It's pouring rain as I type this, and has been for an hour or two (as far as I can tell; I woke up about an hour or so ago and it was already raining). That's wonderful, but would be even more so if I could stay in bed. Alas, though. Or, rather, a lass. My lass, Mariana, I get to see her in a little while. (And yes, that joke just occurred to me spontaneously as I was typing "alas.") I'm meeting her for brunch before she goes to a high school to observe for her Education class.
We were supposed to get together to play some poker last night, but it fell through. Joel didn't have time, Tom wasn't around, and I have no idea what happened to Martin, Keith, or Taylor. Oh well.
Tomorrow is the MegaCon at the Convention Center. I'm pretty excited, even though there are no Buffy or Angel folks this time around. I don't have much interest in the semi-celebrities who will be there. But it should be fun to just browse around and poke through all the vendors' exhibits. I also look forward to filling out my Buffy comics collection; I'll have the checklist in hand.

2/28/2003 Friday AM
It happened! Finally!
I finally had another Jason dream (from the Friday the 13th movies). It's been several months since Jason chased me through my nocturnal, subconscious jungle. It's always so relieving to finally have a Jason dream; it's like, whatever was screwed up in here (tapping my temple) is still screwed up, so everything's alright. I honestly don't know what I'd do if I didn't have any Jason dreams anymore.

That FridayFive thing.
1. What is your favorite type of literature to read (magazine, newspaper, novels, nonfiction, poetry, etc.)?
All of the above, but picking one, I'd say novels. There's just something leisurely about putting it down knowing that you'll soon be able to pick it up with nothing lost. All else seems to have some immediacy to it - I almost feel guilty not reading a newspaper, and when I don't, I feel it nagging at me. Same with magazines; I know the next edition is not too far away, and I just have to read this one before I can read that next one, right? There's no such pressure or guilt with novels. Read when you want; put it down when you want.
2. What is your favorite novel?
It might be cheating, but I'm going to name a trilogy of novels:
The Cairo Trilogy, by Naguib Mahfouz: Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, and Sugar Street. The trilogy traces three generations of an Egyptian family through their country's political struggles of the 20th century. I bought the first volume in a Salvation Army store one day, for no other reason than the notation that the author had won a Nobel Prize for literature. I'd never heard of him, and anything involving Islam is likely to get my attention, to I bought it and started reading. One scene early in that first book was so heartachingly rendered that I read the next 20 pages through tears. I then sought out the next two books in the trilogy, and enjoyed them all. I was sad that there were only three.
3. Do you have a favorite poem? (Share it!)
"Tintern Abbey," by William Wordsworth. You'll find in everywhere, but here's one place.
4. What is one thing you've always wanted to read, or wish you had more time to read?
A set of recent encyclopedias, book version, please.
5. What are you currently reading?
Tales of the Slayer, Vol.2, a Buffy book, thanks to my babeness.

2/27/2003 2:29 Thursday PM
Oh, by the way, here it is:

Have I mentioned how much I love driving that thing?

I don't have much to say about Mr. Rogers's death. I barely remember watching his show, and my memories of it are too intertwined with general knowledge *about* the show to be very useful. I know it began with him coming home, and changing into a sweater and shoes, but I don't know if I remember that, or simply know that this is what happened. Same with other aspects of his show. What I do know, however, or what I have been led to believe and have no reason to doubt, is that he was a kind and gentle man, with a sincere and genuine love for children and for people in general, and that millions of children across several generations grew up enjoying it. For that alone, he deserves to be remembered, regardless of my own memories. And if my portrait of him is inaccurate or incomplete in some way, I really don't have much interest in digging around and finding out I'm wrong.
Indeed, rest well, Mr. Rogers. Your work is done.

2/26/2003 9:19 Wednesday AM
Yes, I'm still around. You can't get rid of me. And stop trying!

Not much has happened. Saturday we went out to dinner at a mostly delightful restaurant called Cafe' Tu Tu Tango. It's vaguely themed around art; the walls are covered with a variety of mostly bad art which can be bought on the spot, and they like to have local artists working on-premises. There are funkily-designed sheets on the tables which mix definitions of art concepts with definitions of foods and ingredients that they use. There's a bowl of forks and knives on the table, with some long paint brushes mixed in. And all of the foods are appetizer-sized (and, fortunately, appetizer-priced); the point is to order two or three or four and share with your companion(s), who of course do the same. I love the food; it's a mostly Spanish/Caribbean menu with some Mediterranean and other influences as well. But I've always walked away pleased. So we went.
It was incredibly loud. The music was blaring over the speakers, and we were given a table near a long table of about 15 young adults who looked to range from late teens to late 20s. And they were laughing, shouting, giggling, and screaming; one of them was having a birthday, although it was initially difficult to tell who.
We ordered some rosemary hummous and pita; some crusted salmon skewers; a garlic-chicken salad; some mango-habanero wings; some beef and cheese empanadas; and for dessert, some flan, which I'd never had and which Mariana has been pining for for, well, months. (These are formally named and described on the menu page.) All was good except the salmon skewers, which were a little disappointing. The coating was a bit gummy for my tastes, and would have been better if it had been crisper. The salmon itself was just salmon.
The service was spotty, too; apparently, their normal technique is to bring out the individual dishes haphazardly as they are made ready in the kitchen. And that's okay, I guess. It might be better to have them all prepared and delivered at once, to give a more sumptious feel to the meal. But as is, you're never too sure what's going to come or when, and by the time the mango-habanero wings came, I had completely forgotten about them and wasn't too hungry anyway. Mariana bravely tried them, and found them flavourful but incredibly hot (spicy hot). Rob bravely tried them, and found them flavourful but incredibly hot (spicy hot). So that was that, a nice meal at a nice restaurant, surrounded by some loud people.

