Brand-vertising

Same as any kid growing up watching a lot of movies and television, I was definitely inundated with a lot of commercials and advertisements. Some of the funniest commercials were always the Coca-Cola commercials. I remember this one in particular where a guy goes into a store in Asia and is trying to act out how to get a coke. (Youtube link here)

Commercials like this happened all the time, and definitely stuck in my head. But as I think about it right now, there is a battle being waged inside my head. One part of me quite sympathetic and loves the idea of Coca-Cola. Red label Coca-Cola. Served at McDonalds. Exclusive beverage of Disneyland. True American. What's not to love? I guess the product, because I hate it!

My problem is I hate the taste of it. It's the worst! People tell me it's so much better with real sugar, so I've tracked down bottles from Mexico at Vallarta and tried it. Still not any good, though. I like Diet Coke just fine, but regular, red-label Coca-Cola is just the worst. (I'm a Diet Dr Pepper guy. Honestly, better than regular.)

I wish I didn't hate the taste, because I like the brand name just fine. They did a lot of good advertising in my formative years, I think. I like seeing it around. My mom and grandma and uncle use vintage Coca-Cola in a lot of their decorating, and I like that. Feels home-y.

It's kind of weird to think--that in advertising to me specifically--Coca-Cola won the battle, but lost the war. I have nothing against them, but I will not buy their product. I will go buy Diet Dr Pepper. Or store brand Diet Dr Pepper (Diet Dr K at Ralphs). Or Schweppes Gingerale (also made by the Dr Pepper company, as I have found out in researching this).

I feel like I'm missing out in not enjoying Coca-Cola. Like those people that hate Disneyland.

Meerkat Manor

City workers did maintenance on the road today, directly out from where my window is. Cars keep cruising up the hill and braking in front of my house and no matter how many times it happens, I keep peeking outside to see who's here.

Just someone braking past the cones too late.

Published

I submitted my poem Mission/78 to the San Diego Poetry Annual back in October. I got an email tonight letting me know it was among those selected to be published in the new issue this March.

Therefore, I can excitedly say, I shall be published!

Read the poem here.

Model Smile

The boat disembarked with a noise scarcely louder than a microwave. There was no start, no jolt, and no bon voyage from the docks. The vessel left the port as indiscriminately as anything 95 feet in length could. Those in the port, mostly locals and regulars, didn't seem to notice as the Oceanside 95 set out of the harbor.

Eleven souls ventured out with the crew that day. A husband and wife, a mother, father and their two children, and a party of five coworkers loosely affiliated with one another.

She doesn't care for me, the husband thought. She doesn't care one bit. Otherwise she'd be out here with me. I do hope we find a whale. Then maybe she'll be interested.

The wife sat inside the galley of the ship trying to order food the deckhand of the crew didn't know how to prepare, and convincing a daughter from the family aboard to play cards with her.

My damned husband, she thought. His idea of taking me to the beach is to go out on the water and look for whales. What do I want to see a whale for? Doesn't he know I got horribly sea sick that one time?

The wife and the daughter from the family aboard played war, traditional and Egyptian, for two hours. Both the husband and the girl's family cajoled them to come outside, but they were much too interested in the card game, and much too disinterested in the forty-five foot marine mammal whose course they had intercepted, to take a break and come outside.

"Thank you for taking me on this," the wife said to her husband as the Oceanside 95 docked. "I had a great time."

Aging

The more and more I see, the more and more it seems that getting old is a pain in the ass.

My grandpa was in great pain today. He is the standard by which I measure how painful something is. I've seen that guy endure a lot of things, and today he couldn't even draw in a deep breath without crying out in pain.

The best case scenario is that he has pleurisy.

I guess I need to accept that no matter what, no matter how well I take care of my body, what I eat, what I don't eat, eventually (unless I die 'prematurely') I, too, will get old. And I, too, will ache. I will be in further pain sometime up ahead.

Not clear what the worst case scenario is for him right now. Fingers crossed it's not cancer.

On the other side of the coin, I guess joyful moments are inevitable, too. Beauty still exists in this world, and I can do my best to contribute to that. There are moments of fun to be had. Love to be shared. Smiles to spread.

I suppose one can only hope that they were dealt out more from the jar of good things.

Writing Implement

Over the holidays, I really wanted to get a typewriter so I could have something dedicated to writing. I also like having a physical copy of what I'm working on w/o having to print all the time. (Besides, ink cartridges should be the new standard by which we determine wealth they cost so damned much.) But after lots of careful consideration, I think I've decided a netbook would be more versatile and useful.

Basically, all I'd want is a laptop that could browse the web and open a word processor. I have a desktop for my games and general time wasting, and I think this could help me get more productive.

Production -- gotta get me some of that!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Better Idea

I have been sick the past couple of days and missed an easy solution to a problem I was facing. My steam challenge to myself, to beat all the games I bought this holiday season, is now being blogged about on its own blog so this can be my personal thoughts/ramblings/poetry.

http://steamchallenge.blogspot.com

Steam

Recently, I've been purchasing a lot of games on Steam during their holiday sale.

In order to motivate myself to beat them, I've decided to do a blog check off. When I begin to play a game I will blog about it in a post titled Steam: (Game Name). There may be updates while I play through, depending on enjoyability/frustration (and of course how long it takes me), and at the end I will write a short review and grade the game.

So far I have:

Humble Indie Bundle 2
-Cortex Command
-Braid
-Machinarium
-Revenge of the Titans
-Osmos

Humble Indie Bundle 1
-Samorost 2
-Lugaru HD
-World of Goo
-Gish
-Aquaria
-Penumbra: Overture
-Alien Swarm

The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR)
Star Wars: Dark Forces
Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith
Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

Half-Life
Half-Life: Blue Shift
Half-Life: Opposing Force

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Indiana Jones & the Fate of Atlantis
Loom
Dig

Plus I already have The Orange Box (of which, I regularly play TF2) and The Ship.

Needless to say my plate is full with games.

PS - If you want to friend me on Steam, my handle is mltreadway