10 Songs I Can't Stand

Recently my kids showed me Rebecca Black's Friday video. I continue to be amazed at the kind of stuff that can go viral on the Internet. For some reason it got me thinking about lame songs. Below I have listed 10 songs that I really don't like. I don't listen to the radio much these days so most of these are old school 80's stuff. When these songs come on the radio, I change stations with the same intensity and speed that a vampires use to get out of the sunlight.

We built this City- Jefferson Starship
Walk Like an Egyptian- The Bangels
Luka- Suzanne Vega
Suddenly-Billy Ocean
Kokomo- The Beach Boys
Return to Pooh Corner (Christopher Robin song)- Kenny Loggins
Puttin' on the Ritz- Taco
Anything by REO Speedwagon- seriously anything.
The Monster Mash- Bobby "Borris" Picket
Break My Stride- Matthew Williams

I'm not trying to be rude to those artists, but there must be something in my DNA that makes these songs painful to listen to. I would rather listen to Escape (aka the Pina Colada song) by Rupert Holmes than any of those songs.

PS- I know music preferences are very subjective so if I stepped on your toes by naming a song you like, then I hope there are no hard feelings. I happen to like certain songs that others feel are horrible like Love Shack and Rock me Amadeus.

Picture of the Month April 2011

Happy Easter.

Some Depressing Topics

There are definitely some things that can promote depression aside from running out of money half way through the month. Here is a list of depressing topics I recommend people avoid. Staying away from these things can keep you from curling up in the fetal position in a catatonic state.

Charlie Brown Specials-Charles Shulz had a gift for creating depressing characters. Demoralized, dejected, pessimistic, bullied, balding characters should not be what comes to mind when you think of kids cartoons. Charlie Brown makes Ziggy look like Robin Williams. Good grief!

Rainy days and Monday- These always get me down (along with any other Carpenters song). I'll admit that Karen Carpenter had a nice voice, but whenever I hear a Carpenters song it makes me sad and depressed for some reason.

Radiation exposure- Chernobyl, Japan, nuclear testing in the 50's, or anything like that scares me. Invisible radiation particles that cause you to lose hair and bleed out your ears before you die is very depressing.

Iron Lungs- I know these are a thing of the past, but when I was a kid and came across the picture below, I nearly died of depression. This is a hospital ward full of kids confined to these machines during the polio outbreaks.

Artsy foreign films- Many foreign films can be depressing, especially the French movie with the kid chasing the red balloon. Ingmar Bergman also has a gift for putting you in a tail spin of depression. Does Castaway count as a foreign film?

Sorry for being Debbie Downer on this post. I'm sure I missed some depressing things so feel free to share what gets you down.

The Tattoo Trend

A current NBA player

I was recently watching some old NBA all star games I had recorded back in the late 80's and early 90's. Aside from the short shorts, one thing really jumped out at me. I could not see one tattoo on the court. These games featured the best players in the league and up until 1992 I could not see any players with visible tattoos.

Contrast that with today. It's rare to find a professional athlete or an Olympian who does not have at least one tattoo.  I can understand if you are a member of an Aboriginal tribe and it's part of your culture, but I just don't get the appeal it has to so many people to draw on their bodies.

I think it would be interesting if tattoos were hereditary. Can you imagine a guy with a dragon on his back and his wife has a butterfly on her ankle. If they had a kid, he'd be born with a dragonfly on his butt. I'll bet if you passed tattoos onto your kids, people would use a little more caution. 

If you are someone who is planning on getting a tattoo, I highly advise you to go to an experienced artist. I have seen some tattoos that look like they were done with a paperclip and a ball point pen. If it's going to be with you permanently then splurge and pay someone who knows what they are doing. Even though I'm not a fan of tattoos, I have to admit I've seen some beautiful ones over the years.

I've never been tempted to permanently ink anything onto my milky white albino flesh. Probably because I've just never seen anything that I thought was so cool that I needed to have it attached to me forever. I thought I'd include one of my favorite SNL clips that addresses this topic.

Childhood TV Memories

As a kid, I watched a lot of TV. I would never let my kids watch as much as television as I did. I've seen every episode of Gilligan's Island and MASH multiple times. To this day, I still associate certain shows with days of the week. For example Wednesday was Charlies Angels, Thursday was Magnum PI, and Friday was the Incredible Hulk and Dukes of Hazzard.

Saturday was a really busy TV day. I'd usually start by watching the Superfriends or Fat Albert in the morning, but in the afternoon there wasn't much to choose from. The only options were American Band Stand, Soul Train, This Old House, or the painter dude with the Afro. This was always a safe time to step away from the TV and actually do something.

