Fragmented Friday - Singles on the Move

• While I'm enjoying judo class, I'm still having trouble with the stand-up portion. After a year and a half of getting my butt kicked by The Lovable PigPen on a semi-regular basis, I am reasonably comfortable when it comes to the ground game, but when it comes to actually executing a throw or trip during randori (the name for sparring in judo), I just haven't been able to break through this mental block that hampers my, for want of a better term, "killer instinct." I know part of it is just that I don't feel comfortable with any of the throws yet, and am self-conscious about looking like a fool, and am so busy over-thinking what I need to do that I can't do anything, but I have a feeling that if just once I could make myself fully commit to a throw and execute it successfully during randori, I could start to move past all of that.
  
  
• A large portion of The Singles are re-shuffling their living arrangements this summer. Last weekend I helped Squiggly move; tomorrow, I will be helping Mei-mei and Doc Jetson. And, over the next few months, moves will also be undertaken by Fluffy, Blondie Blaarrrgghhh, Cap'n Peanut, PigPen, Gemini, and myself. After that, if I never see another moving truck again, it will be too soon.
  
  
• Last Sunday my parents took Cap'n Shack-Fu out to dinner; my folks were happy to finally meet my adopted brother and Shack was happy to gain insight into the early days of young Cap'n Neurotic. Mom later informed me that they had, in effect, had my birthday dinner without me, and she lamented the fact that she didn't come up with the idea to tell the waitress that it was surrogate son Shack-Fu's birthday so they could surprise/embarrass him until after she got home. I'm glad they were able to meet up on Sunday, since by Wednesday Shack was called away from Miamuh and reassigned back to the OKC area for the duration of his deployment.
  
  
• Outside of heavy rains that knocked out power at my place for about an hour, my birthday was pretty uneventful. I did go to Tuesday night judo for the first time, which was nice since it was a much smaller group of people and I got more a chance to randori than on Thursday nights. I didn't tell anyone it was my birthday since I was pretty sure doing so would have given Sensei Smart-Alec even more excuses to throw me on my head than he already had. I can hear him now: "This is a special Korean* maneuver reserved as a rite of passage for men entering their 33rd year. Now, just stand still, bend your knees, and whatever you do, don't resist . . ."
  
  
• While I didn't do much celebrating on my actual birthday, Blondie was kind enough to organize a birthday dinner for me the following evening. Had a big group show up, which was nice, even if the total number of people at the table was unlucky number 23. When the waitress was taking Cap'n Peanut's order, he told her that he would get half of my bill, and that someone else would have to pick up the other half for my birthday. "Oh, it's your birthday, huh?" the waitress said with great enthusiasm. "Very smooth," I remarked to Peanut as he sat there with an evil grin on his face. Of course, those who know me well should know that getting up and making a fool of myself when the staff came out to sing to me wasn't exactly a big deal for me; I was much more put out with the fact that my free birthday dessert chocolate cake had nuts in it.
  
  
• Whatever allergens are in the air right now are giving my Ayr nasal rinse a run for its money; think I'm going to have to bump my routine back up to twice a day to keep from sliding back into allergy-ridden misery. Today I'm battling a sore throat, and I really want to nip this in the bud before it gets any worse. I blame the cottonwood, or as Squiggly calls it, "poison snow."
  
  
• A group of Singles went out to the lake on Memorial Day, but I begged off since I was feeling kind of blah and am not a big lake guy anyway. However, I was later very sorry I didn't go if for no other reason than I missed this:
  
  Trouble chasing Squiggly with a fish-head-on-a-stick.
  
  Good times, good times.
  
  
• When I went to deposit a check Tuesday afternoon, I found that my bank's drive-through was incredibly backed up, with each lane having four or five vehicles. But, since my bank account was nearing the negative zone, I decided to brave the rush -- which, I now realize, is a bit of an ironic choice of words, since the lines were moving at a glacial pace. When it was finally my turn and I pushed the call button to request a deposit slip, I discovered the reason for the slow-turnaround when the teller's voice came back over the speaker informing me that due to a lightning strike earlier I could hear him, but he couldn't hear me, so if I needed something I should try to mime it out for him. Not exactly the most efficient form of communication, especially when you're three lanes over from the teller window.
  
  

*Everything with him is either Korean or Irish/Gaelic; before class one night he informed me that we were going to have a substitute Sensei who was going to think in Gaelic, translate into Korean, and then have someone else translate that into English. Surprisingly, this was a bunch of hooey.