More tidbits, because I'm feeling lazy.

---

WeirdGirl finally came back from her trip. She said that I should have gone with her. Well, duh, I already knew that.

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There are a couple of new bars opening at Louisville's Fourth Street Live this weekend. I'll have to check them out.

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The only smoked beer that Rich O's currently has is Stone Smoked Porter. They're out of everything else. This sucks, because the Stone just isn't all that great compared to what's missing.

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I have a hard time imagining her at all these days, but all I have to do it sit down at Rich O's and her ghost plops down beside me. It's a magic place.

---

I wonder if RockGirl is concerned that I'm jealous. Well, I'm really not. Really. She probably already knows that.

---

Tomorrow is a jeans day at work, plus it's a half-day for me. I can't decide which I'm the most excited about. Probably the half-day.

---

Today I texted something silly to HatGirl, and she texted back that she'd email me "later."

So now I can never ever sleep until I get that email.

It's nice to have a purpose in life though.

---

Women are weird.

---

I'm actually working right now. Installing six Solaris zones to get ready for some stuff I have scheduled for tomorrow.

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It's supposed to maybe storm tonight. There's a tornado watch. I'm excited. I like to sit out on my swing and watch the storms roll in.

---

I should eat something.

Yes, I know it's not Monday. But that song has been stuck in my head for an hour for some reason.

---

Close, but no cigar.

As they say.

I think I need a pause button. Because everything was good for a few seconds, but I knew that it wouldn't last, and I was right.

A pause button would have been a handy thing to have. And a mute button would have been cool, too.

---

Lunch was nice. NotHideousGirl surprised me by showing up. I'd figured she was still sick. WeirdGirl was nowhere to be seen though. Neither was that one chick I went all gah-gah over on Monday.

---

I had fun at work today. I solved a couple of mysteries.

---

After work I went to Rich O's and talked to some dude from PA. His first time at Rich O's. I tried to be a good ambassador.

Also, something strange was going on there with the regulars and the bartenders. Like they all know something that I don't know. Something bad, I imagine.

---

I think I'm sort of taking advantage of a couple of people. One as a distraction from the cruelties of life, the other as a reminder of those same cruelties. Both are much more than that, and I feel a little bad for using them this way.

---

Remember that thing? That thing which, if I'd done, NotHideousGirl would have beaten the shit out of me? Well, I guess Calculon did do that very thing, and he didn't even get smacked. Kind of puts me in my place, doesn't it?

---

I got to see Kelly Clarkson on my TV tonight! Yay!

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Next week two of my cats are getting shaved. The matted hair has become ridiculous, and my sisters have volunteered to take them to the groomer.

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NotHideousGirl needs to work on her French accent. Because a Scottish accent makes me think of Willy from The Simpsons. Not sexy.

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We've recently had a bunch of people from Mexico around work. I've met a few of them. They're all so damn nice! I hope they don't get corrupted too badly.

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Oh, shit! I almost forgot. I almost died this morning. There was a wreck right beside me on the expressway. I'm still not sure how I managed to keep from being involved. A car cut in front of a truck, and the car got knocked right at me. When I saw the car, it was within a foot of hitting me. So I jerk the steering week and went onto the shoulder. I don't know how that car missed me. A couple of hours later my heartbeat returned to normal.

---

A little nagging part of my brain keeps telling me that I should call her. But I won't, because nothing has really changed.

---

Man, it's late. I should sleep.

It's weird to me that I can get so much joy from the tiniest things.

And so much disappointment when those same tiny things are missing.

Am I a man, or a fucking willow branch?

I like it though. I take the joy when I can get it, and I live with the disappointment when I have to.

I think I've already written this entry that's in my head. Something about one of those metronome thingies, swaying back and forth. Or maybe an old-fashioned scale, like the justice statues hold.

So I'll stop now.

Anyway, I hope that the joy will come back. I miss her it.

I liked to imagine, every now and then, that things weren't as far gone as they seemed to be. I liked to pretend that, anytime I wanted, I could just turn around and there they'd be. All those emotions, walking along behind me at a respectful distance. Waiting and hoping for me to stop, and turn, and beckon them back. To my side, where they belonged.

Well, today I turned around. Whether out of boredom or curiosity or desperation, I don't know. But I turned around, and behind me there was nothing. Just this same old gray plain.

So, that was a stupid thing to do. Because now I know that which I'd only suspected before.

I'm on my own now.

Unless, they're just playing a trick on me. Unless they've snuck up ahead, and are even now lying in wait. Ready to pounce out at me when I least expect it. When I most need it.

I think that would be nice. I don't like it here by myself.

I tell you what, if they did that, I'd never turn my back on them again.

A thought just jumped into my head. An old thought that I never turned into a blog entry, because it was stupid.

