Training Ground Notches, Perfectly Executed Notches and Near Misses (2008 Rewind)

Reflection time. 2008. Another year wasted? Sure. But memorable nonetheless.

The Rundown

Favorite New Band - Glasvegas

Favorite Album - Glasvegas, Glasvegas!

Favorite Song - It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry, Glasvegas!

Favorite Pop Song - Single Ladies, Beyonce. Like a cattle call in the club. Thank B!

Gig I Wish I hadn't Missed - Glenn Campbell @ Troubadour

Gig I Wish I had Missed - Some Swedish band @ The Viper Room whose name eludes me!

Favorite Character - T-Pain

Unhealthy Obsessions - Carla Gugino, Claudia Bassols

Favorite Book - A Case of Exploding Mangoes, Mohammed Hanif

Most Underrated - Ron Paul (R-Texas)

Most Overrated/Underrated - Barack Obama

Favorite Film - Let the Right One In

Favorite Documentary Film - Taxi to the Dark Side

Favorite Film about screwed up White people - Rachel Getting Married

Most Hyped Film- Pineapple Express

Dumbest Move - Gambling away my IRA in the stock market.

2nd Dumbest Move - Driving cross-country (L.A. - Miami) when gas was over $4/gal.

Favorite New Town Visited - Blytheville, AR

Proudest Moment - Giving Best-Man Speech

Missed - George Carlin, Studs Terkel, Isaac Hayes

(Dis)missed - Newspapers

Overkill - Vegas

Spectacular - Beijing Olympics Opening/Closing Ceremonies

Most Frustrating/Heart Wrenching - Losing to the Celtics

Newsworthy/Where it went down - Pakistan

Most Embarrassing Moment - Getting caught leaving a Chinatown bathroom--the ladies room with...

Favorite (New) Personal Quote 2008 - Behind every pretty girl is cockblocker!

2008. Adios! Adieu! Donadagohvi! Hagoone'! Sayonara! Auf Wiedersehen! Arrivederci! Hejdå! Sampai Jumpa! Paalam! Zai Jian! Farvel! Namaste! Ayo! Rub Rakha! Adeus! Selamat pergi! Tot ziens! 再见! Yasou! Hwyl fawr! Annyeonghi Kyeseyo! Hyvästi! La revedere! Veloma! Ma'a ssa'lām!

My other car is a minority.

It's late. The year is winding down and I've been watching PBS all night. On next is Rick Steve's Gaza Strip: Through the Back Door travel special. How timely. Sorry Rick, everything I need to know about the Gaza Strip I learn from fair and balanced AP dispatches. Anyhow, back to Senior Steve--seriously, who finds this guy appealing? Let's try again, who under 60/non-old-White-lady finds this guy appealing? No, I've been watching obsessed with this Spain On The Road Again series with Gweneth Paltrow, that Mario Batali guy, some creep food critic/writer and the new love of my life, Spanish actress Claudia Bassols. Move over Carla Gugino! A relatively unknown here in the states, I think the show's producers felt they needed a native to give the show a bit more authenticity, but that's not important right now, what is important is that I quite fancy her. In fact I think she may just be the perfect woman. I think I may just have to marry her. To see here hoarding slices of ruby red jamón from that creep was more amusing than the 6th time I came out of the closet. Hell, I'm even willing to overlook her upcoming romantic comedy with Breakin' extra Jean Claude Van Damme. The premise of the show is simple--the cast travel through Spain eating. The irony of course is that Spanish food is quite bland and isn't really all that good. But everything looks so damned good on the show...whats that you say?! The show is funded by Spain's Ministry of Tourism. Es verdad.

Now that's just S.A.D.

Courtesy Bio-Light

The irony here is that it's really cold and I haven't seen the sun since Friday...not exactly by choice (Oasis gig in Vegas) but that's not important right now. What is important is that I know the hell the song S.A.D. Light by Glasvegas is about. Only after reading the lyrics and a few Google searches of course. It had been driving me to what Esmée Denters titled her record, a crazy place.

Pity thy winter blues. So apparently, there are folks who suffer from something called, Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.), from Wiki:

A mood disorder in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year experience depressive symptoms in the winter repeatedly, year after year. The US National Library of Medicine notes that "some people experience a serious mood change when the seasons change. They may sleep too much, have little energy, and crave sweets and starchy foods. They may also feel depressed. Though symptoms can be severe, they usually clear up." The condition in the summer is often referred to as Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder, and can also include heightened anxiety.

There are many different treatments for classic (winter-based) seasonal affective disorder, including light therapies with bright lights, anti-depression medication, ionized-air administration, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and carefully timed supplementation of the hormone melatonin.

Sounds made up. Just ask Tom Cruise. One "cure" is a S.A.D. light, aka Full Spectrum Lighting and how it works is simple--stare at 10,000 lux light for an hour a day--and you no longer feel the urge to leave Alaska or make friends or do crystal meth or burn down the Hot Topic. Hell, you don't even have to go outside. Smile! Like I've been saying for days, the sun is overrated anyway.

Perhaps I should be a bit more empathetic, not everyone has had the benefit of growing up in a season-less place. Es verdad, pero those people should move, apenas no aquí, por favor.

Winter blues no love for you
Seasons change in a gothic way
10, 000 lux to light us up
In these winter nights if I'm wandering all alone

I'll turn on my S.A.D. light

As I'm staring at Alpha Centauri
All I can see is how it's glow seems so far
How did I get to this point
Of things playing so heavy on my heart
Twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are

I'll turn on my S.A.D. light

See, you do learn something new everyday. Nuclear winters?! Bring it on. Okay, time for bed, the sun's coming up soon.