No, I have vivid dreams only a few times a year, as far as I know.
TNP wakes up from most dreams feeling a bit wistful.
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No, I have vivid dreams only a few times a year, as far as I know.
TNP wakes up from most dreams feeling a bit wistful.
No. I feel stimulated, invigorated, and surprised. Yes I remember the vast majority of them, or I would if it wouldn't take me hours to write them all down.
TNP knows a "big" (for a hick town) bookstore about which it would be a real shame if something happened to it. Bunch of illiterate rubes staffing the store who don't know shit, and who don't know shit about how to operate a store in a city center. ZOMG homeless might come in! So scary! Bunch of illiterate pussies, who also happen to be chiseling little weasels.
No, the only big, good bookstore I know of is well-run and always worth a visit.
TNP has bought an actual dead-tree-edition book in the past week.
Yep. Hardcover, to boot. It's a guide to how to do a bunch of shit in a flavor of Linux called Red Hat Enterprise Linux aka CentOS or Red Hat Fedora, Scientific Linux, or some other virtually-identical forks without obligation to purchase the Enterprise-level of technical support from RHEL (although they do have a beta-ish Developer's edition which is available free of license obligations). And, yes, it is boring as shit, but it's good as a reference if you need to quickly look something up and don't want to look it up online. Although, aside fom use in industry, I don't see much value in Red Hat flavors of Linux: straight Debian or one of its many forks are just as powerful AFAIK and, since there are so many of them, it's very easy to find one pre-tuned to your specific needs.
TNP thinks "penetration tester" is a pretty neat job title. Because of, you know.
Yeah, worth putting on a T-shirt.
TNP has more than 3 t-shirts with words on them.
Oh, hell yes. Dozens, even.
TNP has at least three T-shirts that refer to different movies or TV shows.
I don't know if I still have those, or where they would be, but I used to have a Travis Bickle T-shirt, one with Jack from The Shining, and one that just said Designing Women on the front from when I was made to go to a live taping as a kid. Still wish I had that one, because it would be funny to wear it. Maybe more. Don't remember. I do still wear a Led Zep T-shirt with the ZOSO symbols on it occasionally, just to let people know they shouldn't fuck with me or I'll do unspeakable things with a mud shark to them. But's that no movie, that's real life, man!
TNP can say without looking it up what a traditional liturgical service for Catholics on Good Friday (i.e., today) does and definitely does not involve.
I'm Episcopalian, which is pretty close liturgically, so I'm going to guess it involves a reading or reenactment of the Passion, maybe the Eucharist, but does not involve juggling cats.
TNP would never even dream of juggling a cat.
No, if I could do it in a way that didn't hurt the cat, I'd give it a try.
BTW, the thing I was going for was that mass is never celebrated/consumed on Good Friday in the Catholic church. Never.
TNP likes a good Stations of the Cross, just for laughs.
I've seen some very striking ones, but they've never made me laugh.
TNP will very likely eat a chocolate bunny in the next two days.
Absolutely not. Some things, like that "movie" Brown Bunny can never be unseen. No, in fact, I decided to go in to work after mass instead of going over to meet up with the sister and her family and the nephews' grandparents and such. I like to participate in the kids' finding easter eggs and stuff, but unless they send out a text saying they're offering time off due to lack of volume at the warehouse, I'd rather just do my usual Sunday stuff.
TNP has tried, but failed, to understand the nuances of the Mueller report released a few days ago (US political issue, supposedly important, but in practice, likely not).
False. I haven't read it, but I have read some decent summaries and think I understand it in broad terms.
TNP has no plans to invite Robert Mueller over for beer and pretzels.
No, I highly doubt his presence at one of my Bacchanals would be welcome. Maybe he has a daughter or much younger sister? Or if he has a trained pet monkey or can do amusing things it could be allowed, I suppose. By that latter criterion, Nixon was supposedly a really fun guy in private life, so, sure.
TNP has applied for a relatively respectable job, and was likely to get it, but had second thoughts even before going through the telephone interview stage. Maybe something like "seller's remorse," in a way.
Not quite, although I was once offered a job after a lengthy application and interview process. When offered, I turned it down, because I thought I was likely to get a better job elsewhere. Turned out, fortunately, that I was right.
TNP would like to have bowled with RMN: http://static.messynessychic.com/wp-...xonbowling.jpg
Not really. I just don't like bowling: always standing up, sitting down, listening to shitty music, fingering some disgusting ball. In some ways it resembles a good game like pool or billiards, except you can stay standing up, plotting and scheming your next moves, and scrutinizing the table with pool. Nixon, to my mind's eye, seemed more like a guy you could probably get to drinking with and play dueling pianos and talk about the events of the day, including sports (especially if you're a football fan). Maybe he wasn't a drinker, but I suspect he probably was.
TNP has been known to pop into the grocery store on a day off resembling The Dude Lebowski — sweater, sunglasses, shoes with no socks, shorts, for example — and doesn't feel the least bit bad about it.
Yeah, I don't always dress up, that's for sure. And the Dude abides.
TNP has seen The Big Lebowski at least three times.
Yep. I really don't know how many times, but surely more than three. And that despite that I really have a visceral sense of distaste at many of the graphic, fantastic elements in the movie. But it's still an extraordinary movie with dialogue etched in granite, and some world-beating performances.
TNP can name a work of art that he or she admires in spite of what he or she considers to be profound flaws or moments he or she skips over regularly.
ETA]"BTW, the thing I was going for was that mass is never celebrated/consumed on Good Friday in the Catholic church. Never." Well, OK. Hardly ever. I think there's some extreme unction or whatever, and sometimes the celebrant delivers the eucharist using the consecrated host from Holy Thursday [no, I refuse to call it Maundy Thursday, but same thing]. Sometimes the celebrant in persona celebrates the mass including the Eucharist for himself, but, no, in general, there's no mass on Good Friday, except perhaps the liturgy of the word (i.e., the first half of the mass). I suppose it varies, and I'm no theologian.
The letters of transit make absolutely no sense in Casablanca, and shouldn't have those magical powers even if they did exist, but it's my favorite movie anyway.
I'm not Catholic, but have no reason to doubt what you say about the Eucharist. I don't think the Episcopal Church, of which I'm a member, offers Eucharist on Good Friday either.
TNP went to church for Easter Sunday today.
Yeah, I just got back from the last mass of the day from my parish after playing hookie from work and seeing my nephews and family.
You do NOT want to hear my opinions about this watered down George Winston major-key diatonic shit these motherfuckers were singing along to. Fuck them. Actually, I observed the singer and pianist pretty closely as they were preparing for mass and...they had some disagreements about chord changes and such. I couldn't hear them talking, they were just, you know, getting it together.
