rich fuckers who blew the money! Otherwise, our economy will take a shit!" And then pass this ridiculous bailout stimulus package which gave $350,000,000,0
Yes. You're reading that correctly. Three Hundred and Fifty BILLION dollars worth of fuckups is now on the taxpayer's bill.
Now, it wouldn't have been so bad if the banks were being forced to use the money to cover their mistakes and work their way out of the hole they dug. But instead, what are they doing with all of that cash?
They're sitting on it. That's right. They're taking that money and stuffing it all under a fucking mattress. Not reinvesting, not paying down the bad loans they made... we basically get to deposit all that money into the banking system and get to have the comfort that we'll never see it again, never get any interest or anything out of it... nothing. The dumbfucks in the government forgot to FORCE them to use it. They basically gave them a big fucking check and said "Well, you fucked up. Here, have some more money at the taxpayer's expense to fuck up even more with, you poor, poor rich bastards."
It's one of the stupidest fucking things I think I've ever seen.
Wal-Mart has to be the most absolutely willfully ignorant corporation in the entire known world. At least if their management is any indication.
Why on earth does Wal-Mart even HAVE managers anyway? It's not like they actually DO anything, besides eat up company payroll and make miserable, sniveling excuses about how everything from ordering to scheduling to hiring/firing is done through the corporate office. They certainly don't manage anything.
Attention, Wal-Mart executives: Want to cut costs? Fire your store management staff. Fire your market staff while you're at it. They're worthless bastards, and the money their salaries chew up could go to much better things... like hiring adequate staffing for your stores.
Today, as I went to church, I learned that one of the members of my congregation, a girl that I knew, had been killed in a motorcycle accident. She was only barely 13 years old. It's strange, and I'm still trying to wrap my mind around it. I didn't really feel like going to church this morning, but something or someone nudged me out the door. I arrived, feeling tired, and bored, and worn out from all of my problems during the past week. Then we got the news... and my every problem became completely insignificant and quite petty....
Today, I held my nieces and nephew closer to me, tighter to me, and longer than I had in a long time... and to anyone who would read this, please take this message to heart... take the time to love the people who are in your life today... as I was reminded, we are not even guaranteed to survive the day we are in. We can wake up feeling fine, ready to take on the world... but all it takes is one accident, one misstep, and in less time than it takes to blink an eye, it's all over. Remember to tell the ones you love how precious they are to you... never forget to let them know, because right now is all we have in this world.
In the end, only kindness matters.
To everyone in the oil industry:
Fuck off.
Would you assholes kindly STOP finding excuses to ruin everyone else's lives? We're sick of you fuckwads spiking prices for every little minute fucking detail. It's ridiculous. You behave as though every time someone stubs their goddamn toe, the prices have to skyrocket. I don't care if someone's in a war, or some member of nobility I've never heard of got shot, or some dumbass can't get their fucking cat out of a tree. Welcome to reality.
You assholes are lucky I don't run things around here. You'd be finding 3 ICBMs launched for every 10-cent spike in fuel prices. One to a random gasoline company headquarters. One to a random trading post where oil futures are inflated for your punk-ass excuses. And one to a random oil-producer. After a few weeks, I'd like to believe you would all shut the fuck up right quick and bring prices down to a more acceptable level... before I'd have to wipe all of you off the goddamn map and turn your facilities into my parking lots.
There's absolutely no reason to kick everyone else around the way you have. And for the way you all have been treating the rest of us, I hope you all die in a fire.
What the fuck?
Seriously, tweakers. Get out and get a life, or shoot yourself in the head, or whatnot. Whatever you choose to do, please, please, PLEASE get rid of your stupid fucking habits. Get a goddamn clue. Seriously.
So I bought a pair of computer speakers from an acquaintance of yours.
This does not mean I'm suddenly the place to fence all of your (probably stolen) shit.
This also does not mean you are welcome to come knocking at my door at 4 in the goddamn morning.
I don't care if I'm still awake or not.
I don't care if I have company over at that time.
It's 4 in the fucking morning. Unless I've known you for years, and am comfortable with having you around, I don't want to be disturbed.
Don't make me shoot you in the face. Thanks.
Wow, the new updates are ugly!
