JamesSlusher.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Here’s hoping that the year ahead is full of prosperity and wonderful happenings for everyone.

There is an old superstition that whatever one is doing at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve is what will be happening to them in abundance all year long. If there is any grain of truth in this belief, I should be getting plenty of sleep in the coming year.

Here are a few of the things I would like to accomplish in 2005 (no particular order):

• Decrease my consumer debt by half.
• Build an inventory of furniture for Automan Empire and sell at least one piece.
• Have another child.
• Build the Automan Empire website into a potentially viable commercial site.
• Lose 20 lbs.
• Redo my laundry room and get a new roof on the house.
• Landscape my yard.

Don’t want to do much do I?

This is the last workday of 2004 for me and I can’t wait to get through it. When I go back to work in 2005 I will be the new N.O.T. coordinator and will have a new set of responsibilities. Which is cool, something to break the monotony.

Now if I could just get a job that actually pays more and is permanent…

So here is the really important part of Christmas, my list of presents received:

• The Ultimate Manilow (CD by Barry Manilow)
• Blade on DVD
• Blade II on DVD
• 2 Versapack batteries and a charger (for my cordless drill)
• 3 very bright flashlights.

And before you ask, yes I like Barry Manilow and no, I don’t know why you can buy everything I wanted on Amazon.com.

I spent the day with my mother, brother and sister-in-law. We did various and assorted things which included going to the Laurel and Hardy Museum in Harlem, Georgia. Oliver Hardy was born there, you know. I mean in Harlem, not in the museum.

We ended up back at mom’s house and watched a double feature of Collateral and Terminal. Both excellent movies.

It was a good day, very laid back and fun.

It’s almost party time! It’s going to be fairly small this year, but nonetheless I am always excited about it.

Merry Christmas to you all!!

UPDATE:

I defy you to show me a more beautiful family.

Wow, the 23rd already. When I get home from my stinking job tomorrow it will be Christmas Eve! I’m really looking forward to the festivities with the family. I love my family very much and enjoy being close to them all.

I can’t wait to see Emily tearing into those presents. She is old enough now that it will really be something. Watching her play with all those boxes will be a real hoot, I’m sure.

At my wife’s urging, I went out and got my hair cut today. She suggested that I get it done like Paul Walker’s hair. I can’t actually manage that because I’m not getting highlights and my hair is much straighter than homeboy’s.

I did get it cut awfully short though and bought some gel stuff so that I can keep it eternally stiff and messed up simultaneously. It takes a little getting used to, as I have had the same haircut for decades. But I can get used to having a hairstyle that requires me to have messed up hair. I can see this working to my (lack of) strengths.

UPDATE:

My buddy Todd (who is now my partner for a short time at work), mentioned the eternal darkness that we suffer through at work. It is a huge bummer and one of the reasons I tend to dislike my job.

We work from 6:45 to 7:15. AM to PM on days and PM to AM on nights. When the days start to shorten up this time of year we see almost no daylight on days we work. There are no windows in the part of the plant that we work. It is possible to go 4 days and never see sunlight. If you work any OT, it can go on indefinitely. It is maddening and depressing. That describes much of my job, though.

Have I ever mentioned that I would like to run my own business? For some reason that thought just popped into my head. Again.

I’ve started training for a new position at work (not a promotion, just different work)which requires me to get in 45 minutes earlier than previously. I just want to say this one thing: OH MY GOD 4:45 IS EARLY.

I will get acclimatized to it. But good grief getting up that early sucks right now. Really, really.

The much anticipated pictures of the fireplace!

As a point of reference, here is the original stonewall/fireplace: