Sometimes the way we present ourselves comes off a lot differently than who we really are. I have found this out about myself recently. Because of the things I involve myself with and the people I hang out with other people’s perception of me is not what I would call true. I believe everyone should love what they love and I have adapted this philosophy in my own life. I love comic books. I love sci-fi. I love horror. I love video games. I love having three hour conversations about the relevance of Rachael Summers to the X-Men universe proper and the effects of her time travel on the Days of Future Past time line as well as the fact that she does not exist in the present due to the fact that Scott Summers and Jean Grey never had kids of their own.
I also love music. More specifically I love U2. I also love Counting Crows, Soul Asylum and Guns n Roses. When I was younger I had aspirations to be a musician. Well, I wanted to be a rock star anyway. I practiced hard for years in my teens and early twenties. That was all I wanted out of life. I even lived and partied like a rock star for a few years. It was also the only thing I planned for. You can see how that worked out for me.
I love sports as well. I think most people miss this fact because all the other things I love usually don’t add up to being athletic. I was an all-star pitcher when I was twelve years old. I hurt my arm that year and I’ve never been able to throw a ball the same since. I drove all the coaches nuts for six years in junior high and high school because I didn’t play organized sports for the school. If any one of my friends calls me and says there’s a pick game of pretty much anything I ask “where and when?” I have been picked last exactly twice in my life. The first time was in eighth grade when we played baseball one spring day. After I went two for three with a home run and a triple I was never picked last for anything ever again. The other time was when I was twenty-eight and I was playing soccer with some friends. As everyone else was picked and it came down to just me and one other guy I looked at one of my friends and asked, “Seriously?” He picked the other guy. My eyes widened and I said, “What the hell?” He laughed and said, “Relax, you’ve probably never been picked last in your life.” I scored the only goal on my team that day. And it was past my friend that let me be picked last.
I said all that because I feel like maybe I’m not presenting myself in the proper light these days. I love what I love. I have always loved those things and always will. But I’m way more than one area of my life. I love comic books. I love playing softball. I love Charles Bukowski. I love U2. I love my family. I love pop music. I love Star Wars. I love football and porno and books about war. But most importantly I love who I am. I haven’t always been able to say that but it’s a great place to be.
May 24, 2009
May 22, 2009
One Way The Banking System is Screwing Us
I have a hate relationship with banks. Maybe in the very beginning I had a small amount of love for them but as the years have rolled by I have grown to hate them with every fiber of my being. I'm not going to say that all my financial issues rest solely in the bank's hands because I have over extended a few times in my life. We all have. The problem I have with the banking system is that they love to slap you with fees for doing their job. Overdraft fees are the biggest load of crap around. And most banks set you up to fail by not offering the option of how the transactions are processed. Let's do a little math here:
Let's say I run a little close before payday to the tune of $11.37. If the bank's overdraft fee is $30.00 and the $11.37 is for one transaction then you will be overdrawn a total of $41.37.
Fine, I ran it a little close and now I have to pay a fee for my carelessness. I mean it's not the bank's fault that I over extended. However, if that $11.37 represents multiple transactions then you are screwed. Most banks like to post your largest transaction first. Actually there are a few banks that give the option of posting the smallest first when you first set up your account but these banks are the exception. So here's how that scenario works:
Let's say that you have $102.25 in your account and four transactions are set to go through that total $113.62. If those individual transactions are $100.00, $4.63, $3.22, and $3.52 and your bank posts largest transactions first, then you're total overdraft will be $99.12 because of three overdraft fees of $30.00 a piece. If the bank ran the transactions from smallest to largest then the total overdraft would be $39.12. That's a $60 swing.
There is still another scenario where the bank would run the transactions in the order they were actually made. This one can go all over the place to the good or the bad. Ultimately it does come down to person financial responsibility. But we,re talking about a system that continues to keep people in this cycle of financial distress for their own gain. Those huge overdraft fees (the national average is $27.00) add up and cause the customer to use money earmarked for other expenditures to pay these fees and sets the customer up for future overdrafts.