Sunday we didn't do much. I worked in the evening and that's it.

Monday was a long day at work. We all went out after work to Gator's. I fetched Mariana and met Ed, Tom, and Joel there. Mariana talked to Joel about some legal perspectives on some work she's doing on choral music in schools. Joel was already into one beer and plowed through a second as he talked, and managed to keep the off-colour remarks and jokes (some at her and our expense!) to a minimum, which is quite a feat for him. So after some mirth and fellowship we all went out separate ways.

Yesterday after dropping Mariana off I went home and puttered and slept, and then worked in the evening. I missed Buffy, of course, but managed to get it successfully recorded. Mostly successfully, actually. When I checked, I found that the tape had run out at literally the last second of the episode action, before the credits begin rolling. I was impressed by that, but still a little galled that I didn't get the complete episode with credits.

Today I'll meet my darling in the early afternoon. I've got some chicken marinading since last night, that I'll grill or roast tonight as part of a nice dinner, so I don't want to be too extravagant with lunch.

A KeyWord Rankings update.

2/22/2003 8:23 Saturday PM
I'm sorry to rain on everybody's parade, but I am still The Best Boyfriend In The World. Let all lesser boyfriends bow before me.

2/22/2003 9:21 Saturday AM
I love geeks. And there's this one geek in particular that I'm just crazy about. So there.

