I’m not a procrastinator by any stretch of the imagination. I’m the type of guy that gets things done when they need to get done. But every now and then I fall into that bad habit of holding things off. I held off on washing a pile of dishes that were stacking up near my sink and taking up space. Only a plate, a fork, and a glass are still left dirty but that’s only cuz I just used them. Held off on dusting and vacuuming my pad. House is all clean and lysoled now. Even my various air filters (computer, ac) are all clean. Busted the rear tire on my bike earlier last week and instead of fixing it immediately, I waited. That resulted in me driving my car to work, wasting gas. Well, not really. Work is only a 1 or 2 minute drive away.

I travel the same route on my bike to and from work. Put my bike in my pad like I do all the time. No big deal. A few minutes later I heard a loud pop. I was like, “What the fuck?” The sound was coming from the rear tire. I had a self-sealing tube with the goop in it and it was bubbling up but not sealing up. Not even a few seconds later, the tire was completely flat. I inspected the tire and it was so worn that the inner tube was exposed and apparently it came into contact with the ground outside while I was riding and slowly but surely it popped. I was kinda pissed, mainly at the fact that I’d have to drive to work, but then I realized I already knew the tire was wearing and would have to replace it eventually. Just didn’t wanna deal with it. Not the rear tire anyway. Too much of a hassle with all the gears and brake pads in the way.

That shit got me, that’s for fucking sure. I don’t sweat shit like most people. Problems come up, I deal with ‘em. Or I recognize a potential prob and take steps to prevent it or soften the blow. But like I said, I was falling into a bad habit. But I took care of my shit though. Needless to say, and to make a long, pain in the ass story short, I got a new inner tube and tire and I’m back on the road with my bike. Went ahead and gave it a full inspection and fixed some other nagging things. So it’s like new again now. I love riding my bike, especially at night when there’s less traffic and it’s cooler. Good exercise and very refreshing to be out in the open air, exploring different places and paths that a car just can’t travel along. It helps when you’ve got the wind on your side too rather than going against it. That’s the only shitty part.

Also, me and my friend Dre got our Blizzard Beach tickets. Finding them cheap or discounted without getting scammed or having to tour a fucking timeshare proved to be a crap shoot. So we just got ‘em at AAA for a few bucks off. Didn’t matter to us. We know we’re gonna have fun. Just so happens to be my birthday weekend that we’re going (June 26th for the curious).

Ever since it was announced that Akira would be made into a 2 part live-action movie, I’ve been looking for the original graphic novels so I could get a heads up on the source material and so I’d have an idea what to expect since the anime movie is only a very small adaptation of what the story is really all about. There were some at Megacon but vendors either had incomplete volumes or it was cover price. To hell with that. Since then, I’d periodically check online to see if anyone had them available. I figured people would capitalize on the movie announcement but that ain’t the case. Finding a complete set or even a book here and there proved to be too expensive and from too many different online sellers. It had been a few weeks since I last checked and last Friday I did another search. I found what I was looking for.

I don’t believe in luck but it was pure chance that an eBay seller had the complete Dark Horse collection in like new condition for around 120 smacks. It sounded too good to be true but I did all the research one could possibly do to verify that the sellers weren’t scammers and it turns out they’re legit. Had a high rating, had been on eBay for a while, had a physical address and phone number, all the works. I couldn’t let the deal pass me buy and I immediately paid for it. Got an email today letting me know it’s been shipped. I’m so psyched about it, you have no idea. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the biggest manga fan. The only other one I’ve cared to read is the Fist of the North Star master edition series. But Akira is considered a classic and I’ve seen the anime multiple times. I really can’t wait to have those babies in my arms.

Rereading Supreme Power right now. I had the first two trades and got the remaining issues at Megacon. Just starting to read those now. The only parts of the series I’m missing are Ultimate Power and the new Squadron Supreme. But those will come up on the cheap at next year’s Megacon. Besides, when Akira arrives, I’m diving head first into that.

I’ll go ahead and say that using a PayPal or eBay redemption code from online to get a discount is useless now. I tried to use a few and they didn’t work for me. I called PayPal and they said that it has to be emailed to you and is linked to your email. They never send me shit. They probably use those for new customers or those that haven’t used their services in a long time to entice them to do so. That doesn’t mean I won’t try again in the future but at least now I know the procedure. Had to look online for their 800 number: 1-800-221-1161. Damn number isn’t even on their website. Plus it’s mostly automated. Just keep pressing pound to bypass all of that and the IVR will send you to a human eventually. Didn’t even have to hold when I called.

I’m a huge tv buff and managed to empty out my dvr. Watched a movie (Turok) and finished watching the Ninja Tribunal eps of the Turtles that were on my computer. Turok was pretty violent and bloody and I was surprised at those gangsta qualities from an American cartoon. I liked it but didn’t like the ending. I think a better fit for that woulda been as a limited cartoon series rather than a movie. They ran with the theme that “blood follows blood” and I was pretty positive that he was gonna die at the end and it actually woulda made more sense to me and probably the story as a whole. Didn’t happen though. Hope I didn’t spoil that for you. If I did, oh well. The movie’s already been out for months anyway. And the Turtles won like they always do. No surprise there.

My only beef with the Turtles is that they come out with so many crappy toys yet they don’t come out with all the different characters in the TMNT animated universe. I can’t even find a Shredder toy anywhere. The character designs for a lot of other characters are pretty awesome too. Would be a great addition to any collection. But they’d rather continue coming out with variations on the 4 main characters. Yeah, those’ll sell. Maybe that explains why TMNT movie toys are still sitting on the shelves taking up valuable space. Get a fucking clue.

