left to my own devices

I surprised Mom, and myself, with a visit today, and ended up embarking on a surprise treasure hunt. She wanted LJS for dinner. (I’m happy to do whatever I can when I can for her–well, for anyone, really.) No coupons were located prior to setting me Saturn to northern coordinates, but her stomach was set. “Just get the Treasure Chest,” she directed.

I sailed fearlessly. Swift, yet mindfully.

I entered LJS, and happened to be looking around enough to notice an ad with several coupons torn out. It had been left (for me?!) on the divider between the entranceway and the seating area. The Treasure chest/family feast (8 fish, 2 sides, and 50 hushpuppies) for $12.99 remained, so I immediately checked the expiration date (and then double-checked the date on my mobile). Whew–last day to redeem. I confidently collected the coupon and proceeded to order and pay. A smooth transaction ensued (aside from a few attempts to sell me beverages, desserts, and more hushpuppies). I sat on the bench, with my order placard displayed, while waiting for the vittles. It was just enough time to notice a man and two children enjoying a meal at the booth next to the exit, and to message Mom that I saw the sign outside for $1 Baja Fish Tacos as I walked in, and ordered those instead. (She is far from a southwestern cuisine afficionado, and I must have been too nice, because she didn’t even flinch before responding, “Ok.” As the Subject, no less!)

Great service, seeing the kids, the timing of the coupon discovery, and anticipation of swiping some crunchies inspired me to ring the bell on my way out the door.

See what transpires when you look around?

 

Why, why, why…..

“Big moon. Luv u mom

Sent via ___ from ___"

Pull your pants up!!!

——————————————————-

I know she’s in public… so this is especially good advice.

Note: I’ve been making empty statements about posting various situation and dialogue snippets to my blog. I’ve refrained. (Largely because I forget what I was going to post, and forgotten snippets aren’t very funny.) I saw this stuff in print, somewhere, and figured it was fair game.

 

Happy Houses

Fortune cookie reads, “An admirer is too shy to greet you.”

To which Przybysz responds, “I’m not sure why–I’m only really fierce when it comes to claiming video arcade game playing rights after I’ve paid my quarter.” And that scenario pretty much falls under the heading of “unjustifiable challenges to those around me, or to myself,” and should be judged accordingly.

Dreams of the future*:

I am an avid collegiate football fan. I know it’s a team sport. I had a dream materialize unexpectedly this weekend. I didn’t know it was time for it to happen, or even the specific context of what would happen, but after it did, I realized it had been foreshadowed many weeks ago.

I taped** the game because I was away with friends, and reluctant to insist we manage to catch it live. At some point in the game–while I knew the game was being played, but had no access to it or any idea how it was going, I found my new mobile communication device provides me way more access to information than I’ve ever had before (and never thought was possible to have without subscribing to a bunch of extra services and such).

What prompted me to check out links I thought would just go to subscription services for score updates or whatever, was this msg.:

“N d. Needs help now. Dad is having fits. Ha ha luv u mom”

To which I replied, and not for the first time–being the loyal, unwavering fan I am:

“Have faith!!!”

I told you this would be great for saving lives, handling crises, preventing heart attacks and needless worry when I can’t be in three places at once.
(Also, I know all about comebacks, and I accept that ‘return to Tradition’ sometimes includes inadvertently playing into a position where a comeback is imperative. I mean, how many times do you get to watch a game, after you know the outcome, and still get totally caught up in it, wondering how the ending will match various changes in dynamics and momentum?!)

I think we were down by a point, with a few minutes remaining when I did finally pull up box scores. No big whoop, right? What would be, would be, and I decided against staying abreast of developments at the risk of offending dinner companions who, unbelievably, are not super fans like myself.

I went to bed Saturday night with the impression that we had easily pulled out a win… and caught a highlight of what I assumed to be a rather routine touchdown play, in the morning. But that was all.

Then something compelled me to pop the tape in before retiring for the night.

I must say, though, watching the events unfold, as if they were happening in realtime, and then watching them again… while knowing what the outcome (score-wise) will be (but watching others engaging in them for the first time, and their mannerisms affirming something you sensed in BLINKS, the first watch (before having a sense of HOW it would all unfold***)), was one of the surrealist experiences I’ve had in my life.

And then I slept like a log. Until a buzz from the door woke me up.

But that’s technology that was also many, many years old before I finally realized how much it would benefit me****.

* that happened in the past…

** using one of the three new VHS tapes given to me by my parents a week ago to keep at-the-ready at my apartment, in the case of an emergency request.

*** when I do watch games live, it’s common for me to “call” things like interceptions, touchdowns, fumbles, and such, in a sort of, “wouldn’t this be a great time for one of those?” way, but that’s usually merely wishful thinking. How then to account for my watching something that I obviously can’t influence because it was taped more than thirty hours before viewing, and I have no idea whether/when any interceptions occurred, and I don’t feel compelled to call an interception before all plays except for two–and those plays being ones when interceptions actually occurred?! (This gels with times I get the itching to call for a twist of fortune happening, while I’m viewing a game in the presence of others, and refrain from verbalizing the thought for fear it will jinx it, but then can’t claim to have “called for it,” or seen it coming, because I didn’t verbalize it.)

**** Oh–that’s one for the books! CART is something I was an early adopter and promulgator-of-usage of. (Though I was certainly not an innovator; just a good friend of a true trailblazer!) That’s worth many more posts, but among the firsts of the weekend, was running into a CART provider (most excellent, at that), who had worked with me for another event, totally unrelated (save-for my association with both…) to the previous one. (the balloons/certerpieces and the cake/SNL skit script)

(and as you’ll see–instead of putting up nothing here, and allowing posts to start dying in drafts, I’m relenting to the mostly-a-post-though-partly references to things-that-deserve-inclusion in this post and others. Mainly because my biggest problem tends to be whittling what floods my head down into something that’s semi-coherent for others to read! But the wheels are warming up again, so obviously I want, and am, turning out all kinds again. Because, “we play both kinds–country and western.”

Now to sustain it all!

 

. . . HOT TUB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!
I am there! I really like hot tubs. One of my nicest memories was a late Spring night in ’96. We were in California, nestled between mountain ridges. The moon and the stars shone brightly in the sky. The air was rather brisk, but the night was made perfect as we slipped off our clothes and slithered into the hot tub; the steam rising to caress our bodies, the sweet motion of the spa jets to take away the day’s pains from our arduous journey. Yes, boys, there was gold in them hills–gold!

(portions of the above passage are completely factual)

. . .

[8/2006: the context of this excerpt included some references to watching Seinfeld at 12:30am, so I am assuming that J. Peterman catalogue-speak was fresh in my mind]

 

… I forgot to tell you earlier about the Rolling Stone issue I got today:

the advertisement for Fruit of the Loom underwear actually had a miniature pair of men’s underwear in it!!! complete with the name brand on the waist band and similar stitching, etc. like the ‘real thing’.
It was quite humorous. I started cracking up while my Mom was on the phone. I didn’t know who she was talking to, but she ‘shushed’ me… I guess it was business… I held it up to her right away and she just about cracked up on the phone.

…