Mild Amusement

People who have talked to me in the recent past know that my allergies have been acting up far more than usual lately. I've never really been a sickly person, but I have been sniffly and congested more in the last few months than in the last few years before that, combined. What makes the whole experience so bad is that it makes you unfit to be in public (do *you* want to hang out with someone liable to get snot on you?) and it makes you feel miserable. I started taking medicine on a daily basis to try to keep it under control, but every now and again, it would still flare up. Worse yet, it was entirely unpredictable. I've had myself tested to try to determine to what I was allergic, but nothing conclusively really came up (dust mites, pollen). I dusted and vacuumed regularly to try to prevent any of that from building up and causing problems, but every now and then, my sinuses would just decide to rebel for no apparent reason. I also know that although I can handle the col...

I'm not exactly a rookie at weddings; I'm old enough where I've been to a wedding or two . You get the person a gift, you go to the celebrations, you (usually) wear a suit or a tux, and you have a good time celebrating with someone you care about. Sure, the details change for each and every wedding, but it's not like I suddenly have to learn a new language or stand on my head in order to go to a wedding. My point is, if you've been to a few weddings, you can fall on past experience to understand what's going on. Several years back, my I went to a wedding for a friend that I've nicknamed " Mom ." I didn't know many other people there, but remember, this was someone I called "Mom." There was no way that I wasn't going to go to this wedding. And as it turned out, one of my good friends was also knew Mom, so the two of us went to this wedding together. Anyhow, the actual ceremony was in a garden setting, so we all walked up and wai...

A long time ago, I remarked that my sister thinks I read very quickly . It's one of those things that I've apparently done for a very long time, but I've never really spent much time thinking about it. It's not like it's ever made much of a difference one way or the other. Until recently, that is. A shorter time ago, my brother and sister got me some comic books for my birthday. Well, to be precise, they got me the comic books a few days before my birthday, so I was pleasantly surprised. What's more, they'd actually gone back to a Secret Santa wish list from years past to figure out which ones I thought would be interesting (clever of them, I must say), so I was even more pleasantly surprised. In fact, I was so pleased by the gift, that I was reading them within the hour. Now, just to give you an idea of how much there was to read, one of these was an inches-thick anthology. It was easily several hundred pages long. Even if you account for the fact that th...

One of the funniest things I have ever heard come out of a kid's mouth is that lunch was her favorite part of the day . That wasn't the only kid to say something to that effect, either. I've heard other kids say some variation of, "this food is awesome" enough times to realize that my mom is a legitimately good cook. It's actually gotten to the point where my mom has a reputation among the parents; they're always excited when she cooks for a function, since they know it will be quality food. As it turns out, this seems to run in the family. It's just not the same type of reputation. I've always treated cooking as a bit of a chore. Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate a good meal, but my criteria for what to prepare have always involved speed of preparation and simplicity. As I like to say, I can cook well enough to stave off starvation. I know this isn't going to impress anyone any time soon, but it's yet to cause me any grief. And ...

I've probably mentioned the CrossFit workouts I do on occasion over time; it's something I've enjoyed doing for a while and something that I like to talk about. It's not all that rare for me to describe the whole thing to someone with obvious enthusiasm in my voice. Like I said, it's something I like doing. In fact, it's something I like doing enough that I try to keep that linked blog up to date as much as possible. I'm hardly perfect, but I do try to post the work outs before the week is up, at the very least. I don't entirely remember when it became a part of my routine, but at some point, it just became one of those things that I had to get done. Sure, other people can update the blog, and they've done it before. Still, that responsibility has fallen to me often enough that I try to post the work outs when I know what they are. It's almost a matter of habit at this point. Regardless, I know that it's hard to figure out how movements ...

Lately, I've been pretty bad about exercising consistently. There are a bunch of reasons, but I'll readily admit that laziness is a part of it. It's easy to fall into bad habits, and there have been a few occasions where I simply didn't feel like pushing myself. Don't get me wrong, I'm still eating relatively well and trying to take care of myself, I just haven't been working out with my usual gusto. I'm a creature of habit, though, so I know I'll get back to the routine soon enough. Part of the reason why I'm not overly concerned is that I have a lot of people around me who set good examples. No one in my immediate family has ever been the type to gorge themselves on deep fried donuts, so I've always known what a healthy diet looked like, almost unintentionally. Secondly, I have a bunch of friends who exercise regularly, and they do all sorts of fun-sounding activities. I have friends who compete in martial arts competitions, climb Kiliman...

Once, a very long time ago, Litmus Test remarked that I gave good hugs. I remember the comment because it surprised me. It's not like I sat around practicing or anything. All I had done was given her a good-bye hug, and she made the comment unprovoked. Like I've said before, though, I'll take the compliment over an insult any day. Anyhow, the comment was quickly forgotten over the years. Again, it's not like I sat around practicing how to give a good hug. And frankly, I wasn't sure what I had done in the first place to deserve the compliment. Recently, though, I was reminded of this long lost commentary. A buddy of mine was having a house-warming of sorts, and I was hanging out at his house catching up with various friends. There was one person in particular who I hadn't seen in a while, so it was good to catch up with her and meeting her boyfriend. We all shared a few laughs and the good times rolled on. As is wont to happen at those gatherings, though, e...