Happy New Year!

Yes, this post is about 12 hours too early. Deal.

Within the next hour or so, I shall be on my way up to Hartford to rendezvous with movie.girl. 1-2 movies today, at least 2 movies tomorrow. Tonight I believe we shall be attending: a party she was invited to and a party at the actuary's (technically, at the actuary & his fiancé's). I'll crash up there for tomorrow's movie-goings. Should be fun! I'm just hoping my cold stays mild for today/tonight.

Cheers to all & may 2008 bring you a bright and happy future!

Happy Holidays!

& Merry Christmas!

(A mildly ironic post given that I didn't post a 'Happy Chanukah!' this year.)

Cheers!

Holy Crap! (Woot!)

Year-end review today. Sweet bonus + salary increase = yay!

Drinks are on me.

P.S. Minor backlog of additional posts. Will follow shortly (for varying definitions of "shortly").

An Interesting Day

Today should be fun.

This afternoon I'm meeting up with law school friends (or some of them, at any rate) for the first gathering in about 1.5 years. Oh I've seen some of them in the interim, of course (e.g., weddings, few people I've met up with), but this is the first group-gathering I've put together in a long while. I hope to do more of these in the future.

Then tonight I have my 10-year high school reunion. I'm mildly apprehensive but not much. I've always taken a loose approach, figuring that people I really care about are those that were my good friends back in high school. So I'm hoping that the few of them miraculously show up. As for everyone else, hehe, while it will be nice to say hi and see what they're up to, I couldn't care less. If I wasn't friends with you in high school, why should we start being friends now? *shrug*

Fun, fun, fun.

Hazy

A fair amount of things since the last post.

Saw Wicked at the Bushnell Theater last night with movie.girl. Amazing show! I highly recommend catching it if they come to a theater near you. This was a rather spur of the moment viewing that she arranged last weekend.

Funny (to me at least) "incident" with movie.girl on Tuesday night. Apparently she'd e-mailed her most recent former fiancé (with whom she broke things off back in Spring of this year) in an attempt to obtain "closure." The discussions this and the subsequent e-mails fostered was nothing short of fascinating. I'll summarize by noting that I eventually asked the silver-bullet question that managed to help her put this guy in suitable perspective. I have to remember how to do that so I can do so again in the future (i.e., ask the "right" question).

Also on Tuesday, in company of movie.girl, I bought too many movies, something like 10 or so. I have far too many to watch. Also need to see a few in the theater, namely Enchanted and Hit Man, though I believe others will be opening soon.

I'm very tired today. I've been operating on too little sleep this week due to: late night working on Monday (not as productive as I'd hoped), usual late night hanging out with movie.girl on Tuesday, and mildly late night with movie.girl last night for Wicked. I'm exhausted. I will get a good night sleep tonight because if I don't I will keel over tomorrow.

Tomorrow night I get to play boardgames. Yay!!! This is fun.

Way too much work to do at work. Waaaaaaaay too much. I am sinking beneath a sea of office actions and applications and it's not getting better. Granted, writing this post is not helping.

Thanksgiving was the usual affair. Turkey, relatives & pie. Notable items this year include my older cousin being 3-4 months pregnant with a boy, my younger cousin going for surgery this Monday to work on a keloid thing with his ear, and my aunt being a little more crazed than usual. Grandparents are doing alright. I bought some DVDs and games on Black Friday.

Traded 2-3 e-mails with a woman on JDate. Currently waiting (hoping?) for her to reply. Will probably suggest a phone call before a meet up as she lives out in central Long Island. Google Maps has it at a shade over 2 hours by car (up to 3 hours if traffic). I'm wondering if taking the ferry (from Bridgeport to Port Jefferson) wouldn't be preferable. I checked and it would only be cost-worthy if I went as a passenger (i.e., too expensive with my car). This is far from an ideal solution for a first meeting, but then we're not there yet, not at all.

Okay, back to work.

Rantings & Ravings

Because it's really starting to get to me.

I've been extremely crunched at work of late. Back on Monday 10/29, I billed about 14 hours, working from 6:25am-6:30pm and from 10:45pm-2:30am. This past Thursday 11/08, I billed about 10.5 hours, working from 9:15am-7:30pm and from 10:45pm-2:45am. I've been semi-frantically trying to get 3 critical application drafts out by the end of today. One has gone and the other two are (hopefully) in good shape to be finished today and sent.

In other words, it's been pretty bad of late.

The fun really starts to pile up when I finish something that's critical. See, although I prioritize everything I do (I have to), previously-not-critical things become critical while I'm working on the then-critical things. I'm pretty much in a never-ending pile of critical work that gets worse and worse every week. It's been like this for at least the past 1-3 months, with me being behind on work since May of this year.

We simply don't have enough people at my firm. I am absolutely swamped, yet I keep getting new work. A while back, I spent a Saturday or Sunday just updating up my docket - adding new things to it, updating my time entries, etc. When I tallied my items, I came to a total of 64 things, including about 10 applications to draft (provisionals, nonprovisionals and conversions). While I'm probably down to only--Crap. I just counted. 64 items, including preliminary amendments and random "check this" things, but not including IDS'.

Ugh.

I'm stuck in this horrible work cycle that's really starting to piss me off.

My bosses did higher someone new who started about 2-3 weeks ago, but he has no experience with patent drafting or prosecution so he won't be "up to speed" (i.e., to lighten the aggregate firm workload) for at least a few months (and I'm dubious beyond that, though I won't go further into detail here).

And there's a new secretary starting Monday, which does me (personally) no good at all.

*sigh*

Well, I need to get to work. Hopefully I'll be done in only 5-6 hours, though I wouldn't place any bets.

Oh yeah, since she got back stateside, I've been hanging out with movie.girl at least twice a week. We speak on the phone pretty often. I'm meeting up with her on Sunday, presumably to watch more of Doctor Who Season 3. She just bought a new laptop (after at least 8 phone calls with me about it in the past 3 days).

Haven't been playing WoW since I hit 70. Have been playing MTGO (Magic the Gathering Online) and spending way, way too much on it. Did go to a boardgame meetup last Friday 11/02. Lots of fun.

I really don't want to do work today. Too bad I really don't have a choice.

"Everything You Never Wanted To Know About Crohns Disease"

Via Boing Boing I found: "Everything You Never Wanted To Know About Crohns Disease" by Tom Humberstone (21.10.2007).

As BoingBoing explained:

Tom Humberstone produced this wonderful comic for last week's 24-hour-comic challenge, called "Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Crohn's Disease." It's an intense and touching personal memoir about life with Crohn's.

As someone with ulcerative colitis, I could relate to what he describes. I experienced symptoms very much like that during the 1-2 months before I was diagnosed. Fortunately I've been in remission for about 1.5 years now and have to contend with very little these days.

On a broader scale, his comic is an absolutely fantastic look into what life is like for someone with IBD/ulcerative colitis/Crohns. Furthermore, the comments left by others with IBD/colitis/Crohns are incredible. As the author explains in the comic, it's a very.. difficult disease. You don't want to mention it to others, to have to explain what's going on. It's humiliating in many respects. But the comments from others.. sometimes you forget there are others out there dealing with the same problems. It's very encouraging.

I left my own comment there but I want to thank Tom (can I call you Tom?) again. His comic was personal, revealing and honest. His sharing was, in many ways, brave. The comments it inspired (and continues to inspire) are reassuring in so many ways. You're not alone. A simple message but one that is too often forgotten.

So thank you. And if anyone out there is curious what life is like with IBD/colitis/Crohns, read the comic.

LEVEL 70!

Last night, I FINALLY got to level 70 with my Warlock in World of Warcraft! The expansion came out on January 16, 2007 (thank you Wikipedia). I guess it's taken me 9.5 months but I finally did it.

I s'pose the next step is to get a (regular) flying mount. Do some instances if I can find PUGs for them. Maybe some PvP. Could also work on other characters but I'm not sure if I want to. I'm partly tempted to try and craft some new gear, but there's another WoW expansion in the works (Wrath of the Lich King). No clue when it'll come out, but when it does purples will be the new greens.. again.

Anyways, YAY!

Errata

Correction for the previous post that I don't feel like inserting as an addendum.

Dancing with LF was not the first slow dance at the 4 weddings this season. It was the second.

This morning as I was getting ready for work, I remembered something from Mattman's wedding in Michigan last month. At the dance portion of the evening, not long after it began, they played a slow song. Some woman I had never met before asked me to dance. I believe she was married and her husband gave his permission or consented or however one wishes to phrase it. She was Indian (I believe?) and pretty attractive. It was one dance, but it struck me as a rather strange occurrence. I can't recall the last time a woman asked me to dance, let alone a woman I'd never met before, let alone one who's married. Probably had something to do with me being the best man, but I appreciated it. I thanked her and her husband afterwards. (I was a bit formal - how could I not be?)

This is probably one of those things I'll remember because it seemed so unusual.

The JB-LT (LT-JB) Wedding

Friday afternoon, two very good friends of mine, LT & JB (or JB & LT), were married out on Long Island. T'was a fun affair. There were a few of us law students in attendance so I got to see some faces I hadn't seen since The Lawless One's wedding in August and other faces I hadn't seen in a very long time. In attendance were: The Lawless One and Jo (Aug. wedding this year); Mr. & Mrs. Philly (whose wedding I attended back during law school with my then ex-girlfriend); Greg-Man & Rochelle-Rochelle (both of whom I hadn't seen in over 1.5 years); and LF (whose boyfriend could not join her).

The wedding itself was nice, being in a church out on L.I. The service was slightly delayed (by 30 min.) as the bus from the hotel was late in arriving. (The bus driver got a little lost.) Reception at a reception hall thereafter. Food was excellent. Plenty to drink, with nice wines. I rather enjoyed the cabernet they were serving. The band was very good. The transitions from song to song were nigh seamless at times! "La la la.. wait, whuh? New song? When did that happen??!?" (Nigh seamless!)

