Things I wanna get back to.

Hey guys!

It's been a while. How have you been? 

OK. I haven't been keeping up with my blogging. But in my defense, neither have most of you. In fact, The man who inspired me to start bogging again doesn't even update his Facebook status anymore. The only person I can rely on to keep their blog/Facebook/Twitter updated is my good friend Holly. She knows how to put herself out there(at least digitally). She's awesome and should be read by anyone with a free moment. But this is my blog, you can read hers later. 

My problem is my life. My life has not gone as planned for some time. Not that I really had a plan to begin with. My life used to be like walking on a beach. You don't really know how long you wanna walk, never really know where you'll be when you wanna stop, and you can always keep walking. Then I screwed up. I made a bad decision. A wrong decision. And I was kicked off the beach. 

I used to do so many things. Things I enjoyed. But now I find myself  missing out on those things. Kinda zoning out. I seem to have lost my will, my inspiration. I seem to have lost a piece of myself somewhere. I can only imagine it's around here somewhere. And I'm sure I will find it. I'm good at finding myself. I'm always right where I left me. My problem this time is I can't seem to remember when I lost me. So I don't really know where to look. So I have devised a plan. I'm gonna start doing the things I used to love to do. The things that made me feel happy because, truth be told, I haven't really been happy in awhile. So I have compiled a list of things I wanna get back to. And I hope that one or all bring me back. Here we go.

• Reading - This one is kinda cheating because I already started up again so I can't really get back to it. I had a lot of time recently to dive back into books. I used to only read books from names like Grisham, King, and Clancy. Very limited scope of writers that offered almost no variety. But lately I have been reading all sorts of stuff. I read Treasure Island for the first time. I started Isaac Asimov's Foundation  series. I've even read a Daniel Steele novel(She's very adept at weaving narratives from two separate perspectives together). I have read a couple of selections from Robert Ludlum(the guy who penned the Bourne Identity). My new favorite author though is a man named James Rollins. His Sigma series is awesome beach reading. He takes James bond type spy intrigue and goes all "DaVinci Code" with it. I highly recommend The Last Oracle.

• Cooking - Another one that I can't really say I gave up. I still cook. But it's always the simple dinner type stuff. Kraft Mac and Cheese, hot dogs, Hamburger Helper... stuff I can make with little effort and time involved. I wanna MAKE something. Something that takes extra some prep work. Something without directions on the back of the box or the side of the can. Something you can listen to music to while you chop or mince something. Something that takes longer to make then to eat. That's what I miss. I wanna feel like I deserve to eat this because it took EFFORT! 

• Friends - I wanna get back to my friends. I've been kind of a hermit of late. I used to go do thing with them. I miss the days when I could walk into someones house without ringing the doorbell because I'm there so often it feels natural to just open the door. Staying up late at night doing stupid stuff. Late night runs to Perkins or Denny's just to hang out and have a conversation. My interactions with them have more to do with liking their Facebook status's these days.

• Movies - I use to be all about movies. I watched them constantly. I used to check websites like E! and Variety all the time looking for the latest news about who was cast for which role. Which director signed on to helm the next big franchise? When does filming begin on that new comedy from Jim Carrey? When is Michael Bay gonna get a hair cut? I looked at scripts for movies that where being shopped around. I mean I was INTO ALL OF THIS! And like the other things on this list. I just sort of stopped. I didn't go to these sights as much. Hardly at all these days(Yup, I just check and neither E! or Variety appear in my browser history). What kills me is I can't remember exactly when or why I stopped.

There are other things I want or need to get back to but this is a good start. I don't wanna do to much. You don't come back from an ankle injury to be the starting quarterback of an NFL team(just retire already, you crazy old coot)! I hope this will bring Sexy back for me. Until then, I can only have faith that it will. 

Goodnight Everybody.

Obsessed with Fantasy Football? Let it go!

It's Sunday morning. Generally, my routine doesn't differ much on Sundays. I wake up. I use the bathroom. I turn on my computer and check my various internet stops. I watch football. And like most football enthusiasts, I take part in the magically terrifying tradition of..... Fantasy Football.

First, a bit of history.

Modern fantasy football was started by the late Wilfred "Bill" Winkenbach. Wilfred was a businessman and a limited partner in the Oakland Raiders. In a New York hotel room during a 1962 Raiders eastern cross-country trip, Winkenbach teamed up with Raiders Public Relations man Bill Tunnel and Tribune reporter Scotty Starling to develope a game based on the stats of actual AFL players.


Today, websites like Yahoo, NFL.com, Foxsports.com, and ESPN track every step of the 1,696 active players in the NFL. Every pass, catch, touchdown, fumble, interception, and yard is recorded and assigned point values to help your average Joe look like Joe Gibbs or Scott Linehan. Each week, teams go head-to-head and rack up the points to see who put together the best team back in August/September while munching on taco dip, pizza, and buffalo wings. The mini-sport has brought men closer together, and it has torn friendships apart. Brought men great fortune, or emptied their wallets. And while a good head on your shoulders and an analytical mind could take you far, sometimes luck, chance, and the gods are the better weapons to have. 


