So, does everyone remember back in 2009 the 'cool' thing to do was list twenty five things about you on social media networks like Facebook? I stumbled across mine as I was looking at the archives of this blog. Here's a link to it. Now, between then and now I have gained some more frequent readers. I have also changed a little bit since then. So, I thought what better way to have the reader get to know me than make up another list. Because, you know, I got nothing else going on at 10:40 at night and I don't have to be up early tomorrow morning. I don't know if I have twenty five things to type, I might end up with more. We'll see.
1. I quit a job of seven plus years last November and it was the scariest thing I have done in a long time
2. A month into my new job, I thought I had made a HUGE mistake. Now I know I didn't
3. I was once asked what my dream job would be. After five minutes, I couldn't come up with an answer
4. My favorite Star Wars movie is Return of the Jedi
5. I will never shave my beard again (barring unforeseen circumstances)
6. The last time I was fully clean shaven was 2007, the year I got married
7. My first attempt at full beardness was in 2004. Looking back, it was sad and kind of patchy
8. I'm on Twitter (@Litzner) and prefer it to Facebook
9. I applied to graduate school shortly after moving to Wichita in 2004
10. Two days later I freaked out about it and retracted my application
11. I lack confidence when it comes to my ability to do well in school
12. My parents bought me a guitar for Christmas when I was in 8th grade and I still haven't learned how to play it
13. I will learn to play the guitar as soon as I get out of living in an apartment
14. For the past five years, I have gone back and forth about getting a tattoo
15. One song that I could listen to over and over again is 'Paint it Black' by the Rolling Stones
16. My 5th grade teacher once told me I had chicken scratch for handwriting. It was at that point that I probably stopped caring when my handwriting looked like.
17. I have no hope for the future of music
18. After a stressful day at work, I drive home listening to Rage Against the Machine and it calms me
19. I don't know how or why, but I picked up a smoking habit for about four months in college
20. I wish I were more mechanically inclined
That's it folks. It's late. I'm going to bed.
37/120
26 May 2014
Myths of Marriage
Remember that one time I thought I was really ambitious and was going to write one hundred and twenty posts in a year? Yeah, me too. *silently weeps a little*. Listen, every time I get done with work I think to myself that I should go home and write something. Anything. But I don't have much to write about. As I was driving to work this weekend, both days, I thought to myself, 'man, I hate people that have office jobs right now.' They had the holiday weekend off. They enjoyed the warm weather. Speaking of which, it has been really warm here the past couple of days and if I hear any Minnesotan complain about the weather because it is too hot after hearing them complain that the weather was too cold this winter, I'm going to throat punch them. I got a little sidetracked, sorry. Let's delve into more of these random topics shall we?
Your spouse has to take your last name. Traditionally, it happens that when two people get married, they share the same last name. My wife and I were engaged for just over a year. In that time, we went back and forth on a few things when it came to our marriage. We thought about going home for a traditional wedding before settling on going away for it. By the way, best decision we made. If you are reading this and you are thinking about doing a destination wedding, DO IT! Less stress, more about you and not who showed up, plus if you do it right, you have a reception/party back home so you get to dress up twice! Once we settled on that, the only major decision was the name thing. Again, my wife went back and forth on taking my last name. Actually, there wasn't much back and forth. She thought about it for a split second and though, nah, she liked her name. It was part of her identity. And who am I to take that away from her? I remember having this reaction once she told me that she was going to stick with her name. I was taken aback. Even a little angry. Then I pulled my head out of my ass and realized: it's just a name. We were still going to be married. We were still going to love each other no matter what. Having my last name or her last name was not going to change any of that. Plus, from what we understand, there's a lot of paper work involved in changing it. And fuck that. Am I right? There are people that are so excited to take their husband's name (or vice versa) because to them that is part of marriage. And more power to them. I'm not going to tell them that they are wrong in doing so. I just don't think that it needs to happen if someone doesn't want it to.
You have to have kids. They cry and scream and eat and shit everywhere. They do nothing but brood and pout until they are in college and then they call asking for money and don't appreciate you until they are in their thirties. I know this because I'm in my thirties and I have recently gone through all those stages mentioned previously. You don't need them if you don't want them. They don't come as part of the marriage. It's not in the marriage license. Trust me, we looked. And then had it double checked because we wanted to make sure that it was true. Don't feel pressured that because you are married that kids are the next step. You always have to do what is best for you. If you don't want kids, don't have kids. If you want to have six or seven, first get your head checked, and then go have six or seven kids.
