Sunday Night Selections

This week's sampling of music I've been loving...

Also, if you haven't downloaded Spotify yet, what are you waiting for?

Matt Corby - "Brother"


Young Dreams - "First Days of Something"


P!NK featuring Nate Ruess of fun. - "Just Give Me A Reason"


Song of the Summer #1
Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams - "Get Lucky"

Saturday Six

1. I don’t understand mental health issues. At all. Situations involving depression and anxiety in particular. Sometimes I want to tell my students “shake it off, why are you doing this to yourself,” but I realize that’s like asking a person in a wheelchair “Why don’t you just get up and walk?” While I don’t understand, I try to empathize and help when possible. Realistically, that’s about all I can do…
2. On a lighter note, apparently word has gotten out to the office that I know my way around computers. At the moment, that’s fine. It's not interfering with the work I'm supposed to be doing and it give me a chance to show how useful I can be to new sets of eyes. Who knows, maybe I can leverage that into something down the line.
3. Em and I grilled steaks yesterday. Steaks and beer made for a good Friday night. Only thing that was better? The steaks came in a 3-pack. That spare steak was fried up today and was just enough to make a pair of cheesesteaks. Yum!
4. Yesterday I opened a CD that I’ve had sitting on my desk since Christmas (The Killers’ “Battle Born” for those curious). I would have opened it earlier, but Spotify happened.
5. Looking very forward to May. Between 4-day work weeks every week (cashing in that PTO) lots of trips, and my 30th birthday, the Emerald Month is shaping up to be the best month.
6. I want to blog more. While I miss blogging, I don’t miss the feelings that come with it. Most people tend to blog more when things aren’t going too hot or when life is difficult. I am no exception. Life’s been good lately. Hmm. Maybe I don’t want to blog more.

#WWE #WrestleMania 29 Predictions

While I haven't been as up to date on the happenings in the WWE as I have been in the past, I can't let the grand-daddy of 'em all pass without making a set of predictions. Every year since 2006's WrestleMania 22, I've made my predictions, with some year's results obviously being better than others...

2006: WrestleMania 22: 9-2
2007: WrestleMania 23: 3-5
2008: WrestleMania XXIV: 2-6-1 [Funny, this was the one I went to]
2009: WrestleMania XXV: 4-4
2010: WrestleMania XXVI: 4-5 (No pick on the Diva tag match)
2011: WrestleMania XXVII: 3-6
2012: WrestleMania XXVIII: 5-4

With this year's card lacking any sort of pizzazz or pop, my picks this year are either going to be spot on or utterly terrible. Honestly, I think having not really watched the product since January will be to my "advantage," as I'll be picking based on historical precedence and common sense (is that a thing in pro wrestling?) instead of relying on emotion and desire. So without further ado...

Intercontinental Championship Match (Interactive Pre-Show)
Wade Barrett (c) vs. The Miz
Remember when The Miz was a thing? A certifiable main eventer? Just two years ago he was headlining WrestleMania 27, now he's on the YouTube preshow. While he's taken a mighty fall, today will be a step in helping him get back on track. The Miz

Ryback vs. Mark Henry
I see this match being nothing more than two brutes hammering each other with haymakers for 7-10 minutes. I'm OK with that. It won't be a masterpiece, but it'll be entertaining. Ryback


Randy Orton, Sheamus & Big Show vs. The Shield
It's too early to have The Shield lose a big match. I may be mistaken, but we know nothing of their motivation or desires. The Shield steal this one after a moment of "miscommunication" between the good guy team.

Chris Jericho vs. Fandango
Who the hell is Fandango? And why is he in a WrestleMania match with Chris Jericho? My guess is they give the kid time to shine, but Jericho will be the one standing tall after all is said and done.

WWE Tag Team Championship Match
Team Hell No (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler & Big E. Langston
Here an unspoken rule of tag team matches at WrestleMania. If there are two tag matches on the card that don't involve main event talent, one will have the "good guys" winning... - Team Hell No

Tons of Funk & The Funkadactyls vs. Team Rhodes Scholars & The Bella Twins
...and one will have the "bad guys" winning. - Team SchoolBells

No Holds Barred Match (If Triple H loses, he must retire)
Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar
The retirement stipulation gives this one away. It's pretty much a given that Triple H will do the job to Brock. He hasn't been an active competitor in almost two years, there's no one left for him to beat, and there's nothing more for him to do. This will be the last ride for the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations (...for now).

The Undertaker vs. CM Punk
The Undertaker moves to 21-0. I'd love to be wrong here, as CM Punk should be headlining this card, but who am I kidding?

