Review: Wrestlemania XXVI

Went to see it at WEM with D.  It was $30/ticket!  Sheesh, if we had cable, we coulda ordered it, and it'd be about the same. But at least the crowd was pretty good.  Not too many marks in our section.  Had sushi as usual, but my guts were acting up.  Didn't have to do an emergency run to the washroom, thankfully.  The WWE site doesn't list the matches in order, but here goes from memory:

Battle Royale
This was before the broadcast started.  It's great that Yoshi won, so his star should be rising.  They showed a clip, and it looked kinda interesting.  Findley, Regal and some people from ECW were there.  But Hornswoggle was there too, so it wasn't entirely serious.

Singer for their anthem really butchered it.  Ouch.  Was cool to have the jets do a fly by though.  They used the open roofed stadium well.  And the set design was pretty cool too, especially the circular screen in the middle that went up and down. 


Show Miz vs. Morrison and R-Truth

It's kinda sad how low the tag titles have gone.  They used to be a big deal, but now it's the warm-up match.  And it was only about 10 minutes.  Waaay too short for 4 guys, but it was still pretty good.  R-Truth really costed them the match.

Orton vs. Rhodes vs. Dibiase
As expected, Rhodes and Dibiase started fighting against each other once it came down on who would pin Orton.  But it was hilarious when they were pummelling each other and then noticed that Orton was getting up.  Excellent example of 2 younglings getting trampled by the veteran.  Great match wrestled all around, with clear storytelling.


The run-up to the Divas match with Jillian singing, then turning into Mae Young, Mean Gene Okerlund and Melina, was a great promo.


Money in the Bank
10 guys are waaaay too many to have in the ring at the same time.  The guys had a lot of breaks outside the ring (so there'd be room to maneuver inside), but they earned it.  Some awesome moves from Bourne (as expected), Christian, Kofi, Shelton, and Matt.  Kane did pretty well too.  Dolph, Drew and Jack were much more tentative, and didn't use the ladders too much.  Kinda hilariously annoying when Jack had problems getting the clasp open.  Just really sucked that there was no one trying to climb in to stop him and all.  Wish Shelton would win, but it's obvious that they consider him a B/C-lister.  Extremely talented, but not enough charisma to carry a title.  Thought Christian might win.

Hall of Fame Inductees
Wish I coulda seen the ceremony, it looked pretty fun.  Looking at the WWE website, they have some clips, so I'll try and check those out when I have time.  Cool to see the Hart family there.  Mad Dog Vachon was so funny.  Glad to hear a good pop for Antonio Inoki.

HHH vs. Sheamus
A pretty good match, didn't see HHH carrying Sheamus too much.  Nice back and forth.  I mean, we all knew that HHH was going to win, but Sheamus did pretty well for the big stage.

Divas Match
Vickie's lost quite a bit of weight.  Wasn't spectacular wrestling-wise.  However it was pretty funny.  Amazing how Vickie's changed from the pitied widow to the vilified Cougar.  But really, there's a lotta talent there, and so under-utilized.  I loved that Kelly Kelly was pinned by Vickie, and then was rolled up too far so the count was broken.

Hart vs. McMahon
Ah, the ultimate screwjob.  Buying off the family.  Except making the classic mistake of paying upfront. It was satisfying to see Bret beat him up, although he used the crowbar a little too long, and it got a tad tedious.  Liked how he took a timeout in the middle.  Not sure what the implications for the Hart Dynasty are, but it was good to see everyone get their licks in.


Mysterio vs. CM Punk
Really, paying homage to Avatar?!  Why?  Anyways, a good match as well.  There were brief moments when I thought Mysterio might lose, but not too many.  I liked how CM Punk's trunk were a homage to GI Joe though.  Heh heh.  Go Cobra!


Jericho vs. Edge
Such a good match.  So many great moments when you thought either was going to win.  I hope Jericho's okay after that last spear.  Looked like both of them were broken, but Edge walked away.


Cena vs. Batista
The Marine rifle presentation was soooo cool. So nice to hear "can't wrestle" chants in the theatre.  Of course, they could've been directed to both of them.  However Batista did try to wrestle a bit.  Good match, with back and forth.  Quite a bit of anti-Cena crowd too, and it was hilarious when Cena won and posed with the "I hate Cena" T-shirt wearing fans in the front row.  Gotta like his sense of humour.

