Schroedinger's Monkey

Sounds vaguely naughty, doesn't it?

I finished off the last of the soon-to-expire egg-beater stuff in a batch of cookies last night. I dimly recall promising one of my neighbors cookies before she jaunts off to college to get all learned and stuff.

I heard a commotion across the hall, so I handed off cookies.

I guess the neighbors are getting a roommate while the daughter is off in school?

I should've made more cookies.

Tomorrow's gonna be a tough day. If all goes poorly, I'll have an afternoon meeting then a looooooooong few hours of class in prep for the test. I'm not even sure when I'll be fitting dinner into the mix.

Good times.

I'm reminded of that Gaiman line from "NeverWhere" in which Richard Mayhew reflects on how events are cowards and never come at a person one-on-one but rather like to hit in gangs.

On the topic of gangs, I see that there's some random crazy f*cker shooting people in the wee hours of the morning. This time it's near the relatively-safe community of Albany.

Another excuse to avoid bicycling in the morning. If Albany is having problems, early-morning Berkeley/Oakland is just gonna suck.

Maybe I should try to buy a bulletproof backpack again?

What the f*ck kind of world do we live in where there's a market for bulletproof backpacks? Why do we live in a world where anyone would even need a bulletproof backpack?

I'm sure the NRA has an answer.

Harpin'

So very cool.

The byrd 8Tool Harp by Spyderco.

And now it's mine.

'Cause I need more stuff. As it stands now, if I were dropped in the ocean, there's a slim chance I'd still float.

Spiked water?

Well this has been a goddamn weird day.

It's been a good one, but weird.

A good dozen people I regularly converse with have been acting really out-of-character odd. I wonder if there's something in the water?

Is it a full moon?

And apparently I have a new neighbor... or one of my neighbors got a roommate. Or... um... I honestly dunno what's up.

The two things I ordered today shipped. Today.

Neat, but unusual.

Seems like I'm on-track for Sunday's test. Multiple black belts did pleasant corrections to my attempts to do things that I can't do very well. Nobody said "hm... you know... you might want to sit this one out." That's usually a good sign.

I need to figure out why some people found my last batch of brownies to taste funny.

Anticipation of that nervous breakdown

It's going to be a crazy, crazy week. I can tell that already.

I have a semi-major family obligation during the week, then a game I'm completely unprepared for on Saturday, then a test on Sunday that I'm also not exactly prepared for.

I'm really hoping I can hit all my classes this week to iron out the wrinkles with my test-partner.

I'm really, really hoping I don't blow out my leg again.

If I can make it through to next week, I can shift into a slightly lower-gear of psycho-crazy as I anticipate a friend's birthday celebration that will likely destroy several of my internal organs as well as another family obligation that will prove to be surreal at best.

And then there's even more birthdays to deal with as the month comes to a close.

And then September will be here.

I'm not ready for September to be here.

I'm not ready for September to be this close to being here.

Deadlines and other things will line up to beat me like a gang of drunken soccer hooligans.

I don't like pain!

Odd, given my hobbies...

Hey, it's August!

Stress dreams. I have no freakin' idea why I'm having them.

I dreamt I was ineffectually dodging meetings.

Why? I dunno. I haven't particularly been trying hard to dodge meetings in real life. I don't really have all that many to worry about.

Freakin' weird.

---

There's few things funnier and more disconcerting in the morning than stopping for a yellow light and then spotting the nice police officer stopped at the intersection. Instinctively giving said officer a big, toothy grin may not be the smartest thing to do in the morning, but it's got an amusement factor going for it.

---

How the hell did August manage to sneak up so fast? Seriously... it's like a ninja month or something.

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Egg beaters (those egg substitute things) are great for baking save for one little problem: when you open the container, you have about a week and change before it's supposed to go bad.

So you're supposed to use the damn thing up in that time.

I only use eggs for one purpose: baking.

So... I've been baking.

I've been baking a lot.

I can't be eating all this stuff. It's good, but it's too much sugar and fat.

Gwah.

I'm glad I have a dumping gr...um... office.

---

I'm pretty much sold on the idea that my extended Lord of the Rings DVD set is one of those things I cannot do without. When all else fails for viewing pleasure, few things satisfy like massive orc carnage.

the blahs

I hate getting 'em.

I watch a movie for a few minutes, then decide it isn't what I want and turn it off.

I channel surf. Nothing good is on.

I web surf. Meh.

I pick up a book. Nothing really grabs me.

I consider grabbing my jacket and hitting a bar. Nah. Not really craving a drink. Not really interested in being somewhere with people.

I could work on my gaming stuff. Nah. I'm completely burned-out on that. I have no idea what I'm going to do on that front next week.

My stories don't hold any interest, so I can't really write anything to add to them.

It's a Saturday night and I've got the blahs. That just sucks.

A random afternoon

With the Emeryville Scharffenberger chocolate factory (and store) closed, it's difficult to get ahold of their 99% cacao baking chocolate bars.

With that in mind, my quest this morning was a simple one: head to San Francisco and see if their outlet store still existed in the Ferry Building.

It did.

I quested out then to another store for a bit of something I really don't need. Thankfully for my wallet, said item was out of stock.

I craved beer. Oh, and lunch.

A quick call later, and I had lunch plans with my friend Steve. We settled on the 21st Amendment, a charming brewpub on 2nd Avenue, south of Market.

From past experience, I figured after I was about 2/3rds into my first pint that Steve may have meant the San Francisco Brewing Company. A quick call later confirmed that was indeed the case. We opted to go with 21st Amendment and he meandered by for lunch.

Their beer is not for the meek.

Just sayin'

By the end of that lunch, we had settled out how to help a friend celebrate a very belated 40th in proper debauched style and how to incorporate celebrations for our own pending birthdays.

Over strong beers, mind you.

We parted ways somewhere along the Embarcadro and I decided to spend some money on something I'd been considering prior to lunch.

BART home was devoid of the smelly, crazy people I encountered on the ride in. I'm grateful for the break. Sitting next to one hygienically-challenged freak is enough for my week.

I got about a block from home when I hurried across an intersection and stepped funny on a curb... with my bad leg.

Ow.

So I've managed to blow out my leg again. Good times. I'm hoping the patches will help this time.

Ow.