I regret to report that, no sooner had I written my last blog, I found myself flirting with someone on facebook who had obviously found me because of being on the Planet staff because of our mutual friends Dex and Intern Tyler (the latter of whom has also had an unfortunate run-in with this crazy individual who we will call Spam, Spamela Wain).  It started out innocent enough as I was just making funny comments on her status which was talking about her wanting to beat Adam Lambert’s gay emo ass.  Well comments turned to messaging and the rest is history.

Well, we made plans to meet on Friday and go out or just chill but then she contacts me on facebook on Thursday telling me her car has broken down in Anderson so I agree to ‘rescue the damsel in distress’ when i got off work later that evening.  So I go and pick her up and we go hang out at my place.  Now, over the years I’ve learned to pick up on certain signs from women and, when she sat down on my couch, she sat in a spot that left just enough room for me to sit right next to her so our legs were touching.  So I got cozy with her as we watched Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story with Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn.  As we watched the movie (which we both have seen), she confided in me that she has trust issues with men.  Respecting that I didn’t try too many smooth moves so not to set her off.  I did, however, ask if I could kiss her once the movie was over and she said I could.  So we started making out for a few seconds then she started freaking out.  I pulled back but she continued on a tirade so I took her home giving her my two cents worth on the way.

When we pulled up at her place, we sat in the car and talked for an hour or so and somewhat cleared the air.  I then walked her to the door and managed another quick kiss as we said goodnight.

The next day came and I texted her to see if she still wanted to go for round two despite the rocky night before and she said she did and told me to pick her up at 8:30.  Still skeptic from the first round, I dragged ass leaving to pick her ass up and arrived around 8:45 or so.  The night started out ok as we ran by Blockbuster to see Reverend Jim and rented The Hangover and Zombieland on Blu-ray and then ran by the grocery store and Wendy’s to grab some snacks and some grub.

We started with Zombieland since Spam hadn’t seen it yet and I wanted to see it a second time.  I gotta say I enjoyed just a bit more than the first time back in the theater, but the deleted scenes sucked so they were deleted for a good reason!

Zombieland  \m/  \m/  \m/  \n

Next we watched The Hangover which I hadn’t seen and she wanted to watch again (so it worked out overall).  I was skeptical about the movie because, honestly, the previews were NOT funny.  However, I have to admit the movie was pretty funny but still didn’t meet the hype.

The Hangover  \m/  \m/  \m/  \

During the movies, we got a little cozy on the couch, but as soon as the last movie was over she wanted to go home very abruptly.  Granted it was already after two but she had expressed no desire to be home at a certain time all night and was rather rudely insistent on going home so, instead of fighting with her, I hopped up and got ready to leave with as much urgency as her to go – only mockingly as I was obviously perturbed.

On the way back to her place, I remained fairly silent as she went on and on about random crap I honestly no longer cared about.  Finally sensing my agitation, she started on this lecture about how she’s too busy for relationships with her upcoming schoolwork and that I obviously was too because she knew I had just put in a 55 hour work week.  Refusing to let her try and pull a fast one on me I asked her what she was trying to say and pointed out what she undoubtedly already knew: I didn’t care!  Irked by the fact she was trying to get the upper hand on me, I told her it would probably be better if she never called me again and let her know how rude I thought she was to accept my courtesy and then so quickly throw such an icy shoulder.  She agreed that she was rude but showed little or no true remorse and, as she got out of the car she unconvincingly said she was sorry to which I replied, “No you’re not!  F#%k off!” and sped off.  Outside off sending a few pissy text messages later that night, I haven’t heard from her since.  Good riddance to bad rubbish!

Well Valentine’s Day sucked being single and all, but overall I had a pretty good weekend!  Especially considering both my state tax return and my paycheck posted to my bank account on Friday!  So I immediately ordered the Traben Phoenix lefty bass I’ve been wanting for like two years now!

