The (Looooonnnng) One About Fridays at 11:40ish

Although I have to sign in under Kim's name, it's actually Izzy posting...again. If that changes your mind about reading further, you can leave now. I'll wait...

I really think I could get used to this blog thing, and I've noticed from our blog and others that if you make a post that sort of asks questions or solicits opinions that you'll receive a lot of responses. It appears in blog-land that responses are like quasi-approval of both the blog and the poster (not sure if that's the proper term). To me, it shouldn't be the number of responses, it should be the number of persons who visit the site. Or, maybe even readers could rate the posters. For example, someone could say "That was a great post!" and reward you with a "10" and just brighten up your whole world. In contrast, someone could say that post was no good and give you a 1, even if they didn't mean it. But really, who would police such a thing? I digress...

However, I'm still really confused about what I'm doing here in the Blogosphere. Blogs are hard to find, so I'm curious how folks found ours and will find ours in the future. I'd almost rather my part of the blog to be a Question/Answer section: questions such as "How does Izzy make his Greek salad?", "What's the capital of Finland?", "Shouldn't we all like the Yankees?", "Why is the Philly Cheesesteak the best sandwich ever?" and "How does a bill become law?" would be quickly met with thorough replies that were mixed with both knowledge and humor; that's just what I do. That way, I'd have a purpose on Our Bizzy Life other than bugging Kim to make a post every once in a while.

But I do like typing. And I like writing. And I love to vent and wax philosophical on things great and small. And I guess that when I get started typing, and writing, and venting, and waxing, things can just get out of hand. I can already tell that this post will be too long and boring to everyone except me, the poster (there must be a better term).

And I truly adore the thought that I can sit here after 6:00 pm on a random Thursday and tell everyone in the Internet-connected universe what I'm doing. For no reason, whatsoever. And the funny thing is, you'll read it. And maybe even respond with a ten.

Since you asked, it's the second-to-last day of the 2008 Regular Legislative Session. If you know anything about law - and I know that you all do - you're aware that any time both legislative houses pass a bill (not a Constitutional Amendment, FYI) that it will be transmitted to the Governor/President. As the Chief Executive, he has the power to veto any legislation that comes across his desk (also known as the "Check" part of "Checks and Balances"). However, the laws also allow for the same legislative bodies to override such a veto, essentially disregarding the displeasure of the Chief Executive (the "Balance").

The wrinkle here is the fact that Alabama's Governor has ten days in which to sign, not sign or send back legislation transmitted to him. If he signs it, it's law. If he sends it back, the legislature can accept his changes or not accept his changes; what they do depends on whether it becomes law. But if he does nothing, it is automatically veteod after ten days (known as a "Pocket Veto"). Alabama's legislative session lasts 30 legislative days, so there's just one left. The next/last legisaltive day is eleven days away - May 19th. Can you guess why? It's scheduled that way so that anything transmitted today to the Governor still has at least the possibility of becoming law even if the Governor vetoes it. For example, a bill passed today and transmitted today could not be signed by the Governor (or could be vetoed outright). Nevertheless, when the legislators return for Day #30, they'll have the opportunity to override the veto. If you transmit a bill to the Governor on Day #30, however, you have zero chance of overriding any veto because there's no more legislative days available for such an action to be taken.

My point is, I look forward to the 29th legislative day almost as much as any day on the legislative calendar. Granted, it's a terribly long workday; it's 6:31 in "real time" and I know that I have approximately 6 hours of my workday in front of me. Nevertheless, I like the fact that the ten days after today are going to be extremely easy for me at work, followed by one more hard day, followed by six or seven months of legislative peace and quiet.

Realizing the weirdness of that, I started wondering about other things I'm looking forward to...and that's what I want to post about.

