Random Thoughts #6

Since I've posted every day for a week now, mostly because I've had, in the words of Aaron from Swig Tooth, so much clutter in my head, might as well keep it going: This is not an entertainment blog. This is a multi-part blog. (That's a joke that nobody got. Man, when I can't even make fun of U2 I should just stop and realize my jokes are old. Like me.)

First: Driving through Youngstown after the Swig Tooth concert Friday night, I saw something that's made me glad I left. There was a man on bicycle on a 4-lane highway being chased by another guy on foot.

Guy on foot was holding a gun.

Running down the middle of this four-lane state highway (that's Route 7 in UpTown Youngstown, y'all.)

So guy on bike is trying to ride into the path of oncoming cars.

Why? Not sure. Maybe he couldn't ride a bike.

He was probably high on crack. Or Ripple. Or Boone's Farm.

And after nearly getting hit, twice, he finally hops off the bike.

The bike, however, keeps going into traffic.

Cars are dodging the bike and nearly hit the guy who was on the bike.

And the guy with the gun chasing him.

Me? I was in the other lane, originally sitting at a stop light, and watching this unfold while giving Kara the play-by-play on the phone. I was going the same direction as the bike. But in the proper lanes. And obeying the traffic laws.

Which as most people from Youngstown will tell you, rarely happens there.

Until I saw the guy with the gun.

And then like the bike, I wasn't stopping at red lights either.

Just send that ticket to me in the mail.

Secondly: To finalize my shitty week that was, turns out I now have a couple of people who are busy hating on me these days. For a couple of reasons. Not that I care. There are more than 6 billion people in the world. Most of them I'll never meet. But in my travels through life, I've met a lot of people. Many of them I don't care to meet again. Yet our paths keep crossing. By their choice.

(new content here if you're keeping score at home)

The first one was from a woman who gave me this line:

"I can't believe you didn't tell me."

Then all of the sudden she was telling me all about how sad she was and how much she was glad that Sue didn't quit, and how shocked she was when Sue said she was quitting in that meeting 'we were all at.'

Um, no, you weren't at that meeting. Don't revise history, you lying whore.

At one point, she was a semi-important person in my life.

Someone who did matter to me.

Someone who had a lot of pull. A lot of clout.

When my ex-wife and I were having problems, I'd spend a lot of time talking to this woman. She was divorced. She had kids. I talked to her about it to see what insight she could give me from a woman's perspective of having gone through it. Then as soon as she got a new boyfriend, she wasn't able to email me, or talk, or anything ... so I pretty much forgot about her. I hate 'friends' like that.

And when she started bitching at me last week because that I never told her, my response to her was, "Oh, you told me not to email you because your new boyfriend is a jealous guy."

She had another call. I have yet to hear back.

The second one ... a guy ... has been nothing but a dick to me the last three or four times he's initiated conversation. He'd say hi. Ask how I was, what's up, blah blah blah, then ask me for something. He's one of those guys. They're your friend when they need something.

So I finally asked him this after the latest instant message:

"Dude, why do you email me, or send me an instant message, then act like a massive penis when I don't offer to help you.

"You act like we're best friends, because you need something. Let's be real here: We've talked two times since we left school. Both of those were because you needed something and didn't want to pay for it. And the conversation ended with me telling you I didn't have the software you were looking for, and then me telling you that I use VNC from RealVNC.com.

"That's it.

"And yes, we did go to the same school together for two years, but we didn't socialize there, either. We had a couple of classes together. And in those classes, you did nothing but fuck with us on every project we did. AND were the reason for the whole blowup with Sue in the first place.

"So no, I don't want to talk to you. I'm not going to tell you anything for the sake of telling you someone else's business.

"And no, we weren't friends, as your "I thought you would have told me. I thought we were friends" line implies when I told you that I knew months ago and didn't tell anyone."

I have yet to hear a response. Then again, I don't often get responses to emails like that.

I haven't lost sleep, lost a second worrying, or made any change in my life because of them.

But hey, they can't all be winners, can they kid?