As a wee young 'un, I was utterly fascinated by archeology; I remember being surprised, mildly confused and somewhat insulted when my teachers made a big fuss just because I knew the word "paleontology".
My parents took us kiddies on education~oriented vacations all over North America, visiting museums & galleries & science centers & national parks... yet somehow, none of it took, and I didn't end up as an archeologist... mmmmprobably because being an archeologist is less of something you just end up doing and more something one must work very hard to achieve.
Which is probably why I'm trying to experience it vicariously/virtually now.
There's a baladi class that's held on the same evening I go to work out; in fact, I have to walk right by it every time I go into the gym.
I'm getting ready in the changing room when suddenly I hear jingling behind me. And my first thought is:
... reindeer?!?
I'm being snuck up on by Santa's reindeer...
And now I can't walk by the class without having the lyrics to Sleighride running through my head. Xmas in July...
Almost made bread rolls; was halfway through the mise-en-scène of the ingredients when I discovered the last of my Fleischmann's Yeast had expired in May 2003.
Poor little buggers. Deep in their dormancy they must have had blissful dreams of being reborn in a leavened state...
Further to this post... horse-flesh, anyone?
Awarded For Neatness in the Face of Adversity
Accidentally locked The Little Girl in The Airlock the other night...
Almost every apartment I've lived in has had an "airlock" of some kind or another - i.e., there's always at least two doors between my living space and the outside world, thus, there's always at least one closed door between a kitty & escape...
In the airlock was a couple of garbage bags full of clothes & a few suitcases full of junk. We had separated this junk from the rest of the herd in order to ready it for donation, which is to say, we hadn't yet gotten around to piling it all in the vehicle and trucking it down to the Sally Ann Drop Off Box a mere five blocks away.
Usually I count heads and/or flush out the airlock before I shut the inner door. That night, though, I just gave a cursory glance 'round. And the next morning...
It didn't occur to me to think anything of it when she didn't show up for breakfast. Sometimes she tends to hide when the grey kitty {Our Idiot Son} gets rumbustious, which he often does at mealtimes.
The smell of kitty pee wafting from the airlock was what tipped me off that something might be wrong... I opened the door to investigate, and she zoomed out.
A pile of flyers & junk mail had been knocked over, and at first I'd assumed she'd peed in that; but none of it was even remotely damp, and the cat hair led me to believe that she'd bedded down in it instead. The welcome mat was out of place, and I thought she must have peed on that; but it wasn't damp either.
Then I noticed there were holes clawed into the tops of the garbage bags. And that's when I realized what a truly good and clever kitty she is.
She had jumped atop the garbage bags, clawed them open, relieved herself *inside* the bags, and clawed them shut again. And I do mean both bags. She had peed in one and pooped in the other.
Didn't think the bags of clothes were fit for donation after that. But we couldn't pitch them outside until the very last minute the morning of garbage day, for fear they might draw unwanted attention from the neighbourhood cats... so we just had to put up with it 'till then.
~ ~ ~
I'd've thought she'd 've been mildly traumatized after having to spend the night locked in a small room with nothing to keep her company but the smell of her own bodily wastes.
But she was as right as rain, and that's the way the cliché crumbles. After breakfast, she came right back and parked herself in front of the closed airlock as if she wanted to get back in again.
Well, of course, said Boyfriend, it's probably the first time she's spent an entire night unmolested by Our Idiot Son. Must have been the first good night's sleep she's had in years.
If you worked in the PR department of a paint company... would you not jump all over this? I think it's hysterical...
Brought to you by Particular Paints... Drying since 1839.
To break it up a bit, they could intersperse the "watching paint dry" segments with, say, a segment on paint drying history ~~ maybe do a spot on the comparative drying times of Renaissance paint vs. Industrial Revolution paint vs modern paint.
Or they could cut to an "archeological dig" ~~ a very old house with walls that have accumulated centuries of paint, where paintologists are painstakingly going through the layers, little flags marking the different eras, talking about the exciting discoveries they've made...
And the show could feature guest spots in which various professionals talk about paint drying within the context of their specialty; for example, a comedian could talk about the evolution of Wet Paint humour; or a chemist might give a lecture on the basic constituents of the paint colours in well-known masterworks, how additives {i.e., linseed oil, turpentine, etc.} affect their drying times, and thus speculate on how long it must have taken for a given painting to dry...
Because y'know... the only thing possibly more boring than actually watching paint dry would have to be listening to academics nattering on & on & on & on about the history & theory of paint drying...
Of course, that would be the British version of the program; the American version would be all about body-painting the latest sex~kitten/puppy & offering spectators the chance to watch it dry on them for a nominal fee...
...oh honey, I'd watch paint dry on you any day... come to think of it, I'd rather...
Our version would be produced by Moses Znaimer; it would be sponsored by our favourite ginger ale, and it would be called... Watch Canada Dry!
It would frenetically cut back and forth between locations all across the country, from coast to coast to coast, comparing how paint dries under distinct climatic & cultural conditions... noting that it's different from how American paint dries... and there would be a Heritage Moment spotlighting an important role that paint~drying played in the formation of our country...
Yep. It's not about watching paint dry; it's all about how you watch the paint dry that makes it interesting...