Crossing my fingers and hoping that I get the promotion I got a surprise interview for last night. I'll know Monday if I'm getting the hell out of the position I'm in.
Another Valentine's Day has passed. My sister and her husband got to celebrate their fourth anniversary in Las Vegas. The kids are on the coast again. Me? I'm babysitting their place. It's not so bad, I suppose. There's the perk of watching all my favorite movies on 60 inches of beautiful hi-def television. There's also the peaceful solitude of the house, with nothing more than the cat doing her best to get under my feet and hopefully cause me to trip to my death. She is a cute cat, as far as felines go, and I suppose I don't mind her company when she's sociable. Playing on the Wii on the big screen is amusing as well.
Still, one thought continually sits in my mind. In about 16 days, I'll have been on this planet for three decades. 30!!! I planned for my 18th birthday, planned for my 21st, even sorta planned for my 25th. But 30? I never thought I'd make it this far. "Live fast, die young, leave a pretty corpse." That was my anthem when I was a kid... what happened? Where did I miss the offramp? How the hell did I make it this far?
Even so, I still make tentative plans for the future. I've figured out that, despite my best efforts, I'll never be one of those people who obtains obscene amounts of wealth or status, and probably won't even make a single ripple in the waters of history, as far as my own name's sake. So, I've decided on attempting an alternate course. It is definitely time to drop the excess weight, and go back to school. I'm thinking probably a main focus on aviation, with a minor in possibly English Teaching? For some reason, for the past few weeks, I've gained an incredible interest in joining a certain program of the Peace Corps... can't get it out of my mind, really. There's a program involving traveling to different countries and teaching the English language to the local people there. Which seems pretty good to me.
It's strange, really. I haven't had any interest in developing the futures of strangers in a very long time, and I"m still more than a bit confused about my own change of heart. I do know I wish to pursue aviation for my own purposes, mainly, to prepare for a career as a captain or first officer in an airline down the road, but teaching English to people whom I would probably otherwise never encounter? Although it seems really strange, it also feels right to me. It also feels like a chance to redeem myself, spiritually, and possibly plant seeds of a spiritual nature in others as well, though truth be told, I hardly feel fit for such a task. I'll continue to sleep on it... next fall is right around the corner... we'll see what happens then. In the meantime, it looks like I've got a bit of research to do in regards to student loans and grants.
Christmas time has come and gone. I can hardly believe the year is almost up already. Called my best friend the other day and we reminisced about days gone by. It's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that it's been a decade and two since I was in high school. A solid decade for him. I remember being about 100 pounds lighter, with much more hair, and a very active social and sex life. Comparatively speaking.
When the hell did I get old?
Given the average lifespan for the American man being between 60 and 80 years, I have to consider that I may have easily lived half of my life already, perhaps more. What have I got to show for it? I'm in a job I hate, I'm still single, no kids, and my physical condition is rapidly deteriorating. Something needs to be done. Yesterday.
So I'm talking to the recruiter for the National Guard. Granted, I'll have to drop about 120 pounds to get in, but they can help me with that. Plus, with the healthcare, sign-on bonus, and the rest of the benefits, I can drop the weight, get my eyes fixed, and get back on track to what will hopefully be a great career in the field of aviation. From there on, well, I hear pilots make the kind of bank that draws the ladies in.
Oh well. We'll wait and see.
The kids are back today. God, it's great to see them again. The oldest is as tall as I am now... that'll take some getting used to... The older niece is closer to me than ever... however, the youngest seems to be drifting away from me. This saddens me a little bit... but I have to let go some time. Still, I wish I had just a bit longer....
In the process of moving. Senor douchebag who I was trying to be nice to in regards to his truck will soon find himself without any method of contacting me whatsoever. His fault for not treating my house with respect. Now, if he wants payment, he's going to play it MY way. I will contact him when I am ready, and he will not have a way to contact me at all. Everything will be going per my discretion. If he doesn't like that, well, screw him. He can shoulder it all on his own.
...I got the news today. Jim lost his battle against cancer. Another friend I've outlived... and I don't understand why. You'd think, after 30 years, I'd be a little more numb to this sort of thing. We're born... we live a little while... we die... and when a person dies, everything they were, are, and ever wanted to be disappears....