On Saturday I met up with Daniele and her friend Brittany again only this time at the Barnes & Noble up in Spartanburg and then we hit the IHOP close by.  I took a wrong turn on my way home and ended up passing Raisin’ Cains where Matt and Nine were hosting the finale of Big “O” Contest.  So I stopped by and got in just in time to catch all the ladies show off their moves and then some!

Afterwards, I followed Matt, Nine and One-Legged Batman back to Nine’s house which was…..interesting!  LOL!

Sunday morning I actually got up early and went to visit Mauldin First Baptist since I met their worship pastor Pruette Plemens at the Mauldin High Battle of the Bands the week before as he was another one of the judges along with myself and the LIONZ OF ZION.

The people there were really nice and I even had a few people recognize me so I didn’t feel so out of place.

Afterwards, I went to go visit my aunt and that was pretty much it since I had a few different date plans fall through.  I’m not gonna lie, I flirt with numerous women at once simply beacause most women I encounter are extremely flaky!  And, despite having several plans and back-up plans, I ended up alone on Valentine’s Day.  Screw it, I enjoyed the free time!

Yesterday I had part of the day off as the office was closed so I went down to see Eddie “The Monster” Lamb at Monster Ink to get a new tat.  Being I had just ordered a new Traben Phoenix to go along with my Traben Chaos Obsession, I figured I’d get the Traben Bass Company logo on my left forearm.  Since it’s just a big ‘T’, it doubles for Todd and triples for Twisted!

When I got off the air I ran down to Blockbuster to see ‘Reverend’ Jim who always updates me on all good games and movies to check out.  He was playing the demo for the new game God of War III which looked amazing!  Since I don’t like to spend $60 on a brand new game, he recommended getting the God of War Collection which has both God of War and God of War II re-issued and remastered for PS3 and is only $30.  So I went down to Best Buy to pick up a copy and I am hooked!

This morning while I was getting ready for work there was a knock at my door.  I was rather alarmed – and naked since I’d just got out of the shower!  I waited a moment and when they knocked again I yelled for them to wait a minute as I grabbed up the closest pair of fig leaves I had lying aroud and went to the door.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was the FedEx guy with my new bass and case!  It was like Christmas morning – which made up for this past Christmas sucking!  Now I can’t wait to get home and play with my new toy!

Before coming to work last Tuesday I stopped by MY toy store Best Buy and picked up a copy of the movie I thought was the best film to come out this year, Inglourious Basterds the new film by Quentin Tarantino.  The cast, the acting and the script are all superb and Brad Pitt is a riot as Lt. Aldo Raine who leads a band of mostly Jewish Americans into Nazi-occupied France to do one thing and one thing only: KILL NAZIS!

Inglourious Basterds  \m/  \m/  \m/  \m/  \m/

I managed to watch the entire film and a few special features that night before going to bed.  I fully intended to watch the rest of the special features when I got home Wednesday night however, upon arriving, I first noticed my doormat was pushed all the way up to the doorway (I always pull it back an inch or so when I leave) and then I noticed that the front casing of my deadbolt had been chiseled off.  Needless to say that the lock was already opened when I slid my key in and, lo and behold, I found someone had jacked my apartment.  My 40″ LCD TV was gone as well as my PS3 and numerous PS3 games and DVD and Blu-ray movies – including Inglourious Basterds!

After the initial shock wore off and a few minutes of kicking and screaming, I called 911 and filed a police report.  An officer soon arrived followed a bit later by a forensics officer who dusted my apartment for fingerprints as one of my maintenance guys replaced the locks.

The next day I had my checks cancelled to be on the safe side and filed a report with my insurance company.  Keep in mind I still have an applicable $500 deductible and my rates may still go up in June even though this was not my fault in the slightest.

Friday night we had both the Rise Guys Big Ass P1 Christmas Party and the Entercom Company Christmas Party both of which I attended considering it’s no fun being a hermit cooped up in my apartment without my TV and PS3.  The Rise Guys Big Ass P1 Christmas Party was being held in my hometown of Simpsonville at the Zone Sports Bar and Grille and the place was packed!  I had fun hanging with the Original P1 Lauren and P1 Big Counsy and had a paper tube fight with Fat Boy which I unanimously won and earned some much needed stress relief.

