Hitting the Big [Age Redacted Due to Vanity Reasons]

     Today is my birthday.  I won't mention which one, but it could be considered a milestone.  As I write this at work, I have to use an iPhone hotspot just to get internet service.  I'm trying to use as little as possible, but I do have a lot to do. I'm not planning to do much today for my birthday.  At most, I'll be getting takeout for dinner at a favorite place and maybe a piece of cake from somewhere else.  Because my birthday is in late January, I never really could plan for much.  When I was in school, I only was able to have one party.  Every other time, school was out either due to weather or sick days. By the time I was in college, I didn't have anyone to celebrate with.  This is about the same as it is now. Sure, the pandemic is partially to blame, but I still didn't have anyone close in the first place.  At best, I'll have notifications on social media, but I'm not expecting any gifts, not even a card, although that would be nice. The thing is, I don't feel my age.  I usually feel, and sometimes act, as a teenager.  While I could probably pass as someone five to ten years younger, with help, I just don't consider myself as an adult.  Part of this is due to my anxiety/panic attack in 1996.  The attack pretty much broke me down to the point where I regressed.  Ever since then, I've rarely have had the chance to feel like an adult.  I barely own my own business.  Definitely not to the point where I'm financially successful.  I put off starting a family partly because of this.  The other part is I never really learned how to socialize and date.  I was planning to in college, but when my plans for higher education were sabotaged, I just tried to make due with what I could.  Didn't really work.  Quite frankly, I am usually miserable, just trying to get from one kind of high point to another.  I'm at an age where I should be thinking seriously about retirement and grandkids, but I haven't even found employment or a wife.  I am a failure.  Yes, I've said it.  One misstep here, a small mistake there, and I wound up with nothing much to show for it. I hate it.  I've been trying to recover, in any way I can, but I need more.  I just wish I had more help.  Someone to help show me the way.  Either I'm missing them or they don't realize just how much more I need.  Not that happy a birthday statement, but more me, it is all I can manage.

Tell Me What's the Word, Wordle

     There is a new game that is sweeping the internet called 'Wordle.'  For those who have yet to experience the game, let me give you a brief overview.  You are presented with a five letter word, possibly without any letter repeated.  You have six guesses to figure out what the word is.  With each guess, you are given hints about how right your guess was.  A letter highlighted in yellow means the letter is in the answer word, but in the wrong position. A green letter means that the letter is in the word and in the right position.  A grey letter means that it isn't in the word at all.  A good strategy is to choose a word with many vowels as your first guess:  arise, arose, irate, radio, ratio.  Words with an 'e' are slightly better than those without.  Unless your first guess had multiple correct letters, your second word should feature a vowel not it your first and as many different consonants as possible, such as 'think' after 'arose' or 'thong' after 'irate.' After the first two words, you should know which vowels appear in the answer, and probably at least one consonant.  For my first time, I had 'arose' as my first choice, with a yellow 'a.'  My second word was 'thick,' with the 't' in the right position.  From this, I know that 'a' was probably the only vowel, as there aren't many five-letter words starting with 't' that include both 'a' and 'u.'  My third word was 'twang.'  I wanted a word with 'n' as it was the most frequent letter I hadn't tested yet.  The 't' was still in green, naturally, but the 'a,' 'n,' and 'g' were all in yellow.  I immediately decided that 'a' was the second letter, based that it probably wasn't the last letter, the only other position left.  Also, 'n' and 'g' were probably third and fourth based on letter combinations.  This left a vowel for the last position, but it couldn't be one I used before.  The only word that fit was 'tangy,' which was the correct answer.  Similar sites have since popped up with copycat games.  This is reasonable, as 'Wordle' is based on a word game that has been around for years.  I believe it is called 'Lingo' among other names.  The premise is very similar.  Two people each choose a five-letter word, frequently from a certain category.  Each player then guests a word and the other player then tells the first if any letters were in the word and if any were in the right position.  Players only have to give the number of letter; they don't have to specify which letters were correct.  The game ends when a player guesses the right word.  There are other puzzles for one that are similar as well.  One goes by 'Letter Logic.'  In this game, you are given four four-letter words, each with one letter that is in the answer, but none are in the correct position.  You are then given three more words, each with two letters that match the answer word.  One letter is in the correct position, but the other is not. With this information, one can determine the answer word.  Another puzzle goes by 'Secret Word.'  Here, you are given clues to a list of five-letter words. Among the clue answers, each letter appears at least twice.  The first letters of the clues provide an additional clue to the final answer, another five-letter word.  Each clue word is followed by a number between zero and three telling you how many of the letters are in the final word.  This is enough information the guess the final answer, even without knowing anything about letter positions.  I have yet to go back to the site for more attempts, as I slightly prefer the paper and pencil versions.  Also, the only benefit of playing is posting your record on Twitter.  Since I'm not a member of the platform, this benefit is lost on me, so why play unless I discover further benefits or challenges.  Note, today's post's title is based on the Cameo song "Word Up," a longtime favorite of mine.

