Our Halloween Weekend

We had a great Halloween Weekend, a busy one, but great. On Friday, the 29th, we went out to North and spend some time with the Addison family and friends. We had yummy hamburgers, chips, and dessert. The move, Cujo, was being played outside on the side of the shed while we kept warm by the fire. The kids went out on a non-scary hay ride to the graveyard. Rob and I left before the scary one commenced but we got a call from Wendell once we were home telling us that the hayride broke down while going into the woods....so they had to walk back i guess. Nevertheless we did enjoy the time we had out at the Addison home.

Saturday, we got up early and went grocery shopping. After that we headed to Florence. We enjoy going to Florence for two reason....1--to see the Jones family and 2-- to eat at the New China Buffet!!! :O) Before heading to the Jones home we did enjoy the amazing cuisine at the New China. It was yummmmmy. I had so much chicken it was crazy but oh so filling and good. Rob went here when he was in school at Francis Marion and every time we go to Florence we have to eat there. After New China we went to Walmart to walk around for a few minutes and kill some time. We walked around for a few minutes and then headed to the Jones house. When we arrived everyone was getting ready for Kendalls birthday party. He turned three years old and was the cutest cowboy I have seen. His sister, Addison, was a cow...she was too cute in her outfit. Also present at the party was Curious George and the man in the yellow hat, a fishing lure, scarecrow, and peacock. They were all so cute. The kids played and played, we enjoyed some yummy food including eyeballs and ghosts!!!, and cupcakes!!!! After the presents were opened we began our journey home. We kept up with the Georgia game and were a little sad that they lost...but my hubby was happy that USC beat the Vols. My tigers had a loss as well---come on boys get it together!!!!!!!!! When we got home we watched Evil Dead II and i jumped but laughed more than anything at the craziness in the movie. Then it was bedtime.

Today got up early for church. First we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast...yum yum!!! After church we came home to the lovely smell of a roast in the crock pot...it cooked all night and was super tender. Of course with it we had potatoes, carrots, rice, and some corn bread. Amazing!!! After lunch we watched two movies, Army of Darkness and Monster Squad. Both of course were "scary" but humorous as well. After the movies, we washed clothes, folded, and ironed clothes needed for this week. Soon it was time for supper and we had just whatever we could scrounge up...nothing fancy. After supper we watched tv---the Walking Dead--this is the new show Rob wanted to watch and because i love him so much i opted to watch it with him. Hopefully I will not have Zombie nightmares.....

Happy Halloween!!!
J-Tru

Things that annoy me....

I told hubby that I was going to post about all the things that annoy me. He said that people would then say wow that girl is messed up. It is true that I have some wierd things that annoy me but I cant help it. I have been this way my entire life. I chalk some of it up to having sensitive ears. So here is a look into the things that annoy me to death......

• Crunching--for example: ice, chips, etc. If you eat them around me just do it with your mouth closed...trust me it will keep me from sending snide looks towards you :O)
• Smacking--this is just a given. you were taught by your mama to not smack, so listen to her.
• Slurping--really, its ok to blow your soup or coffee before consuming.
  When people see a lane is closed on the road yet still proceed to the last possible moment to get over
• Rude people who don't say excuse me when they hit you or cut you off in line at Wal-Mart, etc.
• People who complain about things but then do the exact thing they complain about
• LIARS!!!
• Blowing your nose at the table, especially when people are eating!!!!
• The LOUD noise people make when they are drinking and swallow hard.

This is a work in progress....I will add as i think of more things that annoy me!!!!

J-Tru :O)

J-Tru

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, and Pumpkins

We purchased a pumpkin from walmart because I wanted to carve one. I think its so much fun to pick out a pumpkin, choose a design to carve, clean all the guts out, and then set it out for all to see. We chose this pumpkin....

I named him Mr. Lumpy because he had a few little spots where he was not even. He was a great pumpkin though. I set out a trashbag and got down to business. Hubby had never carved a pumpkin so this was a sight to see for him. I cut the top part out and cleaned him out....

There was a lot of guts in there too. It didnt take long though and it was completed cleaned out and ready for carving.

We had bought a carving kit so it made it super easy to clean out and carve. In the kit were come designs. I chose a scary face for a classic pumpkin carving. Here are the results:

I am very proud of my pumpkin. I smoothed it out and it was awesome. He looks kind of sad but then when you put a light in him he looks like this....