World Heavyweight Championship Match
Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. Jack Swagger
Remember that DUI and Possession charge Swagger got hit with back in February? Oh, you forgot all about that? Don't worry, I'm sure that the WWE brass didn't. Alberto Del Rio defends his title and gains his first WrestleMania victory.

WWE Championship Match
The Rock (c) vs. John Cena
"Once In A Lifetime" huh? Yeah, not so much. I feel like this is the end of The Rock's "return" to WWE. As such, The Rock will "return the favor" and lose to John Cena. Cena regains the WWE Championship, The Rock goes back to making movies, and it'll be like 2010 all over again. (Sidebar: For all the fans who wished for longer story lines, you got your wish. Even though John Cena has been involved in other feuds, this has been the main program in WWE for the better part of two years.)

Work Stories

Come next Saturday, I will have been at my current job for two years. Time flies huh? While it's been a good two years, I am a little saddened by one thing. In the entire 730.5 days I've been an employee, I haven't come across one moment worthy enough of being a good "work story." Part of me is looking at that as a good thing as that probably means there's a lot less chaos in my current work environment, but a little bit of me misses those random moments...

...like that time some coworkers and I ran an entire production shift still effectively drunk

Want a recipe for disaster?  Take three of your best supervisors.  Have them work 13 out of 14 nights.  Keep in mind that these nights average anywhere from 9.5 hours to 13 hours.  Then tell them they have to work a Saturday.  Did I mention that none of these supervisors are older than 25?  Somewhere in all that mess, the "College Football Saturday" mindset kicks in and all they wanna do is drink.  Lemme tell you something, when you get off of work at 3 and decide to get a cold one, that's normal.  But when you drink from 3am to 11:30am the next morning when you have to work that same day - nothing good can come from that.  On that day, something very sitcom-ish happened.  Out of the 4 supervisors on the schedule that day, 3 were drunk/hungover.  The other?  An ordained minister.  Toss in the "Guatemalan Boy Toy," 20,000 lbs of processed veal, and a schizophrenic maintenance guy and you have something worthy of being on "Must See TV."

...or that time some old guy was racist and didn't even know it

Old White Man: How old are you son? You don't look much older than 25.
Terence: Ha, you're close. I'll be 25 in May.
OWM: Oh man, you're still young. You've got plenty of time to live life. I'm 78 years old. You should be in school and not working.
Terence: I am, I'm actually going back to school to get my Master's in Business.
OWM: That's a good idea. There's nothing like owning your own business. I've owned this place for the better part of 56 years.
Terence: *doesquickmathinhishead* Wow. That's a long time. It must be pretty hard keeping track of everything.
OWM: Oh no, not anymore. I'm old now. I just do the paperwork and maybe go on a parts run if need be. I let my crew do all the real work.
Terence: Do you have a big crew?
OWM: Naw, it's pretty small. Only about 4 people. My son does all the day-to-day operations and handles all the logistical legwork.
Terence: *nods* Nothing wrong with that. It's good to keep it in the family.
OWM: Yeap. And his boy runs the logger for me. He's a good grandson. Real well mannered.
Terence: *nods*
OWM: Yeap. And I've got these two colored fellas that work for me too...
Terence: *puzzledlook*
OWM: They've been with me since 1985. They work real well to be colored boys too.
Terence: *0_O* *scratcheshead*
OWM: They show up to work on time, they're never complain, they stay late when need be. Probably the best colored fellas I've ever met.
Terence: (under his breath) what the hell?....
OWM: Yeap. Real good fellas.
Terence: Yeap...they sound like it. Well not to run, but I've got to head back to the office. You have a good day sir.

...or that moment when I cursed out my manager because he almost got me electrocuted

...or when I got paid by the government to drive around and listen to Clemson baseball for 4 hours

...or the day I the power inverter in the Progressive truck caught on fire while I was driving

...or that night when some girl decided to show me her new implants because she was proud of how well they turned out.

Moments like the above? They don't happen anymore. I go to work, I do things that would be reasonably expected from someone in my position, reasonable outcomes happen, then I go home at a reasonable time. Chaos be damned, everything is in perfect order.

I don't know when I'm leaving or if I ever will, but I would like for something ridiculous to happen before that time comes. As of now, I'm lacking a great or even decent story to tie to this place. At best I have an anecdote about a kid who streaking through the quad in a Richard Nixon mask. Yawn. That's not going to win me a moment of continuous laughter or genuine intrigue the next time I'm out with my pals for a few beers.