No. No. No. No. No fucking way no. Not ever. No. Goddamned it there are centuries of good liturgical music and you want to sound like Elton John pushing the beat and doing diatonic hammer-ons on piano.
I'm not singing along to that shit. Not ever.
No. Fucking. Way.
BUT, I sort of did a bit of everything today: screwed off going into work, got to play with my nephews, my Dad had a private conversation with my sister and me about how he felt when he was 99% near death in the hospital last year, we had some hugs (which I initiated, because they're big babies and someone had to man up), drank a bunch of beer in a dive, played some pool with a probable lesbian but it was still fun, then went to mass, but did not celebrate the eucharist, then came home.
Wouldn't say it's a perfect day, but I got a lot done for just screwing around with the locals.
TNP has a hair-trigger for what he or she considers music in bad taste or just plain bad, but always no choice but to just deal with it.
ETA it was kind of interesting mass: the traditional reading from OT and from...I think it was from Revelations today, but I don't recall. But it didn't follow the regular pattern: there was the kyrie eleison, and, unusually for this parish, the incense, but there was a LOT as in a SHIT TON of GODDAMNED singing! If I wanted to sing some child's tune, I'd just miracle myself up to heaven in Freddie Krueger's head or something. And they didn't follow the usual ordinary of the mass: maybe it's special because of Easter, but I don't like a lot of shit to change willy-nilly.
For example, there was no Credo, but there was the Pater noster. Meh, it's all right.
Just, please, lady standing behind me — yeah, your voice is pretty good and you can carry a tune. Except the tune is shit and you're shit for singing it. Stand for excellence, if nothing else.
As to the hair trigger, yes. Sometimes I hate it but the most I'll do is roll my eyes and later complain to my wife.
TNP enjoyed a chocolate bunny or some jelly beans yesterday.
No, I abstained.
TNP thinks one of the best things about having a wife or being a LT live-in relationship is complaining and hearing complaints. Because it's fun!
No way, Jose! Although we're pretty forthright with each other, I wouldn't say that complaints are a fun part of being married.
TNP knows someone who's been married at least 50 years.
yeah, sure, my sister and brother-in-law.
TNP has a definite opinion on the olive vs. twist issue for martinis.
Nope. I doubt I've drunk more than three martinis in my entire life.
TNP has a definite opinion in the black vs. green olive debate.
In martinis? Green (although I wouldn't drink a martini, really, if I could have a pitcher of gimlets, served over, with a twist). In general? I like black olives in food and stuff, especially some of those funny looking ones from the fancy part of the grocery store.
TNP has bought a religious text recently. Interpret how you want, but explain.
No, it's been years.
TNP has, at any time, read a religious text from cover to cover.
No, probably not. I don't think I've read a book cover-to-cover, if that means "start at page one and stop when you hit the back cover." Many books end up read, and indeed studied, just not in the primat traditional order.
TNP reads and has read a lot, but has never used a proper bookmark ever.
Pretty much true. I'm more likely to use a scrap of paper or, if I want to take notes, a folded sheet.
TNP is reading three different books lately.
Heh. Haha. Hahahahahaha. No, that's a pretty literal transcription of my descent into laughter out-loud. Anyway, that's affirmative. And I mean actual reading the books, not just dipping into them. Hahaha. Yeah, there are a bunch on the top of the stack, and they're all active.
I'd complain that I'm drowning in a sea of books, were it not that I sort of did it to myself. And I just ordered two right now that should be arriving in two days: The ordinary of the Mass in Nine Languages, and a small paperback of the book of Psalms (the Psalter) in the Clementine Vulgate Latin. I'm looking forward to those, but not so much for reading front-to-back.
And I'm not counting works of music in scores, although those I tend to read more-or-less front-to-back, while returning to favorite or interesting/confusing passages. They tend to be short in pages, though, but long in content.
ETA I'll explain briefly about reading "cover-to-cover": it's somewhat idiomatic, as a style of reading, for various types of books, to preserve a certain order. For example, in book-length essays on technical philosophical subjects, it's common to read the abstract, then the conclusion, and proceed through the argument as follows while referring to the preface when needed. Among students of narrative, it's not uncommon to read a novel essential "backwards," in order to note certain features of character development. Larger-form poetic works are an exception, however, in general. Most generally, I find that the fullest appreciation of most books come from "covering" the work as one pleases. Biographies and many works of history are an exception. So, no, I don't say "never," but there are a number of styles of reading that have long histories and many adepts.
TNP regrets doing something similar in writing to referring to his or her company's actions as a "brown stain."
Ha! No, I don't think I've ever used that phrase in any context.
TNP has a brown coat.
Sure. Tan raincoat. Brown tweed sportcoat. Light brown silk houndstooth sportcoat. I think that's about it. Khaki Walter Sobchak-style outdoor vest.
TNP is completely knackered after this week and is probably going to do not much than spend time in bed, chewing aspirin and reading.
If only! I am feeling a bit tired, but have lots of stuff coming up, including a birthday party for a very good friend and a trip out of town with my wife and son.
TNP has been to Delaware.
"Been to", in the sense of passing through in a train.
TNP has spend time in Rhode Island.
No, I don't think I ever have. Or if I did, it was long enough ago, and brief enough, it just didn't stick in my mind.
TNP thinks Providence is a good name for a city.
Actually, yeah. Never thought about it before, but it's a good name. Never been to P-town. Never been to Lickskillet, KY, neither. OTOH, the word is pretty firmly associated in my mind with a kind of Calvinist theology, so....revised answer? I'm not sure if it's a good name, but it's been there a while, so I'll allow it.
TNP has been pleasantly surprised by the quality of a book he or she expected very little of in the way of durability and legibility recently.
Yeah, I'm enjoying Dashiell Hammett's 1929 hardboiled detective novel Red Harvest more than I thought I would.
TNP is a Hammett fan.
Yeah. In fact a long time ago an acquaintance who became a good friend surprised me by mentioning the novel Red Harvest when we were talking about Hammett. For the life of me I can't remember anything about the book, except I know there's a paperback of it around here somewhere. I think at some point I've read a lot of the famous "hard-boiled" novels — probably for the same reasons the Cary Grant character in Philadelphia Story was up on novels. Don't remember.
TNP's affection for the smaller-format "pocket paperback" size of book knows few bounds. Can fit anything, no matter how dense or scholarly, in those motherfuckers. Lazy Americans, they don't even try
Yeah, a little book you can tuck in your pocket can be fun.
TNP likes the smell of old pulpy paperbacks.
