What's That Song Title Again, 2024 Edition

    It is time for my annual set of puzzles based upon the song titles from the previous year. I've done these types of puzzles before using television shows, movies, and book titles.  Song titles are my favorites though. The first puzzle in this series involves paraphrasing. Below is a set of some of the top 100 songs from last year.  However, the words in the titles have been replaced with similar words.  For example, if you saw "Your Physique Resembles an Unpaved Rural Driving Surface," your answer would be "Body Like a Back Road by Sam Hunt. (Not as big a compliment when put in those words, is it?) The answers to the puzzle, including the artist will be at the bottom of the post. 

1. Relinquish All Direct Supervision 
2. Tavern Tune (Slightly Inebriated)
3. Set of All Exquisite Exemplars
4. This Being Needed a Second Being to Accomplish Actions
5. Those over There Are Unequal to Those Here
6. Highly Caffeinated Coffee Beverage 
7. Very Expensive Infant
8. This One Recollects Sum Totality 
9. Excessively Saccharine 
10. Period Between Last Leaf Fall of Autumn and First Snowfall of Winter
11. Possessively Desire-Laden
12. Avians with Similar Plumage
13. I Beg, I Plead, I Acquiesce
14. Have Positive Fortunes, Dear One!
15. Lightly Sleep
16. Two Weeks 
17. Hydrogen Dioxide in Liquid State
18. Capital of Texas (Cowboy Footwear Malfunctions)
19. Pastel Light Red Atmospheric Conditions
20. Amorous Emotions Cease to Exist Throughout the Sooner State
21. Stage Name of Escapologist/Magician Weiss
22. Stage Name of Magician/Escapologist Weiss
23. Final Stage for Onset Stage
24. Sufficiently Warm for Carry-out
25. Cease to Live While Grinning
26. Storage Area of Vehicle Being Used as Sleeping Compartment
27. Viewing Cosmic Balls of Heated Gasses
28. Pale-Colored Equine
29. Elevated Travel Surface
30. Set Directly to Maternal Figure

ANSWERS

1. "Loose Control," Teddy Swims
2. "A Bar Song (Tipsy)," Shaboozie
3. "Beautiful Things," Benson Boone
4. "I Had Some Help," Post Malone and Morgan Wallen
5. "Not Like Us," Kendrick Lamar
6. "Espresso," Sabrina Carpenter
7. "Million Dollar Baby," Tommy Richman
8. "I Remember Everything," Zach Bryan and Kasey Musgraves
9. "Too Sweet," Hozier
10. "Stick Season," Noah Kahan
11. "Greedy," Tate McRae
12. "Birds of a Feather," Billie Eilish
13. "Please, Please, Please," Sabrina Carpenter
14. "Good Luck, Babe!" Chappell Roan
15. "Snooze," SZA
16. "Fortnight," Taylor Swift and Post Malone
17. "Water," Tyla
18. "Austin (Boots Stop Working)," Dasha
19. "Pink Skies," Zach Bryon
20. "Ain't No Love in Oklahoma," Luke Combs
21. "Houdini," Eminem
22. "Houdini," Dua Lipa
23. "End of Beginning," Djo
24. "Hot to Go!" Chappell Roan
25. "Die with a Smile," Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars
26. "Truck Bed," HARDY
27. "Stargazing," Myles Smith
28. "White Horse," Chris Stapleton
29. "High Road," Koe Wetzel and Jessie Murph
30. "On My Mama," Victoria Monét

