- The term "malaise" is defined as "a vague or unfocused feeling of mental uneasiness, lethargy, or discomfort" or something along those lines. This is probably the perfect description of what I've been dealing with over the past few weeks or so. I have been mentally uneasy. I have been lethargic. I have been feeling some discomfort physically and mentally especially with headaches. Some of the feelings I've had have been rather unfocused and vague. This one word pretty much sums up what I'm dealing with right now...a malaise. I've had several of them before and the last real serious one I had was about 5 years ago. This one is different however in that it came out of nowhere and I can't pinpoint any real discernable cause or root of it. I recognize I've come off as erratic especially over the past week or so to some folks so I thought I'd let people know what's been up with me. I've pulled back on some things and tried to get as much rest as I can in case it was something physical like heatstroke or something like that. It hasn't helped that I've had a lot of little irritations...a small break in something here, an inconvenience there...where my frustrations with them may have been amplified by this malaise and adding up. It's been really rough. Another difference with this malaise is that I can easily tell that generally things have been going good for me in several areas. I'm having a difficult time enjoying them, though. I went to the Rib Festival with the intention of watching fireworks but after walking around the festival I just took off and skipped the fireworks altogether (I did hear it was much better than last year's nine minute joke of a display). I've had at least one break I know of from this but overall I just haven't felt all that great going out to places. The term "dulled enjoyment" comes to mind in that I'm feeling some but not as much as I expected or I'm used to. I am concerned about it now because I've got a lot of activities and good stuff coming up here in the next two months or so which I'll get to later in this edition. The only thing I know for certain about this malaise of mine is that even though some people have tried or are still trying to help me through this it looks like this is unfortunately and ultimately something I'm gonna have to deal with on my own. I seriously want this to go away very soon but if I seem off or not myself in the near future or a bit erratic at least you'll all know what's up.
- Even though I wasn't up to par for the Rib Festival last Friday, I was able to get some photos from my walk around the festival and downtown Akron in general. There are a couple of major changes coming in the area including one where my usual watching spot for fireworks was completely closed off (that was just one irritation in a string of them that night) and new construction on Broadway across from the end of Cedar Street. With the possibility of an arena going up also (I'll get more into that later) downtown Akron is really changing things up. Here's the photos I took during my time there last weekend: 2014 - 07-04 - Akron Rib Festival (Downtown Akron).
- Speaking of the possible arena going up downtown, there is a county tax issue supposedly coming up in November that is supposed to help fund putting up a new arena as well as other services around the area. Normally I could get behind something like that but there is more to this than the pro-tax folks are telling. For instance, they're putting up the arena for the University of Akron and they will actually have majority control of the arena itself. In other words, they're asking folks in Summit County to financially support construction of an arena which will primarily serve Akron Zips basketball. Of course it will have "other stuff" (note the quotation marks) but it won't actually be a "county arena." I don't think it's right to have the county fund construction of an arena where only politicians and the university will be the beneficiaries. I believe private investment or the university itself should be the primary funders of such an idea if they are so gung-ho on it...or maybe the politicians fund it out of their own pockets (not campaign funds, mind you). To put it on the backs of county taxpayers in this recovering economy where they won't get all that much from it is just too much for me. Also, bundling the issue with funding for other critical services just sounds like an end-around to getting an arena built. That just comes off as shady to me. If this actually gets on the ballot, unless something big time comes along to change my mind I will probably be voting against it. I think they should just separate the arena idea and critical services thing into separate issues, but that's just me.
- One break I did get from this malaise I've been going through was going up to the NBA Draft Party up at the Q with my friend Bob on draft night. That night was definitely something to behold. The place was packed with I would estimate over ten thousand people showing up. We were able to get near the basketball court itself and saw Larry Nance for the first time in years. Short story about Nance...I was infamously able to get his autograph on 5 separate occasions back in his heyday with the Cavs and he actually got my attention on the 5th instead of the other way around. Anyway, we were able to watch them draft the guy we wanted, Andrew Wiggins, and hear the roar of the crowd when the pick was made (we were in line for food when they announced it). I was able to grab a TV mic for a hot minute to boot so that was cool. We decided to walk around the area a bit, checking out the new casino and see Progressive Field. I hope to be able to go back down there sometime in the future for a game or two and check out more. I did get some pics while we were there which you can look at here: 2014 - 06-26 - 2014 Cavaliers Draft Party.
- As you can tell by the photo albums I've shared already, I am really enjoying this phone I got early last month. One of the reasons I got a new phone in the first place was to get a better camera. With a lot of stuff coming up it looks like I'm going to get a lot of use out of it too beyond what I already use it for.
- Time for a pizza break...
...
...
...
Okay, I'm back.
- As I mentioned earlier there are a bunch of things coming up, some in general and some pertaining to yours truly. The weekend of the 18-19th is the Mogadore Summer Festival where I believe they will have fireworks on Friday night (I think...they had them last year) and will have Ohio Championship Wrestling put on a free show on Saturday night. I am definitely watching the wrestling since it's been a year since I've been to a live show. There's a reunion for my mom's side of the family later in the month as well as my parent's 50th wedding anniversary (that is a long time, folks). Rock the Docks in Springfield township takes place the first weekend of August. Cleveland Browns preseason football starts up in early August as well. I don't want to forget Tallmadge Circle Fest on August 16th starting at 5 PM. I also don't want to forget the Summit County Fair coming up at the end of the month...this I might not go to but I wanted to mention it as a possible destination. This is going to be a busy month for me and I believe my camera is going to get a serious workout. I just hope I'll be able to enjoy it.
- I'm pretty sure there are many of you who used to watch the show "Robotech" or "Macross" back in the day or watch the old series on DVD or online now. Well, the producers of the show in the US, Harmony Gold, are planning a pilot for a new animated series based in the Robotech universe titled "Robotech Academy". To that end, they and original Robotech producer Carl Macek have set up a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the pilot. I know of a couple of hardcore Robotech/Macross/mecha fans who might go fanboy over being able to participate in something like this, but for anyone who's interested, here is the Robotech Academy Kickstarter site: Robotech Academy by Harmony Gold Productions.
- Song on Repeat: "Let Me Clear My Throat" remix by DJ Kool, Biz Markie & Doug E. Fresh. There are some songs out there where in my honest opinion their remixes are an improvement over or are just outright better than the original version. This song is like that for me. I like the original version but there's just something to adding the other rappers here that made this one an improvement over the original. And you can never go wrong using the background track that is more synonymous with Ed Lover and what many of my friends and I call the "Ed Lover dance" that we do during our Booty Call shout outs (which is something we haven't done during the Booty Call in a long time, my fellow Crew!). In any case, for this song I like the remix more.
- Shoutouts: This is one of those times where I have talked with or had contact with in some way so many people that I couldn't keep up with my usual written list. It's only happened twice before so this is a rarity. Because of that I am just going to give a shoutout to anybody I've talked with, had contact with, had fun with or especially tried to help me out in the past month. You are appreciated.
That's it for this edition. Before I go I have updated the site a bit including a new entry on the Original Works page with something which I posted on Facebook around Valentine's Day earlier this year. Go check out the rest of the site and don't forget to do some shopping in the DJRT Store while you're at it. I'm gonna continue working on getting out of this malaise so for now I bid you adiew. Until next time folks. Take care and God Bless.
DJ
