let's get our blog on!

So what's up, Habibi? Man I don't know, I don't feel like so much happened the past week. Most if it consisted of a long Memorial Day weekend (4 days!), and I can't say I accomplished much.

I started riding my bike more seriously, that's one thing of note. Timewise, I might have actually ridden my motorcycle more than I drove my car last weekend. Unfortunately, the inspection sticker is expired and I haven't taken care of that, yet. I also played a whole helluva lot of Final Fantasy 7, the best game of all time (maybe), for the original Playstation. Man, what a good game, even if it's 10 years old and has crappy graphics.

Saturday night, Justin, Andy, and I went to meet up with a few of Justin's friends for a short while. I played some pool against Andy, and I think I came out 2-1. But really, it should have been 1-2 but Andy scratched on the 8 ball in one of those games. Suckaaaa! We went back to the house and had some people over for shananigans.

On Sunday, all I really remember is that we grilled some food. I had chicken, Justin had hotdogs, and Travis, Taylor, and Andy had steak. I grilled some asparagus which was partially fail (some parts were undercooked), but overall it was yummy. Chicken tenders are so much easier to cook than steak. With all the variables of our charcoal grill (heat from the charcoal, type of steaks, covered or uncovered), I can never get a steak exactly how I want it. I learned this method for cooking steak in an oven w/ a cast iron skillet, and that has actually worked pretty well for me because it removes a lot of the variables. My cast iron skillet rusted, though, so I should invest in a new one.

Monday... what happened Monday?  I think maybe some laundry.

So you know how I play kickball on Wednesdays? Well maybe not, but I do. We ended the season 4-3, and unfortunately didn't make the playoffs. No matter though, we have now signed up for the summer season of both kickball AND softball! Softball will be on Thursdays, starting next week, and kickball will be on Wednesdays, starting the following week. Here's to a good tan this summer.

In other news, Maverick is still scratching himself, but I have a dilemma: I'm not sure if maybe he's scratching a normal amount but now I'm just way more observant of it (so it seems like it's worse than it is), or if he's actually scratching himself an excessive amount. I took him to the vet to have them take a look, and that exam costed $50. All she did was prescribe benadryl for dogs, but at least I found out that he doesn't have any signs of fleas or worms. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like the benadryl is helping, but maybe I haven't been consistent enough with it. I think I'm going to try to be consistent with the remainder of the benadryl to see if I notice any difference, and if not I guess I'll take him to the vet again for another look. It's gotta be rather frustrating to scratch yourself as often as he does. Not to mention that 2 days after I vacuum my room, there are tufts of his hair everywhere already from all the scratching. Yuck!

But I'm just so damn cute!

I was actually going to write a post yesterday bitching about stuff, namely people on the road. But who really wants to hear me bitch? I bitch enough as it is. Plus everyone knows people suck on the road. Yesterday was a bad day though.

One last note: I miss LOST! I rewatched the finale again this past weekend (oh, there's something I forgot about until now!), and I was re-saddened. I actually enjoyed the finale even more the second time through, because I could appreciate the "flash-sideways" for what it actually was. The "flashes" that our characters were experiencing were not just some strange link to another universe, but rather the characters realizing they were dead and remembering their lives, which is a very emotional experience (and conveyed very well by the characters). Taylor started rewatching it from the beginning recently, and I want to partake, too, but I'm stalling. I know in the end I'll be sad yet again. I think I've mentioned this before, but I'll say it again: I feel bad for the people who get into Lost, but can no longer watch it live to get the same experience that we, or I, got.  I have watched Lost live since the 4th episode, so it's been quite the ride. Someone else put it into better words:

As I’ve spent the last few days pondering the finale another thing has crossed my mind. The idea that ‘Nobody does it alone’ applies not just to our characters but also to the ‘Lost community’. We have all been enthralled with the events and characters of this epic saga and now we are in our own ‘Flash Upwards’ world – needing to process what has been, needing to find others, needing to remember, needing to let go. By writing and reading and commenting on this very article we are all engaging in our own awakenings and epiphanies. I’ve watched virtually every episode of this show alone with my wife. It has been a precious thing for us. There are others in my life, friends and family, particularly my sister, who I have spent six years debating and discussing every detail of the show with. And increasingly online I have engaged with many of you and many other recappers and bloggers and theorists. We all would have enjoyed this show alone, but it is has been infinitely better and special doing it together. Everyone else who engages with this story in the future will not have the privilege that we have had of working it out together. The final scenes will be on Youtube, the plot summary will be on Wikipedia and the key story parts will infiltrate popular culture so that no-one will be able to approach LOST with fresh eyes again.

I'll leave you with some links to junk to make up for my lack of recent updates:

• Some people are gay, get over it [image]
• How Lost should have ended [image] (see this video first, so you get the joke)
• We are very small in this universe [image]
• 8 month old deaf baby reacts to cochlear implants [video]