It’s all in how you look at it ~ Late Evening Thoughts …

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Let’s file tonight’s story as “It’s All In How You Look At It” … OK?
My good friend, also called Bill, and I were out visiting friends in low places. At the end of the evening, we stopped at the 59 Diner for some really great food and fun service. (diner waitresses you know…). We got the same waitress we had last time, who I swear is Inspector Gadget with the decaf coffee pot permanently attached to her hand….. The other waitress in our section came by the table and I asked about the big party that had left shortly before we arrived. Found out it was a party of 27 college kids, complete with their bongos (was I transported back to the 60’s?) … I could ONLY imagine how much fun that part would have been. And yes, I’m being serious – it would have been fun …
bongo2
In the meantime, four fellows who had visited in even lower places came in and took a booth not too far from us. Well, took a booth is perhaps the wrong description … It involved pouring one of them into the booth.
Alas, this same one reached the end of his night and his head crashed onto the table. At this point, two phones came out and the scene is being video taped.

diner3

Now, here’s where how you look at it comes into play. All I could think of was 1) this is most likely going to appear on Facebook/twitter and 2) this kid is going to have a tough time living it down. My friend and I had some good chuckles over what he was going to be teased about when he finally “came to” and then – then – it happened.

Yes, that moment when ALL the alcohol consumed and bar snacks decide they need to come up and out for air.

At that point, I realized that his name had instantly changed to “Mr. Throw-up” and he was going to have a more difficult time dealing with that one.
Remember I mentioned diner waitresses? Well, one cardinal rule: Don’t make their life more difficult than it is. Don’t, just don’t.
Betty-Murphy

She was there in a flash and informed the three to get him out of there…as in now. It was fun to watch them try to get Mr. Limp Body out of the inside of the booth, out the exit door and into the car. The three came back in and she’s standing there with a large take-out box and informed the three that THEY were to put the “excess protein evacuation”* (my words NOT hers) into the box and clean it up to not to make more work for the rest of them. LOL
She also had their food on another table already boxed up, and (diner waitresses again) asked if they wanted THAT box in a bag to remind Mr Throw-up in the morning… LOL
Meanwhile, those around are quite conscious of what happened and were chuckling some in amusement and some with rueful memories no doubt.
Here’s my point (and the world sighs – thank God) … We could have been upset, offended and Lord only knows what else…demanded to be accommodated elsewhere and a discount on the check (really – I’ve been in restaurants where that happened) But seriously, it didn’t really effect us or our meal. I know there are those who ARE but much of that is simply in their mind.
We would have had to disrupt our meal, conversation etc. and would have missed watching Diner Waitresses in action. >shrug< seems pretty simple to me.
OH, yes – as we were leaving the four were somewhat standing outside and yes – the kid was being referred to as “Well, Mr. Throw-up over there”.

________________

“protein evacuation” was the term at Disneyland I heard only once to explain why we were being held up in line.

Pictures:
Seal Picture – NBC San Diego
Diner Waitress Leftatthefork.net

An Elegant Time-Waster ~ Late Afternoon Thoughts

It’s been awhile since I posted one of these ….. here’s the description where I found this charming game ….

“It’s the classic trick to avoid English homework: Don’t read the book, just play the video game. Wait, what? That’s right: Two game developers have created a charming 8-bit Nintendo version of “The Great Gatsby,” and it could be the first time a masterpiece of American literature has ever been merged with a little electronic man collecting coins and killing bad guys. You play Nick Carraway as he searches for Jay Gatsby, leaping from platform to platform as you fend off demented flapper girls and tray-wielding waiters with your magical flying hat. So basically, it’s exactly like the book.”

And I thought, with The Great Gatsby movie either doing well, or completely “bombing” – depending on who you read – this might spark some interest ….

If you don’t want to play the game, here’s a video of someone else playing it.  Oh, that’s right – I now have to say spoilers to the game if you watch the video.  (Sheesh….)

And here’s the game …. enjoy!!!!

http://www.greatgatsbygame.com/

Early Afternoon Thoughts ~ The Day You Think You Are Too Old To …

When I flew up to Montana several years ago to conduct my Mother’s memorial service, I stayed at her house.  On the coffee table was a book whose title I believe was “Getting Old Isn’t For Sissies“.  As I glanced through the book one statement struck me and has stayed with me since.  Part of the statement is the title of this post:

“The day you think you are too old to do something, is exactly the day you should do it …” 

That has governed a lot of my thinking over the past few years.  I love the statement “I will get OLDER, there is nothing I can do about that.  However, I refuse to get OLD.”

At my current … ahem …. age,, I know that I’m no longer 21, 31, 41 or even 51 … but I have developed a love for life and living that I pray I never lose.  That’s why, when I saw this video today, it really struck a chord with me.  I have admit I laughed and laughed while watching this.  This fellow is amazing and so are those around encouraging him.  He’s certainly not lost his love of life!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvKERIKT8eI

(sorry that it’s a link…for some reason it won’t embed!!!)