A special nod goes out to Greg-Man. You dance divinely, sir. Divinely. (For those that weren't there, I'm sure there will be photos.)

A quick thank you goes out to LF. Though this was my fourth wedding this season, it was the first one at which I danced to a slow song.


And a hearty CONGRATULATIONS goes out to LT/JB!!! I wish you two the very best!


I will briefly note that this is at least the second law school wedding I've attended where I knew the groom and the bride before they knew each other. One previous was Capt. Kate and Sr. Pete. I'm not positive whether or not I knew both The Cara and The David before they met. Could be but maybe not, so I won't count that one (else it would be three).

On Saturday, I stopped off in Greenwich and hung out with The Lawless One & Jo. It's a shame they live so far away (up in MA, over 2 hours from Trumbull). I wish I could hang out with them more often. Same with Mr. & Mrs. Philly, whom I need to visit in Philly sometime. The irony, of course, is that LT-JB live only 15-20 min. from me and I've only met up with them once or twice in the past 2 years.

One last not-quite-on-topic. I finally sent out an e-mail to The List of law school peoples regarding a forthcoming gathering in December. If said gathering occurs, it will have been 20 months since the previous one. Better late than never?


Congrats again to JB/LT!

The cake is a lie.

I really didn't intend for the previous post to remain at the top for a week. It's just that first I couldn't think of a topic then I ran out of time. I'm still out of time now, but I want something else up.

Movie.girl is awol for a week and a half (where awol means she's in Israel with her mom). This means my week is much less complicated... though I'm taking Friday off for the LT-JB wedding (or the JB-LT wedding, depending which of them is currently reading this). Should be an excellent time. May actually get a chance to give The Lawless One that card I got him for his wedding back in August.

The subject of this post is from Portal. Excellent game. If you're a gamer, get this game and enjoy it. The cake is particularly tasty. Fresh and moist, one might say.

Saw Across the Universe with movie.girl last week sometime. Loved the music.

Must go sleep some soon. Take dog first. Happiness is a warm gun. So sayeth The Beatles and so it must be. Yeah, I get weirder as the night progresses. No news there.

Austin

We put Austin (one of our two dogs) to sleep today.

Last Monday, we learned that he had cancer. His body wasn't producing any white or red blood cells. We were told his condition was very poor, that one infection, any infection, would kill him. Where once he weighed 24 lbs, he was down to 14. His legs weren't working well. Though he ate the baby food, canned food and chicken (and ham & swiss) we fed him, he only kept down about half of what he ate, at best. More often than not, instead of going outside he went on the kitchen floor, presumably because he didn't have the energy or ability to tell us he had to go out.

In other words, he was in rough shape.

So we called the vet this morning and went there around noon. The vet gave him a sedative and we said goodbye.

I remember when we first got Austin. I was home that summer, working, when our previous dog (Oreo) died very suddenly. I told my mom that if they didn't get a new dog soon, he wouldn't know me (since the Summer was ending in a few weeks and I'd be headed back to college). My parents were interested in a bichon and, as luck would have it, my aunt informed us there was one at the pet store by her. Thus, not more than two weeks from Oreo, we were on a roadtrip to see a man about a dog.

He was so small I could hold him in the palm of my hand. Just a tiny, white furball. We didn't even have a name for him. On the drive back to my grandparent's house, we were all rattling off street names as suggestions. The street near my grandparent's house is named Austin. It stuck.

He was a wonderful dog. Though he may have taken his sweet time outside and was pretty demanding, Austin was extremely affectionate and kinder than you could ever believe. In 8 years, I never saw him snap at anyone. Ever.

Austin was my dog. Somehow, the last two dogs we've had have been "mine." There's a special bond between a boy and his dog. Austin was my dog and I was his owner, even when I wasn't there. When he had surgery for kidney stones and was moping in the kitchen, unmoving, I came home and he moved. He got up. He wagged his tail. He was okay.

I don't really have much else to say. Austin was one of the best dogs we've had and we're pretty sad today (pumpkin lattes and ice cream notwithstanding). I don't think Benz, our other dog, knows that Austin isn't coming home. Last time we went out, Benz was looking all over for his friend. Now he's an only dog.

The upside, which unfortunately exists here, is that my mom no longer needs to wake up at 4am or come home at lunch time. No more pee or throw up. Benz can now come in the family room and sleep upstairs at night (for the first time). Life will definitely be different for all of us, and not entirely in a bad way.

It was time.

Austin, I'm very, very sorry. We love you. Thank you for being a member of our family. You will always have a place in our hearts. Be at peace.

Gift Certificates & Connecticut

Connecticut has a gift card law preventing gift cards and gift certificates purchased by shoppers in CT from expiring.

Two interesting things I learned about this today.

First, the law does not apply to bank cards such as gift credit cards issued by a bank or multi-store mall cards issued by a bank.

Second, the law does not apply to reward certificates.

Why was I curious? I found an old, expired reward certificate from my Amazon.com credit card. Even though the certificate says that the expiration date does not apply to CT, Amazon.com refused to accept it. When I e-mailed Amazon.com, they said to call up the bank. When I called the bank, I spoke with a Supervisor and was informed that the expiration date was valid (even with the exception on the certificate itself) and she claimed the law was inapplicable because the bank is based out of Delaware. I then called up the CT Department of Consumer Protection and learned the above points.

Oh well.

I s'pose I learned a third thing – don't trust the exceptions listed in an Amazon.com reward certificate (or any reward certificate, for that matter).

Dreams

When did we forget our dreams?

WWBBD

D.V.D.A. lyrics - What Would Brian Boitano Do? Pt. II:

Hideedodee! Hideeday! Brian Boitano's here. So round up all your lasses and tell 'em they have no fears. Say, "Come over here my honey, and you're gonna take off my pants, and I'm gonna make dirty love to you, cause that's what Brian Boitano'd do." Cause that's what Brian Boitano'd do!

I love the ska version of that song. (South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut)

Tales of Late Night Work

October 8-9, 2007:

10:45pm - I am at work. Again. Broke for dinner and two hours of tv (Chuck and Heroes). I have a provisional to finish and possibly something else to do. My vision is slightly blurry and I estimate 1.5-2 hours of work for the first item. I begin (again).

11:20pm - This is going to take longer than I thought. Not good. Not good at all.

11:28pm - Plain-language claims done. Lots left to do but it's mostly brainless, fill-in-the-blank sorts of things. Tick, tick, tick...

11:53pm - I am sinking beneath a sea of something.. probably alliteration (or insanity).

12:38am - Only 3 method figures to go.. and sending the damned thing. This is taking more than the 2 hours I anticipated (but not too much more).

12:47am - Done drafting. Remaining: Print, scan, print, draft e-mail, send.

1:14am - Sent! Woot! Very brief break then on to the next task!

1:34am - Break over.

2:01am - Going strong on second task. Vision a little blurry. I think I may have a vague idea of what I'm doing.

2:37am - Second task completed. Good thing, too. It had to go out asap.

2:43am - Done with misc. add'l things. Vision more blurry. Tired. Will go home and sleep for 6 hours now. *sigh*

Upcoming Week

Busy! For me. Perhaps? Almost? *sigh*

Monday - Chuck at 8pm, Heroes at 9pm.
Tuesday - Hebrew class with movie.girl. Sure to be a late night.
Wednesday - Pushing Daisies at 8pm, Bionic Woman at 9pm.
Thursday - Movie(s) with movie.girl. (tentative)
Friday - Board games meet up in Norwalk. Fun!!!
Saturday or Sunday - Something? Possible meet up with movie.girl?
Other day of Saturday or Sunday - Cleanup around the house. Lots to do.

Tuesday Night Report

On Tuesday night, no Hebrew class so I hung out with movie.girl. Dinner (at Tapas), a few Doctor Who episodes (now 4 left in Season 2), and a few episodes of Coupling.

As I was thereafter attempting to leave, movie.girl started in on this thing she (often) ends up doing to me late at night as I'm tempted/trying to leave - she starts hitting me with heavy questions. Oh she does it because she thinks she's teasing me, she said as much. What she has yet to realize is that at that time of night my brain is half-functional at best. My thinking is ugh and I'm crap for difficult questions.

What she does realize is that she asks me questions no guy-friend of mine would ever dream of.

Tuesday night: "Why haven't I met your mother?"

GOOD LORD! She's not a girlfriend, she's simply a woman-friend akin to a guy-friend. Why hasn't she met my mother???!?!?

I freaked. I panicked. Ask me that question at 9pm and I can be pithy, evasive and smart. Ask me that question at 11:30pm and I'm absolute shite. Why hasn't she met my mother? Son of a...

After some non-working evasive answers and sputtering, I finally went off for a few minutes of ranting. I don't think I was actually upset, I was more annoyed than anything. She's raised this topic in the past, and I'd hoped by now that she would get the implication that... well, that it wasn't a question I wanted to answer. So I finally told her answer after answer until she understood that said meeting would probably not be forthcoming any time soon.

I'd explain it here except it's a bit of a sore spot. Let's give the quick version that, in my opinion, in my life my mom has been generally disapproving of women I bring home. Plus, I'm not going out with movie.girl, she's just a friend. I don't think my mom would get that. Hell, I barely get it. Okay, I don't get it and sometimes I have to remind myself of it, but I'm pretty sure my mom would give a neutral tone throughout until some biting criticism afterwards.

That wasn't as short as I'd hoped.

Yeah, that's either a topic for therapy or a topic for a subsequent post some day.

ANYWAYS...

...

Hebrew class this Tuesday with movie.girl.

Maybe more on her in another post some other time.

Maybe.

(Maybe not.)

The Michigan Wedding In Review

Last weekend was The Michigan Wedding in.. Michigan for my college roommate. (I was the Best Man.)