In life, people have "things on their plate" that fall into "huge" categories. Most people only have one such "huge" thing at once. I, however, currently have three. First, Big Mad is on his merry little way. According to Kim, he is very anti-placenta right now and is ready to watch some SportsCenter with his dad, mom and sister (Pebbles). Second, I'm still in school and we're 2/3rds of the way through Finals (last one is Monday). If you don't think law school finals qualify as "huge" you're just plain incorrect; get off this blog, now. Third, as previously mentioned, the difficulty of work is at its annual apex. As my work responsibilities have increased ten-fold over the last six months, this session has been especially tough; definitely "huge"-worthy.

With that being said, you'd think I'd be actively looking forward to the following: Maddox's arrival; the end of the semester; and session to be over.

Not even close.

Right now, at this point of the day, in the midst of my crazy/beautiful life, I'm looking forward to one thing only: pizza with my boys. Tomorrow.

You see, every Friday around 11:40, a group of guys get together at a little establishment known as Pizza Perfect. This little "slice" (YES!) of heaven is not exactly located in the high-end part of Montgomery, assuming such a part exists. For instance, within 100 yards of PP are the following: a deli, a tire shop, a tae-kwon-do dojo, a Curves (SO funny to walk by when they forget to shut the blinds...), a CPA's Office, an auto parts place, a school supply store, a flea market, a gas station, a grocery store, a fire station, an insurance agent's place of business and an Oxygen Bar. Furthermore, and I hate to admit this, but Pizza Perfect doesn't even offer the best pizza or salad in the world (it ranks, for example, behind Tomotino's and Sam's Club, for starters).

But I don't go for the location, and I don't necessarily go for the food. I go for the fellowship. And that's why 11:40 on Friday is just about the most looked-forward-to time on my watch. It's a no-girls-allowed, no-holds-barred, hour-to-hour-and-a-half therapy session complete with thin-crust sausage, a Meat Supreme that includes Bacos as one of its toppings, cleanly cut pages of random issues Sports Illustrated framed on the men's restroom wall, and unlimited refills. It's the best $6.00 in the history of the world. And Pizza Perfect has its own characters, too, no question. There's Patches, our waiter; the memory of Julian the Great, the greatest GraveDigger of all time; Mr. Ault, always steadying the other side of the pizza pans so that I can get the slice I want; and others we ALWAYS see - customers and employees - that we don't know but give us dirty looks.

And I know that none of my guys will probably ever read this, and that none of you readers likely care too much about it. But that's it...that's what I'm looking forward to.

There's an eclectic cast of characters in our little pizza club. Some show up regularly, some don't. You don't ask if we're meeting, you don't call around and figure out what time it starts...you just know. It's the rules.

If you added it up, I dare say that we've had at least 30 different individuals meet us at the Red Tables by the chalkboard (never in the Cone of Silence, by the way).

And I love it.

I'm always looking forward to seeing what's new in Clay and Barry's life. I'm curious as to how young Neil Scott's current girlfriend is. I'm excited to see if Hatch will find any worms in his salad or tell me some funny story about Brooks or softball. I'm anxious to hear Chuck's new prediction about Faulkner Football's future success. I'm grateful, even, for people like John Gordon and JoMo showing up every now and then and eating more than me. I'm nervous about Chad Brown showing up and us tainting his snow-white character. I'm thankful for Taylor and Sonny being there, because I don't guess I could ever get enough of either one of them. And then there's my brothers...Dirt and Adam. Our schedules are all so crazy right now that Pizza Perfect is about the time I get to see them, my best friends in the world. No better day than sitting between them in the middle of the pack with a heap of Pan Pepperoni.

So, yes, I'm greatly looking forward to dotting the last "i" on my Property II exam Monday night. I'm counting down the days until the gavel hits the desk for the last time until 2009. And I'm certainly growing more ready each day to cut the cord and smoke a cigar.

But I'm also looking forward to lunch tomorrow, where, for at least a little while, I'm transported back to the world where the biggest decision I have to make is whether or not to go back for thirds...

Until next time...