Mild Amusement

I work out enough that I get sore from the exercise. I'm not entering any body building competitions any time soon (although I do have a friend who does that), but I am no stranger to working a particular muscle so much that I will be really sore afterward. However, I've noticed that I don't get sore like normal people. No, my body decides to mess with me. For example, once long ago, I was participating in a kickboxing class. This was the same kickboxing class that led someone to question whether I was being abused and that allowed me to win a game like tag with a seven year old girl . Still, for the purposes of this post, the pertinent part was that we had to do a bunch of drills. And in one particular instance, we had to practice kicking with our lead leg. Since you're kicking with your lead leg, you generally don't put too much power into this type of kick; it's the equivalent of a jab . However, precisely because it is a strike that you throw quickly, it...

I make no secret of the fact that I like playing with Legos . I don't break them out all that often, but I do have some lying around the house. It lets me tinker and be creative, and I just like plain like building stuff. As I mentioned in that previous post, I keep a bucket of Legos in my room. Well, technically, I keep two buckets of Legos in my room. One is red and the other is pink. I don't quite remember getting the red bucket, but it was full of your standard pieces. It had the 2 by 2 squares, the 2 by 4 bricks, and some 1 by 2 edge pieces. It wasn't fancy, but my siblings and I had plenty of fun building planes, houses, and space ship looking things with them. Somewhere along the line, though, my parents bought a house-themed set, and that one came in the pink bucket. I'm assuming it was meant for my sister, what with the color scheme, but all of the pieces ultimately ended up mixed together. So I have an amalgamation of pieces all thrown together in these two ...

I've already had a few interesting visits to the dentist , and as of a little while ago, it's time to add a fourth story to the list. As all of these stories do, my story started with a routine check up. I showed up on time, waited a few minutes, and then they called me back to get on with the dental part. Then things got really amusing. Maybe I should've known that this was not going to be the usual check up when I saw the dentist walk in with a stroller and her baby. I didn't really think much of it at the time, since her husband was with her. I didn't quite know what was going on, but it's not particularly hard to surmise that if she was going to be doing her day job, he would be the one watching the baby. Pretty straight forward stuff. You see, the dentist didn't recognize me as one of her patients. To be fair, I didn't immediately recognize her face when she walked in the door, either. Either way, she sat down and introduced herself before...

I've written plenty about how I eat a lot , so I don't think that part is a surprise to anyone. However, the part that always seems to surprise people is how little I appreciate sweets. It's not that I don't ever eat chocolate, it's that I never go looking for it. So, I will eat a bunch of entrees during a meal, but then I will tell people that I am too full to have dessert. For some people, this falls somewhere between shocking and sacrilege. They simply don't understand how I don't want to eat ice cream (or whatever the dessert happens to be). This is also where the fact that I eat a lot comes into play. If I eat so much anyway, surely I must be able to sneak in some ice cream into my stomach. Besides, they argue, I must surely have a dessert pocket in my stomach . It's a discussion I've had quite a few times, so it's no longer a surprise when it comes up. I've learned to accept that other people have this mysterious space for dessert t...

Since I get to work pretty early , I don't generally have to worry about finding a parking spot. It's pretty easy to park wherever you want when there aren't too many folks around. I actually tend to park far away since that forces me to walk a little bit farther, but that's not the point of this post. The point is that parking is highly dependent on what time you arrive. I suppose that isn't really a surprise, but this has some pretty interesting implications. First of all, this all happens because the parking lot closest to the building is only so big. So if you're amongst the early crowd, you can park in that lot. Mind you, "early" doesn't necessarily mean the crack of dawn. You can still find spots there if you show up around 8 or 9AM. However, there is a bit of a linear progression between what time you show up and how many spots are available; you can't show up late and expect to park there. The flip side of this, however, is far more...

The fact that I shave my head causes no end of amusement to people around me . It's been around 5 years since I wrote that linked post, but it seems like some things never change. The Mild Ex has been known to be amused by my shaved head, and I'm pretty sure I've heard similar comments in the last few weeks. It's just one of those things that I've gotten used to. Heck, even the little kids seem to get in on the act. Though, frankly, I never quite understood why. I know for older folks, part of the appeal is that it's they're used to seeing me look different. There was also an old supervisor of mine who assumed that I had lost a bet. Either way, these are very adult reasons to be amused. Think about it: a little kid doesn't have that past mental image of me from which to draw, nor are they going to understand what kind of bet would cause you to shave your head if you lost. For them, there has to be a much simpler explanation. And it's not a fluke,...

I like sports. I like playing several of them, and I like watching professional teams, as well. In fact, I follow several local teams, and I am more than happy to devote a few hours to watching a game . On a basic level, it's just flat out fun to watch someone do something wholly unexpected (like Baron Davis dunking on one of the better shot blockers in the league in a play off game ). But there's also a whole level of drama involved, like when a guy who has been injured hits a home run to tie the game for his team . Just watch the reactions from everyone on that last link, the entire stadium went nuts at that point. So yeah, it's fun. However, there are a variety of unspoken rules about rooting for athletes and teams . The most basic of these is that you're supposed to pick a team and stick with it. If all you ever do is just wait until the post season and pick a team at random, you're not really a fan. It's like picking a new favorite color every year becaus...