Thursday, I arrived in Ann Arbor for the Bachelor Party (BP). The BP consisted of dinner at a bar with the groom (my college roommate), another groomsman (fellow trumpet player from college), the groom's sister's boyfriend, and the impromptu groomsman (more on that later). Afterwards, the impromptu groomsman left the 4 of us as we proceeded on to drink the night away. I'm talking a carbomb, a weird blue shot (blue caracao + sapphire + ???), a house tequila (yecch!!!) and a few beers. The night ended relatively early, possibly partly due to a lack of enthusiasm on my part owing to my early day and traveling.

Friday, the groom was not feeling well. My stock line: I'm not sure if the BP was a success or a failure. Success: The groom was not feeling well the next day. Failure: See success. (I apologized to the bride.) The good news was that even though we left 1.5 hours later than planned, by the time we made it to the wedding location from Ann Arbor (5-hour trip), the groom was feeling pretty good.

The site for the service was a gorgeous house on Crystal Lake. Absolutely huge, nicely furnished, beautiful backyard with a trellis-y thing to get married under. I counted 7 bedrooms. Our hosts were incredibly nice and pleasant. Fantastic people. I shared a room with the trumpet groomsman. Really cool to see him again - great guy.

This wedding was more hands-on than I anticipated. A lot of setup work, a lot of detail work. The rehearsal on Friday eve was good - things were planned and the couple was receptive to polite suggestions (from anyone present) concerning things like traffic flow, etc. Worked very well.

Rehearsal dinner was pasta with sauces and garlic bread and salad. Very good. I gave 2 toasts. Not sure if there were "good" per se. In fact, I feel a little bad for the first one. I think I wished them "a wonderful wedding." I claim.. ummm... I was on drugs. Yeah. No. No, wait, ummm.. Mental illness? *shrug*

Saturday was lots more prep work and setup. Then the wedding. Very nice service. I think things went according to plan. I may have been standing a little too close, though it was where I stood for the rehearsal.

I may have been obsessing over the wedding and my part therein, incidentally.

Afterwards, photos. Appetizers. Speeches. Ugh, speeches. Maid of Honor went first - she told a funny story. I went second. I briefly related my meeting Matt and such, my meeting Rachel, "They are a perfect match", "May you have a wonderful life together", "Cheers!" Some other bits too. It's on video somewhere, I'm sure. I think (hope?) it was received well. Only comment I got was from the minister's wife when I met her - she said "it seemed to come from your heart." Not sure if that was an honest compliment or her not having much else to say - I'm gonna go with the former.

Good food - meat on sticks. Dancing in the ball room. Good tunes. Everyone not staying at the house (i.e., everyone except for the bridal party) left by 8-9pm since there were no shuttles anywhere. We danced 'til 10-10:30. Called it a night. The happy couple went off to a motel. The rest of us said goodnight and went up to bed.

Next day was breakfast and take-down (lots of heavy lifting) and a 6-hour trip back to Ann Arbor/Detroit (included a 1-hour lunch stop) which had me nearly-missing my flight to NYC (got to the airport just 1 hour in advance). Fortunately, security only took 10 min. Got slice of pizza, got on plane, smooth sailing/flying.

Fun time. Very glad I could be there. INCIDENTALLY, the impromptu groomsman was a stand-in for the third in our trio (groom, me, missing guy). So I was informed right before I left for the wedding, someone at missing guy's work had quit and boss wasn't letting missing guy take the days off. If it were me, I would have said "Too bad. I'm taking the days and I'll be back on Monday. If I'm not welcome, so be it." Missing guy (eventually) told the groom he couldn't be there. Bad form, imo. Going to be hard not to lay into missing guy when I finally see him again. (Haven't seen him in about 5 years now, the bastard.)

Excellent wedding. Worked out well. Very happy for my old roommate, the groom. Bride was absolutely radiant. Bridesmaids looked very nice. Groomsmen were stylin'. (How else could I describe us/them?) Great time. Very fun. Very glad I could be there for my friend and very honored to serve as his best man.

I wish them nothing but the best! May their life together be filled with happiness and joy. Cheers!

ADDENDUM: Changed title. Fixed a miswording. Added the following:

Forgot to mention my related health issues. This wedding injured me some. (Seriously.) To wit:

I spent the 5-hour ride on Friday crammed into two-thirds of a backseat (the car was full of "stuff", I sat behind the passenger, crammed between the door and various boxes). The backseat was molded and, thus, pressed against my back in an uneven fashion. The ill-distributed pressure against my back caused some amount of strain and resulting pain.

Prior to departing the wedding location on Sunday, a fair amount of lifting and some heavy lifting was involved (Clavinova, furniture, chairs, boxes, misc. things). This resulted in a fair amount of fatigue and pain the following days.

The ride back to Ann Arbor/Detroit on Sunday had me crammed into two-thirds of a backseat (passenger-side) due to a car of 5 people full of lots of things. This too strained my back.

Needless to say, I was in occasional pain for the following 3.5 days (no pain from halfway through the following Thursday). Very not good but not too awful as it was temporary. Even so, I still feel as though I should get a massage for my lower back or go see a chiropractor (*shiver of apprehension*). I suspect my lower back still isn't quite right.

Notwithstanding the above, great wedding! [5:18pm, Oct. 8, 2007]

The Michigan Wedding

Tomorrow morning I depart for Michigan, fame and fortune. Well, one of the three at any rate. It's my college roommate's wedding in which I am the Best Man. Thursday night is the bachelor party. Friday is traveling up to the location of the ceremony (approx. 4 hours North of Detroit/Ann Arbor) and the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Saturday is a wedding. Sunday is brunch and a flight back East.

I'm not packed yet. I don't have my speech ready. I do have my tux and it fits. I don't know what's going on with one of the groomsmen. I do know what's going on with one of the groomsmen. I don't have any plans for the bachelor party other than "steak house" and "bars." I do think this is going to be a fun time.

[8:28pm, 9/26/07]

And now it's too early in the morning after too little sleep. I am or shortly will be packing. Leave at 4:15-4:20am to catch a 4:40am ride into the city. Ugh.

[2:11am, 9/27/07]

Sometimes, I think...

...that I'm actually very good at what I do. I just came up with a "good" claim (i.e., one my boss likes) for an invention within about 10-15 min. Yay me.

[From 1:45pm]

Living Situation Update

As you may (or may not) be aware, I am currently living at home with my mom and the two dogs. (My dad passed away in 2001.) I'm living at home because initially (i.e., right after law school) I did not have a job and, after I found a job, I help mom pay the mortgage.

Recently, as in the past month or two or three-ish, my mom started planning to sell the house in the Springtime and move into a condo. She doesn't want the upkeep and maintenance (and concomitant expenses) the house requires. Plus, it's a bit big for only 1-2 of us.

So she's having the exterior repainted. New shutters are going up. Parts of the interior will be repainted or repapered. Etc. Incidentally, this also entails me cleaning up all my crap in the house. This is far from a small undertaking and scares the bejeebus out of me on some level.

She has also begun looking at condos in Fairfield County. One of the requirements for the condo she moves into is that it have a second bedroom for me. She's promised that I will always have a room, which is rather a nice, kind-hearted gesture that I appreciate. (The parents of a cousin of mine turned his bedroom into an exercise room when he moved out.)

Last night she was telling me about the various condos she saw on Sunday when she went out condo-hunting with a realtor-friend. Somewhere in there, I dropped the apparent bomb that when we move out of the house I'm planning on getting a place of my own (an apartment).

My mom's reaction: "Why?"

I'll take 'Signs That You've Lived At Home For Too Long' for $200, Alex. "WHY?" I believe my answer was: "Because I want a place of my own." Never mind the incredulity of telling people you live at home. Never mind the fact that I don't feel comfortable bringing friends home, let alone dates. Never mind the fact that my life tends to be ruled not by me but by my mom and the dogs. No, I really do want to be on my own. Isn't it about time?!???

So come Springtime, I will be looking for an apartment to move into. My tentative plan/idea is to move to New Haven, seeing as there are places to go and things to do up there. Trumbull is suburbia. It is dead. I'd rather live in a younger, more lively place. If that place happens to be closer to my friends in Hartford, works for me.

Montreal

Very quick recap.

Went to Montreal this weekend with movie.girl just for fun, no real plan per se. Though the trip was billed (by her) as a 5-5.5 hour trip, each way took 6-6.5 hours not including food time. Rather long trip for a weekend jaunt. I learned that I don't think I like movie.girl's driving "style." That is, I needed dramamine to survive the trips.

Got in late on Friday night, around midnight. Got a drink and snack. Though neither of us really slept in on Saturday, it was certainly a lazy day/slow start. Walked around the city. Coffee, etc. Went to a fantastic restaurant for dinner - Europea. I highly recommend the 7 or 9-course meal, whichever the big one is. Got a drink after that.

On Sunday, I got up around 11am-ish. Movie.girl slept in 'til 1:15pm-ish. Needless to say, after some food and shopping, we left around 6pm. Late, in my opinion. So we didn't hit Hartford until 1:20am and I didn't hit Trumbull until 2:05am. Ugh.

Montreal itself is an interesting city. It's quasi-European. French and English are spoken and the city has a distinctly foreign feel to it. I'd love to go back for more than 1 day. It's not a good weekend destination due to the travel time. 14 hours spent in a car and probably only around 15-16 hours spent in the city (though sleeping in doesn't help the matter). Fun trip and totally worth it because of movie.girl and seeing something new.

Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day!

ARRRR!!! AVAST, ME MATEYS! HEAVE HO AND PREPARE TO BOARD! ARRRRR!!!!!

/me brandishes cutlass in an almost-threatening manner

Incidentally, I wish I had a macaw sitting on my shoulder right now.

Some pirates prefer to be called Buccaneer-Americans.

In other news, the Rosh Hashanah visit with aunt, uncle, grandparents and cousins went well enough.

In other other news, my (first) cousin is pregnant! Yay for her!!!

In other other other news, movie.girl and I are heading up to Montreal this weekend. Just a quick jaunt to Canada for fun and profit (or at least fun). I haven't been to Canada before.

