Has It Really Been Two Years?

    It's a little early, but I'm giving my opinions on what the number song of the year could be. Sure, HUNTR/X could pull off a fast one and end up having "Golden" do something spectacular, but I believe that these three songs are the only real contenders. First, there is "Ordinary" by Alex Warren. The song has been number one for the most weeks this year. However, it debuted much later than the other two songs, so it lacks the longevity that most year-end number ones need. Next is "Luther" by Kendrick Lemar and SZA. The song is based on a Luther Vandross song that itself was a cover of another song. In fact, a sample of Vandross is used on the track. It spent many weeks at number one, and it was on the charts for a fairly long time. Finally, there is "Die with a Smile" by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars. It first debuted last August to qualify for the Grammys, where it did wind up winning an award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group. It took a few weeks to reach number one, which it finally did after the holiday song glut broke. In fact, it is still in the top twenty as of this week, a year after it first came out. In my personal opinion, this song has the best chance to take the top spot.

    "Die with a Smile" is not the only song that has been on the charts for a long time.  Two other songs that are older are also still doing quite well. First is "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" by Shaboozy. It debuted in the spring of 2024 and, aside for a few weeks last fall during the Christmas blitz, had been in the top ten until this week. It has been on the charts for so long that only this week has the follow-up, "Good News," has finally overtaken it on the charts. It debuted last summer.

    However, no song has been on the charts as long as "Lose Control" by Teddy Swims.  It debuted all the way back in August 2023. It reached number one in the spring of 2024.  It got knocked off the charts last fall due to various rules.  Specifically, songs that have been on the charts over twenty weeks and would no longer place in the top half of the charts are no longer listed. The Christmas rush pushed the song below the top fifty, removing it from the charts.  However, it got re-listed back in January, where it pushed back into the top ten.  It is still in the top ten now, two years after it first charted! Of course, it easily holds the record for most weeks on the Top 100 chart.

    This is the third time since 2020 that this record has been broken.  First, it was "Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd. Then "Heat Waves" by Glass Animals beat it out by a few weeks, only for Swims to take the record this summer. "Lose Control" has been on the charts for so long that it has outlasted not one, but both the follow-ups that came out later. (By the way, I like both "The Door" and "Bad Dreams" a little more than "Lose Control.")  I put the blame on streaming. Back in the days when radio airplay and physical single sales determined the charts, even the best songs rarely spent more than twenty weeks total on the charts on their initial runs. Now, streamed listenings over various platforms are the biggest factors for success. Since there are no limits to how much a song can be streamed, totals can keep adding up. This can make it harder for newer songs to find an audience, but it can keep an older song popular well past its original, natural ending. 

    Personally, I feel that songs will soon be forced off the charts after a certain date. I've never streamed music, and I don't plan on doing it in the near future. Streaming just skews the metrics of popularity too much to have so much power over the charts. Now, if I only could hear "Golden" on local radio.

Pop Goes the Pawpaw

    I have been waiting for two new limited-edition flavors of pop to come out for a while now. About two weeks ago, they both hit the shelves.  However, I have yet to try either one of them.  There are a few reasons why, but they are pretty significant.

    First is the first ever limited-edition flavor from A & W, Ice Cream Sundae. This one was announced late last year.  Why do so that early? No idea, but it is now out. The reviews I've seen online suggest that it is based on root beer. I would have thought that the cream soda flavor would be a better base, but the reviewer could be wrong.  The predominant flavor is chocolate, with at least one reviewer comparing it to a chocolate soda. Another one suggested that there were hints of cherry, but mostly in the background. One reviewer actually added creamer to his drink to get a more traditional sundae flavor.  Now, I'm sorry, but I hate this 'dirty soda' trend of mixing other beverages into your pop. That is the main reason why I hated Pepsi's Wild Cherry and Cream flavor from earlier this year.  Too much of a dairy flavor and not enough vanilla.  While individual bottles are out there, no local store I have visited so far seems to carry them. These first reviews kind of turns me off to try a full carton of twelve, mainly because I don't really like too many chocolate-flavored things.  For instance, I couldn't stand chocolate milk or chocolate ice cream when I was a kid.  Still don't think I'll like it, although I haven't had either one in a very long time. Even a six-pack of larger bottles might be too much of an investment if I don't like them.  Still, I will be searching.

