Blue Christmas

It is all but official.  My store, Booknotes, will be closing at the end of the month/year.  It has been open since October 2000, but it is going to be almost impossible for it to stay open any longer.  I was hoping to at least keep it open long enough until I could see if I got into the University of Kentucky Graduate School.  Unfortunately, that will not be happening. Probably.  There is some last ditch solutions that might come through, but as of this writing, I haven't tried anything yet.  The main problem is that I'm not getting enough customers. The location is now so out of the way, it has to be the main destination.  No one would just be browsing nearby.  Even when we opened, this was a problem.  There were mostly services as opposed to stores.  While that changed occasionally, almost no one will be coming by if they are stopping by the church or after a workout.  Doesn't help that places keep leaving for one reason or another.  The recent mudslide didn't help matters either.  Losing our main distributor was a major blow.  This meant I had to go through one where payment was up front, meaning the money had to be there before customers got their books.  Many times, some one would allow people to order without paying first, against the store's policy.  This meant out-of-pocket money paying for things that weren't even it yet.  A final blow was the need to renew the business license.  Usually, such things weren't a big deal, but this year a form actually came in the mail.  That hasn't happened in a long time.  I don't know what to do.  I was hoping to have a job lined up, but that has been harder than it sounds.  How can I accept a local job when I might be leaving in four to six months?  Not only that, but I am not the office type.  The one setting that I might be best suited for, and I am unwilling and unskilled at such things.  I've been independent for so long that I am unsure how to work with others.  It can take me so lone to familiarize myself, I am sure I wouldn't fit it.  I'm best in academic surroundings, even though it has taken me decades to figure that out.  An artist's heart and soul, but with the mind of a scientist at times.  Such a bad combination, at times.  It would take a lot just to keep the store open until I know for certain I will get accepted.  Everything is so up in the air, I don't know what to do.  I'm scared.  I don't want to be without anything to keep me going. I don't want to loneliness to come back.  I don't want to be nothing, again.  I hate this Christmas.  So bad.  So blue, my favorite color.  

But We Still Have the Video

Yesterday, I posted my 31st clip on YouTube.  I still can't believe I have even posted one video , nonetheless thirty-one.  Each one is basically the same.  I'm creating a special logo for my store, Booknotes. Most of the clips are under five minutes in length, but they can get up to ten minutes for some of the more elaborate ones.  For the most part, the logos are thematically connected to an event or holiday that is occurring. I had been creating these logos for over a decade, but I only started recording the process after I got my MacBook. Hey, I had a camera function, so I might I well use it.  Not to mention that YouTube was part of the Google suite that came along with my email address.  I try not to repeat a theme, although that got a little difficult over the years.  Most Halloweens had the same look, but I have managed not to repeat myself that much.  Once I started filming the work, I actually got some fresh ideas that I had never tried before.  Mainly, I was incorporating the letters more into the overall design, rather than just having them done in an intriguing manner.  For instance, my latest vid had Santa's sleigh being drawn by letters in the place of reindeer.  I even have a red "nose" on the lead letter in reference to Rudolph.  Some of my vids have the letters as the theme instead of the word or picture itself.  One of my first vids have each of "o" as a watermelon, with the last one as a cut slice instead of an entire melon.  Another time, each "o" was an apple, in a different color.  I just wish I had done some of these things sooner, as I had some great themes that were never recorded.  I had the letters as hot-air balloons in a Thanksgiving parade.  Then, I had them a floats in a Mardi Gras parade.  Each time, I had tiny people interspersed between the letters to add to the illusion.  For a few months before I started my films, I took pictures of my logos and posted them on the store's website.  Sometimes I included them in both the store's and my own social media pages.  I cut back on both, as the logos tended to make the site look cluttered, but I would still add the pics to albums on Facebook, as long as they were part of the entire decor.  I will have just about one left to do before I end the series.  I don't have an idea yet, but I have about another week or so before I have to post it.  I change them out every two to four weeks, but it's been closer to the low end since I started the videos.  A few of the olde markers are running low on ink, and I haven't seen those colors in many newer sets.  Even some of the newest ones have problems, what with getting cleaning fluid or something on the tips, rendering the marker all but useless.  Just have to get the clips organized for the last grand performance, and then we'll see just how good I have been.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Peeves