Just Another Boring Birthday

    So, my birthday is coming up this weekend, and I am not expecting too much out of it. I've had only two actual birthday parties in my entire life, both when I was a kid.  The first one I remember was from just before I started school, about four or five. It was technically just relatives, mostly adults, a few kids most older than me. I got my only Lego set that year.  One of the older kids built it for me, but the instructions were thrown away. This meant that I could never recreate the build if I ever took it apart. I did, and the space lander or whatever was never the same. While I love building stuff, memos never got me any Lego or any other sort of building set. I asked once, but I was near the upper limit of the age range by then. The other party I had was in sixth grade. I was planning on something grand, but things got out of hand. I left to pick up my weekly comic books at the Osborne drugstore just as the guests started to arrive, with some friends of theirs that I probably shouldn't had included. By the time I got back, there was no way I could control the chaos.  I had invited my three closest friends to the party.  My best one declined. A second one left after a short time because he felt uncomfortable. This left my most boring friend. Fortunately, I also invited his younger brother, who was a little quiet but much cooler in my opinion. As evidence, that brother is now a Border Patrol agent. Every other birthday when a was a kid happened in the middle of either a snow event, a flu event, or some combination of the two, preventing any school-connected party from happening. I almost had something in high school. There was a girls' basketball game where I would be playing with the band.  The game got called off at the last minute, so I was stuck there while my mom was part of a band boosters meeting with other parents.  At least it was a mild night standing outside. Not that not having a party was good either.  One Sunday birthday, I stared out the window watching chipmunks play in the snow for an hour, while waiting for the gifts and cake later that afternoon. Another time, I had my mom hide my gifts around the house for me to find in a treasure hunt. One of my gifts that year was a book on etiquette. Ugh. Seventh or eighth grade I think. College wasn't any better.  My birthday fell on the weekend the first two years, so I couldn't contact the few people I still knew for anything. For my last two years, I had no one to talk to so nothing then either. At least I was at school. I may have stolen away to pick up comic books one of those years, even though my mom didn't like it when I did that. Nothing since, due to the fact I had no one to throw a party with. Not even coworkers, as my one short stint as an employee occurred during the summer. One thing I used to do was take a shopping trip close to the date.  In the late 90s, I got some great hauls.  For the last few decades, I've had to move the trip to late February or early March to avoid the snow and cold, since I travel greater distances than what I used to. My usual tradition is to get a small slice of cake, two or three servings, and prepare one of my favorite meals.  Unfortunately, my birthday is on Sunday, and I am not planning on going out that day. I don't know if I should get it early or late. Also, I was planning on going out to renew my license that Monday, meaning I really shouldn't eat some of my more "interesting" meals that could cause me a few "problems" if you know what I mean. But then, there are snow showers possible Monday morning, or maybe rain. No one is agreeing yet. This means that most of my plans for my birthday might have to be delayed as I have to schedule not only the renewal, but a book delivery that might be delayed anyway. One with some books I have been wanting. This looks like it will be another dull birthday, one where I can't seem catch a break.