It's been a hectic week.
Thursday afternoon after saying good-bye to Mariana, I decided to hit a couple car dealerships on my way home. It's time to start the arduous process of car-shopping, I knew, so I pulled into the lots on a mostly spur-of-the-moment basis. The first lot or so didn't have much to interest me. The second one, one of the vultures started pointing me towards a 2002 Honda CRV or something. A little out of my range, I told him. Sure, I'd like to get into a little SUV or a larger pickup, but hey, I told him, I can only do so much. Well, how about this, he said, we got this, too. It was a 2001 Jeep Cherokee Sport. Perfect. Exactly my price range. And, at $10,995, still lower priced than I would have thought. So I did some preliminary paperwork and paced around a bit, scratching my head, a little stunned by what I was doing.
After about 10 minutes I told the various sales-folks that I'd be back in a few minutes, so I went to a couple other dealerships (in that part of town, there are about six large, major-manufacturer new car dealerships in a half-mile stretch). Didn't find much of interest. Came back to that one, but they still had no word on financing approval. So I went home, jumped in the shower (it was late afternoon, already, and I had to be at work by 5:30). Mariana seemed to be online, but I got no responses to my cyber-nuzzling. Just them my brother told me that somebody had called me while I was showering. So I checked my voicemail, and it was the salesman, telling me he had good news. I was typing the number to call him back when he called again. Indeed, good news, how fast could I be at the dealership? It was about 4:05pm. I told him gimme 25 minutes or so, I'll be there as fast as I can. So I shoveled out the Chevy S-10 with the rebellious carburetor, stuffing the contents of the glove compartment into a paper bag, rummaging through the filth and fallen leaves and empty Big Gulp (tea or Gatorade only!) cups in the back for any odd tools or whatever that needed to be salvaged, and throwing away the obvious trash. I made it to the dealership about 20 minutes later than I indicated, after choosing poorly on the expressway exit and sitting in traffic at a stoplight for most of those 20 minutes. Rush-hour traffic, ain't it the bestest??
So we did the final paperwork. I had told them that it was really important that I get the CD player/stereo out of the pickup truck. Yeah, most stereos are basically interchangeable, but it was a gift from my brother, and it really is a nice stereo, so I'd like to keep it. No problem, they all said. Oh, did you notice? The Jeep already has a stereo with CD, AND it has a cassette player also! That's swell, I said, but I haven't touched a cassette in probably years and the ones I do still own, are probably so heavily coated with dust and grime that I'd be afraid to insert them anyway, so could I get the CD player out of the pickup truck before y'all shover dirt over it? No problem, they said.
You know that little motivational poster that tells us that Everybody needed to do something, but Everybody thought Somebody Else would do it, and Nobody ended up doing it? Well, Nobody was working at the car dealership Thursday afternoon and apparently doing a fine job. Damn truck sat there for about 45 minutes before Somebody wandered over and peered at the dashboard. Meanwhile I was laboriously signing and initialing and initialing and signing and looking over my shoulder to check Nobody's progress on the uninstallation. Finally I walked out there and watched their Keystone Kops routine. One of the salesman had a little folding socket set, and had the sockets, but not the wrench itself that the interchangeable socket heads fit onto. He cursed to himself, took the set, and wandered off in search of the wrench. A few minutes later, the guy with the wrench came over, saw that the socket set was missing, cursed to himself, and wandered off. I sat there, about the yank the damned thing out myself with my bare hands. Finally the two guys intersected in the parking lot near my truck, and came back over. They looked and looked, finally located the screws and bolts that needed to be undone, and...well, okay, I'll say it. They started screwing. You know I couldn't resist that joke.
Anyway, finally, the stereo came out, held in only by the wiring. One guy insisted that I be given all of the wiring harnesses, too, and fumbled around for a way to unplug them from the hook-ups. Another guy advocated just unplugging the wiring from the stereo itself, and giving me the stereo without the wiring. Another guy poked his head in and said "Oh, you're taking the stereo, that's the only valuable thing in here!" I elbowed him in the face and pounded him unmercifully while the other guys debated how to unhook the stereo. I stood up, panting, just in time to see one guy offer a pocket knife to cut the wires with. No, I said, just unhook them from the stereo, I don't need the wiring harness; wherever I get it installed, I'm sure they'll have a harness there to use. Wires are cheap. He agreed. Another salesman pointed out that the Jeep already had a stereo in it, with a CD player AND a cassette player!! Had I noticed, he asked? I whimpered. Finally, with one big yank (insert Yankee joke here) the stereo was free, and I ran, clutching it to my chest, stiff-arming the salespeople and screaming "I don't use cassettes! I don't use cassettes!"
Inside, I circled around my table, my territory, waiting to be handed the keys. All the while I had seen several parties looking at the Jeep, even opening the doors and sitting in it. I growled softly, just daring them to come in and test-drive. I swear I would have thrown my body under the tires. By then it was 6; I had called work earlier to tell them I would be late, but I was still impatient. The Jeep would be around in a few minutes, they told me; I guess they give it a good, final wash and vacuum before releasing it into my custody. Fine, I said, just fine. Thanks. Yep, it'll be up here in a few minutes, another guy told me, it'll be around on this side (gesturing). Okay, cool, I said, no problem. Let me go check on it, the guy said again, it should be up in a minute or so. Yeah, okay, I said. Yeah, they'll bring it around here pretty soon, he said a minute later. Umm, okay, I said. I started wandering around, debating the propriety of marching into the shop, shoving the people out of it like a cop commandeering a citizen's car like you see in the movies, and plowing through. I would have honked the horn steady, and leaned out the window, shaking my fist and yelling that I don't use cassettes. And you KNOW I would have. But no, I just paced. Yep, the guy told me, it'll be up here in a few minutes. Blah blah blah, I thought. Okay, great, I said. And finally, wonderfully, it was. And I was outta there.
All in all, I'm very happy with the transaction. A great vehicle, a great price, and a sales staff that was polite and helpful, if a bit clueless and disorganized. I know now that Nobody is the staff manager, and that Everybody defers to him. And I really do love the Jeep. It's roomy, plenty powerful enough, the headliner isn't falling down, Mariana's butt is safe from attack, the air conditioning is reliable, the windows all work, and so far it's a joy to drive.
And I don't use cassettes.
So Thursday night I told Mariana that I had a surprise for her. Well, not really for HER, but something for me that she'd enjoy. She asked for some hints. Was it food? Wast it some Buffy merchandise? (She knows me.) No, I said, no. Is it animal-shaped, she asked? ....Animal-shaped? Ye-es, I said, it's...monkey-shaped. That stopped her in her tracks. Monkey-shaped? NO, I said, it's not monkey-shaped! At that point, she had no clue, and she gave up. So Friday morning I met her on campus. We casually strolled out to the parking lot to go to lunch. And I casually strolled over to the Jeep and put my key in the door. She burst out laughing, finally understanding what the surprise was (which I hadn't mentioned at all Friday). We went to lunch. The evaluations from my students last semester were mostly good, and I was vastly relieved. Anybody who thinks I don't care about them, or don't care about doing a good job, or don't take my job seriously, should experience the anxiety that I feel when I open those envelopes after every semester. That's it, you know. That's the most significant, most honest feedback I can get. And I can't think of anything more rewarding than reading that they like writing a lot better now, or that they recommended me to their friends, or that they truly recognize that their writing has improved. It makes me want to weep with joy. YES, I think to myself! It worked! They learned! I'M GOOD AT WHAT I DO!

So that was Friday. After that I went to work and came home, another night. After another long day of work, there will be some magenta-hearting. It's good.

A KeyWord Rankings update. The "Private wrestling" search lists this site immediately after a porn site offering facesitting videos.

2/21/2003 10:26 Friday AM
This blog hasn't been very interesting the past few days. I've had lots of dreams that I haven't taken the time to record in awhile; I've glossed over stuff and just plain ignored other stuff; and you'd think I live in a cave. I must rectify this.
For now, though, there's this:

