Well, I have no alien behavior to report or any communication with the guppy that would be out of the ordinary.
He did call me yesterday afternoon and left a message, using the guise of needing to know my parents' zip code for writing a thank you letter for gifts. I was sitting outside, basking in the sun and reading the paper, so I didn't hear the phone ring...
When I called him back, he admitted that he already knew the zip code (as did D9)? Then he said nicely, "Were you outside in the sun reading?" No, Mr. Wonderful, I was on a date... Or are you spying on me??? Damn, I need to get some more unpredictable habits...
I did decide to host my own version of Clean Sweep yesterday. Our trash can is full. Mr. W. almost fainted from shock to see that I discarded some memorabilia from the past... I am not a packrat at all (to the contrary), but some words from the show sort of settled in uncomfortably.
He was talking to the homeowners in question when he noticed that the W had hoarded things for the future (baby clothes for her teenage daughters when they have families) and junky memorabilia from the past, but nothing in the present... He had accurately and kindly made a statement that he could tell that she was no longer living with her H in today. She started to cry.
He was sweet and pointed out the difference between memories and memorabilia and how you should treat the memorabilia you do want to keep with respect. Obviously, buried in the basement in boxes (under heaps of crap) is not his definition of respectful.
I took the advice to heart and started a major dumping exercise, which I will be continuing to do over the next few weeks. This stuff has got to go.
Next on my list? Mr. W's fishing boat and tackle will be left by the curb with a sign that reads "Free to a good home." Let's see if he sees the message for what it is...
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...
"There are only 2 ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
Quote: Next on my list? Mr. W's fishing boat and tackle will be left by the curb with a sign that reads "Free to a good home."
Okay girl, I am going to need your home address. My truck with towing kit will be heading up your way. You may want to have your digital camera ready, you will be seeing two grown men cry. Gripman's will be tears of joy , yet tears of sorrow for my fellow angler, Mr. Wonderful. Should I rename the boat Gil?
Hugs to my friends.
-Gripman
P.S.-Does Mr. Wonderful have any shop tools needing a good home? I better stop, I am sounding like the STBX Mrs. Get-a-Grip (that's pretty scarey).
Well, if I were to do that sort of thing (and believe me, it has struck gold in my crazymaking soul a few times), I would have to do it with the never-to-be-changed conclusion that Mr. W. and I were going to D with animosity.
He would have my butt in a sling before you could say, "Finding Nemo"! So although I might bear witness to watching 2 grown men cry, I would also know that I'd be sporting a black eye. What a threesome, eh?
Oh, yes, he has lots of really nice tools. In fact, his friends and mine come over to borrow them (and they do return them). He takes his unofficial job as handyman very seriously, and the secrets to having a good trade are the tools (or so I'm told).
Angling is one of Mr. Wonderful's favorite ways to reduce stress. D9 goes with him often but comes back with reports that her dad is THE MOST boring man on the planet, because he can sit in the same spot for hours and be happy. (I do remind her that she always has a choice to decline his offer to go... but her Catholic guilt surfaces and she goes anyway.)
I can empathize with him (though I am NOT an angler), but also with her too. I have no idea how fun it could be sitting in a little tin can and catching nothing!
Would you be wanting the motor home, Studebaker, and motorcyle too?
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...
Bruce (aka Betsey)
p.s. Maybe I should rewrite the sign? "Free storage if you come home"???
Last edited by Underdog; 01/12/0408:12 PM.
"There are only 2 ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
I still have not eaten fish... or much of anything if truth be told, but in my exploring around the net I found a web site, you have to check out. What "Finding Nemo" character are you?
I did the test and it totally confirms it: I AM DORY... I think, maybe, oops I've forgotten. What was I saying?
Description for Dory: "It is amazing how you can have such a positive outlook on the world. (Maybe you've just forgotten how to be pessimistic.) Absolutely nothing can make you feel sad... except maybe rejection. Extreme situations can cause you to lose your composure as well, but just remember: time heals all wounds..." Or you forget about them
What it says about you, Bruce: "Don't worry... you are not a bad guy! You've just got this one bad habit that you are trying your darndest to break, and you should be congratulated on your efforts. You are really a nice shark, not a mindless eating machine. Your only weakness is that you snap at the slightest temptation... Well, good luck!"
