Because Christmas is the Time When You’re Suppose to Tell People How You Feel

So I realize I haven’t posted anything in a month and I really wanted to post something before the New Year. Lately I’ve been writing something out and then stopping midway through because I get bored with it. I feel like this maybe analogous for my entire life, but I’d rather not go there. Anyhow all this post is going to be is a collaboration of a bunch of different things that have been running through my head the past few weeks. In the spirit of this post’s title, I’m going to tell all of you about some things people do that piss me off. And if I have enough energy I may even talk about my opinions on the recent music and films I’ve been absorbing. So here goes it.

Misti with an “i”: The other day my friend Travis threw himself a party because he was leaving his job. Now as self centered as this may appear… well actually it is, I have no defense for his actions. Anyways, the fact that Travis is the type of person who throws himself a party* has nothing do with my point. At this party I was able to meet a slew of Travis coworkers whom I did not know. Now I secretly enjoy meeting people and then harshly judging them based on first impressions, it’s sort of a past time of mine. So at this particular party I was introduced to one of Travis attractive co-workers whose name was Misti. After telling me her name she felt it necessary to point out that she spells that with and i as oppose to a y. I’ve always wondered why people feel it’s essential to tell me how their name is spelled. It’s not as if I’m about to make them a name tag or that’s there’s going to be a quiz and/or spelling on how their name is spelled later in the evening. I can think of almost no situation (aside from the aforementioned name tag making) in which how your name is spelled is prevalent information. I’ve concluded that people do this because they feel that the fact that their name is spelled abnormally somehow makes them unique. This stems from parents who think that misspelling their child’s name makes them unique. It’s all just one effed up, incredibly dense circle that just keeps repeating itself. I’m urging everyone now to stop all this nonsense. If you’re with child or thinking of spawning a child sometime in the near future, just spell their name the right way. Seriously it’ll safe everyone a lot of time and frustration, namely me. And if you’re one of those unfortunate human beings who’s parents didn’t care enough (or cared too much) to spell you’re name correctly, just get over it. Stop telling people how you spell your name; it’s really not interesting at all. Another way to combat this would be for everyone to tell everyone else how their name is spelled during introductions. But then meeting people will be an even longer and more awkward ordeal, so let’s just stick with the former theory.

“I have no regrets”: I’ve probably written about this before, but I really don’t care. There are few things in life that annoying me more then someone uttering the phrase “I have no regrets”. Now I’m going the jackass-ary needed to make such a statement and focus on something else here for a second. The amount of ignorance it would actually take to have no regrets is so astounding I don’t even like to contemplate it. If you literally have nothing in your life that you regret you’re either have the mental capacity of a two year-old or you have no emotions at all. The worst part of this statement is people usually preface it by saying something to the effect of ‘The mistakes I’ve made in my life made me who I am today, so I just don’t regret them’. The fact that past experiences have made you the person you currently are should be pretty inherent. And just because these past events have formed you doesn’t mean you still shouldn’t regret them. I could go on and on about how much this phrase annoys the hell out of me, but instead I think all just move on.

Alone – The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo: For those of you who are unfamiliar with this CD, Rivers Cuomo is the lead singer of the once awesome band Weezer. This CD is a collection of demos Rivers’ has recorded over the years, over 80% of which were written before the turn of this century, which, for those of you scoring at home, was before Weezer started sucking ass. Since Weezer played far too important a role in my high school days I was naturally intrigued by this album. And this record actually is as advertised: Weezer’s pseudo-return to form. There’s definitely a heavy dose of nostalgia served whenever I listen to it, but that’s kind of a good and a bad thing. Listening to this demo I’m reminded of why I loved Weezer and also how truly far they’ve fallen. It’s kinda of akin to those nights when you sit around with old friends and reminisce about old times, retell high school stories, etc. While that’s all good and fun, at some point it hits you that high school really wasn’t that great and living in the past is completely and utterly depressing. And that’s pretty much the best way to describe this record. It’s a whole lot of fun, but at some point you’re going to feel depressed by the memories that have been dug up. And maybe that sentiment is a bit melodramatic, but what do you want from me, I’ve been listening to a lot of Weezer lately.

Juno: For the past few years me and my peeps all get together and go see a late movie on Christmas evening. This year we all went and saw Juno. I really liked this movie, it was funny, charming and everything I hoped it would be, although it wasn’t without its flaws. In the first ten minutes the movie almost entirely fall apart thanks to the screen writer deciding it was awesome that she was a hipster and that hipsters have their own lingo. Thankfully though the movie gets over this rough patch, namely thanks to a good story and some stellar acting. Jason Bateman steals the movie in my opinion, because his character invokes the most emotional response, at least from me. His acting was subtle and very understated and pretty amazing. Jennifer Gardner actually acts in this movie, which is equally as amazing. The two main kids nail their perspective roles and all the side characters are just about flawless. Outside of the chair motif falling woefully short and the whole ‘tic-tac as a vice’ thing just screamed of trying way too hard, the movie is really good. Probably one of the 3 best I’ve seen this year, but take that with a grain of salt because I’ve probably seen less then 20 movies this year.

Well that’s all I’ve got for you today. Check back in the New Year when I’ll have my top albums and songs of the year list up. (Insert generic Holiday Greeting/Farewell here).

Until We Meet Again
* I can’t decide if this is a step above or below giving people the birthday warning, i.e.: “Hey just wanted to let you know next Tuesday’s my birthday”.