To me he almost looks like he saw a ghost!!! It was a lot of fun carving that little ole pumpkin into Mr. Lumpy. Its amazing what a few knives can do to completely change a pumpkin from just a plain canvas to a cute face.

I hope you all enjoy Halloween this year. It is a fun holiday and I hope you all gets Treats and not Tricks :O)

J-Tru

A funny thing happened on the way to Jenn's birthday supper...

This past Thursday evening, Jill and I went out to Yamato - a hibachi grill in Columbia, SC - to celebrate her friend Jennifer's birthday.  The drive from Orangeburg to Columbia normally takes us 45 minutes or less, depending on what part of town we're headed towards.  This particular night, the trip took closer to two hours thanks to a rather horrid traffic accident on I-26 that involved several 18-wheelers, one of which dumped out several pallets worth of automotive batteries.  Traffic was detoured off the interstate and onto an older highway; we were aware of this and decided to go ahead and make our way up to Columbia via this road.  Little did we know that this decision would land us smack dab in the middle of one of the worst traffic jams of recent history in this part of the world.

Indeed, things seemed grim for us and our plans, and at one point we began to take stock of our supplies in fear that we'd need to ration them...

- Rob

We barely made it out alive....

Today is one of my Chi O Sisters birthdays, Jennifer. Rob and I were invited to a dinner in her honor tonight at Yamato's. Rob and I left Oburg around 6:20pm and decided we would get there roughly at 7:15pm. We decided that since I-26 was closed due to an accident that occurred earlier in the day that there would be come extra traffic but not much. WE WERE WRONG!!!!! We sat in stand still traffic for an HOUR AND TWENTY minutes. We inched our way through the 20miles from Oburg to Cayce. At one point we decided to document our journey by video. We did three videos but only one will upload. So here is the video of me complaining about having to wait in traffic....

After sitting there for a while we became hungry. So i looked through my purse to see what kind of rations we could have in case we were stuck for hours on end. The only thing we could muster up was the following: 1 mini air head, an almost empty pack of wild cherry tic tacs, and some lions club mints that i had since i donated some money to them at Walmart.

We enjoyed a few items in our ration pile but then we decided that in case Zombies were to attack we should save a few.

Even though the ride took an hour longer than we had planned, we did manage to entertain ourselves. We finally made it to Yamatos about 8:15 that night and got to sing Happy Birthday to Jennifer, eat some wonderful Publix b-day cake, give some kisses to Drew, and some lovin' to baby Evan.

No matter what, when i am with my hubby and friends i have the best time. That is what life is all about. :O)

Always smile and eat b-day cake!!

J-Tru

The beginning of Fall...

This weekend Rob and I had lots to do. On Friday we went to the Orangeburg County Fair and enjoyed some wonderfully, not good for you, fair food. While we were there we ran into the Thornburgs. Here are a few pics from the trip to the fair:

After leaving the fair we came home and started packing for our trip to Lugoff. On Saturday morning we headed to Lugoff to celebrate Bradys 3rd birthday. The funny thing is that two years ago, I was at Bradys birthday getting ready to go and meet Rob for the first time on our blind date. Bradys party this year was Toy Story themed and his cake was amazing. Michelle, who made our grooms cake, made his cake and it was super yummy. Here is his cake:

The bottom layer had chocolate cake and oreo filling, the middle cake was yellow with butter cream filling, and I'm am no sure what the top was but the cake was delicious!!!! Rob and I got Brady a guitar for his birthday that had Woody on it. Here is a pic of the b-day boy and his "gittar":

Isn't he adorable!!!

After his bday party Rob and I went to Sandhills for a movie and dinner date. We haven't had a date in a while so we decided to take advantage of a free movie ticket and also our red bowl gift card, thanks to Susan :O). The movie was You Again and we both say its mediocre. Red Bowl was just as amazing as it always is. For starters we had an egg roll each, then a crunchy roll--i inhaled my three pieces--AMAZING, then I had sesame chicken and rob had General Tso's. It was super yummy. After supper we just walked around Sandhills for a few minutes and then headed to mom and daddys.

