To Be Or Not To Be. That Is The Foolishness.

Today’s Music: Paul McCartney – Hope of Deliverance
Days Til Spring: 27!!!

I’m ecstatic! The temperature is above freezing! The weekend is almost here! And I got to read some great stuff this week too. Here’s some of what I saw…Samantha Hines wrote about a porch that was more than just a porch.T. Dawn gave a great fiction piece about being someone else, and this one’s a little old, but Quirky put up quite possibly the most hilariously disturbing food post I’ve been lucky to read. It has donuts. That’s all I’m going to say.
A great week of reading, from them and everyone else, so thanks for that!

Oh, and TwinDaddy at Stuphblog is highlighting me on Feature Friday! Probably because he’s trying to lose followers. But I hope y’all pop over to check him out and follow. He’s a great voice in the cloud.

But one particular time when it doesn’t seem like anyone was reading was Valentine’s Day. In last week’s poll, we asked how, instead of doing the traditional things, you’d be celebrating. And I don’t think Hallmark makes cards for all your ideas. Here’s what you said. (As always, my comments are dressed skimpily in italics

Catching up on all the foolishness… It is Friday after all (Kanerva)
(So…watching couples fight for parking at overcrowded restaurants?)
Hybernating until spring. Kayjai
(That’s barely a one month nap. Is it even worth it?)
Celebrating Zombie Day instead 🙂 Don’t ask… Andro
(And Jesus appreciates your devotion!)
Searching the TV Guide in hopes of a new episode of Shark Tank. ~Maddie
(In a stirring Valentine’s episode, the judges make a romantic dinner out of the dreams of hopeful contestants!)
No time for Valentine’s Day–I’ll be trading in my iPhone5 for a new iPhone 5S
(Buy now to get the Date-A-Hipster app free!)
Party Hearty on Mardi Gras! (Stacy)
(I thought King Baby came 9 months after Valentine’s Day?)
We went to a SF/fantasy/gaming convention! jaklumen
(Yeah, my wife needs extraordinary circumstances to dress up like Slave Princess Leia too.)
Roadtripping!!! Kanerva
(Better than icesliding!)
Washing my hair (Elyse 54.5)
(You were doing it in slo-mo, with that head flick, right?)
Hunting around in the yard for Cupid’s arrow, since it missed me and my house.
(Doesn’t having a diaper clad sniper in the neighborhood make the real estate values go down?)
to donate my heart, which is like a trampoline- stomped on and resilient. Samara
(It’s the Timex of organs!)
Celebrating National Organ Donor Day, which also falls on Feb 14. Samara
(I wonder how many overused livers they reject on the 15th…)
Hoping none of my friends catch the VD… 1 Jaded 1
(As long as they didn’t sit on a toilet seat…)
Canceling my plans and vomiting all weekend, huzzaaahhhugh –Aussa Lorens
(Funny, those usually are my plans…)
Drinking heavily.
(So…nothing special for Valentines Day.)
Trying to remember what romance was like before children. And drinking. Deanna
(For many of us, it’s the drinking while being romantic that leads to children.)
I will be offering group Commando weekends, well if it’s warm enough 🙂 Andro
(I really don’t want to hear about disassembling the rifles for cleaning.)
Enjoying a Saturday night in alone, strike that idea I want some fun 🙂 Andro
(How about organising an orgy?)
organising an orgy for something else, hopefully 🙂 Andro
(Sure, steal my idea…)
shoveling snow…sigh SnB
(Hey, it’s better than how the elephant tender at the zoo is spending his Valentine’s Day!)
Trying to figure out why my old Christmas tree is stuck to my balcony.
(That holiday spirit is year round!)
Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day early. – Hotspur
(I thought the early partying for that started March 18th?)
Cooking a beautiful dinner for me and the lovely Mr S. Valentine’s rules okay r
(Wait – the rules are she has to cook for him???)
I think instead of celebrating I will be going to the doctor to clear up that annoying rash left over from the last romantic holiday I celebrated…… PMAO
(No one celebrates groundhog day like you!)
(Thank goodness.)
Spending time on C4C with lonely blogging buddies – Benzeknees
(Look, if you’re going to say stuff like that, it’s very hard to mock you.)
(Which doesn’t mean I won’t try.)
But I like Valentine’s Day…dammit, so much for my clever answer.
(Don’t feel bad. I never have clever answers.)
Shoving Cupid’s arrows up his keister, gently of course. polysyllabic profundities
(Downtown, they usually charge extra for gentle.)
Celebrating Valentoons Day watching a PePe Lepu Marathon-Linda Vernon
(Umm…those are episodes of TLC’s Strange Love: Skunks…)
Seeing a flemish bluegrass arthouse flick about cancer. For real (rollergiraffe)
(Sometimes the jokes just write themselves.)
Celebrating all the 50% off Chocolate sales after V-Day! –RoS
(But acne cleanser goes up to 150%.)
I’m french. I am valentines day ya fucker. (Marie Nicole)
(And now I see how “pardon my french” became a thing.)
silly. Same thing I do every day. thematticuskingdom
(But if you marry Punky Brewster, what will the children look like?)
trying to take over the world. Same thing I do every day. thematticuskingdom
(Wait – are you the one that’s the genius, or the one that’s insane?)
stalking people through their blogs. same thing I do every day. thematticuskingdom
(Only then will you prove your mousey worth!)
At Duane Reade, buying Easter decorations. BT
(Better hurry before the xmas decorations crowd them off the shelves.)
Trying to think of something that rhymes with ‘Politically Correct’.
(All I can think of is “erect”. Because apparently, I’m twelve.)
Shoveling snow. Walking the dog in the snow. Building a snow cupid. SNNOOOWWW!!!
(WE HAVE A WINNER!!!)
drinking, big time. Alex A.
(Being single means never having to share teh Valentines booze!)
Trying to convince Al Roker to shovel your place. (Frank)
(He’s too busy shoveling crap on the NYC mayor.)
Buying a box of Valentine’s Day cards and having a bonfire with them – Twindaddy
(Ah, fanning the flames of love…)
working on the other kind of VD – you know the STD kind… Rutabaga
(One Standard Valentines Day, coming up.)
Prepping for my colonoscopy.
(Dinner and drinks with the proctologist first?)
Packing for my holidays! YAY!!
(I hope your suitcase is big enough to fit the whole class.)