Undertaker vs. HBK
Very cool entrance by Taker.  Saw when Taker helped HBK by putting his leg on the bottom rope for HBK to stomp on.  I thought it was awfully early for Taker to walk the ropes, but when you see them in the corner, you know it was planned.  Did add a lovely tension to the match... if you didn't notice the planning.  The moonsault did look especially painful on Taker though, but HBK landed on his legs, and Taker had his left leg propped up...since he was expecting HBK to land on his torso.  So there might've been a legit injury there.  I did notice a lot of Taker's hands up when HBK super-kicked him. But it's all good.  And when HBK smacked Taker, similar to when HBK retired Flair, ahhh so good.

So there wren't any particularly weak matches.  They were all solid, some a little too short, but still very entertaining.  Had a lot of fun with screaming, and gasping.  And clapping and cheering.  Yeah, it was a great Wrestlemania.

Quiz: Are you a potato?

FullMetal Alchemist!

FMA rules, suckas!! XD
http://www.quizilla.teenninck.com/quizzes/16310055/are-you-a-potato 

Oh, the perfect quiz to end the night.  It makes no sense, and is absurdly funny.  And NO spelling errors!

I've got to get these contacts out and go to bed.

Quiz: The Rules of Capitalization

AMAZING!!! You really payed attention. If you have a test coming up, you are bound to ace it.

You scored 100.00% of the possible points for this test.

http://www.quizilla.teenninck.com/tests/16311013/the-rules-of-capitalization 

You know what would be even better?  If they'd spelled "payed"[sic]  correctly.  I've been up for over 18 hrs, and I can still spell "paid".  JFC. I took the quiz b/c it was different from the usual "How much do you know about -insert name of newest teeny bopper idol-?" quiz, but this is sadly funny.

Quiz: What kind of herb/spice are you?

You are lovely cinnamon!

Ahh, cinnamon. Probably the most popular and favored spice of people aged from four to forty! Cinnamon has a sweet and warm flavor that matches you perfectly! You must have lots of friends, and if you don't, go make some! Everyone will love you!

http://www.quizilla.teenninck.com/quizzes/16186308/what-kind-of-herbspice-are-you

 Is this true?  Well I do like cinnamon in moderation, although most stuff on the market isn't really cinnamon, but instead it's cousin Cassia. (Thank you Good Eats!)  Anyways, I don't have that many friends, but I like to believe that I can get along w/ most people reasonably well.  At least for 5 minutes.

Quizzes

Just a note here.   Will people learn to use a dictionary!?  Or spellcheck?!!  Seriously?!  You can't spell brutally?  (they had broutaly[sic]).  I can tell that most quizzes on Quizilla are written by 12 yr olds, but JFC!!  Gawd, if there's a spelling mistake in a quiz, I can tell it's going to suck.  I have to read most of the quizzes out loud b/c there are so many homonyms and/or misspelled homonym attempts that I have no clue what the sentence (and that's putting it lightly) means.  I wanted to do another quiz, but it's hard to find a decent one.  And don't trust the ratings.  It's probably just them and their little friends jacking it up.

They've also changed how to post your results, and their Share It to Blogger doesn't seem to be working for me.  But their FAQ doesn't say anything on why or what settings I should have. Anyways, looks like I'll just have to copy and paste.

Quiz: What do your eyes say about you?

You are sweet!

If someone needs a favor or a helping hand, they can count on you to be there. Sure, you won't let people use you and walk all over you, but you are always glad to help people when you can. You have a very kind heart:)


http://www.quizilla.teenninck.com/quizzes/16310998/what-do-your-eyes-say-about-you 

Awwww, thanks!  I do tend to agree to helping people, and unfortunately have problems pushing stuff back.  I'll grumble where they can't hear, but still do it.  Waaaait, isn't that getting walked over?!

Friends vs. ...interesting work?

Last week, my old work place called me up and said that they were shorthanded and wondered if I'd like to come back to help them out. Well, considering that for over a year, I'd been having various degrees of wanting to go back or at least get the heck outta the workplace I was at, you'd think I'd jump at the chance. But I was at the crux where we'd just gotten in a new system that I was the Power User for. And considering that one of my work goals was to get more into systems, this meant a big dilemma.

