Flashback Friday/The Week That Was

 Hello again, everyone. This third week of February started out with a lot of anticipation but turned out to be somewhat of a dud. Par for the course for me considering my unfortunate past history in the romance department. 

Here's what happened: I got a box of chocolates for the woman I'm interested in the week before Valentine's Day, she wasn't there at her work (which for now is the only place I can see her). She eventually did get it, though. Fast forward to this Monday, and I got her a card as well as flowers for the occasion. FedEx dropped the ball big time; they were supposed to deliver the flowers to where she works, and I happened to be there. I saw a FedEx van literally circle the building and leave. Dude didn't look to make sure it was the right address I guess/ or something. Personally, I think it was something else. Think about it, how many times does that situation arise and end up with the result I got? I guess that kind of shit only happens to me. She wound up getting the flowers on the next day, a day late and a dollar short. Thanks a lot, FedEx. Then I went back there yesterday, but she wasn't there. I guess I misheard her or something because I thought she said that she would be there yesterday, and her day off would be tomorrow. Anyway, I think I know what my efforts are getting me, and I don't like the answer. 

Anyway, it is Friday, and you know what that means. It's time to flashback to a year on this date from the past and look at the top 40 songs from said year. This year, we're going back 29 years to 1993, and these were the top 40 songs according to Radio & Records magazine for February 19, 1993.

40. Losin' Myself by Debbie Gibson. This was according to R&R her last chart hit.

39. Nuthin' But A G-Thang by Dr. Dre f/ Snoop Doggy Dogg. And suddenly I'm taken back to Sunday's epic halftime show at the Super Bowl.

38. Beautiful Girl by INXS

37. I See Your Smile by Gloria Estefan

36. Walk On The Ocean by Toad the Wet Sprocket. If memory serves me correct, the version I heard on the radio ended with the chorus and then an instrumental outro. On Spotify, It ends at the final verse.

35. Comforter by Shai. Your typical mid-90's R&B slow jam to get it on with, not that I would know anything about it.

34. No Ordinary Love by Sade. See above

33. I Have Nothing by Whitney Houston

32. If I Ever Lose My Faith In You by Sting

31. Deeper and Deeper by Madonna. Looking back, since I didn't care for this song much, it should have been named "Derper and Derper."

30. When She Cries by Restless Heart. a rare country crossover song entering the Top 40.

29. Informer by Snow. A licky-boom boom down!!

28. Bad Girl by Madonna. A better song by her in my opinion, and the type of woman I usually fall for...maybe that's my problem.

27. Love Is by Vanessa Williams and Brian McKnight. I'd rather focus on the fact that McKnight is from the beautiful city of Orlando and not the fact that this song is on the soundtrack for "Beverly Hills, 90210."

26. Tell the Truth by Jud Cole. Obviously, this song would not be played in the background at the offices of Fox News.

25. I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston. AND IIIIIII WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUU!!!

24. Stand Up, Kick Love into Motion by Def Leppard. Very, very underrated song from them.

23. Sweet Thing by Mary J. Blige. Too bad we didn't hear more of Mary's older tracks during the halftime show Sunday.

22. Cats In The Cradle by Ugly Kid Joe. Great cover of the Jim Croce classic

21. Little Bird by Annie Lennox

20. Stand by Poison

19. Man On The Moon by R.E.M. A song prominently featured in the Jim Carrey movie of the same name some seven years later.

18. Angel by Jon Secada

17. Steam by Peter Gabriel

16. Saving Forever For You by Shanice. Another song from the "90210" soundtrack.

15. Don't Walk Away by Jade. The video for that song, my God. 💓

14. Forever In Love by Kenny G. As cynical AF about love, I can't really have a comment about this song.

13. Two Princes by The Spin Doctors. I kind of see myself as the second prince in this song. Give it a listen sometime.

12. The Right Kind Of Love by Jeremy Jordan. Please let this be the end of the "90210" songs...

11. No Mistakes by Patty Smyth

10. That's What Love Can Do by Boy Krazy. What does it do exactly? I know it gives me fuel to my fire, but it's something I haven't felt much of.

