Monthly Archives: April 2008

meme

I’m Not Sure How Random These Are, But There Are Six Of Them

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A dreamy, steamy meme, from Freida Bee:

*Link to the person who tagged you.
*Post the rules on your blog.
*Write six random things about yourself.
*Tag six random people by linking to their blogs.
*Let each of the six know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment (on each blog).
*Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

1. I am really enjoying living in Brookfield lately. The sun is warming up things, and the friendly bunch of neighborhood kids are out playing again. My kids have a good time outside. There are three parks within walking distance of our house. We had a really nice and relaxing time at the Brookfield Zoo yesterday. It’s not the big urban center of Chicago (the reason I moved up from Springfield in the first place), but it’s cool.

2. My favorite word of praise is “cool”. My favorite word of disapproval is “stupid”.

3. I have recently realized that I am ignorant of a fair amount of enormously-popular celebrities currently walking around and getting their stupid pictures taken.

4. I don’t ever want to have a dog, because a dog is a pooping baby that never grows up.

5. I hate clutter but am oblivious to filth. I could live in a really dirty apartment (and I have), but at least every dirty thing would be in its proper place.

6. I can’t keep up with my 3-movies-at-home Netflix subscription. I’m going to need to ratchet it down a couple movies. Am I ever going to watch The Changeling? Maybe I’ll just wait until Halloween.

pareidolia

Splotchy, Amateur Neuroscientist

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Well, now that I have seen faces in a few places, it seems my mind has opened up to the possibility of human faces in a variety of objects.

For instance, I looked down at our downstairs bathroom sink this weekend, which we’ve had for at least a couple years, and suddenly now there is a face as clear as day.

For those of you who want to see what this face would look like with a horribly runny nose, I have obliged you here:

This faucet face was always there, waiting for me to see it, but I didn’t notice it until I started again exercising this strange little nook of my brain, a nook which I seemed to use quite a bit when I was younger.

It made me think about dreams. I usually don’t remember my dreams, and when I do remember them, they usually slip away from me very easily. It’s strange — during the moments of the dream they are very real, but somehow their ephemeral nature makes them less memorable than something I physically experienced.

Years ago, I found an exercise that I could engage in to help me recall some of my dreams. I have a few dreams that I have been able to retain fragments of over the years — a nightmare of a neon clown throwing pies at me, a dream where I jumped slow-motion into puddles. I have found that when I revisit these dream memories it opens up doors to other dreams. They just suddenly pop in my head. From these newly-remembered dreams I can then remember others, and so it goes like some sort of remembrance-chain. All these dreamed experiences are still lurking around in my head somewhere, it’s just accessing them that’s the tricky part.

Our brains help us get through life in so many ways, but are still well beyond the reach of our understanding (a brain understanding itself is kind of an interesting concept in and of itself). I think my renewed bouts of pareidolia and my dream-remembering exercises are somehow connected, but I’m not sure how.

Oh, just in case you’re looking for a reflection of a nekkid Splotchy in those faucet pics, I *am* in the reflection, but am fully clothed. Sorry ladies!

60 second doodle, a peek into the exciting life of splotchy

Lake Alley / Miasma Row Update

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So, after a very rough day at work on Friday (04/18), I finally pull into our alley at around 7:45pm.

I was surprised by a couple things. One, virtually all the water witnessed in the alley photo of Monday (04/14) had evaporated.

Two, the friendly elves of Brookfield had filled in one of the larger crevasses of the alley with some gravel.

Everything’s coming up Splotchy!

Oh, before I forget, let me present the doodle for the other winner of the Name That Alley contest.

For Bubs: Bubs pulling a big-ass catfish out of the water.

goddammit, rock 'n roll

In Need Of Medical Attention

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I can already tell this is going to be a really rough day at work. I might need some treatment later.

Dean & Britta – Night Nurse

UPDATE! (12:56pm)

Wow, this day is even worse than I had initially thought! Send in Dr. Feelgood!

Mötley Crüe – Dr. Feelgood

UPDATE! (3:19pm)

The day is still stucky, and Dr. Feelgood has stolen all my pain pills. Oh, doctor! doctor!

Thompson Twins – Doctor! Doctor!

UPDATE! (5:02pm)

I’m still here! I’m angry! I’m still not having a good day! Send in Dr. Rock!

Ween – Dr. Rock

UPDATE! (6:07pm)

I’m still here, and will be probably until 7:45pm or so. But I took my headphones out of the computer and I’m listening to music. So screw medicine.

The Pixies – Debaser

Apples In Stereo – Signal In The Sky

Pizzicato Five – Twiggy Twiggy

word fun

Monkeyfingered

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Hi.

Chances are you haven’t seen my post from exactly one year ago today about ringdinging.

For this post, the relevant definition to this made-up word is the following:

ringdinging
Pronunciation: \ˈriŋ-diŋ-iŋ\
Function: noun
2: — The act of promoting one’s self through the introduction of some lazy conceit, or a feeble twist on a preexisting novel concept.

With that in mind, I present to you a new word I made up: monkeyfingered.

Being monkeyfingered is very similar to being rickrolled, except instead of this you get this.

I think the act of being rickrolled is funnier than being monkeyfingered, but I think “monkeyfingered” as a word is superior to “rickrolled”.

To ensure your victim’s surprise, use this URL, which will present them with a friendly monkeyfinger without giving away the joke in the actual web address text:

http://tinyurl.com/6nyotd

You’re welcome!

60 second doodle, a peek into the exciting life of splotchy

Name That Alley Contest

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This is my stupid alley. Note the slight accumulation of standing water. This amount of water will probably take a good week or two to fully evaporate.

It’s a crap shoot in the suburbs of Chicago if you have alleys behind your house. Brookfield does, while its neighboring suburb LaGrange Park does not.

Our alley is mud with a thin veneer of gravel that remains in place for about a week. Attempts are occasionally made to level out the alley, but this also lasts for about a week.

It’s possible to get one’s alley paved with some kind of futuristic compound called “concrete”, provided the cost be borne by the homeowners whose properties are contiguous with the alley.

You can read all about the ins and outs of Brookfield concrete alleyway requests in a Word document linked to on a helpful FAQ page!

While I go about gathering signatures for an “Alley Paving Petition”, please help me assign this alley a name worthy of its suckiness.

Whoever suggests the name I end up using will have the opportunity to provide a doodle idea, which I will doodle for them at no cost.

UPDATE:

Something just occurred to me. I think I am also going to make up a street sign (or as close to a street sign as I can manage) with the winning name, and I am going to place this street sign on the telephone pole in the alley next to my garage, where it will be seen by all other people who have to use this stupid alley.

While I like a lot of the names suggested already, please keep in mind that people seeing the sign should be aware that the name of the alley is expressing how sucky the alley is.

SECOND UPDATE:

I have chosen two winners: Miasma Row and Lake Alley. Miasma Row, because it says how I feel. Lake Alley, because I think that would be the most appropriate sign for me to hammer onto a telephone pole, before the Brookfield authorities inevitably make me take it down.

Bubs and DGuzman, please feel free to suggest a doodle idea, and I will happily doodle one for you!

DOODLE UPDATE:

For DGuzman: The entire BushCo gang falling into the lake in Lake Alley.