GLEEKED!!!

It has been nearly a year now since the Glee phenomena began. I remember watching the pilot episode of the hit television show and being totally sold right then and there. It took a lot of patience waiting the whole summer for the series to begin in the fall. So, yes, I was an original and Gleek; sold since day one.

Now I am even more excited...Glee is going GAGA!!! The new upcoming episode is tipping the hat to another new music phenomena; namely, Lady Gaga. I have loved most all of her music and even have found a liking for her bizarre stage antics and clothes. Most of the time, however, I just raise my eyebrow and ask myself during the dumbfounded silence I sink into after watching a new music video of hers, why I like her...I don't know why, I just do, despite the crazed oddity of her ways. She is a genuine artist, like Van Gogh, Mozart etc. who is misunderstood in her day (and perhaps always will) but who's music we just can't get enough of.

So...I have a week of hyper anticipation of Glee going Gaga...breath....breath...yes I think I can make it...............AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGG!!! so excited.

Eating Out

When I was little my family didn't have a whole lot of money to spend. Most of the money that my parents made was spent improving our home, paying for us kids, and the bills. We rarely went out to eat, and when we did it was both a treat and sort of an event. Even rarer did we eat at a full service sit down type place...generally when we went out to eat it was to McD's or some sort of fast food joint; and yes that was a treat! It was something other than home cooked food (which means...it wasn't always the best food for us but sure tasted good so it had to be unhealthy).

Fast forward about twenty years (give or take a few) to where I am now working in the food service industry. I don't work at the classiest of restaurants in town, nor do I work in the fast food establishments that have infiltrated every corner of America it seems. Where I work, I have long made the observation and thought it amazing that many people, even whole families, make it a weekly ritual to go out to eat at the one restaurant that I work at. I eat at a variety of restaurants, and I guess being brought up out in the country and traveling for our shopping needs to stores in many districts and towns in my area that we never exactly became tied to one location. We also have a great appreciation for variety in our diet so we never were all that tied to one restaurant for any extended period of time...and yet...I see the same faces over and over again every week. I have concluded that they must be rather boring people for it they have such a bland pallet to go to the same restaurant every week...they must lack in imagination and taste (not to mention that 9 times out of 10 they order the same menu items week after week...so much so that the people I work with and I often refer to them by their order...as we don't always know their names...if we want to talk about them).

Now I wonder...Do people eat at home anymore? The situation that I experienced as a kid I think is similar to the situation of most people out there when they were little. Where you mostly eat at home and occasionally you go out for a meal...or order take out, what have you. It seems that my childhood dining habits are not the same as a lot of kids' today. I have seen so many kids who take eating out for granted...they don't eat their food and are often very ill behaved...not to mention messy! Now I know kids are not the cleanest, however, nor do they have to be pigs and neither should parents think that just because we will clean up after them that they should leave their dining area with Cheerios, cheese and who knows what else all over the floor and chairs. HAVE SOME DIGNITY for heaven's sake!

Hmmm...that was a fun rant....!!! lol...oh! MARCH IS HERE!!! Guess what that means! YAY!!!

The Devil in the Details

Yesterday, I took the opportunity to go to confession. I thought that it would be good to start off the season of lent in good fashion with a clear conscience and a brighter, more loving, outlook.

Then I went to work...

Working in the services industry is a trial for anyones patience! I know that most people do not mean to intentionally annoying, or deliberatly try to make my day miserable, however at times it does seem to be that way. So on this particular day, fresh out of the confessional with the words of the priest echoing in my head "See Christ in all and look at yourself through their eyes," I took critical notice of some of the habits of customers and thought to myself, "I think I have done that on occasion."

The habit that annoys me the most, while on the working side of things, is the habit if patrons to not listen or pay attention to what is happening in the transaction of the person in front of them in line. I (the line server who makes their food) go through describing everything and (hopefully) patiently exlpaining the foods available and offering suggestions. I will then come up to the next person in line, who, if they weren't chatting with friends or family in line, wasn't paying attention at all...at any rate, they may or may not have the basic item of their order ready, so then I have to figure out what they want and then walk through the whole process with them and explain everything ad nauseum, despite having just done so. This is a great trial on my patience! My personal record for this sort of thing is four persons in a row! After than bunch I wanted to throw in the towel and walk out the door! However, I do understand that while I say the same things over and over and over again all day long, you the customer are probably hearing my speech for the first time in a long time, if not ever.

That being said, please, don't try our patience if you don't have too! I don't think the ordering of food is a private, confidential matter, so by all means if you don't know how things are ordered at a particular resturant, listen to the person going before you and get prepared!

And yes, this lent I think I need to work on the virtue of patience...ah...so sorely lacking in that one! Lord Grant me Patience...AND HURRY!!!