    The second pop is the latest limited-edition flavor from Ale-8-One, a regional beverage company here in Kentucky.  Now, I've never had any of their products, from the original ginger ale through all of their newer varieties--from cherry to their other limited-edition from this year straw(berry-water)melon. However, their current one intrigues me.  It's pawpaw. That's right, America's very own 'exotic' fruit. Almost no one outside of the Appalachians has ever tried this cousin of the tropical custard apple. Oh, there have been attempts to cultivate the fruit tree, but the actual pawpaw is so far too delicate for widespread shipping, especially since in can look disgusting when fully ripe. Somehow, with help from Kentucky State University, Ale-8-One has managed to capture the flavor of a pawpaw in a pop. Unlike most of their products, this one is shipping in cartons of four instead of the typical six.  All glass bottles. While the original ginger ale is sometimes available in plastic bottles, this variety doesn't. I've looked for individuals, but almost no one carries a wide variety of glass bottles. So, I will have to but them buy the carton, if I can still find them.  Almost all of the first batch has sold out, if not completely, by now.

    This is a shame, because I used to love pawpaws when I was a kid. One of my great aunts had a tree in her yard. I would get a selection of them after older relatives had their share. The tree stopped bearing fruit while I was still young, so other relatives and friends would search the woods each fall to help me get my fix on the fruit. However, by my late teens, I had turned off of pawpaws. My picky eating habits didn't like the fact that the fruit had to turn dark brown or black before being ripe. Having people I didn't really like bring them in didn't help either.  Finally, I was starting to get a rash if I peeled my own fruit by hand, a fairly common disturbance. Swallowing the entire whole seed while trying to get all the flesh off didn't help either. At least they aren't poisonous like the seed of the custard apple. It's been so long now that no one who used to hunt pawpaws for me are still around, even if I did want to try one. This Ale-8-One might be my last best chance to relive this part of my childhood. I just have to find a bottle opener.

Updating Updated Updates Again

    This week, I'll be updating a few things that I've been discussing these past few weeks.  Again.  I have to  say, there has been so much going on, that I just have to keep updating things until everything is caught up. 

    First up, my car. I finally took it in for yet another evaluation. This dealership identified the problem almost immediately. My tires have very uneven wear, causing them to bounce and rotate, making the noises I've been hearing.  Considering the local road conditions, it was hard to tell exactly what had been wrong. I mean, I drive over so many roads in need of repaving, as well as very curvy ones, it would be hard to tell what problems came from my car and which were due to the roads. The problem can easily be fixed by replacing them.  While I should have them replaced as soon as possible, I could get a rebate on new tires if I wait until October.  This would put problems on my plans for shopping trips to search for missing comics. Still, I will see what they say when I take my car in for an oil change in two weeks.  We have a theory as to why the previous dealership couldn't determine this simple cause sooner. Like two of my cars, this one came from the waning years of the model before it was discontinued. While not from the very last model year, it was the last one that didn't have the stop-and-go gas-saving feature most new cars now have. (The mechanic said that this feature can now be turned off and on in some newer vehicles.) We were thinking that someone really wanted my old car, and that is why the other dealership was pushing so hard for me to sell my car. So, it looks like I might not need a new car for a while longer.

    [As a corollary to above, I received a free trial for SiriusXM from one of my other recent trips to the first dealership. We tried to activate it Monday by phone call. The person on the other end of the line was so pushy into trying to start a full subscription, as well as having a hard to understand accent. For some reason, the trial wasn't activated. I kept checking for it on the evening drive Monday and the Tuesday morning drive, but nothing. On Tuesday, Sirius emailed us a feedback survey to fill out.  They received a very low rating. They sent out a second email late Tuesday, after they failed to reach us via telephone. (We had used my store's landline for reference.  They called about an hour after it closed for the day.) We finally called back this morning, and the three-month free trial has finally started. I'll now have it until just before the partial trial starts for Thanksgiving.]

