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Well, a barrage of rain, some untimely winds, and a huge eucalyptus tree literally crushed my ability to post the rest of my self-preservation tactics aimed at surviving the holidays.  Days before Christmas I was standing outside as a falling eucalyptus tree down the street pummeled 7 power, cable, and internet poles.  It was awesome.  A week, stuck in your house, with your family, no cable, internet or phone.  A real Christmas miracle.  Anyway, the rest of my game plan would have had something to do with prescription drugs, Schindler's List, and my Great Aunt Kayleen.  It remains unformulated.

Music time:

Haphazard for the Holidays - Strategy for Survival #1

Alright, love 'em or hate 'em, everyone needs a strategy for surviving the holidays.  For me, I'm going to take it day by day, adapt, like a chameleon.  The Von Trapps are coming over for a sing-a-long, no problem, I just remembered I have to run to the mall for a last minute item real quick, where I will sit at Starbucks with my laptop for an hour. Insert nosy relative's name here wants to have a one on one chat about where your life is going, no big deal, confess to not having a life plan and grab some more pie. But even with this bullet-proof master plan in play, I've decided to nail down some specific tactics to ensure a Happy Holiday.  So:

Strategy #1 for Surviving the Holidays: find a completely refreshing and new band you just can't get enough of - and listen to them ALL THE TIME.  My pick: Warpaint.

Okay, they're not exactly new, having been around since 2004, but they're new to me. Four girls from Silverlake, hypnotic and psychedelic, intricate weaving of guitar, bass, drums and vocals, and a little dissonance as the cherry on top.  Needless to say, but I will anyway, I really like them.  Their newest album is called The Fool, check it out.

Don't worry with dysfunction running rampant through all those warm and gooey family holiday moments, I've got more strategies to come.  Stay tuned folks.

Helllllo December! So glad you're here!

I had a few ideas for this blog post...

• FIFA - Russia, cool. Qatar...really? I mean okay I guess.
• Pirate Bay - the "menacing" makers are going to prison.  Hmmm, well I get why companies/judges with their hands in the company money jar, I mean, ahem impartial government officials are angry, but private companies controlling the internet, well I don't like it
• Cute baby polar bears who get eaten by their fathers, as seen on NatGeo; did not like!

Anyway, when it came down to it, turns out I didn't have it in me to actually write a post on any of them. Oh well, here's an article by someone not as lazy: What a third of the world has TB??? Okay, I knew that, probably has something to do with me studying diseases or something. But, really, wow.

Every time I hear someone cough on the bus, I cringe.  I'm convinced I'm either being exposed to TB or whooping cough.