I decided to make myself a BLT today, but I'm out of L. I figured that was the most expendable of the ingredients so I made it anyway. I had some pre-cooked B, which sounds gross but is actually quite good...IF you buy the no-name brand (Seven Hungry Kids or SHK is my fave) and not the kind from the raw bacon big-wigs. Just because they have better fresh bacon doesn't mean they know what to do with it.

My T was a little overripe for my tastes, but edible. It was meaty and juicy enough that it dripped when I sliced it, and bright vivid red. But it was about half a step before mushy and I prefer a firmer, fresher T. But I can make do with what's available, as long as there's no mold or creatures. I had fresh hamburger rolls, the soft kind, and real mayo...not the low-fat kind. Yum.

But this isn't an entry about a sandwich, or even two sandwiches, since I made two. I learned an important lesson from my BT -L....

When there are only three ingredients, none are really expendable.

BT -L is actually kind of dry. I never realized how much of the cool crispness of a BLT was contributed by the L. It was hard to eat, with warm crisp B, and slightly soggy T, fluffy soft rolls, and some cool tangy mayo. The cool crispness was definitely lacking, and I noticed. I felt sour toward my BT -Ls, although I was proud of myself for getting off my lazy slacker ass long enough to make them...

...Then my lazy slacker ass wrote C++ code for 7 hours, so I didn't feel like a lazy slacker anymore. I felt like a tired lazy slacker.

Lately, I've been feeling my inner slacker slothing to be free and sleep the days and afternoons away, only to goth and golem ("Eggsies!!!") my evenings away at my computer. Not that you could tell I'm not all to motivated...with my amazing updating skills. I haven't even really been reading journals all that much lately. I have a few journals I would check a few times a week, some a few times a month, but I'm not so rabid that I read anything online everyday. And lately I haven't really been reading anything...except maybe the weather, but I can't imagine that really counts.

I'm a weather channel addict...every morning I turn the TV on (channel 21 here in Binghamton) with the sound off, and watch for "local weather" and "extended forecast" as I get myself ready for the day.

Part practical, part genetically anal-retentive compulsiveness.

I watch the weather, my mother freezes food stuffs, and my dad always knows the times for sunset and sunrise for the last few weeks. I haven't figured out what my sister does compulsively yet, maybe she she didn't swim in that part of the gene pool.

Ah...compulsion. I have to roll the sheet over the edge of the comforter to be able to sleep. I prefer to have the open end of the pillow case face toward the outside of the bed. The sheet rolling is required, but the pillow thing is only when I have a guest; I hate waking up in the middle of the night (or afternoon as my schedule would be) with my face half buried in a pillow's open edge. I swear, they follow me. It's almost a little chase scene through my bed all night...I wiggle away from the pillow case, it shifts to follow.

The sheet thing bothers Dan, but I think he finds it more amusing than annoying. Unless he's just gotten comfy and I find I have to fix the sheets. I like them to be smooth, and tucked in. He likes to ball them up around his feet.

We have sheet fights. I tuck, he untucks. I tuck again, he untucks and wraps. I unwrap, wake him up by pulling all the sheets off the bed and redressing it with him in it, griping and whining. "Meh meh meh! I was SLEEPING! I was comfy!! Meh!"

Psh! Men....such babies when you arrange the salt and pepper shakers and your utensils and placemat before you order. Have you seen The Story of Us? It's got Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer as a couple going through a trial separation. It's a good movie..."heartwarming", I've said...with a little bit of "hokey", but still good.

There's a scene in which Bruce Willis's and Michelle Pfeiffer's characters are flashing back to a dinner when they were first dating, and Michelle Pfeiffer is rearranging the table "stuff"...salt, pepper, forks, knives, sugar, candle, etc. Bruce Willis watches her while they're talking and after she's stopped moving things for a while, he picks the flower (I think), hops it over a few things on the table and moves those items off to the side, like checkers.

I nearly wet myself. I've had that image in my head for year, but to see it in a movie was great. Compulsive humor....wonderful.

I've had this on my mind for a few day...compulsion, not checkers. Dan mentioned that he worried about me sometimes...with my "little routines". But when I asked for an example he muttered something about me freaking out over bad HTML so I dismissed him.

But I came up with a few examples of my own, besides the bed, of course:

Desktops: Not real desktops -- a computer desktop. It KILLS me to see someone with the "Free Trial AOL" button on their desktop, or multiple copies of any shortcut (or alias, but I deal with far fewer Macs so I ignore them). I am driven to teach people how to remove things from their Start Menus...I can't stand it when there are four billion folders...so many the menu has to SCROLL! I have eight folders on my Start Menu. Inside those eight neat folders I have fit all the other programs, just the shortcuts in most cases, and removed the links to things like readme files, uninstall file, help files, and "free" offers I'll never go for.

I have 17 shortcuts on my desktop...only the programs I use SEVERAL times a day or can't easily get to from windows explorer grace my desktop. You can only see 14 in the picture, because I careful positioned the other three: recycle bin, network neighborhood, and my computer (which are a pain to delete and can make funny things happen if you do), BEHIND the buddy window for AIM so I don't have them taking up precious desktop space. I have a 14 inch monitor...and it flickers at anything higher than 800x600 because of my stupid video card not being a friendly little thing...desktop space is NOT to be wasted on things like "CLICK HERE TO USE AMERICA ONLINE NEW TRIAL VERSION FREE 30 DAYS".

Note: In the full size view....YES, I have "Detachable Penis" and "Paradie City" in the same play list, and YES I am in my own buddy list...then I'm never alone, and YES...the time says 4:49AM. If you watch it long enough you'll see it change.

And compulsion is okay when it's productive. My desktop is productive.

I'm going to make myself another BT -L. I feel like missing the crisp coolness of L.