    Speaking of comic books, that is the second topic. My latest email was finally read last Wednesday afternoon.  Apparently, the manager doesn't work on weekends.  Or Mondays and Tuesdays, which I was somewhat certain they were open on.  Anyway, the delay caused me to miss out on one of my books for July, but I was able to order the other fifteen. I was expecting them to be delivered this past Saturday, but they didn't arrive until 4:00 pm Monday. I'm not sure why the longer wait this time around, but for brief period of time, I was only down single digits of comic books. As of today, that number has jumped to ten, plus a special I might want that I didn't realize was coming out this week. If I'm lucky, I might be able to get my missing July comic when I go on my late summer shopping trips.  If they aren't delayed too long. One of my older titles will be out in the trade collection later this month, and I've already placed an order for it through my store.  The other two older ones won't be out until November, but I'm ready for them. I'm thinking about placing my first August order from the Lexington store next week, as they seem to go faster.  We'll see. Page 3 Game Zone has still not fully reopened, but their Facebook page suggests that it will be soon. No word on comics yet from them, but I am waiting. Still waiting.

The Mystery of the Disappearing Shopping Center

    When Page 3 Game Zone, my local comic book shop, got devastated by the February floods, I almost volunteered my store as a possible pick-up point for them. I could have set up something for people to pick up their regular orders and possibly have some of other products as well.  If not that, then maybe set up some temporary storefront at my shopping center. We had a lot of empty units, with another one opening up soon after.  I shot this idea down, as I feared it would come off as selfish and greedy. Still, I mentioned that my store could help out in a comment on their Facebook page.  [In some respects, maybe I should have went down in that direction. In the past five months, I have had to go through four different stores, in three different states, just to get all but three of my books up through June. I'm still trying to get the sixteen titles for July through one online store, but I'm having problems contacting them about confirming my order. Hopefully, Page 3 will start their comic book shipments back soon before I have to start ordering too many from my August pull.]

    Strangely enough, no one ever came to rent any units at the shopping center, even though it had some of the few spots available in the area.  What was even stranger is that the center took down all of the 'for rent' signs down sometime, and I never noticed.  I walked by some of them every day, but I guess I just took them for granted and missed when they were taken down. We heard that at least one possible tenant called about renting, but they were told that the units were going to be remodeled. This was odd, as the renters were usually the ones who did the remodeling.  Even when major changes had to be made, such as removing asbestos, it was the renters who did it, not the center. Some people thought that the center was leaving units empty as a tax benefit. The center would get a bigger tax break from empty units, rather than from renting them out. Maybe, but it sounded off. We even asked to take some leftover fixtures that were left behind some of the units, but the center has yet to have someone come to help us out with this. 

    Well, last month, the regional manager for the center came by with a photographer to take pictures of the units. I immediately was against them doing this, but I got overruled. They took pictures of at least a part of each unit.  (They may have bypassed the church, as there was a visitation/funeral going on.  Yes, there is a church in the center.  For those who know, it took over the dialysis clinic's spot.) At least a few people believed/were told it was for 'insurance' purposes. However, one renter knew the photographer from one of the local realty companies. Sure enough, I helped compare pics of him, and it did look like the photographer. Now, an insurance company would most likely use their own people for this sort of task, not a realtor. Something seemed up.

    The rumors had been running for well over a year that the center was going to be put up for sale, most likely to the local hospital or university. There was no clear reason why either would want a shopping center, especially one so far away from downtown where most of their properties were located. Now, the current owner of the center is not the same one who built it. The current owner is the parent company behind Food City.  They bought the center about the same time that Food City took over the Piggly Wiggly that was originally here. The original store was torn down and rebuilt to the current building, now home to the company's discount grocery chain, Food Center Super Dollar (a combination of their original store and a second one they bought out).  While it is unlikely the main store would be sold, nothing else is out of the question, including the church. Both potential buyers have shown that nothing like that would stop them, if they really wanted to go that far.

    This October 7 will mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of my store, Booknotes. Now, there is a chance that I will have to move or even close if these rumors turn out to be true. I might not even make it to October, but that is a long shot.  Of course, I could be exaggerating the facts due to a lack of knowledge, but one has to plan for the worse case scenario. I only got this location due to the cheap rent and large amount of parking. I wasn't even planning on keeping the store open for more than a few years, but the 2003 flood messed up all of my plans, and I still haven't been able to fully recover. I hate not knowing enough to know what to do, but something is going to happen soon. I just can't figure out what.

Car Zero Five, Where Are You?

