Filed under: Bloggidy Blog
I’ve been going through pictures and thinking things about them that I did not think at the time that I took them. One such example is this picture of a peacock that was running around this beach bar type area that was on the island of Cozumel.
This particular beach is free and is part of Chankanaab National Park, which is huge. I believe this beach is one of few places with walk-in snorkling (as opposed to having to rent a boat to see the fish). From the shore all you see are tourist heads and butts and snorkles bobbing around but if you look under the water there’s fish. And the fish just watch you back. It’s a trip. The ones I saw were orbiting a little clump of reef or rock that was in the middle of this area with all kinds of people in it. I could take a page from those fish as they have better people coping skills than I do.
But back to the peacocks. They were kind of enchanting. It’s a pretty remarkable thing to see live birds wandering around a bar. I think there were 3 males and 3 females and also a very handsome rooster. I mean it about that rooster–he was beautiful. He could be a show bird. So someone is taking really good care of these animals, which takes time. And, you know what’s coming next–I would think someone has to be on poop detail with these guys. People do not want to see poop where they are eating and drinking. And I saw no poop-the little wooden sidewalks were pristine. Maybe they go in the sand or the underbrush and it just disappears but, at least seven large birds and hundreds of barefoot tourists with barefoot kids playing in the sand? I don’t know…birds poop a lot. If it was my beach I’d probably say “We got the ocean, we got the weather, we got the drinks…maybe live peacocks amongst the guests is gilding the lily a little.”
Of course, my feelings stem from my own experience of iguana ownership in the public-type setting of my store. Keeping secret from customers the unpredictable and explosive bowel movements of two adult iguanas was a full time job. Because people do not want to see or smell iguana poop when they shop. They were a big hit with most customers but I don’t think I’d let them jump up on top of a tiki-hut-like umbrella under which people were dining without a lot of trepidation.
So, anyway, thanks for the peacocks, Cozumel. They were a nice touch.
that my store/studio had these really big front windows on it. Some neer-do-well put a giant decal of Charles Manson’s face over one of the windows and then someone else put a bullet through the forehead of the decal and the window. I was going to leave it, like always, and wait until the city sent me a notice to fix it but then someone bought up the property next door to me and he insisted that I fix it now. (It cost $2000.) We got into agiant screaming match when he told me I had to fix a bunch of other stuff, too, and I called him a “Cocksucker”. It was a fairly interesting dream–those were just the highlights. I have to admit that I really like screaming at people in my dreams–mostly because I never feel strongly enough about anything to scream about it in real life.
Filed under: Bloggidy Blog | Tags: auditing, emeter, scientology, t-shirt
I sure hope so. I need to knock off this assault on my internal organs but soon. The event at the Dane with the blessing and the drinking and the crayfish went very well. They have drunken people entertainment down to a science. Don got to wear a fez and play accordion. Downstairs in the Dane’s brewery area I found a sign that kind of sums up how I feel since I got back:
Like that guy–sleepy with detached head. Also, last night I think somebody spilled beer in my coat pocket. So I’m kind of sticky, too.
I’ve got this nagging feeling that my time today might be better spent at home paying bills and cleaning. I’ve heard stories about people who clean their houses before they go on vacation so that they don’t have to do it when they get back. That sounds like a smart thing to do but it’s not how I roll. I figure, what if, for some reason you didn’t come home? You would have cleaned your house for nothing, that’s what. Think about it.
About the only thing I’ve accomplished since I got back is put a new Lost School t-shirt design in the Cafe Press store. Here’s what’s on it:
In case you can’t make out the text it says “Think of an earlier incident in which drawing an e-meter you suddenly felt loagey…” (“Logy” is mispelled. That’s just Bob’s way.) It’s a Scientology reference. Bob Foster drew it. Did I ever tell you Bob was once into Scientology? He was. Because he liked a girl who was into it, of course. So, back in the 70’s, Bob sold books for L. Ron Hubbard door to door in exchange for auditing. He escaped the fold, though not before learning an awful lot about Scientology–knowledge he shares freely with little encouragement from others. He recently donated his Scientology books to the Lost School library that is our house:
He doesn’t want them anymore. Our gain.
But back to the t-shirt design. I found that doodle in a notebook from about three years ago. Don and I are quite taken with it. I’m taken with everything we do, though, regardless of commercial viability (or the lack there of, which is usually the case). I ordered up shirts for the band and for people who watched or animals and our junk while we were out of town. Now that we have matching shirts we can form a soft ball team or a gang. Or just look stupid.
