You know the back row. That last resort place. The hiding place.

I went into my DVD back row today. Rearranged, moved Phone Booth aside. Pushed A Clockwork Orange further to the left. And there, right next to a copy of But I'm a Cheerleader was the movie I was searching for. Alien vs Predator. Wonderful flick. I haven't seen the second one, but the first was great. It is one of those movies you watch a couple times in a short period of time and then throw back to the back row.

So sometimes, the back row is a great place to get what you want.

I had this weird thought yesterday. A friends said "Its worth it at least once."

I think of all those "you got to see it at least once activities" compared to the "you'll want to go back many times activities" and the later always wins and the former is kind of forgettable after a while. Mount Rushmore...forgettable. Crazy Horse Monument....I want to go back. Mammoth Caves...I want to go back. Niagara Falls...eh. Grand Canyon....Hell Yes I want to go back. Los Angeles. Eh.

Granted most of the things I just mentioned are natural parks or places. But they were on my mind. The difference between "at least once" and "you'll want to go back over and over again." Are the "at least once" places memorable and worth it? Probably. But they don't compare to the places you yearn to see again.

I had this idea a while ago that I have not strategy in life. Or biking. Or when I ran. Or for anything for that matter. I really just wing my entire life. Bizarre. It came to me while I was biking to work a few weeks ago and realized that I bike in the hardest gear as fast as I can the whole way. When I get tired I end up slowing down. And then when I feel less tired I sort of blitz fast again. When I ran races in college I sped out as fast as I could and then slowed up the whole race (as the pain in my shins spread throughout my body). When we played video games I never figured out how to effectively block. And if it was a shooting game I used what was commonly called the "run through" method where I just ran at my target shooting till it died. Just thought it was interesting.

I found some orange hairs in my head today. That was weird. I mean I have the select couple gray hairs that grow in. And the gray ones only seem to appear on the left side of my head too. But I found some orange hairs today. At first I thought I saw it wrong, but yeah....i had several orange hairs in my head. Doesn't really stand out, but orange? Although I had some orange hairs in my beard on occasion (when it actually got long enough to see.....I don't grow facial hair fast. Who only has to shave once a week....this guy does.).

Lights. I counted all the Lights I pass on the way to work while biking. Red lights. I counted 47 potential red lights that I bike under on the way to and from work. that is more than 5 lights per mile. And since it only takes me 30 some odd minutes to get to work that mean I bike under a more than one light a minute. That's a shit ton of lights (for some reason just now I wanted to use the phrase 'shit ton').

Lastly I have this large bag of Godiva chocolates. I am not a chocolate candy fan. Its just sitting here in my apartment. I'm going to put it in the freezer. I have no idea what to do with it. I got it from work.

In my zeal for mindless entertainment tonight I put in a Jason Statham movie. And it got me thinking. Is there really any difference between any of his movies. Its fucking Jason Statham. They're all the same action mind numbing crap. Its good mind numbing crap. Don't get me wrong....but its mind numbing crap. Action crap. Kind of like Vin Diesel movies. Its the stuff where you can walk away from fifteen minutes and come back and not have missed much. So my doing laundry didn't affect the enjoyability of the movie at all. More on laundry in a minute.

I had a series of bizarre dreams Saturday night and Sunday morning. For the most part they were dreams about moving my car. Background story needed to understand the dreams is that I was not at my own place. And as far parking where I was, street parking wasn't available between 3 am and 6 am (how bizarre is that?). So before going to bed I had to move my car to a 24 hour metered parking lot (also...I haven't seen one of those before. Most meters I see stop on weekends or in the late evening). So I pumped the meter full of quarters to get me until 11 a.m. so I could sleep in. So that's the back story.

All night I had these dreams that I went out to move my car. Vivid and realistic. I'd wake up thinking I'd already moved my car (for some reason I woke up a lot that night...morning...whatever). I did eventually move my car and then go back to sleep (it was a long night). But I still had the dreams about moving my car. And then I had one about my necklace. I really like having my necklace on. I mean I made it myself out spare parts from other such jewelry. So I try to always wear my necklace. Saturday night I forgot to put my necklace on before going out. Bugged me all night. And then Sunday morning I had a really vivid dream and realized I was wearing my necklace. And then realized I was dreaming (I remember the shock moment of realization...."I'm dreaming....I should wake up now.") and then I woke up.

As for the more part. And the laundry part. Well I'm doing laundry now. PJ's dead to me. Not really. But...well.....nah.....Enough of that.

I had a pretty good weekend. Considering that Friday I was pretty livid, for various reasons. Alright. For one reason. But I won't go into that. That was Friday, and I spend my night in having a beer and relaxing.