This is just the tip of the iceberg for bank fees. Don't get me started on banks that charge a monthly fee to hold money that they are loaning to other people and making huge amounts of money on the interest. All I'm saying is that these fees are getting outrageous and the average person can't keep up with the bank's greed. So what can we do? Here's what one guy did:
Let's say I run a little close before payday to the tune of $11.37. If the bank's overdraft fee is $30.00 and the $11.37 is for one transaction then you will be overdrawn a total of $41.37.
Fine, I ran it a little close and now I have to pay a fee for my carelessness. I mean it's not the bank's fault that I over extended. However, if that $11.37 represents multiple transactions then you are screwed. Most banks like to post your largest transaction first. Actually there are a few banks that give the option of posting the smallest first when you first set up your account but these banks are the exception. So here's how that scenario works:
Let's say that you have $102.25 in your account and four transactions are set to go through that total $113.62. If those individual transactions are $100.00, $4.63, $3.22, and $3.52 and your bank posts largest transactions first, then you're total overdraft will be $99.12 because of three overdraft fees of $30.00 a piece. If the bank ran the transactions from smallest to largest then the total overdraft would be $39.12. That's a $60 swing.
There is still another scenario where the bank would run the transactions in the order they were actually made. This one can go all over the place to the good or the bad. Ultimately it does come down to person financial responsibility. But we,re talking about a system that continues to keep people in this cycle of financial distress for their own gain. Those huge overdraft fees (the national average is $27.00) add up and cause the customer to use money earmarked for other expenditures to pay these fees and sets the customer up for future overdrafts.
This is just the tip of the iceberg for bank fees. Don't get me started on banks that charge a monthly fee to hold money that they are loaning to other people and making huge amounts of money on the interest. All I'm saying is that these fees are getting outrageous and the average person can't keep up with the bank's greed. So what can we do? Here's what one guy did:
May 20, 2009
Whatever Happened To...?
I sometimes wonder what happened to some of the local musical acts that I used to enjoy. The three that spring to mind are Milkshake?, Antonia and Mavis. All three of these acts were active around the years of 2000-2001 here in Nashville. I do know that Brent Kirby, the lead singer for Mavis, moved to Cleveland, Ohio to manage that town's Sam Ashe. And Antonia moved to London, England to pursue her music career. Her website vanished a few years ago and I haven't heard anything out of her since. But most perplexing to me is Milkshake?. They just weren't around one day. I ran into Elliot Wilcox a few years back after an Uptown Mix concert (so that will tell you how long that has been) and he said he was working on a new project. I have not seen or heard a word out of any of the members of Milkshake? since. I still enjoy listening to the few cds I have of all three acts but I would love to hear new material. Such is life in music. And this story is still being written for newer acts around town. It just seems a waste to see such talented musicians not play anymore. But who knows? Maybe all parties are playing five nights a week in another town with new bands and living out their rock n roll dreams. I like that scenario better.
May 19, 2009
One Of Those Days
When outside forces seem to come from everywhere to disrupt your day things can never go well. Today was one of those days. Here's the short list:
1. The DirecTV guy had to come back to drop off a couple power chords. Because he called me at 9:35 and Matt wasn't at home I had to wait around and be late opening the office.
2. Before I left the office to go to the Barn for the event tonight someone came in to ask about a house. I didn't leave when I needed to and I was late getting to Loveless.
3. Matt called me to say that the water was off at the house. This caught me off guard because I had taken a shower before I left this morning. Apparently the water company got a little chippy because I haven't paid the bill this month, that was due on the 15th!! Of course their offices won't be open until tomorrow morning so....
There's more but those are the high (low) lights. I just want a warm shower and time in front of my new premium television service. Oh, and a foot rub would be nice as well. I don't ask for much.
