Where did summer go?

How in the hell is it already the end of August? I can't believe how fast summer went by and am already dreading winter. I don't want to face another winter in the mountains without four wheel drive, but it looks like I will, unless something pretty cheap comes along before then.

Em finished her first week of college last Friday, I drove up there to take her some of her mail and we had great afternoon. Sushi and sashimi at our favorite, Sushi King, and then fantastic desserts at Standard Diner. They were featured on Diners, Drive ins, and Dives on Food Network a while back and the food is great, my only problem with the place is that it's a little too upscale perhaps to be considered a true diner. Our water had cucumber in it, which sent both of us into a laughing fit in front of our bemused waiter. If you don't get it (and he didn't), just watch The Other Guys. Funny stuff.

Then of course we had to go to the mall, where I was unfortunately too full to hit the Hot Dog on a Stick in the food court. Fuckin' love that place.

But no corn dogs or fried cheese for me for a while now though. I have officially hit my heaviest weight and that with my 25 year high school reunion just around the corner. I'm not even a hundred percent on going, but I probably will and I'm not going like this. So, last night I went to a going away for a friend and had enough to drink for the next month and a half and today started on my mission to create a new Eric. Or at least get some semblance of old Eric back. The Eric that I found existed after my first year in the army, the Eric that I found while a bicycle cop...in other words, the Eric that is somewhere under all this fat, Hot Eric.

This morning, after waking up in a strange bedroom (alone), I went in to the cafe, did the weekend deposits and then left, came home and got my bike (I thought) back into riding condition after about three years of its leaning against the wall, and started on what I assured myself would be a short warm up ride, just to get loosened up and conditioned for longer rides as I progressed. I soon realized that the handlebars were loose, rolling back and forward, and the new discolored swollen thingy on my wrist started acting up pretty quickly, and since I'm way too cool to have some wide ass cushy seat for my wide cushy ass, my ass was hurting pretty badly too.

Pain is weakness leaving the body. That which doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Arbeit Macht Frei. All these bullshit bumper stickerisms went through my head as I pedaled on further and further. That second one is really stupid...there's all kinds of shit that may leave one alive, but weaker in every sense of the word, like an accidental lobotomy with a post hole auger, for instance.

Finally, ninety minutes, 12 miles, one sunburn, one close call when the handlebars rolled while I was trying to downshift, some minor wrist discomfort and some major ass discomfort later I was back at the house feeling weak but satisfied. I'm going to bed tonight with the intent of doing it again in the morning, but to be truthful it may take a couple of days before I can perch on that seat again.

But that's not all. Also only drank water and a couple diet root beers today. Lunch was spinach salad, dinner was tuna steak which I coated in pepper and sauteed to a medium rare and more salad while watching/listening to It's Always Sunny....

Let's see how tomorrow goes.

Cafe Quote

"Jesus is really starting to disappoint me. The dishwasher, not the savior." - Eric

P.S.

I almost forgot, Hot Tub Time Machine is waaaaaaaaay funnier than I expected, so if you haven't seen it...

Still not dead...

I have sucked as a blogger and as a friend this summer and I would like to say sorry about all that.
I have read most of your blogs, still catching up a few, but I haven't left many comments or written anything myself.

I know everyone wants to know about Oklahoma, I made another trip back there last month and stayed for almost a week, but I don't see it ending well and I really don't feel like going into all that yet. After a few months it will be pretty funny though, so let's wait 'til then.

In other news, the twins are moving out in less than two weeks and I will live alone for the first time in my 43 years. I still don't know if I'm thrilled or terrified, so I'm not making any life-changing decisions right now (beyond getting a new tattoo, pretty sure I'm doing that) which is why I don't think Oklahoma is going to end well. She's pushing me to move back there, which I was thinking about doing in a couple of years anyway, but she wants me there now. Did I mention she has an 18 month old? Did I mention that the 18 month old, the one day I spent around her, the day before I left to come home, threw three bloody-murder tantrums, one of which was reported in the DC area as a "mild geologic event"?

There are several other reasons why this probably won't end well, but that's enough for now.

Texting an ex, while ignoring the what could be next, while thinking about a never-was. How fucked up is my life?

Hi everyone, I just got back into town again after a ridiculously busy week, and hopefully will get caught up on reading everyone's blogs and doing some writing of my own very soon.

Thank God...actually, the Romans, I guess...that May is almost over. I said the same thing about April, and March, and will probably feel the same about June when all is said and done, but right now I am looking forward to a new month.

May was full of lots of good things though...although at the time they were happening they didn't seem so good...my kids are all "adults" now, which hasn't really changed a thing yet, but does still give a strange sense of relief. Maybe someday soon they will start paying their own cell phone bills, that would be a real relief.

At Em's graduation I had to spend time with my ex-wife, their step-mom, and it was...ok. It had been over a year since I had last seen her, and I didn't get that punched-in-the-chest feeling this time. Her husband avoided me, which was nice, because though I'm man enough not to hit him, I'm not quite man enough to act like I like him either.

Then I found out that Sam has a boyfriend. She had been a little distant lately, not calling or stopping in as much. The last time she was in the cafe, I mentioned something I wanted to do...I don't remember what...and she said she wanted to as well and that we should do that. She does that a lot, "We should do that..."

"Okay, I'm taking off Friday if you want to go then."

"No, I can't Friday" she said. "I've got to go to Santa Fe for...something."

I didn't ask what. Two weeks later a mutual friend posted a picture of Sam smiling broadly with her head in the lap of a guy I don't know. Someone had commented, "They're great together, such a happy couple." I have to agree, they do look good together, and she really looked happy.

Maybe that's the "we" she meant all along.

I'm not going to mention it, I'm just not going to try anymore. It won't change one thing in our relationship...we'll both continue living our lives, reaching out to each other when we're both single and feel the need, and only then. That's the way it's always been.

In the restaurant world, Brett decided that Cafe Z couldn't make it and was going to close and try to find a job in town. I had, the month before, signed everything over to him just to get it off my books, and had written off any hope of seeing any of my investment returned. And I didn't really care about that. I didn't help him start it to get rich, I wanted to do something to help him out.

But a month later he's ready to call it quits, and though I don't agree, I really don't have a say in it anymore. So, I think about it for about an hour and call him back and offer him his job back here. The more I think about it the more sense it makes, and it should work out for the best.

I did get my investigator's license and am committing some money from the restaurant to get that business started, but the start-up is nothing compared to what it takes to get a restaurant up and running, and once that's done the overhead is almost nothing, and the money can be pretty good.

So, we'll see how that goes...still not sure how I want to do that, I'm not at all okay with handing out information to people without knowing how they plan to use it. I also really don't want to do infidelity cases...but on the other hand, people should know if their spouse might be bringing something home from his fishing trip besides tall tales.

I'll let you know.