'tis the season?

i must be getting O L D. or decrepit. or boring. or unmotivated. or becoming a hermit. or recluse. don't know what it is, really. tomorrow night is halloween, and i don't give a sh!t. at all. to me, it signals the beginning of the holidays. big deal. aside from obligatory gifts, semi-required-attendance office functions, and a few extra days off, what does it really mean? as a kid, i absolutely loved the time off from school, hanging with the cousins, fancy foods, and the presents. hmmmm... let's see... this year, there's tofino (nov), vegas (dec), and a cruise (jan), so i can't complain too much about that. you gotta have something to look forward to! but i could be doing all that any time of the year, right? which brings me back to the fact that the holidays, for me, have pretty much lost their 'luster' and appeal. it's been said before, but i totally believe everything's been commercialized. case-in-point: october 1st, i was browsing costco (as usual!) and they already had christmas gift wrap, decorations, and other assorted holiday-themed items in the store. october-freaking-1st! no sign of halloween or thanksgiving decor to be found, but if you needed santa-riding-a-reindeer gift wrap, it'd take you all of 2.5 seconds to find it. anyways, maybe it's just s.a.d. (seasonal affective disorder) or just me, or a combination of both, but if i can find some true holiday spirit this year, it'd be a miracle.

Sucktober

i've been in a crappy mood lately. maybe crappy's not the word, but depressed, irritable, melancholy, and contemplative have too many syllables, so maybe crappy does work. but the comic above made me smile. i especially liked how they spelled "ghey". that was cool. the only other things that have made me feel good lately are tennis and volleyball. otherwise work sucks, and so does the lack of a real social life. meeting new people and making friends - at this point - seems like a horrible idea. being around people not hitting a ball of some sort doesn't sound very appealing. a change of pace is well overdue, but what is that change, and what could it really do for me in the long run? maybe it's just my time of the month. or maybe i'm going through man-o-pause. whatever it is, i'm in a funk and all i wanna do is sleep.

imapro@crastinating.com

i signed up for gold's gym almost 3 weeks ago. can you guess how many times i've gone and worked out since then?

a) 9 times - 3 times/week! en route to becoming the next Ah-nuld!
b) 6 times - 2 times/week! average joe
c) 3 times - 1 time/week! pizza, surfing the 'net, and TiVo are more important!
d) 0 times - absolutely pathetic.

in my defense, i've been playing tennis twice a week, and volleyball 2-3 times a week, and walking several miles at least once a week.

the best part about it is that i'm a member (hehe... i said "member"... hehe)of gold's and it's only $20/month!!! i'll go soon... promise!

table for how many?

it all starts with your perspective of the world, right? everything after that, can be traced back to that. (confusing? - think about it!)

aaron & lissa are cool. i enjoy their company and have good times with them. aaron is my predecessor to the "single guy" role in the group. but now he's all married and stuff, so taking inventory of the circle of friends leaves me the odd man out... literally.

i've got the bff and fbff constantly on the lookout for single women for yours truly. admittedly, the fbff even has a very slight "potential" someone for me, aka booby blonde. seems cool, but my stubbornness has gotten in the way of any progress! (wow, i actually wrote that!) i think i even have her digits. i do thoroughly enjoy the single life, but every now and then...

so i get a call from aaron, and it's a dinner invite. first of all, i don't hear from a&l all too often. secondly, a dinner invite? hmmm... something's fishy here, don't ya think? i get to the restaurant - osaka - before they do, and in the mind set i'm already in, i ask, "table for how many?" i hear nothing... silence... just like in those at&t "dropped call" commercials. ha. then he says, "3", with a little bit of the confusion leaking through the cell. i'm letting out a sigh of relief! if you can put my twisted thinking together and put 2 + 2 together, then you'll see how i came to the conclusion of how i thought i was being set up on a blind date! (btw, i hate blind dates!) food was good... finally got my tempura fix, a btw, their tempura shrimp is fantastic and huge! a good time was had by all. the end.

the moral of this story: don't ever, EVER set me up on a blind date. have a nice day!

3:13

despite the (inherited) affliction known as gout, i try to stay fairly active. playing volleyball and tennis are my passions, but think about it - both are stressful on the feet. which is why most of you reading this know for a fact that Rob and any version of the word "marathon" don't go together... at all. but with a little persuasion from the BFF, i (at the very last minute) decided to participate in bellingham's inaugural marathon.

the title indicates how long it took to finish the 1/2 marathon. in case you're wondering, this is how i fared in the race!

health permitting, i would like to do it again next year to see if i can beat that amazing time. wanna take a walk with me? i'll hold your hand, if ya want... ;-)

R.I.P. Cal

I first met John "Cal" Callahan in early summer, 2006, at a poker game. (For those of you who don't know, he's my BFF's grampa.) I got to know him only a little bit, and I have to say it was a pleasure. Some of my favorite memories include -

• learning the hard way what "getting my feet wet" meant during a poker game
• being threatened to get beaten "in the ass with a wet squirrel", also during a poker game
• listening to him tell stories about his pilot adventures during World War II

I believe he was 91 when he passed last week. Wish I would've had a chance to watch another Mariner game or play poker with him... or at the very least, let him know that it was great meeting him. My thoughts go out to his family, whom I am slowly getting to know through the Daileys.