I’m going to get to work on the Mexico pictures soon. Right now I got stuff to do, I think.
Filed under: Bloggidy Blog
We made it back home. We didn’t injure ourselves or lose anything but there’s plenty of opportunity to do that at The Great Dane’s Fat Tuesday celebration going on at their downtown location (123 E. Doty St.) Since the other brewers are yet in Mexico, Don’s going to be blessing the bock this year. I’m not sure if that particular task calls for an entire costume or just a funny hat. Either way it will be a gas. You should go there.
I’m still going through pictures of Mexico. That went by so fast. We ended up venturing out and seeing some stuff–ruins in Tulum and colorful fish in Cozumel. My messed up sleeping schedule became completely normalized after about 24 hours in a warm environment. Warm environments are where it’s at. I’ll be back with a blog later.
Filed under: Bloggidy Blog
Hola. I am happy to report that is warm here and the towel oragami is more grand and complex than ever. Internets have been spotty though right now I am picking them up in the condo, which is great, because the from office area is a ways away. So, today I was beset with intestinal issues. Aren’t you happy I’m keeping you abreast of these things? The issues were not important enough to be overwhelming, just a little inconvenient. Things have improved thanks to herbal remedies containing amusing ingredients which I plan to parlay into bead names. In the meantime, please enjoy this sign. It’s not some unwritten law or anything, it’s just something that was painted on the door of an underwear store.
Filed under: Bloggidy Blog
That Mexico trip that was just an event on the horizon for the longest time is sneaking right up on us now. Don’s boss is sending all the brewers and the management of the Great Dane to Playa Del Carmen for a week. So, free trip to Mexico–can’t beat that with a stick. I just want to get the hell out of here. We’re leaving for Milwaukee on Sunday night and catching a flight out on Monday morning. Be back on the 23rd of February. There are internets at the Xaman Ha so I will be in touch via the email and the blog. And, yeah, I am going to blog from there. We’ll be there a whole week and there’s a lot of down time between walking to and fro Dr. Taco and deciding which cocktail to mix next.
So today I’m packing and trying to remember stuff. Hard. To. Focus. I’m just a bundle of something today. The daily low temperature in Playa is 5-10 degrees warmer than it is in our living room. Yup. Also, there are lizards. I want to go there.
But before I go, here’s a beautiful jello picture that Annie from CA sent me:
If I made this–and I really want to–I would stick some little plastic bowler hats in there so it would look like a Magritte painting. Tres surreal!
Talk at you later, guys!
Filed under: Bloggidy Blog | Tags: history, home made liquor, jello, raccoon corn plasters
You know what I would like to experience anew as an adult? Jello. I was just picking at a bowl of black cherry jello and thinking about that. If Jello had been invented, like, last week or something I don’t think I’d be able to concentrate on anything else. It’s kind of amazing that you can eat something that looks so un-food like and it won’t hurt you. Gummy bears are like that too. I guess I’ve always liked food that is squishy and colored like glass. (At this point in the blog, just to clarify something you might be wondering…I’d like to point out that I don’t smoke weed–my brain just thinks like this naturally. Naturally and all of the time. It’s a blessing and a curse.)
So, anyway, I was thinking about Jello this evening and wondering if there was anyone alive today who could remember when Jello first came out. Maybe they would have some mind-blowing story about how it changed their life and their perception of food–I know I would. Sadly, Jello was invented a REALLY long time ago so there’s hardly a soul in this country with a pre-Jello memory (which, when you think about it, is mind-blowing in itself). I’m basing that assumption on this document I found called ”The History of Jello“. Yup. By 1906, 103 years ago, already a million dollars worth of Jello had been sold. Damn, that’s a lot of Jello.
Extremely funny side note: Did you see? Frank Woodward, the school drop out who bought the rights to Jello, also marketed several patented medicines one of which was called “Raccoon Corn Plasters”. I get the “corn plaster” part but “raccoon” is a mystery. Sounds like a great name for either a kid’s cereal or a band–not a medicine, though. He also sold a coffee substitute product called “Grain-O” which is such a perfect name for home made liquor it makes me want to set up a still. ‘Cause it rhymes with “Drain-O”, too, which is kind of how home made liquor works on your system. That’s awesome. I’m glad I thought about Jello today.
