Metrics Yes, Animosity No

     There was more than one meeting for me to attend at work today. The first was to say I wasn't picked for the special project I had just interviewed for. I was asked to have no animosity about it. I liked how my boss was willing to talk with me about his observations, though it is still tough to hear I was passed over. I said I hate interviews because I suck at them. I was told to take most every opportunity offered to be trained on processes and I would become a leader and probably would get picked next year. The other meeting was on our new metrics that take effect next week, in the new month. Some of it sounds confusing at the outset.
   I went to the comedy club tonight. My 'Bestie' was doing the 'Lost dog' joke. I like it but wanted to hear more than just this joke, which was long. After the show he was holding court and I even said so. He said he did want to do more than just this joke. The 'Extra murder' comic did the yule log joke and made comments about people leaving when he was taking the stage. I said 'I'm still here!' and got a shout out for it. The show closer was the one that likes to rant and do crowd rap. When he heard me say 'Yep' twice he asked who, when he found out it was me he said he couldn't rip on me. After the show I said this made me feel good. He said he is now a show runner at another club and offered me stage time whenever I wanted it- and called me 'Genuine', which I also liked as it's what I strive for.

It's Not Funny Anymore, James

    I liked watching 'Big Bang Theory' as usual tonight, 2 episodes. The syndicated rerun was when Leonard tried to impress Penny by learning football. Sheldon proved to know the sport since he is from Texas. The prime time episode had James Earl Jones as guest star. His character proved to be more annoying than Sheldon, as near the end of the episode we see Sheldon is bored with his stories- he doesn't know who Angie Dickinson is. The funniest scene had to be when James plays a prank on his 'Star Wars' co-star, Carrie Fisher. When he does 'Ding dong ditch' she comes out and says 'It's not funny anymore, James'. This is proof how the show is popular, as there are plenty of good guest stars. These guest stars also don't seem to mind playing characters on this show they normally don't play- many actors rarely play themselves.
    I was late for work this morning, by about 40 minutes. The buses were slow to arrive as there was a light out before our bus stop and there was a service vehicle blocking one lane as well. I wasn't as late as some colleagues were. My 'Work spouse' was 2 hours late. I liked how I have made up most of that time already, just by taking a shorter lunch, 30 minutes instead of a full hour. I had an interview for a special project this afternoon, I feel like I presented myself well. One interviewer was in the conference room with me, and the other was there remotely, on the phone. The thing I am telling colleagues is I need to have a short memory with job interviews and dating. I am not known for this, as I end up remembering things I wish I could forget. A short memory helps with trying again after numerous failures.

Home Use Catheter

    At the comedy club tonight, I spoke with one comic before the show saying I would expect comedian friends to read this blog just to find out if I am writing about them. This is somebody who recently did the home use catheter joke, and he did this joke tonight as well. He is also known for doing the 'LBJ and Fresca' joke.
   This is one night, more so than others, where I truly felt the value of comedy because of all of those I spoke with at this show along with what I discussed. Comedy gave me confidence to try harder in dating, I said so after the show. During the show when I needed to step out and blow my nose I said my comedy training helped me shut somebody down who was being a pest. This was when I spoke with a colleague at the office. I had lunch with this colleague and confidant today and was told it led to an attitude adjustment on the part of her neighbor. This made me feel good as it proves I have gained plenty from the craft- knowing how to handle people. I didn't enjoy having to shut somebody down but I like knowing I am good enough at it when I need to be.
    My 'Bestie' did his 'Lost dog' joke. There was another joke he did near the end that seemed to be new- derived from his relationship- how he went about insulting his woman. When he left the stage I said yes that means I already like it. Usually I say I need to hear a joke a few times before I truly like it.  The sub teacher did his 'Have her friend and eat it too' joke. The show runner did the 'For sale by owner' joke. The show closer was the Oklahoma native, who did his pronunciation of gyro joke. We matched wits before the show, I like knowing I can match wits with the best of them. The 'Extra murder' comic did the joke about his grade school teacher mispronouncing 'Washington'.
   I liked discussing the blog with the show runner after the show, who said she was interested in activities done at my office. Using chairs in games must have been our version of the Olympics, though what I thought of at first was our smaller version of the St. Patrick's Day parade. I like our 'Cubbyhole' of a rec-room where I shoot baskets like at a bar. I haven't done the Ping-Pong in the same room yet, but I did the Wii dancing today. Some of the songs we danced to included 'Rasputin' and 'Monster Mash'- I liked hearing the latter even though it isn't Halloween. Even though I like walking as exercise, I know dancing is good exercise as well.
   I liked lunching with my colleague today. I said I preferred discussing subjects besides my dating life, as it had been covered quite a bit already recently and there was nothing new or positive to report. It was about things like how she is going to travel to Mexico soon, apparently a friend's wedding will be there. And about what it is like when I do comedy, I said I like how the stage lights are bright as I stay more focused when its harder to see the crowd. It led to mention of the movie '4 weddings and a funeral'- and how I haven't seen it yet. I said what got me into comedy was a weird year of 2 funerals and a wedding. I found the Wikipedia article about the movie, after reading it I am interested in finding the movie but it likely means checking for it at the library. A deaf man stopping a wedding and a groom getting punched at the altar was what piqued my interest.

Plenty Of Fish

    I spoke about internet dating with a colleague at midday and she said she met her partner on Plenty of Fish. I said I had been on that site a while back but no luck finding anyone worth dating there. I like how I feel more free to talk about myself with this colleague than others I've known for much longer, as I think she was a new hire in just the past year. There are others that I talk to much less as I was getting annoyed with their unsolicited advice about my relationship. This is the same colleague where I found Wikipedia articles for as she hadn't heard of TV show producer Norman Lear. She has art at her cube that says 'Don't ever give up'. It depicts a frog choking a bird, and the bird is trying to eat the frog.
   At the comedy club tonight, a show runner from another club was performing. When I arrived she said I could sit at her table, and her husband the cop was also there. She added to the joke about being diagnosed by a relative who failed nursing school, apparently it has been more than just lupus. I also liked the one about JV basketball and JV landscaping. I did see the show runner at the bar on my way in, the Iowa Hawkeye basketball game was on. They led Michigan State at the time but lost in overtime. After the show I went to a convenience store and got a small can of Pringles, along with a postcard of the Metrodome that said 'Thanks for the memories, 1982-2014'.
   It was a busy day at work as I was covering for a colleague, my 'Work spouse'. The special requests proved to be high volume, and it was hard to keep up with the SIF/PIF letters as well.  (Settled or Paid in Full letters)

Hash Tag Comic

   To the best of my knowledge, we just had out first 'Hash tag comic' at the comedy club tonight. I found out later on it was a stage name for somebody I already knew. He did a joke about Tinder, an internet dating site I haven't seen yet. I have a cold and had to blow my nose more than once at the club, the second time was during the show. I did hear the 'Mushrooms at the movie theater' joke and the 'Bathtub comic' was the show closer. He did a joke about the cold Minnesota weather, since it's subzero here again. One comic from out of town, New York City, was pretty good. They said he would be performing at the club later this week. He had some good jokes about internet dating that I agreed with, so of course I said 'Yep!' instead of laughing.
    At work there was a communication breakdown near the end of the day. I understood I was taking over the SIF/PIF letters, though a colleague was doing some of them for me and didn't tell me. I found out when I was about to close those cases as I had completed those letters. For much of my day I know full well I was preoccupied with other issues- emotional ones. I found out the flowers and letter I sent over the weekend both arrived, it was a bold move for me to send them, definitely rare. I wanted to say 'Thank you' and 'Sorry' at the same time. I am hopeful to hear from the recipient but I haven't yet. What made it bold was how I had already been turned down, but I asked that my candidacy be reconsidered. Lack of trying sure is less of a problem for me in my life than it was, I know it is likely due to doing comedy as it gave me plenty of confidence.

JC Penney, Chili's

     This evening I decided to go to Maplewood to use some of my gift cards. First I went to the mall and I got there after 6pm, so fewer entrances were open as they were closing at 7pm. But I liked finding two pairs of pants at JC Penney that took care of all of the gift card balance. Then it was on to Chili's across the road. I had hoped to get back to my car through the mall, but it was not to be. The door leading back in was locked, so I made the walk over to the restaurant and it was a cold one with blowing snow. It was a good meal, I had salmon and rice with broccoli, it was on the low calorie part of the menu. I had cheesecake and this took care of the balance. So I now have two cards for Kohl's, one for Red Lobster, one for Applebee's, and one for Jiffy Lube. It was nice to hear a compliment from another patron as I was leaving, I was told I looked like their relative who is an electrician.
   I made it into downtown St. Paul as well twice this afternoon, first was for the Winter Carnival. I looked at the exhibits inside the Landmark Center, after finding food in Rice Park- a chili dog and hot chocolate. Then after getting warmed up inside, I went back out to see the ice sculptures, which included two dinosaurs. While I was looking at the exhibits inside, I had to pause and sit down to listen to a song I recognized. It was 'Umbrella' by Rihanna. I kept hearing the constant hi-hat and knew it was that song. Some of the lyrics really resonated with me, like 'Said I'd always be your friend, took an oath and I'll stick it out until the end'.
   I went back into downtown a little later and went to the fitness center. I am thankful I allowed myself more time than before due to arriving earlier, as I had 20 minutes on the pedaling machines this time. I didn't see my colleague though, I was alone in the place.
   After I got back from Maplewood, I called my dad while the Grammy Awards were on. We spoke about various subjects, one of those being Hawkeye basketball. Another one was the winter weather, and apparently it hasn't been much better down in southern Iowa where he is.

Johnny Carson, American Masters

     I watched public TV for the first time in a while tonight. I was pleased to find, at first, Antiques Road Show. They profiled a Babe Ruth membership club card, along with an artifact from the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. The next program pleased me even more. It was 'American Masters', and the biography was of  'Tonight Show' host Johnny Carson. One of the reasons I kept watching it was knowing they likely would have comments from Bob Newhart, and they did. This was an honest biography, covering all four of his marriages. I had one question answered due to one of his gigs before 'Tonight Show'. He was a game show host, it was called 'Who do you trust?' and it made me think of the 'Batman' movie from 1989 where Jack Nicholson as The Joker asked this question when he was about to dump $20 million on Gotham City. It was a ruse to kill 'The little people'.
   I attended two events in the afternoon. The first was a fundraiser for Dance Marathon at the University of Iowa, and of course I heard about it through the Alumni Association. It was held at the Loop bar in Minneapolis, during a game watch of the Iowa Hawkeye basketball game played at Northwestern. Iowa won big. I wanted to move on fairly quickly after the game ended, to get to the Twins Fan-fest a few blocks away. It was a quick tour, just under two hours, as that was all I had paid for when I parked at a meter. I noticed there were two portable toilets, in Iowa they are called 'Kybos', while walking over there. I was in need of one so I used it. I think those are available there was it was a staging area for the Mega-bus.
    I just finished watching a rerun of 'CSI Miami' and I liked hearing a Johnny Cash song at the end, appropriate to the scene as it was at a military funeral. The song had lyrics about 'It's like a soldier getting over the war'. I like Johnny Cash songs, and found it on Youtube. It was called 'Like a Soldier'. I ended up finding another song with a similar title by Eminem, called 'Like Toy Soldiers'. I like how Eminem is so honest in his music, and it is about a rap rivalry.