During the course of the evening, our transmitter, which sits atop of a big ass mountain in North Carolina, went out due to the perilous winter weather in the area.  The conditions were so severe that our engineering team couldn’t even reach the transmitter until Sunday morning managing to keep us off the air for a whopping 41 hours!

The weather was bad enough locally that a tree fell on Roper Mountain Road and knocked out the power up and down the street….which I live on.  So I ran home after the Rise Guys Big Ass P1 Christmas Party to change into something a little nicer and more business casual for the Entercom Company Christmas Party and did so in the dark.  The power was restored by the time I got home later that night but went off for a while longer during the early morning hours.

I had a great time at the company Christmas party hanging with Intern Tyler, Diesel and some of our lovely promotions staff….and the free food and booze helped a lot too!  We basically shut the place down that night and still tried to find a place in downtown to continue the festivities.  When we found nothing else to do, those of us left parted ways and went home.  Some of us had to sober up just a bit first….

Saturday I ventured out to the deadly malls and other stores of holiday frenzy to do what little shopping my broke and burglarized ass could afford.  I also managed to take in a movie in an attemt to boost my own morale and revive any amount of Christmas Spirit I could muster.  I went and saw The Blind Side, the football biopic with Sandra Bullock.  The film was very heartwarming and inspirational which I definitely needed to lift my spirits.

The Blind Side  \m/  \m/  \m/  \m/

Sunday I went to church for the first time in forever (maybe to try and win favor with the Lord – LOL!) and then went to borrow a small TV/DVD combo from my best friend’s parents who’ve been like a second family to me.  Unfortunately I couldn’t get my digital antenna to work on the set so I didn’t get to watch football but at least got to watch some movies and relax a bit.

I got my renters insurance forms in the mail Monday and filled them out first thing yesterday morning and faxed them to my claim representative.  Now I just gotta wait for the check and try to get as much replaced as possible since I will be receiving $500 less than what my stuff was worth because of the deductible.  Sucks.

Today I wrapped up the 12 Days of Axemas from noon until 2 at First Cash Pawn on Rutherford St in Greenville.  The turnout was great but I had to rush back to the station to be on the air at 2!

Right now I’m trying to wrap up all my work and take the day off tomorrow for Christmas Eve and then come back and do my shift on Christmas Day.

Even though this year has been a rough one for me having had some legal woes, totaling a car, having my new one keyed and then my apartment broken into, I am remaining optimistic that 2010 will be a much better year kicking off a brand new decade.

I want to take a minute to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed and Happy New Year in 2010!

Ok, well we haven’t been sucked into a black hole, so at least science hasn’t killed us all as of yet in the search for answers to the origins of life.  But is this not the biggest bunch of boocrap billing for billions of bucks?  I mean ten billion dollars just to prove and better understand the “Big Bang” Theory?  And, to top it off, at the risk of possibly annihilating life on Earth in the process?  Granted it was only an extremely slim chance and life is about taking risks, but how great of a price is that chance?  Destroying life on Earth in an attempt to understand how it began?

There’s a book in my car right now that I am taking with me to Atlanta for the rest of the week that clearly tells how the world began and it’s called the Bible.  Now I’m not going to start preaching or Bible-thumping here, but, even if you don’t believe in God, this whole overpriced, glorified science project is downright ludicrous!  Isn’t there something better we could do with ten billion dollars than try to play God at the potential expense of the entire human race?  If this were a comic book, wouldn’t these European scientists be the diabolical villains?  For some odd reason I’m thinking of Doc Ock’s little pet project in Spider-Man 2 – just on a much grander scale!  I don’t even think Oscorp could cough up ten billion big ones for the science fair!

