So It's 2011...

...now what? I've never been one for making a big deal out of the New Year thing...all you're doing is changing the page on the calendar. You do that every month, what's the big damn deal? But, everyone else seems to think it's reasonably important, so Happy New Year everybody.

I'm also not one for making resolutions. I feel if you think something is wrong enough about yourself that you feel you should change it, why wait for the beginning of a new year? Why not start to improve yourself the moment you detect a problem? If something is wrong with your car in October, do you wait until January 1 to fix it? Of course not, so the same would go for personal improvement. That's what it's all about; the constant effort to improve oneself, to better oneself, so that hopefully you can be a benefit in some way to those around you.

New Year's Day, to me, is a paid day off of work, and I'm taking advantage of it by getting some writing done, catching up with some things and friends on Twitter, and since it's on a weekend, actually getting to hang out with some friends as well. And this was something I noticed a while ago, but I'm mentioning it now just because; I worked 243 days in 2010. I have already taken steps to insure (and I looked it up in the best book I own, my dictionary, to see whether ensure or insure was more appropriate) that I DO NOT spend nearly that much time working in 2011. I really enjoy my job, I have a great set of co-workers in my immediate area in the office, I have a great group of people that I see every day on my route, and the money is terrific (especially for a guy like me, who completed just over a year of college...what the hell am I doing making this much money?!?)...but I need to spend more time doing things other than being at work ALL THE TIME! I've already got a few things lined up in January that will make for nice diversions.

First up, I'll be going to a friend's house tomorrow to be with her, her husband, and their 2 kids (from his previous marriage) for a few hours. She used to work at the big apartment complex on my route, and we became good friends. Since she left the company a few years ago, we don't see each other very often, and in texting back & forth a couple weeks ago, I realized this was one of the things I needed to change.

And in just a week and a half I'll be making a day trip to Los Angeles to go see Tim Minchin perform live at the New Largo At The Coronet. Apparently the venue seats fewer than 300, which is fine with me, should make for a very interesting and intimate evening. As big of a star as Minchin is in England (where he lives) and Australia (where he's from), he really hasn't had much of an impact here in the US...yet. He's an extremely funny and talented individual who I've written about before for Unseen Films, and I follow him on Twitter as well. Very much looking forward to the show, and I'm hoping to be able to meet him afterwards, seeing as it's such a small venue. I'm taking a friend from work who will be getting his first introduction to the comedic stylings of Minchin...curious as to his reaction.

I'll also be seeing 2 excellent bands in one night at the end of the month here in Las Vegas. One of my very favorite bands ever, Clutch, will be the main opening act for a legendary band in the hard rock world, Motörhead, who I am also a big fan of. I've been a fan of Clutch almost since their inception. I stumbled across them back in 1993 when I used to listen to a college radio station out of Seton Hall University in New Jersey (right across the Hudson River from New York City), 89.5 WSOU. They had a metal format, and I was introduced to many great bands by listening to them at that time. And remember kids, this was in the dinosaur pre-internet days, when radio was only what you could pick up locally via the airwaves, so I was real lucky to have a local station playing what I really wanted to hear. Off the top of my head I know that WSOU was responsible for my becoming a fan of Clutch, the Deftones, and Fear Factory, and that led to many more acts that have filled my ears and soul with amazing sounds ever since.

There are other things planned for January as well (got to see about taking in some NHL games live somewhere), so it's looking to be a pretty busy start to 2011. Should be fun.


Blog Post Soundtrack; Kyuss (while I'm not much on tradition at all, I do try to make them the first thing I hear every calendar year), Screamin' Jay Hawkins, TV On The Radio, Richard Jeni, Fear, Monty Python, The White Stripes, Elvis Presley, Pearl Jam (live), Deftones (live), Metallica (live), The Muppets, Lily Allen, The Dandy Warhols, Björk (live), Wagner's Ride Of The Valkyries as part of The Blues Brothers movie), Soulfly, The Vandals, Brant Bjork

So I'm finally here...

I've had a number of people asking me recently to join either Facebook, Blogger, or things like that. When I saw that J.M. DeMatteis, a favorite writer of mine, had moved his Amazon ramblings over to here, that kinda pushed me over the edge, so, for what it's worth, I'm here. Hopefully this will see me writing on some sort of regular basis, even if it's just about nothing other than utter stuff & nonsense (alternate blog title, BTW).

As much time as I spend sitting in front of the computer, plus now with daytime access due to the iPhone (a wonderous invention), I suppose I should have had more of an online presence sooner. The social interaction aspect of the internet has always appealed to me as much as repulsed me. I see lots of people all day long, I'm often quite content to have no further human contact upon arriving home. But you can control the amount of interaction much easier, and it's possible to make contact with people you'd never have a chance to otherwise. As usual, I'm doing a wonderful job of seeing both sides of an argument, and failing to choose one over the other. But I've started this blog, so I guess I finally did make a decision, right?

Bands I've listened to while writing this (which I imagine will be something I'll do every post); Down, TV On The Radio, Mondo Generator, and Tool.

Looking forward to doing more of this, and now I can follow more closely the adventures of J.M. DeMatteis, Kevin Nowlan, and Mollie Sekikawa, amongst others!