My usual Thursday gauntlet has been compressed even further by a visit from my mother, who arrives at the only-just godly hour of 10am. It is a disappointing son who makes his mother take a cab from the airport, a rickety middle-aged man who skips his precious Thursday yoga, and a broke freelance writer who misses deadline. All this is to say that there is not much Combat! blog today. Fortunately, Thursday also brings the publication of yet another screed in the  Independent, this one about keeping Missoula weird. It’s not just a bumper sticker or a self-satisfied identity formation; it’s a way of life, and I ironically oppose it because I am an ironic curmudgeon. If any arts feature ever turns the good people of this city against me, this will be the one. Read it now before the townsfolk debone me with pitchforks. We’ll be back tomorrow with Friday links.

But do they like me? I have to know.

Good morning, Combatants! We had a rousing evening in the city last night, tying for fourth place at trivia, visiting Ben “The Angel” Gabriel at his place of employment, and—spoiler alert—drinking too much. Fortunately, I am on vacation, and that sort of moral turpitude is excusable, or at least freed from consequences. While I restore homeostasis, how about you read my most recent column in the Missoula Independent? Or you can look at video of tigers fighting. In the age of the internet, text will be just fine.

Greetings from Aaron’s couch, where Lucretia and I are only lately arrived. It’s been a long day already, and it’s only 2:30 eastern. I have been up for eight hours and traveled approximately 2000 miles, which is way too much work for a committed layabout such as myself. But it’s worth it to watch Curt get married or, possibly, watch the impending Mrs. Curt come to her senses. Either way, it’s going to be a fun weekend, and I will write the blog very little or not at all. Tomorrow, you will see a paltry link to my work in the Missoula Independent, which recently won me first place in the Best Column category at the Montana Newspaper Awards. Friday, you probably won’t see anything at all. Monday, even Tuesday might be disappointing—but not for me, because I am on vacation. In the meantime, there is Facebook. Always there is Facebook.