THE TWELVE %$&#!!! DAYS OF CHRISTMAS!
That has just got to be the most annoying Christmas song EVER!!!

Sitting today in the Java place, nursing my usual cup o'joe, as is apropos for the season, Christmas music was blaring out of the speaker above me. I suppose, if I hadn't been sitting so close to that speaker, I wouldn't have had the reaction I had. Out of the speaker came "THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS", which is just an AWFUL song. It not only repeats the same dumb stuff over and over, it ADDS to that dumb stuff with each verse! And for some unknown reason, the singer always stretches out the refrain, "FIIIIIIIIIVE.......GOLLLLLLDEN RIIIIIIIINGS!" and when the song hits the 12th verse, where again, everything is repeated ad nauseum, I just wanna NAUSEATE!!!

In addition to that, I cannot help but notice that the Christmas music that the stores are "allowed" to play in this hyper-sensitive, everyone-has-rights, politically-correct society, seems to focus on the shallow, non-religious songs. "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer"! ACK!!! "Frosty The Snowman". ACK!!! "Jingle Bells!" ACK!!! "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow". ACK!!! Don't get me wrong; I like "The Christmas Song" (Chestnuts Roasting...); I think "White Christmas" is a grrrreat song (You oughta hear the Drifters' version of "White Christmas"; it's absolutely cool...), so I'm not an old grinch; there are some Christmas songs that are pretty good.

What I miss, though, are the religious songs, and I don't care WHO those songs offend. Because they SHOULDN'T offend anyone! I miss hearing, "Silent Night", "O Holy Night", "Hark The Herald Angels Sing", etc. Those are just beautiful songs. In a perfect world, we'd be able to hear a good mixture of secular and religious Christmas music. After all, with no "Christ", there'd be no "Christmas". But I understand that some chain-stores won't even let their employees wish their customers "Merry Christmas", for fear that some heathen unbeliever is going to be OFFENDED. There is nothing more enchanting than sitting on the couch, in front of the Christmas Tree, late in the evening, with "O Holy Night" playing in the background. One of my fond childhood memories.
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I Gave Downtown CDA A Chance dept.: Every single day, I seem to hear about the delicate business situation downtown. Stores having to close because the rents are so high. Stores sweating it out, hoping that someone actually comes in and BUYS something. Well, today, I needed something. Shoes. I had about $25-$30 to spend (end of the month; money's a little tight). I went to one shoe vendor; they had a good price range, but they didn't have the "selection". So I went to another shoe store that is having a BIG SALE! And, the cheapest shoe the guy had on sale was still over $60.00.

Two downtown CDA shoe stores. Nothing in my price range. Nothing I was really looking for. So, I went uptown, to "Big 5" Sports in the CDA Town Center. Found just what I wanted for $20 bucks. Good price, good selection. But, as I stated previously, "I Gave Downtown CDA A Chance"!!! I think the downtown CDA Merchants should look a little bit harder at their business practices. Not everyone who lives in CDA is "upscale", DAMMIT! But downtown merchants don't seem to realize that.

This all came about, because I've been having tremendous lower back problems lately. It's been getting to the point where it's been hurting so bad, I could barely make it from one room to the other. I've been wearing old running shoes, with thick heels. I believe the heels were causing me some spinal mis-alignment. I noticed last nite when walking barefoot, I seemed to be walking easier. I thot, "hmmm, could the shoes be complicating things here?" So I went and got "walking shoes" with lower heels, and so far, I seem to be getting around easier.

From my running days, I remember reading a book by the late Dr. George Sheehan, who was a runner, and he'd said, that most skeletal problems begin with the feet. So, I decided to get new shoes. So far, so good. So if you're having problems with sore knees, hips or lower back, maybe it's the shoes! Especially if you've been wearing the same pair for a long time. Sometimes the worst pain can be caused by something so small, something you don't even think about. I'd been wearing these old running shoes for ages. Now I've got "walking shoes" on. They feel weird, but they feel good.
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The people at the Java place told me that things had been just absolutely insane over the last couple of days, what with all of the holiday shoppers out and about, especially with people lining Sherman Avenue during last night's Holiday Parade that I didn't bother to even consider attending. I should've known something was up when I walked in there today; the place was absolutely packed, sorta like that Coffee Shop on the old "Frasier" TV show, where Frasier and Niles Crane always had such a hard time finding a place to sit down. Hmmm..."Frasier"...another witty and well-written TV show; it was always one of my favorites.
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Well, y'all, have a good Saturday night. I get to live it up tonite! I'm gonna go play guitar! Will I get paid for it? No. And I don't care. Some folks go bowling, other people play pinochile; I play guitar. Same difference. Except that I make a lot more NOISE!