Last night I helped Homeless Lass and Sonechka move into the apartment they'll be renting together. I'm a bit sore but they didn't have any really heavy things, at least not that we moved last night. I had thought that I'd sleep better after an hour or so of physical labor. I was wrong. I tossed and turned all night. I guess I ought to have known this would be the case. It wasn't. The reasons for this would have to be redacted if I put them into this diary. While I tend to be an exhibitionist with regards to many of the details of my life, some things cross the line.

So the house feels a bit empty now. I'm free to sprawl out on the couch watching late night tv clothed only in a tee shirt and my boxer shorts once again. Yet, doing that seems so hollow now. I shouldn't be surprised. Homeless Lass shared our home for a year and a half. That she leaves a void once she's moved out should not be a surprise.

Mr. and Mrs. Upstairs are also probably going to move out soon. They will also leave a void, but less of one. I only see the Upstairses on occasion. As difficult as it may be to believe, there is a tremendous difference in the amount of interaction one has with someone living on one's couch in the living room and the level of interaction one has with someone renting out one's second floor apartment. Not only that, but Mrs. Upstairs has slowly transitioned away. Before we bought the duplex, she took up residence in the spare bedroom suite we had in the house we were renting. She ate dinner with us quite a bit and we saw her a fair amount. When we bought the duplex, we saw her less often. When she started getting serious with the future Mr. Upstairs, we saw her less often still. Once the Upstairses became man and wife, we almost never saw her at all. But all the same, I'll still miss them. They're good friends to have.

The NY Times has a funny article on blonds and jocks that attempts to look at the possible reasons that might underlie the dumb blond and dumb jock stereotypes. The funny part is that, unless I missed it on my quick pass through the article, they never really address the question of whether there is any correlation between being blond and not being very smart. Instead they only present a rationale for why blonds should be smarter if gentlemen actually prefer blonds and then conjecture as to why the conventional wisdom is the opposite.

I'm tired of wearing my stoic face but a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do. In the cold light of dawn, I have to live with myself. And for now, I think stoicism is the best that I might be able to manage.