8 Days Until Black Friday!!!

I may be crazy, but I am looking forward to Black Friday. Getting up in the middle of the night, standing in line in the cold, shopping in crowded stores with hundreds of other people. (I know what you're thinking, "FUN" right??) Probably not to everybody but to me it is. It's one day off of work, that I can get out with all the other people in the world looking for a good sale. As a child I can't remember going shopping on Black Friday and as I got a little older I started working retail and hated Black Friday, because I had to be the one to smile and greet the customers as they were out shopping and I was stuck working. Now times have changed!!! I now have a job where I am fortunate to be off during the holidays. Last year as I went to my Grandmother's house for Thanksgiving Lunch ( a yearly tradition ) I picked up a newspaper, which being the day before the biggest shopping day of the year, was mainly just sales papers, which was ok with me (they are my favorite part, well the comics too). We sat around looking through paper after paper, sale after sale, and made a decision, this year we were going shopping!!!! My Mom picked me up and we headed out at 5:00 am to stand in line at Target with about 200 other people. Some who had probably been there much longer than we had. After shopping and finding GREAT deals on several items, we stopped at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. A quick stop to rest before getting back out there hitting the stores.
I have already began looking at black friday sales papers online, and will definitely get my newspaper Thanksgiving day, and then get up and hit the lines Friday morning.
Last year was a blast & I'm sure this year will be also.

What Makes Something "Classic"???

Who decides what becomes a classic? When something is created, did the person making it know they were developing something that would live forever?

Recently "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" was on ABC. I watched it as I do every year. The story is very simple. While all his friends are getting dressed up to go out on Halloween, one little boy decides to sit in the pumpkin patch and wait for the Great Pumpkin. (Halloween's version of Santa) Even though I have seen it several times and know what is going to happen, I still enjoy it year after year. Why? Because it is a "classic". It is a holiday show that has been around for many years and everybody of all ages has probably seen at one time or another. Most probably more than once.

"The Wizard of Oz" is a movie that was made over 70 years ago, yet it is still as popular today as it was then. "It's A Wonderful Life" is a movie that was filmed in the 1940's but continues to air every Christmas over 60 years later. "Monopoly" is probably the most well know board game ever made. It has become so popular over the years, now you can get theme monopoly games, where the boards are designed to be a popular movie, or sports team. They even make the Monopoly game now where you can play with debit cards, instead of the paper money in the original game. Even places have become classic must see attractions. When tourist visit Nashville, most stop by the "Grand Ole Opry" while "The Statue of Liberty" is a major tourist stop in New York. The list goes on and on. What about cars, stamps, music, even candy. Each one of those things have been around for longer than any of us can remember. But not all types can be "classic" like "Elvis" and "The Beatles" for music, or "M&Ms" and "Jelly Beans" for candy.

Recently over dinner, the topic of conversation turned to t.v., which if you know me probably isn't a big surprise. We started discussing different shows and how t.v. has changed over the years. One person asked the question, "What one t.v. show could you watch over and over and never grow tired"? After a lot of discussion the group decision was "Roseanne". Everybody may not agree, but at dinner that night we decided it was one show that you could watch and regardless if you had already seen the episode or not, you were guaranteed to laugh at least once. Personally Roseanne is one of my favorite t.v. shows. I have seen each episode more than once and still enjoy them as if I was watching it for the first time. I guess that makes it a "classic".

While everybody will probably not always agree 100% on what is a classic or not, most can agree that things like, "The Andy Griffith Show" & "I Love Lucy" will be around for many years to come.

Who knows, maybe something one of us creates, or invents will one day be a classic...

Christmas In October...

When is it to early to start celebrating the holidays?

The other night while watching t.v. I saw a commercial for a new holiday special airing on NBC. It is based on the Madagascar movies. It looked very cute, and I will probably watch. However, the one thing that I did notice that was a little odd, it will air November 17th, 38 days before Christmas. Over a week before Thanksgiving. Is that to soon?? I remember being confused as a kid watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and Santa Claus would be there. Whey was Santa in a parade for Thanksgiving? I asked my parents and was told that Santa was in the parade because it was the start of the Christmas season. That made complete sense to me. However as I have gotten older, it seems that Christmas and the holidays seem to start earlier and earlier. Now in some cases as early as October. Months before Christmas, Thanksgiving, and even Halloween. I was in Cracker Barrel the other day, and in the gift shop, noticed three separate corners in the store. One decorated for Halloween, another for Thanksgiving, and then one for Christmas. All three in one room at the same time.

I have heard people talking who feel that the holidays start to soon in stores, restaurants, t.v., etc. I remember working at Books A Million a few years ago, and the day after Halloween, November 1st we began playing Christmas music in the store and it would continue until New Year's - 2 months later. I love Christmas music and it didn't bother me, but other coworkers were upset and grew tired of the same thing day after day, long before the actual holiday. They said that by Christmas it was hard to enjoy it, because it had been going on all around them in one way or another for months already.

For me personally, I LOVE Christmas and the holidays. I enjoy spending time with family and friends. Putting up the tree, and wrapping presents. I look forward to watching movies like Christmas Vacation, It's A Wonderful Life, and A Christmas Story (for 24 hours on TBS). I love Christmas music and am guilty of occasionally listening to a holiday song all throughout the year. In my family we have always made Birthday's a fun occasion, and celebrate our birthday week, instead of just one day. So for me, I enjoy the holiday season and prefer to celebrate more than just December 24th and 25th.

So while the early holiday programs on t.v. and the holiday carols playing in stores in November don't bother me, to others I think that it is too much. Now, if we start putting up holiday decorations in stores in June or July, I'll reconsider, but for now, I'm ok. What about you???

My First Blog

Welcome to my blog!!!
This is something that I have been meaning to start for several months and haven't. Now.....I have!!! One of the reasons, that I put off starting my blog, is a new writing opportunity that I recently started. I recently became an independent contracted writer for a new website (halogentv.com). I stumbled upon their website and was impressed with the purpose of the site. "Halogen is a socially conscious television network and website that empowers its viewers to make positive changes in the world around them. Using film, documentary, episodic and other formats, Halogen features a wide variety of programming that empowers viewers to leave their mark and make the world a better place to live". I contacted them and within just a few weeks I had my first assignment. I recently submitted my first profile piece for the website and hope to start another one in the near future.
One of the main reasons I wanted to start this blog, was to share my thoughts and ideas, that usually just stay buried inside my head. Every morning while taking a shower and trying to wake up, my mind starts thinking about anything and everything. Usually it's random and nothing of that much importance, but I decided that regardless of how important or useless it is, I will blog about it and let you be the judge. Maybe something that I'm thinking, will relate to one of you. Maybe not, and that's cool too. But regardless, I'm going to write about it.
You are probably wondering where I got the name for this blog. "singularis sententia" is Latin for "Unique Opinion". (Singularis="Alone of its kind") (Sententia="Thought, or Way of Thinking") and that is what this blog is. My Unique Opinion. These are my opinions on life. My thoughts and feelings on whatever comes to mind.
So now that the introductions are out of the way, I am going to publish this (my first post, Yay me)!!!!!