Congratulations to the anonymous patron for this weeks winning answer! And from the offered choices, the most popular was a tie between Coming down from the post-Olympics high. (Curling is intense!) and Sending Ben & Jerry’s stock through the roof. (Loneliness never tasted so good.). So congratulations to all you Olympic level ice cream eaters out there!

Much more appropriate than that Thinker guy…

This week finds the Greater Republic of Guapola in a ponderous mood. Philosophical even! But instead of Socrates famous “Like the sands through the hourglass…” (mostly because sand makes me think of chafing in awkward areas) we focus instead on Descartes “I think, therefore I am”. So this weeks question is What do you think?
Answer often, and take your time to ponder, because this one closes in ten days, on Monday 3 March, at 2359 EST. (My brain will need the extra week to recover from all this thinking, so no foolishness next friday. It’s also possible I’ll just be hibernating.)
Try and limit your write ins to four answers, and if you like, leave a name on your write-ins, and I’ll link back to you next week.

And as we had into the weekend, enjoy these!
First, here’s a clever falling domino set up. Turn your speakers down a bit, because the music is electronica.
Unless you like electronica, in which case I forgive you.

And finally, a brilliant ode to the Spiderman Musical. With flying!
(I think the audience member is Exile on Pain Street.)

And until we meet again, have a great weekend, and a thorough foolishness!

Flash In The Pan – What’s “Left”?

Today’s Music: Gaslight Anthem – Diamond Church Street Choir

One thing about blogging: if you’re ever stuck for ideas, there are more than enough prompts, challenges and questions out there as sources of inspiration. One in particular comes from Red at The M3 Blog (neé Momma’s Money Matters), the Flash In The Pan challenge.
Red presents a word, and a word count limit. It’s often up to the author to decide what meaning to assign the word, and how many of the available words they use.
I’ve been reading the entries to the challenges for a while now and enjoyng them. As an added incentive to participate, Red binds all the entries up in her qurterly Flash In The Pan books, published and sold through Redmund Productions.
Check em out, and play along if you like.

The current challenge has a 75 word limit, and uses the word Left.

Turned
The projectiles of our enemy heralded their arrival. We fell into position at the forward edges of our lines, Crandell next to me, preaching as always.
“And where will you turn?”, he bellowed against the backdrop of fire. “When the choice is before you – good or evil, life or death, right or wrong – where will you turn?”
A bullet ricocheted past.
“Left”, I replied, unlimbering my weapon. “I’ll turn left”.

We opened fire.

Looking Sideways. And a Haiku!

Today’s Music: Iron Maiden – Run To The Hills
Days Til Spring: 57

Says it all... (From the inestimable Gary Larson. Please don't sue me.)

Wow. this is the 100th time I’m setting virtual pen to pixelated paper.
I don’t really have any ideas for this momentous occasion. Really, the only thing I have special for it is at the bottom, in the closing remark, and that isn’t even my idea. It came from the comments section of this post.

