Man, these past 24 hours have pretty much sucked top to bottom. So much bad and unfortunate news I've had to find out about that it's really brought me down right now.

I don't even need to start by mentioning the madness that just happened in Las Vegas. 59 people dead, and 500 injured...just...my God. Holy frickin' crap, man. I want to say at some point you get used to these mass shootings that keep happening in yours truly's home country in America, but you never really do, I just simply don't understand how anyone could willfully shoot up and massacre dozens upon dozens of people like that. What is really getting me about this one is that the perpetrator was a retired senior citizen-a man only a few years younger than my own father. Maybe I'm stereotyping a bit here but it is SO difficult for me to imagine an elderly man committing such a heinous atrocity like this. Totally not the kind of person you'd think would be likely to be responsible for such actions. And man I really wish the media wouldn't talk about this so much or spend so much time focusing on the shooter himself. I think I've said this before and elsewhere but it almost feels like the media are practically glorifying nutcases like this, making them martyrs for similarly twisted minds out there. They get hours upon hours of media coverage speculating about their background, their motives, etc. It's all the inspiration somebody with a dangerously warped mind might need to commit such an act themselves. I'd rather learn more about the victims and their lives than the perpetrator's TBH...

There have also been a couple of famous deaths in the past day: one most out there would know of, and one probably only myself would know of. As you probably know rock legend Tom Petty passed away at the age of 66 after going into cardiac arrest (and after the media jumped the gun on reporting him dead, to boot). I have to admit I have never been THE biggest-big fan of Petty's work but I've always had respect for him as a musical legend and I'm found a lot of his work to be enjoyable and great to listen to. In particularly I was recently starting to get into his earlier works from the late '70s...guess I gotta check out more of his stuff in due time. Man, it's sad when you start getting into an artist more right as they die...

There's also been a death in the world of North American motorsports, probably not something most people would care about or know about but having have been a lifelong motorsports fanatic I wound up having to hear about this: Famous former NASCAR car owner Robert Yates died today at the age of 74 after losing a fight to cancer. Robert was active in NASCAR for many years, first as a master mechanic, then becoming a team owner in the late '80s up until the late 2000s. He was most famous for owning the #28 Texaco/Havoline Ford, which was driven over the years by many notable drivers. The late Davey Allison made his name in the late '80s and early '90s driving that car, and Ernie Irvan, Dale Jarrett, the late Kenny Irwin, and Ricky Rudd also drove stints in the #28 car. He was the owner of Jarrett's 1999 championship winning team, as well. I went to a recent race at the Darlington Raceway (giving away roughly where I live for those not in the know) and they had the most recent inductees into the NASCAR Hall of Fame their to give the command to fire engines, including Yates. He looked in awful shape as I recall, sad to see him gone just about a month later. The Yates Racing cars are something I vividly remember seeing during my childhood growing up watching the sport (I actually feel sad to say I used to root against them as a kid, as back then I was a major Jeff Gordon fan and didn't like the Fords or anybody who drove for them, really), so it's pretty sad to hear this as well.

Man, these past 24 hours man...Sometimes, atrocities and tragedies just like to heap and pile themselves up on top of each other, don't they...? What a HELL of a past 24 hours. I feel really down in the dumps right now...