Mortgages, Egypt, Middle East Protests...What A Week

Morning all.  I have a few things I want to cover this morning, but first I have an apology to make.  I'm sorry about not keep up to date with my blog writings as much this past week as I have in the past months.  There has been a very stressful situation unfolding here at the house, and when I personally am stressed the best way for me to deal with it is unfortunately a 180 degree difference from writing stuff down.  As a result, my posts on certain blogs has been rather anemic (I'm talking about you, Real To Reel), and for that I am sorry.  In addition, I promised a post for yesterday on Telly Vision discussing the three newest mid-season replacements which just started this week, and I never even started typing the first sentence of that one, so for that too I apologise.

To explain, I'll give a tiny insight into what's been going on here in the house.  We are in the process of moving our mortgage.  In order to prepare to do this, Scott called some folks to get us heading down the right path, and these folks forwarded a letter to our current mortgage company putting a lock on the mortgage.  What this means is that for a period of time, can't remember how long, we are stopping payments on the mortgage in order to prepare to either pay it out or move it to another company.  For some reason, the mortgage company ignored this and proceeded to give us by the 15th of this month (ie. Tuesday) to pay it in full or forfeit the house and all equity built up in the place.  So, now we've gone from switching when we are able to rushing before we lose the house.

We have found a place in order to move the mortgage, and papers will be getting signed Monday, but the road to this point has been very rocky indeed.  I won't be going into the situation until the mortgage is completely and 100% totally safe in the hands of another company, but suffice it to say that the week that has passed has been the equivalent of going on a high speed roller coaster without a safety harness.  Try sleeping in that, why don't you?  Then, add to that the fact that even though both Andi and I have been to the dentist multiple times, and our mouths are now cavity-free, we're both still experiencing enough pain from hot and cold foods that we need to go back yet again...and have to wait until the 19th to get this pain relieved...it keeps getting better and better.  Finally, on top of all that, a new friend over at BFG has been having unusually harsh reactions from her mother as she attempts to celebrate her upcoming birthday.  Her mother's, not hers.  I can't really do a whole hell of a lot to help her, other than commiserate and offer my ear (eyes) to her, but that's been bothering me too.  Just a friend concerned about a friend, but there it is.

So what is the end result of all this for me personally, and why haven't I been writing as much?  Well, the movie and television blogs require a little more work than the other blogs I write.  Same with the videogame blog, but not nearly as intensive.  See, when I write the movie and telly blogs, I tend to provide links to actors and such to allow readers to see who I'm discussing.  I have no idea whether anyone at all appreciates this stuff, since I get zero feedback on 99% of my posts across all five blogs, but I do it anyway just in case.  As a result, it takes more time to get a post about a current movie or television show written to my standards.  It is no where near as time-consuming on the videogame blog, simply because I'm not providing links to individual actors and such.  Since the week has given me dreams so upsetting I've been waking in tears, and sleep has become so sporadic as a result that today's awakening at 5:45am is the latest I've slept in without forcing my self to stay awake during the day after less than 5 hours at night, I really haven't had the gumption nor the patience to go on a link-hunt for the purposes of maybe being read by a handful of people who don't bother to tell me the work is in any way useful or appreciated.  If I sound bitchy, sue me.  I still don't know if Blogger records pageviews as someone actually coming to the page or just some random search engine posting the first couple of lines when someone looks for a keyword that happens to appear in my writing.

In fact, I apologise for the next bit, but let's try a test.  I'm going to list a bunch of keywords that we all know (whether we admit it or not) are popular search words on Google, Bing, Yahoo and beyond.  Let's see just how many hits this post gets today, shall we?  Skip to the next paragraph if you didn't really expect the adult warning you clicked through to read this actually meant anything: orgasm, pussy, tits, cock, Justin Bieber, fuck, Super Bowl, North Korea, Valentine's Day, Grammys, slut, Russell Brand.  There, those are some of the top most searched keywords out there, some always in the running, some specific to this week, and I didn't include some because they are in the title of the blog.  Oh, and yes, I did in fact juxtapose two of them together on purpose.  First one to tell me which two gets a lollipop.

Which leads me to the other big news of the week, that isn't about my self-absorbed little world.  I want to give an enormous shout out to anyone reading this from Egypt, or born Egyptian, or knows someone Egyptian, or just cares about the Middle East in general.  Congratulations to you for ousting your 30-year-long oppressor, Hosni Mubarak, and moving forward into a hopefully brighter and fairer future.  I can't help but notice that there are other countries trying to follow suit, and a cautious but hearty cheer rises from me to these other countries as well:  Algeria, Yemen and Jordan.  Concessions towards protestors have already been made in these countries, and I hope that things move forward with a minimum of bloodshed, though honestly we all know that people in power against other's wills do fight to retain what they have.  It is a wonder Mubarak didn't have thousands dead in Egypt before he fled.  Glad he didn't, and hoping the rest of the region follows suit wherever reform is badly needed.

