After work today I went and ordered myself a pizza and had an NABC Tunnel Vision - which is back after a brief absence.

I was sitting and talking with CuteAsFuckGirl about her growing up in Washington County when, lo and behold, UnfortunatelyNamedGirl came in and joined us.

Now neither of these girls has the slightest interest in me. I know it, and they know it.

So why, I ask, did they both begin competing for my attention?

I took a picture of CuteAsFuckGirl so I could send it to her phone, and UnfortunatelyNamedGirl told me she'd lost my number. Losing it would have been a little hard because she never had it in the first place - she was just trying to establish that she'd seen me first.

I ended up taking a picture for UnfortunatelyNamedGirl as well, and shortly after that CuteAsFuckGirl just happened to find some pictures in her purse she wanted to show me so she had me move over next to her.

Then UnfortunatelyNamedGirl dug my sister's name out of her memory and further established her deep relationship with me by asking me how Dina was doing.

Then CuteAsFuckGirl countered by talking about how where she grew up was near where my other sister lives.

At about this point all of the dirty looks passing back and forth between these girls was really starting to freak me out a little.

Two psychos in the same evening is a stretch even for me.

The other night a guy at Rich O's recommended an author (Ayn Rand) to me that I'd never read before. As I'm always looking for new people to read I made the trip to Barnes and Noble on Saturday to check her out.

Nothing by her on the shelves. I guess she's been inactive lately.

Of course that didn't stop me from spending $250 on books while I was there.

I'm with books the way some women are with shoes and some guys are with tools. I simply cannot leave a bookstore empty-handed.

These are just the books in the basement. I've got two more of these shelves, full of technical books, in my office, and another 50 or so books scattered about the house.

I will say that I've read nearly all of the fiction books. I usually go through a book a week. Right now my unread book stack has about a dozen books on it - including the six I bought on Saturday.

My temperature's been back to normal since Friday evening, but I may have had a slight relapse in the middle of the night last night.

I got a phone call from an unexpected person, and I was a little short with her.

When I got up this morning I felt guilty about it, so I picked up the phone to call and apologize.

Thanks to my phone's calls log, I saw that there was no call.

It'd been one of those feverish delusions - like what I was having Thursday when I dreamed/imagined that I went to the kitchen about a hundred times for water but I actually only made it once.

Anyway, I'm a little bored, can you tell? Just want to write something no matter how mundane.

Spent the first part of tonight listening to MixedSignalGirl spew forth some of the most screwed up logic I've ever heard.

As near as I can figure it, and my translation skills are a little rusty, I've been the victim of preemptive pout.

Also fired was a preemptive guilt trip bomb but that had no effect on me as my immunity for such things remains strong.

I guess she and I have things back to normal though. Whatever that means.

So I've mentioned before that my Uncle Wayne has a karaoke business. I've gotten into the occasional habit of going to the little bar/restaraunt where he's working just to listen to the performers.

I will not be performing myself. No thanks.

What I've noticed is that all karaoke performers fall into one of these categories:

Actually more of a Saturday beer report as Friday I stuck to Diet Coke, but let's not get too picky, okay?

Friday night I arrived late, mainly to get some food for my flu-ravaged body. The place was incredibly crowded.

Even after 10:00 it was mostly standing room only.

At one point, however, I did grab a quick seat on the loveseat and I and some people I didn't know got to comparing cell phones.

I took this picture of the cute blonde sitting on the sofa and sent it to her phone eventually. My first attempt went to some random number and some guy called me back and asked "Who's the blonde? She's hot!"

This picture was not from Friday night - it was just in my phone from the week before or something. These are a couple of my Rich O's friends.

OddlyPrettyGirl paused long enough to smile for the camera.

After I'd left Rich O's and eaten some food I felt a lot better so I went to where my Uncle Wayne does karaoke.

This is my Uncle Wayne and my Aunt Carol and some Hispanic guy that I don't know.

On Saturday I felt pretty much back to normal so I went to Rich O's and had some half-pints of several beers.

Some other stuff happened but I'm keeping it to myself.

Well I don't have mono. I went to the doctor this morning and I just have a regular flu.

This one features a fever that's lasted longer, and been higher, than anything I've been afflicted with in the past decade. Not fun. I can put up with a lot, but a high temperature is one thing that really knocks me out. It's amazing what a difference a few degrees can make.

If my temp goes back down to normal I will force myself to get to work tomorrow. It's been a pretty bad time for me to be away - as evidenced by the fact that I've had 2,356 phone calls over the last two days, while a normal two-day period would yield a total of less then a thousand.

Being sick just sucks.

Went to the store tonight and, as I pulled into the lot, I saw her car.

So I avoided the situation and went to a different store.

I'm still a little irritated over the mixed signals, plus I might have mono now and I really didn't want to have that discussion with her.

I stayed home from work Wednesday with a fever. It eased up somewhat tonight (that's when I went to the store) but last time I checked I was back to 101 so I'm going back to the doctor tomorrow. I just saw the guy Tuesday about my wrist, and I guess I could have caught something from someone in the waiting area.

Two doctor visits, for two different problems, in a three-day period.

I'm falling apart at the seams here.

(response to another message)

Yes, when I first met them I got their occupations switched around in my head. Hence TrainGirl then RealTrainGirl.

What I neglected to mention in that last rambling entry, and what will perhaps turn out to be the biggest obstacle to my new hint-taking goal, is that, right off the bat to start the new year, I'm getting very conflicting hints.

This has certainly softened my resolve a little, though I continue to be hopeful that I won't give up completely. The chance for happiness is a worthy goal after all.