Nightmares, Rescues, and Takeovers, Oh My!

Well, yesterday's blog entry was a little bit personal. It was something that I have always wanted to get off of my chest for quite some time, but wasn't exactly sure how I would do it, or how it would come across. But, once I got into the frame of mind similar to “like a Band-Aid, you have to peel it off quickly so it doesn't sting as much”, it became a lot easier to speak my mind. I ended up getting a lot off of my chest, and I feel a little bit better for it.

And, I think that I plan on making every Thursday like that, if you guys don't mind. After all, I suppose that my ramblings and addiction to pop culture would make a lot more sense if you find out who I am behind the Sunday Jukeboxes and Saturday Morning Cartoons, right?

I guess if you want to look at it a different way, my upbringing and childhood hasn't exactly been a bed of roses. But, that's the thing...hardly anybody has that upbringing...well, unless you happen to be a member of the Brady Bunch! So, I think that by sharing the good and the bad, the bond between blogger and reader can (hopefully) strengthen, and maybe people will read the blog and identify and relate to what I went through.

Or, you may just think that I'm bat guano crazy. Either way, I'll take it with a grain of salt!

Anyway, we're going to move away from the serious and get right back into the fun. And, on that note, I have a question for all of you.

How fun is your job?

Okay, so I see some of you maybe half-heartedly raising your hands, and some of you giving me a death stare. It's true that for a lot of us, a job is just that. A job. Now, as far as doing this blog goes, I don't consider this to be work. I take pride and joy in being able to express my thoughts and feelings every day for almost two years. And, though I've been doing this for well over 500 days now, I still manage to find the time to do it because I love it.

If only I could actually use my writing skills to land a similar job, that would be a life's dream come true. Ah well...as long as I'm still breathing in the oxygen and expelling the carbon dioxide, I still have time to make that a reality.

(SIDE NOTE: I'm listening to my iPod as I type this and the Beatles “Paperback Writer” just appeared on the Playlist. That's freaky.)

As far as the job that I have that actually does pay the bills go...well, I have admittedly a love/hate relationship with it. There are some days in which I am motivated and energized to do the job at hand, and then there are others in which I wish I had stayed in bed.

Again, this seems to be true with a lot of people.

But I also have the strong belief that people who are passionate about their jobs are also people who seemingly have the most happiness in their positions. And, I also believe that passion comes from a sense of caring about not only doing a job, but doing a job right.

I'll be the first to admit that as someone who wants to make a career out of writing one day, I cringe whenever I see any sort of spelling or grammatical error within any sort of publication (be it a major newspaper, or a local newsletter). And, I will also be the first to admit that the label of “Grammar Nazi” gets slapped square on my forehead at least once a day. But here's the thing. I wear it like a badge of honour. Why? Because I am absolutely passionate about writing, and I love the English language, and I hate seeing it get butchered.

(Well, okay, if English isn't your mother tongue, you get a pass. I'm not that strict.)

Luckily for me, I am not the only one who is passionate about their job (albeit in my case it's more my non-paying job than my paying job, although the paying job has its perks as well). It seems that the world of reality television is filled with dozens of reality shows that feature people who are incredibly passionate about their career choices. So passionate that they have decided to travel to other places and businesses in order to help other people reignite their spark for their career choices.

In a lot of cases, the people who learn from the experts end up getting a second wind and they find the joy that they thought was gone forever. And, in some other cases, the people ignore everything that the experts say, they give up on their business, and the whole thing folds within a matter of months.

This is the story of three of these shows, and the experts who host them.

In two of the three cases, I am a regular viewer. The third one, I spent hours watching a marathon of shows during Christmas break to prepare for this blog entry. In all three, you'll meet people who are passionate about their industry, and aren't afraid to show it...even if the audience does get a little bit frightened of them.

Why don't we start with Gordon Ramsay, shall we?

I already did a blog entry on Chef Ramsay almost two years ago, but in that entry, I only scratched the surface of what seemingly sounds like eight hundred million television programs that he has his name linked to. “Hell's Kitchen”, “MasterChef”, “The F Word”. Believe me, there's a lot.

Perhaps the one that I enjoy watching the most is the show entitled “Kitchen Nightmares”. The show originally began airing in the United Kingdom in 2004 as “Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares”, but began airing the American version known as “Kitchen Nightmares” in 2007 on FOX. The whole premise of the show is simple. Gordon travels all across the country to struggling restaurants in desperate need of help, and it is his job to find out why the restaurant is failing. After all, with over thirty restaurants to his name, and several honours to his credit (which include twelve Michelin stars), he's one person who you really want to have in your corner.

