ULTIMATE FIGHTING EXPERIENCE!!!

Life's been good this side. The days have been very pleasant, bordering on hot. It's strange how the air is so dry. It'll get really hot temperature-wise, but it won't be that cloistering, stagnant hot that Michigan is so famous for. I would guess it's because Ohio is lacking in the being-surrounded-by-enormous-lakes department, but who knows? It's probably aliens or a Democratic conspiracy.

There isn't a whole lot to report on our side. Mandy and I went to dinner at the Taj Mahal, an excellent Indian restaurant down the road from us. We hooked up with a guy we went to see The Illusionist with and good food and a good time was had by all. We're still going strong on the veggie thing with no real end in sight. I was skeptical of my ability to be disciplined enough to withstand the shimmering, lard-coated meats (so juicy and tender) for more than a week, let alone a month. But, it turns out, like everything else, if you plan for it and keep at it, even strange things become the norm.

It's amazing how adaptable people really are. We get pissed (well, I do) when our daily schedules are interrupted by a traffic jam, and act as if it were the end of the world, but we can adapt to crazy, life-altering events with the same grace. I keep thinking about the poor people in Lebanon and Israel, fighting over ideas and beliefs, and it seems so detached from my daily experiences that I assume I'd probably spontaneously combust if presented with a similar situations, but I wouldn't. Life would go on, it would just be totally different. I'm amazed to see how my friends have recently dealt with life-changing events with grace and courage that defies rational explanations. People can adapt and draw strength for any number of different sources, including themselves.

I'll close this post with a very interesting tidbit of trivia that Kleiner-One-Niner sent me today. Mandy and I live in Hamilton, OH. It's a little suburban area near expressways, financial districts, and lots of residential shopping. It's not very bohemian, but it is, at leat, close to everything. Anyway, it turns out that in the mid-80s, the city renamed itself from "Hamilton" to "Hamilton!" (with the exclamation mark). The city we live in (and this real, not a joke) is called "Hamilton!"

Two sources that prove this are: Wikipedia.Org and The Cincinnati Enquirer.

The hippies and art-types may have their cool loft apartments, their art galleries, and their "drugs" but do they live in a city that demands the speaker exclaim in a proud, trumpeting voice that they live in "Hamilton!"? No. They do not.

So, come visit us in Hamilton! someday. We'll strut around, clap a stranger on the shoulder, and scream, "Hamilton, damn it! HAMILTON!!!"

Picture #4 in the "Funny! Pictures! That! Are! Funny!"

(I dedicate this picture to all Wack Nasty Grunge Rumblers, for they, truly, would get the joke.)