GinohnNews
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6 APRIL 2006 |
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J: Last Friday we went to two parties,
both in the neighborhood. First was a birthday party for Shaun at his
and MiAe's place. It was really nice. There were lots of little kids
running around. Then we went over to Rich and Izolda's to see Eric and
Beth Zuckerman, who were on vacation along the East Coast and happened
to stop through Greenbelt. Rizolda threw a little get-together fire
circle for them, with some delicious foods, and Beth and Eric ordered
pizza, too.
I bought a used laptop. It's my first laptop not leased to me by a
government organization. It's a PowerPC G4. I like it.
G: On Saturday John and I
took Dave to the University of Maryland for the Food Co-op's 30th
anniversary party. We saw a lot of people we know, many from Greenbelt,
including Shaun and MiAe, Alfredo and Kelly, Dorian, Gary, and many
other familiar faces. Brother Thom showed up too. Dave and I went to
the arcade and got in three rounds of "In the Groove", a Dance Dance
Revolution copy. That was lots of fun, but a bit expensive at $1 each
per game. After we left there we went to the College Perk, Dave hadn't
ever been there and really liked their froufy drink selection.
This week I was going to write a little rant about Oliver Reed. If
anyone makes his biographical screen play, his character should be
played by Rob
Schneider. You can do it, Rob!
But instead, because of the vast emails and conversations regarding
my last two rants, I'll continue with the old, weathered "bless you"
theme. F'shizzle, you folks are obsessed.
Here's note from my brother Frank:
Now after reading
the last few weeks of news I really think you are just a bit sensitive
about the whole bless you thing. Of course most people are a bit too
sensitive for me in general. I didn't used to be that way but that's a
different topic.
Anyhow, even as someone who has some modicum of religious belief left in him, "Bless you" doesn't make much sense to me either, except as a tradition. But I'm not afraid of tradition. Again, that's another topic.
Why don't you try
something that makes sense to you rather than trying to come up with a
nonsensical phrase? For example, I particularly like the feel of
sneezing. It feels good. So you could just say, "Feel Good?" or "Lucky
you". Or if you don't like sneezing you could be cynical and say
something like: "At least you didn't fart" eventually that cold be
shortened to "no fart". Unless of course you were gassy and farted as
you sneezed. Which brings to mind, you could just say "fart?" to see if
they were using the sneeze as a cover for their noisy emissions.
Actually the fact
that you are spending much time worrying about it seems a bit silly.
But I'm responding so I guess we all need our diversions.
Frankly, (he he I
love using that word) I think that you are making a mountain out of a
molehill. And now I'm just helping you build.
Damn! Here's
another load of schist sir. Where would you like it?
Love,
Frankly
Of course I'm making a mountain out of a molehill-- it's a rant.
That's what rants are for! A couple weeks before the sneeze rant I was
writing about our wacky theories of dinosaur extinctions. It's nice to
have a little space on the internets where I can spill frivolous drivel.
Most of the time when people sneeze I don't say anything, or I say
something innocuous like "you sneezed," or "salut!" I've tried
gesundheit. It's just... eh. But it's fun to say dankeshen after
someone says gesundheit. I need some other phrases for when I'm feeling
like giving people free Weirdness for each sneeze, which is what I
often get for mine. I'm not so much annoyed by "bless you" as I am
amused. The fact that so many people defend the phrase amuses me all
the more. Naturally I think people should say anything they like after
someone sneezes, or nothing.
Thanks to DaveTheGame,
I have a new sneeze response genre-- RPGs! If
someone says bless you, I can reply with lots of different phrases,
like:
All this boils down to a great response for sneezes or "bless you."
I'll say "Roll Initiative," or simply, "Initiative!"
As for traditions, I'm not afraid of them, I generally put little importance to traditions or have fun with them because they are interesting, like easter eggs. On the contrary, I contend that most people are afraid of progress and change. (I know I am.) Unchanging things like traditions and dogma are very comfortable to them. Many people defend traditions vehemently because they are afraid of changes is their technology, culture, beliefs, or values. Which is ironic because those four aspects of society are constantly changing.
To sum it all up (again): language and cultural memes are interesting; "bless you" is a funny phrase (in both senses of the word); and sneeze demons sure do cause a lot of trouble.