25 Years Ago This Week

Yer Humble Host, twenty-five years ago this week. I was mopping the floor at the now-departed McDonald’s in Greensboro’s Four Seasons Mall. I’m very happy that the words “McDonald’s” and “mall” are pretty much no longer in my vocabulary, and that “mopping” is only a peripheral part, at best.

What the photo doesn’t show is that I’m about to hit the little brat over the head with my mop handle for walking across my just-mopped floor. I’m also very happy that the words “hit the little brat over the head” are still very much a part of my vocabulary.

Grups?

Grups (via Scrubbles):

No wonder Grups like today’s indie music: It sounds exactly like the indie music of their youth. Which, as it happens, is what kids today like, too, which is why today’s new music all sounds like it’s twenty years old. And thus the culture grinds to a halt, in a screech of guitar feedback.

I think I have a headcahe…

The Lottery

I’d forgotten that today was the opening day for the North Carolina state lottery. I really couldn’t give a damn about the morals of the whole thing; people can do whatever they want with their money, including throwing it out the windows of their cars or wiping their bums with it, for all I care.

As someone who lived in a state with a lottery for thirteen years, my biggest gripe with the lottery is that, as of today, no conveniece store in North Carolina will ever be convenient again. Every time I walk into one hoping to grab a quick soda or candy bar, I’ll be forced to stand behind some moron spending ten minutes trying to sort out his fucking lottery tickets and Powerball scan sheets.

I’m glad I don’t smoke anymore; that at least cuts down somewhat on how much this will affect me personally.

The Death of HoJo

Sad. They’re about to turn the cool high-rise fomer Howard Johnson’s hotel in my hometown into a bland and generic Doubletree. The restaurant closed years ago and eventually became a Hooters, but the hotel itself remained sublimely HoJo until it lost (or renounced) its franchise last year.

Another nearly-intact HoJo with restaurant was bulldozed in recent years for a freeway improvement project, something Greensboro seems to get way more than its share of.

I miss Howard Johnson’s restaurants. And I’m really mad at myself for not getting to the Times Square location before it closed last summer.

The Boondocks

It’s sort of fun reading the early days of The Boondocks while Aaron McGruder is on “hiatus”. I can’t remember for sure if the Chronicle started running the strip from day one or not, although I think it did, since the earliest one I remember featured Riley sighing when he realized he lived on Timid Deer Lane…

You know what’s scary? Right now, my site is number one when you do a Google search on “Timid Deer Lane”, apparently thanks to this post which really had nothing much to do with the comic strip in question.

The big difference between The Boondocks, and even Doonesbury, versus token “conservative strip” Mallard Fillmore, is that the first two usually strike me as funny, even when I disgree with the politics. Mallard Fillmore, on the other hand, shows no subtlety, no characterization, and precious little humor. That’s the kicker: It’s just not funny. It’s a pity, because an actual well-done strip with a right-of-center slant might be interesting to read, even if I disagreed with its viewpoint much of the time.

Geek Hangover

Ah, my old block. I can almost smell the urine.

I hate days like this. I got to bed a little too late last night because I was being an übergeek, but I still got what I thought was a reasonable night’s sleep. Nevertheless, I’ve felt like I have a hangover all day: I’m dehydrated and headachy and I alternate between belching and having the munchies. One of the most appealing things about giving up booze and cigarettes was the fantasy that I’d never feel like this again. Oh well…