The Random Comic Strip

The Random Comic Strip

Words to live by...

"How beautiful it is to do nothing, and to rest afterward."

[Spanish Proverb]

Ius luxuriae publice datum est

(The right to looseness has been officially given)

"Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders," wrote Ludwig von Mises, "no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interest, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle."

Apparently, the crossword puzzle that disappeared from the blog, came back.


Thursday, November 20, 2008

Meme



The following is something I never would have thought of doing until I saw it done by others. Since public humiliation seems to popular and others get away with it, I see no reason why I cannot join in. There is a sort of catharsis in examining yourself. It might also lead to suicide but that's a risk I found acceptable here.

The blank for for this can be found at: The Silent Podium


LAYER ONE:
– Name: Douglas - There's more but I don't think about it. This is enough.
– Birth date: Baby Boomer, first year edition. Share the precise date with a famous person.
– Birthplace: Hospital. Oh, you mean city or somesuch. Copiague, NY
– Current Location: SouthWest Central Florida. A beautiful place everyone else should forget exists.
– Eye Color: Brown
– Hair Color: Predominantly Brown, bits of gray... more each day, it seems.
– Height: 5'11" (180.34 cm or 1.8034 m) last time I checked. They say we shrink, I say we adjust the tapes.
– Righty or Lefty: Righty
– Zodiac Sign: Not my thing. How dare such insignificant objects influence my life!

LAYER TWO:
– Your heritage: Mostly Irish. Obviously, like most, my ancestors lusted for some more exotic than the epitome of Man so I have a bit of French and Scottish too.
– The shoes you wore today: Cheap sneakers or cheap loafers, if any.
– Your weakness: That sounds like a title. "Here is the paper, Your Weakness" Sarcastic responses, I suppose.
– Your fears: Personal. My demons guard them.
– Your perfect pizza: Sausage, bacon, ham, extra cheese, maybe pepperoni too.
– Goal you’d like to achieve: I gave up a long time ago. So, no goals. Hence, I cannot fail.

LAYER THREE:
– Your most overused phrase on AIM: Don't use AIM
– Your first waking thoughts: Do I have to pee?
– Your best physical feature: None. I leave that to others to judge.
– Your most missed memory: Strange question form yet I understand it. Too personal.

LAYER FOUR:
– Pepsi or Coke: Neither. Dr. Pepper or Root Beer if I must have carbonated.
– McDonald’s or Burger King: BK, hands down. But I would rather have a Cuban Sandwich.
– Single or group dates: No preference. Each has its merits.
– Adidas or Nike: Neither. I prefer to pay less than $40 for shoes of any kind. Less than $20 if I can. Best shoes I ever owned were $5 loafers.
– Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: Neither. Celestial Seasonings Green Tea (hot), Arizona Green Tea (cold); both with Lemon, ginseng, and honey.
– Chocolate or vanilla: Chocolate is preferred over vanilla. Usually.
– Cappuccino or coffee: Coffee, black, no sugar, strong.

LAYER FIVE:
– Smoke: Used to. Quit on 7/7/70
– Cuss: Try not to... fail at that (most often on the golf course). Profanity is what you use when your wit fails you.
– Sing: Often. Usually while driving. Sing along with whatever's on my CD. Often out loud.
– Take a shower everyday: Yes, at least one.
– Do you think you’ve been in love: Yes. Still am.
– Want to go to college: Did once. A little bit. Dropped out. Life got in the way.
– Liked high school: Sometimes. I enjoyed it even if my teachers did not.
– Want to get married: Already did. Twice. Second one is the best.
– Believe in yourself: I have always been the first one to do so. Often the only one.
– Get motion sickness: Yes, I do. But only if I read while riding in a car.
– Think you’re attractive: Sometimes. Mostly do not think about it.
– Think you’re a health freak: Hahahahahahahahaha... hack, hack, cough.
– Get along with your parent(s): Used to get along with my mother very well. My father only in the last few years of his life. Both are gone now.
– Like thunderstorms: Yes. I enjoy the power of them, the smell of ozone (I suppose that's what it is) and the freshness they leave behind.
– Play an instrument: Failed miserably at music. Can't sing either but it doesn't stop me in the privacy of my car.

LAYER SIX: In the past month…
– Drank alcohol: Yes. Gin and Tonic, a little Plum Wine, from time to time.
– Smoked: No.
– Done a drug: No.
– Made Out: What? A will? A check? Very adolescent term.
– Gone on a date: Define "date". Taken my wife to dinner, yes.
– Gone to the mall?: The other day, as a matter of fact. Hate the mall.
– Eaten an entire box of Oreos?: No. Large bag of pretzels, yes.
– Eaten sushi: No.
– Been on stage: No.
– Been dumped: No.
– Gone skating: No.
– Made homemade cookies: No.
– Gone skinny dipping: No.
– Dyed your hair: No.
– Stolen Anything: Yes, that "all holidays" card.

LAYER SEVEN: Ever…
– Played a game that required removal of clothing: Yes, when I was much younger and trimmer.
– Been trashed or extremely intoxicated: Many, many times. It's a Navy thing. Also a stupid thing but I have done that many a time. I no longer do this, cannot handle the aftermath anymore.
– Been caught “doing something”: Yes, more than I'll admit to.
– Been called a tease: Yes.
– Gotten beaten up: No. Came close a few times, though.
– Shoplifted: Yes. When I was young and stupid, I did young and stupid things.
– Changed who you were to fit in: I am a chameleon. It is my nature.