    A few weeks ago, I started noticing a sound coming from my car.  It wasn't constant. It would come and go, get louder and softer, and sometimes blend in with the normal car noises. It would sometimes come with a vibration. I finally had the car taken in for the day at the dealership. While they could hear the noise, they couldn't pinpoint what exactly was causing it, which must have been difficult since I only heard the noise while the car was running and moving while giving it the gas. The best they could do was suggest that a part was slowly deteriorating and would need to be replaced at a certain time. Well, I got into contact with a mechanic friend of my mom's. Turns out, we didn't give them all of the correct information when the car was taken in. The mechanic suggested that something happened when the tires were last rotated, just before I started noticing the sound. We took the car into a tire shop and had the tires rotated back. The sound was still there, only more towards the front of the vehicle instead of the rear. We contacted the dealership again, and they had a slightly different suggestion of what was wrong. Something a little more serious that would be more expensive, almost up to the point where it might be easier to just buy a new car and let someone else deal with my old one. Well, we ultimately called the dealer who initially sold us the car, and he felt that that might not be the problem. We scheduled yet another appointment to check the car a yet another dealership, as we heard some bad things about the tire shop whenever they dealt with non-tire issues. After that appointment next week, we'll see what's up and maybe take it back to the dealership where I first got the car and get a final assessment.

    In the interim, I'm starting to look for a new car in a worst-case scenario.  I have three primary criteria in a new car.  First, it can't be an EV. Now, I'm all for supporting the environment, but electric vehicles just don't have the same output as traditional ones. They are also blocky, bulky, and usually ugly. Also, I really don't have any accessible outdoor electrical outlets at the place I'm renting. Even if I did, I park in a lot across the street.  While there are outlets at the center where my store is, the place is older than me. I would have major compatibility issues. Besides, I might not be staying at either place much longer, but those are topics for future posts.

    Second, no SUVs or trucks. I don't have to transport large numbers of people or heavy loads. The heaviest thing I usually take is myself at around 170 pounds. I don't need all that space or power. Furthermore, my mother is not only a frequent passenger, but she also drives my car at times. I'm over eight inches taller than she is. (I can't tell you how many times that I have bumped my head or knees all because she forgot to move the seat back.) She would have a hard time getting into most SUVs, and an even harder time trying to drive one.  Forget about trucks; they would be even worse on her.

    Finally, I want an American automaker. While foreign models are well-made, they just aren't for me. My mom had ones for well over fifteen years, and I hated it. While it didn't have too many problems in that time, most notably the mouse incident, I never felt right in it either as a passenger or driver. In fact, all four of my previous cars have been a GM. Three Chevrolets and one Oldsmobile. I would love to keep the streak going. Only after these three criteria are met will I start narrowing down the details of what I really want.

    Unfortunately, the only car that any of the GM brands make that fits is the Chevy Corvette. Even if I cold afford one, my mom would never let me have one. The only one that Ford makes is the Mustang, and my mom doesn't like that one either. While I haven't checked too much into the other domestic automakers, things aren't looking that good. Sure, GM has some 'small SUVs' that almost could work, but they are really just redesigned station wagons. I will not compromise in getting a new car, but it looks like that is what I might have to do. I noticed this six years ago when I first started searching for my current car, my second Impala in a row. Trends were moving away from the styles I liked, and into styles that I would never get. I would almost prefer fixing my car, even without the guarantees and warranties that the repairs would last, just so I wouldn't have to get something I hate. It's not fair that the only cars being made for the majority market are from foreign brands or an EV that is practically useless for my lifestyle. These trends might change, but not soon enough for my benefit.

Further Obstacles in My Comic Book Crisis

    Time for another update in my ongoing attempts to find all of the comic book issues I've been missing out on since February, due to my regular comic book store being closed due to the flooding. After cutting my number of missing books in half after ordering from on online store based in Lexington, I began searching for another store to look into. [Note:  If I had had my way, I probably would've gotten all of my books, if not for someone's interference.] The easiest solution was to check out to only store that didn't get affected by the floods.  It wasn't the type of place I wanted to go to, but it was nearby. While they had a lot of comic books, they were mostly very, very old.  The few newer books they had were all from publishers I don't collect. The place was a bust.