Labor Day weekend was just that: laborous!  So, when I wasn’t working, I was out trying to blow my paycheck!  Hey, what’s the point in working relelentlessly if I don’t take some time to go out and enjoy it?!  Friday I met up with Rebecca after work.  Yes, we are on speaking terms again and trying to somehow sort out our differences in some way whether it leads to us seeing each other again or not.  She brought me her latest dog rescuee being she is like the crazy cat lady only with a crapload of dogs instead of cats!  I think she knew I’d be interested in this one being the dog is a Boston terrier and border collie mix and I have always wanted a Boston terrier.  So she brought Molly (the name she gave her being she is fond of giving dogs people names – as for me, I still want a male Boston terrier and name him Vader!) to the apartment and we went to Target to pick up some stuff for the dog (leash, toys, bowls, etc.) and then went to Ruby Tuesday’s for dinner.

Saturday I did little more than do my on-air shift and the same could be said for most of Sunday.  My mom and Aunt Pat came over to see the new addition to the Twisted family and we walked her out to the small man-made lake out by my apartment complex.

Monday, when I wasn’t on the air (again!), Rebecca and I managed to take in a movie: the new comedy spoof Tropic Thunder starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey, Jr.  Of the three lead characters, Downey clearly made his mark portraying “the dude playing the dude disguised as another dude”.  I mean his character stayed in character until the end of the movie!  “I stay in character until I finish the DVD commentary!” I believe he said….and he wasn’t kidding!

And let’s not forget the A-list supporting cast of Nick Nolte, Matthew McConaughey and, oh yes, Tom “Damn, my ass is crazy!” Cruise!  I really enjoyed the film as it was a breath of fresh air from other crappy spoof movies such as the ridiculous Scary Movie saga that has bled over into the even more preposterous Epic Movie, Disaster Movie and all the other ”Fill in the Flippin’ Blank” movies!

And it really pisses me off that everyone is all up in arms about their references to mentally handicapped people as ‘retards’.  I admit it’s in rather poor taste, but isn’t comedy supposed to be unapologetically irreverent?  I mean I just watched the new Harold & Kumar flick on DVD and it’s remorselessly racist!  Being a Christian, I constantly see shows like South Park or especially Moral Orel that make a mockery of my beliefs.  Yes, it offends me, but I simply choose not to watch it if it gets too offensive which I did stop watching the latter of the two shows because it honestly made me feel like a heathen….or worse!  LOL!!!

Tropic Thunder   \m/  \m/  \m/  \n

And here’s a few of the DVDs I’ve watched recently now that I have a steady supply of rentals with Blockbuster Total Access:

I just mentioned how racist Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay was, but don’t get me wrong, it was a riot!  If you liked their first adventure getting to White Castle, you’ll caertainly enjoy this!

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay   \m/  \m/  \m/  \

I pretty much got what I expected out of Prom Night and maybe a little more since it was more bloody and violent than what I would expect from a PG-13 rated slasher flick.  Granted it is painfully obvious that it is not a remake of the Jamie Lee Curtis horror film of the same name.  The character names are different as well as the overall plot of the movie save for the fact that both films occur on (big surprise here!) high school prom nights.

Prom Night  \m/  \m/  \

When Grandma’s Boy first came out, I thought it would be a big piece of crap trying to capitalize on Adam Sandler’s success by throwing a comedy together using a cast full of his supporting cast regulars – but no Sandler.  It turned out being one of my favorite comedies in recent years so I had high hopes for Happy Madison’s latest DVD release Strange Wilderness.  I have to say I was somewhat disappointed.  Don’t get me wrong, it had some rather hilarious moments, but just didn’t deliver a comedy I’d really want to watch again.

Strange Wilderness   \m/  \m/  \n

That’s it!  I’m done and heading home to take care of Molly!

I don’t know what the deal is, but for some odd reason I cannot meet a dependable woman.  I guess it’s a good thing I’m not looking for a relationship, but living alone gets lonely and it’s good to have a woman’s companionship from time to time.  Anyways, it seems like every time I turn around I run into a female that either stands me up with no phone call or simply doesn’t do what they say they will.  And, if I do speak to them again, there is almost always some outrageous excuse like, say, they got their phone stolen by a pack of rabid ferrets or some crap like that and they expect you to buy it.  God forbid you call them out on it, because they’ll get defensive and try to make you believe you’re the most selfish and inconsiderate bastard that ever walked the Earth.