A > B+C+D+E+F+G+H+I+J+K+L+M+N+O+P+Q+R+S+T+U+V+W+X+Y+Z

Maybe a little cryptic, but my readers are, by definition almost, smart people. So okay, smart people, I have a question.

What happens when A equals 0?

Today was kinda cool, I suppose.

I had lunch at Polly's Freeze again, and it was good, but this was the second day in a row in which I had to sit in the old people section because kids were at my favorite table. That scenario is all a little too leading and obvious and ominous for my tastes.

Heh, I originally wrote testes instead of tastes. I must be channeling Beavis or Butthead.

I was getting ready for my sister's cookout, and I didn't have enough appealing beer at home. Just one bottle of Spezial, and a bunch of strong Belgians. So I went to this stupid liquor store in Louisville (Indiana liquor stores are closed on Sundays) and looked for some smoked beer. I didn't find any, so I just bought some Hoegaarden White.

Dina's thingy was fun, as those things go. I never quite feel right. Like, I know I'm not a stranger to those people, but I feel like I'm one. So I did my best to stay out of everyone's way. And I really enjoyed the Spezial (1470) I'd brought from home.

I got to see BadPickleGirl. That was cool. And I got to see my friend Eric's wife Teri. Eric himself was a no-show. Something about some cousin from Detroit that I never heard of.

I had one of the Hoegaardens (44), but it just didn't taste very good. I'd really had my heart set on smoked beer. Oh well.

Then the guys all went to pitch horseshoes and, lacking a partner, I stayed with the women folk. If Eric had been there we'd have pitched some games, but again, there was that cousin from Detroit thing.

There have been times when Teri has completely saved me, by giving me someone to talk to for hours. Today was not one of those times. She and the kids left fairly early. BadPickleGirl left shortly afterwards, and I suddenly found myself surrounded by people who've no doubt been bombarded with endless stories of what an asshole I am.

So, I left as well.

On the way home, I stopped by BadPickleGirl's house and watched some TV. And I got my beer glasses back. So that was cool. She's very pretty, and her daughter's very charming and precocious, and it would probably be funny if I wrote some gushing love diatribe about BadPickleGirl, but it just seems like too much trouble. And it wouldn't be that funny anyway.

And now I'm very tired, but I don't want to go to sleep because, when I wake up, I have to go back to work.

Oh yeah. As we were leaving Rich O's, I put NotHideousGirl in charge of reminding me that I was cut-off from beer for the rest of the night. It wasn't because I felt that I'd had too much. It was just on the principle of the thing. I mean, I'd had three Delirium Tremens.

So I got to Mac's and I didn't know anyone. I sat at the bar and ordered a Newcastle (4450). I know, NotHideousGirl had failed in her duty already! And she wasn't even there yet. Though I guess, to be fair, the fact that she wasn't there yet may have contributed to her dereliction.

A couple of minutes after I sat down a cute blonde girl came and sat a couple of places down from me. So I got to talking with her, and that was pretty much the theme of the night for me. I'd talk to CuteBlonde for a while, then I'd go over and sit with NotHideousGirl and her friend Calculon (or something like that) for a while. Then CuteBlonde would wave me back over, and I'd go talk to her some more.

It was a little scary at first, how much we had in common. So we spent some time searching for reasons that we shouldn't just run away together. A couple of little things came to light, but none of them seemed to be insurmountable obstacles to our everlasting love...

...until she said that she thought that Dwight Schrute could beat up Jack Bauer.

So that particular romance ended before it had even really began. But I still spent the rest of the night continuing to alternate between her at the bar, and NotHideousGirl and Calculon at a table. And FutureDude, who had snuck in at some point.

I also alternated between Diet Cokes and Newcastles. I really have no idea how many more Newcastles I had. Some number between three and eight hundred million. I think I'll just say three (4498).

I didn't get to hear NotHideousGirl sing nearly as much as I'd have liked. It seemed that every time she got up to sing I was over at the bar talking to CuteBlonde.

They closed the place down at 3:00 or so, and everybody left. CuteBlonde gave me a hug. I'll probably never see her again.

And this is the part of the entry where I think I'm finished. But then I always think of a bunch of little trivial tidbits that I wish I'd mentioned. So I'll try to think of them before I post the entry this time.

---

It seemed like NotHideousGirl was trying to wing for me at one point. This was a bad idea because CuteBlonde had been convinced all night that (a) NotHideousGirl and I were a couple, and (b) that NotHideousGirl was going to start a fight with her over me.

---

This seems to be a recurring theme in peoples' thoughts lately. We may need to stage that break-up fight after all.

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This one dude, I shit you not, walked up to the dartboards, picked up six darts, and threw six bulls-eyes in a row. I saw this from across the room and then I went and told him that it was awesome.