I converted and uploaded a lot of video so that I won’t be so late with the new media updates like I was last week. Sorry. Found a lot of porn that I’d been searching for. Bought the new Mountain Dew flavors and I love ‘em so much that I bought 12 packs of each at a new Wal-Mart that opened a few weeks ago (biggest one I’ve ever been in). Me drinking soda…me actually paying for soda would put most people that know me into shock. I don’t drink soda like cigarette smokers do but I will try new flavors. The 3 new MD flavors taste so damn good I just had to buy a good stock of ‘em so they could last me a bit. They expire in November.

I’d been looking into buying a new vacuum cleaner but the one that I have (a Shark) and thought was broken suddenly was working like a charm again. Can’t explain it. I never wrote about this, but I spilled some green tea ginger ale (tastes really good) on my various remote controls a week or so ago. I can be a clumsy son of a bitch at times too. My tv (a crt 27” Orion) remote went kaput because of my stupidness. Finding their official site via searching online was a waste so I just looked it up in the owner’s manual (I always keep them for everything I own). They had it online for around 20 bucks plus cheap shipping and I got it in the mail last Friday. Damn thing looks and feels new as fuck. Most importantly, it works.

Regular readers will notice I have purchase links on the site now so that if you like the movies and music, you can buy ‘em legit, mainly through Amazon. I’m surprised they approved my site since I have porn on it. But they did and since I buy stuff through Amazon all the time, it was a no brainer to do business with them. So I gave it a shot and it worked out. Wondering if I should give Google AdSense a try now. Nah, probably not. I’m trying to go a little more legit now. I’ll still provide download links (mostly for porn) for stuff that you just can’t buy anywhere though.

And here I thought good hip-hop and r&b was practically dead. Keith Sweat has a banging track on his new album (Somebody). Ashanti has five damn good tracks on hers (You’re gonna miss, Girlfriend, Good Good, In these streets, and Body on me). Usher has 3 hot tracks on his (What’s your name, Best thing, and Love in this club remix). Quality urban music does still exist. But my question is why didn’t any of them release any of these tracks as a first single? That first single is the deal breaker when it comes to buying the full album. I can only imagine how their sales might have been different if they released the proper tracks for public consumption, none of which have gotten regular radio airplay. People blame p2p for sagging music sales. I don’t think that’s the case so much anymore.

You want people to buy your shit, or even sample it or think about it, you gotta give ‘em a reason to. What’s gonna get you interested in a song? Something that makes you tap your toes or something that’s gonna make you cry and feel like shit? Upbeat music will always win in the end. And if you have that and it’s good, why not let people hear it over the other stuff initially? I don’t get it. I’m a beat man. If your beat is bangin’, you got me. That hook is second. If I can sing-along to that shit, you got me. Lyrics is third. If I can understand what’s being said, it’s original and catchy, and I’m feelin’ it, you got me. Yes, artists need to express their full range by having a variety of styles and production. But you just gotta know what’s gonna sell and what’s not. What’s gonna make people spread positive buzz, shake their ghetto ass booties in the club, look like idiots singin’ in their car, and what’s not. I’d love to know who makes the decision on what singles get released. The artist or the record label? I really don’t know and their choices baffle me sometimes.

Look at Gavin Rossdale’s new album. To be honest, I love Bush and that song “Adrenaline.” But this latest outing is a complete and total waste of time in my opinion. The whole thing sucks. And Alanis Morissette only has one really good song on hers (Giggling again for no reason). I’d say Julianne Hough’s album is the only one I’ve listened to recently that has top to bottom good consistency. She doesn’t have a single bad track on that album. It’s not mind-blowing by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s quality music. Currently, I’m listening to Kate Ryan’s new album “Free.” Not too thrilled that the first track is similar to Nightflyer’s “Voyage Voyage” (which itself is a remake of the Desireless song) but we’ll see if the rest is the quality that I expect from her.

Like I said, a good weekend. Got some new tv shows comin’ up this week (The Mole, Fear Itself, Swingtown). Just watched The Mole. It sucks. Especially the host. Found an album online (Above the Rim soundtrack) in perfect quality that I’ve been wanting for a while since the cd that I have skips and results in bad rips. Now I gotta find that Tupac song “Pain” which wasn’t included with this one unfortunately. Got a new monopod that could easily pass for a billy club. Bad enough that I’m a nigger. Cats see me walkin’ around with that damn thing, po po’s probably be on my ass with the quickness. We’ll find out when I get the chance to use it. They could’ve easily marketed it as personal protection (or defensive since ppe’s are usually goggles and gloves and shit) equipment too but they never thought of that. See a motherfucker with a big black stick that extends (not talkin’ about a dick), who gonna fuck with you?

Only 2 bad things happened this past weekend. Statcounter.com was down so I couldn’t check my stats on a regular basis like I usually do. But they’ve been coming back online slowly but surely. And I didn’t get to PedEgg one of my feet. Yeah, that’s a big deal cuz the damn thing really works. Highly recommended! This coming weekend looks to be just as good but I’ll talk about that when it actually happens. Except for all this rain that’s supposed to come down this week. We need it, and I know it’s that time of year when it rains practically every single day here, but that means I gotta drive my car to work. That sucks!