LAYER EIGHT:
– Age you hope to be married: Not applicable. Married at 24 and again at 39.
– Numbers and Names of Children: One son; Brian. Good man now, with a wonderful wife and two beautiful daughters.
– Describe your Dream Wedding: No such animal. I hate rituals.
– How do you want to die: Quickly. The details are unimportant.
– Where you want to go to college: Don't anymore.
– What do you want to be when you grow up: I never knew, still don't.
– What country would you most like to visit: Too many to count. Ireland, definitely.

LAYER NINE:
– Number of drugs taken illegally: Many, maybe 7 or 8.
– Number of people I could trust with my life: 2. Myself and my Wife.
– Number of CDs that I own: A few. Not sure. I put them away after ripping them to MP3s. Then I burn MP3 CDs to play in the car. Do they count?
– Number of piercings: None. I think they look a bit silly.
– Number of tattoos: One. Stupidly got drunk with some Brits in Hong Kong in 1968.
– Number of times my name has appeared in the newspaper?: Quite a few actually. Nothing important, no arrests.
– Number of scars on my body: Several. All gained honestly. And stupidly.
– Number of things in my past that I regret: Not taking an opportunity to fly jets while in the Navy.

13 comments:

Vikki North said...

Your a wild man Douglas! I love your selection of the top photo to go with this. To funny.
Vikki

HektikLyfe said...

Hey thanks for playing along. This was a longer than usual meme so I am really surprised by its relative success. They really are meant to be answered the way you have done here. Carefully and creatively.

We were in Miami earlier this year so this was on the opposite side of your secret place. I'm sure you'll be safe.

If I had joined any of the armed forces, it would have been specifically to fly for the Navy.

Douglas said...

Redchair, I thank you for your compliments (the royalty check is on its way). I am thinking of using that pic for my Profile.

HektikLyfe, you are an evil influence on us all. Keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...

Well done douglas, now i see why we manage to get along...

I have a copy of that pic in thumb size, and I was just waiting for an opportunity to use it. Now you have given me a bigger copy, I love it.

Hektiklyfe, quite agree, have had fun reading the ones of those I "know" from their blogs, insightful. Agree with douglas about the evil influence, my only response - don't stop.

AV
http://netherregionoftheearthii.blogspot.com/
http://tomusarcanum.blogspot.com/

Michael said...

Ooo, plenty to comment on here.

No goals so you don't fail... Interesting.

And congrats on quitting smoking! It's mildly amusing that you've remembered the date (because it sure is easy to remember even after such a long time).

I hate the mall too.

And drunk British Hong Kongers have that effect on foreigners. Out of curiosity, what was the tattoo shaped like?

Michael.

Douglas said...

Michael, the date is memorable for more than the visual, it is also the day my son was born.

The tattoo is a small flower, a daisy, on my left forearm. The color is all bleached out now so it just looks like a green outline of one. It had no real meaning at the time and now is just a reminder of how stupid you get with sufficient alcohol in your system. I think I chose it because the threat was a Union Jack on my forehead if I didn't hurry and decide. They outnumbered me.

Neo said...

seems I missed the chance to get an original comment, darn
I wanted to be an Airforce pilot... missed that one too
cd's? now with a computer I have millions
have eaten an entire pizza but not a box of oreo cookies
this reminded me of the year I spent on myspace, just like to blog now
one tattoo also, cresent moon on my left chest
I am a lefty fyi

Douglas said...

I hadn't thought of the pizza. I've done it too often, I guess.
Tattoos are an interesting subject. I have some stories about them but the best of those are R-rated.
One clean one is a friend who came back from the Army in 1964 and had a tattoo of a cherry on his left calf. He got a kick out of the description for the driver's license: "Cherry left leg" He hadn't thought of his leg in those terms before. To understand, one may need to consider that a really fine looking car in good shape was "Cherry".

Anonymous said...

The Brits are the most tattooed people in Europe apparently, and it certainly seems like that when I go out. Everyone's got one these days. It's all rpetyy samey though - base of the back for girls (arse-antlers) and faux-tribal arm bands on the blokes.

If you're going to do it, do it properly - a friend of mine is covered, everywhere excepthis head and below the knees and elbows - he's a manager and needs to wear a suit.

Douglas said...

I went to a wedding back in June. It was my wife's nephew's wedding actually. I wrote a piece on it that was published elsewhere (a now defunct newspaper hosted blog). I was met with a bit of a surprise when I saw the groom for the first time in a few years; he had pierced ears and dyed jet lack hair and an ornate Japanese style tattoo on his upper left arm. The reason I was so surprised is this young man was a Born-Again Christian from a family of same. Then I met the bride-to-be. Same earrings, same dyed jet-black hair, and the same arm tattoo. What do you say? "Nice tats, guys."

The Jules said...

The Brits are the most tattooed people in Europe apparently, and it certainly seems like that when I go out. Everyone's got one these days. It's all rpetyy samey though - base of the back for girls (arse-antlers) and faux-tribal arm bands on the blokes.

If you're going to do it, do it properly - a friend of mine is covered, everywhere excepthis head and below the knees and elbows - he's a manager and needs to wear a suit.

Douglas said...

I hadn't thought of the pizza. I've done it too often, I guess.
Tattoos are an interesting subject. I have some stories about them but the best of those are R-rated.
One clean one is a friend who came back from the Army in 1964 and had a tattoo of a cherry on his left calf. He got a kick out of the description for the driver's license: "Cherry left leg" He hadn't thought of his leg in those terms before. To understand, one may need to consider that a really fine looking car in good shape was "Cherry".

Douglas said...

Michael, the date is memorable for more than the visual, it is also the day my son was born.

The tattoo is a small flower, a daisy, on my left forearm. The color is all bleached out now so it just looks like a green outline of one. It had no real meaning at the time and now is just a reminder of how stupid you get with sufficient alcohol in your system. I think I chose it because the threat was a Union Jack on my forehead if I didn't hurry and decide. They outnumbered me.