Happy New Year!!!

How crazy that it is 2018.  I can barely believe it but it is here!  2017 was good.  I have a few crap years but 2017 was good.  I am excited for 2018.  I think it will be really good.  I hope you all had a great start to your 2018 and that it is an awesome year for us all.

Thanksgiving

Cocteau Twins - Frosty The Snowman.

The holidays are here and at my part time job which is at a very all American middle of the road, don't rock the boat kind of retailer, they have started playing holiday songs.  On the loop of holiday songs is this song, Frosty the Snowman by the Cocteau Twins and it just blows my mind.  When I was in high school, oh the Cocteau Twins.  They were the cool kids go to.  Described as artsy and ethereal, they were loved by the critics and Liz Fraser, the lead singer, sang in her own made up language and yet you felt everything she sang, regardless if it was as she meant it or if you assigned it your own feeling - that was the beauty of their music. It was so bizarre they even did a Christmas song, never mind this one but it added to their artiness, kinda like Andy Warhol and Campbell's soup cans.  Way back in high school I was in this click of closeted gay kids, as it was 1985 and a catholic high school, so needless to say at times there was even more teenage angst than normal for high school.  Frank was the the most artistic, intelligent and daring of the bunch.  He even had a girl friend and she was 80's rock start cool and super model beautiful.  I got them together but I digress.  Tom was the opposite of Frank.  Super crazy fun, everyday guy that was the original gives zero fucks meme.  Well the Cocteau Twins was Frank's bank.  He "discovered" them.  He "adored" them.  They "spoke" to him.  For as every day guy Tom was, he liked them too.  I really enjoyed them too.  I remember being in Frank's living room as he played their record for the first time for me...  wow!  Anyway they were coming in concert and for some very unremarkable and unremembered reason, Frank was in a snit with Tom.  Tom told me that he wanted to go to the Cocteau Twins and asked me to go with him and I said yes.  Frank got wind of this and told me that if I go to see the Cocteau Twins with Tom that he will never speak with me or Tom ever again.  I swear.  What a crazy diva fit, right?  Even back in high school where histrionics are normal, I knew this was super ridiculous.  I told Tom and his response was fuck him.  Well we went and Frank wrote us both off, exactly like he said he would.  It made me sad because I was enamored with Frank.  I never had a crush but just admired his smarts and aesthetic plus he was so fun.  We had great times,.  Oh well the concert was so great and was a blast.  Just the first of many great times I had with Tom so although unsettling at the time, it all worked out in the wash.  Tom was awesome.  So anyways this big long story because flip all these years by and now I working at my part time job, focusing on trying open credit, and I hear this song and my mind floods and I need to remain focused yet there are just whirls of memories and thoughts.

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The Best

My parents sent me a card for my birthday.  My Mom always makes them out but I know she showed my Dad before sending it.  I got it in the mail Monday and she marked it for me to not open it until 08/17 but I ignored that and ripped it open.  Of course all that silly Happy Birthday confetti flew all over the place, which I knew would happen and that made me smile.  The card itself is really funny and gave me a chuckle but it is what she wrote at the signature that made my day.  I know I am a mommy's boy and my mother is bat shit crazy but I just love her.  I love too that she started to sign the wrong page, that is so imperfectly perfect. 

Maine

Look at everyone up at Old Orchard Beach.  Like I said in an earlier post it initially made me sad that I am not there.  One because I really want to be there having fun with my family and two that financially it made me feel a bit messed up that I could not work it out.  But now that has past.  I have received plenty of photos and videos and it is making me completely happy that they are having so much fun.  Even my dad has a smile which is rare totally lets me know 100% they are having an awesome time.  Seems strange to see all those hoodies, hats and sweaters in a picture from August.  It must be chilly there but that does not seem to be stopping the fun.  What a great picture.  I was so very, very happy when I got this.

Good Morning

My "new" car is working out well, thank goodness.  Although it does have, as mentioned before, a working cd player and cassette player - the windows do not have tinting.  No I am not gansta as suggested by a friend, it is just a necessity out here to have tinted windows.  My sisters said they would pay for it for my birthday so I went down on Sunday morning to get it done.  Oddly enough my friend and two of her friends just had theirs done so they recommended the place that I went to.  It was just a couple towns away in a town called Vista.  Although Vista is close by, I do not go there often.  I just wanted the back half of my car done as that is what I had in my other car and it helped greatly.  Plus it is illegal to have the front half done although it seems like everyone does.  It was going to take about 2 hours and so I went for a walk.  

During my walk I found all sorts of great stuff.  The first and most impressive was a Victorian house!  Those are a big deal to me out here as there are not nearly as many here as there are back east so coming across one is always a treat.  It was in muted colors but still pretty.  I think it may be being used as an office but I could not tell for what kind of company.  It was in fantastic condition too which made me happy to see it still alive, functional and being cared for.  

I then came across a really funky place that looked a lot less out of place than the Victorian.  It kinda looked like an old school house and was Mission style.  I could tell it was still being used but again I could not tell as what.  My favorite part was the bell and weather vane at the top.  I stared at that for ages.  I am not sure how they ring the bell or if they even still do but it looked to be in great condition so I was hoping they do still ring it.  If it rang while I was staring at it then I probably would have crapped my pants in delight.

After eating a super yummy spinach omelette (which I did not take a picture of) on a shady outdoor patio at a restaurant, I thought found some art!  Oh I love coming across art -- so makes my day.  This was an electrical box that was painted to look much more appealing than the standard solid industrial green they are normally colored.  Perhaps not are worthy of the Louvre but I still loved it.  I wonder if when the artist goes past it while driving on that busy road, if they think, "Ohhhh there is my art!".  I certainly hope they do.

My windows came out awesome and it will make a huge difference.  The guys at the shop were super nice and I thought the pricing was very reasonable, especially since they come with a three year warranty.  Tinting is a terrific present too as I will use it every single day :)  All in all a terrific Sunday morning over there in Vista.  I certainly must come again.