Tuesday-night Hebrew class with movie.girl goes swimmingly. Thus far, we precede or follow the class with Doctor Who. We also follow it with a beer. The big downside is that Tuesday nights are rotten for hanging out. I got home at 1:20am last night. 6 hours of sleep = getting in to work late, fewer billables and less done for the day. Ugh.

Also working on a trip to England next Fall with movie.girl to see David Tennant in Hamlet in Stratford Upon Avon (among additional traveling, to be sure). I am now a Full Member (Overseas) of the RSC. Tomorrow I buy tickets. The following day, I take over the world. Note to self: Must buy milk.

Rosh Hoshanah

Happy New Year!

Hebrew Class

This Fall I'm taking (well, auditing really) a Hebrew class at the University of Hartford. It's movie.girl's fault. She wanted to take one since her mother has an apartment in Israel and movie.girl will be visiting her. Me, I just said I'd gladly take the class with her. And so there we are.

We're not the only non-college students in the class. It feels very weird. It's been a long time since I was in college and law school was very different. Still, I like languages and this one I have an excellent background for. Should be fun!

Weekend Report

Busy weekend (almost).

The Friday night Fairfield County Board Games meetup was a lot of fun! I'll definitely go to one of those again though unfortunately I cannot attend the next one.

Saturday was hanging out with movie.girl and watching copious amounts of Doctor Who. We finished Season 1 (Christopher Eccelston) and saw the first episode of Season 2 (David Tennant), measured from the new series. Good stuff and very enjoyable. Always fun hanging out with her.

Was going to try and get into work this morning. Didn't quite happen and, now that I'm at work and past the useless phase, I'm kind of tired and really don't want to be here right now. May poke at some things then flee.

I was supposed to meet up with The Lawyer tonight for movie (Balls of Fury) & dinner, however she called me on my cell 30-60 min. ago and canceled. She's helping her friend move and it's taking longer than anticipated, due to a leaky toilet bowl from an upstairs neighbor in the new flat, said leaky toilet bowl reducing their move-in time yesterday.

I'm not sure how I feel about her canceling again. On the phone I said it was alright and I understand, but this is something like the second or third time she's canceled something on me.

I really strive to be punctual. If I say I'm going to meet someone somewhere at sometime, I do everything I can to be there on time (or early) or substantially close thereto (no more than 5 min. late). Exclusions include parties and soft invites (e.g., "come over when you're done with x"). If I'm running really late or something, I feel very bad about it. Also, I don't break plans. If I commit to something, I will be there no matter what (barring emergencies but very little else).

This is getting kind of annoying.

Two more thoughts. One, my schedule is such that I have no time to schedule a replacement dinner/movie thing in the next week, and all my September weekends are gone. Two, once again I am going to wait for her to send me an e-mail. If it were me and I had broken a planned rendezvous, I would call or send an e-mail (preferably call) within the next day or two, tops. Took her 3-4 days last time to send me an e-mail. *shrug*

What can I say, occasionally I'm a bit vindictive.

In the meantime, today, I'll either go see Shoot 'Em Up (though I'm currently a little tired and should get something done at work) or just go home and watch the U.S. Open finals (Federer and Djokovic), which promise to not be very exciting. (I predict Federer in straight sets.)

As Vonnegut wrote/said: So it goes.

Congrats to Cara & Dave!

Cara is pregnant!

Congratulations & Woot!

"Hello, I love you, Won't you tell me your name?"

"Hello, I love you, Let me jump in your game."

A lot has happened since previous posts. Here's the Cliff's Notes version:

August 11: Friend of the family's wedding. Attended by myself. Sat with friends of my mom's. Very nice wedding though I didn't have a particularly good time. No one there I knew other than the bride, her parents and her sister.

August 25: Wedding of The Lawless One & co. *Very* nice wedding. I was a groomsman. Except for Saturday being a bit too hot, wonderful event. I had a great time, thoroughly enjoyed myself. Thereafter I pledged to drink a bit less at the next two weddings. Increased alcohol consumption does not equate to more fun at wedding.

I've been hanging out with movie.girl on more-or-less of a weekly basis. We're currently half way through Season 1 (Christopher Eccelson) of the new Doctor Who's. (A repeat viewing for her though she is a David Tennant and, thus, Doctor Who fanatic.)

I finally had a third meet-up with The Lawyer last night (I'm too lazy to link to the old posts on her). We had dinner and saw Hair Spray. I really should be dating this woman. We make each other laugh. We have a great time together. It's only been two dates and one not-date, but, well.. we understand each other (I think). *shrug* Time will tell, as it always does.

Tomorrow night I'm going to a gamer meet-up in Norwalk. Co-worker of mine clued me in. He's been to a couple of these before. Should be fun.

Saturday I'm meeting up with movie.girl. We will finish Season 1 of said Doctor Who. We have 3 seasons in total to watch, all of the new Doctor Who's. Eventually, I am sure we will get to the old Doctor Who's (and I will buy some).

Sunday I'm meeting up with The Lawyer to see Balls of Fury. Time TBD. Probably should send her an e-mail asap.

My car is currently in the shop. Whole host of ailments. The damage will likely be in excess of $3k, particularly if one includes the $20/day rental charge. The rental is a Chrysler 300. Nice enough car but a few intractable problems mean I would never buy one. Kicking around the idea of getting a Mustang come next Spring. We shall see.

Been playing too much Magic: The Gathering Online of late. This is bad since I then concomitantly spend more money on it. Uggh.

Also been working more hours. I'm already behind for the month.

Meeting up with the friend ex-coworker tomorrow for lunch.

Accidentally spammed my entire friend's list. If you got an invite from me for Quechup.com... Well, if you didn't join yet, DON'T. And if you did, mea culpa! ¡Lo siento!

Big PTO patent rule procedural changes came down. Effective Nov. 1. Not good. Rather evil, really. Hoping preliminary injunctive in lawsuit upheld.

One other item for a quick follow up post and that's all for now!

Chocolate chip cookies..

..are divine.

(That is all.)

Ah hah! BoingBoing ahoy!

I got a quick byline to a comment on a BoingBoing post (Homer Simpson, Drunk Astronaut Pioneer). Woot!

Score
Alan: 1
Internet: 1 billion

If anyone happened to click through from BoingBoing, welcome to the deranged ramblings I pass off as my blog! Feel free to poke around. These days the updates are slow and moderately nonsensical and/or relatively personal. Popular posts include my review of Rock Toxin and my take on the patent bar. I also recommend clicking through to learn about The Dreamfather and a bunch of random Top Ten Lists.

If you feel like it, drop me a line. Otherwise I hope you enjoy your stay! Cheers!~

Weird Week

It's been a strange one.

My mom was originally scheduled to go in for surgery on Friday, but they moved it up to Wednesday. So yesterday my mom had a hysterectomy. Surgery went fine, the cyst or sample or whatnot was benign. (Yay!) Only issue was with her eye as they didn't tape it properly, leading to a post-surgical eye that was dry and painful. Not good. Fortunately this did not last long.

Unbeknownst to us, and unforewarned as we were, this procedure customarily includes a one-night stay in the hospital. Thus, my mom was discharged today. She's doing fine. Worn out, little pain, doing well.

What this meant for my week was no work on Wednesday or Thursday and a part-time day on Friday. What this also meant was 2 critical applications that have yet to be done and a one-month extension for an Office Action Response, due primarily to my reduced office-time this week.

So yeah, lots to do and.. why am I writing this post? At some point (soon) I'll get down to business.. just not yet.

Incidentally, the new Harry Potter books kicks ass. Great read. I'm on p. 500-something out of 800-something. It will be finished by the end of this weekend.

Also, I finished rereading Stardust in anticipation of the movie release on Aug. 10. I forgot how unsatisfying the end of the book is. I wonder how true the movie will remain.

I've been spending time (and money) in Second Life of late. (Not since midday Wednesday, but "of late.") I'm liking it. It's almost fun to go chill at a rave club. Weird.

Many Things Quickly

As quick as I can because I have a dog urine to clean and a floor to vacuum before I sleep. (I do this to myself, really.)

Friday night I went a-Pottering with movie.girl. We hit up Borders and Barnes & Noble before going to Stew Leonard's. An interim detour for a pint and darts (I kicked her ass) before we snagged book 7 at midnight. Was a good night, fun.

I completely wasted Saturday, or near enough at least.

Today I went to the christening of Captain Kate & Señor Pete's daughter. Food afterwards. Nice to see relatives of theirs who I rarely see.

I'm wasting time and money in Second Life. I find it fun. We'll see how long this lasts.

I feel a little guilty about not going into work this weekend. I'm taking Friday off for my mom's outpatient surgery and I have a shit-ton of work today. Literally, a metric shit-ton.

Finished reading Y: The Last Man through Vol. 9 (i.e., to current for the trades). Good stuff. Wonder how many more volumes there will be. The story is running out of gas though it is still excellent.

I'm only up to Chapter 3 with book 7 of Harry Potter. I realize my lack of progress is sacrilegious but I figure I can do some good damage on Friday while I wait.

Must go. Not going to get enough sleep as it is. Gonna be a long four day-week.

Briefly

Interview went fine yesterday. Nice place. Would require more billables but not obscene. Won't hear back on it for 1-2 weeks or so. I was only the second person interviewed for the position, though the recruiter told me that the interviewing partner liked me.

Not sure if I'm going to participate in the Harry Potter madness this weekend, though I will most certainly get my paws on a copy of the book. I must. So it is decreed.

My mom's birthday is today. Yay mom!

I am both tired and awake at the same time. This is not inherently contradictory though it is.

I've played a bit of Second Life lately. Not entirely sure why. Not entirely sure what I'll do with it, if anything.

Coffee is glorious, as is my iPod.

Got lots of new music recently - 6 CD's-worth. Some of it is insanely cool. More on that another time.

For now I must work. More.

A Fun Night

Last night was The Lawless One's bachelor party in NYC. It was a lot of fun. "The code" prevents me from saying much more than that we hit up at least 3 bars and did the usual bachelor party thing. We started at 6pm and partied hard through 4/4:30am. Excellent time. Plus someone had the forethought to have us drink big bottles of Gatorade at 4am so the hangover wasn't bad at all.

