I lied, it is clear I wont have a chance to get back to a travel blog this year 2025. Hell it might be 2026 before this is even up! So ending on some more random thoughts. Mostly unedited and well for real last one like this I am doing for a month. At least. New goal for 2026 travel blog out every 2 weeks until last trip is done. Want it to be done before I go to Spain this year!!
Oh I am posting this January 2nd. A big chunk right in the middle is Stranger Things with some massive spoilers if you haven't watched final season be warned.
Hockey ended shitty. We finished 3rd in our div. For once it felt like the right div, winning as much as losing. We got a wild card round Bye, then quarter final single game elimination we played a team with only 2 wins. One we handled easily BUT no one showed up. Not figuratively, really. We had a tiny bench and they beat us. The legit season we could have made a good playoff run we lost. I can't say much, I didn't play I was working. I missed more than half this season because I had real life to deal with. I had a personal goal and came nowhere near it. Hoping next season they leave us here and I can play more. Maybe hit my own goals and win one more ring!
Andrew Tate and Jake Paul got their asses kicked on the same weekend? The world is healing!!
I have had a lot of hours to sit and think about things in the last month. Something that kept popping up was my own goodness. Some things I know I do for love and I think those are good things. Taking care of my poor doggo as he recovered I did because I love him. Driving my brother to get his meds he has to have when he is a dumbass (Long story). I don't do those things to look good or even because its the right thing to do. I do them because of love. I donate to 3 charities a month. 1 because I am dumb and really need to cancel it. 1 because I truly believe in it & a random one each month. Yes they help people out but I do that because it makes me feel good and it supposedly helps at tax time, it really doesn't all that much. So is that really me being a good guy when I do it to feel good? Or to look good? Or for my own gain at tax time? Example, I used to lend different people money. A couple were really good friends and I had no issues helping a friend out, once in awhile to other guys and looking back, why? It made me look good. Again sure it helped them out but I wasn't doing it for them. I have a real hard time with saying no, helping people sometimes I wonder why. Is it for show or is it what I want to do or is it just the right thing to do. I am super fucking judgey and then on the same thing I might feel extreme sympathy for the same person or situation the next day. Overall I think I am a good person. I know I am rambling now, its just something that has been on my brain. I am fairly good at my job but my job also is one of the top jobs for psychopaths and sociopaths. Also my dream job when I moved here was high on that same list. I have read the Laws of Power a few times and understand them. I guess the fact some of it horrifies me reassures me a bit that I am not a terrible person. Watership Down in reality gave me the best quote I can think of, the best human has animality..... Live your life without doing harm.
“Animals don't behave like men,' he said. 'If they have to fight, they fight; and if they have to kill they kill. But they don't sit down and set their wits to work to devise ways of spoiling other creatures' lives and hurting them. They have dignity and animality.”
Tulsa King is fun stupid TV. Season ended in the most predictable way, also how is it every season ends with mass murder and no one seems to notice. Talamasca was a decent series. Everything in the Immortal Universe has been okay. I was happy to see they can make a half decent show of the Secret Society. However The Vampire Lestat looks amazing. I think the guy playing Lestat is actually Lestat. He is Lestat acting as an actor, playing Lestat. He is up there with RDJ as Ironman or Heath as Joker, just damn!!! SO well done. Stranger Things is wrapping up... I am doing three entries, one after each release. So first one. I liked the first release, it wasn't amazing but it was good. Funny how we have went from kids playing D&D to this. It has gotten insane. Unlike a series that shall not be named where they stole DVD players and had nice cars to going to space people seem to enjoy how crazy Stranger has gotten. Will was amazing but I wonder what that means for the rest of the season. Also "sister" was so cheesy. I was fairly certain it was her in there not Henry, since he is around doing his bad shit. Hopefully we don't lean into season 2 much more. So finished up the second drop of episodes... Lets just deal with the elephant in the room. Wills coming out scene. Online all I see is hate. "Woke, Gay, Bullshit" Really? That's what you are getting from this season? Netflix has been over the top with LGBTQ stuff, gender and race swaps without a doubt. This one was so well done though! My throat got a little tight, little choked up. We had a kid reaching out to his friends and family, scared as shit they will reject him and them coming through for him. How real is that for the 80s, not overly or not in the small town I grew up in BUT I would be willing to bet anything that is exactly the feelings and worries a kid coming out is gonna have. Only his stakes are way higher with the whole saving the world thing. If that scene bugged you, I hope when you finally come out your friends and family are as supportive... Overall decent episodes. Kali is gonna screw them over. I dunno if it will be help Vecna or just do something to mess with the army but she is gonna screw them. So happy to see Dustin and Steve friends again and now so worried one of them is gonna die. I would love to see more on Henry. That teaser down the mine shaft damn!!! The most epic scene in the whole drop was the fight to get into the upside down to set up the final fight. I kind of wish Linda Hamilton's character had been introduced earlier in the series. She is so hatable and I hope she gets an awful end.
