It has been one of those weeks.  You know the type.  The kind where no matter what you do, it seems as if the entire world is against you and try as you might, you can never get ahead.  It was high time for me to shutdown and unwind. 

   My week began as normal as any before it.  I woke up Monday morning at the brisk hour of 4 a.m. to partake in my morning run.  Upon finishing, a feeling of unexpected lethargy swept over my body leaving me in an almost frustrated and irritated state.  I made my breakfast and decided that my day was far to busy to continue my exercise and would pick it up tomorrow.  I knew I would regret not working out.  Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but some day.  Having a long day of football and analyzing combination lock algorithms, one day of no exercise quickly turned into two, then three, and before I knew it, I had taken the whole week off from working out.  This would normally be OK due to the fact that I keep in pretty good shape, only for some reason, not working out and eating terribly unhealthy food go hand in hand. 

   Six pizzas, three 2 liter bottles of soda, a half a carrot cake, three Blizzards, and about a case of beer later, my body got quite the shock over the last week dealing with muscle atrophy and such a high-caloric diet.  It is almost as if my personality type works in such a manner that I must figure, “Screw it.  Not exercising?  What’s the point of eating well then?”  Needless to say, this made my already stress-ridden week a little more difficult to get through.

   This last week also included our largest and therefore most difficult fund raiser of the year for our football team.  Going over countless amounts of paper work and making sure all the preparations were in order adds to the pile of already growing “things to do” on my weekly planner.  But as we all know, loads and loads of work doesn’t amount to a hill of beans in this town if the end result is crap.  Everything went off without a hitch thankfully and are pushing on to this next fourth of July week.

  But to get back to my day of unwinding, I did not feel like watching and reviewing a new DVD since there is the possibility I would come upon a dud in which it would only make my week that much worse.  I needed an old standby.  Something that no matter how I am feeling I would never give it a bad thought.  I pulled from my classics section a real gem, Casablanca.

   I got back from work, took a shower, shut my phone off, and curled up in my bed with a bucket of popcorn and watched the cinematic legend.  Humphrey Bogart went way before his time.  There are actors out there that you know could only be successful in the older pictures.  You know what I mean.  Kind of the way that when The Andy Griffith Show went from black and white to color it lost a lot of appeal.  Pat Boon is a great example of this.  He was a silver screen star, but could never hack it in the present day cinema.  Bogart could work in any light, any setting, any film type.  I know what your thinking.  Black and white?  Really?  Trust me.  This one doesn’t work like your usual black and white.  It is all great acting and cinema.  It isn’t flooded with a bunch of useless filler like lengthy musical numbers or incomprehensible chase scenes.  Get it.  Watch it.

   “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she had to walk into mine.”  Seriously.  Why does it seem as if when all the things in your life are going good, life throws you a curve ball?  Its as if the powers that be aren’t content with all things being equal.  They need some kind of ‘entertainment’ from us down here.  And it never is easy.  They usually like to throw the curve ball in the form of a woman too.  I failed to mention that.  You have all your ducks in a row, when BAM!  Blind-sided by a pretty figure and personality that for the life of you, you can’t figure out how you existed before she came along.  Now you are not wanting to go to work or hangout with friends, you would just much rather be with her.  A month ago, if you talked to me about love at first sight, I would have told you that you were crazy.  But after the last couple of weeks, I would tend to agree with the old adage.  I am smitten beyond belief my friends.  If you haven’t gone down that road, I will say you haven’t fully experienced life.  Do yourself a favor and get yourself one.

   Well, thats all I have for you today.  What else can I say except, “Here’s looking at you, kid.”

-T