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Chester's Gorilla
Dec. 28th, 2006 04:37 amSo, Gerald Ford has bitten the dust. In retrospect, he seems a much wiser and better President than he seemed at the time. He did the correct thing by pardoning that scoundrel Nixon, although I was bitterly opposed to it back then.
*****
Gedrean makes an interesting argument that perhaps God favours OSU. He points out Bo Schembechler's (presumed) smiting on the eve of the Michigan game, and the Ohio lottery numbers coming up the same as the game score. Hmm...
*****
So, Christmas is over, and it's not yet New Year. This week always feels to me like it doesn't belong to either year. 2006 is really over, and we're just kind of sitting here waiting on 2007.
*****
The Mt. Hood climbers seem to have vanished from the news. Before Christmas, that was everywhere. Now, they're just gone.
*****
Koreans apparently believe that sleeping with an electric fan in the room can kill you.
*****
Those of you who sent me Christmas cards will receive a small present in the next few weeks. I meant to send cards myself, but things got away from me.
*****
The original Rudolph puppet has survived. I've wondered before, but always figured there wasn't a chance that it was still around. It pleases me deeply to find that it still exists.
That had such a huge and lasting impact on my life, and that of others as well, but I'm reasonably sure that the people making it thought of it as a throwaway project. You never really know what's going to change the world.
Rudolph's much smaller than I'd expected. I'd guessed he'd have been about 18" or so. I'd never have thought of using lead wire for joint armatures either. Kind of a low-tech version of Schlagel wire. I may have a try at building my own Reindeer.
*****
A collection of ads for Santa arriving in a helicopter. I remember my mother taking me downtown in what must have been 1965 or so to see Santa arrive in a helicopter. In retrospect, I'm fairly sure that it was old Mr. Rosenblatt, who was Jewish, but had this great regard for Santa Claus, and usually played him for most civic functions.
He landed on the bank parking lot, and then sat on this little outdoor stage. We all got little paper sacks with a candycane and (I think) an orange and maybe some nuts for visiting him.
I can't even imagine the slightest chance of people being allowed to stand close to a landing helicopter these days. The insurance companies rule our lives now.
*****
I never knew why Mr. Rosenblatt loved Santa so much. I'm sure it was something in his childhood. Most of us spend our lives trying to process the overwhelming things that we encountered as children. If you're lucky, and if your parents took some care with what they exposed you to, these can become lifelong sources of fascination and wonder, like Santa or Rudolph or coloured lights.
*****
Friend Otter made a comment some time back about smudge pots being primary process material to his young consciousness. They held that place for me as well, along with coloured lights. They still do, to some degree. There's always this urge to get inside the lightbulb, to merge with it in some ill-defined way. When I stare at the filament in my fairy bulbs, to some degree I experience myself as inside the bulb. I'm not sure how many people carry that sort of consciousness over into adulthood.
*****
Edit: From an account of the Nigerian pipeline fire. What is there in this sentence that makes me think the reporter didn't even visit the scene?
"The charred remains of victims still clutched the plastic cups, funnels and cans yesterday they intended to use to scoop gasoline from a punctured pipeline before it exploded [...]]"
*****
Gedrean makes an interesting argument that perhaps God favours OSU. He points out Bo Schembechler's (presumed) smiting on the eve of the Michigan game, and the Ohio lottery numbers coming up the same as the game score. Hmm...
*****
So, Christmas is over, and it's not yet New Year. This week always feels to me like it doesn't belong to either year. 2006 is really over, and we're just kind of sitting here waiting on 2007.
*****
The Mt. Hood climbers seem to have vanished from the news. Before Christmas, that was everywhere. Now, they're just gone.
*****
Koreans apparently believe that sleeping with an electric fan in the room can kill you.
*****
Those of you who sent me Christmas cards will receive a small present in the next few weeks. I meant to send cards myself, but things got away from me.
*****
The original Rudolph puppet has survived. I've wondered before, but always figured there wasn't a chance that it was still around. It pleases me deeply to find that it still exists.
That had such a huge and lasting impact on my life, and that of others as well, but I'm reasonably sure that the people making it thought of it as a throwaway project. You never really know what's going to change the world.
Rudolph's much smaller than I'd expected. I'd guessed he'd have been about 18" or so. I'd never have thought of using lead wire for joint armatures either. Kind of a low-tech version of Schlagel wire. I may have a try at building my own Reindeer.
*****
A collection of ads for Santa arriving in a helicopter. I remember my mother taking me downtown in what must have been 1965 or so to see Santa arrive in a helicopter. In retrospect, I'm fairly sure that it was old Mr. Rosenblatt, who was Jewish, but had this great regard for Santa Claus, and usually played him for most civic functions.
He landed on the bank parking lot, and then sat on this little outdoor stage. We all got little paper sacks with a candycane and (I think) an orange and maybe some nuts for visiting him.
I can't even imagine the slightest chance of people being allowed to stand close to a landing helicopter these days. The insurance companies rule our lives now.
*****
I never knew why Mr. Rosenblatt loved Santa so much. I'm sure it was something in his childhood. Most of us spend our lives trying to process the overwhelming things that we encountered as children. If you're lucky, and if your parents took some care with what they exposed you to, these can become lifelong sources of fascination and wonder, like Santa or Rudolph or coloured lights.
*****
Friend Otter made a comment some time back about smudge pots being primary process material to his young consciousness. They held that place for me as well, along with coloured lights. They still do, to some degree. There's always this urge to get inside the lightbulb, to merge with it in some ill-defined way. When I stare at the filament in my fairy bulbs, to some degree I experience myself as inside the bulb. I'm not sure how many people carry that sort of consciousness over into adulthood.
*****
Edit: From an account of the Nigerian pipeline fire. What is there in this sentence that makes me think the reporter didn't even visit the scene?
"The charred remains of victims still clutched the plastic cups, funnels and cans yesterday they intended to use to scoop gasoline from a punctured pipeline before it exploded [...]]"
