stuff and nonsense

Things I've bought in the last week:
-  Five Uniqlo fleece jackets and six pairs of Uniqlo fleece pants
-  Five boxes of 24-count Ferrero Rocher chocolates
-  X-Men Days Of Future Past blu ray
-  John Wick blu ray
-  New Balance MW877
-  Adele's 25
-  Parenthood complete series dvd
-  Three Ravensburger jigsaw puzzles
-  Taotronics BT speaker
-  Taotronics BT audio receiver
-  New Trent iPad Mini Gladius case
-  Uniqlo ultra light down parka
-  Silicone collapsible colanders
-  eBag packing cubes
-  Superglue
-  Eneloop AA rechargeable batteries
-  Amazon Basics tv antenna
-  Contact paper

One might ask, why do you need five fleece jackets and six pairs of fleece pants?  Well, you know what they say about not going grocery shopping when you are hungry?  Same idea - you shouldn't go cold weather clothing shopping when you are freezing your butt off.

Each of those fleece jackets were only $15 each.  And Days Of Future Past only cost me $1 because I had $5 reward certificate from Best Buy, and John Wick was on sale for $4.50 from Target.  Pretty much everything was on sale and discounted with coupons and credits.  But then, once I start adding everything up, I realize I probably still ended up spending about $500 out of pocket.  Yikes. The retailers suckered me in again!

thank you

I am thankful this year for:
-  Gilmore Girls returning next year!
-  James Corden (best talk show host right now)
-  the Patriots season so far (except for Julian Edelman's broken foot - ugh)
-  iZombie (an undead Veronica Mars)
-  my favorite new shows this fall: Limitless and Crazy Ex-Girfriend
-  getting to work at home (save on the knees for two days a week)
-  that Amazing Race is still alive and kicking
-  Bindi Irwin and Derek winning DTWS (you have to be a real cynic to root against her, and I am only a fake cynic)
-  youtube videos of Madonna's Rebel Heart tour (every show I get to watch something)
-  free products (lamps, headphones, BT speakers, iPad cases) I get as a test user
-  no signs of house leaks from the rain this week (albeit rain was rather light)
-  stuffing (mmm...probably my favorite part of any Thanksgiving meal)
-  family is safe during these chaotic times

mark the psychic

I predict -

- The new Star Wars movie itself will be very anti-climatic cuz there is no way it can live up to the hype and the ubiquitous marketing.  I mean, we have Star Wars soup cans...

- The Adele album 25 will sell a lot.  I am going out on a limb on this one.  Hehe.

- Julian Edelman will be back for the playoffs, and the Patriots will repeat at Super Bowl 50.

- Leonardo DiCaprio will finally win Best Actor Oscar for The Revenant.

- Empire will fizzle out by season 3.

- I am gonna waste a lot of money this Black Friday week, cuz I've been pretty frugal this year and the itch to spend has been pushed to a breaking point.  It's like people on withdraw from crack having crack dangled in front of them.  But I predict Amazon Black Friday is still gonna suck.  It's been worse every year since the heydays (like, three years ago?).

- Hilary Clinton will be the POTUS come next year.  God, please, America, we cannot possibly have a serious Presidential race with Donald Trump.  He is a freaking joke of a man, much less a Presidential candidate.  I know nothing about politics, but I can sound more intelligent talking about the state of our country and our world on any given day. 

- The SF housing bubble will burst by 2017.  By then, you can buy a decent house in the neighborhood for less than $1M.

- In ten years, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram will be no more.

prayer for paris

Madonna in her Stockholm concert yesterday, giving an emotional speech about Paris attacks followed by Like A Prayer:

paris

About Paris, the most beautiful city I've ever been in.  Yesterday night a series of terrorist attacks in the City Of Light killed at least 129 people.  The orchestrated attacks hit Stade de France, four restaurants/bars, and the concert hall Bataclan at the same time, about 9:30 Friday evening.  It is at Bataclan where most of the casualties occurred.  There four gunmen fired their automatic assault rifles into the packed crowd.  It could have been worse at Stade de France where a France-Germany match attended by the President of France was going on, but fortunately security stopped two terrorists with explosives before they were able to enter the stadium.  ISIS has now claimed responsibility for the attacks.

So here we are, about ten months after Charlie Hebdo and fourteen years after 9/11, mourning more lives lost in the hands of those who murder in the name of ideology and religion.  That's not even counting the innumberable lives being lost every day in the other parts of the world, including and particularly the Middle East, for this ongoing war.  I highly doubt that this is acceptable with any God. 

I don't know why we cannot just all occupy our own little space on this earth and live and let live.  Why does anybody or any side have to be right?  Why can't we be all right, or for that matter, all wrong?  Does any of us really know anything beyond this corporal existence?  Isn't everything else just a mystery?  A guess, a gamble, a chance. Is it really that impossible to accept that maybe none of us actually know the absolute truth?

And while we search and cope with this life and all the discontent and disillusions that haunt us, we just need to hold on to the things that we do know.  We know we can get up in the morning, be kind to the people you encounter, love whatever family and friends you have, cherish art and music and food and culture.  We know those things are real, so live for those things.  Make meaning of those things that are in front of us, because anything else is too much to comprehend.

used to love them

Oh Gwen Stefani.  Why?  You were this supercool, super kawaii girl.  Then you went on The Voice and started hanging out with smug douchbag supreme Adam Levine, and now you are dating that equally smug country bumpkin Blake Shelton.  Hey I ain't got nothing against country music - I seriously adore Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton.  I have been listening to my Dolly playlist in my car for the last couple of weeks, and even watched Joyful Noise cuz she's in it.  But that Blake Shelton guy is bad news, Gwen.  Can't you smell that a mile away?  Just ask his ex Miranda Lambert.  Argh.  By the way, your new video Used To Love Me, where it's basically four minutes of your face trying to emote?  Fail.  It's pretentious, and I can honestly act better at being hurt and I didn't just get a divorce.  You ain't no Sinead O'Connor...And then there's Coldplay.  Yesterday morning they released first single off their seventh (and possibly last, if you believe the hype) album.  It's called Adventure Of A Lifetime, and it stinks.  Ah, how much I used to love Coldplay?  Still remember how I could listen to Parachutes endlessly and feel every bit of melancholy in those songs.  And then there were the masterful Rush of Blood and majestic Viva La Vida.  But then somewhere along the line, Chris Martin married Gwyneth Paltrow, hung out with Jay Z and Beyonce, and Coldplay has never been the same.  I just don't hear what I want to hear anymore.  My favorite Britpop band went looking for American celebrity and unfortunately found it.  I supposed I never want my favorite music acts to stay the same album after album, but I guess the question is whether I can relate to whatever they grow into.  And the most tricky thing about change is to maintain your core and soul while you're at it.  I mean, I listen to a song like Adventure Of A Lifetime, and it sounds so freaking empty to me, just like 90% of stuff out there.  At least I had them for a good ten years or so.    

P.S. Despite the bitching and moaning, I think Used To Love Me is the best Gwen Stefani song in a while, and you know I am going to buy Coldplay's latest no matter, cuz I have every album that they've released.