It's the last day of 2013

The last hour, actually. I'm ending 2013 with this face:

THIS FACE.

I probably shouldn't even be blogging right now... but if I don't, I'll probably end up going nuts.

Christmas. I never got to post about Christmas. I hope everyone had a great Christmas/holiday season, whatever floats your boat. If you didn't, keep your chin up, there's always next year!

I had a good Christmas. My main Christmas present was given to me back in November... the Pearl Jam concert. That was seriously the only thing I needed. Like, that was IT. The golden present! The golden present was absolutely epic. Yep. EPIC. Pearl Jam... I looooooove youuuuuuuu!!!!!!! ♥

I guess you could say that I had a very Merry Stonemas. Aside from the Pearl Jam concert, I got a few Mother Love Bone items and a few BRAD cds. Stone Gossard for the absolute friggin' WIN!!!! 

I got a Steel Panther cd for a gag gift... or at least to me, it was a gag gift. I got a few pairs of much-needed fuzzy socks, 2 pairs of corduroy pants, and a little bit of $$.

ALSO, the Christmas cards (and book) that I received from my Island family, pretty much made my entire year. I've never received that many Christmas cards in my entire life. Every day for weeks they would arrive... 3 would come... 5 would come... 2 would come, etc. When the book came... I couldn't. The feels, man... the feels. I am blessed. ♥

My Mother and I took a brief trip to Morro Bay a few days ago... it lasted for a day and a half... if even. My Grandfather passed away sometime around 6-ish - 7:20-ish on Sunday evening. I got a text from my brother. We knew we had to head back to Fresno ASAP. So we packed our stuff, cleaned up the 5th wheel a bit... left at about 10:45PM and didn't get home until about 1:45AM. Didn't even think twice about staying. We HAD to go back home. We had to. 

We weren't even sure if we should've gone to Morro Bay in the first place, but everyone told us to go and that we shouldn't let my Grandfather dying stop us from living our lives. We all knew he probably wasn't going to make it past Monday... but we still had hope.

Shitty. The entire thing was just shitty. There wasn't anything we could do. We all just had to sit and watch him slowly die. Cancer. FUCK cancer. 

He was the only Grandfather my brother and I had. Now he's gone.

I have some of the most awesome friends, by the way. I love them dearly. Their kind words and outpouring means more to me than anyone will ever know. Forever grateful. ♥

Tonight blessed us with another shit storm. My Mother's biological mother is a waste of human life. I have absolutely ZERO respect for that woman. And after tonight, I am done with her. For good. DONE. I am too old for this shit... she is too old to be acting like this. She is a fake, a phony, and a massive fucking idiot. DONE. 

I didn't watch the ball drop last year, and I will not watch the ball drop this year. Instead, once again, I am ending the year/beginning the new year with Pearl Jam. I'm watching Pearl Jam Twenty. I've watched it a zillion times this past year... and I've watched it every night since Sunday. It's keeping me sane. 

Pearl Jam, Def Leppard, Suede and Hanson are keeping me sane right now. Thank god for those bands. Seriously.

I hope everyone has a safe, blessed and Happy New Year. May 2014 be a great year for everyone.

Good times, with good people

Mom and I got to visit with our cousins today! Her cousins, my 2nd cousins. We always have a blast with those guys! We went to the usual "hanging" place, (okay, so we've only hung out there twice... but that's still our "hanging" place.) El Quetzal. It's a nice, little, inexpensive Mexican restaurant, in Clovis. 

The cousins live in Carson City, Nevada, but they came down here for a few days to attend a funeral (their Grandmother *on their father's side* passed away). So the lunch/dinner consisted of myself, mom, 3 cousins, their dad,  aunt Barbara, and a few more people from the cousins' dad's side of the family. I am so bad with names, nowadays. Shame on me. They were all very nice people. Very nice people. Lots of hugs and handshakes. Hey guys, would you care to adopt me? I need more nice extended family members in my life. Real talk.

They were already there when we arrived. Like I stated above, immediate hugs and handshakes. (ADOPT ME, PLEASE! I'll give you $5) I didn't even get a "hello" in, when cousin Mike came up to me and said "I love your blog! It's hilarious as hell!" I try... I try. Actually, I don't try, it just happens. But I'm glad I can make people laugh :) Yee haw!

We took our seats, and dove almost immediately into conversations and laughs. We do a lot of laughing when we're with these guys. They are absolutely hysterical. Especially when they drink beer. Yes, folks, it's true... I DO have a few relatives outside of my immediate family that I actually like. Mmhmm... it's true! Rock & roll.

Rock & roll... we talked a lot about rock & roll... as we always do. Mike, "funny apron" (for the sake of what's to come later in this blog, I have almost no choice but to give him another name. Unless they tell me I can edit his real name in here), and Craig are very music oriented... much like myself and my mother. We have similar (very similar) tastes in music. I've actually bowed down to them a few times for their concert going achievements. Yep. Does anyone remember the infamous food fight at the "Monsters of Rock" show in San Francisco in the late 80s? Yeah, well, cousin Mike and cousin Craig started that. Yep. That was brought up again, today. The topic of seeing Pearl Jam in Oakland was discussed... they're big fans of Pearl Jam/Eddie Vedder... and that makes me an even bigger fan of them. Metallica is almost always discussed. As is the Scorpions (we all had a great time in Reno, last year). 

Mike and I talked about hockey. He wanted to know what my connection was, so I told him. Then he told me a great story of how he went to a San Jose Sharks opening game one year, and compared it to being at a rock concert. Yep, pretty much! He said he felt left out because he wasn't wearing any teal and said he needed a jersey... I'm still saying Marleau, man. Marleau is a beast. A friggin' Beeeeaaaaassssstttttt.

Pismo/Morro Bay was discussed. We told them how exciting our jobs were (only when we work concerts)... haha!

"Family" discussions are the best, though. Where should I even begin? I'm not even sure where it began but I will briefly brush on some topics. Get ready, folks. 

* "Funny apron" is a total metrosexual. He is very proud of that fact. He likes his hair product. Always has to have product. His nails are all nice. And loves his body lotion. He has to lotion every day.

* "Funny apron" (had a couple of beers, by the way. So I'm sure most of it was a joke. We were all laughing hysterically, regardless) confessed his attraction to his aunt and was being all silly. He said he's had a thing for her since he was a kid. He used to like a few of his family members when he was a kid... "have you ever heard about kissing cousins???" Now THAT was a joke. It was a hilarious joke, but we were all still laughing. They tried to pair Craig up with Michelle... and THAT was funny as hell. "Me and Michelle? When? I must have forgotten that. I must have forgotten that year." Others suggested that  our family needs a reality tv show. I haven't laughed that hard or that much in a long time. I needed that. More than anyone will ever know.

*The topic of my Mother's P.O.S. dirtbag of a father biological father. Yep, folks. "You mean the sperm donor." YEP, FOLKS. I don't think anyone in the family has any respect for him anymore. He might as well fall off a cliff. No loss there.

*My Mother's idiot brothers. "Blue Star" is no longer "Blue Star"... apparently, he now thinks he's a "Maverick"... oooookay, dude. Ooookay.
 

*Possible incest within our family a few generations back. This is what happens when you drink a lot of beers, kids. Funny, random, shit just comes out. Mike then asked us if we've seen "The Goonies" and said that we probably had some relatives that look like that running around somewhere (in reference to "Sloth")

My Mother then said, "We do, my brother." Mr. "Maverick" was given that crown. Heh.

Gawd, what else? There was so much stuff that I can't even remember it all. It was all just a hilarious mess. And I loved every second of it. I wish we saw these people more often.

Good times, with good people.

Mom and the cousins! :)

I am now out of my funk. I will now go play on my other blog. Things will get done tomorrow. Which reminds me, I have to "inbasket" Mike the link to my blogs :P

It's been awhile...

I haven't blogged since October 14th. Yikes. To catch up, October was beyond awesome... and November... well... November didn't get good until 2 days ago. 

I SAW PEARL JAM IN CONCERT!!!!!!!!!!! FINALLYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!! 

And it was epic. Freaking epic. It was the greatest thing I have ever seen. My mother and I saw them in Oakland, on November 26th, at the Oracle Arena. Yeah, Oakland. We made it out alive and unharmed. Praise Jesus.

