Thunderstorms all weekend

Today is Wednesday. The weather has been nice, but the forecast calls for thunderstorms on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Of course Thursday (tomorrow) is supposed to be 90 degrees and beautiful. Great beach day.

Rewind to this morning. My girlfriend sends me an email saying how today is a great day to be at the beach and we should have called out of work. I echo her sentiments. But then she says, "Let's do it tomorrow!" Of course, I'm all for it. So I'm excited all day at the prospect of blowing off work on Thursday and going to the beach for the first time this year.

Well tonight after we both got home, she eventually came to the decision that she should go to work tomorrow and NOT go to the beach. I was like WTF? How can she possibly arrive at that decision? I had my mind set on the beach. She had given me blue balls, but in a totally different way.

But this got me to thinking. Why do dudes and chicks feel so differently about playing hooky? At my first job out of college, I worked at a financial firm in a beach town, which was just WAY too tempting for me. I would regularly come into work at 9:30, stay for an hour or so, and then go to the beach. My guy friends thought it was pretty awesome. But blowing off work was like a total foreign concept to my girlfriend at the time.

"You did WHAT? Justin! You didn't go to work so you could go to the BEACH??? Why did you do that???"

The answer seemed pretty clear to me; I would have rather been at the beach on a beautiful day than sitting in my office making phone calls. Maybe it's because I'm a buddhist and I believe the goal in life is to achieve total happiness. I don't know. But anyway, it seems to me that girls and guys largely feel totally different on this issue. I've never heard anybody else bring this topic up in discussion, but I think it's a worthy subject. Are women just more responsible than men? (Doubtful) Do guys just care about their own enjoyment more than women? (Perhaps)

I dont' know. Whatever.

Running Tunes

I don't know how many of you out there like to run, but I do. I should probably do it more often, especially at this time of year when it's nice out. In a few weeks, the oppressively hot/humid summer will be here and I absolutely refuse to run in the summer unless it's: A) Very early in the morning B) Late in the evening C) Raining D) I'm participating in a sport or activity that requires it.

Anyway, I went running yesterday with my girlfriend after work. It was my first time jogging in about four weeks. Plus it was quite warm outside and my legs were sore for some reason AND I had barely eaten anything all day at work. Anyway, my point is that under the aforementioned circumstances, I should have tired out quickly and been back in the apartment huffing and puffing before I hit the half-mile mark. But we ran for a solid 20-25 minutes, and I felt like I could have gone even further.

After pondering the reason for this, I came to the conclusion that it must have had something to do with listening to my iPod as I run. A good running soundtrack really takes your mind off of how much running sucks. I found myself cruising along while concentrating on the song lyrics rather than concentrating on how bad my legs/knees/lungs felt. I don't know why it took me so long to realize this, but it did. And so, I figured I'd post my "Running Playlist" because I know you're all really interested.

1. Your Hand in Mine - Explosion in the Sky
2. Training Montage (From Rocky IV) - Vince DiCola
3. China Groove - The Doobie Brothers
4. Against the Wind - Bob Seger
5. Graciosa - Moby
6. I Get Wet - Andrew W.K.
7. Winner Takes It All - Sammy Hagar
8. Breakdown - Tantric
9. Crash - Methods of Mayhem
10. Through The Never - Metallica
11. Train in Vain - The Clash
12. Elevation - U2
13. Stinkfist - Tool
14. The Trooper - Iron Maiden
15. Sorrow - Bad Religion
16. Use Me - Bill Withers

I could put some more in there, but nobody runs for longer than the running time of all these songs. And if you say that you do, you're lying.

Guitar Hero Rocks the 80s

Those who know me pretty well know that I am quite a big fan of the Guitar Hero games for PS2. I had heard of the game when it first came out, but never desired to play it. I figured that since I don't play real guitar, I would not enjoy the game. I'm the type of guy who needs to relate to something in order to appreciate it. For instance, lots of people love the movie Half Baked, but I, not being a pothead, think it's awful and unwatchable.

But I played the game around the time that Guitar Hero II was released. I was spending the night at my friend Dan's college dorm at NC State, which was my last stop on my drive from California back to New Jersey. After going to a bar to grab food and a few beers, we came back and Dan turned the game on. I was mildly excited, but far from gleeful. It was probably the same level of excitement you get when a friend of yours asks you if you want to see a picture of his new girlfriend; you're mildly curious to see what she looks like, but not exactly brimming with anticipation.

