...WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!....

Cedar Point is open!

Mean Streak
 


Blue Streak



The Corkscrew - the thing I remember most about the corkscrew was that you waited in line for what felt like 2 hours to get on a ride that felt like 20 seconds. Fun though.

The Gemini - so named because there were two going side by side on the track

The Coal Miner – my favorite ride besides the Gemini and the Wildcat, the joy of this ride was its rickety motion and loud creaking. It always sounded like it was going to completely fall apart at any minute


The Wildcat - Not a lot of steep drops on this one but the speed was break-neck.



The Mantis- this ride made its debut after my family stopped going so I never had a chance to hop on. Looks like I’m missing out


Cheers to Coasterwiz for uploading this and bringing back some great memories.

...It's Just Different...

That unintentionally funny “I Am Other” campaign left me with the “Really?” face.


If I close my eyes, the message is okay, but when I open them I see a bunch of people that look like models staring off into space. Not sure what’s so “other” about gang of super pretty people pretending to embrace being different.

They make it look so exciting, like "Join us, we're cool and we have fun."

I have been different my whole life and it wasn’t all that fun. It was just... different.

I can recall having whole groups of girls telling me they had decided I was too weird to talk to and then ignoring me for the rest of the year. I often think if the adolescent I was then were to be here today, there would probably be a video on YouTube or somewhere of that little girl having her butt kicked.

I still quite frequently find myself in conversations where the response I get makes me wonder if I’m really speaking English. This is even with so-called like-minded individuals; we’re all talking about the same thing, or so I thought, and I’ll mention something and there’s dead silence.

My sister told me if I was a TV show, the screen would have to freeze after I said anything so they could insert a voiceover to explain what I just said. I don’t feel like I’m saying anything astronomical, but I guess it must be out there because I send it out but darn if it ever comes back.

...I Give You...The Hate Above...

Oh the things you randomly find and wonder how you never found them before.

Chris Rock and his team apparently wrote, filmed but never released this as a skit from his days on HBO doing The Chris Rock show.

C’mon. It’s funny.

(Chris Rock – Crackers)

You know you laughed.

In case you forgot or want to make a comparison.

(Outkast - Hey Ya)

..."This Maiden She Lived with No Other Thought"...

…than to love and be loved by me. I’ll come back to that later.

My dad was born at home.

He was born with club feet.  He called them “ballerina toes” because both feet were sharply pointed down. So his dad broke his little newborn ankles and his mom made splints and casts and in relatively no time at all my dad’s feet were corrected and he was fine.

He played sports all the way through school, and though he told me he would sometimes experience a little pain or limping he was fine.  During a physical exam to enter the US Air Force, the found some bone issues, removed the offending bones and he said he never, ever experienced pain again. …Although he did have some funny looking toes.

...It's Just in Time to Ruin Mother's Day...

I don’t know about you but frankly, I laughed.

Even with the nipple in his mouth you can see him smiling.

I mean, really can’t she just break into a pharmacy and steal oxytocin like everyone else? Or are we pretending this is genuinely and solely for Junior’s benefit?

I only wish I could be in the room the minute his friends discover this magazine cover 13 years from now. And that’s assuming he’s not already old enough for a driver’s permit because that is a big motor-scooter right there friends.

So kudos to Time for either getting everyone to talk and/or successfully slithering down to tabloid magazine newsstand status.

I suppose the best part of so-called attachment parenting is that they can go to therapy together when he’s grown.

For the great moms out there who actually thought about and put some real effort into raising wonderful children into responsible adults, we honor and celebrate you on this day.

For the rest of you, you’re just in time for Mental Health Awareness Month; seek help.


The ad you were thinking of when you saw the magazine cover shot…

What, you think this is wrong? Because I'm a man.........baby? I'll tell you what's wrong. It's my old cell phone company charging me a bunch of hidden fees. That's why I got Boost Mobile. Their $50 monthly unlimited plan has no hidden fees. I happen to like that. I also happen to like breast milk.

...This One Reads Backward...

(But I reversed it, so you can read it forward)


There is a fine line between creative expression that proudly represents your individuality and just being …something else.

This is something else.

I saw this photo and thought, “Who did it? Where they at? Let’s go get ‘em…”


And since I am notorious for snowballing thoughts, before I knew it I was wondering if "Mommie Dearest" ever came back at the library. (Faye Dunaway looking like Heath Ledger as the Joker during that one scene.)

