Yeah, remember my little ditty about AFKS not seeming to care about much of anything lately, giving up most of what he cares about and shrugging off any positive activity?

After the Dethklok show we went to, I actually had to tell him to settle the fuck down before driving. He was ranting and raving and talking about how he'll never be able to experience them again. Once in a lifetime. And on and on and on. Even moreso than me, and I was pretty damn excited by it.

So, I call him yesterday and leave him a message to call me back immediately.

He calls me on his lunch break. I tell him I have Dethklok tickets to First Avenue, our favoritest gig destination to see our favoritest live act ever. His reaction?

"Oh. OK."

Fuck? "Did you hear me?"

"Yeah. I guess that's cool."

"You guess that's cool?"

"I'll see if I can go."

"See if you can go? No. You're fucking going. And you're going to enjoy yourself you little prick."

"We'll see."

"I'll fucking club you over the head and throw you in the trunk if I have to. You're going."

"Alright. Geeze man."

Now, here's the part where my theories are proven correct. Later in the evening, his wife calls me because she heard my message and wanted to be sure everybody was still alive and all that. So I tell her, "I have Dethklok tickets."

"OH MY GAWD! HE'S GONNA CRAP HIS PANTS!"

"Yeah. That's what I thought. Except, he pretty much didn't care."

"What?"

"Yeah, his reaction was basically, 'Oh. OK.'"

"But, I thought that was the coolest thing he'd ever done in his entire life ever and that he'd kill and rape and mutilate to get to see them again and he was worried he'd never have another chance . . ."

"Me too. I think there's something wrong with him. I mean, more than what's usually wrong with him."

She was quiet for a second or two, then said, "yeah. I've been noticing that too. When you first said you had tickets to Dethklok I thought that might shake him back to normal."

"Well, I told him he's going. It's not a choice."

"Oh, he's going. I'll help you get him in the car if it comes down to that."

"Good. Then it's settled, whether he wants to pretend he dislikes it or not."

I honestly think the adoption process failing hard has broken him far more than it broke her even though she had the most hopes pinned on it. That combined with his forcing himself back through school? Something isn't right. Her and I notice it, but not wanting to go see the best band he's ever seen live again? No, something is very, very wrong. At first I thought it was just life-changes. You know, growing up, whatever. But he passed right through growing up and went right to growing old. And that's not something anybody around him ever expected of him. On any level.

Something brokes my AFKS. We needs some fixins. STAT.

BREAK

Got my rocks last night. Because of the screw-ball layout of the tank, they're both too big, AND too small for the tank. Not long enough to give some upward motion to the landscape, but too big to lay in the tank in any direction but upwards and not take up the entire floor of the tank. I really dislike tanks that are tall and skinny, but this was a gift from a well intentioned spousal unit and I'll use it to show my appreciation. I'll figure something out. Give myself a few days to play around with it and look at it and see if something doesn't strike me as right.

Another factor is I'm used to doing scapes for Cichlids and other big-fish that toss gravel everywhere. So I'm not used to trying to create plains that can be covered with low-lying plants. It's hard to shift gears into thinking in those terms instead of in terms of using only rocks.

I'll get there.

BREAK

It's Virtual Friday! YAY!

Got tomorrow off to take care of doctor visits and auto-maintenance and yard work and blah, blah, blah. Should be a good time.

It honestly sounds like we've got a very busy weekend this weekend. Not my favorite thing. Oh well.

BREAK

We keep a single set of numbers riding on the big-bucks Powerball lottery. Now it's become habit more than hope. Last night we realized around nine that we didn't have a ticket for last night's drawing.

I sat there for a few moments thinking about it and realized that, while the chances of that set of numbers being pulled while we have a ticket are about 0.00000000001%, the chances shoot up to about 99.99999999999% if we don't have a ticket for the drawing.

I ended up going to buy a ticket.

At the convenience store some dude pulls up in an older black Cadillac with gold trim and risers and comes in looking all gangsta. I had a brief moment of, "oh shit, this is not fucking good." Then he went and bought himself two huge stacks of pizza rolls and a pop and I told myself to get over it.

Gangstas gots to eats too yo!

I've watched too many stupid gang-war movies over the years.

I ended up holding the door for the dude since his hands were full as he made his way out of the store. He nodded his dew-rag clad head, chains jingle-jingling in time with his nod and said, "werd brutha. Fanks."

I wonder where he learned to talk that way in south-d-freakin'-kota? *SHRUG*

Enough. Outz.