Back like a rebel making trouble

To borrow the Geto Boys lyric- I'm back for '09 after not posting the last couple weeks- Decided against trying to fight the weaknesses of my laptop, its keyboard and whatever internet connections I could finagle at my parents' house during my sojourn in New Jersey and decided to appease the bloodthirsty segment of my readership that prefers I post these with a few frosty beverages in me, not post some sort of lame placeholder-type entry (like I did 28 November 2008) and wait until tonight (Monday 5 January)- Bulletpoints to follow

-I had a great, low-impact holiday (limited gift exchange or revelry) visit at my family's house- and I don't mean to diss anyone- But its amazing how internet-savvy at least one of my folks becomes when it comes to discussing the computer dating sites- Had my mother used my computer and stumbled across any of the old porno bookmarks on it- I could have (somewhat) sold her on the idea that the entry of "European foot lesbians" (to paraphrase) was some sort of blog entry or something I had stumbled across or been mistakenly led to look at- But the minute the conversation turned to my recent dating life or lack thereof- she became the expert on stuff like Match.com, E-Harmony, et al and how her legions of friends/ co-workers had found the love, companionship and happiness that had previously eluded eluded them on those sites

The older I get- the more visits for the holidays have an almost-forced level of inspection/ introspection on my love life- past, present, near-misses, non-existent- not that my usual thoughts and Facebook membership usually don't provide me with those in ample supply- Not that I was the only focus of this- my younger sister also took her share of this during my visit- and gets a regular dose as a resident there

During one of these conversations with my mom I had the existentialist thought that life is little more than a series of disappointments bridged by periods of boredom or mundanity- not that my visits with my mom are attempts at Camus, Sartre or a "Sprockets" bit- but I think its a truth that no one tells you as young person- being an adult eventually becomes mundane either way- you get married, have kids or do neither- It truly seems to not matter in a lot of degrees- not that I'm making this some sort of credo for 2009- my parents also chided me over my attitude on my cursing, visits to the doctor (I follow the regular, prescribed schedule for check-ups unless sick) and prescription drugs among other topics I was harangued about

-Another side-effect of my visit was exposure of watching TV with my mom and sister- the joint football/ TV-viewing prohibition my dad had on me for laughing when Lawrence Taylor broke Joe Theismann's leg on "Monday Night Football" when I was 15-years-old in 1985 expired about 5 or 6 years ago- the two of us argued extensively and obstinately over a third-down call during one of the games we were watching last week

Anyhow- was exposed to a lot shows I'd never watch of my own volition- mostly bridal-themed shit like "Say Yes to the Dress", "Rich Bride, Poor Bride", et al- that make fancy weddings look like an ever bigger fucking waste than they already did to me from years in the hotel business

And there was stuff me and my sister watched- like the last ten or so episodes and two-part finale of "Family Matters"- a.k.a. the Urkel show- which neither of us had seen before- CBS ran the last season and burned off the last few episodes during the summer of 1998- after my sister had graduated high school and I had moved to Los Angeles

Having seen these episodes now- I really think there is a Palahniuk-ian style disconnect to Laura Lee Winslow- the girl Urkel chased for pretty much the entire run of the series and got to engage him in the last few episodes- she was also being actively courted by Stephon- the supposed male-model, suave alter ego of the nerd Steve- that I thought had been borne out of some sort of identity/ personality crisis Urkel himself had in a previous episode- guilty as a previos ABC T.G.I.F. viewer in the mid-90's- I really think Stephon became Brad Pitt's Tyler Durden to Steve's Edward Norton version of Tyler Durden/ anonymous (since I recall Norton was technically the anonymous protagonist of the story)

I don't think there's ever been a full psychoanalysis of "Family Matters" and it 9-season run- from Steve/ Stephon and whether it was a figment of Laura's imagination- to whatever latent meaning there was to dressing Jaleel White (buddy of Charles Barkley and TV's "Urkel") in drag as Mabel Urkel- who practically squirted for Eddie Winslow- played by Darius McCrary- who was involved in an altercation with porno's own Karinne "Supahead" Stephens- to the idea they had an actual cast member go on to work in pornography- Jaimee Foxworth who played younger sister Judy Winslow in the early seasons

Then again- any psychoanalysis of this blog could figure I have some sort of problems if I'm theorizing about a deeper meaning to the Urkel show- Maybe all I'm thinking of is some sort of reunion special along the lines of "Chuck Pahlaniuk Presents TV's Family Matters" where one of the cast members is instituionalized and traces back the Urkel story from some level of personal dissonance

-Real-life update- go away for a bit and get no mail I would have waited on daily- no word on speeding ticket I got 1 December on Massachusetts Turnpike- supposed 88 in 65 driving in pack of traffic that couldn't have been possibly been going over 80 safely- mailed it out day I got it requesting hearing- no word thus far- did affect my drives to/ from NJ- Consciously didn't go much over 80 if at all- even on open road- let myself get passed number of times- Maybe for best in that respect- though brought my travel times down across the board