Saturday I wrote about. Felt great after my bike ride. Went to the park to hammock and read. Really to hammock and sleep. I wasn't afraid of anyone trying to steal my book, and pretty sure I'd notice if someone tried to remove my cellphone since I was listening to music from it through my headphones. Plus it was the middle of the day and the park was packed. But hammock was wonderful.

I had called Dani to see what she was up to. I had told her earlier in the week I wanted to be a better friend. I've never had friends that were girls, unless they were significant others of friends. Really...never just hung out with a friend that was a girl. And when I first got my job at Kindercare Dani wanted to be friends right away. So I have few friends out here and Dani really wants to hag out. In the last couple weeks, months really I haven't made an effort to see her or hang out. She lives about 25 minutes away on the other side of Cleveland.

So I told her earlier in the week I'd make more of an effort. So when I called her on Saturday she asked if I wanted to come out to where she lives and help her garden. I told her I'd just gotten to the park and was going to relax, but would be out. By the time I got out there (two hours later) she had just gotten back from a street fair (something like that) and brought me a funnel cake. Mmmmmmm funnel cake.

We watched Along Came Polly, and then headed over a to one of her friends to play some poker. It was fun. Although I was surrounded by people who smoked. I can tolerate some smoke, but it gets overwhelming after a while. But it was good to just be out. I got home at around 2 and passed out cold. After a shower to wash away the smoke that is.

Today I spent the day cleaning my bike up. I ran to the bike store and got a chain cleaner kit. $32 bucks. Cleaned my chain good. Looks brand new. I tightened the brake cables (both front and back) and cleaned the bike in general. I had to run back to the store to get some chain lubricant. So I lubed the chain up after being cleaned. Next goal is to tighten up, clean, and adjust the gear cables. I have to read up on that a little bit.

Its fun fixing up my bike. I like it. Makes me feel good. Especially considering how much I use my bicycle lately. Good hobby. I'm currently making chicken noodle soup. Mmmmmmm. And I just ate a can of peas. Although other than one egg this morning that is all I have eaten today. Sooo....back to soup.

And here. Funniest cartoon I have seen in a long time. Its all about cheating on a test. Here you go.

I am a fan of Pierogies.

I like the mini ones. I usually saute them in a pan in butter or olive oil. Lately I've started coating them with a mixture of chilli powder, olive oil, and franks hot sauce. It's freaking good. I dip them in Blue Cheese dressing after. Fantastic and I highly suggest everyone try them.

Man my ideas rule. Except I got this one off the back of the box. But I read those directions like a pro.

Its not even one in the afternoon yet and here's what I've accomplished today:

Dream entry.
Washed dishes.
Swept kitchen.
Crap duty (aka cleaned the litter box).
Put clean clothes away.
Made bed.
Showered.
Biked 15.5 miles.
Vacuumed living room.


That's the order too. I don't know why I felt the need to shower before I biked, but I did. Now for another shower and some breakfast. And maybe I'll head to the park for a nap on my hammock. I'm pooped already.

I don't remember all the details for this one, but there was an old chinese lady in it staring at me using an electric toothbrush. I don't seem to remember her having any teeth though. The only other thing I remember is climbing up a fire escape outside a building in a city. It was raining.

I'm off for a morning bike ride to start the day. I don't have much else going on so I figure its a good way to start my nothing today.

I had a craving for pudding yesterday. So tonight I bought some. French Vanilla pudding. Soooooo good. That's all for the pudding part.

Now for the classic part. I just shut off the tv and heard creepy classical piano music. It took me a minute or two to figure out that it was coming from the next apartment, but it doesn't change the fact that subtle, low, creepy piano music is....well creepy. Or at least was creepy for me before I realized where it was coming from.

Stupid morning rain. I have decided I cannot bike to work in the rain. I can't show up soaking wet and dirty at work, since there are no showers there to use. Its just frustrating to want to bike to work and not be able to. Especially when the weather clears up in the afternoon and is gorgeous. Today, at least I can add being chilly outside to the list of unable to bike. Chilly and wet is a step towards sickness I'd like to avoid.

Another bizarre dream last night. I was President Bush, but not really. It was more from an outside angle view. I was air dropped into a plastic raft and floated downstream. When I got where we were going we went down this path to a military camp. While heading there the army was escorting me the whole time. I see a flock of birds swooping down at me from really high up and then I see that one bird is a plane. They start shooting at us and I see the two people in front of me die. I pick up their guns and start firing at the plane. It is now close enough that I can the people I'm killing. I see them fall from the plane dead and see the plane turn away.