And we're just left with a void... the someone we used to talk with and joke around with, work hard with, and dedicate so much of our time to helping out... no longer exists...
And the only way they live on in this world is to leave an inspiration within someone else... which also fades over time as generations pass, and memories are forgotten. We're left with two things: History books, which ignore you if you didn't do something to shake the entire planet, and which can be corrupted, and Legends... memories, stories of people and places long ago forgotten, contorted from person to person, until ultimately, in either case, neither path leaves any trace of the genuine soul who existed among others here...
There has to be a better method for enduring beyond mortality than this....
Well, the new job has come, finally. And just when I think things are getting better, I'm getting threatening phone calls. This guy I used to work with is claiming I owe him over a grand in towing bills because the truck he failed to be honest with me about died on the road, had to be abandoned and towed. Now, he never gave me any receipts, nor an up-to-date title or registration, nor did he ever go to the DMV with me to change the ownership officially. The last one they could trace the ownership to legally was, in fact, him. But being the nice guy I am, I offered to make good on it and help him recover his costs. Trouble was, at the time, I was having a significant lack of income when I bumped into him. I gave him my home phone number in a gesture of good faith, and told him I'd be in touch.
Well, the new job began on Monday, finally, but apparently, as I was working the last two days, he calls and leaves messages with the room-mates, saying that it "would be in (my) best interest to send payment," and that "(I) had better call him back in the morning, or else."
Now, I've done my research. Legally, no receipts, no title, no registration, this all equals not a single legal leg to stand on. And in the law's eyes, a "verbal contract," as it were, has no legal basis in amounts over $500. Whether or not he recovers his costs depends on how charitable he keeps me feeling, and frankly, threatening me isn't likely to turn my mood in his favor. If he takes it to court, this is fine with me, as it won't hold up, and he'll end up paying several thousand more in legal fees. If he attempts to pursue something a little less legitimate, and does the wrong thing at the wrong time, well... let's say the least he can expect is a severe crippling/maim
I'm willing to help him out and be the good guy, but if he's going to be a dick about it, he's going to learn a painful lesson real quick. You don't fuck with a guy on his home turf.
...I think I'm losing it....
This waiting game is getting to me. I'm hitting rock bottom. Scratch that... I've hit rock bottom long ago... I've been chiseling my way further down ever since. The money keeps going down, the debt keeps climbing faster and faster. And of course, time continues in it's relentless quest to pass me by. I reflected on how only a decade ago, which seems so little, yet forever at the same time, the world was my oyster. I had a job I loved, a woman I adored, my whole family, while dysfunctional, was still intact...
The woman long ago betrayed me and left. The job changed and I left. My father died, my mentor killed himself, the subsequent jobs have been a very temporary respite, and the only family I have left will soon outgrow me... And it seems the harder I fight to reclaim some shred of my humanity, any fragment of my sanity, the faster it all slips through my fingers...
I'm so very tired... tired of the waiting, tired of defying the inevitable.... Often, lately, I find myself staring at my sword, remembering what it once meant to me.... I find myself staring at all the pills in the cupboards, remembering how hard I studied about them in some misguided attempt to improve my lot in life, and to attempt to make people believe I might be more than I was... they're all beginning to look so very friendly now....
But am I ready for that last step? I've always shied away from it before... but I'm getting desperate. Nothing, something, anything... it has to feel better than this.... It's over 80 degrees and I feel like ice inside. Before, when my mind and will were stronger, I could deal with this... I could bear the solitude and the pressure... but I don't think I have the strength anymore... maybe I am as weak as my mentor was... or maybe he was stronger than I? Do I really have what it takes to make that last step into oblivion? Well... we'll see what happens this week... my time is quickly coming to a close, but while my sister is still here, I won't darken the time she's expecting to have. She's excited for her trip, and I think her kids are, too.... God, I love them... how I miss them.... I wonder if I'd feel that in the afterlife.... but I'll wait until they're already away. It'll give me one last chance to pull myself out of this rut... and if I cannot, at least they'll have a chance to enjoy themselves on their vacation. If that's the case... I'd best be sure I make my last arrangements..
....It hurts... it just hurts.