Which got me looking for some of my favorite quotations and some new ones…

Getting older is no problem. You just have to live long enough.
Groucho Marx
The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all the other ages you’ve been.
Madeleine L’Engle
Part of getting older is realizing that you can integrate all these different areas of your life, rather than the adolescent mindset, which for me lasted a long time, which says, ‘It’s all or nothing.’
Chris Robinson
The minute you’re born, you’re getting older.
Doris Roberts

This one is probably one of my favorites:                                                                                           Do not regret growing older.  It is a privilege denied to many.  ~Author Unknown

The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball.  Doug Larson

Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years.  We grow old by deserting our ideals.  Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.      Samuel Ullman

I still have a full deck; I just shuffle slower now.                                                             Author Unknown 

What are some of your favorites?

Early Afternoon Thoughts ~ Male or Female

One of the more difficult parts of learning a language is what is a female item and what is a male item.  It’s important to know this as it makes a big difference in the sentence structure.  I’d always assumed that English was devoid of “this item is male, this item is female” until today …. and so, hot off the “intertubes”, where everything on the “net” has to be true right?

Male or Female?   

You might not have known this,

but a lot of non-living objects

are actually either male or female. 

Here are some examples:  

FREEZER BAGS
They are male, because they hold everything in, but you can see right through them.

PHOTOCOPIERS
These are female, because once turned off; it takes a while to warm them up again. They are an effective reproductive device if the right buttons are pushed, but can also wreak havoc if you push the wrong Buttons.

TIRES
Tires are male, because they go bald easily and are often over inflated.

HOT AIR BALLOONS
Also a male object, because to get them to go anywhere, you have to light a fire under their butt. 

SPONGES
These are female, because they are soft, squeezable and retain water.  

WEB PAGES
Female, because they’re constantly being looked at and frequently getting hit on.

TRAINS
Definitely male, because they always use the same old lines for picking up people.

HAMMERS
Male, because in the last 5000 years, they’ve hardly changed at all, and are occasionally handy to have around.

THE REMOTE CONTROL
Female. Ha! You probably thought it would be male, but                 consider this: It easily gives a man pleasure, he’d be lost without it, and while he doesn’t always know which buttons to push, he just keeps                 trying….

Mid-Morning Thoughts ~

Hopefully, everyone’s weekend was somewhat better than this one …

(h/t to partyfails.com

For my part, I had a delightful weekend…I connected with a dear, dear friend that I had not seen for a number of years!! You know it’s a dear friend when you can catch up on the fly, and not feel as if there’s been a huge space since you’ve been together!!!

Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.
Albert Camus
A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.
Arnold H. Glasow
A good friend will bail you out at 2am.  A true friend will be sitting there with you saying: “Damn, that was fun!!! – (unknown)

It also reminded me that life is indeed short, and our purpose is NOT to arrive at the grave all pretty and posed – to be lowered gently into the ground.  Life is to be lived so that at the very last minute you slide in all tattered, worn saying: “What a ride!!! WHAT A RIDE!!!”

It Was A Dark And Stormy Night ~

My absolute favorite contest has just announced their 2012 winners!!!

That’s right, this years crop of entries to The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (Where “WWW” means “Wretched Writers Welcome” ) have been judged and found appropriately wanting.

For those who may not know, Bulwer-Lytton produced the lines:

“it was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness” as well as the infamous “unwashed masses”.

To say that his novels were turgid and overwritten would be an understatement.

Every year authors submit their worst possible (possibly) opening paragraphs – and winners in various categories are chosen.

Here are two of my favorites from this years crop:

“Professor Lemieux had anticipated that his latest paper would be received with skepticism within the small, fractious circle of professional cosmologists, few of whom were prepared to accept his hypothesis that our universe had been created in a marijuana-induced industrial accident by insectoid aliens; nevertheless, he was stung when Hawking airily dismissed it as the Bug Bong Theory. — Alan Follett, Hercules, CA”

Closely followed by:
“They still talk about that fateful afternoon in Abilene, when Dancing Dan DuPre moonwalked through the doors of Fat Suzy’s saloon, made a passable reverse-turn, pirouetted twice followed by a double box-step, somersaulted onto the bar, drew his twin silver-plated Colt-45s and put twelve bullets through the eyes of the McLuskey sextuplets, on account of them varmints burning down his ranch and lynching his prize steer. — Ted Downes, Cardiff, U.K.”
To read all the winners past and present (and perhaps enter yourself) – here’s the link

Boomshine ~ An Elegant Timewaster

It’s been awhile since I posted one of these…and this one really is elegant and a massive timewaster good way to build your computer skills.

The premise is deceptively simple … click the ringed dot to allow it to engulf the required number of dots to make level 12.

This is screen one:

And please remember the words deceptively simple ….

To start the game —->CLICK HERE<—–
It may take a few moments to load the game – it is a flash game.

Note: I did make it through level 12 – but I’m not going to admit how many tries it took …

Another Elegant Timewaster ~

Here is another wonderful timewaster workday distraction called Catch-Thirtythree. It doesn’t take long to learn, but to get your score where it should be? That’s another issue!!

The objective is quite simple. Roll your cursor over the numbers (no clicking involved) IN ORDER from 1 to 33. Should be easy enough,right? Let me know your times.

Catch-33

thanks to Zon for showing me this game!