T.I.L.T. Things I've Learned Thursday XXVI

I'm the type of guy that learns from his experience, who knows the exact outcome of any past situation based on precedent and then, frustratingly, exhibits the exact same behavior that yielded unfavorable results in the past. I think that's not far off from the definition of insanity, and though I may not be qualified to share my knowledge, here are some Things I've Learned Thursday anyway:

* I used to hate reruns and clip shows when I was younger. Now I welcome even one unexpected hour of freedom to watch movies or do some writing. It's like finding a pocket of time. As most of my favorite shows are a month or less away from Summer hiatus, I'm at the point in the year where I anticipate putting a dent in my to-do and to-watch lists, at least for a few months before I get bored all over again.

* When I read that Charlie Hunnam was auditioning for the role of Thor, I had no idea who that was. I've never seen Sons of Anarchy. But then I read he was an alumnus of Undeclared, and totally remembered who he was. That was the short-lived(thanks FOX) but awesome Judd Apatow college comedy that introduced us to the likes of Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel, who have gone on to theatrical careers. Rogen, one of the supporting characters in Undeclared, is carving out a nice comedic leading man niche for himself and is reportedly getting in shape to play The Green Hornet alongside martial arts comedic genius Stephen Chow. Baruchel, who was more or less the main protagonist in Undeclared, has become the go-to geek for Hollywood, although he does a decent job playing a jerky loser ex-boyfriend in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. With Michael Cera in the lead doing that thing he does, there wouldn't have been room for another geek anyway. I hope more of the Undeclared stars catch breaks like this, especially Monica Keena. She was hot; what happened to her?

* Sometimes, just sometimes, I go off on tangents from my original thought. Sometimes.

* You can lead a horse to water, especially if it's thirsty.

* I am not The Pumpkin King.

* Benjamin Linus reading to children would surely traumatize them for life.

* After two years of being relentlessly hounded for blood after my company's annual blood drive, I finally learned to leave my phone number off the application. I put my e-mail address so that, in a dire emergency, they can still reach me for my apparently-miraculous-blood-that-must-make-everyone-feel-great-except-me. But for the most part, it's easier to ignore an e-mail than that telemarketing style phone call I'd get around 4:30 in the afternoon at work, that telltale pause after answering before a live operator, realizing she'd reached a living person, gets on the line and begins reading a script. I can't say I've really had a bad experience with it, and this year I didn't even have a bruise and finished filling a bag in record time. The nurse told me men's veins were different than women's, since I arrived after a female coworker but finished before her. Bleeding was already something of an ability of mine to begin with. In any case, it's just more convenient to donate when they hold a drive in my office. It's easier to walk down the hall to the dining area where they have tables set up than to drive to some random location or hospital. And psychologically, I tend to make a bigger deal about it until the actual needle is in my arm and I remember that, at least with a good nurse, it doesn't hurt. I even looked this time, something I haven't done since the first time I donated way back in high school. I was done so fast, I wanted to make sure they didn't “cheat” because it was close to the end of the day, but sure enough there was a thick bag of red stuff next to my arm; a pint is no joke.

* If random letters in a paragraph arbitrarily disappear, you may have a font conflict, either too many active overall or too many variants of a specific font with similar names. Deactivating a whole family then activating only the ones you need may resolve the problem, although better font management applications may avoid it altogether. In my experience within companies, central server-based systems were superior to managing fonts on every individual work station.

* 25 is just another number, like XXV or Twenty-Five.

* A bullet format allows one to string together a series of random thoughts, each of which would be insufficient for a post alone, even if they don't all fit a particular theme. Of course, I'd never be guilty of anything like that....