Some of these myths also go along with older traditions. You look back to the fifties and sixties and traditional marriage was having the same name, raising two and a half kids, going to church every Sunday. Times change. People change. Cultures change. You cannot expect to pick up a book on marriage and have yours follow that same path. Every marriage is different. Yours is going to be different than your parents or your siblings or your best friends. All you need to know is that marriage works for the two that are involved in it. And no one else. If what works best for you is buying a pop up camper and traveling cross country year round doing odd jobs, then guess what, that's marriage. If it is having a dozen kids that all have names that start with the letter 'B', then that's marriage. If it is living in a studio apartment in downtown of a major city and it just being the two of you, then that is marriage. Everyone is different, every marriage is different. And we are all a bunch of perfect fucking snowflakes looking for that other perfect fucking snowflake to spend the rest of our life with.
36/120
What are the biggest myths about marriage?The first year is hard. I don't know about anyone else, but the first year of marriage was a breeze. Maybe it was because it was all new and exciting, but it was not that complicated. I wrote back in March about how living together made it much easier of a transition into married life because nothing really changed. I'm sure that if we went back to the first couple of years that we lived together, something that traditionally has been the first year of marriage, I may have a different feeling about it. But no, the first year wasn't hard. That's my aspect of it. I'm sure if you asked my wife, she may have a different opinion. So why wasn't it hard? It's only hard if you make it so. In the first year, you are kind of feeling out how it is to not be a single person anymore. You are finding out how some decisions are no longer based on just one person. If you take the time to factor in your spouse and how they will react, then you avoid stupid arguments. Now, don't get me wrong, my wife and I argue over small things a lot. Still to this day. After seven years of marriage. After living together for thirteen years. But get your thoughts and feelings out in the open. They don't do you any good if they sit in the back of your head and stew.
Your spouse has to take your last name. Traditionally, it happens that when two people get married, they share the same last name. My wife and I were engaged for just over a year. In that time, we went back and forth on a few things when it came to our marriage. We thought about going home for a traditional wedding before settling on going away for it. By the way, best decision we made. If you are reading this and you are thinking about doing a destination wedding, DO IT! Less stress, more about you and not who showed up, plus if you do it right, you have a reception/party back home so you get to dress up twice! Once we settled on that, the only major decision was the name thing. Again, my wife went back and forth on taking my last name. Actually, there wasn't much back and forth. She thought about it for a split second and though, nah, she liked her name. It was part of her identity. And who am I to take that away from her? I remember having this reaction once she told me that she was going to stick with her name. I was taken aback. Even a little angry. Then I pulled my head out of my ass and realized: it's just a name. We were still going to be married. We were still going to love each other no matter what. Having my last name or her last name was not going to change any of that. Plus, from what we understand, there's a lot of paper work involved in changing it. And fuck that. Am I right? There are people that are so excited to take their husband's name (or vice versa) because to them that is part of marriage. And more power to them. I'm not going to tell them that they are wrong in doing so. I just don't think that it needs to happen if someone doesn't want it to.
You have to have kids. They cry and scream and eat and shit everywhere. They do nothing but brood and pout until they are in college and then they call asking for money and don't appreciate you until they are in their thirties. I know this because I'm in my thirties and I have recently gone through all those stages mentioned previously. You don't need them if you don't want them. They don't come as part of the marriage. It's not in the marriage license. Trust me, we looked. And then had it double checked because we wanted to make sure that it was true. Don't feel pressured that because you are married that kids are the next step. You always have to do what is best for you. If you don't want kids, don't have kids. If you want to have six or seven, first get your head checked, and then go have six or seven kids.
Some of these myths also go along with older traditions. You look back to the fifties and sixties and traditional marriage was having the same name, raising two and a half kids, going to church every Sunday. Times change. People change. Cultures change. You cannot expect to pick up a book on marriage and have yours follow that same path. Every marriage is different. Yours is going to be different than your parents or your siblings or your best friends. All you need to know is that marriage works for the two that are involved in it. And no one else. If what works best for you is buying a pop up camper and traveling cross country year round doing odd jobs, then guess what, that's marriage. If it is having a dozen kids that all have names that start with the letter 'B', then that's marriage. If it is living in a studio apartment in downtown of a major city and it just being the two of you, then that is marriage. Everyone is different, every marriage is different. And we are all a bunch of perfect fucking snowflakes looking for that other perfect fucking snowflake to spend the rest of our life with.
