Past lives

I ran into a guy that I used to know yesterday.  I won't go so far as to actually say that we were friends, although for a time we probably were. But it was more of a "drinking buddy" sort of relationship. We lived/worked in the same town and hit the same joints. It wasn't a great time in either of our lives, so we definitely spent way too much time and money in bars.

We would occasionally get together for golf or something, but he wasn't the kind of friend that I would invite into my home or set my sister up with. Just a guy that I knew who was sometimes fun to be around. Sometimes he wasn't fun to be around. Like when he got too drunk and developed the superpower to start bar brawls. That's not my gig.

One day he ran afoul of some legal trouble and he needed some money. Despite my better judgment, I lent him some even though I had real doubt about his ability to pay me back. Basically, to borrow from a scene in A Bronx Tale, I calculated the amount of money I could afford to part with for deducting someone from my life who I really didn't need or want. It worked too. Over the next year or so, I would run into him and he would either slip me some cash or sheepishly make an excuse to get going. Sometimes I would see him buying drinks for folks at bars and I would just turn a cold shoulder.

Although he paid me back a large portion of what he borrowed, he never settled the full tab. He moved a few towns away and I heard some stuff about him here and there. I even ran into him once or twice in the ensuing years. Mostly just a "howyadoin" moment. Or I would see him first and go the other way. Maybe he saw me too and did the same thing. I have no idea. I know that it was or it seemed uncomfortable for both of us.

But yesterday, there was no avoiding it. We were on top of each other before we realized it and there was no way around it. And you know what? After a brief hesitation, I had no bad feelings about him at all. He seemed to be doing well and I'm happy for him. We caught up for maybe two minutes, then I excused myself and went on my way. I don't know if he remembers that he never quite paid me back fully, or if he even cares. All I know is that I didn't care anymore.

I told him to "have a good one" before we parted ways. Mostly, between friends, that means have a good day. Maybe until the next time you see them. But I meant it as have a good life, because I hope he does.

He's gone from a guy that I actively avoided to just a guy that I used to know. I'd like to think that's a healthier way of dealing with...life.

Hi. How are you?

I was reprimanded by a dude who smells like a wet dog yesterday for abandoning ye olde Verdant Dude since the holidays.  That wasn't my plan.  Nor was I planning on a specific timetable for rejoining South Blogistan.  I guess his little nudge worked because here I am.

Now what?

I hope everyone had a healthy and wonderful Holiday season.  Mine was a bit fragmented.  Gia went down to Charleston to see her family before Christmas, but I stayed local to see my family.  But I made it down to SC in time for New Year's Eve and Day, so we just celebrated double then.  All good.  We've both been back for about a week now, but we still haven't really settled into a routine.  Other than watching Sons of Anarchy marathons every night.

Much like me with this here blog.

I didn't make any New Year's resolutions.  They never work out too well for me.  But I have promised myself that I would do my best to move forward.  Move forward from what?  Well...everything.  Work, family, life.  A lot of times I get into these ruts where I just remain static.  Or worse, I start back-tracking.  So a generic "move forward" is something I am striving for in the new year.  Let's see how that goes.

I hope I can fill this space with interesting posts, or at least posts that don't make you want to vomit.  That's a thin line I'm constantly walking here.  I'll also try to post some more on our collaborative food blog.  I just posted a little something over there yesterday.  Then there is the radio show.  Now that the holidays are over, hopefully we can get back to a regular schedule in the Cornfield.  I'm wondering if Sunday nights aren't really the best time for this thing.  I'll keep you posted.

Other than that...I got nothing right now.  I hope you are all enjoying the New Year!

Oh, one more thing.  I got this package of old photos from when I was a kid over the holidays.  I may post a few of them here and there.  Below is one of them that I sent to a friend and she did some kind of clip-art thing with it.  It was from a cell phone picture that I took of the original, so it's not very clear.  Except, of course, for the rugged good looks.

Behold The Verdant Dude at age 6 or so in all his glory!!!

Charlie Bucket called...he wants his hair back.

Winning

I've got a deeply hidden competitive streak that I'm not very proud of.

Nobody likes losing, but I really hate losing. With a capital HATE. And it doesn't have to be anything important either. Playing ping-pong or pool or darts against a friend. I want to win...badly. I'm a gracious loser, and I don't have a lot of skill at any of those things.  But I want to win...badly.