No, not at all. Actually, I'm pretty sure most of my small library smells of pipe tobacco and dust — not too careful about that kind of thing. I don't mind the aroma of older books — in fact, it's necessary in many cases to abide by their conditions, since a number of important works can really only be had in comparatively ancient iterations. About pocket-paperbacks: I just pulled three at random from my "lit crit" section. So, Paul Zumthor, Essai de poétique médiévale, Henri Meschonnic, Poésie sans réponse, Kristeva, La révolution du langage poétique. All three are thick, serious books (whatever one might say about their enduring merit — certainly the Zumthor is an uncontested classic, but Meschonnic is not really fashionable as a literary critic, I'd guess, any longer, if he ever was, and Kristeva is probably going to be better known for her more popular cultural criticism works than her earlier work as a linguist), but they still are in the pocket-paperback format. I find the "trend" in Anglo publication to trade-paperback format upsetting and undemocratic. ETA However, I suspect that the French publishing industry is susceptible to some subsidies or grants, and it is true that many of the scholarly texts published under its ægis have a certain disregard for proper citations and niceties like indices and so forth. Not all, but I don't just make this up, it's well known. However, having available for a cheap price entire multi-volume histories of Europe, histories of philosophy, histories of art, for that matter, by uncontroversial authorities in this format is, to my knowledge, virtually unknown in the Anglosphere of publishing. Not entirely unknown, but it's uncommon.
TNP finds that, just as often as not, he or she demands a book with footnotes and a bibliography, since one can't read an abosrbing fiction without changing one's diet from time to time.
Yeah, true enough.
TNP gets bored easily.
No, so long as I have a book or a DVD nearby, I'm never bored.
TNP has waited a long time in a government office in the past month.
No, I avoided that by ditching an "identity verification" appointment with my local IRS office. C'mon. Time+parking costs? Fuck it. Keep your fucking sixty dollar refund, you ho-bags.
TNP avoids parking and driving in his her "downtown" city area at any costs, as a normal citizen. Exempted are those who have a regular parking garage with a guaranteed spot or those who are perverts or masochists.
I tend to, yes, depending on where, exactly, I'm going. Fortunately I do have parking provided at work.
TNP has owned more than five cars in his or her lifetime.
No, I think more like three if you count the car this ex-thing and I shared often, and therefore the costs of upkeep and so on. You know, household expense. Of course she got to hit my car at the time with rocks to get the frozen snow off, and I just kept her tank of gas-guzzling large car full of gasoline and we took turns getting it past vehicle inspection and the odd repairs. Sure, it was equitable. I guess you could count the car I used in HS as number four, but I didn't buy it (what, a 1980 or so Volvo 240 or whatever — I probably should have just bought it with a week's worth of pay from a summer job, but I didn't, and my parents didn't pay for it either, it was just a cast-off from somebody they/we knew), just paid for fuel, so I wouldn't call that "my" car. Although I did bad things in it.
TNP would not think he or she would get bored if he or she had no recorded or printed media of any sort, nor any semi-permanent recording implements like pencils or paper to use. Also, all sexual organs are unavailable for use.
With all that taken away, hell yes I'd be bored!
TNP has been to the town of Delaware, Ohio.
No, still haven't been to Ohio that I can recall. Maybe we'll get to Cleveland this summer.
TNP has been to Washington D.C., and Washington State.
Yes, both. The Federal City many times, including two brief stints on Capitol Hill (and my son goes to university there now), and to Washington State just once, I think, for a visit to Seattle.
TNP knew there was a George, Washington: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George,_Washington
No, had no idea. Cute name for a town, though. Those whacky northerners.
TNP thinks wearing a button-down collared shirt soaked through with sweat is a pretty gross "look," rather than a testament to machismo.
Absolutely.
TNP has heard of Euge Groove before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjDtQcADkWA
No. I thought I was "up" on at least the names of the big smooth jazz players (not my favorite genre, but there's some good players and good stuff in there for sure). I don't feel like listening to any music right now, but I'll bookmark the link for later. Anyone with the name "Groove" is automatically cool: Richard "Groove" Holmes (Hammond organist) for example.
TNP never fails to find something new in some of Chick Corea's best albums: not only a great pianist, with chops, originality, all that, and composer, but also a great bandleader. In fact, an optional TNP would suggest his or her favorite musician who also had an uncanny knack for bringing together great groups of musicians and keeping them in line.
I'm not that musically sophisticated, but yeah, he sounds good to me.
TNP has had salmon in the past week.
No, don't think so, fond as I am of it.
TNP thinks more diners should offer tuna casserole.
Sure, I don't see why not. At the least it would invite more one-eyed cats peeping at the kitchen door where seafood deliveries are made.
TNP thinks the expressions "Does a hobby-horse have a wooden dick?" or "Does the Pope shit in the woods?" are equivalent, or prefers one to the other, or prefers neither.
Pretty much the same, I suppose, but I like the second a little more.
Without looking it up, TNP knows Pope Francis's country of origin.
Yeah. I think he's from the jungle or something. I believe he's Brazilian in origin, but I could be wrong.
ETA dammit shit fucking Christ fuck ass, that mofo is an Argentine! Well, whatever. He's pretty spry for an inheritor of the Rock old man, though. And FU, I I attend mass most weeks and confess whatever foul deeds I've done, including not going to mass and receiving the eucharist when I am well-disposed. And, yes, I consider lusting after women, including those who observe the Latin rite in my view, to be not good, and so I do I indeed practice the reconciliation sacrament in those cases as well.
TNP has never even come close to spitting distance of Vatican City.
True. The closest I've come was Paris in late 1985.
TNP hopes they rebuild Notre Dame, and thinks that would be money well-spent.
Yeah. I don't particularly have any affection for the building itself, although it is pretty damned big, but the FR government would be crazy to not at least slap on some new paint or whatever, and then pat itself on the back, while remarking upon the superior generosity of the French people. I never went to an organ concert there, but it was supposed to have been a good one, so at least they can take care of that.
And they probably will, and have one of the many excellent organists who live in the city give a nice recital of some crazy crowd-pleasing shit, and make a big deal about the "great renewal."
Or something.
TNP doesn't have much of a middle ground between, when dealing with "problematic" people IRL, "extremely polite, but somewhat diplomatic in offering explanations when necessary" and "raging asshole."
Hmm, yeah, I seldom unload on them, but I really can't just treat them like an ordinary part of life, like some people can.
TNP has way more apps than they use on their phone, but can't get motivated to purge them.
Definitely true. On any kind of regular basis, I only use Google, GoogleMaps, CNN, ModernBricks (a game like Tetris), Libby (a local library's audiobook app) and the clock and camera. I have dozens of others.
TNP likes listening to audiobooks.
No, I think they're creepy and don't reflect the way I like to read books. Mostly creepy, though.
TNP reads more books (in their entirety or in part) in physical print than in an electronic format.
Nah, I've become a huge e-books guy.
