What, Me Random?

As has become my custom on boredom-laden Fridays, I give to you yet another collection of random thoughts and occurrences that don't really rate full blog treatments by themselves, but which combine to form a blog that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Or something like that

• Upon reading my statement that better men than him have tried and failed to break me of my negativity, PigPen responded pretty much how I predicted he would: "Todd, there are no men better than me." It's nice to have someone so reliable around.
  
  
• Along similar lines, I have taken entirely too much pleasure out of ratcheting up my self-deprecating comments several notches just to get a reaction out of PigPen. The situation would normally go like this: PigPen would make a typical jab in my direction; I would not only agree whole-heartedly with the insult, I would also magnify it to a "I'm a totally worthless excuse for a human being" degree; PigPen would give me the Glare of Doom. At one point last week I told him "I can't help myself, it's too easy: you set me up, and I knock me down."
  
  
• I played racquetball for the first time in well over a week, which was good, because the lack of exercise was starting to make me grumpy, as anyone who was around me for the past couple of days could easily testify. The reason for the lack of activity was my right knee, which was giving me some problems after subjecting it to several days of basketball. I finally found a knee-brace to fit my leg, and after walking around with it for almost a week, I finally felt up to trying some activity. Good news is that today my knee isn't bothering me; bad news is that I can't say the same for every other part of my body. Woke up several times in the night due leg cramps, which is always fun, and I'm actually bruised in a few spots due to one of PigPen's pals nailing me pretty good with the ball a few times. And yet, despite the aches and pains, I'm in about a zillion times better mood today than I have been in a while; go figure.
  
  
• Got the word early this morning that we only have to work half a day due to it being Good Friday. I'm excited, not just because I get off at noon, but also because this means that I can go see the afternoon matinee of Grindhouse.
  
  
• When it comes to a love of the strange and unusual in cinema, I have discovered a kindred spirit in the form of Li'l Dill. Finally, someone else who appreciates the last third of Adaptation! A call to firm up plans for Grindhouse viewing last night turned into a long conversation about various off-beat films. It's always nice to have another person to whom I can recommend those really bizarre films which appeal to almost nobody else.
  
  
• I'm really enjoying taking part in Diva's writing challenge; I haven't written much in the way of fiction since I finished up In a Cabin, so it's been nice to exercise those mental muscles a bit. I know a couple of people voted for me last time because they thought it was the most accessible (read: least bizarre), so I'm wondering how they'll feel about my foray into costumed herodom. Maybe next time I'll do something dark and twisty, so Diva doesn't feel like she's the only one whose mind goes to those places. I'm hoping that more people start submitting stories; I know PigPen got about halfway through one before life got in the way, which is too bad, since I was looking forward to seeing what he came up with.
  
  
• Got to have lunch with fellow Wyandotte Class of 93 alumni The Photographer earlier this week; her husband had to come down to Ft. Worth for a few days for work, so she came down with him. When she asked for suggestions of where to eat, I asked "Do you want Mexican or Cajun?" She replied "How about Mexican one day, and Cajun the next?" I almost instantly sent Zinger an IM gloating about the fact that I was going to get to eat at Frillys; unfortunately I gloated too soon, for after lunch at El Guapos on Wednesday, The Photographer informed me that she and her hubby had to head back earlier than she thought, so no Frillys for me. Zinger, of course, took great pleasure in my despair.