1. What is your most prized material possession?
A tie between two books - one of which is a volume of Shakespeare, leather-bound but pretty dog-eared and chewed up, and a Bible. Both books belonged to my maternal grandmother before she was married, and both have her maiden name on them, one of them in signature. The Bible doesn't mean much to me from a religious angle, strictly the familial, sentimental angle. She taught English, too, and it's fascinating to flip through them and see where she annotated them decades ago, to see what she thought worthy of underlining, circling, etc.
They're both my first choice whenever I need to consult Shakespeare or the Bible.
2. What item, that you currently own, have you had the longest?
I have some books and toys packed away here and there that predate school, so I suppose all of that stuff would count. That means I've had it for mumblemumbleyears now...
3.Are you a packrat?
Absolutely. I save stuff that is useful, stuff that could be useful, stuff that was useful at one time, stuff that could be valuable, and stuff that is interesting, sentimental, ridiculous, etc. It's really quite a pain and sometimes I think I should do something about it.
4. Do you prefer a spic-and-span clean house? Or is some clutter necessary to avoid the appearance of a museum?
Clutter, definitely. I always remember one time when I was a young'un when my late uncle described the house of my grandmother's friend as "sterile." It was not a good thing.
My house is a disaster, but it's no more comfortable to be in a museum than it is to be in a disaster, so there you go.
5. Do the rooms in your house have a theme? Or is it a mixture of knick-knacks here and there?
Well, they don't have "themes," but they have definitely purposes, none of which are too obscure.

2/20/2003 10:26 Thursday PM
Well, Mariana is giggling right now, and gee, if the spammers are unsure about her, I imagine she might be a little unsure about me. Check out the latest KeyWord Search results I've gotten:
AskJeeves:
"can you show me pics of mens private area?" (#9)
"Looking for haircuts/styles with pictures" (#2)

And on AltaVista:
"swimming cap fetish" (#5)

I just don't know what to do.
Well, clearly, I'll have to completely revamp the KeyWord Rankings, and try to devise a system to incorporate them all, now that AltaVista and Mr. Jeeves have started looking under this particular rock. I'm sorry, though, but I cannot honour any more requests for swimming-cap related material at this time. My staff is working hard to fill current orders, and when we have, we'll resume taking more orders. Thanks for your interest. Please feel free to browse our private wife photos.

2/19/2003 10:40 Wednesday AM
Ok, well, I am tentatively granting provisional recognition to AltaVista in the KeyWord Rankings. I don't know if AltaVista has suddenly included me or what, but this is now five times recently that I've gotten some German AltaVista hits. So they've been included in a revised KeyWord Rankings format.
And I've added a small, separate page of Buffy links, in the Recommended Daily Allowance. There will be more added, and it might be re-formatted with some short descriptions and/or evaluations, but it's a start. I found a lot of dead links in my Buffy bookmarks, so I'll have to go back and weed those out, too. That's always a pain.

2/18/2003 12:10 Tuesday PM
Thanks to Macker, I read an excellent piece by Charles Krauthammer, with whom I'm otherwise not too familiar. So I dutifully sent it along to the new English Discussion mailing list that was created in the wake of the Great E-mail Debate a couple of weeks ago. I added a small postscript, copying the line "That is how one acts on holiday: Mortal enemies are dealt with not as combatants but as defendants" and following up with my own: "The holiday is over, folks."
And now, again, I'm just waiting for the fallout.

I took the "Where do you fall on the liberal - conservative political spectrum?" quiz, and shockingly, turned up as liberal. And then I turned up my nose at it. What rubbish.

And I'm finally adding a collection of links, to the right. It's my "Recommended Daily Allowance." Look for it to change, in content or format, sometime. But it's up. And I'll be adding more, don't worry.
Also, my GuestMap has somehow been wiped clean, in what I hope is not an eerie prediction of catastrophe. I waited for you all to be resurrected, but it never happened. So you're all invited to sign in again, if you like. I was first.

2/17/2003 10:05 Monday PM
Ahh, Monday night at home. Uneventful day.
Mariana has described the weekend well enough, I think. Both days began quietly. RanGetsu was incredible, as it always is. I don't go there enough - yet. But it was worth the 45 minute wait for a table, and the 20+ minute wait for the first shipment of sushi. But SO worth the wait. I had been debating whether to try to get reservations at Emeril's (which I've never been to) or Emeril's new restaurant (Tchop Tchop, something like that), or RanGetsu. It was a good call, I think she liked it and I know I did. That was about the extent of Saturday. We took some sushi home. Sunday we didn't do much. Wanted to go to a computer fair at the Fairgrounds, but she didn't wake up early enough. It had been a long day and night, and they have the fair about once a month, so I let her sleep as long as she wanted. We can go to the next one.
So in the evening we channel-surfed and ate wings and b- ...uh, Dots. And thus ended a wonderful weekend.
Today's been marvelous. Mariana did well on Core I, which I'm glad about. And she talked to her parents, which terrifies me. It's progress, I suppose, but you know. Paranoia.

I've gotten some odd hits on AltaVista. Somebody - the same person every time, I suspect - has found my site doing searches on the German AltaVista for "private wife photo;" "private browsing;" and "see my movie." I didn't list them in the KeyWord Rankings, because I don't (yet) rank AltaVista results, but for what it's worth, Google didn't find the HellMouth for any of those searches, at least not in the top 33 or so.

Somehow I think I should be writing more, but I think that's about it for now.

2/16/2003 12:16 Sunday PM
OK, so where was I? Oh yes, last week.

