Cerebrate Good Times

Last night I dreamed that I had been traveling somewhere for about a year, and I came home to find that I was now required to serve a two-year stint in the army. Apparently I was to be stationed in Austria, and I was pretty upset. I distinctly remember thinking that I wasn't homesick when I went to Korea for two years, or wherever I had been traveling in this dream for the previous year, but I started to feel homesick in the dream itself. Very strange.

*Please note that this post has nothing to do with Facebook, which in turn has nothing to do with real friendship. In circumstances such as work and church—instances in which people find themselves in groups they did not organize—we usually find people we enjoy interacting with. Often we don't see them outside of these circumstances, but we still feel they are more than "just" coworkers. But it seems odd to call them friends if we never see each other voluntarily. So what are these people? We need something stronger than "acquaintance," but not as strong as "friend," to describe this relationship. Any ideas?

This is a post more like someone else with a cereal fixation would do, but I still have to mention it. Lately I've been having cereal as a morning snack at work, and I've noticed something. Cereal eaten from a styrofoam bowl, with a plastic spoon, tastes way different from cereal eaten from a stoneware or glassware bowl with a metal spoon. And it's less enjoyable.

In a box I just ran across a list I made as a teenager, entitled If I Ran When I Run the World. It consists of rules for society. Here it is, copied directly, along with my current feelings on the issue in red : Anyone talking on a cellular phone while driving will be killed on sight, or possibly kept in cages for our own amusement. I still feel this is the correct stance, although I have been guilty of it myself from time to time. I suppose the best option would be to change it to texting while driving. All dogs not used for official purposes, such as police dogs, rescue dogs, etc., will be destroyed, probably hung as piñatas and beaten with sticks, or eaten in Korea. Here too, I still agree with the sentiment, but now I realize that the problem is mostly dog owners. So maybe I'd add them to the list. All Ford Expeditions, and the yuppies driving them, will be catapulted off the edge of the Grand Canyon; cash awards for distance. I hadn't seen Hummers yet. All teen pop idol...

It doesn't make you any less of a man.

This afternoon I went out to a certain section of the trail I run on, carrying a pair of snips. With these I cut the piece of barbed wire that caused this yesterday: The end

This comes across as another " complaining about lack of sleep " post, but I really just think it's funny how much we all switch places during the night. I mean, at some point all you can do is laugh (preferably maniacally, as you are carted away in a straightjacket). Bedtime: Katie goes to lie down in Allison's room to help her fall asleep. I am in Sam's room to do the same (he has a hard time falling asleep in his room alone). Allison is having a hard time too, so Katie sends me to bed once Sam is asleep. She comes in at some point. At 12:30 or so, Sam comes into our room crying. I get up and go lie down in his room to keep him company as he falls asleep again. At around 1, while I'm still in Sam's room, Allison wakes up crying. I go into her room for a few minutes and get her back to sleep. At around 3, Allison is up again. Katie goes into her room to try getting her down again. After a few minutes it's obvious that won't work, so she comes back...

The Robot Devil Ron Swanson Richard Sharpe John Dortmunder Montgomery Burns Malcolm Reynolds Harry Dresden Who are yours?

It’s all about context. Seriously, context is way underrated. Allow me to explain. This happens a lot at work, when someone asks me, “Do I use ‘affect’ of ‘effect’?” Obviously, either might be correct, based on the context. Or I will have to make another decision without knowing the big picture. I was once offered a job that seemed like it included a big raise, until I noticed that the insurance cost four times what I was currently paying. I’ve already mentioned how I don’t have a favorite color. What might be a good color for a car may not be the best color of clothing. Choosing a favorite food all depends on my mood and what I have recently eaten. To that end, I ask a lot of questions whenever I talk to anyone. I think I annoy people sometimes, but it’s all in an effort to establish context to know how a situation might relate to other things. So I apologize. I’m also sorry to post this without any context as to where these thoughts came from.

8:30: Allison goes to sleep. 9:15: Allison wakes up. 9:30: Sam goes to sleep. 10:00: I go to sleep. Katie stays up to get Allison down again. 11:00: I wake up to Allison’s crying and, feeling guilty, go to help Katie get her back to bed. 11:45: Allison is asleep again, and Katie and I go to bed. 11:50 to 12:30: The neighbors’ dogs whine and bark. (The neighbors have been gone for 5 days, and the dogs are unhappy to be left out in the cold, because they normally sleep inside.) 12:30: Unable to sleep, I go over to the neighbors’ house to complain. They have just gotten back and were about to bring the dogs in anyway. 12:45 to 1:??: Feeling stupid because I complained just before the problem would have been solved anyway, I am unable to sleep. 2:55: Allison wakes up and won’t go back to sleep in her room. I hold her for a while to get her sleepy again and take her in to sleep in our bed with Katie. 3:15 to 6:20: I sleep on the floor in Allison’s room. 6:20 to 6:50: I decide to set my alar...