I would like one of those new inflatable airline pillows for my desk right now.

I have to give a seminar in a couple of hours and I hate public speaking. I am simultaneously exhausted and nervous. I want to nap while pacing.

Authorities say Brewer and Natow, 42, released the 7-foot reptile known as “Reggie” into the lake when it became too big to keep as a pet.

Heh, guy must have been a RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK fan.

I'm not big on getting welts all over either.

Fake swords are more my speed anyway.

Don't you risk welts with those too? My co-workers used to paintball quite regularly, and kept inviting me. I explained that it would not be a good thing, because of all the time I've spent developing strange reflexive responses to people attacking me with guns. They bought it. Anyway, they didn't come back welted.

Don't you risk welts with those too?

I've gotten bruises, but no welts. (I also got a split eyebrow, but that was a freak accident, rather than par for the course.) I've always done it with padded weapons and/or protective gear, whereas all the paintballers I've met seem to have a stigma against anyone who wears anything more than a mask and love showing off their "battlescars".

Plus, the whole being a really crappy shot thing.

I played paintball once when I was in college. It was actually really fun, although I did get cut when I ball hit just between my helmet and my eyebrow. The worst part was that I was really sore when I was all over from throwing myself on the ground (while dodging balls).

all the paintballers I've met seem to have a stigma against anyone who wears anything more than a mask and love showing off their "battlescars".

Refreshingly I've never met any of those. Everyone's been sensibly covered in long sleeves and pants and face protection. The guys at work don't want to get messed up, and I'm going to guess that the kravvers have better ways to get bruised.

Chatting with a co-kravver yesterday about women who date fixer uppers. My reflexive generalisation is that women might date a bad boy and want to change him to have some of the good boy characteristics that are important to them (fidelity, etc.), but when dating the too-nice guy they're not trying to change him, and are more likely to be trying to convince themselves they should be dating him.

The above, of course, is not only a generalisation, but is applied only to certain women in bad-fit relationships.

Co-kravver said that women are just as likely to want to fix the too nice guy as the too bad guy. Opinions?

when dating the too-nice guy they're not trying to change him, and are more likely to be trying to convince themselves they should be dating him

I dated a guy like this for three years and it wasn't until I met Joe that I realized I was doing it. The guy just seemed like he *should* be perfect for me - smart, good-looking, responsible, but ultimately emotionally distant and dull.

The guy just seemed like he *should* be perfect for me - smart, good-looking, responsible, but ultimately emotionally distant and dull.

Those are the sort of guys my mother used to try and hook me up with. Luckily for me she's out of the biz. The arguments this would generate were so stereotypical it ached.

I've told this story before I think.

I was playing with a friends four year old after church.

Gillian: Trudy, when are you going to get married?

Now, said child had just been a flower girl two or three times and was likely looking for another gig. Her parents, however, are a mite old-fashioned so I thought I'd take this opportunity as a teachable moment.

Trudy: Not everybody GETS married.

Gillian: Really?

T: Nope, not everybody gets married. But I think one day I might like to get married.

G: Good. So who are you going to marry?

T: Well, that's a big decision. If I marry someone that means I want to spend the rest of my life with him. That's a lot of time. I guess if I got married he would have to be very very... [brain scrambling here, what do I SAY to a four year old about this particular topic]... nice.

G: [face lighting up like Christmas] I know somebody nice!

[Now I am a little terrified. Nice is all well and good, but he just has to be old to Gillian. This 'nice' guy could be anywhere between fifteen and eighty. I am pausing in terror. Fortunately she's had another thought. But its a sad thought. And she wilts in that way little kids do when they're disappointed.]

G: No... but he's boring. [in all wisom and earnestness] Nice, but NOT boring.

Broadly speaking, I'm not sure that women "like bad guys" so much as they want a little excitement. And if a guy is dull as dust I don't care how nice he is. Nice but not boring. They exist, they're just sorta rare.

Monkeys: [link]