Another Day, Another Something

Let's see...

The Lawless One's bachelor party is tomorrow in NYC. Should be an excellent time, plus one of our old law school friends (who I haven't seen in two years) will be there. There will be drinking. There will be frivolity. There will be strip clubs. Hopefully there won't be any arrests. Much fun will be had by all. Oh yes, much fun.

Forgive my lack of outright enthusiasm. I'm a little tired and hazy. A good night's sleep will cure this.

This past week, I spoke with a legal recruiter who called me (one of his people got my name from the PTO website?). There's a position for a firm in Stamford that he's trying to place. I have an interview on Wednesday morning. If it works out, it could mean a nice pay increase. However, I'm a little hesitant because: (a) I haven't been at my current firm for even two years; (b) my current firm trained me into the lean, mean, patent-writing machine I am; and (c) my current firm is short-staffed at the moment. We're down at least two patent agents/attorneys and we're overburdened by the work.

We'll see what comes of this. Honestly, I can go either way. If it works out, great. If not, no big deal.

And Onwards

This morning I received a reply e-mail from The Lawyer in which she responds: "Being friends would be lovely." And so are accords reached by necessity and agreement. (Necessity being the mother of invention, or so I am assured.) With words and electronic signatures, we are (officially) friends.

Incidentally, one current friendship arose in a substantially similar fashion – that with movie.girl. We first met shortly after the untimely demise of her first engagement. Subsequent to said meeting, we became good friends (and still are). I believe there was a clarifying e-mail involved. I could look it up and confirm such an electronic missive but why pour lemon juice in wounds that are already salty?

It may come to pass that The Lawyer and I meet up for a movie this weekend. Such happenings are not outside the realm of possibility. In true irony, yesterday my average stood at one movie per day for July. The Lawyer had best be sated with Ocean's 13 for there remain few other movies yet unspoken for or unwatched.

Work will consume me imminently. I am currently operating in the neighborhood of 125-150% capacity. This is generally ill-advised, especially when there are ugly things with deadlines looming large. I have hope, nay, I have faith that I will not be destroyed by the incipient conflagration. Unfortunately, there is no light at the end of the tunnel just yet – it remains obscured by files demanding my attention. I think I hear my bookcase groaning under the strain. All of which, of course, begs the question as to why I would compose this post in the mid-afternoon.

I feign dementia. Or disease. Or dis-ease. Or dyslexia. 'Tis all the same in the cavern that passes for my addled head. Or maybe I just like to feign. Of course the sad part to these wild ravings is that they make sense to me. I could probably express them in a non-kafka-esque manner (legitimate triple-hyphenation!), but what would the fun be in such pedantic musings?

A stray thought – the Titanic had a band, I have my iPod. Somehow this seems fair.

More random pondering – I have been accused, in the past, of being too serious, of not laughing. It was movie.girl who levied said accusations a few months ago, if memory serves. Occasionally the accusations have come to mind – am I so bereft of mirth? I think not. Rather, I laugh all the time. I simply do so on my own, either in the absence of friends or in my own mind with little more to show than a wry smile that I fancy rivals Harrison Ford's. (Maybe rivals is a bit strong.)

My head rarely ceases and, since this post is being drafted in a Word document, you are privy to my unbridled half-hazard madness (for varying definitions of the word "unbridled").

"There is nothing wrong with your television. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are now controlling the transmission. We control the horizontal and the vertical. We can deluge you with a thousand channels or expand one single image to crystal clarity - and beyond. We can shape your vision to anything our imagination can conceive. For the next hour we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the deepest inner mind to... The Outer Limits. Please stand by." — Opening narration – The Control Voice – 1990s

I seem to be saying "Thank you much" of late. I need to vary my chosen thank you phrase.

DIXI.

Bye Bye To The Lawyer and The Doctor

(In that order even.)

Even though I'm sure this is wrong on a few levels, I'll post it anyways. Why? Because I want to. Because, as sad is it may be, the past 10 days have been among the most fun I've had in the past 2 years. Seriously.

And so, without further adieu, I present to you three JDate e-mails.

The first is from The Lawyer to me in response to a voicemail I left her earlier tonight:

Hi Alan,
I just got your message, thanks for your call. While I've enjoyed hanging out with you, I've realized that I'm not ready for dating just yet. As I had mentioned, I've only been on jdate for about 2 weeks. The reason is that I broke up with someone about 3 weeks ago whom I had been dating for quite a while, and I thought I was ready to jump right back in, but I'm not. I've taken my profile down and am going to lay low for a while. I wish you the best of luck with your search.
Best,
[The Lawyer]

The second is my reply:

I'm sorry to hear you say that. I've enjoyed hanging out with you too. It's been a lot of fun, truly.

If you'd like to hang out as friends, that'd be fine (he says with relatively little pretext). Or look me up when you're ready. I can appreciate that now may not be the best/right time for you.

It'd be a shame to meet someone as cool as you and never hear from you again. Even if it's as friends, please call/e-mail ([me]@gmail.com) sometime.

Cheers!

-- Alan

And the third is the e-mail I sent to The Doctor:

Hi [The Doctor],

It's been nice meeting you and hanging out, but I don't think we're a good match. I wish you the best of luck!

-- Alan

Honestly, I tried to think of more to say (to The Doctor) that wouldn't be a lie, but I couldn't. So I left it short. I'm also a little ashamed that I wimped out and did it by e-mail but obviously I'm not that ashamed.

The Lawyer one is somewhat interesting. (Maybe explains the weird vibe I got at the end of the second date?) I can't say as it doesn't sadden me a bit, but it was only two dates. *shrug* Like I said to someone recently, I tend to fall hard and fast. Which means it also tends to hurt a bit when things don't work out. But ah well, it's how I know I'm alive.

My friends are well acquainted with this (or should be). I'm also a minor spaz about dating so it tends to go hand in hand.

That said, if anyone (friends *nudge* *nudge* *wink* *wink*) has anyone they'd like to set me up with, please give me a call. My week is wiiiiiiide open.

(Edited for minor thing. 4/11/08)

Why I Became A Patent Agent

I just caught this question in an old, old comment (here) to the Why do I blog? post.

Why did I become a patent agent?

Funny enough, it's a rather simple answer. I majored in physics in college (math minor too). What does one do with a physics major? Well, I figured there were two primary tracks - teaching and research, both of which would involve getting a Ph.D. I had almost no interest in getting a masters, let alone a Ph.D. Plus I knew that the college teaching field, at least for physics, was pretty difficult. And I didn't want to do research. I also wasn't ready to get a job and enter the real world just yet.

So what do you do? Well, I'd heard of patent attorneys. I kind of liked "the law" from some limited experiences, including the mock trial team in high school. I figured law school was a good step, and it was. In law school, I got a little experience with an intellectual property firm and had a brief idea of what the work was like.

After law school, I was looking for anything in intellectual property. I happened to get a job with a small patent firm, writing and prosecuting patent applications. I think I enjoy it and, coincidentally, I think I'm pretty good at it. The good news is that I don't need to pass the state bar to do my job. Since I've passed the patent bar, I am fully credentialed.

It's often interesting work. I see lots of new inventions and technology. Some of it is engaging, and the work usually requires a mixture of thinking, analysis and writing skills. It works for me. The jury is still out whether this is what I do indefinitely, but it may very well be. It becomes harder to argue with the salary and benefits. Plus my current firm is absolutely fantastic. For now, for the foreseeable future, this is what I do and I do it well.

The Doctor - Date #2

I met up with The Doctor yesterday afternoon to see Sicko in Fairfield. Afterwards, we got dinner at an over-priced bistro in Fairfield. (She didn't want Mexican and my fallback Italian place was temporarily closed.) I dropped her off at her car at 9pm.

I made a solid effort to relax more and be "more of myself." For her part, The Doctor was much as before, which is to say reserved. We talked about some interesting things, but on the whole it was a rather boring time. The Doctor is nice enough but not very outgoing or talkative. We don't have much in common (at all). The conversation between us is somewhat dry.

I guess I'm glad I went on the second date. It ended somewhat early but I didn't want to extend it. I think I'll end things with The Doctor in the next day or two. I don't feel that there's anything there.

The Lawyer - Date #2

Hot on the heels of Tuesday night's Date #1, I met up with The Lawyer earlier tonight for Date #2.

She called me around 11:20am and we planned on dinner (sushi). She called me back around 4-4:15pm and asked if I was interested in some circus show in New Haven. I said sure and we moved sushi up to 5:30pm to catch the 7pm show.

Met up for sushi in Milford. She drove us up to New Haven for The Big Apple Circus, a weird one-ring circus show that hearkens back to the turn of the century. Odd acts but very entertaining. On the way back, we stopped at a strange, nearly-empty carnival outside the former-Connecticut Post Mall in Milford. Then we said goodnight around 9:50pm or so.

It was a thoroughly fun time. We both laughed quite a lot. I can make her laugh rather easily and she fires it right back. It's just plain fun. There was almost no awkwardness, no awkward breaks in conversation, almost no breaks at all.

It ended kind of awkwardly. I probably should have kissed her. I know it ended earlyish but I was fading anyways. Long day. I think this one scares me because I don't know what I want and, hence, what to do. I don't know if I want this and I think I'm scared to make any decision (not that one has to be made right now, but all the same). Could also just be me being me. I am awful about these things.

I suspect a third date will be forthcoming. If her sister doesn't come back from college, maybe we'll meet up on Sunday. If not then, I'm sure we'll get together next week. I just wish I knew what I wanted.

Brief Update on The Doctor and The Lawyer

No news is good news (sort of).

The Doctor: Spoke with her on Monday, planned a second date for Saturday. We're going to see Michael Moore's new movie, Sicko, probably down near me. (It's playing in Fairfield.) I'm calling her back tonight to set time, place, etc. I suggested the movie knowing of her interest in healthcare and her liberal leaning (i.e., pretty far left).