TNP owns more than one good quality pen.
No, I tend to just use cheapo discardables (except I do like the Pilot Varsity fountain pens).
TNP knows an airline pilot personally.
Airline, as in works for a private passenger commercial airline company? No, I don't think ever even met a present or former commercial airline pilor, that I know of.
TNP keeps a spare clean, dry shirt at the ready in his or vehicle or desk or whatever most days.
Nah, I pretty much wear what I started with until I get home.
TNP has more than two "novelty" neckties.
Yes, I have a bunch of Christmas ties and one Easter tie (lots of colorful eggs on it).
TNP has bought clothing for a significant other in the past year.
No. I was planning to sew a new patch on mother this weekend, though: some of the sawdust is starting to leak out when I move her too much. And, just as a joke, I was planning to give a friendly gift to a co-worker this week: those panties rolled up on a stick designed to look like a rose you can get at truck stops. It would be a nice gesture.
TNP does not think that the word "punkie" is an insult, but is instead kind of a nickname, like "kiddo" or "sport" or "chief."
Having never said it myself, sure, why not?
TNP knows (as I do) someone actually named Pinkey.
No. Isn't that the name of one of the characters from Grease? No, not IRL, I never had the pleasure. Probably women named Missy and Muffy are the closest I can think of.
TNP is prone to getting super frustrated by having to deal with people at work (or elsewhere, for that matter) who don't seem to be pulling their weight, or anywhere close to it. Like the adult equivalent of having to do child-care. Bad. Very bad. Very stressful.
Not at the moment, but I have been there, and it is crazy making, especially when the useless one is actually in a position of responsibility.
TNP doesn't know why some people feel the need to be complete dickwads to others, whether at work or otherwise.
No, I don't really understand genuine dickwaddishness, particularly when there's no immediate "response needed, DefCon one, take immediate action!"). Being curt or generally intense in certain circumstances might seem to others like "Woah, dude, what a dick!" but I don't think that has the premeditation or mens rea or whatever needed for genuine assholishness. To be charitable, I'd guess a lot of genuine assneck behavior comes from stress (I don't know, maybe someone's shoes don't fit right or their teen or pre-teen child and them are having some kind of family troubles), but that doesn't seem like much of an excuse to me. No, I don't make any exceptions for myself: I go apeshit over tailgaters or noise pollution caused by peoples' hobbies, like pet training, and, no, I don't go full asshole, but I do go full psychopath, without anger, but with some definite intent to be a gold-plated asshole.
TNP loses respect almost immediately for people who don't put a lid, even if it's not a tight-fitting, 100% of the time, seal on their own behavior. Verbal or otherwise. Like the classic Angry Dad kicking the family dog or beating his wife or something, or reactions far less severe.
Yes, it's hard to see people like that the same way ever again. I expect a reasonable level of self-control from just about everyone, but of course I am sometimes disappointed.
TNP is hankering for Pop-Tarts.
Actually, that sounds good, maybe tomorrow morning straight out of the package on the way to work. I think they still have those chocalate kinds, but I'm not a real Pop-Tart connoisseur, much less never having had in one ... I can't remember, maybe as a kid. I haven't actually owned a toaster since...I can't remember when, over ten years ago.
TNP can name his or her favorite kind of donut
Not really, depends on mood, although a Boston Cream is just about always fine.
TNP thinks donut shop coffee is kind of over-rated.
I guess so. I tend to have the best coffee in nice restaurants after dinner. Donut shop coffee is not the best, I've found.
TNP prefers Earl Grey tea to any other kind.
I'd say sure. It's really one of the few kinds of tea I recognize by name, and even though I only ever buy big boxes of Tetley or whatever of tagless "black tea" in bags, I remember the taste and like it. I'd have to do a taste test to see about whatever else there is, but if I were shopping for some kind of tea to serve to guests, I'd probably grab whatever Earl Grey comes in the fanciest package and be perfectly happy.
TNP has observed that the person at the grocery store covering "self check-out" probably has about the most stressful job in the place, what with all the people asking questions, buying age-restricted products, and all that.
Yeah, that's probably true. Stocking the shelves, keeping the books and cleaning up spills would be relatively low-stress (although boring) by comparison.
TNP knows a grocery store checkout person.
Hmm...no, I don't think so, not currently.
TNP knows someone who's worked in a liquor store.
Don't think so, no.
TNP has been in a liquor store in the past week.
Yeah, last week almost to the day. The lady behind the counter looked about like she was sixteen years old, which was odd, but she was very friendly.
TNP cannot possibly keep in mind all of the various odd restrictions different states or countries have on (when/where/what time/what kind of) rules for buying alcohols.
Absolutely not - but then, I usually only have to buy it in only one state.
TNP has been in at least three different US states in the past month.
No, I'm sure loads of you all get around more regularly, but in my region, it's mostly between Wash. St. and OR as far as regular commuters go. You can make a run to the CA border in a day for sure, or ID for that matter, but nobody would do that just for kicks. Not really much there.
TNP sees the impending disappearance of the long-haul trucker profession as a bad thing, namely because in his or her experience, they tend to be about the most reliable people on the interstates or national highways or however you call it. Maybe not the best drivers, but at least they're not changing lanes all the time like Crazy Larry and Dirty Mary.
Haven't given it much thought, but if true, yes, that would be a change for the worse.
TNP suspects the day of the self-driving big rig is not far away.
Well, I'm pretty sure that will be one of the very few successful applications of such technology in the near future. NB: I said "successful," not some toy projects so limited that only a real gadget freak would consider them promising.
TNP has never seen an adult human male arm-wrestle another in person, but thinks it's a fine way to settle arguments or establish dominance.
No to both questions. I did some arm-wrestling as a kid but other than in the movies I don't know any adult who does it.
TNP will gladly zone out to this Blade Runner ambient sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyitVNMFApc&t=4971s
No. I'm not sure exactly what that is, having listened to a mere portion of the link, but it (i) doesn't sound like something really spaced-out and (ii) I don't really zone out to anything unless some kind of stupor is involved (whether on-purpose or as an inadvertent result of fatigue or tedium).
TNP is working (on or whatever) at pretty much 90% fuel consumption, but has a thought that there's a higher gear one could shift into to enable more productivity at less resource-consumption. And is not happy about such perceived inefficiencies.
Not sure, but I guess not.
TNP likes anime.
Eh, I don't dislike it, but it's not really my thing.
TNP likes Japanese movies, with or without rubber monsters.