The 3DS Has A New King #FireEmblem #NintendoEnthused

Looking at the 3DS release calendar, this is probably the oddest day for this post...

Today, two new Nintendo games are being released, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, along with the limited edition Pikachu Nintendo 3DS XL system. If you're a fan of Nintendo's core franchises and have been on the fence about the 3DS, there's no better time than now to jump in. With exclusive games like Kid Icarus: Uprising, Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, and Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask available at retail and even more great 3DS games available online only on the Nintendo 3DS eShop, the 3DS is the leading choice for today's gamer who is looking for an experience bigger than what's offered on their mobile phone.

But I'm not writing this post to talk about a game in a franchise that everyone knows about. Today I'm throwing a few words into cyberspace to sing the praises of a gem that may get overlooked by all but the most adamant Nintendo supporters. This is a post in honor of the best game of 2013 so far (according to Metacritic). Ladies and gentlemen, this is Fire Emblem Awakening...

I picked up my copy of Fire Emblem Awakening when it launched last month and only yesterday did it finally leave my 3DS's cartridge slot. 54 hours of gaming bliss. From top to bottom, Fire Emblem Awakening was a wonderfully polished experience. Not only is it the best game in the Fire Emblem franchise, it's quite possibly the best game on the 3DS. As one who absolutely adored Kid Icarus: Uprising and Super Mario 3D Land, that's not a statement I'm making lightly.

Before I continue gushing over Fire Emblem Awakening, I guess I should share what type of game it is. Officially, the game is categorized as a Tactical Role Playing Game (TRPG). In layman's terms, it's a big ol' game of chess. In every "level," your units square off against enemy units and as in chess, your individual units have varying strengths and weaknesses relative to the enemy's units. While your objectives may vary from level to level, many battles are won by seizing the enemy's throne. Awakening's solid gameplay is complimented by wonderful characters who are wrapped together by a pretty good story. Truth be told, it's not the best story in the Fire Emblem line, but it earns points for being easily accessible to newcomers while throwing knowing winks and nods to Fire Emblem veterans. Even with its occasional quirks, Fire Emblem Awakening is so endearing that you will easily look past its few narrative flaws.

Listen, I don't know any other way to wrap this post up other than just saying "Buy This Game. NOW." Still hesitant on dropping $40 on a game that you just have my word-of-mouth to go off of? Own a 3DS? Here:

Scanning this QR code with your Nintendo 3DS Camera will take you right to Fire Emblem's eShop page. There's a demo there. Try it. Once you've fallen in love with it, feel free to come back and thank me before you tap "purchase" or rush out to the store to experience the full game.

Disclaimer: As a Nintendo Brand Ambassador, I am occasionally provided with products from Nintendo to review. This was not one of those times. The opinions expressed are all mine and not those of Brand About Town or Nintendo.

2 Birds, 1 Stone: Valentine's Gift for a Gamer

Because I've been wanting to show this off and give Emily's crafting blog some shine for a while, the following post was a) written by her and b) will take you to her corner of the Internet...

Every year for Valentine's Day, my boyfriend and I exchange gifts. Our second year together we actually decided to make gifts for each other, both of us were short on money so this seemed like a nice way to celebrate and not stress out about the cash. It's a tradition that we've kept up since that time.

Since I have a friend coming on the 15th we celebrated Valentine's Day early. This year he got me a little Valentine mailbox and put a little something in it each day. He was struggling to come up with something but I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed this. He "made" a little collection of gifts from some of my favorite things.

Day 1: A Paint Your Own Sun-Catcher in the shape of an elephant. Elephants are one of my favorite animals.
Day 2: A Luigi K'Nex Mariokart Bike.
Day 3: Cake Pop Sticks (I got a cake pop maker for Christmas, so this was an awesome gift!)
Day 4: A drawing of Sulley and I (when I'm dressed in my 1/2 marathon costume) as if it were done by Boo
Day 5:A Luigi's Mansion Valentine's Card and a Michael's gift card!
Day 6: Chocolates and multiple Valentine Cards, including a few more Luigi cards with some drawings by Terence in them. :-)

For him, I made him something practical but fun. He LOVES practical gifts, which makes my job of giving gifts pretty easy. He's a gamer. He LOVES video games. He's got tons of games and lots of controllers. We used to just put the controllers on the shelf on the bottom half of our coffee table, but they'd fall off pretty often. He'd been saying for awhile he should get a basket or something to keep all the controllers in. Luckily, he hadn't picked one up yet. So that's when I knew what the perfect gift would be...

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Seriously, I love this gift. It's so simple, yet so awesome at the same time.