Mostly right now, I’m feeling more in tune with the post of another blogger, Sandylikeabeach in her post about prayer. (Though i imagine I could draw some excellent allegories from Hotspur too, but it would probably just go to his head.)
But that’s just because it was an exceptionally long day. This too shall pass I guess…

So, 100 down, god-knows-how-many to go. So far I’ve enjoyed myself. I’ve met some great bloggers, had some deeper conversations than I ever thought I would online, and mostly just amused the hell out of myself.
There have been limericks and polls (see the last two categories in the header), there’s been music every day (some of it good). There’s been some serious stuff, and a whole lot of silliness.
A nice blend, methinks. And if nothing else, a few days a week, I actually have to organize my thoughts. Doesn’t actually stay organized when it runs through my fingers, but still, it’s the thought that counts. (See what I did there?)

So stay tuned, keep the volume turned up, and put in as much or as little effort as you like as you browse.
Let me know what you’re listening to, or what concerts you’re going to see (I’ve updated the Concert Log page above), and what books you’re reading. I read all the comments (even the one that just said pornbeer.com and the other, posted by user1, I am the worlds best user!) and answer them too!
So, a bit of looking back. Some looking forwards. Mostly (and as always), just looking sideways…

And as promised, to commemorate the inanity of commemorating my 100th post, I give you
The Gopher Haiku
Did he ever get the girl?
The shorts look ridiculous
Welcome to Washington, Congressman.

PLUS!!! An older Dick Shawn and Bobby Short on the same cruise?!?

You’re welcome. Look on the bright side – the next 100 can’t get any worse!
(hehehe)

Reflections on Another Trip Around The Sun

Today’s Music: The Beatles – They Say It’s Your Birthday (will open in new window)

As the anniversary of my birth rolls around today, let’s see what we’ve learned in over 160 seasons on the planet, shall we?

– It’s not the years. It’s the mileage. (50 points to whoever places this quote first, 40 points for everyone after)

My Superhero-Surfer gear

– If I knew then what I know now, I would still have been an idiot, just one who knew more. (But I would definitely have bought Amazon stock. And sold at $395.)
– No matter what your age, naps are good.
– Naps with the woman you love are even better
– “Don’t play with your food” is always an invitation to play with your food.
– It’s good to be old enough to buy your own toys without needing permission.
– Even when it sucks, it’s good to be alive.
– Food made by your own hand is good. Food caught by your own hand is great.

from visualphotos.com

– I’ll drive, but you’d better navigate.
– Drinking at school is good. Paying attention would have been better.
– I don’t mind doing the damage, since I’m old enough to understand the consequences
– Eggs do not belong in one’s nose. But mashed potatoes in your glasses are magic
– If you’re going to do a naked bar dance, remember the story, because one day it may get you a wife. Who will be The Most Wonderful Girl In The Universe.
– Tell TMWGITU that you love her. Several times a day. Using silly adjectives to describe the size of your love.
– Washing the dishes isn’t so bad when they’re your dishes.

Porfidio Cactus tequila

– Laying down at bedtime with the woman you love is the Best. Gift. Ever.
– Socks are the Worst. Gift. Ever. Unless they’re novelty socks. Or ski socks.
– It is possible to drink your own body weight. Or so I’ve been told. I can’t remember – I was pretty damn stewed at the time.
– Don’t eat lentils after drinking that much. Trust me on this.
– Read books.
– Be thankful for friends who won’t let strangers pour water on your head and take pictures while you’re drunk
– Make friends with bartenders
– Watch good movies. And bad ones too. I LOVE Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.
– Go on Road Trips. I like themes – Boston for clam chowder, Florida for U2 (k,
not a theme, but it was a great trip, and a great show.

Fender American Standard Strat

– It’s not all about the music, but it could be
– Ride a jet ski.
– Ride snow skis.
– Ride a surfboard.
– Find a way to have fun, everyday. Even if it’s just for a few minutes.

– Blog. You’ll meet some very funny, insightful and smart people.

-Have a great birthday. And if today ain’t your birthday too, just have a great day.

Friday Foolishness – Jellybean edition

Today’s Music: Kina Grannis

First the old business – results of last weeks’ poll:
Other responses were
1 – not yet a problem
2 – When it grows long enough, I braid it with my nose hair. Looks like a mustache.

I like 2 myself, and may try it when the hair gets uncontrollable…
And the winner is
a tie between “Ear hair? Really? What kind of a freak are you?” and “Au Naturale”.

Thanks to all you voters.

And here’s this weeks’ “What the hell is wrong with him?” poll:

And while you wait for the answers (voting ends next Thursday at midnight), please enjoy a jellybean video from today’s Today’s Music artist.

Have a great weekend, everyone!