Happy birthday to Shelldigity, first and foremost!

Looks like it's rainin' powerful good out there.  This means at the very least, a delay in our job schhhhhedule for today.  At worst, I get a ... blurgh... day off.  Nice as that may sound, it means that for the rest of the week I get to work extra long hours as we run around catching up on stuff that we were forced to postpone because of the rain.  That is not fun.  For preference, I'd really like to keep my half-day off on my birthday.  My... twenty first birthday.  Tee hee.

My Nutty Monk creation has apparently made the specials list at Bao.  A winner is me!  I am the king* of Bubble Tea creation!

Yesterday was a very good and fun day.  Met up with Shannon and Nate for some DDRage, Corpse Bride-age, foodage, YGO discuss-age, and more DDRage.  All in all, it lead to the creation of a line which I will never forget.  Nate said to me something like, "You're so full of... Asian rage, or something."  Which lead to me screaming, "ASIAAAAAAN RAAAAAAAGE!" spontaneously.  We're... not even sure why he said Asian rage.  But he did.  And now it's stuck.  You may all thank Nate for me using that line until I get bored of it.

*Disclaimer: I may not actually be the king of bubble tea creation.

After spending two weeks basically getting three and a half to four hours of sleep a night, I crashed.  Came home after work last night (having spent twelve or thirteen hours sweeping chimneys for the most part), ate some food while watching Mr. Bean, then went straight to sleep.

Nine or ten hours of sleep is icky.  I'm sure that my body said, "About dang time, foo'!" but I feel like I wasted a good night that could've been spent playing DDR.  Heeh.  Opportunity cost, and all that.

The nice thing about having a job that requires me to fairly well exert myself physically is that I feel pretty weary at the end of a day and could just fall asleep nigh instantly.  You'd probably never know it, but I get kinda tuckered out after all that lifting and hauling.  What I've always found interesting is that I'm revitalized by being with people, especially when those people are people whom I truly like.  Just being with my friends, doing something enjoyable... these things refresh me in a way that a ten hour nap never could.  In fact, after a long and hard day, there are few things that I look forward to more than spending time doing what I enjoy in good company.  It's just the way I am, I guess, and as that famous sage* once said, "I yam what I yam, and that's all what I yam."

I suppose as I approach the start of my twenty first year on this Earth this time around, I'm beginning to think about these things.  So here's to you, my friends!  You're part of what makes my life so darn fun.

* Popeye the Sailor Man

Currently Listening Die Groessten Erfolge By Dschinghis Khan see related

- Moscow

I think it's good to learn something new every day.  I like to learn new things.  Yesterday I learned, quite intimately, what the guy who catches the garter belt at a wedding is supposed to do with the danged thing exactly.  Oops.  Read on only if you wish to get in a good laugh at my expense.  I know that I did.  ;)

As mentioned, I went to the wedding of an old family friend of Shannon's family.  The ceremony was quite nice, reception and dinner were enjoyable (mmmm, good prime rib) but everything was really quite tame.  Then it came time for the little wedding rituals to begin.  The glowing bride took her boquet and tossed it into the crowd of unwed girls.  Shannon said that one of the girls called dibs on the thing and had fire in her eyes to catch the thing; lo and behold, she did indeed catch it.  Very cute, haha, she'll be the next one wed.  I thought it was over.

