The Super Bowl and Other Stories

I haven't done a catch-all entry in a while, so Yet Another Super Bowl Sunday seems like as good a time as any.

We went over to Subrata's today to watch the Super Bowl, in which the Steelers beat the Seahawks 21-10. It was a kind of ugly game, with lots of penalties, dropped passes, and some bad calls, which means that anyone could have won it. The Seahawks could have put it away in the first half if they had executed a little better, but it was the Steelers who put up the big plays in the end. My pregame prediction was that the Seahawks would win it, but I was rooting for the Steelers because I have a mild dislike of Seattle coach Mike Holmgren, whereas I've been watching Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher labor for years and getting taken down by much better teams at inopportune times. So it was nice to see him win it.

The commercials were mostly so-so. We enjoyed the Jackie Chan Diet Pepsi commercial. I was impressed that the organizers basically let the Rolling Stones put on a halftime show of just them playing some of their hits, rather than trying to get cute and pairing them with someone inappropriate. The pregame concert was okay, though the national anthem by Aaron Neville and Aretha Franklin was just terrible. (Geez, if there's one person who ought to be able to belt out the anthem like the drinking song it is, it's Aretha. Bad call, people!)

Many snarky comments were made. Much fun was had. And many Oreo cookies were eaten.

Last night we went to my friend Cliff's 40th birthday dinner. Happy birthday, dude! Another good time had by all. I was impressed that Cliff and one of his other friends were able to discourse for nearly an hour about Star Wars episodes One, Two and Three. And it was a highly intellectual/academic sort of analysis, too! I still think the films are little more than throwaway fluff (especially the first one, which is effectively redundant), but clearly there was a little more thought behind them than I'd thought.

I'm feeling extremely stressed-out lately. I'm hoping that this coming week will resolve much of the stress. But tonight I'm really feeling it right in my gut. (No, this doesn't have to do with my relationship, so this isn't going to turn into a train-wreck journal. Sorry folks. :-)

I'm one of those people who tends to carry most of his stress around internally. I'm a geek, I'm introverted, and my connections to other people tend to be primarily interest-oriented and therefore more superficial than emotional. Consequently I probably don't often look very stressed when I feel stressed. In fact, I've had people comment in recent months that they feel like I handle my stress fairly well, when it feels to me like I'm not handling it very well at all. One perspective on this is that what I need to work on is not so much managing my stress, as feeling it less. I don't know whether this is a useful perspective.

Stress also tends to make me feel unappreciated and even paranoid, which is not a good feeling, especially for an introvert who garners a lot of his self-worth from feedback from others. (Boy, there's a big entry right there for another day.)

Fortunately, I don't have multiple things weighing down on me now, as I sometimes do, so I keep telling myself, "this too shall pass". It can't pass quickly enough, though.

(And lest I whine too much, let's remind ourselves that there's far worse to be coping with. Think some good thoughts for CJ, please.)

On the geek front, my eBay work has been winding down. I sold a big wad of stuff last month, the last of which will go in the mail this week. I made a big push at the end of last year to complete two of the sets of items I want to add to my collections, and am nearly done with each.

Collecting is one of those never-ending hobbies. There's always something else to buy, or discover, or just to upgrade to better condition (this last being especially challenging for someone like me who has a reader's/user's collection, rather than an investment collection). I can't quite say I'm winding down to actually being done, but I'm getting there on several fronts. And then what will I do?

I spent much of 1997-2003 being in "consumer" mode - playing games, reading books, seeing movies, etc. These last 3 years I've been in "collector" mode. It would be good to move closer to "consumer" mode, or better yet to "producer" mode, where I'm actually generating stuff (like saleable fiction, or a better-organized and higher-visibility on-line presence). Being a producer is a lot more work than being either a consumer or a collector, though. Especially when I spend most of the day in front of the computer at work, and any production I do will involve being on the computer at home. It takes more effort, more dedication, and affords less relaxation (mental or otherwise) than the other two modes.

Still, it's something I would work towards.

Most of my "consumer" energy is spent listening to progressive rock these days. Neo-progressive slut that I am, my latest find is Pendragon, another "first wave" band of neo-prog who reinvented themselves (a la Pallas) after an apparently-hesitant start to their career. I think it's the smooth vocals with the unusually strong British accent which I find most compelling about this group. Like IQ, their vocalist seems to be their standout performer, but the lush, tight arrangements are right up my alley, too.

Baseball season is coming. Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in two or three weeks. It's almost time...