Today is Thanksgiving Turkey Day. I survived another one. We actually had three meals... the first meal happened last week. My mother's biological mother (yep, she still holds that title, folks) had her Thanksgiving meal last week, because her and her man are in Morro Bay until December 1st. It went exactly how I expected it to go. I'll take 'let's be distant and fake for $1000, Alex'. Geez.

My Grandmother (on my Dad's side of the family) had her Thanksgiving meal around lunch time. It had pretty much all of the traditional fixings. It was surprisingly peaceful/quiet.
It was just myself, my mother, father, brother, grandmother, my aunt, my uncle, and my uncle's friend (?) "Cat". "Cat" (or however he spells it?) is an... um... interesting dude? I have no idea who he is or where he comes from... or how he knows my uncle? But he was there. Yeah. 

The best meal was my mother's. Of course. LASAGNA!!!!! Heaven. Dr. Pepper, root beer (for my brother), dinner rolls and black olives were also included. Again I say, HEAVEN! Oh, and I should probably mention that it was an immediate family-only dinner. Ha.


The day ends in 10 minutes... I have to wrap this up!

I'm thankful for...

*My family, of course!
*My non-related family! (Pets included)
*My awesomely rad friends.
*Music. Music is pretty much the only thing that keeps me sane. I listen to a lot of bands/artists throughout the year. But this year, I'm most thankful for Def Leppard, Pearl Jam, Hanson (without Hanson, I wouldn't have my ISLANDERS!), Mother Love Bone, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Duran Duran, Suede, Jeff Buckley, AFI, and The Clash.
*My job. Even though it kills me sometimes... I'm on the payroll.
*My health.
*Having a roof over my head.



December is creeping around the corner...

Rocktober

This month is definitely rocktober! (It's also Zactober *Hanson fans unite!*)

But yeah... friggin' ROCKTOBER!!!!

It's only 12 days in, but this month has totally rocked my socks. It's kinda making me forget about Shittember. Ha.

Hockey season is in full swing! My Sharks are undefeated! 5-0-0. Tomas Hertl is a friggin' beast. Seriously. The kid is a beast. A few nights ago, the Sharks beat the Rangers 9-2... 4 out of those 9 goals were scored by Hertl. Goals 3, 4, 5, and 6. Holy shiz balls. The Sharks need to keep this up... and win the cup. It's time, boys. It's time. Bring that sucker hoooooome!!!!!!!

The month of October means that it's Fair time, here in Fresno. My family (sans my brother) and I went to the Big Fresno Fair on October 4th, to see Tesla play at the Paul Paul Theater. Tesla absolutely ruled (totally badass!) We explored a bit of the fair prior to the show (and a bit after the show)... we played on the huge pirate ship!!! Yes, I love pirate ships. And pirates. Arrrrrrrggggg.

No shame.

We also stumbled upon this. The best booth at the fair, in my opinion.

A BOB MARLEY BOOTH!!!!
Well, it was a "Reggae Shop"... but 98% of it was Bob Marley stuff. Hell yes. ♥
I went back after the concert and got a shirt. It was so hard to pick just one.

After Tesla, we walked around a bit more. We found a dinosaur exhibit. Another hell yes!
I even touched a snake. Yeah. 

More epicness. My Mother and I got to work the Bon Jovi concert! They put us on the floor. Facing the stage. Can I get a MASSIVE hell yes?!?!?! Yeah, I friggin' love my job. The sporting events... maybe not so much. But the concerts. Even if we never get the floor again... lol. It was awesome. Beyond awesome. 

The new Pearl Jam album, "Lightning Bolt" comes out on Tuesday (October 15th). I can't wait for that. I seriously cannot wait any longer. I'm about to explode. The new AFI album drops soon, too. I can't wait for that, either.

Back to Pearl Jam. Pearl Jam Twenty premiered on VH1 Classic and Palladia tonight. I own it on DVD, but I still set the DVR. I'm actually watching it right now. I seriously cry every time I watch this. Not because it's sad... it isn't sad. I just love Pearl Jam. I honestly cannot find the words to express how much I love that band. 

Holy blog views, Batman!

I love Batman. 

But that's not the main focus of this blog post.

Heh.