Unfortunately, he also has a really short fuse...especially when he notices the state of disarray and the chaos that he witnesses within each restaurant he tries to fix. But then again, if you saw cockroaches crawling around the kitchen and serving area, staff members throwing each other under the bus, and customers walking out of the restaurant in a huff because they haven't been served in two hours, well...I can't say I blame him for going off.

Some may choose to call it Ramsay being a complete jerk. I see it as tough love. And, sometimes, some of the owners really need a kick in the pants to see that the way that they were running their business was not the right way to go.

I'll admit that I do like the UK version slightly better than the USA version, only because the UK version seems more realistic, and doesn't focus on the drama so much. But in both versions, you see Ramsay's passion for cooking rise up to the top. Sure, he yells and he screams and he gives the censors a headache trying to bleep out every foul word he utters on any given episode...but answer me this question. Do you think he would do this if he weren't passionate about his job? I don't think he would.

EPISODES WHERE RAMSAY'S ADVICE WORKED...FOR NOW (Finn McCool's, Chiarella's, Cafe Hon)

EPISODES WHERE RAMSAY'S ADVICE FAILED (Sebastian's, Black Pearl, Burger Kitchen)

Coincidentally, Ramsay debuted a kind of spin-off show entitled “Hotel Hell” which debuted in the summer of 2012.

A similar themed show to “Kitchen Nightmares” debuted on Spike-TV in July 2011, “Bar Rescue”. The host of the program is a man by the name of Jon Taffer, a restauranteur with over three decades of experience (specifically with pubs and nightclubs). Just like Gordon Ramsay's show, Taffer goes into bars that are failing and does his best to try and find out what the problems are.

In many cases, the problems are very similar to what is found in “Kitchen Nightmares”. Cleanliness is an issue. Bartenders stealing from the owners when they give customers free drinks is an issue. Sometimes, even the name of the tavern is the issue (would you want to go to a bar named “The Chicken Bone” or “Swanky Bubbles”)?

And, don't ever...ever...let Jon Taffer see you cross-contaminate raw food with cooked food...or else this will happen.

You see, unlike “Kitchen Nightmares”, where Ramsay actually witnesses what happens in real time, Taffer often has decoys go inside with hidden cameras to test the customer service (or lack thereof) to determine the problems beforehand so that he can work out a plan to fix it.

And, yes, some may accuse Taffer of being a loudmouth, being an angry bastard, or being a scary man who yells a lot. But I've watched several episodes of “Bar Rescue”, and a lot of what he says makes a lot of sense. In fact, if I were to open up my own bar (which isn't very likely), I would be taking notes from him and the various experts that he has with him on every show to help out with the renovations and redesign of the various bars he visits. Because Taffer is very passionate about his line of work and knows it inside out.

EPISODES WHERE TAFFER'S ADVICE WORKED...SO FAR: Champs, The Black Sheep, The Olive Pit

EPISODES WHERE TAFFER'S ADVICE DIDN'T WORK: Swanky Bubbles, Kilkenny's Irish Pub, Piratz Tavern

The final spotlight I want to focus on is the show that I watched several episodes of during Christmas break. And, like “Bar Rescue”, a lot of the information gathered before the show took place through the use of hidden cameras, and the person showing the owners of the establishment everything that went on while the cameras were rolling.

Have any of you heard of famous hairstylist Tabatha Coffey? Me either until recently. Apparently she was discovered on the reality series “Shear Genius” which aired on the Bravo network (one reason why I have never heard of her is because I NEVER watch Bravo), and her personality really stood out. It stood out so much that Bravo offered her a chance to have a show where she visited struggling hair salons and took them over for a whole week. According to the opening credits, she's tough, she's talented, and she's taking over.

The show was originally called “Tabatha's Salon Takeover” when it debuted in August 2008, and by 2012 the show was renamed “Tabatha Takes Over” when she started to add frozen yogurt establishments, beauty schools, and bars into the mix.

Either way, after watching the secret footage, Tabatha meets the owners, tells them her findings, and from there, the owners hand over their keys to their business to Tabatha so she can take over. She then conducts the inspection of the salon, which basically is an excuse to show the viewer everything that is wrong with the place. This could include a staff that doesn't know what they are doing, a salon that is filled with filth and grime, and bosses who would rather let the salon run itself rather than take the responsibility for it.