I am truly sick of it!  And it’s been happening to me as far back as high school!  Why do they do it?  What is the motivation here?  What do they have to gain by pulling these stunts?  Is it some crazed power trip they try to have over men?  I mean if you don’t want to have anything to do with a guy, why not just tell him?  I mean I can handle upfront outright rejection over getting led on.  Gentlemen, why do we put up with this?  Ladies, what’s your deal?

Ideally, relationships are meant to bring the best out of two people.  However, in many cases, the opposite is true.  Most, if not all, of us at one point or another, meet someone that brings the worst out of us.  Many of us meet several in our lifetimes.  I am certainly no exception.

In college, I met a girl from Florida named Elena whose parents were from Puerto Rico.  We hit it off immediately and got along great…..for a whole weekend.  She being a college freshman (I being a sophomore at the time) she wanted to date around which was understandable – except for the fact she kept going after my friends and then ran back to me after getting shot down.  This went on for a whole semester with her last pursuit being my first cousin and bandmate Ray.  This was too much for me to handle but still I wanted her.

Christmas break came and we went back home – me to Greenville and Elena to Florida.  She began writing me like every other day (this was just before the internet and email took off) and she’d ask about Ray.  At this time was when Ray and his now wife Erin began dating.  Needless to say Elena was crushed, but bounced back by claiming to have ‘come to her senses’ and realizing that she only wanted me.  Of course, to me at that time, this was wonderful news!

So, when we returned to Winthrop the next semester, we began our hot ‘n’ heavy relationship with the both of us quickly losing our virginities (yes, I was a virgin until I was 19).  However, it wasn’t just our passion that was hot ‘n’ heavy – our fighting became quite notorious as we would sometimes fight clear across campus.  That woman pulled elements out of me that no other woman ever has (and hopefully never will).

After dating for three semesters (roughly a year and a half), Elena broke up with me during summer break while she was taking summer classes at Winthrop to, again, pursue other relationships.  So our relationship had come full circle and my heart was severely broken.  Was she worth my time in the first place?  Surely not, but that didn’t matter because my heart often overrides the functions of my brain.  That and my libido!

The only other person to have ever caused as much grief and heartache would be my most recent ex-girlfriend Rebecca.  When I first met her, she was living in Savannah so I kept my distance because I’ve had enough bad experiences with long distance relationships.  We kept in touch through MySpace although she dodged any proposal of meeting up.  Finally one day she actually called me and we began talking and I learned that she was moving back to Greenville.

She was in town for a couple of weeks prior to her actual move and we went out and hit it off…..for about a month.  Hey, I admit, that was longer than Elena!  We started dating officially after only a week and then she was back in Savannah.  Almost immediately after our first date, her ‘best friend’ which also happened to be her ex-boyfriend, started in trying to sabotage the relationship by pulling various stunts.  Rebecca, of course, just tried to dismiss his actions because she valued him as a friend even to the point of it jeopardizing our relationship.

At first, I rolled with it as best I could because I really felt Rebecca and I had real potential.  However, their relationship obviously made me very insecure in our relationship and, after about a month, it started to take its toll.  Over the next six months, she broke up with me at least half a dozen times.

To make matters worse, when she returned to Greenville and bought her first house, I would drop by to see her to find her ex there – and sometimes at late hours!  I would walk in and nothing would be going on, but Rebecca would be visibly startled to see me and then be quick to get defensive when I made my accusatory conclusions.  Do I think there was anything going on?  Actually no, I really do believe that Rebecca is just too nice a person to see the harm in certain things and certain people.  To this day I don’t believe she sees her ex for who he really is.

Late last year, I did some probing and found some inappropriate things, not necessarily physical, about their relationship and brought it to her attention.  That encounter did not go well at all, but I think it actually sobered the girl up just a bit.  Over the holidays we slowly patched things up and took our last run of the relationship after the new year.  She put her friendship with her ex aside and we had a fairly decent run for a few months.