I forgot to mention that Wednesday, Mariana surprised me with the complete Season One of 'Angel' on DVD. I had completely forgotten that the set came out last week. I was stunned. She rules.
And then Friday morning we were to meet as usual for lunch. Our usual time on Fridays is 11am, but I told her I had a few errands to run and might not make it out there until 12. Well, the chief errand I had to run was to go out to Tiffany's in Millenia Mall and pick up a ring that I knew she wanted, a small, elegant sterling thing with a sapphire chip in it. I hadn't been able to get it earlier, mostly because we'd been together so much. (Not that I'm complaining!) I was literally about to walk into Tiffany's around 11am or so when she called my cell to see where I was and what time I'd make it out there. I wheeled around right there in front of the store and paced around a bit, talking to her. I told her I was in line at the bank, that it was taking awhile because it was a Friday payday for a lot of people. I told her it was the bank because I was concerned that she'd overhear the mall background music; I figured a bank might have some similar music. Anyway, I chatted with her a few minutes, then told her that I was, uh, almost up to the counter in the bank, and that I had to go. So I went in and got the ring, knowing what it looked like, but not what it was called or what size she needed. I was able to describe it, of course, and we estimated the size of it by the fact that I knew (through deliberate but seemingly casual fidgeting) that her other ring(s) would not fit over the knuckle of my pinkie finger. The salesperson asked for my driver's license while filling out the receipt. I thought I saw her tuck it into one of the little receipt envelopes, but when I got out onto the highway, I noticed it wasn't in either one and that I had left it in the store. Well. That's a problem. I didn't have time to turn around and retrieve it without being very late to lunch. So I called Tiffany's and verified that they still had it. But the salesperson said they'd call me back when they found it. Well. That's a problem, too. I couldn't very well receive a phone call from Tiffany's while I'm sitting there with Mariana - "Oh, yes, you found my license that I left there when I got the ring for my girlfriend that I haven't given to her yet? Great, thanks." So I turned the ringer off and set it to vibrate.
Well, when I got to campus, she surprised me again, with a big bagful o' stuff. She had the latest Tales of the Slayer Buffy book (which she actually bought in my presence as a gift days earlier), a nice shirt from Banana Republic, a book of authentic Guamanian recipes, and a small box of Godiva chocolates. Wow, I thought, wow. What a girl. I mean, come on, is there any doubt about how lucky I am? I know I say it a lot, but really, she's incredible.
I hadn't anticipated giving her the ring then and there, so I didn't, so I sat there with nothing to give her while she had this big bag for me. Oh well. So we went shopping a bit. We were standing around in a shop when my phone started vibrating in my pocket. Mariana looked at me a bit oddly, and I failed to come up with any reasonable explanation as to why I had it set on vibrate. Fortunately, it was my buddy Joel, and not Tiffany's again, and I've never been so grateful to hear from him. So there was more shopping, more bobaness, and then I dropped her off and went to work.

Work was...well, it was work. I picked her up late Friday after work, and by that time (1:30ish) the impromptu dining options are a bit limited. We headed to a Steak and Shake. We stood around for about 5 minutes waiting to be seated before we finally noticed the 'Please Seat Yourself' sign about three feet away from us. Nice. We did a few laps around the place before deciding that there were no suitable tables and that we had thoroughly disgraced ourselves by waiting to be seated anyway. So we fled to Denny's instead. Am I romantic or what? I felt compelled to tell her that neither place represented her nice Valentine's dinner.
I had put the ring in a small drawer where she keeps a few of her things. And she found it when she went to look for, I dunno, a hairbrush or something. She was pleased, and therefore I was pleased. It was a good start to a good weekend.

2/14/2003 12:43 Friday AM
Happy Valentine's Day, my sweetest.
The days are too few and too short.

2/14/2003 12:03 Friday AM
The FridayFive:

1. Explain why you started to journal/blog.
The short answer is, I was trying to impress the girl I was (and am) crazy about, who was already deeply involved in blogging. The long(er) answers are, in addition, because the idea fascinated me, and because the larger concepts of writing on the internet fascinate me from an intellectual and academic perspective.
2. Do people you interact with day to day or family members know about your journal/blog? Why or why not?
I think most of them do, because they probably always see the screen on whenever they pass by when I'm at the keyboard, and because I mentioned it when I first started.
3. Do you have a theme for your journal/blog?
Look, you're reading it. What do you think?
4. What direction would you like to have your journal/blog go in over the next year?
East.
Okay, well, I want to eventually finish some of the content-y things I've started but haven't finished. And I want to eventually update the overall theme somehow - probably still sticking with the "Hellmouth" motif, still using that little snippet of conversation in the upper left (which actually happened). So mostly I envision some visual, stylistic changes, but not a dramatic change in content or purpose.
5. Pimp five of your favorite journals/blogs.
1. My babeness at 24 Hours, who figures heavily in #1, above.
2. That Technicolor Girl, who is so good she pisses me off sometimes.
3. Rick (or Macker), who makes me alternately chuckle and think.
4. Brian, who makes me alternately chuckle and reminisce.
5. Give me your suggestions for #5. I'll mention the winning entry, and whoever recommends it. Use e-mail, AIM, the GuestBook, the GuestMap, or, hell, carrier pigeon, I don't care.