The main focus of this blog post, is the number of page view this blog has gotten so far. As well as my other blog (the music one). Yesterday, this blog hit 2,000 page views. Now, I know this probably isn't a lot... but it's a lot to me. I mean, this blog isn't even a year old yet. I've only done 54 blog entries (yes, I am a lazy blogger... I'm going to try and change that. I promise.) this post being blog entry #55... and between those 54 posts, I've gotten 2,044 views. I've gotten 44 more views since last night around 10:30pm, when I posted my last entry. It's insane. And very, very, cool.

When I started blogging, I didn't think anyone would actually read what I had to say. Maybe a few friends and a few family members... because, well, they're my friends and family members. Clearly, a lot of other people have been reading this thing, and I'd like to thank you all for taking the time to read my words. My random, babbling, fan-girling self thanks you! ♥ 

I promise to give you more honest, random, babbling, fangirl -inspired blog entries. 

Nowwww to my music blog. That blog is... uhhh... was (?) supposed to be my main blog. I started that one first and that one has more entries posted. 75 posts. Yeah, I am a TOTAL lazy blogger when it comes to that one. Sheesh. I promise to change that, too. I promise. Anyway, that blog has 6,244 views... so far.

I never thought in a million years that the music blog would ever take off. I don't know why... I'm just like that. This blog gives me high anxiety sometimes. It really does. 

Anyway, back in August, I did an entry for a local tribute band, who covers a certain classic rock band. I thought about posting the link on their fb page... but yeah, I didn't do it. Welll... someone either in their camp or in the group stumbled across my blog entry and posted the link to their fb page last night... one member even LEFT a comment on my blog... as well as an anonymous comment. A long comment, which I fully enjoyed, btw. Since that happened, I've gotten 58 more views for that particular entry... and the views just keep coming. It's crazy. It really is. I think the total for that entry is damn near 80 in total? Seeing my blog posted somewhere other than my own fb page or Twitter page is crazy. It's super rad... but crazy. I think I need to have more faith in my writing. Yeah, I need to change that, too. October is the month for change, is it not? Change of season... changing of leaf colors... change of weather? Yeah, ch-ch-ch-ch-changes. Bowie. 

Octoberrrrrr!!!!!!

October is my favorite month ♥

Hockey. 

Halloween.

Hoodies.

Yep... this year, I will have all 3 of my lovely H's. Yipeeee!!!! I'm feelin' it man, I'm feelin' it. Let's get it on.

Hockey. Today was opening night. The first official day of the season!! My Sharks don't play until Thursday (2 more days, babyyy!) My fave east coast team, the Washington Capitals played tonight, though. They lost. 6-4 against the Chicago Blackhawks. I had my first 3 hockey strokes tonight. Mmhmm! 

Yep. Awesome texts like this, start in October.

I surround myself with good people. ♥

Halloween. 30 more days, ya'll!! Yeeeeeeee!!!!! I freak out over almost every Halloween display I see. I love it. I love it all. Not so much the candy, but the decorations! Yes, the decorations!! And the movies. The moooooovies!!! 

Hoodies. I've had the pleasure of wearing both of my AFI and SJ Sharks hoodies over the past 2 weeks. We've had strange weather. The nights/mornings are cold and the days are hot. Pretty soon, it will be hoodie weather all day long. Can I get another "Yee"?! Yeeeeeeee!!!!!

Yeah, I just love October. 

September did almost nothing for me. It was good to half of my friends... but crappy to the other half of them. It was more crappy than good for me. I will not focus on the crappy stuff. Just the good stuff.

*September (well, the middle of it) brought me "Sleepy Hollow" on FOX. "Sleepy Hollow" is my new favorite show (or my new current fave show). It totally freaking is. It is fabulous. It is gross. It is crazy. It's funny. It is fabulous... wait, I already said that. Ha! Yeah, I'm pretty much obsessed. I know I stated in a blog post last year, that Johnny Depp was the ONLY "Ichabod Crane" in my eyes... no. Tom friggin' Mison for the ABSOLUTE win. He's perfect. 

THIS is the perfect explanation... overview... synopsis (?) of this wonderful show. It was written by my non-related twin (I swear to the heavens above that Tracey and I are the SAME person) Go here: Sleepy Hollow

I'm reposting her blog post because this was almost the SAME thing that I was going to write on here. Almost. Because, you know, Tracey and I are the SAME person. *Insert Twilight Zone music here* But yeah, I highly recommend "Sleepy Hollow". It's sexy. Rawr. Rawwwwrr!!!