Do you ever wonder how much porn exists on the web? 20 years ago on limewire it was insane, now that hasn't gone away BUT I am sure has been added to with smart phones and things like Onlyfans... SO again can you imagine how much porn is out there?
So I could have done a whole Stranger Things blogpost but I am getting away from that! Final thoughts on series Finale. First it would be good to have seen the play The First Shadow. Second the first hour and 15 minutes are great. Although the whole Vecna, Mind Flayer fight was kind of weak. I swear the have more trouble with Demodogs. My massive issue is the epilogue goes on and on and on. Yes I was happy to see all the happy endings but damn after Vecna died. Which was am amazing kill by Joyce lol., my wife says we still have 45 minutes. I assumed a big show down with doctor Kay but that was all of 5 minutes. I guess that was the real problem. First what happened to Kay. We see her goon squad grab everyone, the upside down blows up and then its 18 months later with no army left in Hawkins. I mean ya I wanted a bad end for her but this? They just leave? We have no idea what happens, kinda weak. Then we get to El. How do her and Mike not get a happy end?? EVERYONE else literally does so WTF. Right after watching I jumped online and it was 50/50. Half the people out there say she died and that story Mike told was him coping with her death. No, that makes no sense. They crash through the gate, get hit with sonic noise that weakens El to the point she can barely walk but somehow when everyone else gets grabbed by army she makes it away and back to the gate? No. The army was looking for her she would have gotten grabbed first. I mean Kali doing that is a stretch for sure but really Kali might not even have ever been shot. Her whole deal is illusions. My issue with that though, I do not see El just leaving Mike and Hopper, even to "protect" them. I was waiting for her to show up at the DnD game. So there you have it, I am fully onboard with she lived but I struggle with the fact she abandons everyone. It really goes against the whole theme of friendship, that is the basis for the entire series. I think they did it for two reasons, 1 so people would have this debate and 2 for an open end. 5 years from now... Somehow Vecna is back or something and El has to return..... Also big apology to Kali. She wasn't a villain. I still don't understand why they brought her back, she really brought no value except to maybe set up El escaping....
This is going to come out wrong, I accept that fact. I accept it as a Metis and as a dude that has been called a white chug many times from the friends I have. Native Canadians wtf happened?? 15,000 years we have been here and really don't have a ton to show for it. I was looking at Greece, at Italy, Egypt, the Middle East, Europe and even south America. All this amazing history but we didn't put anything down?? I get it was / is an oral and nomadic society but damn!! Between settlers trying to erase the culture and not really putting anything down this is truly awful. Think the current lib government will toss me some money to build some sort of historic site? I am still waiting on CBC to send me money for my Northern Alberta show. But seriously it is majorly depressing that a whole society has mostly vanished and we have very little history in Canada. Our history does not begin when Chris Columbus landed here.....