2/13/2003 10:50 Thursday PM
Ok, so where was I? Oh yes, Saturday.
Well, purely by coincidence I had noticed in a local weekly that my old friend Jodi was doing another "fashion/fetish show" last weekend. Heck, I don't even know what to call them. Originally they were indeed fashion shows, in the traditional sense, with Jodi introducing some "model" who would slink out wearing something or other that Jodi had designed and put together. Her designs were just club-wear, for teens and young adult, in the "Goth," punk-rock style. And her "models" were whatever friends of hers she could recruit to come and twirl around and over-dramatize for 45 minutes of so. Lots of rubber, lots of vinyl, lots of chain-mail, lots of carefully feigned angst. Slowly her "fashion shows" became plot-driven, though, and focused more on the show itself and less on the "fashions." Her shows would loosely center around some theme, and would be a series of short skits set against pounding club music. The, uh, models were still wearing clothes that Jodi had designed and put together, but Jodi's emhasis was less on selling them, and more on selling the sexy/sexual shows that they appeared in. It's still just Jodi and her friends, of course, all of whom pretend to the punk-rock lifestyle, none of whom were in that lifestyle when it actually meant anything. So now it's settled into a routine of short skits where Jodi and her "Anti-Babes" come out in skimpy club-wear and fetishwear, usually topless with short pieces of black tape crossed over their nipples, and go through the motions of whatever skits have been thrown together for whatever the overall theme of the show is.
If someone ever offered to actually buy any of the clothes on display, Jodi probably wouldn't know what to do, and she'd probably refuse, since that would reduce the available inventory for the next "fashion show."
"Anti-Babe" is her alias, of course, and her nominal philosophy. "Babes," according to Jodi, are your stereotypical teeny-bopper girls, the popular and pretty airheads, the ones who represent everything that Jodi is herself against. She's not a babe, she's quick to point out, she's an anti-babe. And her clothes aren't clothes, by the way, they're "body attitudes."
I've known her since her hair was her natural brown, and not her usual brassy, bleached blonde with streaks of blue or purple that she's had for years.
So anyway, I saw that there was going to be another "Anti-Babe fashion show" last weekend. So of course, clutching my own babeness's hand (which is not to associate her with any of the definitions or anti-definitions that Jodi prefers), we went. It had been a rough day in a rough week, and I so desperately wanted to take Mariana's mind off things...umm...by, uh, showing her a parade of half-nekkid girls in nipple-tape.
Look, I never said I was the best boyfriend in the world, and if I did, I was kidding.
So we got there a few minutes late. As we were walking up, an older fellow asked us if we were in the band. Wow, I thought, all my life, I've always wanted someone to ask me if I was part of the band. While I was trying to come up with a suitably cool response, he followed up with asking us if, instead, we were there to see the Anti-Babe show. Deflated at having missed a prime opportunity, I said yeah, well, we're trying to. He directed us to a door and led us in, quickly, telling us that Jodi was right at that moment making her introductory remarks. I could hear music, but not Jodi, but I didn't say anything. I paid our way, and the guy told us where to drink, and pointedly said that we could get a "soda-pop" at the bar, too. Mariana grinned wryly as we walked away. I winced. And I didn't drink. I got water, though, and she got ginger ale.
At this point, re-read the Tuesday, 11:09pm entry (below), about Mariana's kissingness of the girl. "The girl," obviously, was Jodi, and it happened roughly as I said. When I first introduced them, Jodi said, "Ohh, she's hot. I agreed, but cautioned Jodi that Mariana is mine, and I wouldn't share her without negotiations. Anyway, go read. Come back here when you're finished re-reading that entry.
(a short time later)
All done? Then let's continue.
The guy showed us into the theatre, and we sat down. A few seconds later, a girl asked us if there were empty seats next to us. There were, and she asked us to slide down, to make room for her. It was Jodi. Of course. I leaned over and told her not feel up Mariana, who sat between us. Then the show began, and I've mostly described how it went. The overall theme was a spoof of the old kung-fu idea of "Drunken Masters," and, as far as I could tell, involved two guys dressed in reasonable fascimiles of kung-fu outfits, who would act drunk while watching the Anti-Babe girls come out in skit after skit, dancing around, petting each other, feigning sex, the usual. At one point a girl pelted the audience with condoms. Durex brand, lubricated, rainbow colours. I don't know if it's "the good stuff" or not.
When it was over, we milled about for a few minutes, occasionally talking to Jodi, nursing our non-soda-pops, looking awkward. Jodi asked me to call my buddy Joel, who's an attorney, and enlist him in helping her buy a nightclub. I hemmed and hawed, and said I would try, knowing that Joel would laugh at the request. Mariana still wasn't feeling 100%, so we left fairly quickly. And that was the end of the night (almost).

Sunday, Mariana still didn't feel too well, and nothing much happened. Went to a Tex-Mex place for a late-afternoon lunch, and then I was home alone. I slept like a rock for a couple of hours before waking up, a little bit disorienbobulated. Thankfully Mariana was feeling a little bit better by then. I think it was just a little too much food, too quickly, on a too-empty stomach that was still just getting over a real illness, combined with overwhelming stress, that had Mariana feeling so lousy. But a little rest had her feeling much better, and I was glad.

Monday I worked all day. I saw her after work, and we sat at a Denny's for a couple of hours, talking about school, trying to work through some things, reading magazines, and sharing a banana split (with two spoons, insert cutesy Awwww! sounds here). Then we headed home.