The early evening featured scandalous Solid Gold. If you flipped channels your options were Lawrence Welk or Hee Haw. I'd be embarrassed if I was caught watching any of them. At night,  Starsky and Hutch, Battlestar Galactica, Chips, The Love Boat, Hart to Hart, and Fantasy Island were possible viewing options.

At bedtime, If I tried to escape the boring 10 o clock news by turning the channel it would take me to Dr. Who! I never watched Dr. Who for more than a few minutes back then. I used to make fun of it since the old episode's special effects and costumes consisted of tin foil, pipe cleaners, Legos, and yarn. I'd like to compliment the BBC for finally getting a budget. I've seen some recent episodes and they have better special effects and are actually pretty good.

Anyway, my childhood consisted of a steady diet of whatever crap happened to be on TV. Luckily I was able to break the cycle and escape like the rare kid who is able to get out of a deadly gang. It's a miracle I turned out to be so amazing.

Hoarders

I'm usually a couple years behind when it comes to television entertainment. I don't have any TV reception, so I watch certain TV shows on Netflix a season late. Over the years I've watched shows like 24, The Office, Lost, and recently I decided to give Hoarders a shot.

Hoarders is a show on the A and E channel. It highlights the lives of people who are obsessed with collecting obscene amounts of "stuff" at the expense of their health, sanity, and well being. At first glance when I saw these people I wanted to simply label them as slobs who can't tell the difference between useful belongings and total crap. At one point I found myself screaming at the TV as I watched these people trying to justify keeping mounds of rotting garbage in their home or choosing eviction or losing the custody of their kids as opposed to getting rid of their junk.

The people they feature are pack rats on steroids. It doesn't take long to realize that hoarding is not just a matter of poor judgement, but rather a mental disorder. If you haven't seen an episode, you should check one out. It's pretty depressing, but it will help you put things in perspective and realize that what you call a "pig pen" at your house is probably not as big of a deal as you think it is.

I love the feeling I get when I de-junk, give stuff away and clean. There is something so refreshing and liberating about getting rid of clutter. I just wish these people could experience that too. Now what I'd really like to see would be a show called "Chuckers" about people who are obsessed with getting rid of all their stuff who secretly throw away all of their belongings.

Family Code Words

I've noticed that some areas of the United States have different dialects, accents or words they use which are unique to that area. Distinctive accents from Boston, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Texas come to mind. I've also noticed that Utahns like to use the silent T which is ironic since they have such nice mountains, yet they pronounce them Mow-uns. In a similar vein, families sometimes have special substitute words in their vocabulary. I refer to these code words.

Some kids have been taught a family code word for safety purposes and emergencies so they know who to trust. The kind of words I'm talking about are ones that have a particular meaning specifically for your family or friends. They are kind of like an inside joke. I find these come in handy when you want to say something without really saying it. Below I've listed some words my family and some friends have used over the years. Some are the result of a little kid not being able to pronounce a word properly and others are just using a replacement word instead.

Note = milk
Beezoop = bathroom
Apple yah = Apple sauce
Scraps = bra
Chont = trunk
Vibrato = flatulence
Chi-shi = chicken poop

What are some of your family code words?  Try to keep them clean please.

Coupons

First of all I'd like to thank all the new A-Z visitors who have come by Chaka's World. I have already screwed up with the challenge and know I won't be posting every day, but today's topic of coupons just happens to start with the letter C.

Sometimes there is a stigma that can accompany coupons. This is especially true if you use them on a date. I guess it's probably a good thing to see a guy use coupons on a date because then his date will know he is cheap up front instead of having to find out after they get married. On a side note, I once heard that the best candidates for getting ripped off are young guys on dates. If they don't get a dollar back or if they get incorrect change, they probably wouldn't make a scene or argue about it in front of their date.

I have never been a big  coupon enthusiast. I used to make fun of people who would spend time cutting out coupons and then drive all over town to buy an item on sale. That was before a friend of mine showed me how much money she had saved over the last year by using coupons. I was shocked when she showed me the system she uses to save thousands of dollars by playing the coupon game.

I had no idea there was so much free money out there offered by stores and manufacturers for those who are willing to cut out a paper or enter a promotion code. I've actually seen some hard core coupon shoppers at the store not only get stuff for free, but actually get paid money back while shopping!

Thanks to coupons, I occasionally buy fancy expensive razors instead of the single blade cheap disposable razors. A couple months ago I bought $75.00 worth of frozen Marie Calendars pies and Breyers ice cream for $19.00.

As much as I enjoy saving money, I recently quit taking the weekend newspaper since it is messy and I hate the clutter and time it takes to go through ads to look for coupons. Even though I hate the hassle of coupons and jumping through hoops, I may start using them again if food prices go up as they are expected to in the next several months.