1. The DirecTV guy had to come back to drop off a couple power chords. Because he called me at 9:35 and Matt wasn't at home I had to wait around and be late opening the office.
2. Before I left the office to go to the Barn for the event tonight someone came in to ask about a house. I didn't leave when I needed to and I was late getting to Loveless.
3. Matt called me to say that the water was off at the house. This caught me off guard because I had taken a shower before I left this morning. Apparently the water company got a little chippy because I haven't paid the bill this month, that was due on the 15th!! Of course their offices won't be open until tomorrow morning so....
There's more but those are the high (low) lights. I just want a warm shower and time in front of my new premium television service. Oh, and a foot rub would be nice as well. I don't ask for much.
Why My Summer Is Already Wasted
For the last six months I have been without cable television. I lost my job last year and had to cut a few expenditures that were not necessary. So cable television went by the wayside and I was reduced to seven channels from about two hundred. But fear not dear friends, for yesterday my house was wired with DirecTV. I LOVE having so many choices!! I have missed being able to mindlessly wander the waste land that is premium television. Plus it's a hell of a lot cheaper than cable. All in all I'm sure that what very little productivity I have in my life will now take a massive nose dive. I look forward to this.
May 16, 2009
Better Late Than Never
It's been a few months since I updated this blog. I had originally planned to do a series of blogs about the year 1999 but as I started organizing them I realized that looking back ten years isn't the answer. Don't get me wrong, I loved 1999. It was one of the best years of my life and I have many fond memories from that time. The real thing here is that I find myself in the middle of a decade in life that I never thought would come. I never had a plan past 29 years old. I thought I'd die or just fade away before I entered my thirties. The brutal reality is that now I am a middle aged man who doesn't have a clue how to live life anymore.
I've recently met a couple of women that I've found very intriguing and even have contemplated asking them out. But the simple fact is that we aren't in the same place in our lives. A few years ago we would have been perfect for each other. Hell, a decade ago I would have ran blindly right into any scenario involving them or girls just like them. Now I find myself in that time of life where the things I have always loved (i.e. wild women, alcohol, bar hoping, etc.) just really make me feel like that old guy that's trying desperately to hang on to some semblance of his youth.
In the last year I had an experience that wreaked of high school. I mean once I got on the other side of this situation a very familiar, yet long forgotten, feeling washed over me. Almost a year later I look back and realized that I was trying to wedge myself into a group of people that just didn't want me around. And the sole reason for that was that I'm not their age anymore. That hurt a little. Ok, A LOT. But such is life. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if I had done just a little planning along the way I wouldn't feel like an overgrown teenager in a world that is tired of overgrown teenagers.
Mostly I've used this blog to talk about pop culture. It's time to get back to writing about the things that I'm experiencing day to day. I mean if we can't use the internet for self indulgence then what good is having an internet connection? There will be more very soon.
I've recently met a couple of women that I've found very intriguing and even have contemplated asking them out. But the simple fact is that we aren't in the same place in our lives. A few years ago we would have been perfect for each other. Hell, a decade ago I would have ran blindly right into any scenario involving them or girls just like them. Now I find myself in that time of life where the things I have always loved (i.e. wild women, alcohol, bar hoping, etc.) just really make me feel like that old guy that's trying desperately to hang on to some semblance of his youth.
In the last year I had an experience that wreaked of high school. I mean once I got on the other side of this situation a very familiar, yet long forgotten, feeling washed over me. Almost a year later I look back and realized that I was trying to wedge myself into a group of people that just didn't want me around. And the sole reason for that was that I'm not their age anymore. That hurt a little. Ok, A LOT. But such is life. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if I had done just a little planning along the way I wouldn't feel like an overgrown teenager in a world that is tired of overgrown teenagers.
Mostly I've used this blog to talk about pop culture. It's time to get back to writing about the things that I'm experiencing day to day. I mean if we can't use the internet for self indulgence then what good is having an internet connection? There will be more very soon.
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