Pass the Awesome! An experiment about life and the way it moves me |
i'm a little bit late in writing this but its better late than never. Last weekend I took the badger ferry across lake Michigan to see my parents who were on vacation at the time. It was the first time I have ever been on anything large enough to be considered a ship before.
The way there was a bit wavy, and extremely foggy (only letting up in the last hour or so). While I don't necessarily have see legs, I didn't actually run into anyone, and I didn't get sick from the waves. So that was pretty cool. The trip across the waters took 4 hours, but there was plenty of things to do on the ferry, and plenty of interesting people to talk to! My parents took my up to the top of the door county peninsula with a singularly sketchy trailer hauling three kayaks. Sure is pretty up there, with its clear water and rock cliffs. After an hour or two I figured out how to maximize my leverage and soon after I was cruising around like a little kid. It's a lot more fun when you don't suck you see. My mother kept mentioning different places that we visited when we were younger, but I only remembered the entrance to the camp ground. That and having tootsie roll pops. while visiting home I saw both of the family dogs. Leo is semi-insane but loving like always. You just need to know when to leave him alone. Marco is Still Marco- a fat friendly Poodle who doesn't like too much exercise and hates to get his feet wet. Marco has a tumor on his lip. It was small the last time I saw him, but now it is the size of a peanut (with shell). It likely won't be long before we loose him, sad as that is. All Poodles die of cancer it seems. It is the unfortunate truth of inbred (read pure-bred) dogs. I should have taken a picture. My parents and I went to the Wisconsin Maritime Museum the morning of my departure. Boy was that cool! A crap done of boats to look at- both full size and model- along with detail and information for those will to actually read. At the end we took a tour through an old submarine. Holy crap! It was really cool, but I don't think I would able to take the stresses of living on board on of those while at war. Constant noise, heat, sweat (and stank), and smoke (people smoked inside that tin can) filled the passages while on duty. I won't tell you too much. Take the tour for yourself. Our tour guide was amazing. Props to him! The trip back provided good weather for travel above deck. Lots of people were out enjoying the sunshine. It made for a pleasant ride!
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I slept pretty terribly this morning. Consequently, I was able to produce a number of memorable dreams.
First dream Setting= The beach in the afternoon I was a with a small group of people- men and women my age. Our task was was to find particular collections of items along the beach and then mark each one off on a list that we had at each particular spot. What the point of this was, who knows. On the list was a number of random items, including a few drugs. Upon reading the name of one of them, I experience it. My vision darkened leaving the word in a kind of negative (like a photographic negative) state. The people in my group all had a little neon green lining surrounding their bodies. Very shortly after experiencing a negative dream world for a few seconds, my brother appears in the group with me. Shortly after that, I find myself staring at the waters edge. Suddenly A very large dark mass appears in the water, and swims very close to shore, before turning around back into deeper water. we all instantly new what it was- A rather gigantic shark easily 20 feet in length. The shark soon makes another appearance this time flinging itself up on shore in an attempt to eat my brother. We all start running to the right along the shore. The rather agile shark makes two or three more power lunges from the water only to temporarily beach itself in its fury on the last try. a gigantic butter knife appears nearby, roughly 8 feet long and 6 inches wide. I pick it up ( rather light it was) and jump from a small dune a above the shark. I drive rather blunt knife into the shark a foot or two under where its non-existent gills should have been. Oddly reminiscent of a video game, the shark immediately turns into a giant somewhat crumpled box about the size of the shark was. Inside were all the items that we had been looking for on our lists from earlier. As the box had been damaged however, the items were were searching for were a little worse for wear themselves. We just had to find them apparently though, so this didn't matter. Dream number 2 Setting= a rather large but not gigantic yaht ( in a grassy field?) Although the details fade from my memory, our little group of unknown people we hunting something on a small hill with tiny pink flowers all over it. Were we hunting people trying to kill us? Tiny bunnies? I don't know. I do keenly remember being inside the yaht and watching one of the women pick up a white semi-marshmallow shooter-like assault rifle off the floor. the next thing I remember the captain ( who is a woman) called over the intercom. she says something about not being able to find her garden.... dream segment 3 Setting= seaside cliff I was on an stone outcrop roughly 3 feet long. It was a tan rather rough stone. Standing next to it a slightly below stood a concerned and rather pink velociraptor-like dinosaur. Its dinosaur child was somehow stuck under me in the outcrop of stone itself, and the mother was making little calls like a mother duck would make if its own ducklings were in trouble. We (again who are we?) are trying to help the be baby dinosaur out of its trapping place. The rest of my group was just off the outcrop, and either on the ground or literally hanging in space. These things happen quite frequently in my dreams. I haven't the slightest how we freed the little guy. I don't even remember seeing him in the dream. The next thing I know I was on the shore again with my small group of peoples. We were all looking up at the rather colorful sky. I we talking about something, but I don't recall what. Out of the blue a few enormous cloud sized animals cross the sky into our view. Each one was above the other. I believe the one on top was a rather circular and colorful turtle. The animals join in our conversation, making a quick remark or two before passing by overhead. So there you go, a giant ufo- like flying talking turtle. I meant to write about this about a month ago, but no matter
