Christmas in 2016

Hey gang,

First off, apologies for the lack of content in this blog this year. Time has very rarely been on my side and at times I probably tried to take on too many projects.

As a result, most of the things I tried to get involved with never really got going and here we are at the end of December and I have yet to accomplish a whole lot.

Well, that's not really true.

I've raised my credit scores (per Credit Karma and Capital One's CreditWise) from 550 to nearly 640. My FICO, while pretty low, is at 587 and slowly climbing. I recently was approved for a second credit card that isn't going to be for use, but rather to keep my available credit at a respectable level.

So while the quest for a house remains very much in doubt, the process is going how I would like it. The hope is that I'll be in position to get a house sooner than later, but that requires a little more work with my credit and getting a few other things lined up.

It's Christmas time again though, which means that the fine tradition of coming up with a list is alive and well, even if I'm running out of gag ideas.

In years past, I've asked for a Battleship, a space ship, world peace and domination, and various other silly things mixed with actual things I want. The idea was to see how people reacted to these lists and take a few shots at Santa and his underwhelming elves.

While I still take issue with Santa and his operation, I've come to accept that this is simply how it's going to be, much like how the 2016 Presidential Election went.

The results, while far from ideal, are what they are. No amount of yelling, hand wringing, or legislation will change that.

I think it's become very clear the whole naughty and nice thing is a sham. It appears to be more of who can suck up to Santa the most at the right time, which means kids who've been blatantly awful most of the year can make up for it with the right timing. Meanwhile, some kid can have one bad day in December and all the good can be flushed down the toilet.

And don't get me started on the watching you while you're sleeping stuff. We are getting into some stalker-grade issues here and Santa has clearly been getting away with it for a long time just because he's allegedly jolly. We can't keep going around harping about big brother and the government, yet Santa gets to watch little kids in their sleep.

So Santa, my challenge to you is to make your system a little more fair. Give equal weight to that rocket incident in November and treat it the same like the noodle incident in December. Tighten the operation up and spread the wealth a little bit. I saw the pictures where the tree could barely be seen because there were so many presents. I expect great things this Christmas.

Don't disappoint.

As always, many of the items on this list are legit, but some aren't. Most are highly unrealistic and NO ONE is expected to assist me in any way shape or form.

2016 Christmas Wish List!

• A high-powered gaming PC featuring Intel's i7-6950x CPU and a Nvidia Titan X GPU - Those along run around $1-2k a piece, but you can make this Christmas the best by providing just those pieces.
• An Xbox One S, Playstation 4 (don't care for the pro), and a Wii U - I know, the Wii U is discontinued, but I want The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD.
• Jeep Grand Cherokee - This would solve some of my winter driving issues.
• DJI Drone - Have you seen these things? The 4K video alone is worth the idea, never mind the possibility of having someone shoot it out of the sky just because you happen to come to close to sketchy areas.
• Donald Trump NOT be the President - I don't think I should have to explain this very much. The guy is terrifying and it's getting worse the closer we get to his term starting.
• The winning Powerball ticket - Even if it's only $40 million, there's a lot I could do with that money. Some people close to me would benefit greatly from it. Plus who doesn't want a full-length NBA court sitting in the backyard of their brand new house?
• Minions from "Despicable Me" - these guys, man they just sound so funny and look so squishy and you can do whatever you want to them.
• 2 extra hours per day - I know I don't have enough time in the day, that's for sure.
• Lifetime entry to Cedar Point - I'd be there every weekend. Oh, and it would be cool if I could bring a guest. For free. And eat for free. And a free locker.
• Season tickets to the Cleveland teams - yes, even the Browns. Could I go to every game? No, but you bet your ass I'll be at most of them.
• The ability to decide who lives and who dies - This could be abused, but I swear I'd only kill the ones who deserve it.
• A camera capable of shooting 4K video for future vlogs/video ideas. Most that I've seen run about $1k. So yeah, not in my budget.
• My teeth to not be all jacked up - Yeah yeah, I know, go to the dentist. I know.
• A place of my own and someone to occasionally come over and hang not named Kylie. You know, just something real chill.
• An Autonomous Smart Desk 2 - This is a sit to stand type of desk and I'm particularly interested in getting an extra long one for future video presentations. Plus it would make a pretty kick-ass computer desk.
• A new, comfortable chair - Not necessarily one of these "gaming" chairs because those are stupidly overpriced, but just something that's comfortable and better for my back.
• People to stop being such jerks to each other - This could be a blog post all on its own. As a society, we are so damn worried about what other people are doing and trying to make it a problem that it's disgusting. It goes beyond gay marriage and race, but those are central issues. Simply put, I'll never understand how gay marriage is a threat to the sanctity of marriage when straight marriages were already failing at a spectacular rate. Who cares? Stop worrying if a gay couple gets married and fix your own damn marriage instead.
• Better understanding of mental health - I was going to mention gun control, but I'm conflicted when it comes to guns. Simply put, mental health is still widely misunderstood and people who often need the help most get shoved aside and ignored. We need to get better people.
• My mom's health to improve - this one scares me a bit, more than I'm willing to talk about.
• The best for my friends, family, and everyone else - Seriously, let's all be better to each other. Be there for each other.

I think that's all for now. Not the best, not the zaniest, but I'm getting too old for that shit. It's time to be practical.

I can always ask for an aircraft carrier next year anyway.

In all seriousness, I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and things work out for you in all aspects of life. I've seen far too many people have some issues pop up and you all deserve the best.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and I'll see you guys around.

Maybe.

Has it really been this long?

Hi again.

It's been a long time, hasn't it?

I do believe aside from YouTube spam, it's been nearly 10 months since I last wrote in here.