*Paychecks. Need I say more? Didn't think so. They weren't much, but it's a start, y'all.

* Random acts of EPIC kindness from 2 strangers who aren't exactly strangers. I mean, we've never met in person (but we will the next time a certain band tours, dammit!! QUOTE ME!) It all started back in June when I started posting on a certain app app. Not an app... but an app app. (Ha!) Things went crazy in July (I would actually almost like to thank the person/people responsible for the craziness) and about 50 or so people migrated to various places (social networking) to chat about daily life/talk about a certain band that we all love, and pretty much whatever. But it is so much more than that. We are a little family. A support unit. We are all different... yet, we are all the same. Whether it be similar interests, similar tastes in music, similar quirks, similar personalities... whatever. I really think we were all brought together for a much bigger reason. Anyway, I could probably write an entire blog post about these lovelies, but let's get to the epic kindness.

Ash offered to pick me up (from the bay area) on her way to SoCal to see Hanson perform for 3 nights. That probably would've hindered her route and made her lose time on the road. She was not going to charge me a damn thing. I only had to pay for my tickets and food. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to swing that :(

Then maybe a week or so later (?) Lexi had a spare ticket to the L.A. show (her sister could no longer go)... so she offered it to me... free of charge. FREE OF CHARGE. I was halfway there, I was livin' on prayer. I couldn't go. It killed me for a while, but I was happy for my all of my Cali sistas on their epic adventures! I was there in spirit. These ladies didn't have to go the extra mile... but they DID. These people are good people. Damn good people. And not just these 2 lovely ladies... there are about 50-ish or so people in our fanson family, and every single one of them are epically amazing people. Seriously. I wish we all lived in the same state (and um, country? One of these lovelies lives in Lebanon, there's one in the U.K., and I believe two are in Australia). We would have beyond epic times together!!! A lot of  the "misfits" have met up with each other over the course of the current "Anthem tour" and more are going to meet up as the tour continues... but one day, we will ALL meet up and it will be friggin' fantastic. I'm happy just knowing that these amazing people exist. Damn, that was really mushy, wasn't it? Sorry. Not sorry. ♥ I could boast some more, but like I said, that's another blog post.

*Pre-season hockey. Such a tease... but it does the trick. 

That was pretty much the only goodness of September... from what I can remember.

VIVA OCTOBER!!!!!!

 

SAN JOSE SHARKS PRE-SEASON HOCKEYYYY

IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN, FOLKS!!!!!!

YEEEEEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!

Is it October 3rd, yet?!?!?!  

(Vancouver scored towards the end of the 1st period. Bring on the next 2 periods!)

Birthdays, birthdays...

Today, I've been celebrating three birthdays.

Today is my Mom's birthday! We gave her a nice little party. We ordered pizza and had cake/ice cream. I think I drank too much Dr. Pepper... I started seeing spots. That was definitely a first.

Mom got some really rad prezzies (presents)! Prezzies and cash. Cash is always nice. Mmmcash!

It's also this guy's birthday, today...

 Mmhmm! Rick Springfield turned 64 today. Yeah, 64. Yeah, I know.

I love me some Rick Springfield ♥

I also love me some River Phoenix. It just so happens to be River Phoenix's birthday today, as well. He would have been 43 years old. ♥

I love River Phoenix. He will always be one of my favorite actors. He was super talented. Absolutely talented. He was a great actor (great is actually an understatement). He stole the spotlight in almost every movie he was in. He was passionate in everything that he did: movies, music, his activist work... 

From everything I've ever read or heard about River, he seemed like a really nice and genuine person. I wish I could have met him... at least once. Yeah, he had some issues... but don't we all? He was perfect because he wasn't perfect. That probably doesn't make sense... but it makes perfect sense to me.

I've been spamming my Twitter feed with lovely pictures of Rio... and semi-spamming my Facebook feed, as well. When I celebrate, I celebrate hard, man. Ha! I've also watched a few of his movies on my iPod. 

My movies of choice were:

Stand By Me

 I Love You to Death

 Dogfight

 My Own Private Idaho

I'm about to finish things off with "The Thing Called Love"... I don't care what anyone says, I love that movie.

Okay, my River Phoenix spam fest is over.