"You don't throw a whole life away just 'cause it's banged up a little"
Tom Smith in "Seabiscuit"
What can I say? I'm so amused and laughing so hard that I'm speechless!
You are just way too funny! And BTW, isn't this just too damn true for words? I mean, I knew when I named and posted this thread that it would make people laugh, but that thing about Bruce and the 12-step meeting hit me hard in the funny bone when I saw it in the theaters...
Sad to say, but I totally relate to Bruce! And I must tell you, that I can repeat the pledge in a complete Aussie vernacular--all I have to do is picture my uncle, and I can summon it in the voice perfectly.
And I have to tell you, you're a phenomenal Dory... you do Ellen Degeneres proud (I saw her on a Disney interview and she said she hasn't been able to eat fish since she did Dory's voiceover... isn't that a crack up?)
"Don't be silly, whales don't eat fish, they eat krill. Oh, look! Krill!" Thanks for the link--going to check it out now!
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...
"There are only 2 ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
A couple more of little wisdom scenes (before I forget them):
Dory and Marlin in the whale:
M: I promised him I would not let anything happen to him
D: What a funny thing to promise. Then, nothing will ever happen to him.
(she and Marlin are taken into the whale's mouth, and when the whale prepares to blow them out, the water level decreases)
M:(in fear) It's already half-empty!
D: Really? It looks half-full to me...
(Later on, as the whale raises its tongue out of the water, Marlin clings on for dear life...)
D: She says, let go!
M: How do you know something bad won't happen?
D: I don't (and she lets go)
When presented with an opportunity that entails risks, we don't know whether something bad might happen. The precautionary, Marlinesque approach presumes that something bad will happen, so nothing ever gets done (more of the same). Dory takes the risk in an adventurous spirit, trusting things will work out in the end.
If we do not take risks, we cannot advance. Sometimes we need to leap into the dark. The fact that it is dark does not mean the leap may not be worth it.
In the DVD edition, the film's director, Andrew Stanton, comments that "the movie is about the battle of hope versus fear, optimism over pessimism; it's half-full versus half-empty.... You can either hide in life or you can enter it, take your chances and engage." Did Michelle write the script?
BTW, Bruce and coven, I have news for you! There are over 350 types of sharks in the world, and many of them do not eat fish! The largest shark in the world, the Whale Shark, feeds on plankton. Great White Sharks prefer to feed on marine mammals instead of fish, and Nurse Sharks like to eat crabs, lobsters, octopus, and sea urchins!
Who said there can't be a little variety in your diet?
What was I saying?.. Who are you guys?.. Have we met each other?..
Who am I?
"You don't throw a whole life away just 'cause it's banged up a little"
Tom Smith in "Seabiscuit"
This one is dedicated to all lawyers (ours and ours Ss):
Quote: Finding Nemo tort hypothetical:
Marlin, a clown fish, discovers a pair of snorkeler goggles. Marlin's friend Dory, greatly desirous of the goggles, grabs the goggles from him; Marlin grabs back. In the course of the struggle, Marlin accidentally lets go of the goggles. They hit Dory in the face, causing a nosebleed. Assume that Dory has no title to the goggles.
Blood from Dory's nose wafts up to Bruce, a shark and recovering blood addict. Marlin and Dory are well aware of Bruce's addiction. They are further aware that blood causes sharks to go crazy. The blood induces an insane rage in Bruce, who then chases after Marlin and Dory, destroying property from a derelict ship (owned by Ships, Inc.) along the way. Bruce's chase also causes enormous emotional distress to Marlin. Dory, a more relaxed fish, simply takes Bruce's insane rage in stride.
Marlin and Dory flee into a torpedo shaft. Neither of them are aware that the metal cylinder behind them is a torpedo; nor are they aware that the "balloons" outside the derelict ship are mines. They are in no danger within the torpedo shaft, but Bruce continues to rage outside. Rather than waiting for Bruce's blood lust to wane, Dory triggers a switch that causes the torpedo to slide out, jamming itself in Bruce's mouth and causing at least one broken tooth. (Bruce, however, regularly regrows broken teeth.)
In an attempt to rid himself of the torpedo, Bruce swings his head back and forth. Unfortunately, his final swing hurls the torpedo out over the minefield. Unlike Marlin and Dory, Bruce is aware of the mines outside the derelict ship. The torpedo hits one of the mines, and they all explode. The derelict ship, which already lies on the bottom of the sea floor, is knocked into a nearby trench, causing more destruction. The mines are all obliterated. On the surface of the ocean, a pelican is disturbed by the gaseous discharge from the explosion.