Tuesday was a little uneventful. I worked in the evening, and came home. I learned yesterday that the Buffy episode had been pre-empted for a stinkin' Orlando Magic game. So I spent part of last night searching for, and eventually finding, and eventually downloading, that episode.

I fixed Mariana a nice dinner last night, too, and I didn't really get to see the Angel episode. At least I know that I successfully got that one recorded. Then we watched one of the Buffy episodes we missed (but still watched it out of order). Ed was home; he felt a migraine coming on and left work early, and mostly stayed in his room resting quietly. And then the night was over (mostly).

After saying good-bye to Mariana today, I went to work, and then I went grocerying, and here I sit. And I still haven't done laundry, or dinner, or washingness of dishes, or anything.
Stoopid blog.

A KeyWork Rankings update, too.
Woo woo.
I don't want to know.

2/12/2003 10:32 Wednesday AM
My apologies for the virtual unreadability (by my standards) of everything I wrote last night. Evidence enough of what a tired brain can and cannot do, I suppose. And by now there's no point in trying to rewrite or rephrase anything, so let's just leave it and move on, eh?

I got an e-mail from one of the departmental secretaries yesterday. She requested that I verify any interaction with two particular students from one of my classes last semester, two students who never showed up. She asked for the dates of any quizzes they took, e-mails to or from them, anything that would prove I had contact with either of them. And as I said in my response, I never had any contact with them. I don't have their signatures on any attendance sheets, I didn't check their names on any attendance sheets that I did myself, and I certainly didn't get any work from them. So that's that. I don't recall if they ever formally dropped the class, or if their names remained on the course roster and I just gave them both an F for non-attendance. So I'm wondering what it's all about, I wonder if they never did officially drop the course, and they're now somehow protesting their grades. Oh well.

Once again, my darling has surprised me (which is definitely not to be confused with baffling me). I awake this morning and do my routine rounds on the net, only to find a complete revamp of her site. Check it out: 24 Hours. She's mentioned redoing her layout the past week or two, but I had no idea last night was going to be the relaunch. And, apparently, she had no idea either, until last night. My poor dear, I wonder if she got any sleep last night. Well, she will today, and/or tonight, I'll make sure of that.

A KeyWord Rankings update. Yeah, I was terrified when I saw "Sarasota," too.

And in lighter news, I also found some CDs that I've been looking for, or rather, that I had given up ever finding. For some reason they were in my briefcase, which had been gathering dust since the end of the semester. They're four of my favourites, too, and I'd been really upset about losing them.

2/11/2003 11:09 Tuesday PM
Ok, so where was I? Oh yes, Friday.
Well, I took her some lunch Friday, as usual. Then we decided to flee campus and ended up at the Fashion Square Mall, which I hadn't been to since...I dunno, maybe last Christmas, or the one before that. So we browsed around awhile, as we always do. Fairly uneventful.
Mariana bought some foofy lotions and creams at one of the, uh, lotion shops. She was still getting over her sickness, so we went up to the food court area to search out something to drink and to sit for awhile. She saw something that thrilled her. And then she stopped looking at me and saw something else - a Lollicup place, a little shop that sells a variety of mostly Asian-styled drinks and confections. Some of them were fairly ordinary fruit smoothies and such, but others incorporated various other substances and additives that are apparently common to Asian drinks and desserts, that she had in Guam and Taiwan. She squealed and pointed to something called boba, and insisted that she simply must have some. I had no idea what boba is/are. What she got was basically a strawberry/milk smoothie, only this smoothie had little brown...globs in it. (She tells me this smoothie was mostly tea, but I swear I didn't sense any tea-ness.) The little globs in it, she said, were boba, which she said is just large globs of tapioca. It's apparently very common and very popular in Asian drinks and all sorts of recipes. And it literally is just brown balls, slightly smaller than a marble, resting in the bottom of the glass. And that's when I noticed the straw, which might more accurately by called a hose. It was easily three-fourths of an inch across, the better to suck up the boba balls, of course. I reluctantly tried it. I wished I hadn't. They were just gooey, chewy, mostly flavourless, gelatinous things rolling around in my mouth. Their texture - or lack thereof - was horrifying. I gratefully gave the drink back to Mariana and sat there trying to forget. And that was mostly the extent of Friday's activities. She went home, I went to work, and then I went home.

And now, given the alarming incoherence of everything I just wrote, I think it's time for bed. There's much more to say about the weekend, but...later.

Oh, and her kissingness of the girl?
We saw Jodi, an old friend of mine, with whom I've always had a playful, innocent flirtation. Jodi went to give me a little kiss. I jokingly said, oh, no! I can't do that anymore {because of Mariana}! Jodi laughed and said, oh, it's just a kiss! It doesn't mean anything! Then she turned around and planted one on Mariana. I cursed myself for not bringing a camera, so, stunned, I stood and stared; Mariana blinked a lot and turned bright red. And instantly I began contemplating just how I would explain this in the blog. And decided to...not explain. At least, not completely, and not right away.

2/09/2003 4:04 Sunday PM
Went out last night and saw my friend Jodi's fetish/fashion show. Was nice to see Jodi again. She was half-nekkid. First she kissed Mariana, then I kissed them both.

