Aww, Jeez.

Hey y'all,

It's turning into one of those weeks where stuff just keeps piling up. It's getting fuckin' exhausting.

Had a decent enough weekend, all-in-all: My house and sanity both managed to survive my daughter's 6th birthday party relatively unscathed. No small feat, mind you, when said party involved nearly 20 4-6 year old children. Luckily, we hired a Mad Scientist to put on a little science and chemistry show for the kids, and this cute little 21-year old Chemistry Major entertained the cherubs for nearly 2 1/2 hours. The older ones were completely enthralled, while the younger ones were moderately entertained but no real trouble. So huge kudos to the Mad Scentist.

Sunday was Sunday school/church/shopping/returning stuff/yet more shopping day. It was over almost before I realized it: Yet another one of those "Hey! Where the hell did my weekend go?" type of weekends. Ugh.

Monday, started the day on a high-note: Blew my back out while doing squats at the gym. Guess 360 is my limit without a belt (or at least without paying MUCH closer attention to my form), cause while my legs were doing fine at 400, my lower back totally freaked at the end of my second set. Wasn't even close to failure yet, but all of a sudden WHAMMO! Not so much pain as a sudden "wrong" feeling of something moving from where it should be to where it shouldn't be. Don't think anything is actually seriously injured: Feels more like a spasm or mild strain, no sharp pain or tingling, and no sensitivity along my spine: it's all in the muscles. But since it's square in the middle/right side of my lower back it's WAY fucking' uncomfortable. Hard to sleep, can't lift, can't run, sitting at my desk is just annoying, etc. Lot's of Ben-Gay, lots of heating pad time. At least I can do stationary bike and elliptical runner. If I can't get SOME exercise in I'll go nuts.

Tuesday, we got the first set of kindergarten testing results for Miranda. Basically, they test on all of the basic skills that they are supposed to have mastered by the end of the year. Miranda scored in the upper 80%'s -- not surprising, she's smart as a whip. Still, now we're worried about her being properly encouraged and focused at school. Me and my wife were both classic "really smart, really bored" kids in school, and it got us both into plenty of jams over the years. So, we'll need to talk to the teacher about how she's handling this stuff. Gilmore Girls Tuesday night, and my desire for hardcore Luke/Lorelei sex is thwarted. Shit, they didn't even kiss! Considering the fairly profound amount of pain I feel in my lower back a TV-tryst was as close as I'd be getting to sex, and yet they DENY me this small pleasure? Agh!

My mom also notified me that she had spoken with my step-sister and there was "news." Now, my step-sister is a bit of a... well... let's be generous and call her a "work in progress." She's 30, married and divorced once already, living in upstate NY in a trailer with a guy she married just before he headed off to Irzq (he's back now). He's got 3 kids from his 2 previous marriages, one of whom is 15 and pregnant, another of whom has already run into trouble with drugs of some sort or other, and the third of whom is young and sweet and getting really, really damaged by all of this.

Oh, and my step-sis is 5 months pregnant by this guy. Somewhere around 3 years ago she decided that what she really, really needed to make her life complete was a baby. Sadly, she didn't decide this while she was married to her husband, who was a jerk but at least he was an employed jerk who wanted kids and who would have at least been a source of child support. Instead, she decides that kids are what she needs while living with the current loser. I guess this is that biological imperative that people talk about: Trumps all reason, apparently.

Well, the latest news is that, of course (and this should come as no surprise given the joker's history), Dale is cheating on her. Has a girlfriend on the side, apparently has had her on the side since he went to Iraq. So now, we're REALLY hoping that she'll finally withdraw from thsi bottom of the barrel place she's gotten herself into and move home to be with her mom so she has some help with the kid. Or moves here to Texas where she has other family around who can give her a hand. But who knows what she'll do. Her incredibly bad decision-making skills are the main quality that she inherited from her stupid-as-fuck father (my step-father. Boy, is that another post in waiting...) and I have to say that I have absolutely no idea what she'll do next. It's unreal.

And now it's Wednesday. Back is marginally better: scored some muscle relaxants from Mom last night (cyclobenzaprime?) which seem to have helped a bit. Was able do half an hour on the stationary bike this morning, followed by a nice long soak in the jacuzzi. Still sore and achey and generally "wrong" feeling, but at least I can get confortable, so that's good.

Big night o' TV ahead -- my TiVo is going to drop dead from exhaustion. We've got Lost (AWESOME premiere -- let's see how it follows up on it's promise), Smallville, The Apprentice, and Wife Swap (startlingly entertaining, although it's hard to say how long the fun will last) all in one night. Aside from Gilmore Girls and Monster House, that's pretty much every show I watch, all in one night. Should free up plenty of time for playing Zelda on Gameboy.

OK, this particular entry is even more rambly that usual. Time to pull the plug.

Mood: Meh
Now Playing: Lloyd Cole & the Commotions, "1984-89"