An Unexpected and Uninvited Guest

    So, I had a mouse in my place last wee.  This is not the first time that it has happened at either my current residence or my old home, but this time was very weird.  I don't know how the mouse got in or how long it had been there.  A nearby place has been having some work done on it.  We were in the middle of a cold snap.  I've even seen a new cat in the neighborhood hanging by the front door a few times. Maybe the mouse got in when I wasn't watching from bringing the groceries or decorations in, or possibly when taking out the trash.  I don't know.  Last Wednesday, my mother saw a mouse dart in front of her and scramble from the bathroom to the laundry room.  A bit later, it darted back. She said it was mostly grey with a bit of brown. I almost had to laugh at her from the way she was panicking, but I didn't. I was fine for the rest of the night, although she was still a little scared. The next day, I had to drive her out of my way so she could pick up some rat poison.  The place no longer carried the brand she used to like, but she picked up some cheap alternatives. She put some out just before going to bed.  I was getting ready myself, finishing up, when I heard a rustle from just outside my door.  A little bit later, the mouse scampered under the door and into my room, scurrying around my bed to the far wall.  It would then go behind my bed, along the next wall, under my armoire, and then back under the door. Until that moment, I had never known a mouse to get into my room.  It looked about the same as what my mom described. It ran into the hall, but only to return and enter my mom's room.  She was crazy.  There was no way she was going to sleep in a room where there might be a mouse, even though it may have happened before without her knowing it. I spent over twenty minutes trying to get it out from under the bed, and all of the junk she stores there.  Finally, after making as much noise and movement I could while holding the broom my mom wanted to hit the mouse over the head with, it finally ran out of the room and into a spare bedroom. I managed to shut the door to the room and watched while my mom got some boxes to place in front of it to block the gap to try and prevent the mouse from escaping. I finally got to go to bed, after 12:30, but I took me forever to go to sleep, whether from the action or the worrying over the mouse, I'm not sure. I was up at 1:00 and then maybe 2:00 (I'm not sure if I had been fully asleep yet.). The next morning, my mother called someone who works for the utilities to come in before work to fix a mousetrap for her. I could have done it. My mom thinks it from a fear of hurting my fingers.  It is more due to not wanting anything too violent to happen to the poor mouse. He came in, and fixed the trap, with my mom placing it into a torn up cardboard box to make it easier to dispose of the mouse once caught. We went to work, only to leave early when the snow hit. (We took the longer way home, via the new road at Harold rather than Abner in case the roads got bad.  They didn't appear to be so, but it did feel slightly safer.) The trap was still empty, although there were some cat paw marks in the snow on the porch.  Later that night, about 10: 45 or so, I heard some metal being moved.  A few seconds later, there were a series of loud bounces. I got up and saw the trap.  It had gone off when the mouse was captured. It was such a strong bounce that it was over a foot away from the box where it had been. One of the mouse's rear legs was still twitching. My mom got to work disposing of both the trap, and then the box, placing everything in bags and taking them outside.  She then mopped the vinyl floors just to make sure there was nothing on them, even though she knew that the fumes could keep me awake. I would have helped, but I just couldn't look at the poor thing the way it was. It was sort of cute the previous night. I just couldn't do it.  There have been no sightings since, although the poison is still out just in case. At least if the poison works, I won't have to see its effects. I hope there aren't any more of them.  Please.

On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas

    If this title is not already the title of a horror movie or a mystery novel, it should be.  Really.  Anyway, the last and twelfth day of Christmas was earlier this week.  People now have no reason to keep their decorations up, but some have.  Sure, most decorations have been taken down, such as the pair of skeletons dressed up as Santa and a female elf sitting on a bench, but some had not.  Just yesterday, I passed houses with their lights still up and on, although that might have been because the power had been off from the recent winter storm and had just been restored.  Maybe they didn't have time to take them down.  Who knows? One house just up the street from me not only still have some Christmas figures on their porch, they still have some Halloween decorations on their second story balcony. At least Wheelwright didn't have that problem, as they didn't put any up last year.  There was a disagreement with on one the officials who said they didn't like some of the decor, so none were put up at all.  Anywhere in town.  Quite a shame actually, as my mother was in a position to get one of the better-looking ones put up nearby. Oh well.  At least the last storm ended up being a little less dreadful for me than it could have been.  The snow started about an hour or so earlier than anticipated, with rates of about an inch an hour.  However, it stopped by early afternoon before starting back after many gaps as sleet before transitioning to sleet, then freezing rain, and finally rain by night. Sure, I wound up staying at home on Monday to let the roads get cleared, but there weren't really any big problems for me.  Well, it took over thirty minutes to clear off the ice-encased snow from my car yesterday morning and there were some bad spots on the roads, but I was overall fine.  Most place had a little over an inch after the melting from the rain.  I got to see a buck elk last night in the old field, and at least two deer cross the road on the mountain. There is now going to be a second storm in a few days, and I have no idea what is going on.  I barely knew about the winter weather advisory for today.  For some reason, The Weather Channel is not giving local conditions on the air, only from the website. While it might be nice knowing what is going to happen in dozens of cities across the country, it doesn't help me.  I couldn't even be sure about what the range the temperature could be.  My phone has an approximate one, but it usually thinks I'm somewhere else when at home. It is slightly better than have the video feed freeze but no the audio. Local television isn't much better.  The corporate owners of the Hazard station decided it would save money by ending the weekend coverage. I didn't get any local weather news until Monday morning about the last storm.  I couldn't get decent information about the early alerts for the next storm this morning either. I finally saw a map with the counties involved, as well as those for today's advisory, but that was the most I could get at once, without trying to read about multiple counties over three states in a scroll.  The Lexington and Huntington markets barely cover anywhere so far from their home stations, so missing out on weekend weather updates will hurt. The pattern is setting up similar to one from a few years ago, yet almost in reverse.  That time, there was a heavy snow Sunday night into Monday, a brief advisory on Wednesday, and a large icing event the following Saturday. Even the roof and ceiling damage at Weddington Plaza is repeating itself. Currently, the next system is trending 3-5 inches with either pockets of less/more snow possible.  I estimate closer to 2-4, but even my frequently accurate predictions can fail without good data.

Further Ramblings for a New Year

    Just like last week, I really have nothing to write about today.  I am just using today's post as a place-holder to make sure I keep a weekly schedule.  Back before I had my own computer, but I did have my blog up and running, I would either schedule a post ahead of time or just skip a week.  I no longer have that excuse since I have had a computer.  So, what did I do on my blogcast last year?  I had a weeks long series about my love of comic books, followed by a monthlong series about my favorite RPGs in October.  I commented on my favorite clothes and an exercise challenge.  I dissected a very famous meme from the Olympics (the BULGE!). I did my annual set of puzzles based on the song titles of some of the biggest hits of the year. [I'm thinking I will have more problems coming up with them this year.  Paraphrasing titles might be easy, but the letter-switching and emoji puzzles will be tougher.] I mentioned some new products, many of which haven't debuted yet. I talked about some of my shopping trips and about what happened during them.  I tried taking a poll about what my next blog series should be, but no one has yet commented on it.  I might be going with the restaurant idea, but the planning suggests quite a few problems.  My early estimates suggests it could take sixteen posts to cover them all, which translates to four months of posts.  That is way too long to cover one topic, especially since it would mean delaying more topical posts. I might have to double up my weekly posts, either to get through the series faster or have two different threads running simultaneously. Basically, I'm just typing now so that my MacBook's battery can recharge before going on to other things. I know, running it this way is not always the best idea, but at least I can tell long it is taking. After I post this and the accompanying link on Facebook, I will be working out before going back to my usual Wednesday online routine. At least I don't have to spend an hour for work. Speaking of my store, I managed to finish inventory in almost record time, even with interruptions.  I finally took home the last of the store decorations yesterday, just barely dodging the rain to do so. I just realized I have to update the store's website to a post-Christmas design.  I was supposed to do that yesterday, but I forgot.  Oh well.  I guess I have more work to do today than I thought. Best to finish up then. See you next week.

Ramblings on a Christmas Morning

    I'm pretty much finished with everything to do with Christmas already, so I don't have much of anything to talk about today.  No one is probably going to read this today anyway.  Well, maybe, so why be topical? I mean, no one offered suggestions for my next serial posts as of last week.  No one found the term "takeaway" instead of "take-out" in last week's post, or commented on the strikethrough 'victim' as part of a pun to the title either.  Anyhow.  Today is just another boring day, albeit a little behind schedule.  I don't get gifts any more, as it is only my mother, and she is not the best at getting me gifts.  She has been known to mess gifts up even after I tell her the exact things to get.  I've already finished going over hundreds of books coming out in February, a task I started yesterday but had to stop when my computer's battery started to run down and it was too close to closing time to start recharging it. (I found nine more books that I might get for the store, or myself.) There were only three customers at my store yesterday:  a woman who came in to pay for some chocolate-covered cherries she got but had problems getting her credit card transaction to work, a man who got a gift certificate for a neighbor, and a man who picked up almost $400 in cherries he ordered over a week previously.  We had to stay open a little later than planned for the that one.  The rest of my day will just be my usual random internet searching, a few games, a weightlifting session this afternoon, and maybe a nap.  I have to be ready tomorrow when I have to start the year-end inventory, as well as the trying to figure out the best order to take down the Christmas decorations so I can take home the more delicate things on days without a forecast for rain.  Some things won't matter if they get slightly wet, so I'll probably take them back first. My special technique for counting inventory is sort of tricky, but I realize I can't explain it in an easy fashion. It allows me to not just tabulate what the stock currently is, but also double-check on what had been sold over the past year.  (I do weekly checks on those books, but I have been known to haphazardly miss one or two.) Quite frankly, I am starting to get bored writing this morning.  I always planned on having a brief post today that kind of just plods along, so I feel I have achieved that goal. See you next week.  Year.  Whatever.  Merry Christmas!

