It’s that time of the year again, where I get to enjoy all the itchy eyes and sneezing. Something else to look forward to.

One thing I was asked repeatedly at speed dating was, “What do you do for fun?” Honestly, I couldn’t describe what I do for fun to anyone but specialized geeks. Building radio gear. Getting on the radio from time to time. Reading books (less specialized, except I tend to read a lot of mysteries). Playing with my computer.

One of the women asked me if I had a metal detector, because her ex-boyfriend had one. I thought I was on the top of the geek heap with the ham radio thing but the metal detector question made me slightly introspective on that point. I think I decided that a metal detector would make me a creepy old man, not a geek. (At least my ex-girlfriend has told me that I’m smart, funny, and kind. I wonder what she says behind my back. 🙂 )

In any case, I followed my sister’s two instructions. I don’t know if I pissed anyone off (instruction #1 don’t piss anyone off) but I tried not to, and I didn’t talk about porn (instruction #2). However, one of the women told me she rented some Japanese demon porn anime. I don’t know what was up with that, but it didn’t bother me much. At least no one told me they were in favor of making Oregon a red state. Any right-wing sentiment would have sent instruction #1 out the window.

I finally caught up on watching two weeks of “Alias,” two weeks of “Numb3rs,” one “Without a Trace,” “Committed,” and “Scrubs.” Now I can move onto other pursuits. I finished the latest Patricia Cornwell mystery (with ME Kay Scarpetta) and now I’m filling in the ones I missed in between. And I can start surfing google to see if I can find goofy songs like the 50 Cent and Nine Inch Nails remix called “50 Inch Nails.”

I got some weird songs (mostly from the 80’s) because I’ve been scoring free iTunes from Diet Pepsi, including “Talk to Ya Later” by the Tubes, “Dance and Shout” by Shaggy & Pee Wee (a remix of the Jackson’s “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)” which i also got), “Stepping Out” by Joe Jackson, “Best of My Love” by the Emotions (a 70’s song?), another copy of “I Want You to Want Me” by Cheap Trick since I’m not sure the ones I had before were legal, and now I’m trying to decide what else to get. Charlie Sexton vs. Marshall Crenshaw. Modern English vs. Split Enz. You get the idea.