36/120
18 May 2014
No More Sleeping In
Do you remember back in high school and college when the greatest thing about the morning was that it was optional? When you didn't have to be up for class or something else, wasn't it great to just sleep the mornings away? 8:00 in the morning? What the hell is that? Perish the thought that the day started before 10:00 at the earliest. For whatever reason, I have found myself getting up early recently. And I don't mind that at all.
I can no longer stay up late either. I think once you get past the age of thirty, 11:00 at night is considered an all-nighter. We went out a couple of times with some friends to watch some playoff hockey and half way through the games, we were all checking our watches and phones to see what time it was. I'm telling you, I'm just happy none of the games we watched were on the West coast. I doubt we all would have made it to the second intermission. If you are getting up earlier, it just makes sense to go to bed earlier as well. Which is funny, because as my mom loves to remind me over and over, I did not sleep very well as a baby. 'You didn't sleep through the night until you were four years old.' is the comment most commonly uttered. With just a dash of anger in it too. It's was twenty eight years ago, I'm sure it's time to move past it. Am I right?
An example of this situation happened earlier this week. I work on Wednesday morning at 2:00. While college kids were closing down the bars, I was headed to work. And, of course, I did not sleep very well the night before. I got maybe two hours of sleep. So I got up, went to work, worked ten and a half hours, and came home. I did not go to sleep right away despite the fact that I was extremely tired because the Tigers game was on television. So I had to stay up because I do not get to see them play all that often. I did fall asleep for a little bit during the game, but I barely missed half an inning. Regardless, I went to bed and thought I was going to sleep in really late the next morning, so I set my alarm for 10:30, just in case. You know what happened? I slept in until 8:30. I was kind of pissed about it, but then realized I got ten hours of sleep because I went to bed relatively early.
So it's not like I'm only getting five or six hours of sleep each night. I am getting more than I use to just because of going to bed earlier than I use to. I still get up around the same time I use to, or close to it. I just make coffee and enjoy being up early these days. For whatever reason. It's not like I am getting up to go work out or do anything productive. Well, some days I'm productive. Maybe if I took time out of each of these early mornings on days off, I will keep up on my goal of writing this year. Whatever. Other days I just sit around, watch a movie or two. It's a wonderful system I have going for me.
35/120
I can no longer stay up late either. I think once you get past the age of thirty, 11:00 at night is considered an all-nighter. We went out a couple of times with some friends to watch some playoff hockey and half way through the games, we were all checking our watches and phones to see what time it was. I'm telling you, I'm just happy none of the games we watched were on the West coast. I doubt we all would have made it to the second intermission. If you are getting up earlier, it just makes sense to go to bed earlier as well. Which is funny, because as my mom loves to remind me over and over, I did not sleep very well as a baby. 'You didn't sleep through the night until you were four years old.' is the comment most commonly uttered. With just a dash of anger in it too. It's was twenty eight years ago, I'm sure it's time to move past it. Am I right?
An example of this situation happened earlier this week. I work on Wednesday morning at 2:00. While college kids were closing down the bars, I was headed to work. And, of course, I did not sleep very well the night before. I got maybe two hours of sleep. So I got up, went to work, worked ten and a half hours, and came home. I did not go to sleep right away despite the fact that I was extremely tired because the Tigers game was on television. So I had to stay up because I do not get to see them play all that often. I did fall asleep for a little bit during the game, but I barely missed half an inning. Regardless, I went to bed and thought I was going to sleep in really late the next morning, so I set my alarm for 10:30, just in case. You know what happened? I slept in until 8:30. I was kind of pissed about it, but then realized I got ten hours of sleep because I went to bed relatively early.