The Lawyer: Tried calling her Wednesday night (no answer). Left a message for her Thursday night. She left me two messages later Thursday night. Spoke with her today (around 11:20am) and we're meeting up tonight for a second date fraught with sushi (if a date can be said to be fraught with sushi). No clue if we'll do more than sup on raw fish, but I suspect we will (as in a movie or walking or the mall or something).

Incidentally, the message game with The Lawyer was because I don't get cell phone coverage at home (at all), so I leave my phone off at home. When I called her, I was calling from the mall and from work. She called me back when I was at work since my message said I get coverage between 8am and 6pm (i.e., at work).

I'll report back after each second date.

The Lawyer

JDate #2 - THE LAWYER

PRELUDE: We exchanged a few e-mails starting less than 1 week ago. I contacted her first. She asked me if I wanted to get dinner in her first reply.

REPORT: We met up at a brewery and talked for over 4 hours.

REACTION: Wow. I... I think there's a connection here. We like the same books, movies and music. We have the same interests. We laughed at each other's jokes. We were sharing all sorts of things, from personal to non. It was fun. I didn't even know the time had passed. I know hindsight is halcyon, but it was just a good time, good conversation. I think we were mirroring each other (e.g., actions, posture). Afterwards, I felt like I was dazed, stunned. I still feel that way a little now. Shocked, too. She's... If you don't know what you're looking for (per se), how do you know you've found it? I... Somehow, after only a few hours of talking, it felt like we were already good friends. It's... hard to describe.

A couple times since the date, I've thought back to the first dates of mine that ended up as relationships. This felt like one of those.

After my last relationship, I know I need to watch myself a bit and not come on too strong (per se). Should be easier to avoid since I'm working full time and have a few regular activities (tennis).

I haven't (directly) told her about my living situation yet. Regarding that, I'm a little dubious about the coaching I received. Now, on a second date, I need to break the news (so to speak)? May be a little difficult. Though I didn't lie, would never dream of it on a first date (or any other, for that matter). Have to think about that a little.

FOLLOW UP: We exchanged phone numbers at the end. I'll give her a call tonight and see if we can meet up on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.

THINGS I LEARNED: What a good (if not phenomenal) first date can be like. And they can be fun (as opposed to dull). (!)

I want to see this woman again.

I think I need to cancel the Saturday rendezvous with The Doctor and just end that one.

A Monday in Time Lapse

(N.B. Long post ahead. You have been suitably warned.)

Last night's sleep was very restless. This morning's work is very slow. I feel somewhat itchy and warm. I hope the A/C is working correctly though I fear it isn't. Part of me honestly can't believe that I have two dates within a few days of each other. In fact, The Lawyer originally wanted to meet up on Sunday night for dinner. I begged off saying that this weekend wasn't good for me. In actuality, I didn't want to have two dates in one day. I know that I wouldn't have concentrated as much on the first, knowing that the second was coming. Plus I would have felt some pressure of a timetable. Better to separate them. Even so, this whole thing is blowing my mind. Even though I haven't spoken with her yet, I get the sense that The Doctor would meet up with me for a second date. I'm not use to non-rejection. The invention I'm working on now is staggeringly ugh and my mind is mildly numb today. I'm not use to having a life or a "busy" schedule.

[time lapse]

I just remembered – I wanted to note that on Saturday, while I was driving up to Hartford to meet up with movie.girl, I was completely content. I was driving to meet up with a good friend and hang out. I had a date scheduled for the following day (The Doctor). I had another date scheduled for Tuesday night (The Lawyer). I had played tennis that morning and kicked much ass (and taken many names and chewed much bubblegum). At that place, at that moment, I was happy.

That's not to say I'm unhappy per se now, just that it was a moment of complete contentment.

Incidentally, I just spoke with a coworker. We're going to catch a movie on Wednesday night, either 1408 or Evan Almighty.

[time lapse]

Via Wikipedia, I learn that Sixpence None The Richer broke up back in 2004 and that the lead singer, Leigh Nash, released a solo album, Blue On Blue, in Fall 2006.

[time lapse]

This morning, I was listening to "Lakini's Juice" by Live. Need to remember to add some of those song lyrics to the quotes page and/or subtitle:

It was an evening I shared with the sun
To find out where we belong
From the earliest days
We were dancing in the shadows

[time lapse]

Someone's car alarm is going off outside. I hope the thief disables the alarm soon. It's pretty annoying.

[time lapse]

I bet The Doctor would want to go see the new Michael Moore movie. I don't particularly care, but I would gladly see it if she wanted to. Hell, I would recommend the idea because of that. Must remember. (I'm going to call The Doctor tonight and try to set up a second date.)

Incidentally, does a coffee meeting count as a "first date"? (I'm thinking yes.)

[time lapse]

Oh. That's interesting. A coworker-friend gave his two weeks notice on Friday. He's going to work in-house for Sikorsky (down the street, literally) doing a variety of IP-related things including government licensing. Said he's been doing patent prosecution for 10 years and has had enough.

Wow. Que interesante.

And just last Wednesday, I was joking about who would be the next person to leave the firm.

[time lapse]

Someone's daughter is helping sort files or box them or some such. Whenever I see someone like that, my reaction is two-fold. First, inevitably, is the thought "ooh, she's cute" rapidly followed by "hands off like plutonium." I figure the first isn't too horrible given the second.

Incidentally, the "hands off like plutonium" is from a Bloom County comic where Steve Dalls takes someone's daughter to her prom. The statement is emphasized with a fist waved in his general direction.

Also incidentally, a long time ago I received the best compliment I could ever get. I was working as staff at a Cub Scout Day Camp at the time, and at the end of one week a mother (also on staff) told me that she was going to give me the best compliment she could – something along the lines of if her daughter were older, she (the mother) would want her daughter dating someone like me.

[time lapse]

It's warm in my office. They turn off the A/C over the weekend. I'm learning that it takes a good day (until Tuesday) to cool off the individual offices. I estimate my office temperature to be around 72-74 deg. Fahrenheit.

A system thermometer in a coworker's office is showing 80. Yowch.

[time lapse]

Effing car alarm. Again.

[time lapse]

Effing car alarm. AGAIN.

[time lapse]

How to spell "omitted." Ah hah. Microsoft Word says I have it spelled correctly. Go me.

[time lapse]

Ooh, haven't been updating this as much in the afternoon as in the morning. Guess I've been busy.

[time lapse]

Posted a day late as our server was going down for maintenance.

Upcoming Second Date With The Doctor

I just spoke with The Doctor. (And yes, you are going to get updates whether you want them or not.) We're going to hit a movie and probably food on Saturday night. Location and time are TBD as showtimes for the movie of choice, Michael Moore's Sicko, are not forthcoming at this time.

The movie choice was my suggestion, based on her interests and such. Me, I'm game for almost any movie. (Heck, I even saw Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ in a theater.)

As for the second date, I'm also game. I'm hoping we both loosen up a bit and relax. Maybe we can see a bit more of who the other person is, get to some idle chit chat. I remain a little skeptical but obviously not too much so. I think I'm more hopeful than anything else.

Then again, I also have to see what Tuesday night brings. I'm holding out an idle hope that one of them turns out significantly better than the other. Otherwise... (I'll let the ellipses be my period for now.)

The Doctor

JDate #1 - THE DOCTOR

PRELUDE: We exchanged around 4 e-mails starting less than 1 week ago. She contacted me first. I asked her if she wanted to get coffee.

REPORT: We met up at a coffee shop and talked for 3.5 hours, mostly about the usual resumé-ish type things.

REACTION: I don't know. She's nice enough and very smart. We don't actually have much specific in common - i.e., movies, TV, reading, interests, genres. However, I think I 'get' her. We're on similar wavelengths and, even if we don't have much in common, I think we understand each other. It's tough to glean that as yet, but there wasn't a big disconnect nor a complete non-relation. I don't think I felt any "spark" per se, nor that she did either, but there could be something there. In my opinion, it's worth at least a second date to see (but I'm patient like that).

FOLLOW UP: She gave me her phone number at the end (and I gave her mine, of course). I'll give her a call tomorrow and see if she wants to meet up for dinner &/or a movie this week/next weekend.

THINGS I LEARNED: The impact of the "living at home" is highly dependent on the woman. The Doctor understood it and could personally relate to it. I phrased it well and I don't think it's a big issue here.

As compared with my blind date, I connected much more with The Doctor. The blind date worked as a manager in a grocery store. The Doctor is a doctor. Not to say I couldn't date a non-intellectual, I just suspect I can better relate to intellectuals/professionals. I think we have more in common. For example, The Doctor and I could relate to one another by similar experiences in med school/law school.

It's probably worth it to go out of my way so that my date doesn't have to. For example, I traveled about 30 min. to meet up with The Doctor. She walked about 5 min. to get to our rendezvous. I think I got bonus points for that.

Dating Observation #1

Initially at least, dating is not just learning about the other person. It's also about dropping your guard.

I think I'm very guarded on a first date. I'm hesitant to "break loose" for fear of turning the other person off or scaring them away. I think most people are like that on a first date. For this reason, the few first dates I've had have been relatively stale, even interview-ish.

Seeing as I may have a second date on the horizon, if/when it occurs, I think I shall endeavor to drop my guard a bit and speak more of myself than about myself.

The Sunday Morning Report

Yesterday I hung out with movie.girl.. until 1am. We watched Josie and the Pussycats which was a surprisingly decent movie, possibly even good. We also just talked at great length. T'was fun, though I probably should have left sooner and gotten to sleep earlier than 2am. Ugh.

Incidentally, she gave me some advice about the living-at-home thing. I suspect that not following her advice will only be detrimental to my dating.

One thing she did for which I am not appreciative is that at 12:30am, when I was fading fast, she started digging at me, asking what I'm passionate about and what my goals are, providing the counter-example of her being very passionate about traveling and seeing new things.