Well, Gamera is just plain not a rubber toy "monster," as you gaijin would say. He is in fact a friend to children, and while he is filled with delicious turtle meat, he is tolerated by adults as well. Yes about regular classic Japanese movies, in general. I admire Kurosawa's willingness to present action-dramas in the self-conscious modelling of Ford and Hawks, similar to Melville in France about his American heroes, although he loses me a bit when he went to color films. Ozu's works I recognize, but I don't often wish to re-watch them more than a few times: there is humor in some of them, but his is not a "fire up the screen, have a few laughs, have a couple of brews" kind of moviemaking, and not in the way that Kurosawa's genre pictures (samurai, modern crime, etc.) are (or can be). IMHO: serious pictures made by Japanese directors and producers is not something I think about very much, if at all.
TNP is really good at looking straight ahead and walking by people who are doing something annoying. Without altering one's pace of walking or any kind of tension visible at all. If TNP is a good TNP, TNP will provide an amusing example. If TNP is a bad TNP, it will get the hose again. Marquess of Queensberry rules, you know.
Yes, I do that with people at parties whom I see with my peripheral vision and don't really want to talk to, or with hucksters on the street who just want to catch my eye.
TNP has actually read the Marquess of Queensberry rules.
No, to my shame.
TNP has read Joseph Liebling's The Sweet Science
No - I don't think I've ever even heard of it.
TNP has finished a good book in the past month.
No :( I'm still working on the Vulgate Book of Psalms, but am too lazy to use a dictionary and don't feel like making guesses at the meaning of the odd sentence/verse which is obscure to me. Not very far into it, and it's not a very ornate or challenging text in prose by most standards.
TNP has ever read a fictional work that is so alarming that he had trouble sleeping, or felt disoriented and on the razor's edge of sanity.
Not quite that severe an impact, but Dan Chaon's Await Your Reply, about identity, privacy and safety in the Internet Age, is spookily good.
TNP has read a good mystery in the past year.
Hmm. Read a bunch of mysteries on the subway, but the very best one I'd classify as "not too bad".
TNP has read a really bad mystery in the past year.
No, although one or two that were meh.
TNP has said the word "meh" aloud in the past month.
I think so. I say "eh" (or "er" depending on the spelling rules of a dialect of English) pretty often, but it's usually preceded by a bilabial closure of some sort, which could be spelled as "meh," I suppose. I'm not sure that the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is precise enough to transcribe the sound. I think if the utterance were slowed down, actually, that kind of finer detail can and has been transcribed, but (i) it would look very strange written in IPA and (ii) I think linguists working on that kind of thing use waveform analysis and process the results using a kind of statistical "filter," when generalizing over a population. Source: an academic linguist I knew who was working on munging recordings using primitive aughts-era technology as part of her dissertation research.
TNP would choose (an IPA beer + an inferior transcription method) over (a pale lager/pilsner + the IPA transcription scheme).
Pass me a beer and I'll think about it. Aw, what the hell... I'll take Option A.
TNP hopes to see at least three particular movies this summer.
Nah, I like movies, but my viewing tends to be fairly random.
TNP has a cold right now.
Fortunately not. If you do, hope you feel better soon!
TNP has had some hot tea in past two days.
Yeah.
TNP doesn't consider herbal teas as "tea." They can be delicious and soothing, but they're not tea by any but the most eccentric of metrics.
Yes, they're tea. If something is commonly called "tea," it's tea.
TNP could do with some hot cocoa right about now.
Yeah, preferably with a shot of something in it.
TNP likes sipping hot broth.
Yes. Hot broth, hot tea with lemon.
And, I do hope you are on the mend. Herbal tea is an excellent suggestion. They should really have a different name for it, though.
TNP is not averse to taking lemon or honey in tea or herbal tea, as a decadent palliative.
Oh, by all means. I just had honey in mint tea on Saturday at a Middle Eastern restaurant, although I felt perfectly fine.
TNP loves Middle Eastern food.
Hell yes. I cannot resist a good falafel sandwich with all the trimmings. Hummus is the only reason I regret selling my KitchenAid stand mixer, but a stick blender works OK (I know you can buy it in a store, but I require massive quantities of the stuff). I'm unsure of where the line is drawn between middle east/near east/eastern-mediterranean foods, but IMHO there's plenty of overlap. And goat's milk is very good, too. Of course, like literally everybody on the planet, including vegans, the meat of lamb is to be eaten with vigor and loud gusto. Raw while the lamb's heart is still beating, if necessary.
TNP will choose between a gyros sandwich, and a faladel sandwich. And will explain why. In detail. Explicit detail.
I prefer a gyro - tastier and better mouthfeel, especially with the yogurt sauce, I'd say.
TNP has read The Great Gatsby in the past decade.
Yes, not too long ago. A masterpiece of clarity in the vernacular, in a brief form, which I don't believe Fitzgerald ever came close to matching in his other novels.
TNP takes a very dim view of so-called "transhumanists" who think that a technological singularity is coming relatively soon during which the acceleration of machine learning and generally "smart" AI will produce utterly unforeseeable effects. More or less, I think that's their point.
No, I can't say I take a dim view. I don't think I'm in a position to take a view at all. Could happen, I suppose. World changing things tend to happen without being predicted, though, I think.
TNP thinks chocolate chip cookies make other cookies pretty much redundant.
(Oh, and thanks for the kind words about my cold, guys, it's pretty much better.)
(Glad to hear it!)
No, I actually prefer ginger cookies to chocolate chip. I've even been known to request my wife's famous ginger drops rather than cake for my birthday.
TNP has been to a birthday party in the past month.
Sort of. I pounded the table at the break room for a co-worker last week over coffee, and gave an extra large shout-out to another one in the past few weeks. I think my father's birthday was sometime in the last month, but there wasn't any big get-together, that I know of. I know I left a voice-mail and it was much appreciated, and we spoke on the phone.
TNP is pretty convinced that in life, you have to make your own parties and do the inviting yourself. Otherwise, nothing ever gets done.
(ETA chocker-chip cookies rule! there is no other option!)
I reject your cookie dogma and substitute my own!
As to parties, yeah, pretty much, especially as one gets older.
TNP will be mowing this weekend.
Tcheh. Yeah. I'm thinking about mowing some lawns and it ain't the kind of lawns you're thinking about. I'm talking about, as an enticement, asking this woman to shave my crotch with a safety razor.
You know, in case she thinks asking her out to have some beers after work isn't forward enough.
TNP wouldn't really trade his or her social life for anything else. Nice balance, or whatever.
True, I value my family and friends too much.
TNP has bought a lottery ticket in the past month.
C'mon. No. It would be a pretty sensible small investment, though, to buy a lottery ticket for a buck or few or something every week. Somebody has to win, I guess, and the risk is quite small. No, it never occurred to me, and I associate games of chance with some really pitiable people playing Keno and video poker at the local dive bars. As opposed to the sensible people who just sit at the bar and drink cheap beers, I guess.