Dan plays a song first and then hands me the "guitar" and I scroll through the song list. Third song from the top is "Mother" by Danzig. THAT got me amped up because the song freakin rules. So I made that my first selection and was immediately hooked. I bought the game for myself and played it non stop. I got pretty damn good too, eventually accomplishing a 100% score for "Mother" on hard (which, sadly, is one of the highlights of my life).

But after I moved to south Jersey and without my PS2 at my disposal [side note: it's still in my old apartment in California, waiting to be shipped back] I have gotten rusty at the game. I realized I was losing my touch two weeks ago when I went home and played my 11 YEAR OLD BROTHER head to head and he absolutely SMOKED me in three different songs, including...yes...Mother. I realized that I had truly fallen out of favor with the game.

But then they released word a few weeks ago that there would be a supplemental game Guitar Hero Rocks the 80s. They didn't immediately release a song list, which sucked because that's all ANYBODY wanted to know about a game like this. How dare they announce the game without a playlist. That's like when someone says to you, "I had something really important/funny/awesome to tell you...but I forgot," and you want to punch them in the face for even bringing it up. Why even mention the fact if there's nothing behind it?

But recently they released a partial songlist and oh man is this game going to rule. Check this out: (CAPS represent songs or artists that I'm especially pumped about)

“I WANNA ROCK” (by Twisted Sister)

“I RAN” (by Flock of Seagulls)

“Round and Round” (as made famous by Ratt)

“I Want Candy” (as made famous by Bow Wow Wow)

“Metal Health” (as made famous by Quiet Riot)

“HOLY DIVER” (as made famous by Dio)

“HEAT OF THE MOMENT” (as made famous by Asia)

"18 AND LIFE" (as made famous by SKID ROW)

"SHAKIN" (AS MADE FAMOUS BY EDDIE MONEY)

Eddie Money!!! Oh man! Early June. I'm buying it. I'm rocking out to Eddie Money, Skid Row, et al!

Then I'm gonna go kick my little 11 year old brother's ass head to head on 18 and Life.

It's nice out...just like SoCal

It's currently 80 degrees out, which is nice. It would be even nicer if I didn't have to work until 7:30 tonight. This is one thing I hate about being back in New Jersey. There are only a few weeks of really nice weather like this (late Spring) and I have to spend a majority of them working. When I was in California last year, I spent a lot of 75-80 degree sunny days working. But that's because EVERY day was 75-80 degrees and sunny, so there was no feeling like a beautiful day was wasted working.

Well that's not true, because nice days WERE wasted working. But it wasn't like there was only a limited amount of nice days throughout the year and you felt like you needed to take advantage of every single one. That's because every weekend and every time I had a day off, it was just as nice. And that's why Southern California is awesome. Well that and the fact that nearly every woman living there looks like she just walked out of the pages of Maxim. That was nice too. See the girl at the left? Every girl in the OC looks like that. I swear. Pose and everything.

Anyway, there's only 2 more days until Memorial Day Weekend. The unofficial start of summer. I definitely missed this last year, being in Cali. It's nice there all year round, so when summer rolls around it's no big deal. But like my friend Joe said, Summer is an event in Jersey. I couldn't believe that I never thought of it like that, but it's totally true. Summer in NJ, particularly if you live near the beach, is hella awesome. Three great months of good times flanked by two holiday weekends. Memorial Day kicks things off and Labor Day waves a sad goodbye. And this weekend I will be kicking things off by drinking all day at Joe's party. Good times will be had. Last time I went to a party at this venue, I ended up sitting naked at the kitchen table in front of my soon-to-be girlfriend and various others. And that was just a small party in the middle of November. I'm sure I'll have some good stories to post here on Tuesday.

Enjoy your Memorial Day.

Human Giant

MTV is currently running 24 hours of some sketch show called Human Giant. I had never seen the show before last night. I only ended up watching it because I was flipping through the channels because nothing else was on. But oh man, this show is freakin hysterical. I saw at least 10 sketches that were funnier than anything Saturday Night Live has done in the last five years.