For those of us who really care, it's an obsession. Pouring over endless stat sheets, checking injury reports, and watching the waiver wires like vultures. We check it everyday and more then twice on Sunday. Watch every game we can to will the players we own forward to have big days. Watching live stat trackers, pulling our hair out when we are behind, and jumping up a down for joy when we are ahead. Watching like politicians on election night as the projections continue and feeling that sadness when we realize, even before the end, that we have lost the race.


Like most obsessions, it is unhealthy. But it gives us something to do. Obsessions drive us crazy. They make fools of us all. And that's exactly what fantasy football does. In the end, if we were any good at managing a team, we would actually be working for an NFL team. Managing personnel,  signing players, and winning championships. I know I could not do the job. 


So I'm not an NFL coach...... But I play one on the internet ;)


I would wish all of the people who play fantasy football good luck, but I need to save some for myself! So have fun wannabes. And remember....


It's just a game!

WOW. So, last June, I created this blog as a way to share more of my thoughts with more and more people. I have a lot of thoughts, and most of them, I think, would be considered interesting. I had been sharing them on my Myspace page for years but I didn't like everything else about that whole mess. I also started it because my friend Jay started one and was doing some pretty neat things with video blogging. I went to look at his blog today and he too hasn't touched his in three months. I don't think it had anything to do with not having something to say for either of us. Jay and I always have something funny to say. But alas, Jay has 2 jobs and works like a fiend. I, however, don't have that limitation. So what is my excuse? The simple answer is..... I don't have one.

Moving on.

So, tomorrow is Veterans Day. One day a year where people think of those men and women that have fought in wars. It doesn't matter if you actually know a veteran. You're suppose to appreciate all they've done, which also included dying. Here's the thing. I think of veterans everyday. Well.... really just one of them. My brother is a Marine. A Jarhead, Leatherneck, Devil Dog. A veteran of the Second Iraq war, Mark has been on my mind alot recently. He's stateside these days, working on his tan in southern California's 29 Palms. I have no idea what exactly he does all day. Every now and then he goes out into the desert and shoots some really big pieces of artillery but that's all I know. Although my brothers biggest danger at this time is drinking too much on friday nights(so proud), I can't help but be the older brother and be concerned about his well being.

A little background about our brotherly love. Me and my brother didn't use to get along. He use to steal my stuff, then I'd steal it back(plus an extra item or two), and so on and on. He wore cloths that were 3 sizes too big that usually came from my closet. Quit a paper route because it meant getting up too early on the weekends. On a basic level, Mark was kind of a tool. It was hard to relate to him. Our sister, Lisa, is less then two years older then me, but Mark is almost 4 years younger then me. Mark and I were 2 different people. Even with all that, I still loved him and would've taken a bullet for him. And it wasn't all bad. We had tons of fun terrorizing people. Mark and I always knew how to team up and mess with peoples heads. Still do it to this day. Every time he's back in town, mom's blood pressure get's worse. Fun times!

So far, the proudest day in my life was watching Mark walk across the parade grounds at the Marine Corp. Recruit Depot. Accepting his eagle, globe, and anchor and becoming a Marine. The fact that there was a war still raging in the Middle East and it was pretty obvious he was headed straight for it was furthest from my mind. Mark had grown up before my very eyes.

Then, he shipped out to Iraq. Leave it to Mark to pick a job that didn't get used very much. Why use artillery when you have smart bombs from unmanned drones? So they made him protect convoys and bases. Other basic, but still dangerous, tasks. Got a call every now and then with every conversation ending in "Love you, bro". It was then that I realized how much I actually missed him. The scrawny little brother that always stole my things was fighting in a war and I was a little scared for him. By the grace of god and his own common sense, Mark made it back home even after so many didn't. Reassigned to the Marine Base at 29 Palms, he's been there ever since.

I guess my point is this. It's great that everyone takes the time on Nov. 11th to think of veterans. But I beat everybody at it. Because, for people like me, Veterans Day happens everyday. But it's not a competition. I'm just saying....

It's what I do!

I'm moving my blog.. I will have beer for anyone who helps!

Welcome everyone to a-v-j.blogspot.com. It's the new home for the funny things I think or feel from time to time. I've been doing it for years on myspace with some success but have grown tired of myspace in general. A good friend of mine recently started a blog of his own here at blogspot, were he yells at myspace for being stupid, and it made me wanna get my own blog here. So when your done reading here, please go visit my friends blog too. He is funnier then me in almost every way. Funnier writer, funnier thinker, funnier looking... Anyway, check him out at awesomejay.blogspot.com.