I hate bringing this up so close to Christmas, but it is still two weeks away.  So, I feel that it is appropriate to get a few things off my chest, many of them connected to Christmas.  First, the song "My Favorite Things," which I parodied for my title this week.  I keep hearing it everywhere as if it was a Christmas song.  It is not one.  It comes from the musical and movie The Sound of Music.  It is featured in a scene where Maria (Julie Andrews in the movie) is trying to calm down the children in her care during a storm.  While the sone mentions packages, snowflakes, and winters, it does not mention Christmas at all, nor is it being sung during the Christmas season.  Therefore, why do so many people play it for Christmas.  I remember hearing it on one of my mother's Christmas albums when I was a child.  I believe it was Andy Williams.  For many years, that was the only time I heard that song connected with Christmas.  However, for the last few years I have been hearing it more and more, for no discernible reason.  It irks me almost as much as seeing penguins with polar bears at Christmas.  The two species are literally from different sides of the world.  Furthermore, penguins are only found naturally in the Southern Hemisphere, where it is summer at Christmas.  Almost no snow anywhere.  Sure, the birds are cute, but not appropriate for Christmas in the United States.  Next, nuisance snow and ice.  Not enough to prevent going out, but just enough to make me late getting out.  Add to this the problem of not wanting to use too much of anything that could damage my new car, and a nuisance can wind up making me a half hour behind schedule.  This includes deliveries.  On the one hand, I got in a delivery for my store a day or two earlier than I was expecting it, even though I was just late enough coming in that I almost missed it.  On the other hand,  two books that had been cleared to ship with this order weren't included.  I now don't know when they will get delivered.  Add to this that my local comic book store's regular orders for this month were misplaced electronically at the distributor, and now could be weeks late by the time they can be shipped out, well, it is just another nuisance.  Dueling television choices.  Hassles with computer games.  Worries over the fate of my store.  It all adds up.  Look, I don't mean to bring up so many issues right now, but I couldn't come up with a better topic this week.  I know.  Next week will be with a better topic; I know it.  I can't come up with a great ending, so I am stopping this ramble before I say something even more stupid than normal.

Who's Number One, Again, and Again, and Again, etc.

It is the time of year for the year-end best of the year lists.  One I have followed for decades is Billboard magazine's Top 100 songs of the year.  The magazine literally has dozens of other lists, based on things such as genre and format, but I'm talking about the big one here.  I've been trying to come up with my own predictions, based on what I've seen for almost as long, although my calculations aren't as thorough.  Even before I start my my tabulations next week, I can already guess what the number one should be:  "Old Town Road (Remix)" by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus.  How could it not?  It was number one for over five months.  Actually, it is possible for another song to overtake it, if it had more total weeks on the charts and had a lengthy peak position in the top ten or so.  For instance, "Shape of You" beat out "Despacito" for best of the year, even though the latter song spent more weeks at number one, all because the former spent more total time on the charts.  Still, "Old Town Road" will be hard to overtake.  This song is just one of the latest in a trend of songs that stay extra long times at number one, as that song demolished the previous record-holders of sixteen weeks.  Just last year, "Meant To Be" by Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line spent an entire year at number one on the country charts.  Over fifty weeks!  Of course, it was the number one country song for 2018.  This year, Panic! at the Disco has spent over forty weeks at number one on the rock charts with two different songs.  First, there was "High Hopes," which spent a few months at number one.  It was then replaced by their own "Hey Look Ma I Made It."  That song stayed at number one for over two months before it was replaced by "High Hopes" again!  While I usually don't track the rock charts as much, I think I can safely say the "High Hopes" could be number one.  In my opinion, I find it more pop than rock, but what do I know.  I personally feel that this trend cannot be good for the overall health of the music industry.  Such slow turnover can only lead to lead to fewer acts getting the opportunity to shine.  I say this when the Hot 100 chart has had more newcomers hitting the top spot this year then there had been in some time.  Most of them are newer acts as well.  Lady Gaga and Post Malone were the only headlining artists who didn't have their first number one ever this year, for a combined three weeks.  And that includes two different songs by Malone.  It's just seems that I hear the same songs over and over again on the radio.  It doesn't help that my favorite station has a habit of playing older (as in over ten years old) at random times, or their frequent exclusions of rap/hip-hop.  It just keeps staying the same, again and again.  And again.