I’m glad that’s over

I enjoyed a very brief stay at the top of bloghop’s rating page, then fell off everyone’s radar at some point earlier today. My decline came when a couple yahoo’s rated me as “Hate it! “, the Internet equivalent of punching me in the face while sleeping with my girlfriend after running over my dog. Most likely they caught just a glimpse of the layout and found it not to their liking, paused not long enough to read the feast of words before them, and clicked the red frowny face with smug satisfaction. Apparently the world is not ready for my particular brand of palaver.

I’ve been thinking of rewriting the site to make it more pleasing to hungry eyes everywhere, but the simple design was a conscious decision, believe it or not. Web design and aesthetics in general enthuse me little; I’m here for the writing. Hopefully you are too. Still, some cobwebbed corner of my psyche, a corner just down the block from Vanity Estates, dearly desires those yahoos’ approval. Needs it, in fact, like a Greenpeace volunteer needs a shower. So we’ll see.

In the meantime, today was mostly awful. At work, minor crises bloomed like fever blisters in my small office, and I wanted very badly to be somewhere else. I’ll spare you the details, since they’re technically obscure enough that even if you understood them you wouldn’t care. Julian and I clocked out a little before 5, owing to the frustration, and headed down to the Big Time brewery for a pitcher of stout and some shuffleboard, and my feelings about life improved considerably. I’m pleased to report that I trounced him soundly at two out of three games. For the third, a quartet of middle-aged pub dwellers actually placed a bet on the outcome – a whole dollar. After ticking off the last point on the chalkboard, thus securing my victory, I told the man foolish enough to bet on Julian to pay his friend, the game was over. It felt great. On the way to our respective homes we stopped off at Safeway for cereal and pickles, and the cashier didn’t card me for the 22-ouncer Julian slipped into my basket – another small victory, but an important one nonetheless.