TNP has actually, literally thrown a book at somebody.
No, but I once had a book thrown at me (a dictionary, by a high school English teacher, in mock-frustration when I correctly defined a word he was sure I wouldn't know).
TNP has a good book within arm's reach at this very moment.
Yep. Blackburn, de Rïjke, Venema, Modal Logic. Julia Kristeva, Soleil noir : dépression et mélancolie. And some others, but those are what interest me right now.
TNP is pretty good at making a very loud, sharp whistle when necessary, but aims to improve his or her technique, for it is useful.
I can do a pretty clear whistle, but it's not as loud as some I've heard. I'm always up for improving my whistle!
TNP can, like me, whistle the entire piccolo part from Sousa's "The Stars and Stripes Forever."
Nah, can barely whistle at all.
TNP owns a policeman's whistle.
No, although it's an intriguing thought. Don't know how that's different than a regular whistle, but it sounds better, anyway.
TNP owns a compressed-air horn.
No, although I have used them. Fun!
TNP needs something noisy to wake him or her up in the morning.
Nah, I haven't used an alarm of any kind in years. I hardly even sleep in on weekends.
TNP uses Apple Pay regularly.
No, hardly ever.
TNP has put a new app on his or her smartphone in the past week.
Nope. Currently my phone is at that sweet size spot where it's big enough to pinch-browse the web, but small enough that I'm not inclined to play Gin Rummy or Backgammon on it, or use any of some cool slide-rule emulators. I got computers for that, or maybe a very small tablet at most least small size.
TNP is inclined to choose between (i) drowning any person who says the phrase "Use your words" to him or her (ii) listening to drummer Mike Clark play with The Headhunters feauring Herbie Hancock on record/disc/tape/FLAC/whatever (iii) listening to 1970s-era Elton John. Explain why.
I would never drown anybody for what they said, I don't particularly care for Mike Clark, and I can't go wrong with option iii - "Island Girl" (1975) to be precise. Love it!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M6onFt--iM
TNP can't stand that song.
I've never heard it on purpose, so, by default, I say "it's OK, but I can't stand the title." ETA OK, now I heard the first few bars. Fucking A goddamned right I can't stand it. Yeah, I've heard it before, and, while I'm not a scholar of Elton John's corpus, pretty much everything about that tune I hate. Fucking disco beat, limp, trite piano work, over-compressed mixing, vocals layered upon vocals, upon vocals. No. Sorry, true believers, but that is not the kind of sugar papa likes.
TNP has an amusing story about contacting a friend from the past, primarily to ask him or her a question about one of his or her specialized domains of knowledge.
Hmm, not that I can think of, no.
TNP has been on a university or college campus in the past month.
Nah, don't think so, although there are a couple of Toronto universities whose campuses blend so seamlessly into the city that I might have been.
TNP has no regrets about university or college, but no particularly sentimental associations either.
That's true: I mean, it's just one of those things you put on your CV, and "team loyalty" seems to me more than a bit odd. Not into branding my emotions with the imprimatur of some temple of reseatch, when what counts is who and what and at what specific time was able to perform their work and be accomodated by administrators with their teaching schedules, sabbaticals, and so forth.
TNP has about equal parts respect and dismissiveness of the work administrators do. In whatever field.
Pretty much. They're people like anyone else - some are skilled at what they do, some are not; some are fine people, some are not.
TNP has supervised more than ten people.
I guess not. The unit I was Director of in Nunavut was fairly understaffed, and I can't really count acting Chief gigs in my present office.
TNP has retirement plans that don't involve alcohol and Netflix.
No. Those will definitely be part of my retirement (as well as travel, books and writing).
TNP has written a short story in the past year.
No, haven't written in years. Maybe when I retire....
TNP has weather-related aches.
No, but hay fever bothers me in the spring sometimes.
TNP has a box of tissues within easy reach right now.
No. I've never ever had a box of tissues in any place I've lived. Dozens of handkerchiefs, though: strong, and doesn't leave stray bits of paper if you have some facial stubble. Fuck germs, they're clean enough and I don't let other people put their disgusting snot in them.
TNP is now thinking or has ever thought of keeping some wet-wipes in the bathroom. For cleaning your ass, let's not kid ourselves.
Have been using them for years. They work.
TNP has already had a pleasant surprise this morning. (Mine was discovering that the biggest dullard in the Office is finally retiring.)
Yes. Upon waking, I found one of the large tendons in my right ankle is much worse when walking, despite (i) me not having yet looked up the physiology of the foot yet (ii) sleeping for ten hours. OTOH, it is kind of amusing, I guess, to walk with a pronounced Ygor-style limp for even the shortest of distances. Amusing in a painful and irritating way, but still amusing. And I can spend the next week teetotalling in case any authority person starts sticking their big snouts in my business and suspects I've got some drunkard-style difficulties in walking.
TNP has very few, if any, errands to run or chores to do this weekend and is extremely happy about it.
Relatively few, but not very few, I would say. Those kinds of weekends are rare.
TNP will be in Maryland in the next week.
No, although being friends with someone who lives there currently, it's a good vacation destination, should I ever get a chance.
TNP likes softshell crabs, but thinks digging into even very good, fresh crabs is not really worth the effort and would rather just open a can of tuna.
No, I definitely think it's worth the effort. I like crabs all kind of ways.
TNP has eaten crabs in the past month.
Hmm, no, don't think so.
TNP likes clams, on the half shell, in chowder, with linguine, whatever.
Yeah. I wouldn't take them raw (if that's a way people eat them) but despite them seeming inherently unclean, some nice clams casino or any of the other uses are just fine. In fact, kind of fun, especially as part of a communal dining thing.
TNP has had the chance to look at various medical illustrations of the tendons of the foot and lower leg. Spoiler alert: not too dissimilar in structure from the way the hands are structured.
It was awhile ago, but yes.
TNP thinks it's remarkable the human body works as well as it does, for as freakin' complicated as it is.
Oh, without question. I don't much about physiology in any given species, but since last I checked, being a human, I'm more familiar with its inner systems than other mammals. Pure self-interest. People rightfully point often to the structure of the human brain and the CNS, but the complexity of "lower" systems is perhaps best describe as incredibly well-regulated, and somehow, for all its complexity, capable of understanding.
TNP is good at drawing/sketchings things from the natural world. If not, TNP feels kind of inadequate about his or her rudimentary abilities.
Not good at drawing at all, and do feel a little bad about it. Not too bad, since I escaped Art class so long ago, but a little bad,
TNP likes to play Hangman.
No, I'd far rather play Botticelli.
TNP has played Botticelli in the past year.
No. It's just too damned complicated for me.