Back in March, we took our first (and consequently only) vacation together as we went to Savannah for St. Patty’s Day weekend and then went down to Orlando.  During that time, it became painfully obvious to me that I was growing tired of the relationship largely due to our lack of communication.  I still loved her very much, but, despite all the time we were spending together, we never really talked.  Obviously I am open about EVERYTHING!  Rebecca, on the other hand, is not.  She is content with letting things slide instead of addressing them.  I am much more confrontational.  I love to talk.  She prefers to just sit quietly with her significant other and say very little.

Granted, there is nothing wrong with either trait, but those traits make our personalities almost irreversibly incompatible.  So, at Spring Fling this year, we had our final fight as a couple.  She had a friend pick her up in Spartanburg and we officially ended the relationship that night.  After being together off and on for right at a year, neither of us wanted to just say goodbye.  Of course, Rebecca is obviously used to being friends with her exes in the first place.

So, we tried seeing each other as friends.  Well, I probably wouldn’t be writing this blog right now had that plan worked out.  As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure Rebecca is not going to be happy that this blog is being written as I am sure she will be reading it.  However, I am actually not doing this for the sheer intent of upsetting her in any way though I’d be lying if I said I had not the slightest bit of ill will.

The fact is that Rebecca has a good heart and I truly believe that.  However, my friend Mikey summed it very well in saying that she has her priorities straight when it comes to her job and finances but tends to let her friends come at a distant second.  This consequently makes her somewhat unreliable as she rarely does what she says she will do – well at least in the time frame she says she will.  Me, I am punctual and prompt in nearly every way – at least when it counts considering I am late to the office almost every day but, hey, I get the job done!

Again, this difference in traits has made it virtually impossible for us to coexist as friends.  At least as close as we had been until recently.  Her inability to do as she promises to had finally reached the breaking point for me.  So I demanded the key to my apartment back after telling her off.

Instead of giving it to me in person, she took it upon herself to enter my apartment yesterday while I was making my weekly visit to see my mom and aunt, took her bridesmaid dress she had left after a wedding and slid the key back under the door after locking up.  Needless to say, I was furious when I got home at the fact that she had entered my apartment after I had told her to return my key.  Being an assistant manager at an apartment community, she knew that there was nothing I could do legally, but how does reflect upon her especially considering her profession?

I am honestly baffled by her recent actions as they do not seem to come from the same person I have cared about for so long.  Ultimately, that is the inspiration for writing this blog as it makes me reflect upon not only this relationship which was doomed from the beginning, but all of my doomed relationships in the past, only one of which I spotlighted for relevance.  It is also the reason I have made a new blog category called “Words of Twisdom” as I am hoping to share the lessons I have learned in the past.  Hell, who am I kidding, I just hope I learn from my past mistakes!  If you gained any insight from this or have something to share yourself, feel free to leave your own thoughts – granted they’re not as ‘twisted’ as mine!

And since I’m talking about doomed relationships, you can see just how ‘bad’ your girlfriend is by taking the “Bad Girlfriend” survey here.

…and I’ll bitch if I want to!  Especially since my birthday had to fall on a Monday!  Damn leap year!  I didn’t want to get out of bed as usual, but I did and, as I was getting ready and brushing my hair, I noticed the bald spot in the back of my head felt bigger.  I took a pic with my camera phone raised over my head and, sure enough, it is!  I have to find some sort of solution or shave my head!  I love my hair!  I don’t want to lose it all at 32!

Then, I get to work and discover that most, if not all, of Upstate Unsigned somehow got lost and did not air last night.  That was really disheartening because I put a lot of work into that show each week using up a good part of my weekends!  Hopefully this day will get better as I am on the air now!

This weekend, however, was pretty good as I spent a good part of it celebrating my upcoming birthday.  I took it easy for the most part Friday, but rushed home after work Saturday to clean my apartment before guests started arriving for my birthday party.  Rebecca got there first as she was coordinating the fiesta and brought the Jell-O shots and various liquors.  She also helped me put the finishing touches on straightening my apartment and vacuumed for me. 