Back when I played a lot of golf, I would agonize for hours after a missed putt on the 18th hole that let a buddy of mine beat me in a round of golf. I had friends who could play the game and be happy with one great shot or one great round, but I usually was disappointed if I didn't come in with the low round of the group. I was disappointed a lot back in those days.

Back when I was in college a bunch of friends would play pick-up basketball games nearly every day. I hadn't played much basketball at home or at school before college, but I picked up the game pretty quickly.  I couldn't jump for shit, and I was usually the slowest guy on the court. But I had good hand-eye coordination which meant I could handle the ball and shoot fairly well.

One of my friends had been playing ball his whole life. He played on various teams through junior high and high school.  He was no star, but he could play. And whenever we got together, he always seemed to wind up on the other team. And when it came to matching up, he started nearly every game by guarding me. He was smaller than me, but he was strong and quick. I had a helluva time guarding him, and we battled.  More than once, one of us wound up on the gym floor after a hard non-called foul or a shove to the lower back while trying to rebound. And afterward, win or lose, I was always exhausted.

Pretty much the only fights I ever got into in my life happened on the basketball court. And pretty much the only real injuries I've had occurred there as well. I had my shoulder dislocated badly, my ankles are shot from countless sprains. And one time I caught an elbow above my left eye that split open my brow and required a bunch of stitches. An elbow that was thrown with intention, by the way. Not by this particular friend. Well, not that time at least.

Frustrated one day, I asked him why he usually matched up against me during these games, and he laughed.  He said it was because he knew that I was the only one on the court who wanted to win as badly as he did. And why bother playing if you weren't playing against someone who wanted to win as much as you?  I didn't realize until then that sometimes I let my hidden competitive streak show as often as I did.

I don't play a lot of sports nowadays, and this post isn't really about golf or basketball.

It's just something that's been on my mind today for a totally different reason.

Man, I hate losing.

Weekend Recap

Here's a brief rundown of what I did over the weekend.

Friday night:

• Took a hilarious picture of Bootsy sleeping with a big smile on his face. And we watched all the television shows that we had recorded from Thursday evening. Then Gia went to bed and I watched Fringe.

Saturday:

• Went to the local Pickle Festival with our besties. You read that right. A pickle festival.  And it was...glorious. Had a pickle on a stick and bought two bagfuls worth of pickles and related pickled...stuff.  I wrote about it once before on this here blog. Way back here.  Check it.
• Then we all headed over to our new favorite local restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner. I reviewed the joint over at our food blog here. I knew what I was having before I even walked into the joint. A big burger smashed between two grilled cheese sandwiches.  The server called it "the heart attack". But then the manager grinned and said, "If you want to do it up right, then add a fried egg and some bacon." Which sounded too good to pass up.  Which I didn't. Neither did my buddy. It was absurdly delicious, and exactly what the doctor ordered. Well, not an MD, but you know... Here's what it looked like:

• After spending about 4 hours at the restaurant (seriously), we headed back to the house for a mini-ramble and a sudden surprisingly awesome sunset. So sudden and surprising that I didn't get to take a picture of it. But it was really cool. Trust me.

Sunday:

• Spent most of the day napping in bed. I had been fighting off a bit of a stomach issue for several days, and the excesses of Saturday certainly didn't help.

So was your weekend filled with as much whimsy as mine?  More? You kids are awesome!

Two quick reminders

Besides this here joint, I've got two other places you can sometimes find me on the internets.  Well, three if you count Twitter...but I don't really use that all that much other than to bother people.

1. Just Talking to the Cornfield - The Colonel and I are still doing our mostly-weekly show.  We've strayed from our regular Sunday night time-slot at 9PM EST here and there, and it looks like it's going to be on more of a mid-week schedule going forward.  So if you can't find us live, you can always listen to the replay on Talkshoe or iTunes.  Just try not to fall in love with me when you finally hear my dulcet tones.  I don't even know what that means.