for those of you who don't know, Kudzu is a vine native to China and japan. The name Kudzu comes from the Japanese word kuzu, which means vine. So much like the term chai tea( chai means tea), saying kudzu vine is almost like saying vine vine. Anyway, It was brought to the U.S. for ornamental purposes and planted threw out the south as a means of erosion control. Oddly, it grow much better In the southern United States than it does where it is native. The now wide spread vine can grow up to a foot a day during its growing season. Most people consider it a weed, and it covers hillsides everywhere down south. So much so that is often called the vine that ate the south. I recently found out a few things about kudzu. I like it personally. apparently Not only is it good to eat by livestock, but people can it as well. We can eat the leaves, young and old, cooked or uncooked. We can eat the young shoots as well, though obviously not the woody vines. The flowers are good to eat as well, but not the seeds or "beans". The roots can utilized as well, but they need to be cooked... not to terribly difficult! Kudzu can also be used a medicine. It can be used to treat a variety of ailments including diarrhea, and headaches. It also oddly enough helps suppress and control alcoholism, while helping regenerate liver tissues. Nifty huh? We have millions of acres of the stuff, but the U.S. government has declared it a noxious weed. I personally don't consider a fast growing food crop that takes care of itself and can be taken as a medicine a weed. It just needs to be harvested. Package it up and send it off as food. Don't spray it! Over the course of the fourth of july weekend I went to two different Fireworks displays. One display on July 3rd, and one on the fourth.
The first display was out in South Haven on the beach. The launched the Fireworks off of the large pier. Quite a nice setup actually. Prior to the show I showed up around 2 hours early to the town, and already the whole town was jammed up with traffic. I ended up parking about a mile away from the beach and hoofing it the whole was with a bunch of other people doing the same. When I got to the beach I plopped down among the dune grasses and started people watching. there were of course lots of people to watch. the crowd was made up of mostly young peoples and families. Among them were groups of attractive people ( I watch the women) where the people normally hide I may never know. Unfortunately, also among the crowd were those people that make you question the state of humanity and the world as we know it. this is a conversation in and of itself so I will save it for a later post. Also included into the mix were glow stick hawkers there to ruin the mood. Overall the hours before the show were entertaining for what is was worth. During the show The quality of the fireworks display should be obvious given the crowd that showed up to view it. there were fireworks going off constantly off the peir overlooking the water. (which was filled with boats also watching the show). Unfortunately, do to the size and makeup of the crowd, all throughout the show groups of people all around me talking loudly about whatever. There were other groups of people making fun of the people mentioned prior (why were they even there? ). Also highly prevalent were people taking video and snapping pictures with their cell phones of the fireworks. Each and every one of them had their flashes on, backlighting the whole area with flashlight like flashes. I respect the people bringing a quality video/photo setup. I respect the art. but nobody wants to view your cell phone shots of fireworks. About 2/3 of the way through people started filing their way past me heading towards the street- obviously in an attempt to beat traffic. After the Show I walked back to my car with the rest of the masses following the pin I dropped on my phones mapping feature. I never would have found my car otherwise. There was of course a huge wall of cars so I decided to screw it and do a little looking around at a gas station near by . Everybody likes sniffing the incense sticks right? Afterwards I crawled into the back of my car and waited for the cars to pass. I awoke around 1-2 am and drove an hour back home without incident. Was the experience worth it? Yes. Will I ever do it again? Nope. The 4th. Based on my experiences the night before and the morning of the 4th, I decided against driving across the state to a gigantic fireworks display. It was an excellent choice! Before the show The fireworks show was a local one, and not that of a big city. I drove less than four miles away. Of course the school parking lot in which everyone was parking was full, so I parked a few blocks away in a rather empty parking lot. When I got to field everyone was parking their butts, I picked a location in the back by the fence- no one behind me, and an empty field beyond the fence. The crowd this time was very different. It was mostly families and old people. there were a few couples of course but far fewer than the beach. In the time before the show I just sprawled out on the grass and watched the kids run in circles with a soccer ball. During the Show By the time it got dark I had about 30 feet between me and a polish (or dutch?) family. The fireworks themselves were actually many of the same fireworks that I saw at the beach the day before. This time however, the fireworks were closer to me, and they were launched at a rate that usually allowed the entire firework time to at least spread out before being swallowed up by another. I actually like this a lot, as I get to view each one. they are all different, so why them cram them so close together at larger shows? another thing I liked about the smaller show is I heard all the fizzles, buzzes and crackles of each firework instead of all the conversations going on around me. Sound is a big part of the experience! After the Show Shortly after the main show ended, traffic started to fill the roadway Fortunately for me, I was able to just look all around me at all the other firework shows that were going on farther away. By the time all the other shows were stopping the entire roadway was clear. I just walked the two blocked back to my car and was back in my apartment in no time. Similarities Glowsticks- everyone loves glowsticks! there were no glow stick hawkers at the smaller event but most kids were waving them around just the same. I don't blame them either. I loved playing with them as a kid and likely still would if I got my hands on one. sparklers- These little finger-burners are a 4th of July staple! While small and not that exciting, I'm pretty sure every one gets a kick out of them. Hot air balloon Paper lanterns- Paper lanterns are pretty popular in oriental cultures. Paper lanterns festivals are present in multiple cultures. I was actually surprised when I started seeing people launch these into the sky here in Michigan. While the sky wasn't filled with them, just seeing a few of these being sent up was pretty freakin' cool! I'm pretty sure I could see a few of them over a mile away. Being a sunday, I woke up a few times, only to fall back asleep and keep dreaming. the dreams may not have connected to each other all that well, but they were interesting.