My brother Anthony showed up while Becca was out getting snacks for the party.  I was in the shower and he let himself in which scared the crap outta me when I heard someone in my apartment!  At least he made up for startling me by hooking up my DVD player in the spare bedroom and discovering that I have extended cable – and apparently have the whole year I’ve lived there!  The turnout was great and Rebecca was an excellent hostess as she always is!  I knew there was a reason I kept her around after we broke up!  LOL!!!

Sunday I tried unsuccessfully to sleep in, so I got up and enjoyed my newly discovered world of cable television since I had been going on DVDs for over a year!  At three, I met my mom, Aunt Pat and Anthony at Cracker Barrel where I had their awesome blueberry pancakes being that was all I could stomach as I was feeling some adverse effects from the party.  We then went and caught the 4:40 showing of The Dark Knight at Hollywood 20.

Afterwards, I ran back to the station to put Upstate Unsigned together with one of my Twisted Toddy co-hosts, Jessica.  Of course, we all know how futile that was!  Oh well, technical difficulties do arise!  What can you do other than roll with it?

I gotta say, yesterday actually started out great!  I had a terrific performance evaluation with Mark which was something I was sweating as I always do.  I came out feeling on top of the world and there I stayed until later on that day as I was on the air.  Jessica, one of my co-hosts for Upstate Unsigned, read me a less-than-flattering blog comment from the show’s myspace page.  Apparently a fan of an anonymous local band was upset (to put it lightly) that their song was dropped at the end of the show due to timing as we return to regular programming roughly around midnight.  She proceeded to not only attack the show but other bands featured on the show calling them ‘talentless’ and ‘mainstream crap’.  I would have to say a vast majority of the bands I play have quite a bit of talent and are anything but mainstream as there is a lot of metal, progressive, experimental and everything in between.  And, the reason the band was placed at the end of the show in the first place, was simply because they are somewhat new and have yet to send us any upcoming gigs which is what I base the show on in the first place to promote bands and their shows the following week.

Later in the afternoon as I was wrapping up my shift, I get someone texting in to 20346 criticizing me for dogging on emo.  As I open their text history, I discover it was my ex-girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend as I found where he had been talking crap to other jocks at the station about how I could not run Upstate Unsigned without Rebecca and that she was not given any credit.  Granted this was written before Spring Fling before Becca and I split while she was still co-hosting the show.  Giving Rebecca her fair due, she was an asset to the show and brought it to a level it would not have got to without her.  As a matter of fact, I had to replace her with TWO co-hosts.  I struggled to give her the credit she was due for the show, but, at the end of the day, when ads and promos were made, my name was the one that was tied in with the show simply because I am the one most people are familiar with because I am on the air five hours a day.  However, this guy cannot be reasoned with as he has not liked me from day one since before Becca and I had our first date and has repeatedly attempted to sabotage the relationship.  And, even though Becca and I are no longer together, he still will not let sleeping dogs lie.

After I got off the air, I busted ass to go pick up Rebecca and head downtown to catch Avenue Q at the Peace Center.  As soon as we found our seats, some dude I didn’t even recognize yells “Twisted Todd you suck!”.  A little shocked to hear that in a real non-movie theater, I laughed it off assuming it was a joke.  A couple of friends of mine, Robbie and Vanessa (aka P1 Keymaster and P1 Gatekeeper) were sitting on the other side of the guy a row behind him.  So, before the show started, I headed over there to say hi and, as I passed this guy, he was talking very audibly to his mother about how I had left Lisa’s apartment in a wreck.  To give background here, at the beginning of 2007, I moved in with a couple of friends of mine as a favor to help them with rent since their previous roommate had just moved out.  Within a few months they went through a bitter break-up and both of them moved out leaving me holding the bag.  Being a nice guy since my name wasn’t on the lease at all, I stayed and paid the rent until the lease was up.  When they moved, they left the apartment in a wreck.  So, when it was time for me to move, I emptied and thoroughly cleaned my bedroom and bathroom as well as whatever damage I had done to the kitchen and living room.