My mind zoomed through thoughts (and we’re walking backwards now) of Joan Crawford who allegedly disappeared from view after seeing unflattering pictures of herself in the press. Back to my great, great (great?) Aunt Auntie whose real name escapes me right now and who is notoriously known to have cut off contact with the outside world because she didn’t feel pretty anymore.

This is a rumor of course. There’s no disputing that she was astonishingly beautiful her whole life. And one day when she was older, but not old, like 40-something, she just didn’t look beautiful anymore. (But we don’t know for sure because she disappeared, right?)

Back to Cassie whom everyone has often compared to great, great (great?) Aunt Auntie for a few reasons not presently relevant, and who has also often been thought of as an amazing beauty and who will do some really ungodly things to you for suggesting otherwise and/or not complimenting her fast enough.

And who has admitted to a quiet fear of meeting the same fate as great, great (great?) Aunt Auntie and becoming the infinite butt of jokes about how she “broke hard” (old black expression for a person whose looks suddenly changed super rapid from extraordinarily beautiful to not so much).

I assure her this could never happen because the main jokers are mostly Auntie’s great, great (great?) nephews and nieces, and Cassie will never, ever have a nephew or niece unless my mom reveals a secret third sibling on her death bed forty years from now or unless I ever get that Norwegian kid I’ve been trying to adopt in the name of sociology and science.

...We Lost Another Great...

I saw "Adam Yauch" trending when I logged on tonight and didn't even want to click on it, but how could I not.

Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill remains, for me, one of the greatest rap albums ever made. Ever. MCA's influence and legacy will always be with us.

God bless and keep his family and friends.

Adam "MCA" Yauch
(1964-2012)

One of my favorite performances of any song anywhere.
(Beastie Boys with The Roots - So What'cha Want)

Beastie Boys & Roots on Jimmy Fallon by brion01

...No One is Doing the Math...

I talked a bit about this last week (or tried to. Not sure why the new, improved Blogger scheduling function works at will, but…).

Since that time I’ve come across some of the most ignorant and infuriating things I have heard in a long time around this student loan thing so I need to elaborate for all the “educated” folks that can’t do the math.

In reference to keeping the student loan interest where it is, certain people with certain interest will have you believe in any number of half-truths and un-truths.

But we’re smarter than that.

We understand that opting to not raise the interest rate is not the equivalent of a “cut.”

We can probably guess that people that opted for private loans were probably trying to avoid the larger interest rate with Stafford loans, and somehow missed the fine print that the loans really weren’t that different where it counts most: the repayment period.

And we know that people who accepted the fed loans are not trying to get out of repayment, but trying to get out of the infinite loop that forces you to keep making payments on a bill paid off ages ago because the interest rate is so high.

Some years ago I had a wonderful conversation with a very kind and helpful man from the US Department of Education.

Student loans are like any debt in that your name, contact, and debt information floats around in a kind of “pool” for lack of a better term.

Any bill collecting agency can pay to fish names out of this pool, and go after that person for repayment. (Plus their administration fee which is almost always what they paid to get your name in the first place.)

So collection agency X contacts you,  forcibly sets up payment arrangements, you keep the arrangement,  pay off the debt and wait to receive your “paid in full” letter from agency X.

Instead, you are contacted by agency Y about the same debt.

The heck?

...It's Supposed to Make You Cry...

But mostly I just cheered.

No judgments.

" Watch this inspiring clip of 5-month-old puppy Sophie tentatively learning to walk as she recovers from a spinal injury. The lanky German shepherd is luckier than she will ever know: she was deposited at an animal shelter and slated to be killed because she couldn't walk. Her salvation arrived in the form of folks from Westside German Shepherd Rescue in Los Angeles, who diagnosed her with a mass on her spine and are providing the medical attention she needs. After just one week of physical therapy, Sophie is taking her first steps -- and bringing a tear to the eye of soppy viewers everywhere."

...That is How You Slow Jam the News...

I've been following this student loan issue very, very closely for all the obvious reasons.

The interest is what does you in. Remember, the same loan that I will probably die before I pay off started out at about $8,000.


Hopefully President Obama's Student Loan forgiveness plan goes through. I promise to spend more money  and do my part ot help out the economy if it does.

Please.

...Christian Rich Videos Are So...