    Since previous stores I have gone to wouldn't have gotten the older material back and taking the day off to travel hours to a new store just in case they had what I was looking for wouldn't be feasible, I began searching for online stores to shop from. I limited my search to those in state to make it easier to calculate things like sales tax and shipping costs. I quickly found one in Louisville that looked promising. It had been around for a long time, a large online store, and a secondary location. Between their two locations, I was able to find every issue I was missing, in some form. Some were available in both places, but in different variants. Some were only found at one location, and not in the least expensive form. One issue was only available in a variant over twice as expensive as the regular cover. Still, I went over each store's selection and made out a list. Whenever possible, I would get the cheaper version. While this would mean two separate orders, it would make my total costs slightly lower than just getting almost everything at one spot, with only one or two from the other.

    After double checking my lists, I started the order with the secondary location in Florence. As soon as I clicked the first issue, I was instructed to start an account. No big deal. It took a few tries getting, as my computer kept messing up the password memorization process, but I persevered. I continued my order and went to checkout. Typed in my address and card information, no big deal. I was finishing up when I came to shipping options. I was given the choice of pickup in store, and nothing else. Now, in my research, I confirmed that they did ship throughout the country, but even after I went further into checkout, I wasn't given the option. I logged out, without continuing or even closing out my cart. 

    When reading the welcoming email a little later, I found out the bad news. The stores were moving their inventory to a new online sales portal, so shipping would be halted for the moment. I have the worse timing. Fortunately, the email mentioned the possibility of shipping. I replied to them about my situation and some questions about how to order. They responded somewhat quickly. It turns out that the Louisville location was actually the satellite store, with Florence being the primary one, and that Louisville doesn't really handle shipping. The Florence store does pick up product every few weeks, though.  Since one of my titles was only found there, this was encouraging. All I had to do was send in my list. Easy enough, I just had to include which variants I would find acceptable. Next, my shipping address.  Sure thing, my store as I have to delivery to my place and PO Boxes were a hassle to pick up from, if even acceptable. Finally, I would need the email address associated with my PayPal account.

    Now, I do have a PayPal account. I had to set one up to place some order years ago. However, I never set it up with my bank accounts, just my rechargeable debit card. Part of it is safety reasons, another is laziness. Since my card has only a limited amount of money on it, I would need to now the total costs before giving them that information. I emailed them this, along with my list of comics, with a note about how one was only found at Louisville.  I emailed them again when I realized I forgot my address. The next day, I sent them a final email, with my notes, a final list with one extra title, and my store's address. They haven't responded to my emails yet. Now, they are closed on Sundays and Mondays, (I've found that many comic books stores, and even book stores, are closed on Mondays. Never felt like this was a thing, as none of the places I've been to were ever closed on Mondays. Definitely nothing around here, including my own book store.) so they might need some more time, but I'm getting restless.

    As of right now, I'm prepared to give up on Florence, but I would be unsure of what to do next.  The only other online comic book store I've found in Kentucky so far is in Owensboro. That's a little further away than I was planning on going. I can always try the Lexington store again, but they would only have the most recent books, as I've already gotten the older ones there. I'm thinking about going back to Wise on morning, but that might be another week or two away. Page 3 GameZone is getting closer to opening.  They've already started getting in product, but not comics yet. I can't be sure if they will get back the comics they previously ordered for February and March. (They hadn't had time to order anything for April or beyond before the flood.) They might be able to get those comics back; they might not. The odds are higher for more recent comics that just came out though, so I might have a shot at those. The first trade paperback collections start coming out next month. I hate having to pay so much for just one or two comics I hadn't read yet, plus a bunch I already had, even at the wholesale rates I get for having a store.  I've done it before, though, whenever I missed a comic. I just hope nothing happens to the store before I can get them all. (More on that in the coming weeks.)

    I just wish I knew something. I've got other things I want to buy, and I can't until I can just get one simple email. [An online store has been pestering me that I haven't bought anything lately, and they are running a massive sale this week. Other possible purchases as well.] The waiting is the worst part.