I abandoned some social media. I deactivated Facebook and Insta to start. Deleted LinkdIn. Like the morning news I noticed FB at least was just annoying now. It wasn't updates from friends but constant ragebait. DOOM SCROLLING. Everything was "Did you see what Trump did? Did you see what Carney did? OMG look at what Danielle Smith is doing! All immigrants are bad! Trans rights are human rights!" Sure they are all issues, real issues BUT I don't want bombed with them. I want the old FB where is was friends pics and some farming game. I talked to a couple people about it, one of the comments was something like "Well what about if your in a waiting room?" I said I would chat with people but I think we may have hit the tipping point where people don't do that. That simple truth is scary! Almost more disturbing is my finger naturally going to the FB icon on my phone. I grab my phone and go to open FB like my brain has been trained to. As a society we almost cant live without it. We use it for entertainment, for work, for information. If a billionaire really is a villain it would be Zuckerberg. He did make a mind control device. So I am putting it down for a bit! Last thought on it and the divide. I have watched over the last few years people just got worse. From common sense, hey we need to slow immigration to WE NEED ICE! Okay, legit to crazy. Grown men shouldn't be in women's changerooms or sports to they are all pedos! Again normal to crazy! This in my mind at least is coming from constant social media bombardment of the exceptions not the rule. Yes some immigrants are bad, yes some people are using all this gender shit as a way to be a freak. Social media is going to focus on the bad not the good, it is designed to do that. Also I can't handle another person worshipping Rome or saying they wanna be Trad. Most these clowns have 0 idea of what Rome was. I love Roman history. I think the Republic and the Empire are amazing. It was founded on murder and rape. It was often struggling with itself, there is so much more to it than being a dominate power and honestly with any empire there is a lot of bad to it. Also swear to god 97% of people saying they wanna go trad couldn't live like that. Also the ones against education and higher learning OMFG. No I don't agree with everything I read in university texts but there was a lot I learned ffs.
I bought Mafia Old Country. As of this writing I am 48% done the main story. I bought this based on how much I loved Mafia 3. Amazing story, so so game play. Great open world with lots of side shit. Guess some people did not like that. I was expecting I dunno 50 hours probably a lot more game time than that. Seems with add ons that I played that game for months! I have heard I might get 12 - 15 hours game play for Old Country. NO side stuff, they did a free mode where you can explore and practice killing and shit but it has no real value. No effect on game. Its kinda disappointing to be honest. Don't get me wrong, the story is so well done so far. Okay I feel it is going to be predictable but it is good. The art of Italy is awesome.... In all honesty it should just be a netflix series or something. I am liking it but the amount I paid for it I wanted a lot more. Might have to replay 3 now....
Saw a really good quote the other day... This is a paraphrase by the way "Being taught to not talk about religion and politics has lead to people not understanding religion and politics. What we should have been taught is how to have a civil discourse on religion and politics." I thought damn! That is smart. Then I looked at the account. No I didn't agree with everything they posted and it struck me that quote is only as true as you make it. The person that had posted it was NEVER going to change their mind on anything. To them it wasn't true at all. It just sounded smart. I realized, well didn't realize but it became even more clear in this online age people don't want to understand each other. To try and see another world view or change opinions, they want to be right and anyone who doesn't agree is wrong. The algorithm makes sure of it.... Ya this is kind of a random thought but it struck me that so many people use these very smart quotes to make themselves sound smarter when really they have no desire to do better or be better.
My dog had medical issues over 2 months ago. Big ones. Ones he needed an MRI for. First that is BS. A human MRI, paid for privately. Roughly $700, a dog, $6000! Sure they need some sedative but $5000 worth, I highly fucking doubt it. Right now he is well on his way to recovery but I did find out something about me. I am a selfish person who maybe wouldn't have been the best parent. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying I couldn't have been a parent. I am sure I could have and likely done as good a job as anyone BUT I realized how hard it could have been and that is more work than I wanted and honestly takes away from the life I wanted. MY dog couldn't even use the bathroom on his own for awhile. So every few hours we had to take him out. Manually make him pee and hope he pooped. I am not used to a responsibility every few hours like that. I love getting out and eating out. Two months, rarely doing that. Barely having anytime to be alone with my wife and missing the second half of my hockey season. This is only for a couple months and maybe another month or so until hopefully he will be as good as he will get but it has been rough. Now this is only 2 months I have been inconvenienced. Kids are a damn life commitment. So I am putting it out there, this has shown me, I am a bit of a selfish person and well maybe it is a good thing I didn't have kids. I kinda like the life I live.