...whatever they are.

If you can describe them, you're doing a better job than I could do.

This song has been on repeat for some time now for me. It's a beautiful song even if the video is kind of... whatever it is.

...Sometimes It Snows in April...

Kids, with their icky selves, have been the bright spot of my day lately.

Some of the more intelligent conversations I’ve had in a long time have been with people under the age of 6. I guess because they wonder about stuff other than gas prices and relationships. Some of the more curious ones will really try to figure things out when you talk to them about stuff. They have imagination and not much reasoning which makes for interesting theories.

I was replacing a bowl of chips with salt free popcorn on a snack table when I mentioned casually to this one kid that I always had an addiction to salt that I’ve never been able to shake. I said I wish I never even tasted the stuff. He told me he felt the same way about blue paint.

I will be the first to tell you that Crayola paint has the most delectable smell but I’ve never sampled the flavor. I won’t either. But I made a mental note to keep my eyes on that little guy the next time we sat the watercolors out on the tables.

About a year ago, I started experiencing what is now a growing batch of new symptoms that coincide with my headaches. They range from bizarre to disconcerting to ring the alarm.

As usual, I ignored them for as long as I could, but they were getting bad enough for me to struggle through the day or otherwise say or do the sort of thing that would make people look at me funny. 

So earlier this year I tried a neurologist and after she blew me off due to what I can only imagine was an inability to read a CT Scan, I finally made an appointment with the Head People.

I knew a few others that had gone and got help, but most of them required surgery or drugs, two things I hope to outrun until I die, but we are bordering on desperate times, so I crossed the border for some desperate measures.

...It Was Hot at the Time...

Now it's just comical. And does Gumby have boobs?

Put your hands together for Gumby Live from the classic Detroit dance show, The Scene, circa 1987

The Scene ran from October 13, 1975 to December 31,1987

...You Chose Your Choice...

(Calvin) " Nothing I do is my fault. My family is dysfunctional, and my parents won't empower me! Consequently, I'm not self-actualized! My behaviour is addictive functioning in a disease process of codependency! I need holistic healing and wellness before I accept any responsibility for my actions! (Hobbes) One of us needs to stick his head in a bucket of ice water. (Calvin) I love the culture of victimhood."

Life does not have one clear path through it.

Everyone makes different choices, takes different turns, stops in different areas. We are all different, and we are all sometimes right, and sometimes wrong.

My friend, “Albright” is always saying, “everyone can always tell you what you’re doing wrong or what you need to do but no one ever tells you how to do it right.”

That’s a little like telling someone how to wipe their butt. I could give you specific instructions, but dude, it’s wiping your butt. The instructions are this: get yourself clean.

“Yes, but how?” Albright would say.

I can’t help Albright. He’s stopping just short of blatantly asking me to wipe his butt for him.

He does this because it’s a way to avoid responsibility for things. I’ve been through enough arguments and rough discussions with him to know this now. His answer to every disaster is either, “But so-n-so told me to …” or “But no one told me I should…” or “But I didn’t know how to…”

What can I say? Albright is just lazy, "crazy," or both.

I tried really hard to think of a time in my life when I didn’t have a choice, and I couldn’t come up with much. Even in the one situation where someone literally twisted my arm to make me do something, I look back and think I probably should have just let them break my arm and then let them have to explain how it happened. But that’s looking back.

I was 12 at the time, so as difficult as it is for me to do so, I know I have to cut myself some slack and remind myself that I was a kid and did what I thought best to do.

I understand that sometimes when we are in the middle of a situation we don’t always have the time, or clear vision to make the better choice.
Just do the best you can. Then accept whatever it is that you have decided to do. Even if you do nothing, your inaction is a still a decision.

And whenever you feel like you’re almost being forced to decide at gunpoint, you can always opt to take the bullet.

Cowards die many times before their death;

The valiant never taste of death but once

- Ol’ Willie Shakespeare

I know this attached to another song on In My Mind, but I wasn’t thinking of that song, just this one…
Pharrell – I Really Like You Girl


The subtle background vocals on this are subconsciously making you feel mellow.
N*E*R*D – Stay Together (Spymob version!)



The amazing instrumentation on this is overtly making you want to shake your butt.
N*E*R*D – She Wants To Move

...You are My Blue-eyed Universe

I never knew there was an official video for this song. I should have known it would be awesome.