ThinkingSkull.com

For some reason, I can’t find this during a regular search, but this should fix that right now. Larry Ranson (aka Al Ranson or Big Al) got his picture snapped for USA Today. Cool, huh? Yeah, he couldn’t wait to tell me and my sibblings about it, either (you would, too).

During the second season of “Grey’s Anatomy,” one of the characters threw out the phrase “dark & twisty,” which sounds a like a friendly way of saying you enjoy a bit of the dark side. A little gothic without the black fingernail polish, less “emo” than just kind of spooky. Why should mundanes (a term lovingly ripped off from “Babylon 5″) think it odd that some enjoy a good, stormy, lightning-filled day rather than deep blue skies and blinding sunshine?

To this end, I’ve been thinking of descriptive terms for these people whom choose to let in a little nighttime and moonlight, less lurking in darkness and more walking in the twilight or dabbling in shadows. I know a lot of people that fall into the category, and I dare say our numbers are growing.

Not that we’re planning to collectively blot out the sun or anything.

I’m fairly sure I haven’t thrown political praise on any particular party or candidate so far, so I post the following image with a clear conscious. Enjoy!

From 10:01pm until 10:51 EST, the moon will be covered in the shadow of the earth, the last total lunar eclipse until December 2010. NASA has the specifics for whatever time zone your in.

If you’re the type to fear for your life due to this localized cosmic event, fear not. There are still 1765 days left until the end of the Mayan Calendar.

Update: Crap. It was last night. Drat.

Is it wrong to have your divorce paperwork notarized and hand-delivered to your spouse on February 14th? In a red folder, no less? Just because it worked out that way doesn’t necessarily imply intent, does it? In retrospect, it was a considerably less expensive holiday for me this year than it has been the past seven years. Even so, here’s hoping everyone pursued that special someone to be with this year, and remember: it’s only stalking if you can’t convince that special someone to rescind the restraining order.

I love soda, particularly Diet Dr. Pepper and Diet Pepsi. Diet? Yep, cause I drink too much of it. I’m getting better, drinking mostly tea at home sweetened with Splenda… more on that in a second.

Also, I’ve joined a health club (with fees deferred by my day job) and have been busting my arse to get into better shape. Having shared this with my co-workers, now I’m getting grief because “drinking diet sodas is undoing any good” that I may have been doing because they are “full of fat and calories.” My question is, do skinny people really believe this? Here’s a little something from WebMD:

Artificial sweeteners, also called sugar substitutes, are compounds that offer the sweetness of sugar without the same calories. They are anywhere from 30 to 8,000 times sweeter than sugar and as a result, they have much fewer calories than foods made with table sugar (sucrose). Each gram of refined table sugar contains 4 calories. Many sugar substitutes have zero calories per gram.

Now I really got on board with Nutrasweet (aka Aspartame) but I soon found out that expiration dates on diet soda are very important; time, heat, and cold all kill the flavor of Aspartame and make it taste like Formaldehyde smells. Splenda, which is derived from sugar and the key ingredient in the not-Diet-Coke tasting soda called Coke Zero, is even tastier and is heat/cold/time resistant. I also like Propel fitness water (32 oz. for $1.00 at Walmart) with a tiny 10 calories per bottle.

Seriously, am I really doing that badly with no-calorie diet drinks, or are skinny folk afraid of large people like myself muscling in on their popularity?

And then there were three: the two “danger candidates” (as I’ve labeled them) and the guy who’s become a real thorn in Hillary Clinton’s side, Barack Obama. But let’s re-examine that assessment, shall we?

My roommate and I have had serious discussions over this current race back before it even WAS a presidential contest. The fact is, for the first time since I’ve been old enough to vote, I don’t feel like my choices are “crap” and “less crappy.” Part of that comes from Barack Obama not only challenging Ms. Clinton for the Democratic nomination but actually now pulling ahead of her. It’s not experience that’s making Obama attractive to voters or even the fact that he’s black; it’s because he gives people hope.

Both Ms. Clinton and John McCain are both blessed and hindered by their positions. For the Republicans, McCain is the next “old man” in line for the run. Hillary, or the other hand, seems convinced that it’s simply her turn, period. In direct contrast, Obama just seems to be doing his own thing, GOP and Clinton “burn-your-bridges politics” be damned.

My roommate and I agree on the following scenarios. If McCain goes against Hillary, McCain stands a very good chance of winning. If McCain faces Obama, there’s a very good chance Obama will win. And no matter what happens, Huckabee’s amazing performance will serve him well in 2012 when he’s pointing the finger at whichever 2008 president elect screwed up the previous four years.

So here’s a few questions. If you (as a currently single person) ask a friend (who also happens to be single) to join you for a swanky holiday work-related gathering, does it count as a date or not? Does it matter if it’s a first date? If it wasn’t defined as a date before being accepted, can it be counted after it’s successfully over? If I declare it was a date without actually telling anyone beforehand and it rolls into another date, does that make me a “relationship ninja?”

In other news, my roommate flipped me off for bothering him with these same stupid questions.

“Dark & twisty once again saves an otherwise mundane day.”

NOW can they have their own stadium?!