I'd made one of those foot-in-mouth declarations when I was initally hired at the current job that I'd deploy back to the old one (this was when I was telling them about the new job), but being possessed with some ethics, I decided to try out the new/current job first. Since I thought it'd be really rude to immediately leave them when they'd gone thru the effort of offering me a job. So for the first 2 months, it wasn't so bad. But then I started to notice the stupidty and lack of basic ethics. I've discussed the extra lengthy breaks with managers and other advisors, and the basic advice is they can't/don't want to police it, and to ignore it if it doesn't affect my work. Except it does b/c I have to cover for them (literally when they go on those extra long lunches), or delay my work b/c they're not around to review it. Also I had nothing in common with the other people, and they couldn't understand any of my interests (they really had no ability to conceive of anything more imaginative than Jersey Shore). So it got to the point where I would get # marks whenever I saw them not-working...which was often. And, when I went to a conference that my old workmates were at also, I'd spent my entire time hanging out with them. But I knew they were fully staffed, and therefore there wasn't a chance for me to go back.

Since I'm basically unambitious unless I have to do something, I decided to make the best that I could of my situation. I tried to get involved with things that would get me in contact with people from other branches. And honestly, the work that I was doing was interesting. I'd seen animals at work, there were lunch hour learning sessions, and I dealt with science or enforcement people. Most of the clients really appreciated the effort and speedy turnaround that I put on their requests. And we'd just gotten a new system, so I was doing a fair bit of troubleshooting, and getting into a bit of a groove. Also since my current job had invested a fair bit in me, it felt a bit traitorous to just up and go.

So for almost 2 weeks, I'd been weighing everything and trying to find options. My director wasn't willing to let me go there temporarily, but might consider it if I was part-time at both places. However they wanted me full-time and didn't want to hire my friend for temporary help. So after a talk with an unbiased friend, who advised me that it's really the people who will make or break a job (which I suspected), I decided to go back. But for some strange reason, when I told my director, Compensation person, and supervisor, I got all weepy. I'm not really sure why (or why just recalling the incidents is getting me choked up), but I just did. But I did get a lot of advice from people during my wah-wah fits, such as while it's true that they invested in me, I'd also worked for them and produced really good results so it's even. And that change is always scary and difficult.

Anyways, the rest of the people don't know just yet, so I have to figure out how to announce it. I'm not good with being the center of attention, so I'm thinking that email would probably be best, although my director and supervisor has offered to announce it at our team meeting. Probably b/c they know I'm not good at these things, and it would be soooo embarrasing if I started bawling.

While I was still thinking about what to do, I'd had dreams of me working back there again, and it was a pleasant, happy dream. And like they say, it's usually in dreams where you resolve things. But I'm still uneasy. Yeah, it's just such a wierd feeling b/c I'm still having doubts and regrets. When I'd left my previous work places (there were 2 other times), I didn't have any regrets. Well, w/ Stupidstore it was that I wouldn't be able to play with the plush or see the new toys anymore. And actually w/ Conf*gys, it was that I wouldn't see some of my friends daily anymore. But it wasn't like I still wouldn't ever be able to play with plush or see new toys ever again. And I stay in touch w/ my friends thru FB. I think with this, it's b/c there really aren't any other depts that have animals in the workplace, or the proliferation of scientists, enforcement and relevancy to my interests (although working at the Space Agency would be cool). Being able to attend scientific presentations was fun, and kept my brain working. But at the old place, it's a lot more formal, hierarchial, and dressy. Won't be calling up a director and asking if he'd like me to bring up the letters for him to sign, or if he wants to come down to do it. It'll be all thru his admin assistant. *sigh* Yeah, I think I've finally figured out or codified what's really making me question this decision so much. Of course, the benefits would be that I'd have less commute, be able to shop on my breaks (instead of sitting in the lunchroom w/ a snack and watching TV, although I'll miss the cable), see my other friends (who also work downtown but in other depts), and it'll probably be a lot closer to where I live if I ever move out. However I think b/c there have been a lot of personnel changes over there, it might not be the same as when I initially worked there, so that's probably adding to my doubts. On top of that, when the person I'm going to be working directly under (and who's also my friend) makes mistakes on what's required for my deployment, it really makes me worry. I'm certain that a -university- degree (which I'd sent him) globally supercedes any high school diploma, but he still asked me to provide the HS degree. I might agree if the university degree was from another country, but it's from the same city we're living in. Like WTF?! I'm trying really really hard to chalk it up to him being overworked and stressed, but O-M-G. I'm scared.