So it's not like I'm only getting five or six hours of sleep each night. I am getting more than I use to just because of going to bed earlier than I use to. I still get up around the same time I use to, or close to it. I just make coffee and enjoy being up early these days. For whatever reason. It's not like I am getting up to go work out or do anything productive. Well, some days I'm productive. Maybe if I took time out of each of these early mornings on days off, I will keep up on my goal of writing this year. Whatever. Other days I just sit around, watch a movie or two. It's a wonderful system I have going for me.
35/120
13 May 2014
Little Victories
We have done it! Strike up the band, throw confetti, plan a parade! We have planned a vacation. Not a vacation to go home, but a vacation to go somewhere we have never been. We are traveling all the way up to Duluth. A whole two hours north. The one big mistake we made was going there during the fourth of July holiday. We both took the weekend off to go do something. It's nice to hang around home during the big holidays every once in a while, but the last thing we wanted to do was to do it again.
We have never traveled anywhere for holiday weekends like this one, so we decided to change it up a little bit this year. What are we going to do? No clue. What is going on up there that weekend? No clue. All we know is that we are going to be there. On a side note, plan your vacations way more than two months in advance. Especially if it is a holiday weekend. Hotel options are pretty slim. Also, prepare to overpay. But what are you going to do? Other than go on vacation on a non-holiday weekend.
I have written about this before, taking vacation. We have just always gone home to Michigan for vacations. Off the top of my head, I think we have taken one or two trips that were not to Michigan or not to visit family. We went down to Dallas for a weekend many years ago for a weekend trip for my birthday with a couple of close friends. We use to take weekend canoe trips with big groups of people. But that is really about it. We visited our brothers in Seattle and Colorado Springs. So it's not to say we haven't traveled places, we just haven't done so without ulterior motives. We have no plans yet for this weekend trip. We do not know what is going on up there that weekend. We are just going. And that is a wonderful feeling.
34/120
We have never traveled anywhere for holiday weekends like this one, so we decided to change it up a little bit this year. What are we going to do? No clue. What is going on up there that weekend? No clue. All we know is that we are going to be there. On a side note, plan your vacations way more than two months in advance. Especially if it is a holiday weekend. Hotel options are pretty slim. Also, prepare to overpay. But what are you going to do? Other than go on vacation on a non-holiday weekend.
I have written about this before, taking vacation. We have just always gone home to Michigan for vacations. Off the top of my head, I think we have taken one or two trips that were not to Michigan or not to visit family. We went down to Dallas for a weekend many years ago for a weekend trip for my birthday with a couple of close friends. We use to take weekend canoe trips with big groups of people. But that is really about it. We visited our brothers in Seattle and Colorado Springs. So it's not to say we haven't traveled places, we just haven't done so without ulterior motives. We have no plans yet for this weekend trip. We do not know what is going on up there that weekend. We are just going. And that is a wonderful feeling.
34/120
08 May 2014
No Big Deal
My wife and I have been married for seven years today. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Congratulations and all that. *Brushes off the shoulders* We have never really been the type of couple to flaunt our love and affection for each other in public. Mainly because we are pretty private and introverted people. The exception to this rule is this post. This is as public as we both really get about our relationship. We do love and respect each other, don't be mistaken.
Anyway, we've been together since 1998. High school. We made it through college too. I roll my eyes every time I tell someone that and they get all 'awwwww, that's so sweet'. Again, we aren't that type of couple. We make fun of people that are like that. Maybe that's why we work so well together. If you are our friend, and you are in a relationship that's all lovey-dovey and overtly affectionate, there is a good chance (in fact, a really good chance) that we have made fun of you. It is out of love for you, not because we hate you. And this affection does not have to be in person, if you have posted something on social media, we have both looked at it and made fun.
So here's a couple of pictures from our wedding in St. Thomas. Good times....good times....
Love and affection, right? Welp, to show you all how we really act, here's a picture from a camping trip back in Kansas. She's grabbing me and shaking my head. Probably for something I said or did. Please note the grin and sheer joy on her face.
Also, this quote. This is her talking to me, by the way:
33/120
Anyway, we've been together since 1998. High school. We made it through college too. I roll my eyes every time I tell someone that and they get all 'awwwww, that's so sweet'. Again, we aren't that type of couple. We make fun of people that are like that. Maybe that's why we work so well together. If you are our friend, and you are in a relationship that's all lovey-dovey and overtly affectionate, there is a good chance (in fact, a really good chance) that we have made fun of you. It is out of love for you, not because we hate you. And this affection does not have to be in person, if you have posted something on social media, we have both looked at it and made fun.
