Weekend!
Holy cow, is it Friday already?
Indeed it is.
Recently, on the twitters, our own Elizabeth Picciuto mentioned that she and her hubby found a sitter and they would be going on their first date in months and months and months. Jokingly, she asked which movie they should see and that was followed by quite a robust list of suggestions of really good dates to go on.
Part of the problem of dates, qua dates, is that they’re people doing something that they normally would *NOT* do. So, for example, if a usual Friday Night ritual involves everybody getting in the car and heading down to the malt shoppe for a burger and chocolate malt, the suggestion that you do something like go down to the malt shoppe but just the two of you is something that… well, it sounds like heaven to *ME*, but I can see how someone might say “that’s not that romantic”.
The best dates that I went on when I was a kid were usually variants on “roller skating at the rink” or “go to the 50’s diner and argue about metaphysics” (actually, that date didn’t end up that well). The absolute *BEST* dates tended to be something like “go out to dinner at a really cheap dinner place followed up by going to The Broadmoor and hitting the REALLY BIG EXPENSIVE RESTAURANT and ordering Baked Alaska (that cost as much as dinner for two at the previous place) and then walking around the pond” but if you’re not in Colorado Springs then that might not be an option. Though, of course, you might have a place in town that does Baked Alaska and a pond and you can just go there instead.
But that got me thinking, if Maribou and I had an evening all planned and then, suddenly, we found that we were free to do whatever we wanted… what kind of date would we go on?
I can see us saying something like “Want to watch one of our shows? Maybe two of them in a row?” and, if we wanted to make it *REALLY* romantic, we’d say “It could be a cheat night!” and then we’d order some forbidden foods and eat while we watched our shows.
But, in the back of my head, there’s the thought “this isn’t what dates used to be like… though, to be quite honest, if they were, maybe I’d have tried to date more.”
As it stands, Maribou and I have schedules this weekend that don’t overlap particularly so the date thing isn’t going to happen (just more chores, and writing blog posts for my Security Plus CRU’s and the usual grind) but there’s a part in the back of my head that says “I should take her on a date.”
Maybe next weekend.
So… what’s on your docket?
(Photo is “Footrace finish line, 1925” from the Seattle Municipal Archives, used under a creative commons license)
Well now I’m thinking of throwing my current plans out the window and going on a date. Too bad I turned that guy down yesterday.
Junior is with his father for the first time in a month, so I’m doing grown up things this weekend. Tonight my roommate and I are hitting a new wine bar. Tomorrow I’m getting a pedicure, shopping for new work clothes, and maybe I’ll clean the house after my ever important nap and trip to the gym. I should probably donate platelets, but I’m more interested in spoiling myself this weekend.Report
Dates with the boys!
Tonight is movie night. I picked up “Monsters University” and “Cars” from the library and Mayo will have his choice. We’ll make pizza and veg out on the couch.
Tomorrow, we’ll hit the gym and then I think I’ll take them to the Met. Mayo has gotten very interested in museums lately. I’d like to expose him to more art and I’m curious to see how he handles this sort of museum. Then we’ll head home for naps. If it isn’t snowing (WTF!), my sister will take the boys to the zoo. If it is, she’ll probably take Mayo to LegoLand while I blow raspberries on Little Marcus Allen’s tummy.
On Sunday, we’ll hit the gym again and run errands and hopefully get outside to play a good deal.
Dates? What are those?Report
My wife and I do not do a lot of typical “date stuff,” because that requires leaving the house, and we hate doing that.
Today, I am supposed to get a lot of stuff from Shadows of Brimstone, a board game that I supported in Kickstarter. Assuming I am able to get enough of the new miniatures assembled, we will probably try to give the new material a spin.
We also want to rewatch Wrestlemania, to see how it compares to having been there.Report
I really want to hear your take.
I left the show feeling happy but now I’m sitting here realizing that there are several little things that WrestleMania is supposed to accomplish:
1. finish major storylines from the last few months (if not year)
2. be the biggest ad in the world to get people to tune in next Monday night
3. set in motion storylines for the coming few months (if not year)
4. send the chumps home happy
There are probably a few more but those are the big ones.
It did the first one and the fourth one but… looking back, I don’t know that it did the second or third.
So I’d love to hear your thoughts after you’ve rewatched it.Report
My overall opinion of Wrestlemania is that a lot of stuff happened, including a few surprises, but it ultimately felt like nothing changed. I will ignore the preshow.
Zack Ryder won the IC title in the ladder match. It was a cool moment, but my gut told me it was just his Mania moment, and he would lose the title quickly. I was not surprised when Miz won it the next night.
Chris Jericho beat AJ Styles. Why kills Styles’ momentum? Did Jericho need a Mania win? Especially since they made AJ Styles the number 1 contender the next night. Wouldn’t he be a more convincing threat to Reigns if he beat Jericho?
League of Nations beat the New Day. The League of Nations declare that nobody on the roster is tough enough to defeat them. Three old guys who are two injured to have matches anymore come out and beat them up. Three old guys are tougher than anybody else in the roster. Yeah, I get the heels lie, but the connection was made in my mind. I doubt I am the only one. Also, it means the three old guys can beat the guys that beat the tag team champs. That does not make the champs look good.
Lesnar beat Ambrose in the street fight. I never expected anything else. However, I expected both guys to come out of this match looking better than they came in. I expected Ambrose to beat Lesnar with chairs and sticks and barbed-wire baseball bats, and a battered and bloody Lesnar to squeeze out a win because he is a Beast after a few near-falls. Instead, Ambrose never really looked like he might beat Lesnar. Instead, he was taunted the whole time, and his offense never seemed effective.
