Fragmented Friday - With Friends Like These . . .

The day after I got my butt royally kicked by PigPen, my arms were covered in copious bruises from his grip o' steel. PigPen apologized when he saw a particularly nasty looking one on my wrist, but I assured him that it was no big deal since I've always had a tendency to bruise easily. He nodded in agreement, and then hurled an epithet at me impugning my manhood.

Sadly, it looks like several of the Singles are going to be out of town or otherwise occupied the weekend of my birthday, thanks to it also being Memorial Day weekend. The biggest disappointment so far is the fact that this means that my parents won't get to meet Li'l Dill and confirm that he actually does exist and is exactly as random as I describe and not just a product of my imagination.

Last Friday I met up with Cap'n Shack-Fu for lunch while he was working the disaster assistance desk at the Civic Center. While we were visiting, I told the Shack-man all about my carpet fuzz misadventures, right down to showing off my quickly-fading bruises and repeating all the epithets the "Lovable"* PigPen had stuck me with. A little while later we got roped into helping a guy from the Small Business Administration put up signs outside; the SBA guy had no clue that I was just some innocent librarian dragooned into service until we were almost done. While we were standing around waiting for the SBA guy to figure out what he was wanting, Cap'n Shack-Fu gave me a playful shove, then with a mischievous grin said "Oh, I'm sorry -- did I bruise you?" Looks like somebody finally reclaimed their man card** . . .

Following my tailbone bruising misstep in Bricktown, one of my first thoughts was "Man, am I glad PigPen wasn't here to see that." I went back on forth on whether I wanted to tell him about it, since he has more than enough ammo on me to last several lifetimes without me giving anything else all gift wrapped like that. But, when I headed home early on Monday due to not being able to focus while sitting upright, I discovered that my poor pal PigPen had been up till 4 in the morning with some sort of stomach bug. Overcome with sympathy, I decided I would go ahead and describe my pain and humiliation, since that always makes him feel better. I knew he was really, really sick when my story of horrible klutziness and physical injury barely elicited a half smile, and nary a smartass remark escaped his lips. Of course, by the time the evening was over, after he was able to keep some food down he was apparently feeling much better, since he made a crack which managed to tie my tailbone busting to his previous not-ready-for-primetime remarks about the carpet fuzz incident.

TV tidbits: Good news: How I Met Your Mother and Supernatural have been renewed for another season. Bad news: Veronica Mars, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and Jericho have not. Most promising new show of the fall: Pushing Daisies, from Bryan Fuller, the creator of two great, quirky, dark-and-twisty shows Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls. You can watch a brief, quirky, dark-and-twisty clip right here.

While my tailbone injury seems to be improving each day, it's still uncomfortable to sit upright; when I told the out-of-town Li'l Dill the the next time he saw me I would probably be carrying around an inflatable donut to sit on, he kindly told me that he would carry one around as well, although he said that his would be just so he would look taller when he sat down.

Yesterday was Zinger and Pooh-bear's 10th wedding anniversary, a fact that I remembered before and after the fact, but not during; typical. The fact that 10 years have passed since their wedding is kind of mind-boggling, almost as mind-boggling as trying to wrap my brain around how long I've known most of the Parkerites. If you had asked me at my high school graduation if I thought I would make friends at college with whom I'd still be in consistent contact with almost 14 years later, I'd probably have called you crazy. Goes to show how much I know, huh?

Although I love Bubblegum Tate's word selections for the latest round of the Write in the Thick of It challenge, I'm afraid that inspiration has yet to strike me, which isn't good, considering the deadline is Monday and I have a full plate of Singles activities over the weekend. I plan on getting something entered in regardless, but I doubt it will be up to my usual standards.

*Does PigPen's new signature amuse anyone else as much as it does me?
**I kid, I kid! Please don't hurt me, oh mighty Shack-Fu!