I watched things unfold in Egypt over the week, actually glued to CNN and CTV NewsNet, if it is still called that, watching as Mubarak was expected to step down and then having him basically give a resounding 'Fuck You' for 17 minutes.  I was surprised that violence didn't erupt immediately on the spot in the middle of Cairo's Tahrir Square, and thrilled that the next day it all came to an end so peacefully.  I'm not a source for news here, given this is a blog and not a news agency website, but I just got a tweet that in Yemen the protesters are surrounding the Presidential Palace as I type this.  Additionally, thousands more protesters are flooding into Tahrir Square to continue protests even as the army is moving them out, and my guess is they want reform to happen faster.  Better post this A.S.A.P. so at least one of my posts is current!

I promise to try and back to writing normally in the coming week.  With any luck, if it is in the cards that we are to keep this house until we are ready to move countries, the new mortgage will be signed and in place on Monday.  Will keep you all posted, and until then, have good days Good Readers.

Digging Up Memories

I just finished writing another post for my autobiographical blog, which you can access following the link provided.  I am discovering that I remember a lot more about my formative years than I thought I did.  As I've been writing, I have been going to specific memories that I want to relate, and then thinking about the specifics of those memories is leading me to remember other really sharp images that I then want to relate as well.  It may seem incredible, but for some random guy who grew up in the Greater Toronto Area, I really do have a shitload that has happened to me over the years.

The problem now is that a lot of the stuff I'm accidentally accessing is stuff that depresses me.

Now, my concern is not whether I can get the stuff out onto the computer, or even how terrible it is going to make me feel delving into the shit, but whether the autobiography blog is going to degenerate into the most depressing blog on the internet.  I'm fucking serious.  The more I think about how things progressed, and the more I think about what i should have had but didn't...I'm thinking that if it is bumming me out, just how bad is it going to be for people reading it?

And my biggest problem with the whole thing is that I'm not getting any feedback from anyone I don't already know.  My cousin has dropped a line here and there about certain of my posts across my multiple blogs, as has my wife (though her spelling is killing me because I can't go in and edit what she's posted in the comments section - she isn't as bad a speller as it seems, she just doesn't have the habit of checking her work before sending it), and of course my roommate Scott tells me what he thinks - trouble is, they know me.  Sure, they don't know all the stuff I'm writing, or even half of it, but they know me and I can't help but assume their words are somewhat biased.  What I'm hoping for is that someone who has followed me on Twitter because of an article on my gaming blog, or movie blog, or television blog, actually decides to go to the autobiography blogsite and reads it, and then has something to say.  Andi has already said that people aren't likely to comment on an autobiographical site simply due to it being my personal experiences and nobody can have an opinion on personal history in the same way they can have an opinion about an opinion.  I just hope nobody thinks it sucks.

I do hope people from Twitter are reading all the blogs, not just the ones that they are likely following me as a result of.  It would be great to know that E! Online cares about the person writing the movie blog rather than just the movie blog itself.  I guess time will tell.

Whatever the reason, I do hope my Good Readers stick with me over the coming years (no, I'm not kidding) as I explore the present here, the past there, and entertainment at the other three.  As long as what I write has a wee audience, I'll keep doing what I'm doing.  Even though some of the sites have a long wait between posts, don't worry:  When I have something to say, I'll say it.  Until next time, take care all!

Whoops, one last thing:  I have now gone over each and every blog and added a list of links to the right-hand side to allow anyone visiting ANY of my blogs the ability to see where I've posted most recently, how recently, and what the title of the most recent post is.  As a result, I will no longer be dropping by this blog in order to simply say "Hey, new blog over here" and nought else.  All you have to do is link to any one of my sites, and they'll provide you with up to date information on my most recent posts no matter where they were posted.  Hope this makes things easier for everyone; I know it makes it easier for me.

Back In The Saddle

Morning folks.  I just threw down another gamer blog post, regarding my pet peeves about people playing multiplayer CoD without a brain in their skulls.  If interested, find it here at Confessions.

Other than that, I'm slowly getting back up to speed, so take that to heart in that I am not writing at full steam again quite yet.  I am awaiting the final confirmation of our mortgage being switched to a new company this week, thereby saving us from losing the house (if we don't get this done by the 15th, we're fucked), as well as anticipating (not) my final dentist appointment for quite some time on Wednesday.  Basically, I have a lot on my mind, and it is screwing me up as far as organizing my thoughts on more than one topic at a go.  Sue me.

I'll fill everyone in on what the latest news is when it happens, and with any luck I'll be back on all cylinders soon.  Until then, take it easy everyone.