Charlotte retained the title, which is now the Women’s Championship, not the Diva’s. I liked the new belt. I did not have a problem with Charlotte retaining.
Undertaker beat Shane. The match was slow and plodding. Shane jumped off of something really high, because that’s what Shane does. Taker wins. I expected some surprise or twist from this match. Since Shane lost, none of the stipulations mattered. Also, he still got to control RAW for the last two weeks, so the stipulations really did not matter.
I thought the Battle Royale was a good way to introduce Baron Corbin. I was legitimately surprised when he won, and I look forward to seeing him on the main roster. It was still a filler match, and ultimately unimportant.
Rock beat Eric Rowan in 6 seconds. I have a feeling his movie commitment would not allow him to have an actual match, so this is what we got. However, as always, the Wyatts look like the monsters that are not scary, since they can never actually get the job done.
Finally, HHH beat Reigns. They tried to get heat on HHH by having Stephanie cut the insulting promo. However, the heat ended up on her, and the crowd still got behind The Game. Everybody new Reigns would get the title. I still expected some sort of twist here. When Stephanie got speared, and HHH ignored her to focus on winning the match, I thought it might be setting up for Stephanie to turn on her husband, but it went nowhere. Reigns was booed out of the building (though I believe the crowd was muted on the broadcast).
Storylines were finished. I am not sure that people went home happy. I did not feel like new storylines were set up. Wrestlemania felt more like a non-canon one-shot than a season finale. Overall, there were a lot of good matches on the card, but the show felt insignificant.Report
I was going to mow the yard and get in the kayak (elsewhere), but rain.
Kayaking it is!Report
My friend has improved. From a 5% chance to recover to something like an 75% chance.
Of course, the doctors don’t understand how he is still alive (his blood is thoroughly poisonous), and
he had surgery without anesthesia (all forms they tried failed). Cheerful doctors: “It’s a good thing we had you do the urine test earlier, otherwise you’d be peeing your pants by now!” All to the sound of a vacuum sucking gobs of fat out of him.
… and he may still lose the foot.Report
Fledermaus and I got in a bit of a tiff a while ago that boiled down to the different possible interpretations of the word “date.”
I hat gotten some free tickets to the symphony, and asked her it she’d like to go; she agreed. Several times over the intervening couple of weeks she forgot about that plan – asking “are we doing something on Saturday?” not necessarily making other plans. Which, fair enough, it wasn’t a big deal, it’s not like there was a bunch of prep work to do beforehand, and she’s less into orchestral music than I am.
Then the day before the concert we had a typical figure-out-the-weekend conversation, in which she said there was some thing she was planning to do the next evening – drinks with some friends she dances with or something.
I reminded her of the concert and said, approximately “It sure is hard to go on a date with you.” At which point, catastrophe.
I had meant date more in the direction of “agreement to do a specified thing together at a specified date, time, and place.” She had heard date in the direction of “special romantic evening of the sort we only get once every few months,” and so felt quite taken for granted – that if I wanted a date, I should have asked for a date, and then we’d have agreed on something that would be particularly special for both of us.Report
OT listening party tonight, accompanied by copious amounts of Scotch.
Saturday is bowling league night.
Sunday I jet off to Jacksonville to visit my son, who is interning there. Going from April snow showers to 80° might be too much for my system. I’m sure my pasty white Chicago legs might be too much for Floridians, but screw ’em, I’m wearing shorts.Report
OT listening party was fun tonight. Now I am staying up far too late singing Bastille songs… but the bills are PAID, for the first time since Paris. Tomorrow Dman’s wife C and I are making the trek to a tourist trap-esque town next to a beeyooooooooooooootiful park, to meet a friend for a weekend of binge watching Outlander and whatever other trouble we get up t – er, I mean, whatever wholesome activities we find to enjoy. We’re not coming home till late Sunday, I think, so that will pretty much be my whole weekend.Report
Drove up to Pikes Peak today. It is incredibly beautiful out here. The last couple of miles were white-knucklers, even though I’m normally very comfortable driving.
Jacksonville is in a bit of a cold snap right now. Highs in the lower 70s and lows in the low 50s.
Slade, if you like driving there are two patches of A1A that are great. One is south from Ponte Vedra to St. Augustine. The other is to go past Mayport and take the ferry across the St. Johns and from there to Fernandina.Report
Dude! You can see my house from there!Report
Had my first pen and paper game in what has to be over a year. (Our DM had a bad case of the ‘real life’ going on, and it was matched by several players).
And the session was lengthy and proved the old saw: It’s all fun and games until the Samurai loses his eye. (Stupid crit tables).
I had gone the entire session without a scratch. Then in short order I get enthralled (despite a magic artifact I carry precisely because I was so unhappy the last time someone did that. Oh, and a racial bonus. Stupid weird saves), thankfully don’t attack my party but DO stand there completely serene and happy with the world until a barheest eats my face.
Also, our dwarf cleric cast what have to have been the most BS spell in existence (celestial radiance, which does constant damage to any undead or evil outsiders within a large radius of whatever he cast it on) on his beard. Did I mention the spell lasted eight days at his level? He was like a nightlight that burned the undead.
Thankfully, the GM decided that entering a desecrated church formally dedicated to his own god was sufficient to douse the spell. (Our assassin was having to stay well behind the cleric, due to an unfortunate condition of his…)
So standard mix of fun and weird. 🙂Report