  9. Here We Go Agin by Portrait. If you read the opening of this entry, you'd understand why I'm saying this today.

  8. Get Away by Bobby Brown

  7. Mr. Wendal by Arrested Development. The Tampa Bay Rays missed an opportunity here by not associating this song with Joey Wendle, like many used to do on Twitter.

  6. Give It Up Turn It Loose by En Vogue

  5. Bed Of Roses by Bon Jovi

  4. 7 by Prince & the New Power Generation

  3. I'm Every Woman by Whitney Houston. Doesn't it seem like every song on this chart from either the "90210" soundtrack or "The Bodyguard" soundtrack?

  2. Ordinary World by Duran Duran. Arguably their greatest song.

and the number one song on this date 29 years ago was...

  1. A Whole New World by Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle 

 

And that's the flashback for this week! More to come...

UPDATE: my girl still loves her flowers, there may be hope after all 😊

CT

Super Sunday, Episode LVI

 Greetings sports fans, and welcome to Super Bowl Sunday. The long, seemingly endless journey to Inglewood has reached its destination, after an extended regular season (by one week) and a memorable postseason. In a few hours, we'll get to kick it off one last time this season.

Last year at this time, the big game had just wrapped up in Tampa, with the home team actually winning in what was a Super Bowl first. This year, another team will be home for the Super Bowl, the Los Angeles Rams, trying to win their second title in franchise history (and first as the LA Rams). Their opponent, the Cincinnati Bengals, a team not many people expected to even have a winning record let alone an appearance on the NFL's grandest stage.

There are plenty of rooting interests on both sides. From the Los Angeles perspective, they're attempting to become the second straight team to win on their home turf. There's Matthew Stafford, who after many lost seasons as the quarterback of the Detroit Lions, has a chance to cement his legacy among the game's great signal callers. There's wide receiver Odell Beckham, Jr., who was picked up from the Cleveland Browns via trade in the middle of this season, finally getting his opportunity to play in the big game. There's offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth, the NFL Man of the Year and elder statesman of the league now that Tom Brady has hung up his cleats, who has done so much to tackle homelessness in the greater Los Angeles area. And there's Cooper Kupp, who is coming off one of the greatest regular seasons for a wide receiver ever.

From the Cincinnati side, it's their Cinderella story that has been their focal point. From their wins over Tennessee and Kansas City on the road, to even Harambe. There's also their clutch kicker Evan MacPherson, a rookie out of Florida who has made kick after kick, and from distance too. Come to think of it, I remember another rookie from Florida who was critical to Cincinnati's success in 1981, and he'll happen to call the game later today. There's Eli Apple, the oft-maligned cornerback looking for redemption Sunday evening, and a former teammate of OBJ in New York with the Giants. And of course, there's Joe Burrow, the quarterback from Athens, Ohio that the entire Buckeye State and most of the country is pulling for. He carries a "swag" that hasn't been seen since probably the days of Joe Namath, when he guaranteed the Jets would win Super Bowl III in Miami.

The REAL highlight of the game might be the halftime show, which this year features a who's who of hip-hop. Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar. Now that's a lineup right there! Plus, the commercials should be interesting to watch; I saw one sneak preview of the Alexa ad featuring Scarlett Johansson and her husband, Colin Jost of SNL fame. Quite hilarious.

As for the game itself, I don't really think the game will be all that close. The Rams have too many weapons on offense, and their defense on paper should overpower Cincinnati's offensive line and get to Burrow. For the Bengals, the only way to win in my opinion is to force Stafford into making mistakes throwing the ball, and somehow prevent Aaron Donald from getting to Burrow and allowing him to work his magic. My heart is with Cincinnati, but my head says:

Los Angeles 35
Cincinnati 20

So, Los Angeles gets its Super Bowl, and tomorrow, I hope to have a great day at the SuperbOwl. Get it? 

Enjoy the game!

