Insanity

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Not sure if Einstein or Franklin said that, but that just appears to be my lovelife.

Break Up

I like Pete Yorn but am not a huge fan of Scarlett Johansson's so I was a bit curious to hear this album.... I was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked her voice.

Guitar

Gotta love Youtube. I get frustrated when I come across a song that I would like to learn to play on the guitar but unable to decipher the tab. Now, I just flip to Youtube, and I can find videos detailing finger positions and strum patterns. Then the tabs become easier to read. Case in point, "You were meant for me" by Jewel. Although, the chords are pretty simple (Cadd9, G6, C, Em....), I could never figure out the finger picking. I found a video that did a great job of detailing where the fingers are placed. However, it stops at only the Em so I don't know what the finger picking on the D string.... :(.

Another good youtube video guitar lesson that I've been viewing is Eric Clapton’s "Tears in Heaven". My difficulty is in the intro, barring the A chord and then hammering with the middle finger on the third fret of the B string. My middle finger just does not have the strength.

A colleague at work suggested that I restring my guitar with lighter strings. That might be good idea. The action on my guitar is not high, so lighter strings could help. He also showed me how to play the intro to "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd. I later grabbed the tabs and what a difference it made. I could understand what I was reading. Ouch! The solo guitar 2 part overwhelmed me. There is no way I can bend strings or slide!! I wished I had started playing guitar when I was 10!

King of the Hill

I read in the Entertainment Weekly that Fox is cancelling King of the Hill. Although, I'm not a huge fan of the show, it's part of our Sunday cartoon lineup: Simpsons, King of the Hill, Family Guy and American Dad. Sigh, I rarely get control of the television.

I'm going to miss King of the Hill as I was warming up to the characters. I'm disappointed that I won't see Dale's reaction when and if he finally finds out who is the real father of his son. What's to become of Luanne, her baby and her loser husband, Lucky. And is it just me, or is Boomhouer pretty incoherent? I could never understand a word he said.

Sibling rivalry

We spent the the Memorial weekend holiday at Jalama Beach. It was windy at times, but Kevin got his surfing in and I got my tan, albeit horrid tan. I accidently fell asleep in the mid afternoon sun..with shorts on.

The relationship between Kevin and Tianna resembled those of siblings. They fight over who's going to have the last slice of pizza (even though she won't be able to eat the last slice), what tv show to watch, who gets to sit where on the cough and so on. This weekend it really just got out of hand. "How come Kevin gets to do that?" "Why do we have to do everything Kevin wants?" "You treat Kevin better than me". Blah blah... Then two minutes later, they are throwing ball or riding skateboards together.

Kevin performs the duties a step father would perform (helping her with homework, teaching her how to do sports, putting meals on the table, treats her wounds, etc...etc) other than discipline. So it upsets me the lack of respect that she gives him. She talks back to him and sites the all too common, "You can't tell me what do to, you're not my father".

She puts her own father on a pedastal. He who chooses to "follow his dreams" in another country. I had a lot of dreams myself, but when I had Tianna, I set aside my dreams.

I'm pretty much at my wits end ... maybe family therapy would be an option.

Anna Karenina

After nearly a month, I am relieved to be twenty pages from completion of "Anna Karenina". I can't remember when I have read a book this long (nearly 1000 pages). There were a lot of social and literary references that I didn't know and had to look it up most of the time. This slowed me down a bit - much like "Clockwork Orange".

Unfortunately, I knew about the book before I read it so I was already anticipating the demise of one of the main character. Not a good way to start a book, in my opinion. Which is why I try to avoid book reviews, but in this case, it was unavoidable because the spoiler was made in a tv show I was watching (no, it wasn't Oprah's book club).

I was very disappointed in Anna Karenina - the character. Sure she married a man twenty years her senior and didn't love him. He wasn't passionate and many times appeared unconcerned but his magnanimous attitude towards her infidelity brought her great guilt. One of the victims of her manipulations was her lover, Vronsky, and I was slowly wishing him to renounce her.

I enjoyed the book immensely. It's not every day I read a book with this much depth. I tend to gravitate towards sci fi, actions and thrillers. But I enjoy a good drama! Now I must go off to the book store to grab another read for this long Memorial holiday weekend. "A tout à l'heure"

Insults...

I'm not a fan of Rush Limbaugh, but I don't hate the guy. So I was taken back when I heard Wanda Sykes shrill: "I hope his kidneys fail.."

Or from Sandra Bernhard warning Sarah Palin from coming to NY or Sarah would be "gang-raped by my big black brothers"

Or Perez Hilton calling Miss California the "B" and "C" word just because she expressed her opinion on a controversial issue.

Or Janeane Garofalo calling Tea Party participants racist. Explain that??

These morally depraved souls!! There are no words to describe my disgust for these types of people. They resonate like a bunch of spoiled children spewing out vulgarity just because people have their own opinions. How do you dispute anything with them when they resort to insults and abuse???

When I argue with someone, I state my reasons and if they still feel differently about it, it's fine. It's their opinion. I am not going to wish them death or demean them just because we disagree.

--okay, The only people you should be wishing death upon are pediophiles! And it's fine if you disagree.

Star Trek

I've been a Star Trek fan for years. However, I'm not a huge fan of Scott Bakula, so I don't waste my time with Enterprise. They don't even use the signature theme and music. Instead, it's the ghastly: "It's been a long time, getting from there to here.... ".

I like neither the story lines nor the characters in Enterprise. The scenes appeared cold and dreary. The characters were dull and lacked the colorful personalities of old Star Trek characters (ie. Dr. McCoy - "I'm a Doctor not a brick layer" and those staccato pauses of Shatner's). Don't even get me started on Captain Janeway...

We watched Star Trek, the movie, this weekend and I was blown away. Pine and Quinto did a fantastic job portraying Kirk and Spock. And Simon Pegg as Scott is genius!! I must have missed something because I don't remember Spock and Uhura fraternizing in the old tv series. There were oodles of fraternizing on Generations. I like Generations but in my opinion, the original Star Trek were the best episodes. And Start Trek II: Wrath of Khan is my favorite Star Trek movie... although this new one will be up there, too!!

-- I'm so glad they didn't cast Kal Penn or Shia Lebeouf!

RESPA violations

Two weeks ago, I got a letter from a lawfirm promising to save me hundreds per month in my mortgage. I was pretty weary about solicitations and threw it away. Recently, my best friend just informed me of his loan modification process. It involved exposing TILA and/or RESPA violations that could lead to litigation or possibility of a loan modification.

I decided to do a little research. My home buying experience was a nightmare. I'm sure my lender broke several laws that I was unaware of. For instance, RESPA does not allow accepting gifts from mortgage brokers as a referral incentive. My experience was so bad that after escrow closed, I was contacted by the branch manager and he gave me a check to make up for my troubles. I wonder if this was a violation? ... although it wasn't for a referral.

In my GFE, the appraisal fees were excluded. We had negotiated that out of the GFE. But at signing of the docs with the Title Co, the lender included it because that was the only way they could give me such "good rates" (5.75 on the first and 6.85 on the second). RESPA requires the lender to discuss any changes with the borrower. Could this be another violation?

There were so many of examples of the latter. Telling me one thing (in the GFE) and doing something else at the close of escrow. My house has depreciated more than 5%and I can't refinance now. I neither have a subprime loan nor do I have an option arm. I am contemplating if I should contact my lender to modify my loan based on these violations?

update: well, I talked to my lender (Brenda) this morning and apparently, because I am current on my loan, I don't qualify for a loan modification. I have to be 60 days or more behind. She also told me that these violations I am reporting will not modify my loan.