There was one skit called "Old Fashioned Fun" (pictured above) where the three guys decide to have some old fashioned fun so they go to a kids' playground in the park and start playing on the equipment in slow motion while this song "Old Fashioned Fun" plays in the background. Eventually the police come and tell them to get off the playground and they reply with "What's the problem officer? We're just having some good old fashioned fun". They then proceed to gleefully run from the cops, again in slow motion with the song playing in the background. Then one guy gets hit by a car and lays dying on the street telling his friends, "Boy. We sure had some old fashioned fun, huh?" I realize that it doesn't sound as funny typed out as it does watching it. But you'll just have to trust me on this one.

Apparently they're running the show for 24 hours and trying to get people to watch it to keep it on the air. Supposedly if they get 1,000,000 hits on their website during the 24 hours, the show would stay on the air. I went and checked it out. I hope 999,999 other people did too, because this show is freakin hilarious and it needs to stay on the air.

I'm at work

I'm currently at work. Fridays are usually nice and easy. I'm in the mortgage business and do all my work over the phone. It's pretty nice not having to ever meet a client face-to-face. That's the good part. The bad part is that I make 100% commission. I've been ok so far, though. Made some decent money. But it can get frustrating. I'm the type of person whose mood reflects his environment. When I put a deal in, I'm like, "OH MAN THIS JOB RULES! HEYOOOO!!!" But when someone turns me down and a deal falls through, I need to muster up all my will power to keep from punching a hole in the wall. Then I start to just lose interest. I've often asked myself if I have ADD. Seems that I could. And it's so over-diagnosed that there's a good chance that I could be classified as such. Whatever.

Some outside sales lady was supposed to bring lunch in today. She just got here. No lunch. She brought some cream puffs and other pastries. I wouldn't have a problem with this if I was a fatass. But I was expecting a free lunch today. You know, various sandwiches, maybe some salad. Nothing fancy, just a decent lunch that was free. But no. This clown brings in sugar/cholesterol/fat nuggets wrapped in wax paper. Mmmmmmmmmm. Not.

I realize that the previous rant makes me sound like a health nut who works out all the time and spends endless hours staring at his naked body longingly in the mirror. Not the case. I do happen to be in good shape, but it's not due to a rigid diet and workout regimen. Rather, it's genetics. I could eat 12 of those cream puffs and not gain a pound. I just don't feel like it.

That's all for now. I need to go to the bathroom.

YA BLOGGIN?????

This is my first time blogging. Ever. Yeah. Not much to muse about right now. I decided to take this initiative while I was sitting in my apartment alone and extremely bored. My girlfriend is out of town for a long weekend. She's down in Baltimore with some friends for The Preakness. She doesn't have a real interest in horse racing. Or in sports in general. But she does enjoy drinking with her friends (don't we all?).

As for me, I'm sitting here at 11:29pm writing this initial blog while watching and A&E show on the infamous mafia hitman/cleaner dubbed "The Iceman". I don't know his real name because I'm not taking a real interest in a show about a guy who spends five minutes talking about how he cut some "snitch's" tongue out and stuck it up his "rear end". Mmmmmmm....tasty. Oh man. Now he's yammering about how he didn't want to have two lives. He just wanted to have one life; a normal life with his wife and kids. Well...uhhh...Iceman, maybe you should have gotten into a different line of work. Like, say...accounting or car sales. Designated murderer/vengeance-wreaker for the mob isn't exactly the type of work you talk about at dinnertime. "How was your day, honey?" "It was a rough day. Had to punch this guy in the face for an hour and a half until he passed out. Then we hoooked his nuts up to a car battery until they were completely fried. Then we doused him in gasoline, set him in fire, and then pissed on him to put out the flames. Anyway, enough about my day. Angela, how did you do on your spelling test?"

Oh man. Now he's talking about how he tried to kill this one guy. True comedy follows:

"I put the gun under his chin [10 second pause]...and I shot him. [10 second pause] He didn't die. The gun jammed. [yet another 10 second pause] I had hit him in the side of the neck. He was...gurgling. Blood was pouring out of his mouth. And he looked like...he was in a great deal of pain."

Gee? Do you think so? Wow! Where did you go to medical school Dr. Iceman? It takes a real medical acumen to know that someone would be in a great deal of pain after they get shot in the neck.

Well it seems as though I got sidetracked and spent this whole first blog talking about this damn tv show. I'd write some more stuff, but I'm tired. Goodnight.