Being a confrontational individual, I quickly set the record straight yet without being hasty or rude.  I then tried to change the subject and asked how Lisa was doing.  He smuggly answered the question in a rather rude and dismissive manner and I, disregarding the attitude, told him to tell her I said hi.  He, in like fashion, said that she’d rather not hear it and then started barking at me to move and get my butt out of his mom’s face being I was standing right in front of her at the time.  Ok, boys and girls, NO ONE talks to me like that – I don’t care if you ARE ten feet tall and bulletproof!  So, I quickly invited him to take up whatever issues he had with me outside after the show.

After tipping Robbie off to what had just transpired, I ran to the restroom and to get Rebecca a bottled water.  The show began during my run, so I had to wait a few minutes as they were in an eight minute hold.  I got to my seat and struggled to enjoy the first half of the show all the while wanting to get my hands around that jackass’ throat!  I finally perked up and got a bit excited when they began their number “The Internet is for Porn” of which I have had the video on my myspace before.

During the intermission, I grabbed Robbie and Vanessa and had them sit in the open seats next to us which helped me take my mind off beating someone’s ass.  Of course, after the intermission, the guy in question did not return to his original seat and I did not see him the rest of the night which also helped.  Coward.

I ended up thoroughly enjoying the rest of the show and the four of us hit Steak ‘N’ Shake afterwards for some much needed sustenance.  While there, I filled them in on all the bs that day.  As usual, they all told me roughly the same thing: ‘don’t take it so personal’ or ‘don’t let those people get to you’.  Okay, I know I should be a bit more thick-skinned, but I am only human and surely that would start getting to anyone.  How would you feel about being attacked so many times in one day?  How should I react to all this?  Feel free to leave a comment.  Your feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Before I get into last night’s show at the Handlebar, let me just say that yesterday was not one of the greatest days.  To be honest, the past week or so has just been hell for me in more ways than I care to get into.  I got to the station in one of my post-holiday weekend ‘can’t-believe-it’s-Monday’ moods.  When I am in one of these moods I just try to avoid people as much as possible in attempt to bypass any head-biting that might come from me when I’m grumpy.  And, of course, my evasive tactics are always thwarted by at least someone in building which resulted in a rather good tongue-lashing between myself and the co-worker (one of at least three run-ins I have had with different co-workers over the course of a week – maybe I shouldn’t be such an ass!).

After finally getting the matter resolved, I get back to work only to have my ex-girlfriend wig out on me and back out on last night’s SHINEDOWN show.  So, when I get off work, I head to the Handlebar, alone I might add, for the meet-and-greet with SHINEDOWN.  Finally, this was a turning point in my otherwise sucky day as the guys were really cool, conversational and very appreciative of the radio station and their fans.  I nabbed a couple of autographs, one for me and one for my estranged ex-girlfriend.

After that, Turtle, Greg (our promotions guy) and I introduced the first band, A VACANT SOUL.  The audience, of course, was all psyched for SHINEDOWN while a good many were pumped about PARMALEE yet just a handful of people to my left were familiar with AVS.  I can say with confidence that AVS recruited quite a number of new fans last night at the Handlebar!

Mattman and Paige from The Rise Guys Morning Show gave PARMALEE their stage introduction and then Turtle, intern Tyler (not to be confused with our other Tyler in promotions) and I introduced SHINEDOWN.  Tyler had the wonderful idea of Turtle and I going on with no shirts on since the place was so flippin’ hot and I took it a step further and suggested we actually throw out the shirts off our backs in addition to nice and clean station shirts we were throwing out.  So we did after mopping sweat off various body parts first!

SHINEDOWN came on opening with their killer new single, “Devour” which sent the crowd into a frenzy.  Overall, the entire show was great and I got to meet some avid listeners of the Planet and the Twisted Zone.  The only thing that still concerns me a bit is the fact that male listeners are a lot more excited to meet me than female listeners – and, when I say that, I mean more excited than any male should be when meeting another male!  Oh well, guess I should just become accustomed to signing more man boobs!  LOL!!!