Filed under: Bloggidy Blog | Tags: dried plums, i phone, ones, over packaging, sunsweet
in individually wrapped prunes when I had the chance. I ranted about these back when Sunsweet first decided to give prunes a makeover by wrapping them individually and calling them “dried plums”. Individually packaging things that you have to eat a whole bunch of to achieve a desired effect is NOT a good idea. And yet, well, go look at their website. Over a quarter of a million prunes unwrapped every day. See the counter? See it move every time someone throws away a prune wrapper? I’m trying to not take random things I encounter as personal affronts to me but I’m having a hard time with this one. I told everyone specifically not to buy these! Individually wrapped prunes are not more convenient! The unwrapping is a time suck and it’s bad for the environment! Prunes inside a large bag can be eaten more quickly and with one hand! You can even drive and eat them, if you want. Now stop buying these!
Meanwhile, in other wildly successful advertising campaigns…Don saw that commercial for an I Phone, the one where they show the ap that has the carpenter’s level on it. I’m not going to say he wants an I Phone now but suddenly he is very interested in seeing one of those levels in real life. And previously, he did not give a rat’s ass about anything the I Phone had to offer. They got some smart monkeys working in Apple’s advertising department, I tell you what. Sucked that white, 45 year old, blue collar demographic right in.
Hey! Also, my cyber-hero Jim Sheely has a rare piece up for sale on Ebay–the Teratoma Kid. “Teratoma” means “Tumor”. Word-o-the day. That would make a dandy Valentine’s Day present for some lucky gal. Hint hint, Don.
Filed under: Bloggidy Blog | Tags: acorn squash, apples, carrots, ellie pooh paper, poo-like caulk, the onion, ziggy
The top picture is not poop. It’s just an interesting-looking pile of caulk that I found in an under-construction area where Don works. Nice lighting, huh? It was late afternoon.
The second picture is of a little bookmade out of paper that was made out of elephant poop. So that one is poop. Isn’t that novel? Are you surprised? Probably not. I was, but then again, I’m easily surprised. Elephant poo paper is really nice stuff–it’s thick and it comes in a multitude of colors. And when you buy it, your purchase helps the elephants. The fact that this is made out of poop is enough to make me want to buy it, but it’s very high quality paper, too. So there you go. A more worthwhile product you will not find. Thanks you for playing “Which One Is Poop?”
Hmmm…there’s still time to kill before going home. Well, here’s something–last night I was looking around for my Spanish dictionary and I found a rather large acorn squash in my backpack. Surprise! That is hands down the largest object that I’ve unwittingly carried around with me for a week…or maybe two. I do remember purchasing it and then wondering what happened to it shortly there after. I don’t know…I guess I just wasn’t hungry enough for squash to focus on the task at hand. To my credit, the back pack is quite large and the squash ended up being filed away in a seldom-used compartment. And, when I left the co-op the backpack had about ten pounds of apples and carrots in it so it felt empty after I dumped all of that stuff out of it. So it could have happened to anyone, is what I’m saying. I still don’t know where my dictionary is, though. I can’t believe I still need a Spanish dictionary in order to translate the Spanish “Ziggy” cartoon that’s in “The Onion” each week. I really need help.
Filed under: Bloggidy Blog | Tags: coloring book, fancy octopus, hot dogs in brine, mel and floyd, potted meat, sling blade, spam, wort
I was digging around in my files at the shop and I came across this coloring book that I drew about 10 years ago. Sometime back then, legendary community radio personalities Mel and Mr Smarty Pants (of the Mel and Floyd Show) began this long running, involved inside joke about canned processed meats. I can’t remember how the whole thing started–it might have been with the movie “Sling Blade” (where potted meat is the real star)– but it ended up with a number of listeners, myself included, sending them things meat related. I could go on and on about how funny this became but you’re probably not going to be able to appreciate it unless 1) You think potted meat is funny and 2) You were there when it happened.
So, long story short, I made this wee, 5 page activity book a long time ago and I forgot all about it until I found it the other day. It features cartoon like drawings that you can print out and color based on some of the different meat products sent to Mel and Pants. You know, for kids. Now that I can PDF things and email them out it seems kind of silly to keep this hidden away in a file. It seems silly to mail it out too, but what the hey? If you think potted meat is funny you will like this. AND IT’S FREE! Email me at aardart@aol.com if you want a copy. Put “MEAT” in the header. You’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open it up.