There Is No Business When There Is Snow Business

     The first big snowfall of the season fell last week.  Fortunately, I closed my store extra early and managed to get home before any snow actually fell.  I also didn't go into work the next day, as road conditions were still a little too bad for driving.  While I wasn't at work last Friday, the snow removal company hired by the shopping center was.  As usual, they piled the snow mostly up against the various light poles around the parking lot. For some reason, the biggest pile always seems to be at the pole just in front of my store.  For the past few winters, I had been lucky that they were mild and didn't require having major snow removal problems.  In fact, last year's lone event was so small that I was able to get into work and park at my normal spot before the removal began.  This led to a much smaller pile away from my spot.  Here is a picture of the current pile, taken on Monday, January 10, after an entire day of moderate rain and a weekend of above-freezing temperatures. Note how the snow had already melted off the hillside across the road from the shopping center.  Much of that had melted on Saturday.  The pile is about ten feet 

tall, as you can estimate from the car in the background.  As of today, Wednesday, January 12, the pile looks about the same.  Meanwhile, other piles around the shopping center have noticeably melted.  This is due to them being smaller to begin with as well as receiving more sunlight later in the day.  This additional sunlight allows for more melting.  This snow pile mostly gets early morning sunlight, where it does very little as the temperatures are not warm enough to help in the melting.  What's worse is that there is some melting occurring. However, since the temperatures are still getting to below freezing, the melted snow is refreezing overnight, causing a huge patch of ice to form on the other side of the pile.  This is leading to a slightly dangerous situation for those drivers who try and take a shortcut or go the opposite direction of the traffic flow. While the short term forecast has warmer temps the next few days, there is also a chance for one or two minor snow events.  This could lead to more plowing and a bigger pile.  Even without more snow, I doubt the pile will be down enough for me to get my parking spot in time for my birthday in two weeks.  The worse part is that the pile would pretty much be melted by then if it had just been made in a spot closer to the road.  The pile would be getting more sunlight and any melting would lead to a smaller area to refreeze.  But no, the removal service has to place the snow by the light poles, even when it is clear that, in this instance, this is not the best location.  I mean, there could theoretically be a body hidden in that pile and no one would know about it for a few weeks.  None of the other piles on the lot are this big, although still big enough hide something.  This pile is big enough to have two or three, theoretically.  At least there are still plenty of parking spaces left for my car and any potential customers, especially since the neighboring unit is now empty.  No more Zumba sessions once or twice a day, although I almost miss the music.  Almost.

It's the Natal Countdown

    For the past few weeks, I have been posting video selections of every song that was at number one during the week of my birthday.  I have been going in reverse order, starting with my least favorite and working my way up to my most favorite.  I let the public know exactly what I was doing this past Saturday, just as I passed the halfway point.  Here is a recap of the first half of the countdown.

• #50 "Laughter in the Rain"  Paul Anka 1975
• #49 "You're Sixteen"  Ringo Starr 1974
• #48 "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"  Elton John and George Micheal 1992
• #47 "At This Moment" Billy Vera and the Beaters 1987
• #46 "Grillz"  Nelly and Paul Wall, Ali, and Gipp  2006
• #45 "Bump, Bump, Bump" B2K and P. Diddy 2003
• #44 "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" Micheal Bolton 1990
• #43 "The Box" Roddy Ricch 2020
• #42 "I Knew I Loved You" Savage Garden 2000
• #41 "All for Love" Bryan Adams/Rod Stewart/Sting 1994
• #40 "The First Time" Surface 1991
• #39 "Baby Come Back" Player 1978
• #38 "U Got It Bad" Usher 2002
• #37 "Hold It Against Me" Britney Spears 2011
• #36 "The Tide Is High" Blondie 1981
• #35 "Together Again" Janet (Jackson) 1998
• #34 "Let Me Love You" Mario 2005
• #33 "Havana" Camila Cabello f. Young Thug 2018
• #32 "Two Hearts" Phil Collins 1989
• #31 "Love Rollercoaster" Ohio Players 1976
• #30 "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" Daryll Hall and John Oates
• #29 "I Will Always Love You" Whitney Houston 1993
• #28 "That's What Friends Are For" Dionne (Warwick) and Friends (Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John)
• #27 "Irreplaceable" Beyoncé 2007
• #26 "Without Me" Halsey 2019
• #25 "Timber" Pitbull f. Ke$ha 2014

As one can see from this partial list, I tend to dislike older works in favor of newer ones.  Also, many of the rap/hip-hop number ones are clustered near the bottom as well.  This is somewhat intentional.  I am always trying to stay on current trends.  While I still like much of the older works, I am still looking for the new.  The low placing of rap isn't because I deliberately hate the genre, just that I don't like the ones that hit number one during my birthday week.  There are some hip-hop songs ranked higher, but not too many.  My current tastes lean towards dance-pop, and the higher numbers will reflect that.  Also, there isn't much rock on the list.  In fact, there haven't been that many pure rock songs that hit during the birthday periods.  In fact, hardly any rock songs manage to crack the top ten anymore.  I have a few of those near the top though, but they are tending older.  I'll have another recap after I finish the project, which will include a bonus entry for this year's song, which has a high probability of being Adele, at least at this point.  I would prefer "Oh My God" to "Easy on Me," but a surprise song could debut instead. We'll see.