http://www.gochet.com

This blog is no longer active. I have moved to www.gochet.com, and will leave this blog here because I still need to link to some of the photos that are contained in it.

To all a Merry Christmas…

As we inch closer and closer to the most stressful and wonderful holiday season of the year, I’m sure that I’m not the only one that’s feeling the pinch. Money is tight, and while I see lots of multi-million dollar homes being built, I don’t actually know anybody that’s living in one. My type of family and friends have never been the caviar type.

That’s why I think it’s so important to keep things in perspective right now. We all get depressed around the holidays, I think. At least, I know that I do. And it’s all too easy to focus on all the wrong things. Like, for instance, how many people are spending money at the mall, or how everyone else seems to be buying wonderful gifts, or how it just doesn’t feel like we’re measuring up to those around us somehow…

But really. Let’s look at the reality of the world. The mere fact that you are living in America (and I know that you are, because only about 20 people read my blog, and I have the stats to prove it) means that you’ve already won the “Oh My God I’m Spectacularly Blessed” lottery. And if you’re earning more than $30,000 a year, you earn more than 98% of the world’s inhabitants. Really. 98% of the people on this planet live on less than $30,000 a year. And most live on much, much, MUCH less.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the commercialism of Christmas today, and I get down sometimes about not being able to afford all the crap that the TV tells me to buy, but when you really sit down and look at it… We’ve already gotten the best present that could ever be given. We live somewhere safe. We’re warm at night. No one in our circle of friends is hungry. Poverty and strife are distant things that are only on the news. We are so lucky to be here, and to be us, that we cannot even imagine.

So fuck all the commercialism, I think. And Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. And don’t let the bastards (whoever they might be) get you down. Give mightily to those less fortunate than you, and give small things to those that you love. Because they don’t need anymore crap on their shelves. None of us do. But it’s the thought that counts, and it always has been, no matter how much some greedy folks with an advertising budget would have believe differently.

And even though I was so crass and bold to put an Amazon Wish List on my website, I’ll tell you what I really want from each and everyone of you.

I’d like a cocktail at my favorite bar, to be served by my favorite bartenders, and about an hour of your company. Merry Christmas.

Drunk Monkeys

I just watched this 6 times….

When you play Yahtzee on a snowy night with Chet and Becka, you should be prepared to do snow angels when you lose.

I don’t think either Sarah (top) or Sheri (both on bottom) were quite prepared for the consequences. Luckily, they ransacked the house and got all bundled up before they had to go out and make nice snow angels in our yard for us. This, of course, happened very late at night after many, many beers, and I’m sure the neighbors were duly impressed.

I just thought I’d share.

I joined Facebook today.

I would tell you how to look for me on Facebook, but I don’t know.

I also don’t know what I’m supposed to gain by being on Facebook now.  I’m not sure that I understand what the point of Facebook is.  The only reason I joined is because every other article that I read about the internet lately mentions how popular Facebook is, and how social networking is the future of the internet, and how young people don’t even use email anymore because they’re just using social networking to communicate…

And so far, I just dont’ get it.  Maybe this will change later.  Right now it appears that I’ve just given the people at Facebook far too much personal information about myself, and what I got in return is the ability to log on to Facebook, and notice that I have an account there.

I’m still a little lost as to what the advantage of this is supposed to be.  I already have a website, you see.  And you know this, because you’re reading it.  I already know who my friends are, because Facebook searched my email contacts to find out who they were, which means I already knew how to get a hold of them.  I think that I can post pictures onto Facebook, but again, I could already do that onto my website, so that’s not really an advantage either.

I’m really, really trying to figure out what the heck makes Facebook so popular, and what advantage I’m supposed to get by being a member, but so far I seem to be missing the point.  Of course, I felt (and still feel) the same way about MySpace and all other social networking sites.

There’s got to be something that I’m missing here.  If anyone knows what it is, please let me know…

Ah yes…

A fresh day.  Everything seems better on a fresh day, doesn’t it?  You know…  When you’ve had a good nights sleep.  When you got up and went to the gym (instead of skipping it, as you do all too often).  When you’re having a decent day at work.

