Needing to write, about 90 minutes before going to the Target Field opener/Gopher baseball game, Mother calls me to go to the bank, which is about 25 minutes away.  It was 11:35.  Really, Mother?  Flummoxed in how I could get out of the house as soon as possible while preparing to get to the game (and staying out the whole day) slowed me down, of course.  I got there about 3 minutes after noon; goddamn red lights, I swear!  When I swung around the building the two girls who were working there were peeling off in their cars.  Swear to fucking God they were at the front door waiting for the clock to strike noon, and when it did they immediately locked the doors and got the fuck out.  You see, normal banks would still be around at, like, 12:05, and maybe they'd still help you.

Is Mother mad?  Actually, no.  She talked at me over dinner tonight.  Mother accepted me not being able to rip a CD track as her ringtone.  And she wasn't too mad when the food she prepared fell off the top of the recycling bins in which I just put more empty bottles and cans.  She said I loaded it in a way that one corner of the small piece of metal siding we use to cover the bins was resting on the pile of empty recyclables and not the sides of the bin, therefore the milk carton on top of that piece of siding was not level, therefore the plate of food she was preparing slid off.  Assuming she's right, I'm glad she forgave me for my mistake.

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Felt good last night even though I did less than I planned on doing.  First, I didn't get a good price on a ticket for the men's college hockey tournament game at the X last night, so instead of paying $55 for a ticket (of which many were available for sale at the box office), I took a seat at the arena bar.  Paid $7.75 for a small cup of beer, felt screwed, so I leaned on my profligacy and only tipped him a quarter.  He's probably pissed as hell, so I'll try and remember to never go back there again.

Once the game was decided (with about a couple minutes left to go), I jetted off.  There were things I wanted to do: get coffee, go to the strip club, and eat at the Italian restaurant.  But since the game started at 8 and I got out of there at a quarter to 11, there was only time to do two.  And that's when my mind started paralyzing through analyzing: I want to go eat because I want to watch ESPN ... but, I lost the two games basketball games tonight, so why do I want to watch that? ... I'm hungry -- or am I? ... ooh-ooh, the money I didn't spend on the ticket I can spend on lapdances! ... but maybe she's there, and I don't think it's a good time to go back there without stirring something up ... and on and on it went.  So I went to my de facto happy places: the coffeeshop. ...

... where I stayed a lot longer than I planned, which in the back of my mind I knew was going to happen because I was dinkin' around on my laptop.  The strip club was out because I stayed out too long.  Hell, the earliest I could get there was a quarter after 11, which was already late.  And the large mocha I had ruined any appetite I did have for Italian, although in retrospect I didn't have much appetite to begin with from the beer I drank during the game.  So the restaurant was out, too.  So I stopped at 12:30 to make sure I listened to ESPN Radio's Bob Valvano conduct "The Match Game" and I drove not to the strip club or the restaurant, but all the way home.

That meant I didn't have to take that money out of the ATM last night, but I feel good for not spending it.