"rescue me..."

well it's 4am and i'm back on track with the 'normal' schedule time of updating the blog. it's been a while and a lot has happened to say the very least; so much, in fact, that i doubt i'll be able to really bring this beast fully up to speed. therefore, i will do my best to cover some stuff from the past week or so (of complete blog inactivity) and still stay up to date with the present...both of which i am sure you faithful readers were oh so concerned with.

i will take this opportunity to share an interesting comment i got from gwen referring to the lapse in entries as of late, at least i found it humorous:

"i kind of wonder what you guys did over the last couple days, but the 5 sentence blog update for the last 9 days really didn't give me much to work with... just thought I'd throw that out there..."

i don't know exactly why, but i found that humorous. we'll also eventually get to "club gwendoline" and why it's "the hypest spot on the internet"...

all that being said, it has been quite a while since a normal update, so here goes...with bullets:

- the season premiere of "Rescue Me" was tonight...this is a great show (dramedy about fire fighters in new york, starring Dennis Leary) and those of you who have not seen it should definitely rent the first two seasons on dvd and get up to speed on the 3rd...which just started today. the theme song, "C'mon C'mon" by the Von Bondies is also the ringtone for a couple of you...great song either way. download it.

anyway, its interesting what sorts of things create checkpoints or landmarks in memory and personal timelines. upon watching the opening titles of tonight's episode and listening to the music, i was immediately flashed back to this past summer, around july, when hal had told me about the show and highly recommended it. i was skeptical, but soon found myself renting all of the first season and watching them almost back-to-back. i also eventually got damon and james sucked into it as well. it was a very different time for me, and The Tank in general. it seems so long ago, but was only 11 months ago. it was even before the first tank party, and i was still in the process of moving and sorting a lot of random stuff out. either way, i had "Rescue Me" to get me through all the crap and insanity, and it was a welcome distraction to say the least. anyone else get flashed back like that at the sight or sound of a mere TV show or song? i figure it's a pretty common phenomenon.

hal, anandhi, and me at dominick's

watching the show today made me think about things similarly for the present...things have been somewhat crazy as of late, and the future is relatively uncertain...but at least i have Tommy Gavin and the cast of Rescue Me on Tuesdays to help move things along.

- well if the virus is defined as the loss of Ralphie (one month ago), the moving away & moving on of many close friends, and the nebulous future, Norton is definitely the antivirus...or at least a major portion of it. as stated in the previous entry, the new Australian lungfish (same species as Ralphie) arrived at the end of last week...not so much to elaborate fanfare, but to a big sigh of relief. he had actually been lost in the mail for nearly two days...note to ANYONE...do NOT send valuable fishes via United States Postal Service (aka toilet mail). either way, his arrival was much anticipated by all of us at The Tank, and many frequent guests of the aquatic apartment. a lot of people have come to visit, and if you haven't done so yet, you're definitely welcome to do so!

we all know (and i know this very well too) that a fish is not a dog, and attachment to such things is somewhat different, but i would be lying if i said the atmosphere here at The Tank and amongst the fish crew wasn't happier since his arrival. i think he easily reclaims the position of most popular fish at The Tank for the Australian lungfish...some of damon's saltwater fishes were getting a lot of attention as of late, but we all know that those fishes are a bunch of dysfunctional pansies (for the most part).

unfortunately, pamela and tommy had to vacate The Tank (their new home is with double D) to make room for Norton.

either way, we're training norton to get much more used to people...he's prominently placed and in a highly trafficked area of The Tank, so he'll get plenty of human interaction (as well as interaction with those of us who live here). i'll also be taking him out of his tank to watch various shows of my choosing, such as Seinfeld, The Family Guy, and maybe even the extremely latenite marathons of "Parental Control" on MTV (seriously, that show is on for HOURS into the night...i know a lot of you out there know this to be true).

i should also at least mention how Norton got his name as there is some relevance to this, as well as a fish history & classic tv connection. ralphie was named after ralph wiggum's son on the simpsons, as well as what they call 'dumb' things in Australia...so it was fitting. i'm not going to lie, these fish look like they couldn't survive in a protective water-filled bubble...they seem hopelessly helpless but also remind one of a puppy. crazy that a fish elicits this sort of response from most people. anyway, other names in the running were dopey, ralphie II, and frank. in the end, norton seemed most fitting (thanks seema), and as i later found out (thanks to double D), norton was the name of one of the two whale sharks at the georgia aquarium...what was the name of the other one? ralphie. therefore it was perfectly appropriate here. double D also pointed out that these names were significant and actually were reference to characters from the old TV show "The Honeymooners"...for me, it was good enough that the name fit and was connected to other fishes, but knowing a bit of TV history is interesting too. especially if i ever find myself watching "nick at night" back at home with my sisters like we did during the summers about a decade ago. good times.

and that's more or less the story of Norton. right now he resides in a tank with "tiggy" the tigrinus catfish (james came up with that name) and "gary" the shortnose gar (also james' name). if fishes had a real world sitcom, this would be it. well, perhaps not, they basically just eat a lot and then sit in a cave for most of the day. they are up late at night though, so they're on my schedule, which is cool (seeing as no humans are).

ok just a few other comments since i know this is already epic-length:

- we determined this weekend that sarah's car, the spearmint civic, is in fact actually made of gum.

- gwen really isn't any more indian than me...of course it took sarah being present to help establish this. seriously, we're back on the same level. we can all continue the debate at IHOP.

- for AJ: it's "soquid" not "fliquid." what's next? a "knork?" a "fnife?"

- apparently running/biking/swimming on a regular basis does not guarantee health...damon has done all these things pretty consistently over the past year, yet has been sick about 20 times this year compared to my zero...yeah, and i went running maybe 10 times this year. i plan on doing more, but we'll see. hopefully he's still alive when i decide to do a triathlon with him some day.

- from this point on the state of new hampshire shall be referred to only as "the shire," don't ask questions, that's just the way it is. although perhaps all new england states could be lumped together as one...the US map on our refrigerator seems to think this is a good idea.

- i have decided to read some books this summer...i started with the latest X-men comics...ok that's a lie, i actually only started by seeing X-men 3 in theaters, but that still counts doesn't it? poisonwood bible here i come...well, it's either that or the rest of the 1st season of robot chicken on double D's xbox.

- contrary to Andrea's recent comment: "solomon, we all know you don't REALLY like baseball" damon and i will be going to see the Tigers play the Red Sox this friday (i will be cheering for the Tigers...). i figure i should be able to handle this, that and we all know it's usually an adventure when damon and i head out in public. which reminds me, i have actually been considering picking up "Fever Pitch" on dvd. yes, i'm a sucker when it comes to movies (also reference the first bullet "flashbacks" earlier in this entry...that is, if you are still with me at this point).
- on top of the books and baseball, this summer i plan on learning how to cook some various items. i started this morning by preparing a bowl of cereal (those new yogurt cheerios, which are actually quite good), and later a plate of 6 idlis and some sambar that my mom made (quite possibly the best food on the planet, and definitely my favorite). i will be sure to keep you all updated on my progress.

well it's now 5:30am...time for bed. good night and good luck <:><

music:

"The Adventure" - Angels and Airwaves

"Miles Apart" - Yellowcard