It makes me want to learn to surf. 

I’ve been checking out several surf camps and locations on the old Internets lately, because I decided a few months ago that I really need to learn how to surf.  This is something that I really should have done in my 20’s, but with all the drinking, partying, hitchhiking, and adventuring, I just never managed to fit it into my schedule.

My complaint in my last post was that I’m getting older, and I’m sorry to have bothered you with it.  Sometimes the inexorable march towards ‘not so young’ brings a soul down, as does the realization that you don’t always get the life that you ordered.  But it’s also attuned me to the prospect of doing the weird and/or unexpected.  Like learning to surf.  Or commandeering a freighter.  Or starting a cult (at which, I would excel mightily, I believe).

I will start by learning to surf.  So, if you know of anyone that has done such a thing, by all means let me know.  I need a new personal challenge, I think.  I believe that achieving a goal is the correct step when you’re being bitch-slapped by the hand of time.  Just sitting around and being pissed off certainly isn’t doing any good, anyway, so this is, at the very least, something different.

I will let you know if I ever commandeer a freighter or start a cult.

 

A new post. That’s what a few people have been asking me for lately. And frankly, I’ve not been able to really think of anything to write about lately, because I would prefer to keep my blog as positive as possible.

But this hasn’t been a very positive couple of weeks for me. Holidays have historically stressed me out a little bit (although I only seem to ever notice it in retrospect), and I’ve been dealing with an ex-roommate/friend who appears to have made the decision to fuck up my Christmas by screwing me out of several hundred dollars right before the holidays. Working for Best Buy during the holidays is no picnic, either, even though I know how lucky I am to be working in the corporate offices instead of putting in the horrible hours in a store.

But I think the thing that is really taking a toll on me right now is a realization that I’m just plain getting older. Don’t misunderstand, however. I could care less about my physical age, and I don’t really have any fear of losing youth. The depressing part about this is the realization that I’m not ever going to be able to afford anything. I can begin to clearly see that I’m always going to be living paycheck to paycheck. My credit is always going to be pretty fucked up. I’m probably never going to own a home. And although I have become very adamant about taking personal responsibility for how my life turns out, I really think that my generation (and those younger than me) are really getting the short end of the stick when it comes to home ownership.

Above, I’ve posted a pic (which you can click to see better) that describes for you what has happened with housing prices, adjusted for inflation, over the last 100+ years. You may notice that anyone who didn’t already own a home is pretty seriously fucked at this point. Renting looks like its going to be a long term deal for me right now, and that puts me at the whim of landlords and roommates.

Being at the whim of landlords and roommates has costed me about $1000 in the last month in unneeded expenses, so I’m not feeling too sunshiny about that just this moment.

Perhaps I’ll have a nicer, and more positive, thing to write about tomorrow. But for today you’ll just have to wallow in negativity with me. Just for a little bit.

I usually try to do the writing for my blog myself, and I don’t spend a lot of time linking to other people’s blogs, because I usually think that if you wanted to read someone else’s blog, then you’re free to just go do that, right?

This is the exception. What I’ve linked to here is possibly one of the best blog posts that I’ve read this year. There are parts of this that I very much wish I would have written. There are portions of this that I’m very happy I did not write. There are cute little videos intermittently interjected every few paragraphs. It is alternately funny as hell, and occasionally touching. Also, it is sometimes inappropriate, and I approve of that.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

100 Ways To Say I Love You

I decided to start a Christmas list, just to make things easier on my family.  You can use this button, or there’s now one in the sidebar, too.

That is all. 

Another one of my favorite things about fall is the return of certain rituals that seem to get lost in the summer months.  One of them is Sangria Sunday.

Red Wine Sangria

2 oz Merlot
1/2 oz brandy
1/2 oz triple second
Splash of sprite/7up
Fill with OJ and pineapple juice and fruit chunks
Shake vigorously until frothy

Not only do they tasted like delicious fruit punch, but they pack a little kick in them as well.  These are  best served directly before, during, and after breakfast.  I also recommend that you be either alone or with others.

And, of course, the best place to get one is, without question, the Washington Square Bar & Grill.  See you next Sunday!