CT

Flashback Friday--2/11/2000

 Greetings again everyone. Not only have we reached the weekend, but we have also reached Super Bowl weekend. I'll have some thoughts on the game tomorrow sometime. What I'm REALLY looking forward to is Monday. Don't want to jinx anything, but let's just say that Monday could potentially be a seminal moment in my life. 

Of course, there are other things that are going on, such as that Freedom Dumb convoy wreaking havoc across Canada (Ottawa in particular), the Winter Olympics, and an unlawful possible invasion of Ukraine by Russia, but since it is Friday, and I don't want to focus on negative shit. So, let's flash it back to twenty-two years ago today, February 11, 2000. These were the top 40 songs in America per Mediabase 24/7 published in Radio & Records Magazine.

40. Higher by Creed. You now have this song stuck in your head. You're welcome.
39. Freakin' It by Will Smith
38. Say My Name by Destiny's Child
37. Standing At The Edge Of The Earth by Blessid Union of Souls
36. I Try by Macy Gray
35. Breathe by Faith Hill
34. American Pie by Madonna. Yes, she really remade this Don McLean classic.
33. Candy by Mandy Moore
32. Hangingaround by Counting Crows
31. Thank God I Found You by Mariah Carey f/ Joe & 98 Degrees

30. Only God Knows Why by Kid Rock
29. Sexual (Li Da Di) by Amber
28. Learn To Fly by Foo Fighters
27. I Want To Love You Forever by Jessica Simpson
26. Tricky Tricky by Lou Bega. He disappeared after this song, until recently when he made a television commercial off his OTHER hit; you know which one.
25. Maria Maria by Santana f/The Product G&B
24. Waiting For Tonight by Jennifer Lopez. Actually, I'm waiting for Monday. 😉
23. Everything You Want by Vertical Horizon
22. Dear Lie by TLC
21. Amazed by Lonestar

20. The Rhythm Divine by Enrique Iglesias
19. It Feels So Good by Sonique
18. Meet Virginia by Train
17. From The Bottom Of My Broken Heart by Britney Spears
16. Take A Picture by Filter
15. All The Small Things by Blink-182. Work sucks, I know...
14. Never Let You Go by Third Eye Blind
13. My Love Is Your Love by Whitney Houston. We lost her ten years ago today. Rest in Peace, Whitney.
12. I Need To Know by Marc Anthony
11. Falls Apart (Run Away) by Sugar Ray

10. Back At One by Brian McKnight
  9. Smooth by Santana f/Rob Thomas
  8. That's The Way It Is by Celine Dion
  7. Then The Morning Comes by Smash Mouth
  6. Bye Bye Bye by *NSync
  5. Bring It All To Me by Blaque
  4. Blue (Da Ba Dee) by Eiffel 65
  3. Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely by The Backstreet Boys
  2. I Knew I Loved You by Savage Garden

and the number one song on this date twenty-two years ago was...

  1. What A Girl Wants by Christina Aguilera

Don't have too much commentary for this week's songs, so I guess I should say...

More To Come

CT

48 Years...

 Hello once again. Hard to believe, but in a few hours, I will have made 48 circuits around the sun. That's a bit scary considering my spirit is that of a much younger Bony Scribe, but in those 48 years, I've seen plenty. I'm fortunate enough to have lived in Florida for most of my life. I was fortunate enough to serve my country in the U.S. Navy. I was fortunate enough to witness all of my favorite teams (except one) either win or appear in multiple championship games/series. Have I accomplished all that I wanted to do? Not even close, but if life has taught me anything, especially the years since my stroke, it has been to appreciate the little things in life and don't take things for granted. The latter part I'm still kinda working on, and the past two years have been quite difficult for obvious reasons.

For tomorrow, my plans were to go to the local Longhorn Steakhouse, but the weather is going to be crappy. So, me and my sisters will likely wait until Wednesday, Lisa Loeb. I honestly cannot remember when the last time it rained on my birthday. In fact, since I was discharged from the Navy in July of 1998, it has only rained once in Tampa on my birthday, and it was only a trace at that, in 2014. 