Who may be liable to whom, for what, and why? Please note: Dory is perhaps mentally incapacitated due to her lack of short-term memory, and Bruce has a history of childhood neglect. If your legal conclusion depends on additional facts not provided here, identify those facts and discuss how they would affect your analysis.
(This is what happens when a law student rewatches Finding Nemo while studying for finals--albeit not 1L finals, thank goodness.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- link
Bob, you are included this time...
"You don't throw a whole life away just 'cause it's banged up a little"
Tom Smith in "Seabiscuit"
Opt--you are so good at this you scare me! I need to step off the podium of my 12 step program and let you have the reins for a bit! Hey, remember me? Bruce?
Well, the most peculiar thing happened a little while ago.
I was sitting here, minding my own business, when our combative janitor walked in. He gave me an invoice for a full month of services, when he took off on vacation for 2 weeks over the holiday. His backup was a no-show (who went on a drinking binge and has yet to come home to his W).
Well, I told him I had a tough time paying a bill for a month of full services when I played janitor while he was gone. Yes, yours truly dumped the trash every day, swept up outside and replaced toilet paper rolls.
Well the nerve of this little jackass--who then sparked a feeding frenzy in my office. He told me I did a crappy job! Then he complained that I had not refilled the deodorizers in the rest rooms! WTF?
Then he snottily informs me that we have a homeless person camping out in our motor home out back. AHA! See, I didn't forget to lock the damn door!
I called Mr. Wonderful to tell him about our non-revenue producing renter and he then heard my boss and colleague in an argument with our janitor. Damn, I felt validated. My janitorial services do NOT suck--and I didn't even get paid for them!
Anyway, Mr. W. heard the convo (because I put it on speakerphone) and started laughing... and I mean really hard. This conversation was a doozy (just ask Triple J, who was on a chat with me while this went down--he was laughing).
I haven't heard him laugh so hard since he left. (I miss that guy.) We discussed logistics of coming to get the thing off the lot... mainly, Mr. W. needs to bring a vacuum because it was broken into a few months ago and he's afraid of getting hemmorhoids if he doesn't! (Glass remnants are still on the seats.)
After the bizarre exchange of words with our more-than-bizarre janitor, Mr. Wondeful called back, disguising his voice as a homeless person wanting to come live in the motor home. Hey, did he get a memo reminding him to be funny? Did the full moon over the weekend get to him and our janitor or what?
To say he was jovial would be a major understatement. Who'd have figured that such an odd incident would make him feel inclined to make me laugh? This is indeed odd alien behavior. Not to mention the fact that I'm not altogether too happy at the thought of sleeping in the bed in the motor home right now...
And once he found out that I have steak on the menu for tonight, he was VERY happy. Maybe I won't be eating fish for awhile... at least that look like Mr. W. Maybe the janitor, though.
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...
"There are only 2 ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
Hi Bets....Errr BRUCE!!
I'm back from another 24 hours in "strangeville" with Dr. K.
You sounded on you post, like I felt.......I think I'm detaching more and wondering if this is a good thing, too???
I just got back and got caught up all the postings.
It sounds like you are doing great.
Did you really plan on getting rid of his fishing gear and tools!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!OMG.....LOL
You are just so funny.
Did you get a dvd cabinet? I laughed so much when you called D6 a "pissant"......I used to say the same thing when my kids would aggravate me!!!
I am so glad you got some nice weather and took a break.
It sounds like just the right way to spend a Sunday in January.
Defending your janitory services, evicting homeless people in trailers,changing toilet paper rolls....AND MAKING A GREAT STEAK!!!!! my, my, my....we women have to do it all these days...don't we?
Hey!..... janitor........Mr.W..........Janitor....Mr.W......Janitor...Mr.W.........If you close one eye, then the other, then the other, at a time real fast.... they kinda blur together as one alien!!!!!!!
Opt - you know how to bring back nightmares don't you - I said that after I passed the Bar that I would NEVER do that again. If anyone out there is thinking about law school then that question is typical.
But then, I have passed the bar once. I don't have to do it again. I will leave that question to the law students amongst us.
for my fellow angler, Mr. Wonderful. Should I rename the boat Gil?