Expect another one on Halloween...

Soooo... ummmm...

I AM NEWLY EMPLOYED!!!! I HAVE A JOB!!!!!!

(The lovely Zac Hanson)

*Sings* "It's about tiiiiiiiiime...."

I will now have to try and rock the color yellow. Yellow...

I haven't blogged in a while. It wasn't for the lack of wanting to... my laptop just hated me. I think we are now on good terms again! 

I do believe my last official blog post was about going back to Morro Bay? (Not the middle finger one... lol)

Welllll, I've been to Morro Bay again since then. Yeah, my Mother loves it there... and yeah, I kinda do, too. This last trip was probably my favorite of the 3, so far. Better weather. Better routine. It wasn't all about the beach this time. Betterrrrr. haha! We went to the beach ONCE this trip... aaaand I didn't stay in the car this time. I'm tellin' ya, better weather. Not 'omg I want to take off all of my clothes and get sunburned' weather... but 'Omg I actually want to hang out on the beach' weather. Windy, but not enough to make a person's ears bleed... and warm enough to pull up your hoodie sleeves to your elbows. I helped my Mom look for sea shells and sand dollars this time around. It was actually pretty fun. We collected a lot... and I mean, A LOT!

Bad camera angle, because that thing was filled damn near to the top! While we were walking the beach looking at the water, the waves, and for shells/sand dollars, I had Anthem blasting (Hanson's new album) from my phone. That made it even more fun!!!! (Which I STILL have to write a review for that over on my other blog, btw.) That is such an empowering album. Which brings me to my next two pictures.

 I willingly went down to the dock. Yes, willingly.

My Mother always wants to go down there. I'm always like...

However, as soon as we got out of the car, I told her that I suddenly felt empowered. I walked straight down to the dock. I unwillingly walked down there on our previous trip and it freaked the living f*ck out of me. I couldn't quit shaking. Yeah, I have this fear of drowning... lol. This time, I was like, "f*ck it, I'm just going to do it." Boom. I was still a little cautious, but it was whatever. I mean, I was willing to take a picture. Let's get fired up! I'll stop with the Hanson references, I swear. Another boost in the butt also could have been the fact that that was our last night there. Who knows? But it was awesome. We watched yet another beautiful sunset... you won't find that kind of a setting where I live. That kind of stuff makes you NOT want to leave.

Mom wanted to back down to the dock once the sun went down... I was still feeling frisky (haha!), no, I'm still going to use the word empowered and willingly walked back down. She wanted to go further out by the water. Why not? We took some great pictures (after taking about 5,000 re-takes, we were down there for about 10 minutes... seemed longer, though lol)

THIS.

We were ALMOST at the edge of the dock. Seriously.

I think Rudolf Schenker would say that I "rocked my life"... haha!

And then there's this. Yeah, I'm pretty much the biggest dork you will ever meet. No shame.

Oh, and the "different routine" I mentioned earlier... we walked up and down Main Street and searched all of the thrift stores, antique stores, book stores, etc. 

 *NSYNC marionette dolls were inside an antique store. AN ANTIQUE STORE. What?! Justin's doll was $5 higher than the rest. 

 Same antique store. $12.50 a piece for these bad boys. I did not want to part with them. 

A different store. And yes, the big Troll on the right is wearing lingerie. Red and black lace.

Hmmm... what else? Oh, "Farm Kings" is back from a brief-season hiatus. Seriously, it came back for a 2nd season, for like 3 episodes... only to disappear again for nearly 5 or so weeks. That killed. Joe King also kills. He's making it so hard to watch that show. He's Mr. Bossman... I get it... but damn. 

I saw Hanson!!!! In Fresno!!! In a rather 'intimate setting'. It was amazing. Truly amazing. 

I love my IOMF sisters... and brother. haha! (I'm not elaborating, it's safer that way.)

I'm still playing Songpop... not as much as I used to, but I'm still playing. However, I think my newest app obsession is 4 Pics 1 Song.

I'm probably forgetting a lot of stuff, but that's okay... lol. 

OH! The new Pearl Jam song is AMAZING... and the new AFI song "I Hope You Suffer" is equally amazing. I can't wait for both of their new albums!!!!

One final thought: The next time I cross paths with a cute guy, I'm asking to see his I.D.