Bummer in the Summer

As I write this, I'm still reeling from maybe the worst weekend I've ever had. It all started on Saturday morning; at the current radio station that I work it, I handle phones for a call-in nutritional/dietary advice talk show. It has nothing to do with traffic/billing or reception, it's just a little side money. There was an on-air contest for tickets to an air show in Wisconsin, with the 5th, 10th, and 12th callers each receiving prizes. Somewhere in receiving my instructions for the show, I forgot that the host wanted to speak with the winners live on-air. When the winners called in, I jotted down their contact info but I forgot to put them back on hold. The producer called the main studio to inform me of my mistake (the show is produced outside of the station), I had to backpedal and call back the three winners, but at that point there wasn't enough time left in the show to get them on-air. Two days later I was relieved of my duties as phone operator, partially because of my flub, but also because the producer wanted to experiment with an in-house phone guy, thus preventing any future miscommunication.

After work, I had to run some errands. I was driving home, going about 27 in a 25 MPH zone, when all of a sudden a little boy bolted across the street. A family had parked their van across the street from what appeared to be a relative's house. The parents were still standing beside the van with their daughter, and their eldest son was standing on the opposite side of the street. The younger son was running from the van towards his big brother. The little kid didn't look both ways and tried to gun it. Luckily for both of us, I hit the brakes just in time, the boy took two steps back, than waited to cross after I drove past the van. If I hit the brakes two seconds later, I likely would've committed vehicular manslaughter.

Of course, those two missteps don't compare to the bombshell I received Sunday afternoon. I was at Chicago Union Station after class at SC, and I had some time to kill, so decided to check my Facebook news feed with my cell phone. As I scanned down the status updates, I saw that my girlfriend from three years ago posted "I'm engaged to the most amazing man in the world!!!!!!!" Apparently, her current boyfriend popped the question on a cruise ship on Saturday night. Suffice to say, I was speechless. First off, she's only been with her new fiancee for about four months; we dated for seven. Secondly, who goes online on a cruise ship? Thirdly, why did I have to find out about this on fucking Facebook? Couldn't she have waited to break the news once she was back on American soil? (Don't worry folks, I'm about 95% sure she never reads this blog.) For the last two days, I've been venting to anyone that will listen. Without getting too personal, I really don't know how to react or what to say about the whole situation, and I'm having a hard time not thinking about it.

Other notes:

+ Looking at my Emmy predictions from three months ago, I'm surprised that the powers that be made more daring selections than I did. Of course, I also stuck with the old five-nominees per category rule (the maximum is now six, unless there's a tie for the final spot). For every force-of-habit, questionably deserving nomination like Tony Shalhoub, there's a pleasant surprise like "Flight of the Conchords" (who were on my 2008 ballot). My biggest gripe, obviously would be the selection of "Family Guy" for best comedy series. As I explained in the FG forum at TV.com, I find it mystifying that the committee chose an animated series that has broken little new ground and might very well be past its prime, yet "The Simpsons," the show that paved the way for TV-14 toons like FG, has never been nominated in this category.

+ For what seems like the sixth time in the past year, the title of World's Oldest Man has been passed to the next-oldest person. Boy, it must be jinxed or something. But seriously, this time around it's a 112-year-old resident of Montana, and according to an AP article he was born in 1896 and cast his first presidential ballot for Woodrow Wilson. (The legal voting age was 21 in 1916, so that's a nitpick.)

+ Finally- if anybody's looking for all my old blogs, they're archived at most of the other CNet sites (Gamespot, MovieTome, and the soon-to-be-vanquished mp3.com). Just so you know.