And, I should also state that much like Gordon and Jon, Tabatha doesn't mince words. Take a look.

But Tabatha's also been in the hairstyling industry for a quarter of a century. If anyone knows about hair, it's her. And, while I know nothing about hairstyling, she did help some of the stylists improve their mediocre skills (well, those who were willing to listen). She does offer up a personality that some have deemed as bitchy...but that's only because she cares about her industry and only wants to see the best. You can't really fault her for that. I know I don't.

And, here's the thing. She's had more success stories than failures on her series thus far. So she must have some idea of what she's doing.

EPISODES WHERE TABATHA'S ADVICE WORKED...SO FAR: Orbit, Tantrum, Avanti

EPISODES WHERE TABATHA'S ADVICE WAS IGNORED: Images, Brownes & Co, Christopher Hill

(Most of the Kitchen Nightmares and Tabatha's Salon Takeover episodes can currently be found on YouTube as of January 4, 2013, by the way.)

As far as I'm concerned, I think that there's a big difference between being a know-it-all and being a skilled expert. An expert shares his/her secret to success and tries to help others succeed the best way they can, even if it means a dose of tough love. A know-it-all does the exact opposite.

To me, Ramsay, Taffer, and Coffey are all success stories, and I would gladly take advice from them in anything, even if it stings a bit.

Because they all have passion for what they do. And, in my book, passion is the glue that holds a career together.

Or, so I would like to think anyway.

Local-Grown Cold Shoulder

You know...part of my goal for The Pop Culture Addict's Guide To Life for 2013 is to try and bring a little bit more of myself to this blog. Looking back through previous entries, I don't believe that I have opened up as much as I really should have about who I am, why I started this blog, and some of the personal challenges that I have had to endure that have gotten me to this point in my life.

Part of the reason why this has been the case has admittedly been out of fear of being judged as whiny, or self-absorbed, or any other negative adjective that can be associated with an unlikeable personality. The last thing that I wanted to do was to turn people off of reading this blog, because for the most part, I do think that it is a fun diversion to every day life.

At the same time, I realize that maybe I should be more open to all of you, no matter how good or bad I come across.

You see, I'm kind of at the age where I'm beginning to stop caring about negative comments, or things that are said by other people for the sole purpose of hurting other people's feelings. I'm not going to let people drag me down to their level any further, nor am I going to surround myself with negativity.

So, beginning this Thursday and every other Thursday, I'm going to tell it like it is, and basically bare my soul to all of you. Picture me standing outside in the middle of a park buck naked. That's what I'm talking about.

(Or, don't picture me naked if that's what you'd rather do. Believe me, I understand!)

I realize that I am taking a chance here by being one hundred per cent honest about my thoughts and feelings. But then, I look at what my story can teach other people about life. And, considering the title of this blog, I should be providing more life lessons through my own experiences. And, if I have to expose myself to the world with every possibility of being critiqued for it, so be it. This blog's been a lot of fun, but it's also been a source of healing for me as well.

So, with that...I bring you the first Thursday Diary Entry of 2013.

January 3, 2013

It's the first diary entry of 2013, and for today's entry, I thought I would talk to you about where I grew up, how I grew up, and one big mistake that I inevitably ended up making along the way...one that I just realized not that long ago.

Okay, so you've probably heard of the song by John Mellencamp entitled “Small Town”? This blog entry is kind of based around that song. First of all, why don't I put on that song now, just to put me in the mood.

I'm sure that those of you reading this know where this is going. I myself was born in a small town, and continue to live in the same small town 31 years later (barring a two year stay in Ottawa, Ontario).

My town is approximately 22,000 people, so I would probably classify it as more of a city. It's not a metropolis by far, but at the same time, it's hardly a village. We have our own hospital, police station, and post office, after all.  And physically speaking, it's actually quite beautiful.

When I was a kid, I remember having a lot of fun in my town (well, elementary school teasing aside). And, I was involved in so many activities growing up. I spent six summers at a summer playground program where we would go swimming, learn about nature, and go on a couple of out of town field trips. I would go to our summer festival every day each year to ride on the fairground rides and listen to the live bands. And, I have vague memories of walking down the downtown sidewalks with a gigantic ball that my mother purchased from the now-defunct Woolworth's location, waving hello to every person who passed us by.

Those memories seem like such a long time ago.

Flash forward to now, and I have to admit that I'm not exactly as open as I used to be when I was four years old. I'm extremely guarded, I don't initiate small talk with random people these days, and I don't really have much of a social presence within my community at all.