Going on the hunt again today. I wish someone would just call me up one day and say "Oh, my GOD! Where the hell have you BEEN all of our lives? Can you start today? We've NEEDED you!" so I can tell my current employers where they can shove their policies, their stupid little rules, their methods of screwing over their workers, and the whole damn company.
Of course, why can't someone also call me and tell me I've won the lottery or something? That would make it much easier, too.
My sister has begun asking me to sing and help lead church worship again... but am I really meant to glorify God in front of others, when I have done so much in my life to the contrary? Who am I to proclaim the greatness of God in front of others, when my own faith has been such a horrendous struggle? It is something I should pray about, I guess.
Well... we'll see how things go. God, I wish the kids would come home already. I miss them so much....
Well, the kids have been away to their grandmother's house again, this time, anywhere from 2 weeks to 7 months. Okay... so not really 7 months, but it feels that way. God, I miss them so much....
Much has changed since I last wrote. I'm looking desperately for a change in career, as my current occupation is driving me insane. I haven't heard from my former co-worker, which is a shame. We did another fundraiser for him recently, and it went reasonably well. Other than that, there's no further news of him.
I'm currently also feeling very old... more so than just physically. I'm mentally and emotionally tired as well... it's one of those times where I would love to just give up. I continually hear from my sister, who has been nervous about my health and well-being, but frankly, in regards to myself, I cannot bring myself to care anymore. I've felt dead inside for a very long time now. It doesn't hurt, it doesn't feel good. I guess the way I could best describe it is... apathy.
I hide this, of course, for my sister and for the sake of her children, who I love more than anything. Truly, they're all I have left to live for... and soon, I won't even have that. They're all growing up so very fast. The eldest has a part-time job, the middle, a babysitting job. The youngest has no job yet, but I still feel her falling away from me. She is no longer the little girl I knew, the one whose world became infinitely brighter every time Uncle Mike came to visit. She's in her mid-teens now... and very much becoming her own person, bringing my usefulness that much closer to an end....
Eventually, all things will pass, including me. With nobody else to pass my life on to, my possessions will go to those children. Will they use them to remember me? Will they hold me in any regard? Will my story go unremembered in the closet, eventually given away or sold in a yard sale? I wished to be so much more to them... but even I cannot fight time. *sigh*
I'm feeling way too emo about this... I think I need some fresh air.....
God, I'm tired... spent the last week doing fundraising for a coworker of mine... he has cancer and is going under the knife in November. The sickness has him beaten down, and the bills keep piling up. Hopefully, the funds raised will help him out.
Other than that, I'm just exhausted. Roomie's daughter is being retarded again, which means the state wants to take her son away (not a bad idea), and of course, roomie's gotta play "super dad" and go to the rescue... meaning the grandson I refer to as "Banshee" will be staying here again and caterwauling all hours of the night. Joy.
Remind me again why 40th trimester abortion isn't legal?
So it's been a little bit since my last posting, and I'm bored out of my mind. Haven't slept all night, and it's now 8:30 AM... I'm beginning to wonder if I might have some insomnia disorder....
Found a new game to play... depending on how the PK is, it might keep me busy for a few weeks. Hopefully it's more loyal to my free time than some certain people who were supposed to have contacted me yesterday... bleh.
Anyway, I'm wide awake, but I've got to try to sleep... I still need to contact a possible new place of employment and see if I can't cut down my commute a bit... gas prices are such a drag.
So, with this first entry, this diary is no longer empty. Sad, perhaps, but not empty.
Where to begin? Hmm. I'd have to say I'm not looking forward to my day at work tomorrow. Our district manager will be arriving with his chief brown-noser, and since they have nothing better to do, they're going to proceed to make our lives hell. Yay. I'm half-tempted to wake up early, just to pay work a before-schedul
...Must be nice to have a job where all you do all day is show up to shit on people.
I've been thinking, and I believe I just need a job where I can travel, see the world, and get paid loads of money for it. There HAS to be something more important out there than Mr. and Mrs. Britney Spears, Brangelina, or whatever else the tabloids/dimer
Or maybe I'm just becoming a bit jaded. Who knows? I do know that I'm starting to get a little stir-crazy... and that I miss my nephew and nieces like crazy. They're due home in a week, but who knows how much they've grown in the months that my back has been turned? Meh.