So here's a couple of pictures from our wedding in St. Thomas. Good times....good times....
Love and affection, right? Welp, to show you all how we really act, here's a picture from a camping trip back in Kansas. She's grabbing me and shaking my head. Probably for something I said or did. Please note the grin and sheer joy on her face.
Also, this quote. This is her talking to me, by the way:
'I'm gonna fucking stab you.' -@TheDivineMsA #TrueLove
— Michael Litzner (@Litzner) March 22, 201433/120
02 May 2014
Boob Tube Post. Hehehe....boob.
Everyone has their show that they absolutely cannot miss. Same bat-time, same bat-channel, you block out the real world. With the invention of the DVR, we have been able to not necessarily sit down at the same time each week, but you still set time aside to watch shows. And with Netflix, you can go on binges of shows you were late finding out about to catch up on past seasons. Below is a list of a handful of shows that I have enjoyed watching. Some of them are still on, some have been off air for quite some time.
'Warehouse 13'. This show is on theSci-Fi Channel Sci-Fi SyFy channel since 2009 and this is the final season. This is a fun show with some serious undertones. Some might call it a 'dramity'. I like it because of the historical references. A little corny, but what do you expect from a channel called SyFy? They have done pretty well for such an absurd concept of a show. They know their limitations and don't try to do too much. This is a binge-worthy show. In fact, that is how I started watching it. It's on Netflix and I sat down on a day off and watched six or seven episodes in a row. I got hooked quick.
'24'. This was a show that overstayed it's welcome. This is coming from someone who had to sit down and watch every. single. episode. And not the next day, or a week later. That night. My brother and I called/texted back and forth during episodes. This was one of those shows that I blocked off an hour of my day to sit down and watch. It was tense and had great twists throughout the season, but the last two or three seasons were near unwatchable. Very heavy handed when it came to politics, but I still watched because I was invested in the show and characters. And don't get me wrong, when the new season starts on Monday, I will be watching.
'Lost'. Yes, I got caught up in the show that went from 'people trapped on an island after a crash' to 'what the fuck is going on' in the span of half a season. I liked it. I even enjoyed the series finale. That's right, I said it. Bring on the haters. Most of the later seasons were trying to be too cryptic and many people gave up on the show. There were times when I wanted to do the same thing. But I also wanted to know how it ended. They did a great job of not answering questions to keep the viewers coming back. This show tried to do and be much more than it really was. By the way, did we ever find out how the polar bear got to the island in the South Pacific?
'The Walking Dead'. Why did I start watching this show? For the zombies. Who didn't start watching this show for that? Why do I still watch this show? For the characters and story line. It sounds pretentious, and it kind of is, but the zombies and all the gore that go along with it are just a byproduct of what is really going on. I have been interested in zombies and always have fun with the 'what would you do in the zombie apocalypse' type scenarios. Whenever I come across people that don't want to watch this show because of all the gore, I tell them to try and get past it and watch it for the storyline. It is so much better than the gore. Also, read the graphic novels. Holy shit, they are so good.
'Mad Men'. Nothing exciting ever happens in this show. There are no explosions, no terrorist plots, no crazy character they bring in to try and revamp interest. This is a show that is well written, well acted, and well developed. If you want to watch a drama series, this is it. None of that NCIS, CSI bullshit. Those shows are awful. AWFUL! This is a show that is in it's last season. It could probably be carried on for several more years, but they are being smart and ending it before it outlives itself. This season is being split into two half seasons which I cannot stand. More and more shows are starting to do this 'mid-season finale' bullshit and it needs to stop. This show is one of those shows you enjoy watching and when it's all over, you are glad you did just because of how well it was done. If my writing doesn't convince you, maybe a list of all the awards it has won/been nominated for will.
'Gilmore Girls'. Want to know where Melissa McCarthy came from? Watch this show. This is a show that I had never heard of and just started watching it one day with my wife. It has one of the best deadpan characters of all time in Luke Danes. Plus, I think that it is safe to say, that no one in the post-Grunge era wore flannel better than Luke did. There are so many pop culture and history references throughout the entire series, you could make up a drinking game and die from it halfway through the first season. Which is what made it a good show. The writing. Amy-Sherman Palladino wrote the bulk of the show and is very gifted. Is it cheesy at times? Yes. Is it over the top? Yes. Is it still fun to watch? Yes. They even had Madeline Albright on for a cameo. And Norman Mailer. Come on now.