Serial Filler

    Earlier this year, I wrote a series of posts about every single place where I bought/could have bought comic books.  I followed that up with a much shorter series about every single place where I bought my World of Darkness RPGs, as well as places where I almost/could've bought them.  I also had a few posts listing some of my favorite things.  Well, I've been thinking about doing another such series.  On one hand, it gives me content that can last for weeks, if not months.  This makes it very easy to plan my blogcast.  On the other hand, I sometimes forget some of the details after planning so far in advance.  I also have to delay some more topical posts rather than interrupting an ongoing series. My recent RPG series delayed the past six weeks of posts, making some of them slightly later than they should have been. Still, the ease of creating such series makes them very desirable.  So, what should I write about next? Books would have been a great choice, but I pretty much already mentioned practically all of them in my comic book series. [I have visited one new book store, the Barnes and Noble at the Fayette Mall in Lexington, since that series.  I didn't buy anything.  No magazines, but some graphic novels and manga. It really had a great atmosphere.] I don't really want to rehash mostly the same material so soon.  Magazines might be a little better, as a few places that I hadn't mentioned in my comic book series would be included, but maybe not enough to warrant going over them again.  Toys were a possible choice, but many of the same places would be brought up again.  Furthermore, I really haven't bought any toys since the early 90s. (Yes, that would place me in my early 20s. Don't judge.) I also have no idea where some of the toys I got as gifts came from.  Now, music might be a good bet.  I used to buy all sort of singles and albums back in the day.  I still buy CDs.  I bought three in the past two years.  Unfortunately, most of these places have gone out of business. I've even forgotten many of their names. The few places that remain have seriously cut back on product, mainly relying on vinyl, a format I can no longer play. I also don't have any digital recordings.  I'm just not into that format yet.  Video games were another possibility. The only problem is that I haven't bought a new console game in twenty years.  Haven't even played one in almost that long too. Mostly, it is just mobile apps on my MacBook and iPhone. Clothing was a strong choice, one that I've mentioned a few times.  Remembering which places I actually bought stuff from, as opposed to just browsing, might get difficult.  Also, I've pretty much just bought clothes from just three stores over the last decade or so.  Maybe four or five if I add shoes and mail-order. I thought about doing supermarkets/grocery stores as a unique take.  Sure, I've already covered many of them, but there might just be enough that haven't made the list yet to warrant doing a series on them.  It just feels a tad boring and dull. [As an aside, in planning for a possible series, I thought that most stores had a counterclockwise flow from entrance to check-out.  Turns out, while the majority do, many stores have a clockwise flow.  Many more than I originally thought.] The leading contender for my next series, though, will be restaurants and other food service places.  Dine in, takeaway, and even some delivery.  Just going over the Pikeville/Coal Run area will take three weeks.  Probably more.  There would be many repeats, with up to eight or nine locations of certain ones.  Sometimes with two for the same locale.  Still, this is the one I'm leaning towards.  Of course, I could take this into a different direction entirely.  I could go with car dealerships or libraries (three to at least eight, with maybe two or three more to the former if I include those my mom dragged me to).  I could go with favorite magazine runs and subscriptions. Toy lines. Television viewing habits.  Meal plans.  Exercises and routines. (I'm currently up to 115 abdominal crunches in a row.) The list literally goes on and on. So, what will be my next victim, topic?