See You Next Wednesday
Yet still more of the same. For an ordinary event in an exotic location I am looking for a concordance in the juxtaposition. Kicking stones is ordinary; kicking Stonehenge is remarkable. This is not actually a requirement of the exercise, however I think it helps. The object of the exercise, for me, is to learn about unusual experiences I didn’t know you shared rather than scoring ten out of ten for uniqueness. But I want any which find a match, or even a near miss, to provoke a worthwhile response. To this end, I think, if the description can strike a cord it will be more likely to get reaction. Also, if the event can be expressed succinctly there is more chance of a near miss. So instead of “skulled a pint of beer in Prague when I was fifteen” I would say:
4. Skulled a pint of Pilsner in Czechoslovakia.
See what I did there? Prague is in Czechoslovakia (or it was in 1984), as is (was) Pilsen, where Pilsner comes from, which was the beer in the pint glass. A concordant juxtaposition I failed to prepare earlier. Being fifteen at the time may be remarkable but I find it discordant. I also considered “skulled a pint of Pilsner in Prague” which scores points for alliteration but “Czechoslovakia” won because it ceased to exist in 1993 making the event a little less likely to be matched precisely.
Stop talking to him, he doesn’t know. Janice tends not to pick things up from the floor of
Veterinarian’s Hospital because her breasts are prone to escape from her nurse’s uniform when she bends over. To accommodate a shift in comedic paradigm of
The Muppet Show from wit to slapstick while remaining firmly child oriented, Rowlf sent a request to the Wardrobe Department for alterations to Janice’s uniform. Inexplicably* alterations were made to Miss Piggy’s uniform instead, resulting in a breast retention failure similar to Janice’s but with significantly greater repercussions. Now both nurses must remain essentially vertical and Miss Piggy can no longer safely throw her head back to laugh, let alone collapse on the operating table. Rather than sending both costumes back to the Wardrobe Department to do what they were asked to do and undo what they weren’t, Rowlf has decided to lobby for a new season of scripts, redevelopment of the cross-sketch running jokes, and a general exemption from the paradigm shift. His position is: asking them to do their job would resolve the issue, but it might briefly generate some ill-will if he gets them on a bad day. If you pry behind the veneer of appeasement he asserts: if the wrong alterations were made to the wrong uniform, then undoing the wrong alterations and doing the right alterations to the right uniform is logically impossible.
*
As in, no explanation was forthcoming because Rowlf didn’t bother to ask how the incredible cock-up was made.
3. Rode in the basket of a fire engine crane.
Still more of the same. 2. Been mistaken for a local in Reykjavik.
This is harder then I remember. I can think of slightly uncommon events which coincided, but not much which qualifies itself as remarkably unlikely. Many of the uncommon events are merely being in a foreign country. For example people reading this may have skulled a pint of beer, some may have done it when they were fifteen, but not many would have done it in Prague. However I don't want a list of ten ordinary things I have done in exotic locations.
Now for something completely different. If I have to think about it, I am happy. But people suspect otherwise; people whose judgement I trust. Maybe I am fooling myself. I suspect I am at least missing something, I hope it is not vital.
More of the same. When you're following an angel, does it mean you have to throw your body off a building?
She's an Angel - They Might Be Giants
I was recalling meme (-inspired) things I have been exposed to in the blogosphere. There was one about reaching for the closest book to hand, turning to a page and writing a sentence from it. The rules haven't stuck in my memory so I guess it was a less successful meme. Also, it seems rather pointless; it might randomly inspire somebody else but if there is nothing in it for me why would I perpetuate it.
A more successful meme (based on my "I can recall it" test, at least) is where you list ten things you have done which you don't think anybody who reads your blog has done. This has an aspect of feedback to it when readers comment about the items which you were mistaken about or otherwise provoked a response.
I could only think of one thing before I had to go back to work:
1. Kicked chips of rock off Stonehenge.
Reasons to be cheerful.
I have internet access at work again. I wonder if it will let me blog... no. Blogger uses a Google Mail account for signing in, and access to Google Mail accounts is forbidden. I shall just have to email this to my Bigpond account, which I am also forbidden to access, and post it when I get home. I also have my Sametime chat access back. I may never earn my pay again...
Chatting is such fun. I had a drink with Shy after work yesterday; it was totally brilliant to actually get to the end of a topic of conversation with her, and then talk about something else. I felt spoilt, which was nice. Today Emma-Jean spoiled me some more.
On Tuesday night a bunch of sleepy-heads, some who had to get up at stupid o'clock the next day to go to the airport, stomped on some bad guys in the World's Longest Corridor. The module included the big bad guy's tactics for the first five rounds of combat and notes about when his minions would summon help and such - the entire fight lasted two rounds. Dave wants to put WLD on hiatus again, but we haven't decided on a replacement. Perhaps we will have a game selection and character generation session next week.
On the weekend Emma-Jean returned to Canberra. What a lovely time it is to be alive. Welcome back, Emma-Jean.