When I make it to the camp I see and Australian reporter there. He has come from his main area of Africa to report here and interview me. I inspect the reporting camp he had set, strange leaves, a little fire. I find he has a small pig there he plans to roast with me. I'm all excited to roast the pig with him. Excited enough that when he turns away I take it out and try to start roasting it myself. I go upstairs after I can't roast it (we're by my house now) and try to enlist some aid. I get a friend, or my wife, or someone to help me. When we get back downstairs I discover that my children have already sliced up the pig and started to cook it.....

Then I wake up. It a bizarre dream for many reasons. President Bush (I'm certainly not him); Killing people (never down that); Australian reporter; small pig (I don't eat pork); Wife/friend/whoever (not married); and children (I have no kids that I know of). But it was another vivid lifelike dream. A chunk of it did occur from a third person perspective, but that doesn't make it any less realistic. A while ago my friend told me my dream were too strange and I may need help. I don't agree with that, but man have my dreams taken a weird turn lately.

I had this really strange dream last night.

I was training for something. Like I was going to be Batman or something. The tasks kept getting harder and harder, but then I had to fight someone. It was Christian Bale. Not Batman but Christian Bale. I was going to be Batman, but that's just what it seemed like. I was winning this fight. Things were getting bloody though, and weirdly enough I was enjoying it a lot. Suddenly he bite my arm, but around the elbow. And I remember dark red blood gushing down my arm. I didn't scream, but was in pain, and shocked at all the blood. Amazed by it. And right then I woke up, and remember staring at my arm expecting to see the bite marks there.
________

I've had a slew of dreams over the last couple nights that have been very realistic and vivid like that one lately. In one I was setting a table. But each step (say putting out cups) the dream would start over and I would be surprised to find the cups already out. It went in order, dream after dream until the whole table was set. In another I was running in the middle of the night, it was cloudy, and the roads were wet like it had just rained. I was running down a paved path, or maybe a country road. It was bizarre. There are more, but those are the ones most memorable.

I hate Axe. More specifically I hate the entire line, brand, and image they put out. Use this body spray...girls will love you. They will flock to you....blah blah blah blah. Its a high school boy's dream. In fact I had to take the sprays away from 6th grade boys repeatedly last year when they would spray enough in the halls that you could taste it. Disgusting. Awful. Hate it.

However. And this is a giant however....Axe Recovery Shower Gel with "invigorating electrolytes" is amazing. It doesn't make me feel any cleaner than any other shower stuff, but man does it wake you up. It just has a refreshing smell that wakes me right up. Kind lime-ish, if that makes any sense. I think I discovered a few years ago when I got a small travel size thing of it for Christmas. My parents put silly little things like that in our stockings and believe it or not they are useful and great gifts.

So as I was saying, Axe is awful. I hate it. I hate their commercials. I hate their body spray. But man do I like their recovery shower gel.

I went shopping yesterday. I spent just over $100. I have not spent that much money in one day in a long time. However it was splurging on random crap for myself. Let's go over the list shall we.

- $17 for a new bicycle tire
- $6 for a tube for said tire
- $10 for underwear (I needed some athletic underwear...last thing I need is to chaff biking to work)
- $8 for new socks (they've seemed to disappear over the last year)
- $1 reusable grocery bag (I've gotten behind these lately. They rock.)
- $1.40 for a new shower sponge thingie
- $1.75 for bar soap (Dial, I need bar soap for my face. I also use a wash clothe on my face, can't use that sponge thingie for my face.)
- $3.50 for body wash gel (Axe....I'll say more on this later.)
- $10.40 for new razors (Stupid shaving....I hate its necessity)
- $3.60 for toothpaste (Crest Pro-health... best toothpaste ever)
- $3.60 for a new toothbrush (Oral-B Cross Action... I like it better than the electric ones)
- $1 for a small spray bottle (to use on Oscar when he attacks Angelo... he's only playing, but Angelo doesn't appreciate it)
- $1 for a toothbrush travel case (I've been brushing my teeth after lunch at work. I can.... so why not... plus it feels good)
- $3.80 for a four pack of Kleenex (it is almost summer..... windows open..... my nose will be running)
- $14 for a new bike pump (I needed one that I can attach to my bike instead of having to carry one in my bag)
- $5.70 for a small bike pack that fits under the seat (I wanted something for keys and small objects when I bike. Not too mention a patch kit and tools.)
- $1.10 for Miracle Grow (I have two plants that have been with me since 2003.... they've never had food or new soil so they deserve it.)

There you go. $100+ of shopping in one day. Nothing that is unnecessary or unwarranted. Nothing that won't be put to use immediately. I feel alright about spending that much. Felt good. Hell....I even put back the Skittles I was going to buy. And I love me some Skittles.