Well, that was lackluster

I accomplished one whole new year goal.

I am also tired of seeing commercials for Chipotle and thinking, “man, that looks really good” only to have Chipotle and say, “meh at best”. I think Chipotle is what would happen if someone saw Mexican food but had never tasted it and tried to recreate it. The taco truck I hit up the other night was half the price and way better, though I should have ordered more.

New Years Revisited: One Down

I beat Earthbound. Some of the tasks in the game are incredibly obtuse and without strategy guides I would never have been able to get through it. I know the play time is supposedly somewhere around 25-30 hours but it took me around 50 hours or more.

The ending was less grand than I expected, but like a metaphor for life itself, it’s really about the journey than the ending. My 7-year-old started playing it also because he wants to play what I’m playing.

Next up: Links Awakening.

Kids and the Outdoors

Clearly my kids are more xbox and leas tackle box.

i tried to take them fishing today with the cub scout pack and it did not go well. They were impatient, Ill-behaved, and obnoxious. Those, by the way were the highlights.

The only thing I caught was my little one’s hoodie, that somehow was caught in the wind, and blown into the river. He bawled like a baby while yelling about how I was going to kill him and he was going to be grounded forever. (Dramatic much?) It took probably 30 casts and a few weight resets to catch the sweater, which was rapidly waterlogged and sank. It was nearly as hard to get the swamp smell off myself.

New Year’s Resolutions (2022)

I’m going to just go ahead and throw it out there. I am going to do things I have never done before. Here are my goals for 2022:

Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening – I am to the 4th dungeon, as I have been for months. I will finish it come hell or high water.

At least one of: CronoTrigger or Earthbound – I have been putting this off for bloody ever.

Psychonauts 2 – there’s really no reason not to. It isn’t THAT long of a game, but it’s an issue of sitting down to do it.

Bioshock- I have bought this game (well, set of games) 3 times now. Once on the Xbox 360, but then I got the Xbox One and installed it. Then I got the collection set digitally when I got my Series X (launch day) and I bought it on Switch when it was on a big sale at GameStop. I will play through at least 1 and 2 this year. Infinite if I have time and energy.

Finish Fallout 4 maybe. I realized after watching a Triple Jump video on YouTube (games for people with too much time on their hands) the game came out in 2015. I borrowed my brother’s PS4 and played some ungodly number of hours before I got my Xbox One. I think I have like 50 hours into the game but last time I played I could not remember what I was doing/ where I was going for the life of me.

Ren & Stimpy: Space Madness. I bought this game boy game in 1996? I will get past the 2nd level this year.

I will leave this open for future additions. Starting small.

The Best of Christmas

Ok. So I complained about it a lot. There’s some good Christmas stuff too.

Best movies:

Die Hard- even before it was trendy. I remember watching it with my dad. It’s festive, it’s fun, it’s a classic.
Love Actually- yes, it’s considered to be pop fluff but nearly everything in the movie is perfect.
Simpsons Christmas Special- much like Charlie Brown the underdog comes through.
Scrooged- the best telling of A Christmas Carol.
Muppets Christmas Carol- almost as good as Scrooged.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas- the original.

Best music :

12 days of Christmas- tie between the muppets/ John Denver and Straight No Chaser.
Dominic the Donkey- Lou Monte.
Pentatonix Christmas albums.


so there. I’m a huge grinch, but I said something nice about it.

The Worst of Christmas

I am grinchy. I make no bones about that, and I even “celebrated” December 1st by changing my MS Teams picture to the Grinch. It was hard to find a picture in which he wasn’t looking happy. I don’t need to remind myself about how terrible the 2018 version of The Grinch was either, but that comes to mind.

So here’s the worst Christmas songs:

Paul McCartney: Wonderful Christmastime. This used to be my least favorite song. Not just Christmas, but everything. The worst Beatle. The worst of his terrible writing.

NewSong: Christmas Shoes. I know everyone hates on Christmas Shoes and there’s a good reason for that. It’s garbage. Pure and simple emotional manipulation.

Traditional: Twelve Days of Christmas (with exceptions for versions featuring Straight No Chaser and The Muppets.) We get it. You have a bird fetish. Gross. Who is going to clean up after this?

I was going to put Mariah Carey’s version of All I Want for Christmas on here, but I have to admit she has some undeniable talent as a performer even if she cannot hit high notes anymore. We all say you lipsync on New Years Eve a few years ago Mariah.

The WORST OF THE BUNCH: Taylor Swift: Christmas Tree Farm. This would be ok if it were written and performed by a 7 year old. I hate Kanye West but I can cut him some slack for interrupting this song full of “these lyrics are dumb, but they need to rhyme” schlock. I would rather listen to any other song because at least they put in the effort. I put in more effort to write papers when I had screwed around playing games or whatever and started writing it the night before. GAH. Just no. I would rather watch the 2018 The Grinch than hear this again. There is just no excuse for this.

I guarantee I will have heard all of these in the next 4 hours.

Alexa… Play Classic Rock

♪I get up! And nothin’ ever gets me down…♪

Stupid computer. Alexa! Play CLASSIC ROCK…

♪She’s a good girl. Loves her mama…♪

UGH. ALEXA! PLAY C-L-A-S-S-I-C R-O-C-K…

♪She’s got a smile that seems to me…♪

How does this thing not understand what classic rock is? ♪Where do we go now?♪ It keeps playing contemporary hit…. ♪Where do we go?♪ oh no…. you don’t think…

No, it MUST be Alexa. I can’t possibly be that old.

Super Bowl party except without the party

  • I think it’s odd that the back of Tom Brady’s helmet says “end racism” when the front of his hat has historically said “racism is awesome” (paraphrasing)
  • I laughed at two commercials so far: the lemons and Drake from State Farm.
  • I should have bet on Tampa Bay -3 (maybe -6 which would have been 9 points against the spread
  • The last time Tampa Bay won the super bowl I stopped watching the nfl until the rams drafted Mannion and came back to LA
  • halftime: meh. It was ok. Points for creativity I guess.
  • I enjoyed seeing Brady bobble the ball. Tremendously.
  • The It Wasn’t Me commercial made me groan / chuckle.
  • it’s shocking that we are going on 3 hours now. Pat Mahomes has a lot of potential and I’m sure he will get another ring. The first one wasn’t a fluke, it was seized opportunities that didn’t present themselves this time around.
  • Bruce Arians’ mama so old she watched the first football game. Ever.
  • I also wish I had put $20 on nachos. Nachos are always a good bet.
  • Please retire, Tom Brady.