2. Simmer, Sip, Share - The collaborative food/booze/whatever blog I set up several months ago hasn't quite taken off like I hoped.  I'm hoping this post will nudge those who agreed to participate into, ya know, participating.  While we wait for that, ahem, check out my latest post for a vegetarian treat with a Mediterranean twist.  A recipe I kinda followed from a wonderful site called Smitten Kitchen.  Turned out great, I understand.  I wouldn't know about that since I had a burger instead. :)

Don't leave me out there in the cold, kids!  It's brutal out there.

Me

You know, in all this time, I don't think I've ever posted a real photo of me.  I've posted pictures with my hand or a Lebowski action figure in front of my face, but never an actual photo.  Let's remedy that, shall we.

What are you looking at?

Disgusted yet?  Yeah, me too.  That's my most recent favorite hat, by the way.  A straw porkpie job that is perfect on a hot summer day.

We were at the Bar at Husk in Charleston, SC.  A really great joint that I am going to review for y'all sometime in the near future.  In the meantime, enjoy my review of The Tattooed Moose in Charleston while you gaze longingly into my bright blue eyes.  You know you want to.

The Stand

I re-watched the television mini-series adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand last week, and I was struck by a few things.

1. It looked really cheap, even for television. It was 1994, after all.
2. There was some truly horrendous acting going down.*
3. I still enjoyed the hell out of it.

I know.  Numbers 1 and 2 don't usually add up to number 3 in cases like this, but for me they did.  Maybe it's because The Stand is one of my all-time favorite books.  I said it.  And it's not even my favorite Stephen King book.  What's my Top 5 Stephen King novel list look like?  Glad you asked.

5. Carrie
4. The Dead Zone
3. The Shining
2. The Stand
1. 'Salem's Lot

The more astute Stephen King fan might notice that those were the first 5 novels that he published.  Or, to be more factual, the first 5 novels he published AS Stephen King.  He snuck in Rage and The Long Walk as Richard Bachman in between some of those, but really...those are his first 5.  Not in the order I listed above.  Carrie was first, followed by 'Salem's Lot, The Shining, The Stand and The Dead Zone.

It's not like I haven't liked anything that he published after those first 5.  I have.  It was real close to making the list, and it's probably a dead heat between it (hehe) and Carrie for 5th place.  But I read It after having read Peter Straub's wonderful Floating Dragon, and they seemed a bit too similar to me at the time.  I've re-read it a few times, but it just doesn't do it for me as much as those other 5. 

I don't know why, but I stopped reading Stephen King around the time Dolores Claiborne came out in 1993.  I had read Gerald's Game just before that and I really disliked it.  But that's the way I am with some things in my life.  Just drop it like it's hot.  Done.  I haven't read any of the Dark Tower books, even though they've been recommended to me by dozens of people.  I tried reading the sequel to The Talisman (co-written with Peter Straub), Black House...but it didn't take. I did read Cell a few years back, but it left me longing for more.

It left me longing for The Stand.  I'm gonna have to re-read it again soon.  It's about time.

*The culprits? Corin Nemec, Laura San Giacomo, Molly Ringwald (ugh!), Matt Frewer and Shawnee Smith.  But they were offset by the great acting jobs put in by Gary Sinise, Rob Lowe, Jamey Sheridan, Miguel Ferrer and Ray Walston.  Even the guy who played Larry Underwood was pretty good, even if I've never really seen him in anything else.

Three things

1. I spent about an hour last night listening to the soundtrack from the movie Judgment Night from 1993.  "Judgment" is a word that I spell incorrectly about 85% of the time.  It just seem wrong.  Anyway...the producers of the film wanted a mix of hardcore rock and rap, and what they got was glorious.  Artists like the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E., Faith No More, House of Pain, Helmet, De la Soul, Teenage Fan Club, Onyx and Biohazard to name just a few.  It was...awesome!  Man, 1993 was a fuckin' good year.

2. I watched Dinner for Schmucks last night.  It was supremely awful, and not in a good way.  But it reminded me that my favorite Beatles song is "The Fool on the Hill".  I mean, not by just a little either.  Total home run.  I really, really love that song.  And I haven't listened to it in forever, so thanks crappy movie!

3. Don't forget to tune in Sunday night at 9PM EST to Just Talking to the Cornfield.  I'll hate you forever if you don't show.  Seriously.

This is what my hate face looks like.  But older and grayer.

Note: No idea who that is in the image. Came from a random pro-Christian website, believe it or not. I choose not to give them a link.  Deal with it.