Mapping the Malls, Mapping the Malls

    As I mentioned in my recently completed series, most of my 'trips' having been for shopping.  As such, I am quite familiar with the layouts of every place I go to. This is not just about going to them so often, but also about what to do in case something goes wrong.  Fortunately for me, I've only had one instance where I had to vacate a mall, and that was in an anchor store. (False alarm, but I did have to travel down three escalators and wait outside over ten minutes in late November to make sure nothing was wrong before we were allowed back in.) While I am sure I have been to many such malls in my day, there are only three that I've been to often enough to have this level of familiarity. There have been others, of course, but I either never went to them that often or I was so young that I didn't make a mental map of them.

    The first one is the Southside Mall at South Williamson, KY.  Of its original three anchors, two were regional favorites (Watson's and Dawahare's) and the third being Kmart, which dominated the north end of the mall. There were also a mega-drug store and a Kroger connected to the Mall, but not actually a part of it. Even at its late 80s height, only the Kmart could have considered crowded at any one time. The two corridors were way wider than necessary, especially with only two main entrances. (One being at the rear next to the theatre, and almost nothing else down that way-- a Sears appliance store and a Christian gift shop.) Once the anchors, including the outside two, started closing, the Mall lost its touch.  Although some stores have come in as replacements, I haven't been back there in over fifteen years.

    Now, the Huntington Mall at Barboursville West Virginia is something else entirely.  I've been there dozens of times, the Mall I've been to the most. Basic north-south layout, with an east-west crossing corridor and two additional smaller corridors on the west side between the ends. While the Mall itself hasn't had too many changes, the anchors have. Sears, the original largest anchor at the south end, would close, and the space is being taken over by a community college. A number of smaller units were combined to create a quasi-anchor in Borders, only to be taken over by BAM after it went out of business. Macy's is still the same, although it was Lazarus at opening.  Phar-Mor was built as a fifth anchor on the west end of the horizontal corridor, only to be replaced by Dick's after it closed. Dick's would go on to take over a bunch of smaller units in expanding. Stone and Thomas was the only single story of the original anchors, only to be rebranded as Elder Beerman. The space would be chopped up upon closing, with most of the space taken by TJ Maxx and Homegoods, with a shared checkout and expanded doors. JC Penny's is the north anchor. It tried to expand in the early 90s, adding an entire furniture section. This section would be closed off in a later remodel, but the ghost can still be seen from the outside. I will probably commit an entire post later this year to the Mall, after my annual late summer/early fall trip.

    The Fayette Mall in Lexington, Ky is the largest one in the state, and the largest one mall I've ever been to. The original mall has an unusual design, where the four main corridors don't combine to form a central courtyard, but are instead the sides of it. The north corridor is about a unit east of the south corridor, while the west one is about a unit north of the east one. Macy's is the largest anchor, with three stories. (Yes, this is the one with the fire alarm mishap.) JC Penny's is the mid-anchor, and the smallest of the original spots, although it only took over the space in the early 90s. Sears was the original south anchor, as well as the largest one. That all changed when the southern expansion came about. Then they went out of business, causing major problems getting from one part of the mall to the other for a while.

    That is until the remodel. The entire Sears spot became a number of smaller stores, but only H + M even had the tiniest part of a second floor. There are two halls around some of the stores to get to the restrooms for the area, as well as secondary mall offices and the fire exit. There are even two units outside of the east entrance to the area that didn't even want to be a part of the main mall, built as part of the reconstruction. At least the way to the southern expansion is still the same. It was built higher up, so there are steps and ramps to get to it. While the main corridor is mostly straight, the crossing corridors are not, with the entrance ends being further south than the inner ends. MacAlpin's was the original anchor, but it became Dillard's a year later.  It kept the staircase to the mezzanine salon though. Dick's became the 'fifth' anchor, but much later after the rest of the expansion was opened. This causes problems reaching The Plaza, a mini-shopping center behind and south of the main mall. Again, this deserves an entire post, probably this fall after the pre-holiday shopping trip.

    An honorable mention goes to the Mall at Lexington Green. Originally, it had two anchors at the west and east ends, with most of the stores between them and the central hub. I only into the hub once, when we got there before the stores opened, and my mom had to go to the restroom. We found out that the stores inside the hub were being forced to move out, after Joseph-Beth Booksellers wanted to move to the hub. After that, it meant that every unit had their own outside entrance, making the mall more like an upscale shopping center than a mall.  They still call it a mall though.