Today we went to church with mom and dad at Pine Grove. I love going back to my home church because everyone is genuinely happy to see you and wants to know how things are going. Love those people. We enjoyed church, sat with gma and bubba of course, and then we to their house for lunch. Oh those ladies sure do know how to cook...those ladies being mom, gma, and aunt patti :O) I hope that i can learn there tricks sooner rather than later. After lunch Rob and Bubba watched the race, well they actually slept a little, while gma and I just sat around the table and chatted. I love my grandparents so much and I am so thankful for the lessons they have taught me through my life. I don't know what i would do without them. Gma is having surgery tomorrow on two more spots in her back...they are putting in some type of "cement". She is just hoping she can come home tomorrow and not have to stay a night in the hospital. Please say little prayer for my gma that all goes well.

So as I am typing Hubby and I are watching "Hell in the Cell", washing clothes, and just chilling out before bed time. Oh how i love our time together...He is the most wonderful husband!!!! Hope everyone's start to Fall has been wonderful....check out our Halloween flag that mom bought us!!! Its super cute!!

Happy Fall Y'all:O)
J-Tru

Professional Wrestling Championship Belts – Then vs. Now

The concept of professional wrestling, considering the fact that the outcome of each match is pre-determined, is to enthrall an audience by maintaining the illusion of competition through high drama and athleticism.  Like all competitions (and yes, there is competition in the world of professional wrestling, albeit not quite what you’re probably thinking of) there has to be a winner, a champion; one competitor who can be heralded above all others as being the best and greatest of them all.  Someone who is worthy of being recognized as the face of a given organization, but more importantly someone that people will pay to see in the ring.  Ignoring the processes that wrestling promoters have gone through over the years to determine which of their athletes should be allowed to represent their company, it goes without saying that because of the nature of the professional wrestling business that these champions require a symbol by which they and their accomplishment could be recognized.  A visible emblem that fans could distinguish as a mark of victory and dominance.  So dawns the idea of the championship belt.

Back in the 1960’s and 70’s, grapplers like Bruno Sammartino, Buddy Rogers, Lou Thesz and others were able to draw crowds in the thousands, and all at one point or another held what were recognized at the time as legitimate world’s championship titles.  In this era, audiences still believed that professional wrestling matches were true sport, not a form of entertainment as is accepted nowadays.  Although they would be thought of as plain and boring, the championship titles these men wore were designed with a sense of regality and of distinction.  They weren’t necessarily ornate or intricate in their presentation (some were more elaborate than others, of course), but they did the job of providing the audience a way of recognizing who the champion was.

The WWWF World Championship

As the wrestling business expanded in the 1980’s and 90’s with the proliferation of cable television, belt designs became more intricate as promoters became aware of the fact that their product was no longer being broadcast to black & white televisions but color tubes that would further heighten the experience of viewers at home.  The World Wide Wrestling Federation condensed into the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling sprang to life from the dreams of a billionaire, meanwhile the National Wrestling Alliance and American Wrestling Association found themselves being seen as suddenly irrelevant despite having been so prominent and respected less than a decade prior.  A third major company was just taking root in the early 1990’s, that being Extreme Championship Wrestling.  Ironically enough, ECW at one point in time was a territory (i.e., a subsidiary) within the National Wrestling Alliance (it was then known as NWA-ECW, and “ECW” stood for Eastern Championship Wrestling) but seceded from the organization in possibly the most bold manner conceivable when Shane Douglas was awarded a then vacant NWA world title only to abandon it immediately and instead take up the first ECW world title.

Not content to send their champions out into the broadcast ether wearing belts that didn’t fit the extravagance of the period, WWF unveiled championship title redesigns in a seemingly evolving fashion with one design being replaced by another every so often.  Released between 1965 and 1998, there were at least eight revisions of the WWF heavyweight championship.  Conversely, WCW only used two versions of their heavyweight title – the “big gold belt” and another which was installed in 1991 after Ric Flair was fired from the company but took the belt with him (and appeared on WWF TV with it, no less) after signing on with WWF – and the ECW world title never really changed at all.