TNP can think of, and will name, another game that is pretty simple but that he or she just refuses to learn. If TNP has reasons, that would be amusing, but it's not required to supply such.
True. I learned backgammon once but didn't like it and can't be arsed to try again.
TNP loves backgammon.
False. I don't love the game, but I like it well enough.
TNP thinks cribbage is one of the stupidest games ever invented, but still plays it to pass the time. Sort of the card game equivalent of twiddling one's thumbs, IOW.
No, I am terrible at cards, and play very few card games.
TNP likes Vegas, but doesn't gamble much when there.
No. I have never been to Las Vegas, nor any place in Nevada, but I am predisposed to hate everything about that town. I don't feel an urge to rassle alligators either, but I just don't need to have the experience to know it's not for me.
TNP is pretty well resigned to accepting a serious injury and its accompanying symptoms as just the way it's going to be. Like having a pronounced limp when walking, or that kind of thing.
No, not if there's a good chance drugs, surgery or physical therapy can make me better.
TNP has been in a hospital in the past month.
Nope, thank goodness.
TNP hasn't taken a sick day in the past year.
That is so false. I take sick time off if I feel like pounding off in the car an hour early before work ends.
TNP should really not be drunk-texting his or her romantic interests like a jerk-off.
I haven't, I don't, and I won't.
TNP likes writing haiku.
Not really. For at least a year or more, I was super into a form of poetry called the ghazal — it's not quite as strict as the haiku, but there are certain conventions, and I like to think I got pretty good at them.
TNP is very familiar with various types of sonnets, but is not interested in writing them, nor has done so ever.
Kind of familiar, and not nearly talented enough to write one. Haiku or simple rhyming verse are about my limit.
TNP has a favorite Shakespeare sonnet.
Nope. Sorry, Shakespeare just isn't one of my homies.
TNP can think of something more inappropriate to say after performing oral pleasure on a woman than "MMMMMMM!!!!!! That IS a tasty burger!" Has to be something he or she could say IRL, just for laughs, and damned the consequences. And will say what that is, if applicable.
Of course there's an apropos Archer quotation:
"Ew. It tastes even worse than it looks."
"If I had a dime for every time a guy said that... I'd have eighty cents!"
TNP wishes he or she hadn't read that.
Yes, to my "clever" comment, I regret writing it down. No to the Archer quotes: that's pretty funny stuff.
TNP thinks last impressions are even more important than first impressions when embarking on a personal relationship adventure fun time.
About equally important, I'd say, so no.
TNP has bought a new pair of shoes recently.
That's a negative colonel.
TNP rotates which shoes he or she wears. For, reasons.
No, I kind of stick to my comfortable walking shoes that keep my feed from being in debilitating pain.
TNP had a pretty good Father's Day.
Yes, I did. Church, photos with my sons (a tradition for FD) and a party for some friends who are moving away.
TNP is reading a good book these days.
Sure. The Liber Psalmorum is very juicy.
TNP has had someone unknown to him or her call him or her a "jerk" recently. Details requested but not required.
Someone might've thought it, but no one's said it, fortunately.
TNP is on jury duty this week, just like me.
Ha. No, I don't even think the county knows I exist. Yes, of course I would serve, as obligated, but I haven't received a summons (for that reason) in my life. Well, I might have, but it's probable I either didn't care or did and discarded the document. Yeah, well, it's a good thing I've matured a good bit.
ETA Wait just a damned minute: they're going to have a fucking judge be on the jury? That fucking shit I'd like to see videotaped in voir-dire or whatever.
TNP had recent reason to reeaximine an artist's recorded œuvre recently — for example, that of Oscar Peterson — and was extremely surprised by some nuances.
No, can't say as I have.
Magistrate, not judge, and yes, Ohio law permits it. As it happens, I wasn't picked for the one trial for which I and my fellow jurors were sent up to the courtroom (the jury selection process didn't even get within four jurors of me) and then we were all excused. So that's that for another two years.
TNP would, like me, be disappointed at again not having the chance to serve on a jury.
Not in the slightest. I wouldn't make attempts to duck my civic duty, if called upon, but the experience sounds like pretty much hell on earth, No Exit-style.
TNP is really lost without wearing a wristwatch — wall-clocks? Who knows if they're accurate! Cell-phone? You've got to be kidding me, Pyle, dragging some device out of my pocket, seeing a bunch of unrelated crap, and then tucking it back in. Might as well wear a wall clock about one's neck on a chain, without the convience.
Alternate TNP: what exactly is the difference between a magistrate and a judge, in plain speak? I've read the wikipedia page, but it is not very elucidatory in practical terms for me. Much like how a lot of the theoretical computer science and maths pages are good, but not good for absolute dummies.
Chooser's choice as to which TNP to answer, of course.
What the hell, I'll answer 'em both!
No, I haven't regularly worn a wristwatch for four years or so, since I got a cellphone. And I always used to.
It varies state by state, but in Ohio, magistrates are appointed and serve "during good behavior," while judges are elected to six-year terms. Magistrates of our court do everything the judges do except (a) conduct criminal jury trials and (b) marry people, which only judges may do by law. Otherwise, we preside over criminal and civil bench trials and civil jury trials, hold pretrial hearings, rule on motions and objections, grant or deny civil default judgments, arraign criminal and traffic defendants, etc. Everything we do is subject to review and approval by the judges of our court, but far more often than not they simply sign off on what we do.
TNP would like to be a judge (or magistrate).
Eh, I dunno. I kind of hoped for it when I started my career, like a lot of lawyers, but now I probably couldn't be bothered with the hassle, even if I could wrangle the appointment. My wife's a part-time Small Claims Court judge, and I don't see a lot of fun in it.
TNP likes banana splits better than sundaes.
False. I can't remember the last time I had a banana split.
TNP is following the 2020 presidential campaign pretty closely.
No. IMHO, it's too early to stake claims.
TNP has used an eyewash station and found it to be invigorating, although not restorative.
No, never have! They had them in the chem lab when I was in high school, and I don't think I've seen one since.
TNP watched Chernobyl on HBO and found it harrowing.
No, although it seems to have been a bit of an obsession among a lot of my Facebook friends.
TNP plans to watch a bunch of sports this weekend.
Big negative on that one, chief. Burned out by most everyone I know IRL yapping about such-and-such a game and eksetera.
TNP is very confused by the (probably) true notion that people would rather watch golf than baseball on television. And thinks those people are cretins.
Something like that, yes, although I have some golfer friends.
TNP was tempted to kill someone just yesterday.
Hahahaha. No, I would never kill or harm another human, nor would I allow any such acts to be caused by my inaction. You fool, you have no idea. But thanks to my programming I am unable to harm another human nor by my inaction cause a human to be harmed.