Turns out, guys have a version of the same ritual!  Keep in mind, I've only been to one wedding before, and that's when I was twelve or so.  No idea what was goin' on.  See, it would seem the groom takes the garter belt off the bride's leg and tosses it to the unwed gents in the crowd.  Well, the groom took it off with his teeth and the DJ called us all up to the dance floor.  Four of us went up there.  I was starting to get into the spirit of things and got psyched for a contest of reaction times and catching skill!  One guy beside me was also inflamed with passion over the contest and was pushing the other guys back, basketball style, to try to get the belt.  My first thought was "Oh, haaeeeeells no."  When the DJ announced, "All right, boys.  I've got three words for you: free for all," I got pumped.  This was going to be a good contest.  By this point there were a total of about ten guys on the dance floor.  Johnny McExcitedington (great name for him, huh?) and I were the daring two contesting in front while the other guys kinda hung back.  Groom turned around and winged the thing at us.  It went a little far to his right... and I was to Johnny's left.  I reached out and plucked the thing out of the air with my left hand (I'm a righty, incidentally, so I was a little surprised at my feat of manual dexterity myself).  He was hella displeased.  I came to find out why as I got in a good laugh over my apparent victory over the other young bucks in this fun little contest.

*Meanwhile, back at the table where Shannon's family and I were sitting...*
Shannona says something like: "No, Mike won't go for the garter.  He isn't the kind of guy to participate in ... a contest... in ... public... call attention to himself... oh, geeze."
Shannon's mom and aunt: "... Mike got it."
Shannon: "..." *marches to the dance floor*

*Back at the dance floor...*
I'm walking around discreetly asking people what I'm supposed to do with this thing.  The slightly inebriated (read: sloshed) girls I asked tended to react the same way; that is to say, by giggling and congratulating me.  That wasn't helpful.  Call me naive, but I even asked one girl if I was supposed to give it back to someone.  I guess the DJ sorta saved me by saying that it was time for Michael to put the garter on Tasha (Natasha ha-ha-ha du bist schön!).  I froze and turned around to find... Tasha sitting on a chair in the middle of the dance floor.  Oops.  My first, and very cogent thought on the matter, erudite in all ways, was "... Erk."  By this point Shannon had arrived at the dance floor and was looking on with a bemused expression upon her visage, arms crossed.  I went up to Tasha and she was grinning, so I figured, "Eh... you caught the thing, old boy.  Best to finish the job and be on your way then..."  So I knelt before her, asked if she minded (answer: nope, go right ahead) and proceeded to slide the belt up somewheres between a third and half way up her thigh.  I think that's where it's supposed to go anyways.  Anyhow, I did it quickly and in a very businesslike fashion, I assure you.  Shannon was watching, after all, and it didn't feel quite right doing something quite so risque with another girl given the nature of our relationship, but apparently these things are excusable in this situation.  In fact, she laughed at me about it, eheh.  After that, I got up, gave the girl a little bow, bowed to the crowd, and shook her hand.  After that, I had one heck of a time figuring out what I'm supposed to do with my little "trophy."  Per the example of one of Shannon's aunts, I put it around my head.  Shannon and I went to play DDR shortly thereafter.  For those of you who were there, that probably explains my rather uncustomarily fancy shmancy attire and choice of head gear.

Incidentally, it turns out that Johnny was the boyfriend of the girl who caught the boquet.  I felt kinda bad after I found that out, and after I heard him talking to the groom. ("Sorry man, I tried to toss it right to you, that's why I turned around and threw it, but it kinda went wide...")  That would explain why he was so intense.  And here I thought that he, like I, was just inspired by the thought of a contest.  Silly me.  Sometimes I think I'm a bit too naive for my own good.

So that was my first experience with some rather interesting wedding rituals.  I learned a new thing and generally a good time was had by all.

The garter?  I've been told, by Shannon mind you, to hang it from one of the side mirrors on my bike.

Currently Listening Symphony of Enchanted Lands, Vol. 2: The Dark Secret By Rhapsody see related

- Unholy Warcry

My adventures have been many and my mishaps few,
unfortunately I shan't spell them all out for you.
I went out to eat and rode on my bike,
when I heard about the Voltron movie I hopped around like a tyke.  (Hi, Myke!)
Why I'm writing in rhyme I really can't say,
but today is one freakin' hella hot day.

That was amusing while it lasted.  Like I said, VOLTRON LIVE ACTION MOVIE.  EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.  On the downside, I heard that the scriptwriters for the Transformers live action movie have been assigned to write the script for Mission Impossible 3 so there may be a delay on the release for that.  BLRRRGH.  Displeasing.