---

There was a guy there who CuteBlonde confessed to having made-out with a few weeks earlier. So part of my mission for the night was to make sure that CuteBlonde was never left alone for very long.

---

Right at the end of the night I had a fucked-up phone conversation. Other than that, it was a pretty fun night.

6:45
I'm feeling a little uneasy right now. Maybe I'm simply dreading the after-thunder crowd I'm sure to encounter later. Or maybe it's just the 24 ounces of industrial swill sitting in my stomach. Whatever the reason, I just don't feel quite right.

I'm sitting at Tucker's, waiting for my steak and baked potato and mushrooms. Come to think of it, maybe this place is why I feel uneasy. We used to come here, every so often.

6:50
I'm going to need another Diet Coke soon. 'Cause it takes a million years to cook steak the way I like it. "Burnt," most would say.

6:56
They're showing the airshow on TV, of course. Looks really crowded. Later, they'll show the fireworks, and they'll be sure to waste a lot of airtime showing the faces of people as they watch the fireworks. I think they do that just to annoy people.

---

After that I didn't take any more notes. My steak was good. It was a bad cut, with a big line of fat running through the middle, but it tasted really good. Baked potato was good. Mushrooms were good. My second Diet Coke arrived just in time. Thanks for your concern.

I got to Rich O's at 8:00 or so. The parking lot was completely full. I hadn't been expecting that. Everybody was supposed to be at the airshow. But when I went in I saw that it really was kind of dead inside. Except for a birthday party going on in the special people section. So that explained the parking lot.

By this time my unease from earlier had gotten a little worse. Because I'd eaten way too much. I should have passed on the mushrooms, I think.

I sat on the throne and ordered a bottle of Delirium Tremens (891). A nice light Belgian will often calm down an upset stomach. LaptopGirl taught me that. But by the time I'd finished the bottle, I wasn't really feeling any better. I almost went home, but instead I just moved up to the bar. I think that the way I was sitting on the throne may have been contributing to my discomfort.

So I moved to the bar, and I had another Tremens (902). And I warned the bartenders that I might let out a 15-minute belch at any moment.

Talked to the bartenders, and then a couple I know moved up from the living room to the bar and I talked to them.

By the time I'd finished my third Tremens (913) I was feeling a lot better. I'd never had that 15-minute belch, but I'd had about a million little burps. I know, thanks for sharing.

FutureDude had told me earlier that NotHideousGirl would be singing karaoke at that Mac's place that I don't like. I already knew that because I'd read it in her blog. I wasn't planning to go because I'd been sure all week that NotHideousGirl had been avoiding me. It's this persecution complex that I have. Runs in my family.

But NotHideousGirl came into Rich O's to get something to eat before she went to Mac's. She sat at the bar with me and so I figured that maybe she hadn't been avoiding me after all. Or, if she had been, she'd gotten over it. In any event, after NotHideousGirl had picked at her food for a while, we left Rich O's. I went straight to Mac's, and she went home because she'd forgotten her glasses.

I feel like I'm really starting to ramble now, so I'll finish this entry later.

...I just wanted to say that that was the most fucked-up and surreal conversation I've ever had.

And I've had some real doozies.

But that takes the proverbial cake.

Lunch at Polly's.
        It's comfort food for me.
        Had to sit in the old people section,
                Some kids were at my usual table.

Continued Westward.

Took the scenic route as opposed to the non-scenic route.
        Consists of a ten-mile speedtrap.
                Known as Highway 37.
        HatGirl called me, so that was cool.
                Except that I almost died until I pulled off the road.
                HatGirl!
                        Yay!

Arrived in Derby.
        Also known as where?
        And never heard of it.

River was up pretty high.
        Probably as high as I've seen it down there.
        They had a signpost showing old flood levels.
                So it wasn't really that high at all.
        I should have taken a picture.

Ramsey's Tavern hadn't changed at all.
        Same generic old man at the bar.
        Same generic interchangeble bikers at the tables.
        Same stuffed deer heads on the walls.

They don't have Falls City anymore.
        I guess some things do change.
        The bartender remembered Dad.
                I think she's the one who had a major crush on him.
        Had two Bud Lights.
                Not as gross as I was expecting.
        Had a moment of panic when I saw that I had no phone signal there.
                What if HatGirl had tried to call again?
                        Ahhhhhhhhh!
        So I left.

Took the non-scenic, with-speedtrap route back home.
        Brought back memories of the day I met MixedSignalGirl.
                Which I think was the last time I went to Derby.
        Seeing the disabled car really brought back memories.
        It was a hot girl.
                Scantily-clad.
                With two kids hiding in the shade at the treeline.
                And a husband crouching in the driver's seat.
                        Oh, well.
        They didn't need anymore help.
                Somebody was already going to get some gas for them.
                i wish I'd had some cold sodas for the kids though.
                        They looked miserable.