The "Winged Eagle" WWF World Heavyweight Championship

The second WCW Heavyweight Championship used to replace the "Big Gold"

The ECW World Championship

 The law of natural selection applies to business as well as nature.  In 2001, WWF acquired the properties of both WCW and ECW (they would also purchase what was left of the AWA and several other smaller companies, primarily for the reason of getting access to their tape libraries; retrospective DVDs have become a significant piece of the company’s product line), making them essentially the only major professional wrestling company left in the United States.  A title unification match was held not long after the merger of WCW and WWF (the ECW world title was not included in the unification, it would remain in a de-activated state for many years until it was resurrected in 2006 when ECW was revived as a brand thanks largely to a nostalgia movement), wherein the two belts would be combined into one championship.  Chris Jericho, who is recognized as having been the final WCW world champion, would emerge as the undisputed WWF champion, a moniker that had not been pinned on anyone in nearly 50 years.  However, a new belt for the undisputed champion would not be christened until the summer of 2002, resulting in the undisputed champion having to carry around two belts (the “big gold” and the “big eagle”).  By this time Triple H was the title holder and World Wrestling Federation had metamorphosed into World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as the result of a lawsuit having been brought against them over usage of the “WWF” acronym by the World Wildlife Fund – the other WWF.

WWE Undisputed Championship

 The WWE undisputed championship wouldn’t last long, though.  Having hurriedly absorbed the roster of WCW, WWE found itself bursting at the seams with talent and so the idea of the “brand extension” was born.  This new configuration of their television programming was designed to make it seem as if there were two rival ancillary divisions to the company as certain stars would be assigned exclusively to either the Raw or Smackdown television shows, thus creating the illusion of competition even though there was none.  The then disputed undisputed championship came to Smackdown with Brock Lesnar and was converted into the WWE Championship.  Meanwhile on Raw a new version of the “big gold belt” was brought back, being awarded to Triple H, and made into the World Championship.

The "Big Gold" Belt

It was in the years following these changes to the structure of WWE that the WWE Championship, the title that most fans recognize as being WWE’s most iconic belt, was transformed into something wholly different than what it had ever been before, aesthetically speaking.  A young, up and coming talent – who had gone by the name of Prototype while working in other promotions but transitioned into a gimmick that made him out to be a white rapper after being brought into WWE – burst onto the scene and progressed up the ranks of WWE’s roster quickly, going on to win the United States championship and eventually the WWE Championship.  In both instances, this wrestler was given a belt that seemed to suit only him.  This wrestler is none other than John Cena.

John Cena with his WWE United States Championship

There have been several champions to receive custom belts (granted, some weren’t so much “custom” as they were the same belt design with different colored leather backing) during a run at the top of WWF/WWE.  An interesting piece of trivia regarding these belts is that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was supposed to have been the recipient of a custom piece that featured his “Brahma bull” logo instead of the traditional eagle imagery found on most of WWE’s championship designs.  Rather unbelievably, this belt was never used because it was allegedly lost in the mail – needless to say, whoever has it is holding a rather sought after piece of stolen, or “misplaced” property.  Stone Cold Steve Austin brought in a belt that was purely his, the “smoking skull” belt.  So it was that a precedent existed for a champion, especially one seen as such a valuable commodity as Rocky, Austin, and Cena (to call the two of them cash cows would be a vast understatement; Cena is nearing a level iconography not seen since Hulk Hogan even though, ironically enough, neither he nor Hogan have ever been viewed as technically gifted wrestlers but incredible entertainers who knew how to illicit reactions from their audience instead), to be given a belt that has a design specific to their own personality. 

A toy replica of The Rock's custom "Brahma Bull" WWE World Championship

Stone Cold Steve Austin's "Smoking Skull" belt

Regardless, there has never been a belt so grandiose (some might say gaudy) in its design as the one John Cena was given when he began his reign as WWE Champion, the “spinner belt” as it has become known.

John Cena and the WWE "Spinner Belt"

Taking a massive cue in its design from the popularity of jewelry and automotive accessories more readily identified with hip-hop culture, the “spinner belt” has been in use since 2005.  As if you couldn’t tell, it’s called the “spinner belt” because of the fact that the center plate spins, much like the car rims it is intended to imitate.  The only thing with more bling-bling than this belt might be a Super Bowl championship ring but even those would seem miniature by comparison to it because of its size.  Despite the fact that it has been passed around extensively since its debut, there have been no major changes to its design (one of the side plates on this belt originally denoted that it corresponded to the Raw or Smackdown brand as it has called both home at one point or another, but this has since been replaced) however there have been several variations on it; one to make it more centric to Edge which featured his “Rated-R Superstar” logo and another where the spinning center plate was made stationary.