There are also some shows that I tried to get into, but wasn't able. I was told that some shows, like 'The Americans' and 'Breaking Bad' got some much better as the show went on. Well, those are two shows I tried to watch. And just couldn't. I got halfway through 'The Americans' before giving up on it. I tried watching 'Breaking Bad'. Twice. And I'm sure that the shows are great, hell Bryan Cranston won awards for his efforts. Other shows, like 'Vikings', are on the same time other shows that I have been watching for years are on. You cannot always win with television.
32/120
'Warehouse 13'. This show is on the
'24'. This was a show that overstayed it's welcome. This is coming from someone who had to sit down and watch every. single. episode. And not the next day, or a week later. That night. My brother and I called/texted back and forth during episodes. This was one of those shows that I blocked off an hour of my day to sit down and watch. It was tense and had great twists throughout the season, but the last two or three seasons were near unwatchable. Very heavy handed when it came to politics, but I still watched because I was invested in the show and characters. And don't get me wrong, when the new season starts on Monday, I will be watching.
'Lost'. Yes, I got caught up in the show that went from 'people trapped on an island after a crash' to 'what the fuck is going on' in the span of half a season. I liked it. I even enjoyed the series finale. That's right, I said it. Bring on the haters. Most of the later seasons were trying to be too cryptic and many people gave up on the show. There were times when I wanted to do the same thing. But I also wanted to know how it ended. They did a great job of not answering questions to keep the viewers coming back. This show tried to do and be much more than it really was. By the way, did we ever find out how the polar bear got to the island in the South Pacific?
'The Walking Dead'. Why did I start watching this show? For the zombies. Who didn't start watching this show for that? Why do I still watch this show? For the characters and story line. It sounds pretentious, and it kind of is, but the zombies and all the gore that go along with it are just a byproduct of what is really going on. I have been interested in zombies and always have fun with the 'what would you do in the zombie apocalypse' type scenarios. Whenever I come across people that don't want to watch this show because of all the gore, I tell them to try and get past it and watch it for the storyline. It is so much better than the gore. Also, read the graphic novels. Holy shit, they are so good.
'Mad Men'. Nothing exciting ever happens in this show. There are no explosions, no terrorist plots, no crazy character they bring in to try and revamp interest. This is a show that is well written, well acted, and well developed. If you want to watch a drama series, this is it. None of that NCIS, CSI bullshit. Those shows are awful. AWFUL! This is a show that is in it's last season. It could probably be carried on for several more years, but they are being smart and ending it before it outlives itself. This season is being split into two half seasons which I cannot stand. More and more shows are starting to do this 'mid-season finale' bullshit and it needs to stop. This show is one of those shows you enjoy watching and when it's all over, you are glad you did just because of how well it was done. If my writing doesn't convince you, maybe a list of all the awards it has won/been nominated for will.
'Gilmore Girls'. Want to know where Melissa McCarthy came from? Watch this show. This is a show that I had never heard of and just started watching it one day with my wife. It has one of the best deadpan characters of all time in Luke Danes. Plus, I think that it is safe to say, that no one in the post-Grunge era wore flannel better than Luke did. There are so many pop culture and history references throughout the entire series, you could make up a drinking game and die from it halfway through the first season. Which is what made it a good show. The writing. Amy-Sherman Palladino wrote the bulk of the show and is very gifted. Is it cheesy at times? Yes. Is it over the top? Yes. Is it still fun to watch? Yes. They even had Madeline Albright on for a cameo. And Norman Mailer. Come on now.
There are also some shows that I tried to get into, but wasn't able. I was told that some shows, like 'The Americans' and 'Breaking Bad' got some much better as the show went on. Well, those are two shows I tried to watch. And just couldn't. I got halfway through 'The Americans' before giving up on it. I tried watching 'Breaking Bad'. Twice. And I'm sure that the shows are great, hell Bryan Cranston won awards for his efforts. Other shows, like 'Vikings', are on the same time other shows that I have been watching for years are on. You cannot always win with television.
32/120
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