2014 interestingly enough was probably the worst experience I had for my birthday, and I was in the Orlando area for that. My lush of a sister of an ex-sister-in-law took me to one of those lame-ass dinner theaters along US 192 just west of Kissimmee and east of Disney; and to make matters even worse, she made it all about HER! Talk about a dud for a 40th birthday. If you wanted to really impress me, get me tickets to a Magic game. Sure, the team might suck, but at least I'll have a good time, and no annoying drunk daughter of hers popping off at the mouth either. God, that was embarrassing. No, I haven't seen nor heard from them since NOR DO I WANT TO.

Since I did not do a flashback Friday feature last week, perhaps I should knock off a quick one today. Why don't we go back to the week of my birthday, February 8, 1974? These were the top 40 songs according to Billboard Magazine:

40. Come And Get Your Love by Redbone. This was remade by Real McCoy twenty years later.
39. I Like The Love by B.B. King
38. I Shall Sing by Art Garfunkel
37. Helen Wheels by Paul McCartney & Wings
36. Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress) by Helen Reddy
35. Can This Be Real by Natural Four
34. Abra-Ca-Dabra by The Defranco Family
33. Livin' For You by Al Green
32. Sexy Mama by Moments
31. Dark Lady by Cher

30. "Joy" Part 1 by Isaac Hayes. HELLO, CHILDREN!!
29. Baby Come Close by Smokey Robinson
28. Me And Baby Brother by War
27. Seasons In The Sun by Terry Jacks
26. Jim Dandy by Black Oak Arkansas
25. The Most Beautiful Girl by Charlie Rich
24. The Americans (A Canadian's Opinion) by Gordon Sinclair
23. Love Song by Anne Murray
22. Midnight Rider by Gregg Allman
21. Last Time I Saw Him by Dianna Ross

20. Never, Never Gonna Give You Up by Barry White
19. I Love by Tom T. Hall. "...and TWINS!!!"
18. Time In A Bottle by Jim Croce
17. Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) by the Rolling Stones. Okay, quit giggling.
16. Living For The City by Stevie Wonder
15. Put Your Hands Together by the O' Jays
14. Boogie Down by Eddie Kendricks
13. Rock On by David Essex. Remade fifteen years later by Michael Damian.
12. Smokin' In The Boys Room by Brownsville Station. Remade by Motley Crue eleven years later.
11. The Joker by Steve Miller Band

10. Jungle Boogie by Kool and the Gang
  9. I've Got To Use My Imagination by Gladys Knight & The Pips
  8. Show And Tell by Al Wilson
  7. Spiders And Snakes by Jim Stafford
  6. Let Me Be There by Olivia Newton-John
  5. Until You Come Back To Me by Aretha Franklin
  4. Americans by Bryan McGregor
  3. You're Sixteen by Ringo Starr
  2. The Way We Were by Barbra Streisand

and the number one song on the date of my birth was

  1. Love's Theme by Love Unlimited Orchestra

Did you know? That song was used in ABC Television's golf coverage back in the late 70's/early 80's. If I remember correctly, they had three of the four majors (Open Championship, US Open, PGA Championship); only CBS carried the Master's Tournament. 

I would stop to watch the winter Olympics, but given these games are in China, and they have no regard for humanity whatsoever, I think I'll pass, but go USA! I would watch wrestling, but WWE has become seriously lame for about a year plus now. Plus, they're still taking blood money still running shows in Saudi Arabia, who have their own issues with human rights violations (as well as running out 154-year-old Goldberg to do title fights), I think I'll pass there too. Maybe I should catch up on the Book Of Boba Fett, or ask that one woman what she's doing for Valentine's Day...

...speaking of which, I did send her a box of chocolates for Valentine's Day, and she liked them! This was the woman who I was going to see last week, but you know how that story went. Valentine's Day is ehhhh. She'll likely be working the Super Bowl the day prior, and probably most important of all, I JUST STARTED TALKING TO HER. Seriously, I have no idea how things will go. Just keep your fingers crossed for me, ok?

More to come...