And, I only have myself to blame for it.

It's hard to pinpoint when it was that I decided to basically give my community the cold shoulder. I was fairly okay with being a part of the community when I was a kid, and I suppose that before I became a teenager, I was still very much proud to be a member of my community. I competed in contests at the local shopping mall, I would go to various events and trade shows, and I just had a lot of fun.

I think it wasn't until I became a teenager that my relationship with my community began to deteriorate.

I don't really need to go into how hellish of a time I had as a teenager. I've written about it before, and I'm only now starting to make sense of it. And, part of the reason why I decided to close myself off to the community was hugely linked to my experiences that I had as a teenager.

I went into grade nine expecting to have a fun experience, and having a lot of opportunity to show the world who I was. By grade eleven, I was at a point in my life where I suffered from severe agoraphobia with a nice dash of mild paranoia. Several of my peers used to play these terrible, cruel mind games with me. You know the ones I mean, right? They would pretend to be your friend for one week (ironically enough a week in which they needed help with a homework assignment), and then the next week, they'd turn their back on me as if I had a fatal and contagious disease. I also had some rather intense stuff happen to me when I was sixteen years old, and that stuff wounded me emotionally in a way that I can't even begin to describe.

To make matters worse, the very people who I thought I could trust in...the very people who I thought would help me whenever I needed it turned the other way. These were teachers, administrators, guidance counselors...people who served the community that I lived in, and people who were supposed to be role models for young and impressionable minds like I had back in those days.

And, the message that they basically sent me was that I wasn't important enough for them to do the right thing and stop the abuse I had to undergo from various classmates from continuing. Oh, but when a similar situation happened to another boy when I was in my senior year of high school, they suddenly became available to call the police and launch a full-scale investigation.

Way to make me feel like I was a part of the school, huh?

I am not going to lie to any of you. My experiences in dealing with the staff and a portion of the student body at my school embittered me for quite some time after I graduated. It took me a long time to even attempt to begin to forgive what happened. In the case of some of the cruelest people that I have had to deal with, I honestly don't even know if I am ready to play my forgiveness card yet. Though, I suppose I can take some comfort in the fact that I'm at least considering it.  It just may take a little bit more time.

That's how messed up things were for me. And, for some reason, I seemed to take out my bitterness and frustrations on the community that I grew up in.

I had it in my mind that since I was never going to be accepted as a part of the school, I may as well exclude myself from the rest of the community as well.

When I left my community for two years to go away to school, I admittedly only did it to get as far away from this town as possible. I was so focused on getting out of town that I didn't put a whole lot of thought in actually planning my post-secondary career out. If I had, I might have actually graduated instead of returning back to my hometown with my tail between my legs.

And, I think that also helped contribute to the reason why I decided to hide away from the community. Shame.

I felt so ashamed of myself for leaving my town, having an unsuccessful attempt at university, and coming back to the town feeling like I had accomplished nothing.  And, because of that, I completely shut down and hid away from the world for an additional two years.  Believe me, it was not my proudest moment.

I had decided long ago that it wasn't worth being a part of my community any longer because of the actions of a few cruel people...cruel people who actually fled town long ago. And yet, I was letting those few cruel people influence my entire opinion of a community.

It wasn't that I wasn't good enough for my whole town...it's that I wasn't good enough for those cruel people who no longer have any ties to this place any longer. I almost regret not being strong enough to tell those people that they weren't good enough for me. But as I explained before, I was at an impressionable age back then, and I took everything to heart. I tried my hardest to get people to like it, and unfortunately for me, I focused on the wrong people.

And, as a result of that weakness that I displayed as a teenager, I now feel like a complete stranger in the town that I have called home for practically my whole life. I feel like I'm just existing here instead of making the best of it. Instead of going to community events that have been touted as the most fun that one can have in the town, I shunned them out of fear for being rejected, or feeling like I wasn't good enough to be a part of the community.

I was giving my town the deep freeze because of my inability to cope with what was going on in my personal life. And, I wonder if maybe it might be too late.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I always wanted to have this sense of love and belonging. I always wanted to feel like I belonged somewhere. I wanted to have that place where I could just insert myself into anywhere, and feel at home.

And, the fact that I don't feel that way about the very place I grew up...well, I take full responsibility for that. And, I'm honestly not sure how I can go back to the way I was feeling when I was that carefree four year old boy, bouncing his ball along the cobblestones of the main street, enjoying the company of everyone. I look at the various local publications and seeing members of the community appearing in it, and there a small part of me that wishes that he could be a part of that too. But considering that I have essentially made myself invisible, it's easy to see why I tend to blend into the background rather than standing out in a crowd.