I didn't have a good answer. Goals include marriage & children, but I've felt that I'm short one or two goals. I don't have any larger vision beyond the current situation and I never have. I've always tried not to let it bother me, but I can see how someone else (i.e., a date) might ask these questions and be unhappy with my answers.

So I think I need to solidify a vision of some sort. I have ideas but certainly nothing that's going to help me in 3 hours when I have coffee with 'the doctor.'

Last night, besides imbuing me with a minor headache, has also left me slightly less confident for today's coffee rendezvous. This is a *very* bad thing, one which I could have done without. I'll try to relax and regain some measure of the lost confidence, but I feel that may be beyond me for 3 hours' effort.

Other news - Another JDate connection! I'm having dinner with a lawyer on Tuesday night. I'll have to see how that goes.

Anyways, time to go. Must do my homework, as in rereading correspondence and printing out directions/a map. I'll try to report back later tonight regarding my rendezvous with 'the doctor.'

The Minutiae

As previously mentioned, I have a coffee-date coming up on Sunday. This is my first real life meeting from an internet dating site and I am only minorly scared shitless, but I take that as normal for anything in the 'initial date' category.

I think my overall goal for this is to try and be relaxed and be myself. I have confidence that I can be charming and witty as long as I let myself (or as long as I let that part of me shine through). Most first/initial dates, I'm just so utterly scared and on edge that I tend to clam up or appear uninteresting. It's self-defeating, really... not that I've gone on so many first dates as to really figure them out.

One piece of advice I remember from a law school friend is to let the girl fall for me before revealing my deep, dark secret of collecting action figures. Which, by the way, if she's found this site and is reading this, is definitely one hobby I do not have. *ahem* I figure this is a very small point and, though it may further illustrate my particular form of insanity (or "charm" depending on context), it's unlikely to be a deal-breaker. Heck, if they're aware I'm a 'geek' from my various interests and such, it's not like that particular hobby (which isn't one of mine) should be a terrible shock.

There is, however, one little factoid that might be a deal-breaker, namely my current residence. I'm pretty sure I can provide a suitable explanation of why I am where I am, which is one reason I haven't--

Y'know, I think I answered my own question. I can't be afraid. I can't be afraid that my current residence is going to be a deal-breaker. I won't duck the question if asked and I am glad to explain. I honestly believe that it can be explained and -- (by the way, if the doctor is reading this, the secret is that I live at home, nothing too horrifying, really) – and that it shouldn't be a big problem. And I have to be confident about that, otherwise when it do explain it my explanation won't sound honest enough, even though it is.

I guess the only question then is when I should relate it if it doesn't come up naturally. I will be honest and part of me thinks that before the first date is over, I should explain it. I'm really not trying to hide it, I just know that it's a less preferable residence.

Hmm. I shall have to (briefly) ponder this more.

ADDENDUM: AAAAAHHHHH. I have a coffee-date on Sunday afternoon. AAAAAHHHHH. That is all. [8:36 AM]

Busy, Busy, Busy

I feel like I'm very busy this week.

Tuesday - Right after work, I saw DOA: Dead or Alive. The movie wasn't as bad as I thought it could or would be. (Which, I suppose, is a backhanded compliment of sorts.)

Wednesday - My regular doctor's appointment that had me miss a half-day of work. Right after work, I attended an intellectual property group's Lobster Bake. T'was a decent enough affair.

Thursday - I'm playing tennis tonight. This is with a new group, though since so many people can;t make it, the new group is primarily comprised of people I play with on Saturday morning. (Figures, right?)

Friday - Errr.. nothing special planned (yet), though I may catch a movie Friday night. 1408 and Evan Almighty open this weekend (though Evan Almighty has been claimed by movie.girl).

Saturday - Tennis in the morning. That afternoon/night, I'm hanging out with movie.girl. Not entirely sure what we're going to do. Possibly catch a comedy act at City Steam, but I want to see what else is "happening"/available.

Sunday - Coffee-date with someone I met on JDate. I find it terribly amusing that in less than one week on JDate I've managed to land a coffee-date. It's also minorly amusing since my coffee-date, let's call her "the doctor", and I have relatively little in common. Or at least that's what I've gathered from 3-4 e-mails. Even so, why not? Let's just hope I manage at least alright with this thing. (I'm already a little nervous, though I'm trying not to get worked up over it.)

So like I said, lots going on. For me, this looks to be the busiest week that I've had (in terms of non-work) for a long, long time. Cheers!

Hello Again

I was going to write something here about this week & weekend but I'm too tired to make enough sense of what I write. However, and this is the odd (or odder) part - I'm not so tired that I not write a post entirely. And so you, my gracious reader, are treated to the half-awake meanderings that pass for muddling thinking in my head. And you are so treated, at least until I finish importing about half a dozen CDs into iTunes.

Well, you would have been so treated except my mind has since gone blank. Just utterly devoid of topic (other than the blankness itself being a topic). And so I must bid you adieu until such time as a coherent thought and post-writing happen to collide in a sense other than illusory or well-intentioned. And if that last bit didn't make much sense to you, please, do not despair. It didn't make much sense to me either.

GRAH!!!

I figured now would be as good a time as any to peruse the dating sites I'm registered with and see what's cooking.

eHarmony - Tons of matches, easily over 200 so far. Very few communications. No dates. Looked through the recent matches that haven't closed me, nothing interesting.

Match.com - If I see one more woman who I would send a message to only I'M TOO FUCKING SHORT, I am going to scream. I am 5'6" tall. Apparently, this is lilliputian and I am doomed to wander the Earth alone. Religion? Fair enough. Age? Smoking? Drinking? Ethnicity? Fine. BUT HEIGHT? IF THE WOMAN IS 5'0" TALL, WHY DOES HER MATCH HAVE TO BE AT LEAST 6'0"?!??? Fer cryin' out loud.

gk2gk.com - Man, I just started poking around there for the first time in a long time and, wow. Those are my people. Those are people I'm looking to meet. *sigh*

Incidentally, I feel better after the last one. I think the first two may turn out to be complete wastes of money.

In Which I Opine On A Variety Of Topics

We (my mom and I) have 2 Bichons (Bichon Frise). When asked to describe them I say that they are "small, white fluffy things with teeth." They are adorable when clean, which lasts anywhere from 1 hour to 6 days after grooming. They are white, though some have orange-ish patches of fur (I forget the "official" name for the coloring). Their cuteness is a defense mechanism. DO NOT BE FOOLED. With both of ours, it took 1-2 years for them to become nice dogs. During the first 1-2 years, each dog was a terror. I hear there is a Bichon rescue league. Why anyone would want to rescue these animals is beyond me.

Warren Ellis is an angry bastard. I think he takes some measure of joy in such descriptions of himself. He is also an incredibly talented writer. To date, as far as I know, most (all?) of his work has been in the comic book realm. He has a book, Crooked Little Vein, coming out this Summer. You should buy it, read it, then give Mr. Ellis more of your money. He may be a right bastard, but he is a talented bastard.

Today was showtunes day for me. I listened to the Evil Dead Soundtrack, Sunset Boulevard (1993 Patti LuPone version) and Evita (Madonna version). At the end of the day, I thought to myself that I should pick up a copy of Pirates of Penzance. I may have Oklahoma (Hugh Jackson version) lying around somewhere. The only other musical I can think of, that I've heard and vaguely remember, is Carousel.

My car stereo works fantastically. I can listen to my iPod while driving without losing my temper. In fact, this may be beyond fantastic.

I'm writing this post because I don't want to go to sleep yet (only 9:29 PM) but I also don't want to get into playing a computer game now (too late, too little time, sleepy).

I'm contemplating a year-long creative project. I don't want to go into detail, not yet, not here, but I think I may try it. I've figured out that, while I think I may be artistic in some respects, I am not an artist. I can't draw for shit. [Ed: Though why anyone would want to draw "for shit" is beyond me.] However, I love comic books and graphic novels and I would absolutely love to get "into the business," so to speak.

Generally, I'm not very happy with my current employment. It's good, steady money, but I don't enjoy it. Plus, my current job is about as good as it gets. I could move up the ladder or work on trying to make partner, but it's just not something I want to be doing. Hell, I'd be happier in comic book retail (although significantly poorer, I suspect). I don't know what I'm going to do about this, or when, but some day I will have to do something. I just have to.

Thus far, internet dating has failed to pan out for me. I have yet to even go on one date. Granted, I need to be more proactive and invest time searching on services. Well, I guess that really means that eHarmony has not worked for me thus far. *shrug*

I suspect I need a more go-and-get-'em attitude. In general, I mean, not just online dating. I often feel like a man without a purpose. I have no specific overall goals right now. Any goals are short-term ones, like "pay bills." I need a direction. Sometimes I feel like I may be waiting for something. For what, I don't know. But it's mildly frustrating, not the least because I recognize it and still fail to act. I'm frustrated with myself and, by extension, the world at large. I feel like I should be doing something else, I should be somewhere else. Somewhere that's not on my schedule.

Tired. Time to clean the floor (dog had an "accident") and go to bed. I'm rereading House of M these nights. I have new things to read but I like rereading previous ones. Hell, I have the Witchblade Compendium untouched (picked it up on sale and with a coupon). Ah well.

I contemplated putting together a recommended reading list here for favorite or all graphic novels of mine. I have tons of them. It's mildly obscene and getting worse on a regular basis. But I definitely have favorites and strong recommendations. Maybe I'll work on the list sometime.

Peace out.

ADDENDUM: I think the "official" name is apricot. [9:41 PM]

ADDENDUM II: I reread all my posts after they're posted. I'm an editor through-and-through. I'm also rather particular and occasionally detail-oriented. It's too bad this aspect didn't help me or come into play during law school. [9:44 PM]

"I like the quiet."

Very quiet of late. Work, rest, work, rest, etc. Nothing interesting, really.

I've been playing Command & Conquer 3 (C&C3). Excellent real-time stategy (RTS) game.