CT

2/2/22; A Miserable Day

 Hello everyone. You ever make plans for a potentially big, perhaps even life-altering day only to have it completely ruined by one individual or entity? Well, that's what happened to me yesterday; a day that started off full of promise went to literal crap yesterday, and this is the story behind it. 

It all began innocuously enough with my sister dropping me off at the closest bus stop to where I live, which just happened to be the hospital on County Line Road, I was dropped off at 9:15 expecting a 9:30 pick up time. However, when I checked the Pasco County Transit website, it informed me that the bus would not arrive until 10am, I should have known then I was in for a long day.

The driver of said bus had a particularly thick foreign accent, such that I couldn't really understand him, but I told him that I was going to try and pick up a (not really) connecting bus at the intersection of SR 52 and Little Road; the bus route I was taking doesn't stop at the intersection, but close by close the high school, and the bus I was trying to connect to doesn't stop at the high school. Some regional transport system we have here, I tell you.

Anyway, the driver was horrible; he was the type of driver that would speed up and slow down suddenly, and this created a huge issue for me as I suddenly came down with motion sickness. I didn't say anything because 1) I didn't want the driver mad at me and 2) I didn't want to create a scene despite me being the only passenger. Just as we reach the last stop, his sudden starting and stopping finally got to me, and I wound up with incontinence, some dry heaving yes, but incontinence. What's even worse, he tied to instruct me to sit before he opened the door. Let me tell you, it took all the self-restraint I had not to assault the sorry S.O.B. with my cane, instead a gave a rather nasty "thanks" to him as I stormed off.

First thing was I did obviously try to find a restroom to duck into, fortunately there was a Burger King close by. So, I went into the bathroom and got busy; no, not like the Digital Underground song from 1990. I cleaned myself as well as I could, until I ran out of toilet paper. After about 30 minutes, I then walked from there all the way to the VA Outpatient Clinic, which is about a three-mile walk, with a cane. I barely made it on time (noon) for my lab appointment. The drawing of blood went well, but I still had to provide a urine sample, and despite drinking about a quart of water that morning, I was still a bit dehydrated from all that walking. Oh, and I didn't see any buses on the 21 Route along the way. So, even if I didn't have the accident from earlier, I would have been screwed. 

Anyway, I wound up having to sit in a break area and drink a bottle of water until I was able to go, and when I did, I barely went. Afterwards, I cleaned myself up again as best as I could, and then waited for the bus to take me to where I needed to go, until I realized something; my sister's Uber (which is on my phone for some reason). So, I decided to take an Uber to the intersection of Spring Hill Drive and 19, where I then waited for ANOTHER bus (about an hour later) to take me to a place somewhat close to my neighborhood. Finally, about six hours later, I was home. Exhausted and hungry (keep in mind, I had to fast for this lab work) and quite pissed. 

What upset me the most was the earlier accident on the bus took away any other plans I had for that day. I was going to a local restaurant and see an old acquaintance of mine who I hadn't seen in nearly four years, and possibly kindle some sort of friendship or something even more. But of course, life got in the way of my plans. It makes me wonder if the Universe has it out for me or something. First, I get the silent treatment for merely sending out an early Valentine's Day gift, now this. I SERIOUSLY SHOULD NOT HAVE TO JUMP THROUGH A BUNCH OF RED TAPE AND OTHER SHENANIGANS JUST TO ESTABLISH AT LEAST A FRIENDSHIP. 

And don't get me started with the crap I have to deal with my eldest sister. I was going to try to go to that restaurant today, but because she had to have a medical procedure at 6:15, which is why she couldn't drive me to the VA yesterday, I couldn't go with them, and I couldn't leave the house (with no house key). Plus, they didn't get back until noon, so I'll have to wait until TOMORROW to attempt to go there. Why does everything I try to do have to be such a pain in the ass? 

At least I survived to tell about it, and I'm still here. That's something to be thankful for. And my birthday is still coming up in six days, so at least I'll have something to look forward to...unless that goes to crap too, like yesterday.

More 💩 to come

CT