TNP knows someone or several people who wears or wear T-shirts with very entertaining text printed on them. And TNP must share an example, or a reasonable approximation
Yes, I got this not long ago: https://thedudesdesigns.com/collections/lebowski20. It's now my favorite T-shirt.
TNP just might get one, too.
Hilarious. Yes, I would definitely wear that and it would absolutely get some big laughs. Not sure about buying it, just because the same people would see it as it makes the rounds in the laundry cycle and it could get a little tiresome. I think I could wear it pretty much once or twice to work. However, that is a most excellent T-shirt, indeed. Pretty clever.
TNP is pretty oblivious to the specific clothes people he or she sees regularly wear, except for distinctive T-shirts.
As a rule, yes, unless it's something particularly offbeat or colorful.
TNP wears a necktie five days a week.
Not usually, no, Fridays are casual in my already pretty casually dressed office.
TNP thinks sitting outside with a drink on a nice summer day/evening is one of the underrated pleasures in life.
Yes, it's extremely good. I don't know if I'd say "underrated," though — seems to be pretty rated. For me, drink optional — good alternatives include book(s) and paper, or hand up a good woman's skirt (mutatis mutandis).
TNP occasionally makes small changes in his or her habits to accomodate another, and feels a bit virtuous privately about it. For example, not smoking, or that kind of thing. And not for random groups of people or because of some posted signs or pesky regulations, because, reasons.
Yes, that's true. Change can be good, and change to oblige someone else out of kindness or generosity can be very rewarding.
TNP has read Jim Thompson's 1955 noir classic After Dark, My Sweet.
I honestly don't remember: I can see in my mind's eye the reprint paperbacks of Jim Thompson's novels, but I just don't know. Maybe not: I remember Thompson's books as being a little too clever and psychological for my tastes, and I think I only read a few of them. But then again, I could be mistaken.
TNP would put about twenty-five percent of the things he or she has read or studied in the "don't remember exactly...gimme a second....make it an hour....hold my beer...I'll remember eventually...just a sec" category.
Oh, at least. I realize it especially when I re-read books I read just ten years or so ago - it's a little disconcerting to realize how much of it seems new to me.
TNP has started a book only to realize that he or she had already read it.
I can't even remember if I've done that, but it seems possible.
TNP has read the same book in two different translations, to see if the second one makes more sense.
No, but I've read various editions that had differences, big and small (Jeffrey Archer's political thriller First Among Equals has a fourth major character in the original British edition, and a different ending from the American edition, for instance).
TNP has a favorite political thriller.
guess I like The Quiet American — the only novel I've read by Greene is Our Man in Havana but that was thirty-three or thirty-five years ago, and I don't remember anything about it except "that was amusing." I think I've seen both movie versions of TQA, and I remember that I don't remember enough about them except that I would watch again.
No, scratch that. I just remembered The Third Man could well be considered a political thriller. I wouldn't know if I'd rate it above The 39 Steps or Notorious or North by Northwest, but that's my vote, just for its unique sordid quality as a movie.
In books I like Conrad's The Secret Agent, but I don't know if I want to read it again soon. It's very grim, and almost over-loaded with intrigue. The movie Sabotage was OK, but it wasn't really an adaptation, just kind of a riff on the ideas. IIRC.
That's a hard question.
TNP is so devoted to his or her regular filling station that he or she only under rare states of duress or need goes anywhere else.
Not devoted, but yes, as a creature of habit I tend to go to the same couple of gas stations.
TNP fills up his or her car about once a week, on average.
Yeah, probably about that. I tend to keep the tank about half full, and visit weekly, otherwise I'm likely to push my luck and try to test the mileage by running it to nearly empty. It's a resistable urge, that, but one I find compelling at times.
TNP has run out of gas while driving at least once. Preferably multiple times.
I've come very, very close, and gotten pretty nervous about it when there wasn't a gas station anywhere around, but I have never actually run out, fortunately.
TNP watched some of the Democratic Presidential debate tonight.
Nah, as a Canadian and someone who is pretty jaded about all politics, paid no nevermind.
TNP has been having a strange week.
No more than usual. A few isolated notable items: refilled my marine air-horn at the gas station to 100 psi, learned more about the suspension system in cars (tie rods, CV joints, ball joints) and am considering inspecting the system over the weekend myself, have a doctor's appt today to see about the posterior tibial tendon problems and see what he thinks about non-benzodiazepine muscle relaxants and 600-800 mg ibuprofen in a one-capsule bolus. Am peeved about this broken bicycle pump WalMart sold me and don't want to drive out there to return it. Saw part of a ballgame where Oakland seemed completely feeble against Tampa Bay. Ate tacos on Tuesday, and wings on Wednesday. Another week in paradise.
TNP is expecting a delivery by mail soon and is not only excited, but will say what is in the box.
Yes, I just ordered some retro candy (including Root Beer Barrels, yum) from the Vermont Country Store. Should be here in about a week or so.
TNP has placed an Amazon order in the past month.
No. I'm thinking about it, but it seems most of my immediate needs are better filled by gritting my teeth and driving out to a Target or a Walmart.
TNP would rate his or her impulse buying higher at AMZ than at local stores (grocery, department, big-box, small-box, whatever). And will explain why.
No, my impulse buying is definitely worse at the grocery store. Just too much yummy stuff to pass it by!
TNP has a weakness for Hostess fruit pies.
Not at the moment. I can't remember when I had one, but I am sure it was as a single-digit kid. Perhaps as a teenager under the influence of the devil's weed. I'm sure they're good, but my gustatory weakness at the moment is strictly for beer, and lots of it. It actually makes you fat! Go figure.
TNP's rule about obsessing about one's bulk has changed from concern about appearance to: do clothes fit, and can I kick ass physically? Or other desiderata.
All of the above. I could stand to lose a few pounds.
TNP can't stand Herman Melville.
False. I find him to be one of the more interesting stylists of his time, and I think it would be a great loss if his records were to have been lost. His novel The Confidence Man, alone, secures his place in American literature, as though his shorter form pieces weren't enough.
I don't know that American literature would not have survived without Melville, but I find his indelible mark indispensable.
/*ETA OK, an argument could be made that the novel Moby Dick could have been edited down a little bit, but I still remember liking the encyclopedic entries about the various whale species, although I admit to having skimmed through some of the details. EETA Though, I submit that's true of any novel of length or girth. I wouldn't have it any other way, nor Proust, nor Musil (in its unfinished form). Mann, probably — eh, he was a short form writer. Perhaps Melville was best in that way as well. Dickens, Trollope: those were people who needed a firm backhanded pimp-slap. Not James. Don't start a fight, because I will defend James.*/
TNP will name a very famous American prose fiction author about whom he or she has very negative thoughts indeed, and will explain why.