Dad should be proud.

I have picked up a new sport of sorts: Airsoft. Airsoft what? I'm not quite sure. Airsoft Guns...Airsoft Shooting...Airsoft BBs...Airsoft Attack of the Killer Lin-dawg!!!!!!

Likened to the rules of paintball, airsoft provides a less painful, easier cleanup version of the paint gun sport. No longer do we have to pay outrageously for tanks, paintballs, gear, or a place to play. Airsoft is safe enough for the comfort of your own backyard. Well, as long as you don't have neighbors who could possibly mistake your weapons of choice as harmful and call the cops on you. In that case, it is probably better to find someplace secluded from the public.

A couple of weeks ago, I joined a family in Mass for an afternoon of fun and food. The kids beckoned me to head out to the woods and play. Only functioning with three hours of sleep, I was a bit reluctant. Brad insisted that I try at least one round. "It's like Halo, only real life." Fine. I'll do it. I loaded my pistol with neon bbs and straigtened the eye gear to better fit my face. Teamed up, we headed into the woods. I had minimal expectations of remaining in the game, but I strategically lined behind a tree and found a target. Soon I was handed a shotgun from a girl who'd been declared "out." Matt stepped out in front of my line and POW! OFF with his leg!! Within ten minutes, I was one of two left in the game.

Armed with duel pistols and charged with newfound energy I jumped into a second game. My target was roughly 14 years of age and staked out on the corner of the house. With him in my sight only 6 yards straight ahead, I waited for his face to turn away before standing from behind my bush to shoot. I hit him at least three times and he stayed put. Quite unwilling to give away my location, I just waited for the right opporunity to open fire. Finally - Ping ping ping - three in a row right in his chest. "I'm hit! I'm hit! Stop shooting!" Yeah, take that you lying punk.

And Lindy won game #2. That's when we took this picture.

Join the fun. Buy a shotgun and handgun for only $15.95.

More Empty

Nearly two years ago, while working at Coffee with Einstein in Lincoln, IL, I decided to purchase this mug. That summer, fall, and winter was filled with mingled joy and anticipatory emptiness. I had overstayed my welcome in the town of Lincoln and my soul was working its way out.

You see, the conditions were perfect for this purchase. The very personality of my life consisted of regularly working well into eight weeks without pay, moving from an apartment and into the Kurka's home, galavanting across town and hating the Hilfiger daughter on MTV's Rich Girls with my neighborhood friends Nikki and Danielle, saying farewell to Nathan Hall - a partner in crime - as he headed to Southern Illinois, continually dodging the bullet with a gentleman friend who was anxiously pursuing me without good skills, immersing my sorrows into a new infactuation of coffee and sarcastic antecdotes, giving away countless muffins and refills to my regulars (thanks for helping me close shop!), artistically cartooning the events of Einsteins and Kingsley upon a 2x6 counter of wood, and attending a sophomore level class with Kirk. There were plenty of things to keep me occupied. My heart and mind wrestled with a desire to stay and the urge to leave. It really was a unique six months and I would not trade it for anything.


Except I want to take you back to the mug.

It clearly, and quite humorously pokes fun at the Eeyore's of our day. I am quite the optimist, although a demented one, and I love drinking from this glass. Mostly because it is clear.

Today I realized something. This glass is not half empty where the line is marked - because who actually fills their drinks to the utmost rim? No one...especially not a pessimist. Technically, the line should be lowered; thus requiring one to observe that there is less beverage in his mug than he'd anticipated. So, it is with this newly discovered information that I shall further crush the spirits of the negative, this glass should be less than half-empty.