Business…this week’s joint in the column is about the last ten years of P-Diddy. And for my final trick on Ron Artest, peep this “review” I did for ESPN on Allure’s record. Good fun.
Now that the -itis is gone, gotta look back on my most enduring holiday moment from this year. And it ain’t cheerful…

So, the night before Thanksgiving, I hit Kroger to buy the supplies I needed to make the casserole I was taking with me to dinner (which came out pretty well, if I do say so myself. My hosts said the same, but it’s hard to tell when nice, polite folks are telling the truth). It’s about 10:30, which means that everyone in the joint is picking up last minute things and trying to maintain some level of sanity.
So I get in line behind a lady, and she was paying for about four or five items. I get off my phone conversation so that I could talk to the cat while I was paying. But, for some reason, the lady’s just standing at the register with a blank stare on her face. Buddy at the register is messing with the machine for some reason, but she’s still there.
Turns out she was paying with a check, and the check wouldn’t run because of some computer malfunction. Bullshit you not, I stood there for about twenty minutes while they were trying to make it all good for her check to go through, and it was no dice. None.
Finally, the lady breaks down and says, “I’ll just give you the cash.”
Why ain’t she get that bright idea at the first sign of a malfunction? And more importantly, where is your check card?
The old fashioned way was cool when it was cool, but dead that, man. Get you a stinkin check card. I ain’t got time to wait behind people while you try to verify your driver’s license and all that. If you’re not paying your rent, break out some plastic. I can’t think of the last time I wrote a check in public, and I surely can’t think of the last time I heard of someone receiving a checking account and not getting a check card.
This was one of those strange twinges of adulthood, one where I found myself way too salty about something relatively minor. However, I wanted to get home and make my casserole! Ugh.
If you still write checks, let me and the rest of the universe know why you insist upon wasting everyone’s time with that nonsense.
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Because of a scheduling change at AOL, I now have to do a lot of writing way before the pieces run. That’s not a problem, but have you ever tried doing something Christmas related before Xmas has rolled around? Imagine trying to write about Christmas songs on Thanksgiving Day…not the easiest. It wound up working out because of Stevie…just popped in “Someday at Christmas” and everything rolled.
How powerful is music? It can fool you into thinking Santa’s headed to your house, even if he’s still at the warehouse taking orders.
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Updates may not be too regular in the next couple of weeks as I try to ensure that I don’t flunk out of school, but I also use this as a tool to stave off burnout. So, you’ll either get no posts or a post a day. The likelihoods of either are about even.