I've gone from one extreme to the other, and I'm honestly not sure if I can ever find that happy median again. The only thing that I can promise myself is to try and start up a clean slate and maybe find it in me to forgive myself for taking out my whole frustrations on an entire town. Then maybe I can find it within myself to hopefully find some sort of belonging within my community.

Because right now...I honestly don't know what I can do to integrate myself into a community that I closed the door on years ago.  I suppose that some would say that I am taking baby steps by trying to carve out a social identity at my workplace, and I don't disagree with that.  It's just a really frustrating thing to deal with.

That's all I have to say for today. I guess the one thing I can say is that I'm sure that I'm not the only one who has felt this way. I think that many of you reading this might have felt the same as I have. I just want all of you to know that you aren't alone.

May 2013 be the year in which we all find our place in this world, be it in a place where we grew up...or a place that we don't even know exists.

Silly Putty

How many of you read the newspaper as a kid?

I know this seems like a random question to ask, especially since I reckon that almost all of us glanced at a newspaper at some point in our lives.  For some people, they read the whole paper from front to back.  Some people like reading the horoscopes.  Some flip through the sports section to get the latest scores.  Some people even look at the obituaries to see who they have outlived!

(That last one isn’t a joke.  I know.  My parents do this often.)

And, then there are some people like me who have to flip to the entertainment and comics section.  Given the fact that I have a pop culture themed blog, this really shouldn’t surprise anyone.

And after I did the Word Jumble, I read the various comic strips in the newspaper each day.  It was a lot of fun, and I remember having a ball reading all those funny jokes.

Of course, the funny pages ended up being a little bit more fun with the addition of a special accessory that I got as a gift when I was a six year old boy.

It wasn’t a magnifying glass...it wasn’t a set of crayons...it wasn’t even a glue stick and a scrapbook to cut out my favourites to keep on display (though when I was a kid I did do this).

Nope.  It was this stuff.

And, I bet almost everyone knows what Silly Putty is, right?  This ball of rubbery goo was sort of a mixture between Play-Doh and rubber, and it had an interesting property that not a lot of substances had.  If one were to roll the Silly Putty into a ball, flatten it out on a piece of newsprint, and peel it off of the paper, the ink would transpose itself onto the Silly Putty, like this.

Then comes the fun part.  If one were to stretch the putty out, the images on the Putty would warp right with it.  I used to use Silly Putty all the time on newspapers and comic books all the time.  Snoopy’s head would become narrow, Veronica Lodge from Archie comics would become rounder, and you don’t even want to know what sorts of things I did with Blondie Bumstead.

With the putty!  THE PUTTY!  Sheesh, get your minds out of the gutter, people!

So, I guess it’s no secret that the subject of today’s blog is Silly Putty.  In this edition of the blog, we’ll learn about how Silly Putty was created, when it started appearing on store shelves, and some of the substances in which Silly Putty will NOT mix well with.  Contrary to the beliefs of some, Silly Putty isn’t as indestructible as people think.

The history of Silly Putty begins right around World War II.  At the height of the war, Japan had invaded several rubber-producing nations and eradicated their supply to be able to produce rafts, tires, gas masks, and boots.  Because of this, the rubber supplies in the United States were rationed, with American citizens strongly urged to conserve their rubber products so that they would last longer.  So while Americans donated spare tires and rubber coats to be recycled, the American government looked into alternate synthetic compounds as a rubber substitute in order to get through the rubber shortage.

Sometime during these brainstorming sessions, the patent for Silly Putty was born.  The problem is...the true identity of the person who came up with the patent is still being debated years after it was created.  At some point, the patent for Silly Putty has been credited to Earl Warrick and his partner Rob Roy McGregor of Dow Corning, Scottish inventor James Wright of General Electric, and Harvey Chin.

Throughout his lifetime, Warrick insisted that he and McGregor came up with the patent before Wright did, yet Crayola (who purchased the rights to manufacture Silly Putty in 1977), insists that Wright had invented the product in 1943.  I was unable to find any information on Harvey Chin though, so I’m not exactly sure how he factors into this, but one thing is for certain, we will likely never know who really came up with the patent.