Tidbit numba one. Dad. Dessert. Pool My dad had a scissor lift which he drove up a small hill next to a pool he was building in the middle of a dessert (dream wackiness). The large gray scissor lift never actually scissored in the dream, but it did increase in size by the end to include an interior compartment the size and resemblance of a mini van. Prior to the scissor lift event I was with my dad in a garage and was helping him with something, but I don't remember what is was. Oddly, I remember explaining to someone that my dad was building a pool in the dessert like the pallace in middle east. So I thought it was odd, even in the dream. But no matter.... Tidbit numba 2 Setting= a sprawling multistory build structure of sorts. The building starts off as a kind of school building. Lots of people (without any reason to be there, ei no life). In one room two people are sitting there completely surrounded by monitors/screens. They are playing two different games simultaneously. One is a standard 2d fighter like street fighter or something. The other is a first person shooter in which the two people playing were member on apposing teams located in a partially ruined sprawling building structure A brown turret like machine appears in "real" life extending its barrel a few time before firing a little bolt out of a cradle at the end. The bolt fires up through a floor and a few wall before getting stuck protruding out of the floor at an angle in the room in which a few peoples were in at the time (including me). the room had a whole bunch of beds like a barracks and the bolt had taken up a cone shape with a red orange tip at this point. We were sitting on a few of the beds when the bolt went a flyin'. This video! Its a timelapse video that is extremely well made. This is something I have wanted to do for some time. More on that later I think you should watch this Music made by nerds (often Rap) for people who enjoy nerdy references galore. a few examples mc frontalot Dc awkward schaffer the darklord mega ran Pretty interesting stuff In researching a proper video to post in this little bit I figured out that nerdcore is actually a much broader term/genre than I thought. The video below was picked out because of its nerdiness, but other songs are actually rather close to mainstream rap. Find Numba one http://www.sciencefriday.com/ This is a really cool website. It has all sorts of interesting articles, video, ect. on science. It also airs on NPR on Fridays. This is a video from their youtube channel. So yesterday was the last day at work for one of my coworkers. A good coworker at that. He's off to better pastures. I say good for him.
That said, my small group of coworkers went out to the bars- something that I do not do often. I went straight from work, literally combing dirt out of my hair as I went. Parking. Parking downtown is a bitch. I assume this is the norm for any downtown in decently sized city. I found a way eventually. Now, I am no heavy weight. It actually only takes one beer for me to feel it. I unfortunately made a rather bad decision- I drank on an empty stomach. I had more than I necessarily wanted, so I pretty much stopped drinking. I felt pretty good, and had a really good time. But, as I had no food, I kept getting worse. I got pretty sick in fact. Was it fun while it lasted? Quite. Will I ever get that drunk ever again? Nope. And I will never drink on an empty stomach again either . You live and you learn. ...Today... This morning was a bitch. I felt like I was going to puke in bed. This is from someone who hasn't actually puked in about 10 years for any reason. It's an uncomfortable feeling that is for sure. Naturally I thought the rest of the day would suck. I was actually wrong. I actually feel really good. Whether it was a smiles I sustained yesterday or maybe the alcohol jostled something around in my brain, but I find myself smiling in the mirror today. This does not happen very often so I am feeling kinda pumped. Go Me! As now par usual, I feed the baby ducks clutches. The older clutch now readily attempts to come inside my apartment. As of last night I was able to feed these older ducklings by hand- something I have only been able to do with adult rather-domesticated geese.
So, as an experiment, immediately after they ate out of my hand, I stopped moving and just let my hand/arm lay there for a while. The baby ducks ended up cuddling up together with a few touching my hand. Upgrade! Oddly, the adult mother and or father don't seem to care that the babies are that close to me any more. I take that as a good sign. Sorry there are no macro photos of the little guys. I don't want to freak em out to much. I am still gigantic compared to them.... As a side note, The geese still have mini turf wars in my back yard. and only the full grown adults participate. It is the same with the ducks to a much lesser degree. Only the adults duke it out with other adults, and only adults harass the little ones. |
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July 2015
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