Some of it is a continuing lack of time. I only have so much time once Kylie goes to sleep to work on anything, and typically I either want to play a game, work on something with my channels, contribute to a tech site, write something, or just look up various things.

More often than not though, by the time Kylie is asleep around 10:30 or 11pm, I'm exhausted. I don't have the energy to do anything too strenuous and I'm creatively tapped out. Then I end up having trouble sleeping, or Kylie wakes up a few times, or the cats run me over, etc, etc.

Really though, it just comes down to not getting enough sleep consistently, working a different schedule at work, and a rambunctious child that isn't always so willing to go to bed, plus the fact that I'm still sharing an apartment with my ex and her oldest. There's always something to clean-up, something to take care, and that takes a toll as well.

That's not what I want to write about though.

See, recently my sister messaged me through Facebook and told me someone I used to know way back when had tried to reach her two years ago looking for me. I got curious and went into messenger and discovered I had 3 different message requests, all from at least two years ago, that I had NEVER seen. I had no idea because at the time, my privacy settings were much more strict than they are now. Facebook just didn't notify me and I had never noticed.

Two were from ex girlfriends that I hadn't spoken to in a long while. The third though was from a girl I had talked to many, many years ago. Hell, I'm not even sure what social media site it was to be honest (I have a guess in my head, but cannot confirm), but it pre-dated Facebook, Twitter, and even Myspace. I remembered chatting with her, but what we talked about escapes me. What I'll never forget is how uniquely her name is spelled. It's really hard to forget a name when it isn't spelled like you'd expect.

What she remembered was enjoying my writing, which makes sense. Years ago, I often bounced from site to site depending on where I could write. I know I used to occasionally write short stories, but much like even now, a lot of my writing was what was going on, things that agitated me, and a whole lot of woe-is-me type of nonsense that I try to avoid these days.

What struck me is how much effort this woman made to try and track me down two years ago. She tried to add me on Facebook (which was impossible at the time), and when that didn't work, she found my sister and tried to reach out to her. Of course, my sister didn't get it until this week, but once she did she let me know, I checked mine, and reached out to this woman.

Much to my surprise, she was excited that I messaged her, which in hindsight really shouldn't have surprised me. One of the things that I remember about her was she was one of the few genuinely nice people that I encountered in social media's infant stage, which is when we originally talked. While there are often still concerns about whether someone's who they say they are, back then it was even harder to pin down whether someone was legitimate or not. This woman seemed too good to be true, but she was always up for a chat.

It's also a reminder that distance isn't what determines friendships. She lives in a different state from me and has experienced some things of her own in the time we haven't talked, but I think that's only going to give us more to talk about in the coming days and months and I'm interested to see what her life has been like and see where it goes.

It kind of ties into what I had for a blog idea earlier about how many early "social media" sites were really just sites that were all about rating one another and so on. I remember a few that existed, "SWYDM (aka So Would You Do Me), "Hot or Not," and the shamelessly titled "RateMyBody," which was EXACTLY how you think it would be like.

Yet SWYDM in particular had a good run where I talked with people and had a lot of fun, even if at its core it was a relatively shallow site. The people I met though made it more than what it was originally meant to be.

Like a lot of things on the internet though, the site evolved and changed, and as it did, it became less appealing for me to hang around on. It eventually changed its name and I eventually stopped going there. I want to say it was after that   when I migrated to Myspace, where I spent a good portion of my time before it became such a waste and Facebook rose to prominence.

Life moved on, things changed, people came and went, and here I am, in December of 2016, still living with my ex, her oldest, and of course little Miss Kylie Brooke.

There's been a small influx of familiar faces of late though; people I used to know years ago finding me on Facebook and chatting it up on occasion. It's been nice to reconnect with some and remember why they were fun.

*Intermission*

I'm currently typing this blog post on my new keyboard, a Logitech G910 (the unboxing is one of the previous posts from this), which is part of why I'm anxious to write more in the future. Typing things up on a laptop keyboard is not fun and this keyboard is a HUGE improvement.

I also want to mention if you like old-school video game type of music (which I just found out is called Chiptune music), an artist by the name of tiasu is incredible. His stuff is on Spotify and if you want to buy individual albums, you can find him on Bandcamp. It's catchy, it's diverse, and I'm digging it so far.

*End Intermission*

I can't promise I'll be posting a lot in the immediate future, much like my YouTube and Twitch channels have been suffering. I do believe things will pick up once my living situation is different and in terms of games, I definitely think things will improve when I finally can put together a beast of a PC and upgrade the rest of my equipment as well.

I just know that there are some out there who really enjoy when I write and it's something I should really be making a better effort at when I have 20 minutes to sit down.

I do have my annual letter to Santa to compose, plus I do occasionally have ideas pop in my head. The key is to remember my Note allows me to write on the screen with the stylus even when the screen is off, which is a great way to jot down ideas.

I also want to record a vlog at least bi-weekly, but that's dependent on things happening in my life worth recording and talking about. They are fun to put together though, so I should try to do more, especially when I have such a fantastically awful story about Walmart and shoes for Kylie to relay.

I'm going to attempt to record that this weekend, but we'll see.

It is the holiday season though, so for the love of all things great, please be nice to each other. I know a lot of us are still trying to wrap our heads around Donald Trump being elected President, but it doesn't make it okay to act like pieces of crap towards each other. Show some love, be kind, and remember that person you're disgusted with is an actual human being and you really aren't any better than them.

I'll catch you guys later.

Maybe.

Davey In Real Life :: EP20 :: How to be Shameless

Davey In Real Life :: EP19 :: Nearly Exhausted

Davey Unboxes :: EP06 :: Logitech G910 Orion Spectrum Keyboard

Davey Unboxes :: EP05 :: Logitech G502 Gaming Mouse