2/08/2003 12:16 Saturday AM
Today lots of stuff happened. Some of it was interesting; some of it wasn't. Some of it, like the boba, was....something else entirely. Perhaps tomorrow I'll elaborate. But now, it's kinda late, I'm kinda tired, and I kinda just want to get to bed.
Tomorrow will be a long day, and hopefully a good day.

Mariana, my dear, just do your best, and do what I know you can do. That'll make it a good day.

2/07/2003 8:15 Friday AM
Dang. Yup, I forgot the FridayFive last night. I knew she had, too, but now I see that she still managed to beat me to it this morning.

1. What did you have for breakfast this morning? If you didn't have breakfast, why not?
I haven't, because 12 minutes ago I was still asleep!! And I probably won't have any today, either; I'll be rushing around trying to get out of the house by 10 or 10:15 to meet my dear for lunch. If I was going to today, though, I would likely have opted for some nice warm oatmeal or grits, since it's rather a dreary, drizzly day so far.
2. What's your favorite cereal?
Hmmm...overall, I'd say either Cocoa Rice Crispies or Cocoa Pebbles (which I have in stock at the moment). Occasionally I treat myself with some Lucky Charms, but for day-to-day reliability, it's hard to beat either of the ones with cocoa-y goodness. I tend to rotate between those, the occasional splurge of Lucky Charms or Cap'n Crunch with Berries, and Total Raisin Bran (for my self-righteous attempts at healthy breakfasts).
3. How often do you eat out? Do you want that to change?
Hmmm...Anywhere from 4-7 times a week. Actually, that's a lot lower than I anticipated when I read the question, but when I actually thought about, I only came up with an average of five. I guess that's still a lot, though. I'm okay with the frequency. It can get expensive, but most times it can't be avoided and I just factor it in as a necessary expense of living.
4. What do you plan on having for dinner tonight? Got a recipe for that?
Fridays tend to be late(r) nights at work. Not very late, but later than other nights. And they're my long days (I mean, I'm up already!). So by the time I get home, around 10:30 or 11pm, it'll likely just be a long series of ultra-light snacking - glass o' milk on one pass through the kitchen, a couple Nilla wafers on the next pass, a tiny microwavable ravioli can the next time, etc. I doubt I'll have the energy or take the time to collate them all into one sit-down meal. I might, though.
5. What's your favorite restaurant? Why?
Damn good question, and I'm not even sure I have one.
There's a sports bar called Gator's that I go to a lot, but that's mostly a social event, to meet some guys for a weekly or bi-weekly bout of merriment and insults. The menu is nothing special, typical sports-bar food. Well, their wings are damn good, especially the grilt Caribbean jerk-style. There's Positano's, a nice Italian pasta place that I go to far too infrequently. And there's Ran-Getsu, an exquisite sushi/Japanese steakhouse that I also go to far too infrequently. I guess I could narrow it down to those three.
(I tried to provide a link for Positano's, but after a few seconds of searching, all I found were descriptions and references to it in city-search sites and reviews. It's a small chain, though, for whatever that's worth.)

2.2 hours.

2/06/2003 3:43 Thursday PM
More updateage of the e-mail debate.

2/06/2003 12:16 Thursday PM
Further contributions to the Great E-mail Debate, courtesy of the last professor.

2/05/2003 8:21 Wednesday PM
Damn Kyle. Damn, damn that Kyle.
Will this week ever end????

2/05/2003 5:00 Wednesday PM
A KeyWord Rankings update.
I'm a little bit offended, of course, but yeah, after a couple weeks ago, I am definitely an expert on carburetor backfires and explosions.
*sigh*

2/05/2003 4:35 Wednesday PM
I've finally formatted and posted the cumulative transcript to this latest scandal that rocked our fair English Department. Intellectuals in chaos. There's nothing better.
It's here.

2/04/2003 12:52 Tuesday PM
Happy Today, my darling.

I will post a long series of e-mails, detailing the e-mail scandal in the department. I just have to format it correctly...

Sometimes dreaming is like turning off the lights in a haunted house. Last night I dreamt that a good friend of mine, who died several years ago, was...well, she was still dead, but she was alive. No heartbeat or anything, just...re-animated. Or still animated. Somethink like that. Very creepy and very disturbing and very made me glad when I woke up.
I've written up that dream, and others.

2/03/2003 10:08 Monday AM
A decent day - so far. Mariana seems to be feeling a little better, which is good. Still might go to the Health Center tonight or tomorrow, so we'll see. Had a dream about her parents, which I might - or might not! - write up tomorrow. All in all, I feel refreshed, I feel much better than I did yesterday and last night, and it's a brand-new week. And the sooner the week ends, the happier I'll be.

2/02/2003 8:41 Sunday PM
What a crappy day.
I'm a jackass with bad timing, my uber-babeness is uber-sick, and I can't do anything about it, and the people I work with are morons. That about covers it.

2/01/2003 10:48 Saturday AM
The space shuttle Columbia has exploded.
I don't suppose that's news to anybody reading this, but that's why I won't be giving an update to the departmental e-mail list scandal, or any of the other pithy little things I had planned to blog this morning.
So, off to the news channels...