Being Tired, Poop Schedules, and Genuine Friendships – Thoughts from June 4 and 8, 2024

June 4, 2024

This is one of those entries that most people wouldn’t start. If you have nothing to write about, why would you start writing? I’m at the point that many people would call writer’s block. That doesn’t stop me. It just means you have nothing structured to write about, but there’s always a bunch of random thoughts running around my head. My tiredness focuses most of my thoughts on staying awake. My Nerd Mouse calendar needs updating. That’s a thought that leads to action. I’ve recently found that I can update it from my phone so that’s what I’ll do now.

Someone updated the Nerd Mouse calendar, and that someone was me. I’m back to just being tired. You didn’t pay zero dollars to hear me talk about being tired, so let’s talk about why I’m tired. One possible reason is my mask falling off last night. I wear an eye mask every night, but that’s not the mask I’m talking about. A while back, I started wearing the mask people complained about during Covid 19. That’s two masks I wear at night. With my earplug in, I’m completely closed off from the world. Patti commented she doesn’t know how I can stand it. It helps me sleep better. The mouth mask keeps me from having to breathe cat hair all night. Last night it fell off. I woke up with a sore throat that I haven’t had since I’ve been using the mask.

I’m listening to a Sebastian Bach autobiography and he’s talking while I’m trying to write. This is why I will not keep typing.

June 8, 2024

I had a profound thought today. It relates to who your friends are. Genuine friends are ones you can ask about their poop schedule. I told you it was profound. The friend who you can discuss your poop schedule with is someone you can discuss anything with. Perhaps if the schedule included pooping on someone else, that might not be a friend you want to keep. I would at least have several follow-up questions after learning about it. This is not a question I have asked many of my friends, but I know I could ask my truly close friends questions about their poop schedule. If I lost you at the very beginning of this paragraph because you don’t know what a poop schedule is, I will explain what I mean in the next paragraph.

If you’re here, you’re just in time for my discussion of what a poop schedule is. There are several questions implied by the poop schedule. When do you usually poop? How much do you poop each time you poop? How many times in a day do you usually poop? Is there a cutoff time in the day for your pooping? What kind of poop do you usually have? Is your pooping consistent from day to day or does it change? Do you have problems pooping? How dark or light is your poop? Is it painful when you poop? Quite frankly, when I began asking these questions, I didn’t know how many questions I could come up with. I could think of more questions, but I believe I’ve made my point.

Asking friends about their poop schedules goes way beyond surface level discussions. It is deep (pun fully intended). Someone you casually see from time to time does not get these questions. This is a person who you have gone well beyond with normal questions. You know who they’re in a relationship with, where they’re from, what makes them mad, and how they will react when you ask them the poop question. The question and follow-up questions are not even the weirdest questions you’ve ever asked them. If you ask and they refuse to answer, you know where your friendship lies with them. It sits in between casual and informal.

I recently saw that a friend I’ve had for many years got married. He was my best man at my wedding almost 27 years ago to Patti. We’ve talked only a few times in the past few years and only on Facebook. Even though all this time has passed without seeing him in person, I know we could discuss our poop schedules. Being both in our fifties, I’m sure the discussion would feel just like a visit to the doctor. This, of course, would not be our first words to each other and would not be in front of our spouses. It might not even happen, but it could. Everyone poops, but not everyone talks about it. Only good friends do.

I’ve said in the past that Patti is my best friend. Does this mean Patti would be onboard for a poop schedule discussion? Unless it was a medical discussion, she would not. She still qualifies as a genuine friend because she would talk about, but from a place of concern and not interest. I never said the discussion had to be a full disclosure of both parties and heartfelt. It just must be in the realm of possibility. Patti and I have discussed our poop schedules. She would probably point out that she doesn’t have a poop schedule. She poops when she poops and doesn’t have a schedule. I would just point out that a pattern has developed if she thought about it. That would probably end the discussion about poop.