Not a crap ton to say on comics. Age of Revelation went downhill. I personally thought it started out so good but as it has gone on, I have lost interest. Sinisters Six was pretty garbage. Unbreakable Xmen was decent but really seemed to have nothing to do with the overall story arc. Amazing was an okay read but still nothing that blew my mind. Laura Kinney Sabretooth I am missing #2 but once I get it I will read the whole series. I will just say it, in general it wasn't a great event. Batman titles have been okay. The first Batman Vs Deadpool was pretty good, the second Morrison had to work Casandra Nova into... Lame. Ignition Press, check it out! IMO at least the hottest publisher out there right now!
I like animals more than people. I have my close friends, my family and my dogs. That's what I like. I already wrote about the issues my poor boy had. He is well on his way to being healthy again and I wanna say thank you to the good vets out there. Pulse in Sherwood was amazing, VCA in Calgary also great. We dealt with a couple others as well. I will assume positive intent but they did show me a couple places I wont return to. I won't name them but I will say there are some places I just feel are better. On top that I wanna say a pet is a commitment. You should know that, but I mean a big one. If you can't afford decent pet insurance maybe a pet isn't a good idea. Or maybe you have the funds to not worry about it but this opened my eyes. One of the first things I was asked was "This treatment could be $12,000. Is this something you want to do." Implying there was another less desirable option for my boy. You want me to look into those eyes, that still have a fully functioning brain and say too bad I cant afford it. That would be a fucking nightmare. I am not criticizing anyone, I am trying to tell you what could happen and hopefully your never put in that place. Flip side I think everyone should have a pet, they make you a better person. Just saying make sure you can afford it or have a plan because I have been put in that situation before choosing between a pet and something else and it is fucking painful. Also I am so grateful to all the other services out there for pets now. Holistic vets, with acupuncture. Hydro therapy, physio. I think some vet costs are insane and they know we will pay it but at the end of the day I am grateful to all the good people out there!
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey is so good! Don't judge a book by its cover. I thought okay some people say pretty boy wrote a good book. It might be worth checking out, I mean I like him as an actor but as a writer, what is this handsome, rich celeb gonna say I am gonna think is worth reading. Turns out every damn word is worth it! I flat out recommend reading it and if you can, get it on audible. He reads it and I assume he does it exactly as he wants the reader to hear it cause damn it is perfect! His stories from his own life and his takes on life in general are great.
The key to a good paralyzer is ice, I learned that! The key to a good next day is only 1 or 2 paralyzers...
Learn to fucking drive!!!! I spent a few weeks on the road this month. I am not sure why but every day I drove it seemed like was the days we had the massive snow storms. I won't even lie, I went slow. Sometimes 20 - 30 KMS below the speed limit but guess what, that kept up with traffic. IF you can't even keep up with traffic maybe don't get on the roads. Saying that also don't drive like a fucking maniac!!! When you blow by people you kick up massive snow, ya that will happen you have a right to pass people but full a few car lengths ahead. There is zero reason to slide right back into the right lane!! If you are doing that because you don't like the left lane, maybe you shouldn't be passing. Also dont hog the fucking center line. I can't even count how many guys passed riding that line and almost clipping me. Again if you aren't confident enough to get in the passing lane, maybe you shouldn't fucking be there!!
Thats it. Thats all. I mean there could be more but I want to move on. I did not really live up to what I wanted with myself for the last half of 2025. I mean this in many areas, writing, work, personal life, ball hockey, everything! Hell I wasnt even using my overpriced fitbit app like I like to or monitoring my blood! My confession.... I am lazy, I get these burst where I start doing things, I feel good about myself, have decent habits and then easily discouraged. For example, didnt get into school this fall and just let it fall to back burner. Need to correct that! Wanted to have full Italy and Greece trip up, didn't do that. I want to work on these terrible habits. Ya its cheesy saying this on New Years Day but step 1. Finished this blog, step 2 editing next travel blog this AM. Step 3 maybe make a list of shit to get done.... See that I said maybe, no I will make a list! So ya, Happy New Years. Time for me to get to work.
Comments
Post a Comment