I AM EXALTED!

This song came on while I was driving home from work earlier and it reminded me of how I used to be a trendsetter among my friends for new music.

I was still in high school when this song came out. It was played heavily on the radio and MTV (back before streaming or even YouTube existed on the internet those were the main sources of hearing music) and I really liked the song. It easily got stuck in my head.

Since I had a part-time job, making my own money, and a passion for music, I spent a lot of time wandering around record stores, and when I saw this CD, I quickly bought it.

At first, my friends kind of made fun of me.

"You bought an entire album just because of one song?"

To which I would always reply, "It's actually a damn good album!"

Being the nice guy that I was, I would let me friends borrow that CD. When they returned it, they would almost always admit that I was right and they were going to buy their own copies.

It didn't stop with just this one album or this one band. It also wasn't always the 'popular' music on the radio. There were other ways that I would hear of new music that wasn't really playing anywhere that public.

I would often buy a CD that my friends had never heard of before, pop it into the CD player on my car stereo and drive around listening to it with my friends, getting them hooked on the same great music I enjoyed.

This actually went on for several years. I wouldn't exactly claim that I was single-handedly responsible for getting several non-American bands more popular down here in Dallas back in the 90s and early 2000s, but I definitely did help a lot to make that happen.

Once it became easier and easier to find random music online, along with the eventual algorithms, my trendsetter days started fading. I still try to expose my friends to stuff they have not heard of before, but it's not as easy to do as it used to be.

The main downside to this internet era of music, is that many people have returned to just listening to "that one popular song" that plays too often, and never take the time to check out entire albums of music.

If you're just going to forget every detail of a dream as soon as I wake up, then why do you let me stay aware that I just had an interesting dream?

That number seems to appear a lot in my life. Today especially.

Ever since I was young, I have considered it sort of a "lucky number," even though I don't totally believe in that kind of stuff.

Today, May 13th, was my 13th anniversary at work.

My first day working there was on 5/13/13.

For those of you actually interested in things like numerology, you may have already realized that if you add all of those digits together (5+1+3+1+3), you end up with..... you guessed it, 13!

While at the register buying groceries on my weekly Walmart trip, another man walked up to a self-checkout register next to me. He was probably in his late 20's or 30's, wearing black sweat pants, a white tank top, and flip flops.

All he was buying was some snacks and a couple last minute mother's day flower bouquets. Although, what he was buying wasn't the most noticeable thing.

Apparently, before coming to the store this morning to buy flowers, he first needed to get high smoking so much weed that you can strongly smell him from about 20 yards away! ... No, that is not an exaggeration.

I love getting this message!

This is now the second time in a row that I have received a dismissal notice the day before my actual jury duty service date.

I have a theory that I keep getting dismissed like this for at least one of two reasons:

This county requires you to go online and fill out a questionnaire once you receive the summons. They give you a 10 day window to complete it after the notice shows up in your mailbox. I typically go online and fill everything out within a few days. I think those that actually pay attention, read the summons, and follow the instructions, are the ones that are most likely to get dismissed first. Those that wait until the last minute, or don't fill out anything at all, probably have to show up and sit around in the courthouse all day.

This one may be a bit more controversial. I am a middle-aged white man. It seems that in recent years, I am what is wanted least in many court cases. Defense attorneys (with non-white clients), appear to want more non-white jurors. I believe they feel that those jurors will be more likely to sympathize/empathize with the defendant and vote to acquit. Prosecutors, on the other hand, seem to want more non-white jurors in order to better prevent a conviction from being appealed on allegations that the jury was "racist".

Not sure exactly when it happened, but I have been going downhill all day.

Just me or are you insane too?

This week is moving extremely slow!

Today would have been my dad's birthday and that is how old he would be now. 83 years old

As I take the day to celebrate his birthday, I can't help but think of another anniversary coming up within a couple months. A much more somber date: The day he passed away.

While thinking of that, I came to a very sad realization. This will be 24 years since he passed away. 24 years without him in my life.

Those of you paying attention to details, might remember that back in October I celebrated my 48th birthday.

Which means, my dad has officially been gone for half of my life. I am crossing the threshold where I have been without him around for longer than he was actually here with me.

That is a crazy thing to think of. I obviously knew it was going to happen eventually, at least deep down. It's just strange actually facing the reality of that event.

As I think more of it, I believe that is an event that the majority of people may never experience or truly understand. It seems most people typically become rather "old" themselves before their own parents pass away.

It's a good thing they are planning to close the office tomorrow.

All that white stuff on the ground is NOT snow! Well, not all of it. The overwhelming majority of what is covering everything is actually just ice!

You can walk all over it and barely leave any footprints. Luckily, there is a bit of sleet on the ground too, making it a little rougher. So you're slightly less likely to bust your ass if you try walking on it.

Even if they did expect us to work tomorrow, I would be calling in to take the day off. The short street and roundabout my apartment complex is on, as well as the parking lot itself, do not get treated in this weather. So I'm kind of stuck until it starts to melt. Though, not exactly sure when that will be, since the sun is not expected to make another appearance here anytime soon, and the temperature outside is not predicted to get even slightly above freezing until sometime on Tuesday afternoon.

If I do happen to touch it, the massive amount of electric energy stored within my body will short it out and kill my PC.

This happened a few times just yesterday. Luckily, no permanent damage; nothing that just unplugging and plugging it back in won't fix (so far).

I have been watching this continuously and laughing my ass off all morning.

Being so funny, it's also kind of sad. Even when we are directly controlling the robots, they will quite literally kick us in the balls.

When the war against AI and the machines begins, humanity will lose.

As if I needed yet another reason to feel old.

It's my 15 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

Has it really been that long already?

15 years on this hellsite as of today? It doesn't seem like it's been that long, and at the same time, it feels as if I have been on here forever.

For a site that seems to get extremely upset anytime someone happens to post a picture where their bare elbows might be showing, why do you keep bombarding me with ads for some kind of porn dating apps?

I guess sexual content is perfectly acceptable to you as long as you are getting paid for it and essentially posting it yourself? Or do you just not review any of these scam ads before they start flooding your app?

The ads for TikTok are less offensive, but still a bit confusing too. Why are you promoting a completely different social network?

If I'm forced to see ads, why not actually try to sell me on something interesting that I might actually want and maybe even consider spending money on? The way most ads work everywhere else on the internet, if I actually click on it to learn more about what is being sold, you get paid more.

Instead, the ads you shove in everyone's faces make me want to avoid tumblr. If it wasn't for the messaging feature that sort of works, I just might have left here already.

... Is that actually your plan, though? To force everyone to leave? Do you think the social media world is similar to professional sports teams? That if you come in dead last you might be able to get some kind of top of the list first-round draft pick in order to rebuild and improve next year?

I really don't think social media websites work that way.

And before you say anything, NO, paying you to "get rid of ads" is not an option. You need to make a million and one improvements to this site and how it's run before I would even slightly consider possibly ever giving you my money.

... was an actual question that poured out of my mouth as soon as I woke up in the middle of the night earlier this week.

I still haven't figured out the answer.

Before that dream, I had not seen anything about dinosaurs. No conversations related to dinosaurs. Not even any casual thoughts about dinosaurs. Absolutely nothing even dino-adjacent crossed my mind at any point recently.

Just went to bed one night, and my dream randomly became filled with dinosaurs.

Even since that dream, there has been no dino content appearing in my life.

Needless to say, my brain is a scary place. It terrifies even me with the things it does, because I have absolutely no idea why it works* the way it does.