One thing that we do know is that both Warrick and Wright came up with the basic formula behind the creation of  Silly Putty, which involves the process of combining boric acid with silicone oil.  The end product was a substance that was gooey, and that could bounce like a rubber ball.  In fact, the substance had some unique qualities.  It had a very high melting temperature, could bounce when dropped, and could stretch even further than standard rubber. 

The only problem with the invention was that while it was a decent enough product by itself, it unfortunately didn’t have all the properties needed to replace rubber completely, so the substance was never actually used.  Despite Wright’s efforts to send the substance out to scientists all over the world in hopes of finding an alternate use for the substance, but all attempts came up empty...

...until 1949, that is.

That was the year that toy store owner Ruth Fallgatter acquired a sample of the substance and was very intrigued by it.  She contacted a man by the name of Peter Hodgson, who worked as a marketing consultant.  The pair decided to market the substance as a toy by encasing it in a clear container.  The substance ended up selling very well at Fallgatter’s toy store, but after a while, she decided that she did not want to pursue any further business opportunities involving the product, and walked away.  This set the stage for Hodgson to take the putty and make it a gold mine.

Hodgson was already in debt, so in order for him to begin selling the product, he had to take out a loan of $147 to finance his business plan.

(Keep in mind that $147 was worth a lot of money in the 1940s.)

But that was all he needed to package the substance in one ounce plastic eggs that retailed for $1 each.  Hodgson was also the one who came up with the “Silly Putty” name.  Within three days, Hodgson ended up eliminating his debt by selling over a quarter of a million units of Silly Putty!

Now, in 1951, Hodgson was almost put out of business when a ration on silicone was implemented as a direct result of the Korean War, but that restriction was lifted a year later.  And, by 1957 (the same year that the first television advertisement for Silly Putty aired during the Howdy Doody Show), thousands of children aged 6-12 were playing with Silly Putty.  The substance was even launched into lunar orbit by the astronauts of Apollo 8 in 1968...seven years after it began to be sold worldwide.  Silly Putty ended up making Hodgson a very rich man.  And, by 1987 (eleven years after Hodgson’s death), it was estimated that an average of two million eggs of Silly Putty a year!

These days, Silly Putty is still a top-selling toy.  It’s estimated that twenty thousand units of Silly Putty are sold daily, and the substance (which was originally sold in its natural coral colour) is now available in several different styles and colours, including glow-in-the-dark and metallic shades.  The toy was even inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2001!

But, that’s not to say that Silly Putty is the absolutely perfect toy.  There are lots of perks to the substance, this is true.  Stretching comics and images out was just part of the fun.  Silly Putty can also be used as a method of removing dirt, pet hair, and lint from a variety of surfaces (I’ve even used it to clean in between the keys on my computer keyboard!), and some physical therapists even use it for rehabilitative therapy of hand injuries!  People who build scale models have used it as a masking medium while spray painting their models.  And astronauts have used Silly Putty to secure their tools in zero-gravity conditions because of its strong adhesive characteristics.

Of course, these adhesive characteristics can prove to be the downfall for Silly Putty.  If one were to get Silly Putty wet, and then stick it on an upholstered surface, a book’s inside pages, or one’s own hair, the substance would take on the consistency of sticky chewing gum.

In short, it would get stuck...just like chewing gum.

There are ways to get it off of upholstery and hair though.  Crayola recommends that you use WD-40, but an alcohol-based hand sanitizer should work just fine.

After all...alcohol happens to be the kryptonite to the substance known as Silly Putty.  You submerge Silly Putty in a glass filled with alcohol it will immediately begin to dissolve.  And while the Silly Putty will ultimately return to its original viscosity after being doused with water, in alcohol, it will lose its original properties forever.

So, let this be a lesson to you all.  If you want to preserve your Silly Putty, do not pour your alcohol over top of it as a party trick.  It will never be the same again...

January 1, 2013

Okay. First things first...

HAPPY 2013!!!

Okay, you can take out the cotton balls out of your ears now! I'm done screaming!

So, this is the first day of 2013! How is it for you all? I imagine that some of us might be a smidgen hung over today after partaking in your New Years Eve celebrations (which I hope were done responsibly, might I add). Some of us have likely already broken our New Years Resolutions (I know I've been guilty of breaking my resolutions twelve hours after making them, which is largely why I never make them). And, some of us are looking forward to having a brand new year of opportunities. It's a clean slate for all of us, and I'm sure that we're all looking forward to having a fresh start.