As if the “spinner” wasn’t absurd enough, WWE one-upped themselves in creating the Diva’s Championship – a title intended to follow the pattern set forth by the World and WWE titles, only this belt would be to recognize a female grappler (the WWE Women’s Championship being its’ alternate).  The Diva’s Championship has become known in certain circles, quite appropriately, as the “tramp stamp belt” since it so strongly resembles a tattoo you might find on the lower back of a young lady.

The WWE Diva's Championship, better known as the "Tramp Stamp" belt

As of this writing there is a plan in place to unify the Diva’s and Women’s championships at the 2010 Night of Champions pay-per-view event, meaning there’s a strong chance that by the time you read this the Diva’s belt will no longer be in use.  With any luck, the unified women’s title will have a bit more class in its design than its predecessor.

To show that I am not completely against WWE’s recent championship belt re-designs, I will give credit where it is due for their recently released unified tag team championship belts.  During the brand extension there had been two tag team divisions within WWE, one competing for the World tag team championship and another going after the WWE tag team championship.  Much like what transpired with the WCW and WWF heavyweight titles, the dual tag team championships were combined after Primo and Carlito Colón defeated John Morrison and The Miz to lead to the creation of the unified tag team championship at Wrestlemania XXV in 2009.  The unified titles would be defended across brand lines, meaning that challengers from either Raw or Smackdown could face whoever held these championships.  Also similar to what happened with the unified world champion, the tag team champions would be required to carry a pair of belts but this trend only lasted a bit more than a year as the 4 belts were retired in August of 2010 with the introduction of new belts, declared the simply the WWE Tag Team Championship.

The new WWE Tag Team Championship belts

They may look like gigantic shiny new pennies, but at least they look like something a reputable champion wouldn’t mind being identified with.

My point in bringing up this abbreviated history of professional wrestling championships is that I, quite honestly, cannot stand these belts, but especially the “spinner belt”.  In my eyes, it is a complete deterioration of everything a title should characterize – there is no class to it, nothing that proclaims it as being a representation of the “sport of kings”.  Instead, it’s something that can be cloned by toy manufacturers and sold to fans seeking to have their own belt, even if it is a cheap reproduction.

There’s another huge issue of mine, the idea of replica belts in general doesn’t set well with me.  As I mentioned before, the concept behind a championship of any kind is that it is something which is very difficult to attain, something that people work their entire lives to achieve.  Yet nowadays Joe Schmoe can plunk down $100 and get his very own world championship belt, or even worse Mr. John Q. Stiff’em wrestling promoter can buy a replica belt – a replica of the “big gold” for example, one of the most easily identifiable belts in the history of the business – and slap his independent federation’s logo onto it, then start calling it his promotions’ “world” title (the concept of a promotion that doesn’t ever run shows outside of one city claiming to have a “world” title is a topic so ridiculous I won’t even bother going into).  For one, promoters like this insult the intelligence of fans, and two they further ruin the concept of a championship belt by giving their top guy a belt made from rubber, plastic, and recycled soda cans.

Am I saying that I feel it is wrong that World Wrestling Entertainment is making money off of selling merchandise like replica belts?  No, absolutely not.  It’s their objective as a business to market products that will allow them to continue to operate and, with any luck, make a profit.  Did I wish they were still interested in preserving the nobility of professional wrestling’s past in the process?  Absolutely!

Being the only major wrestling promotion left in the US has allowed them to essentially dictate the direction of the industry, at least for the most part as it exists in this country.  There are a few stalwart independent promotions like Ring of Honor that continue to fight the good fight by hanging onto the traditions of professional wrestling’s past, and promotions in other nations like Japan, Mexico, and Canada have maintained their resistance to outside trends.  Even so, their influence on the compared to WWE they are but a   WWE is attempting to live up to the “entertainment” in their title by becoming a multi-faceted entity with divisions of the company now focused on books, movies, and other forms of media.  Seeing as how even the term professional wrestling isn’t welcome on their programming anymore (“sports entertainment” has taken its place and wrestlers aren’t referred to as wrestlers, rather they are “superstars”), it should be expected that what’s left of the legacy of professional wrestling will continue to flicker and fade with time.  The elegance once associated with championship belts is evidently already gone.