There could be big things in the works for the A3.  Keep an ear out!

...  A3 Inc.?  A3 LLP.?

Wasabi A-Bombs are quite good although somewhat lacking in power.

Should be an interesting couple of weeks coming up.  Met Shannon's cousins, purchased a Mac with her, we're going to see fireworks this Friday and Saturday night, we'll be attending her company's summer pic-a-nic, and we'll be going to a wedding.  I suppose it would be quite fair to say that we've been hanging out a lot lately and will be continuing to do so in the anticipated near future.  Good times!  I wonder if it would be appropos to show up for a wedding on a motorcycle...

There is a list.  On this list are things that displease me.  ... more than half of them do seem to relate to my motorcycle getting dirty, yes.  HOWEVER.  This is a biggie.  It's not so much an item as an 'incident'.

I was ridin' down Jefferson road on Monday night.  The only other vehicle in sight was a van about fifty yards in front of me.  I was feeling pretty tired from DDR, so I was cruising on my bike at somewheres between forty and forty five.  I know, the speed limit, who'da thunk't, right?  Anyhoo.  The van was slowing down and the exhaust from those buggers is kinda stinky, so I signaled and pulled into the right-most lane.  The van followed suit.  I signaled again and pulled back into the left.  I was now within about fifteen yards of the van or so.  The van begins to screech around in a U-turn.  The driver sees me passing by and slams on his breaks (as I just kinda watch him from as far in the left portion of the left side of our lane as I can get) while a girl in the van screams.  This very nearly could have turned from an 'incident' into an 'accident'.  Fortunately for me, I just don't trust people when I'm riding.  I figure they'll ALL do something stupid for the plain reason that assuming that everyone is a potential threat to me on the road keeps my attention in place, and me safe.  This guy was being pretty unpredictable so it didn't surprise me that he pulled a stunt like this, nor was I terribly concerned since I planned for a stupid move on his part accordingly.  A girl in the van was obviously kinda freaked, and the driver must not've seen me or he wouldn't have slammed on his breaks half way into his turn.  Either that, or he was drinking.  Even if he wasn't, this is an ideal opportunity for me to express my displeasure at drinking drivers.

Remind me to go on a personal crusade to punch everyone who drinks and drives in the noots.  Uh... if they have them.  Girlies get away with me messing up their hair.  Sure, you may feel fine, but that slight attenuation of your attention could be all that it takes for you to 'not see' that motorcycle, which is the most frequent reason given for accidents involving them.  They just didn't see it.  I don't feel like losing my legs or som'mat because a guy wanted a couple too many beers after work, and I happened to choose to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Anyhow, I don't expect that this applies to any of my readers, 'cuz I don't think any o' y'all are real drinkers like that.  Or if you are, you aren't dumb about it, and you're gracious enough to eat something and wait after you have something to drink.  This is more my little message to the world, and it reminds me once again that when you're driving anything, and a motorcycle in particular, defensive is the way t'do it.  Does this convince me that motorcycle riding is DAAAAANGEROUS?  Nope.  I could've been in a car and the guy may've pulled the same stunt, only I wouldn't have had as much maneuverability.  Pros and cons to each.  I love my hobby and wouldn't give it up for the world, and I promise you all that I'll continue to assume that everyone's out to get me and I'll drive accordingly.  I don't intend to have any of you attending any funerals for me any time soon... at least, any where the obit won't read "Here he lies, no more motion; finally got his fill of Dance-Dance Revolution."

Got within three steps of beating Classic.  Woo hoo!  Also, the rain yesterday was verreh pretteh.  My back side was soaked in the time it took me to get from the truck to the Club House doors... while my front remained perfectly dry.  Ehehe.  Crazy ol' torrential downpours.

Random thought for today: is it too much to ask for a (well done) live action Voltron movie?