Now, for this particular year, the changes to the blog are going to be very little in comparison to last year. Last year, I changed the look, the font (several times), and a few of the theme days. This upcoming year will see hardly any changes. The blog looks more professional than it did the year before (though I still love my little hand-drawn logo of 2011), I finally found a font that looks great (Palatino Linotype, in case you were wondering), and I think that I'm very content with the theme days that I have going on right now. I may temporarily change them as the year progresses, but for the most part, I'm happy with the way this blog looks now.

And, I am also happy to report that between January 2012 and January 2013, this blog's page views have doubled! Again, thank you, thank you, thank you! I keep saying that this blog would not be possible without your love and support! Here's hoping that 2013 is the best year yet!

So, today is January 1, and since the new year kicks off on a Tuesday this year, it's the perfect day to have a Tuesday Timeline entry. But as you may have seen from the title, this Tuesday Timeline has a twist to it.

Before we get into that, let's do the things we usually do on a Tuesday Timeline, beginning with celebrity birthdays! I would imagine that for some of these famous faces, they were the first babies born in a brand new year! Celebrating a New Years Day birthday are Charlie Munger, Pat Heywood, Vernon L. Smith, Ty Hardin, Joseph Koo, Norman Yemm, Frank Langella, Al Hunt, Country Joe McDonald, Larry Clark, Jimmy Hart, Max Azria, Stephanie Faracy, Sheila McCarthy, Grandmaster Flash, Dave Silk, Michael Seibert, Dedee Pfeiffer, Gorsha Sur, Spencer Tunick, Nicolle Dickson, Melissa DiMarco, Verne Troyer, Kimberly Page, Chris Potter, Becky Kellar-Duke, Eden Riegel, Calum Davenport, Jeff Carter, and Chris Collins.

And, here are some of the interesting events that took place on January 1 in the past.

45 B.C. - The Julian Calendar takes into effect for the first time

42 B.C. - The Roman Senate posthumously defies Julius Caesar

404 – Christian monk Telemachus is torn to pieces by an angry Roman mob for his efforts in trying to stop a gladiator fight in the public arena in Rome

1001 – Grand Prince Stephen I of Hungary is named the first King of Hungary by Pope Sylvester II

1502 – The Portuguese explore the area that would later be called Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

1752 – Betsy Ross, the seamstress that created the American flag, is born

1772 – The first traveler's cheques go on sale in London, England, and were able to be used in 90 cities all across Europe

1773 – John Newton leads a sermon that first uses the hymn “1 Chronicles 17:16-17” - later retitled “Amazing Grace”

1776 – The city of Norfolk, Virginia is burned to the ground during the American Revolutionary War

1800 – The Dutch East India Company is dissolved

1801 – The dwarf planet Ceres is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi

1804 – French rule ends in the country of Haiti, which becomes the second independent nation within North America (after the United States in 1776)

1808 – The importation of slaves into the United States is banned

1833 – The United Kingdom claims sovereignty over the Falkland Islands

1845 – The Cobble Hill Tunnel in Brooklyn, New York is completed

1847 – The world's first “Mercy” hospital is founded by the Sisters of Mercy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

1860 – The first Polish postage stamp is issued

1863 – The Emancipation Proclamation takes effect in Confederate territory

1885 – Twenty-five different nations adopt Sir Sandford Fleming's proposal for standard time

1890 – The first Tournament of Roses Parade is held in Pasadena, California

1892 – Ellis Island opens to begin processing immigrants into the United States

1898 – New York City annexes The Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens into the Greater City of New York (Staten Island would join four weeks later)

1899 – Spanish rule ends in Cuba

1902 – The first ever Rose Bowl is held in Pasadena, California

1908 – The first ball-dropping ceremony in Times Square takes place

1912 – The Republic of China is established

1932 – The United States Post Office issues a set of a dozen stamps commemorating the 200^th birthday of George Washington

1934 – Alcatraz Island officially becomes a federal prison in the United States

1942 – The Declaration by United Nations is signed by 26 nations

1947 – The Canadian Citizenship Act of 1946 takes into effect, converting all British citizens into Canadian citizens, including William Lyon Mackenzie King

1954 – NBC makes the first coast-to-coast NTSC broadcast

1962 – The United States Navy SEALs is established

1966 – A mass transit strike in New York City begins, lasting almost two weeks

1971 – Cigarette advertisements are banned from American television

1978 – Air India Flight 855 crashes into the sea off the shores of Bombay, India, killing 213

1981 – Greece is admitted into the European Community

1983 – The Internet is created following the ARPANET changing to using the Internet Protocol