The Bubble goes Political

Yesterday President Obama delivered the State of the Union address. I have to say, I really like the President, and I like his ideals. I agree with him that the health care system in our nation could use change, that the tone in Washington should change, and that you should do what is best for the future of the Nation rather than what is good for your next election. The President has great and worthy ideals and I admire him for that (it is also really cute to see the love shared between him and his wife, First Lady Michelle Obama). However, his policies and the route that he chooses to fix these problems facing America is where he and I differ.

One thing that I have grown tired of in all of the Presidents speeches is that he paints his ideals on a broad canvas, but never ever seems to lay out a detailed plan on how he wants his goals to be reached. The only specific item that the President said he would deal with in a specific way is to remove the restriction on gays in the military. He sayed that he would remove the "don't ask don't tell" rule. That was something concrete and easily recognized as a detailed plan (of course it doesn't take much to simply romove a restriction, no laws need to be written, budgets adjusted, etc.) however, all of his other demands of congress...We will pass a healthcare reform bill, extend tax cuts for middle class Americans, economic recovery package, increase renewable energy, reduce the deficit and repay our Nation's debt...these all sound great and wonderful, yet has the President ever laid out what he wants specifically in any of these bills? Where is the detailed "Congress, this is what I want, this what I want in it, this is how it will get done" in any of his speeches?

I think that is why most Americans are dissapointed with the President: Letting Congress run unfettered on it's own steam and making it's own policies. I didn't like President Bush's policy if signing basically anything that Congress sent to his desk. That was not the role he was to serve as President. He tried to not be a nay sayer, and so Congress was let run wild, and so Congress did...which brings us to the recession that we now face. President Obama has decided to give Congress his ultimate goal, but then lets them fill in all the details themselves, without much guidence as to his overall vision to accomplish his Utopian ideals. Where is the "change" and the "hope" that was promised?

In my own most humble opionion, what the Nation needs in Washington is a fearless leader. A leader who gives a task that must be accomplished, gives detailed reasons why said task must be accomplished, and then directs the steps that must be taken to fulfill that task; spell it out in detail and in plain English! We are tired of Utopian platitudes and sweeping oratory. We know what makes our Nation great. We the People are not as divided as you think we are (mostly because we are almost universally dissapointed and dissenchanted with our so called "Leaders") and we have faith and hope in the values that have made our country great and to which most of us still live our lives by. In this, our Nation doesn't need "change" what we want to see changed is for Washington to reflect our values and pass laws that respect our heritage and do not treat our Constitution as mere "guidelines" as Jack Sparrow would.

I have great hopes for our Nation, but hope requires sound and decisive action, not platitudes, soaring oratory resulting in empty promises and legislation that sounds like success, but leads us down the road to failure. We are all concerned for our future Mr. President, however, despite agreement on our common goals, we choose different paths to accomplish them. You cannot rush perfection so do not call us all "naysayers" rather see our dedication to working with you. If it is worth doing it is worth doing right, especially when it will effect us for years to come, so instead of trying to rush everything through, take your time and pass your bills in four years, not in less than one.

May God Bless Our Nation and Us All. Amen.

Approaching the Classics

Since leaving home and mingling with other people my age in college and the world in general, I have come to realize that I miss out on a lot of cultural references that my friends would make in general conversation. They would say the oddest things, and while they all knew what was going on, I was left in the dark...with my mind running in circles trying for figure out what European vs. African swallows had to do with anything we were talking about.

Over time, my friends would eventually catch on and ask with astonishment..."You've never seen (insert movie anywhere between 1970-2000)???" My response was almost always yes...and thus was launched my film legends education. I have been introduced to some great films that I love (Amadeus, Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail, The Bourne films) and some that I could have gone without seeing (Aliens and Alien vs. Predator-thanks Sean, American History X-thanks Felix, Jurassic Park-freaked me out guys!). My education began in the common room of John Vianney (oh happy memories) at Ave. The scary movies I were often accompanied with many screams from me...usually because Sean decided to lunge at my side during particularly intense moments. Oh...the emotional scars!

I am still trying to catch up. I recently saw Donnie Darko for the first time, Liar Liar, Tomb Raider and the Indiana Jones films. Someday I will finish, but until then, I thought I would do a flash from the past movie review every now and then...maybe once a month. So this is fair warning about why I am giving movie reviews years after the movies came out and pretty much everybody has seen them already...but its fun for me. I love discussing movies, and hopefully I can get some feed-back.

P.S. Donnie Darko was pretty interesting...my mind is still trying to figure it out, but a part of me thinks that I am probably thinking about it too hard and that its just meant to be an acid trip or something...not sure...However, despite being weirder than all get out, I liked the film for the most part, it was interesting...however I would have to see it again in order flesh out a real review...