On Friday, I had a new car stereo installed. I can now listen to my iPod in the car without screaming obscenities at a tape deck. This is a good thing. A very good thing.

Also on Friday, I picked up Heroes of Might & Magic V (HOMMV). Excellent turn-based strategy game. I think I like C&C3 better, or I'm at least more comfortable (and experienced) with the RTS style. Still, HOMMV is kind of neat. Don't know if I'll play it much beyond the initial push, though.

Started a book of Lovecraft short stories. Finished the first one tonight. Slow reading but incredibly good story-telling. I think I'm going to like this author, though the reading speed is a mark against him. I don't *need* a fast read, it's just easier. Then again, that a fast read also tends to imply reduced vocabulary and description so.. yeah.

I need to call up friends. I'm overdue for that, though I never fear I am too overdue since I would be wont to retort "why didn't you call me."

I need to pay my bills.

I have work tomorrow morning. Lately, I have not been going in on the weekend. I probably should, but I've been making my hours during the week and, though I have work that needs doing, I just don't feel like it.

I played tennis on Saturday morning. Outside. Good stuff.

The post title is from a Buffy episode, The Zeppo, one of my favorites. Xander is my favorite character, by far.

I have jury duty on Friday. I hope I get picked for a jury! (Seriously!) I want to serve on a jury - to see what it's like. Always have. Last time I was called for jury duty, it was the year before law school. No way I'd have been picked. Slightly better chance now since I'm not a lawyer (though I did go to law school). So we shall see.

That's all I've got. Cheers!

Happy Days!

Happy Towel Day! (Wikipedia)

Happy Universal Day of the Jedi!

The former I wish I had known about/remembered before I left home today (so I could bring a towel in celebration thereof).

This year, the latter is the celebration of the 30th anniversary of Star Wars! (SW:ANH was released on May 25, 1977.)

Whoah & Uh Oh

These could be considered pretty alarming:

Investigative reporter says he has the 500 missing Rove emails (BoingBoing)

The Future of America Has Been Stolen (10zenmonkeys)

ABC reports CIA cleared to conduct black ops against Iran (BoingBoing)

28 Weeks Later THAN A ZOMBIE INVASION!

So the post title isn't very inventive. Bite me. Errr.. on second thought, please don't bite me.

I caught 28 Weeks Later last night with a coworker friend. My one word description: intense. 28 Weeks Later is a non-stop thrill ride and an EXCELLENT ZOMBIE MOVIE. I didn't catch many clichés though I did see plenty of blood and dismemberment. (Those zombies can never seem to get enough!) Thankfully, the storyline is a little bit different from its predecessor. Survival, as is the way with zombie movies (so not entirely cliché-free, I suppose), is the name of the game, though the protagonists are not only seeking to escape zombie attacks but also a semi-random death at the hands of the American military. (I guess that's new?)

As with 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later is set in England (London in this case) and filmed in a British style with British actors and actresses (who have British accents).

And that was where my time for writing this review ended. Go see this movie. It's an excellent zombie movie. (Although technically they're victims of a biological weapon and not zombies per se.) Regardless, it's good. A worthy sequel to one of the best.

Days Like Today

I hate days like today. I forgot to turn my alarm on, so I woke up at 6:25 AM. (My alarm had been set for 5:25 AM and I'm almost always up and moving by 6:00 AM.) The dog had gone on the floor, necessitating me spending 30 min. cleaning up the floor. Between both of the above and added delays, I didn't leave the house until 9:08 AM, get into work until 9:35 AM and start billing until 10:04 AM. When you need to rack up 7 hours of billables per day, starting at 10:04 AM is not good. It is very not good. Add into this that my car's tape player currently refuses to play the cassette that enables me to listen to my iPod in the car and my coffee is upsetting my stomach today. Yeah, I'm not in a very good mood here.

*sigh*

[N.B. This post is backdated to reflect its time of writing rather than its time of posting.]

A Long Weekend With Two Friends

So I visited my old college roommate this weekend. Turned out we hadn't seen each other for while - since August 2004 when he visited me in Hartford (and wrote a review for Collateral). He's getting married in September (!!!) and I am the Best Man (!).

This weekend I also met his fiancé. She's fantastic, truly. She is very nice and warm. Just an honestly good person who matches my roommate in so many ways. I think the two of them are great for each other and that they will be very happy together. I suspect I will reiterate this in some form or other during my Best Man speech (which, incidentally, I'm already pre-drafting in my head.. repeatedly).

I think the three of us had a good time this weekend, or at least I know I did. I've said it before and I'll say it again (because I like repeating myself and/or I'm too lazy to look up my previous recitation). In my ever-so-humble opinion, one sign of a true friend is one with whom you can flawlessly reconnect. Someone you haven't spoken with or met in quite a while, but when you do finally reconnect, it's like nothing has changed. You know each other and it's like nothing has changed. You have a great time, just like you did last time and the one before that. I think Matt is such a friend of mine.

I am terribly excited for his wedding this Fall and I am honored, truly honored, to serve as his Best Man. ..and he's going to get a kick ass Bachelor's Party. (I had to include that last part lest I be seen to shirk my responsibilities.) The real question is whether I should pretend to lose the rings when the minister asks for them or simply have a trained monkey swing in on a vine. Personally, I'm thinking monkey. Maybe I should ask the groom... *sly grin*

*Smile*

Tomorrow I get to see my college roommate for the first time in years! Woot!

A Mild Form of Hell

I have 14 pages written of what will likely end up being an at-least-30-page document. And I should/need to have a draft of it done by tomorrow morning. Which means tonight will be an all-nighter. At this point, I plan on breaking for dinner in 20-40 min. and from 9-11:30pm (to hit the mall for CD's and home for Boston Legal).

This is going to be so much fun. ...

ADDENDUM: I split at 9pm to hit the mall for CD's before Boston Legal. Snagged the new Linkin Park (Minutes to Midnight) and Dolores O'Riordan (Are You Listening?) CD's, as well as the second Lacuna Coil album (Karmacode). Went home, popped them on my iPod and watched Boston Legal. I was nearly unconscious so I slept for 4 hours. Woke up at 3:15am, showered, ate, got coffee, got to work and started working on the document again at 5:00am.

I'm frantically trying to finish a draft. Frantically. Which means this post is done. [6:06 AM 5/16/07]

Double Whoah

I mentioned that I'm visiting my old college roommate next weekend and that I'm a groomsman in his wedding this Fall.

Well, I'm also the Best Man.

Whoah.

At some point when the shock wears off, I'll have to figure out what this entails.

Double whoah.

A Tale Of Two Cities

Last Tuesday night I hung out with movie.girl again. (Again meaning like I did about a month ago.) We caught Spider-man 3 on iMax. Good stuff. Hung out afterwards - beer and conversation. She was also kind enough to snap a few photos of me so I now have new photos for my online dating sites. I may be slightly balding and I don't like my smile in the photos. Needless to say, neither of those constitutes a disqualifying condition for the photos. I think I've said it before but I'll say it again. It's always a good time when I hang out with movie.girl.

Last night, I hung out with a law school couple, Captain Kate & Sr. Pete. It was the first time I've seen them since the birth of their daughter, Anna. Pretty cool. I think the world changes a bit when you have a kid. I think that's also an understatement if there ever was one. Their daughter is doing well - about 10 lbs now. Considering she was premature, this is doing very well. Yay Anna! Yay Capt. & Sr.!

Tomorrow I'll be at work, trying to finish things up in time to be away next weekend. I have a truckload of things to do. I should have gone into work today but I reeeeeally didn't feel like it. I spent a small portion of the day cleaning the kitchen floor (damn dogs) and the rest being lazy and a little tired (late night last night). Tomorrow will have to do.

Next weekend I'm visiting my college roommate. His will be the second wedding of the three I attend this fall. His will also be the second of the three in which I am a groomsman. I haven't seen him in a long time (at least a few years). One of my "principles" (so to speak) is that if I'm invited to a friend's wedding, I should visit with the couple in advance thereof. It's kind of silly to show up at the wedding and only be able to say: "Yeah, I was his roommate in college. No clue what he's up to now." If I go to a friend's wedding, I damn well want to be there as a friend and not a familiar stranger.

I'm going to include something a bit more substantive here, even though it's unrelated to the previous parts, largely because I don't want to emphasize it or make mountains out of molehills.

I've been single far more often than not. In the past 11 years, I have spent all but 6 months and 1-2 months of it single. I'm pretty bad at meeting women. I don't go on dates very often. I'm very much a loner, though I would probably rather not be.

That's the setup. The punchline is that I don't think many couples "get" what it's like to be single. A while back, a couple I know made a crack about being single to someone. I didn't laugh. It's generally not something you joke about or even talk very seriously about.

Society has programmed us to believe that we need to find someone else. We need to be one half of a couple. While not everyone has bought into this, many, many have. I certainly have. It's one of those things that I "know" without any solid basis or underpinning. It's one of those things I constantly hope for. It just is. It's the reason some people feel funny about going to see a movie on their own. It's why getting a table for one for lunch or dinner can be an unpleasant experience. It's why I'm annoyed every time my grandparents make an off-handed comment that I need to find a "nice Jewish girl". Society says we must pair off and so, like the lemmings we are, we march.

I'm not contravening this. It's probably in society's best interests to suggest as much. It doesn't usually bother me. But I really suspect that most couples don't realize the pressures a single person feels. Whether or not these pressures are real (e.g., comments from parents or grandparents) or illusory (e.g., a table for one), they are felt. While the individuals in these couples were once single, I think they've "forgotten" what it's like and how rough the single world can be.

This isn't a complaint. It's.. an observation. I don't care. I try not to let most things get to me - that's my goal/nature. (Though, at times, I suspect I am incredibly judgmental and unfair, but who isn't?) I just wish couples, or even the world at large, appreciated that single people sometimes feel this pressure. That sometimes, comments directed in that nature are not well-received. The topic isn't verboten, not at all, it's just also not one that some people take so lightly.