1984 – AT&T is divested of its 22 Bell System companies as a direct result of the settlement of the 1974 U.S. Department of Justice antitrust suit against the company

1985 – VH1 debuts on the same day that Ernie Wise makes the first British mobile phone call

1986 – Portugal and Spain are admitted into the European Community

1992 – Russia is officially formed

1994 – Actor Cesar Romero passes away the same day that the World Trade Organization and the North American Free Trade Agreement goes into effect

1997 – Zaire joins the World Trade Organization

1999 – The Euro is introduced in 11 countries

2001 – Actor Ray Walston passes away at the age of 86

2002 – Taiwan joins the World Trade Organization

2007 – Adam Air Flight 574 disappears over Indonesia with 102 people on board

2012 – Kim Jong-un is declared the new official Supreme leader of North Korea

(Holy heck, January 1 was a huge day in history!)

So you see my dilemma. With so much going on in the world on the first day of the Gregorian calendar, how could I narrow it down to just ONE feature?

That's why for today's Tuesday Timeline, the date we're going to be featuring is...

TODAY!

Yes, you're reading this correctly. The Tuesday Timeline date is January 1, 2013!

You see...I thought it would be kind of silly to celebrate the birth of a new year by flashing back in time to a past event. A new year is supposed to have high hopes for the future...a brand new start in creating a brand new you.

So, for today, I thought that I would talk about my experiences as we enter the first day of a brand new year, and how I'm feeling about it.

Admittedly, I was never one who looked forward to a new year. For the last few years, I've basically been relegated to watching the ball drop on Times Square (a regular event since 1908, remember) on television munching on rippled chips and dip, and lamenting the fact that Dick Clark and his guests were the only people I would be spending the night with.

This year I can't even make the claim that I'm hanging out with Dick Clark, as he's been gone for eight months. Instead I get the perky host of American Idol, a Black-Eyed Pea, and Jenny McCarthy.

Be still my beating heart.

Unlike other years though, I'm suddenly okay with that.

Let's face it, New Years Eve parties are completely overrated. You end up spending more money than you wanted to for the experience of ringing in the new year with a group of strangers. I mean, if you really wanted the balloon drop and the champagne, you could easily buy ginger ale and a ¼ pound of balloons at the dollar store and still have the same experience. And, who wants to spend all of January 1^st with a hangover the size of Texas and long-lasting nausea that an entire container of Rolaids won't fix?

(Well, okay, for some of you out there, that may be your idea of fun. I'm just being honest in that it's not exactly mine. But, hey, it's cool if you think otherwise. I'm not judging.)

I'm fine with a nice quiet evening at home. Maybe I chalk it up to getting older, but I don't need to have the experience of getting as drunk as possible to enjoy the beginning of a new year. Instead, I choose to use the experience to write in my blog about my thoughts and feelings about the future.

Oh, as I said before, I wasn't always this okay with staying home on New Years Eve. There was a time in which I was actually jealous that other people were out having fun while I was unable to. In fact, I'm a little ashamed to admit this, but ringing in the year 2009, I was in a really bad mood. Four years ago, I was in a little bit of a funk over how horrible things were, and I spent most of the day in absolute depression. I'm actually ashamed of myself to admit it, but I had a full emotional breakdown on the first day of 2009. I don't even remember why this was the case now, but back then, I was on the verge of believing that the year 2009 was going to be one of the worst years yet.

And, yet, 2009 ended up being one of my best years ever. So, I guess in retrospect, you never know what a year will hold until you actually live it.

So, as I look forward to 2013, I think to myself that I have no idea what it will have in store, so I may as well enjoy it while it lasts. And, I suppose one lesson that I have learned is that things have their peaks and valleys, and I believe that it was a good thing that I did have that breakdown four years ago. It helped me realize a lot of things about myself that I didn't like very much, and it allowed me to make some positive changes towards acceptance of myself.

I guess the only thing I regret about January 1, 2013 is that I don't have anyone special enough in my life to spend it with (well, aside from family members, that is). I still remember when Dick Clark was alive, he would kiss his wife at the end of the ball drop, and I just thought that was so fantastic. I guess a part of me kind of wishes that I had someone who would do the same with me on New Years Eve.

Ah well...just ignore me. Waxing poetic, I suppose.

And, who knows? Maybe 2013 will be the year that it all starts to make sense. I know I said the same thing in 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, etc...

...but that's the thing with a new year. You never know what it will bring.

Have a happy and safe 2013, everyone. Let's make January 1, 2013 a day to remember, as well as all the other 364 days that follow it.