Musings directly from my muse

Hot Cross Bunnies!

GAH!...What happened next!?

As you may know, I've been surprised with a "mystery bunny."   I even wrote a blog about it.  

 

Imagine my surprise when none other than the august blogging personage, DJ Groovy Slug, commented with piqued interest on what happened next!   This is where the story falls apart, because really nothing happened next.   It's like a Kafka novel, in that you're left saying, "Okay, then what?   Where are the rest of the pages in this damn book?   This can't be the end."    I have a mystery bunny gift, I don't know who gave it to me, the end.    What a pointless story.

 

Until today, when mystery bunny #2 showed up.  

 

That's right, today I found another bunny on the dash of my car.   I don't usually leave my car locked at work (I work in BFE, Iowa; after all), so it would be easy for anyone to do something like this.  No help there.

 

Here's the newest addition to the mystery bunny corral...

Now, of course I have to tell my girlfriend about this.   I mean, I can't keep from her that someone is giving me gifts, albeit unasked for and unsigned ones, and hope she doesn't find out.   So far, she's been pretty understanding about the whole thing.  Yay, girlfriend!

 

As to the identity of the gift-giver -- still no clue.   I'm half-afraid that the bunny stream will stop suddenly, and I'll always wonder who did it.    I'm also half-afraid that suddenly the bunny-giver will go from giving gifts to cutting my brake lines.   Additionally, I'm half-afraid that I will find out who it is by the giver suddenly saying, "Yeah...it was me.   I love you, Windhazel," in which case I will have to politely shoot them down, unless it turns out it's Christie Brinkley.   Finally, I'm half-afraid that I suck at math and I've already used four halves, which is more fear than I possess, and I'll have to take out a high-interest loan to make up some fear.    Then people will come to break my legs because I haven't paid my fear bill, which will only cause more fear.   It's really a viscious cycle.

 

I must say that it would be nice if perhaps my unknown rabbit buyer found an HD, 40", flat-screen, LCD TV with a bunny sticker on it or something.    I mean, even if it WASN'T Christie Brinkley, I'd still be gracious enough to say, "Hey, thanks, boy-I-hope-you're-not-crazy person!   I'll always think of you when my girlfriend and I watch this!"   If they threw in a copy of Watership Down on widescreen DVD, that would be a bonus.   You can't buy my love, but you can rent a hell of a lot of "like" for a nominal price.  

 

So, DJ Groovy Slug, I don't know what happens next.   I'm going to just wait and see... 

Posted by: Windhazel at 19:25 | link | comments |
pointless

Mystery Bunny

On Monday morning, I came into work to discover a mystery gift.   Not that I don't understand what the gift is -- it's clearly a very charming, slightly-used, paper mache bunny (see picture below).   The mystery is WHO the bunny is from.   

First, since I have absolutely nothing to hide from my girlfriend, I asked her.   Nope, she didn't give it to me.

 

Then, I talked to my ex-girlfriend (#1), and I asked her.   It seemed reasonable, since she works in the same building I do, we have birthdays on the same month, etc.   She said she had nothing to do with it either.   I tend to believe her, because if she gave this to me as a belated birthday gift, I would think that she'd be happy to claim it as a gift that shows what a nice person she is.   But, like I said, she says she didn't give it to me.

 

I asked some of my coworkers.   EVERYBODY knows that I like rabbits (after all, my license plate does read BUNNY BOY when decrypted).   They also said that they didn't give it to me.

 

I even thought about another ex-girlfriend, but since I haven't talked to her in over a year, and the only thing she hates more than my current girlfriend is me, I ruled that one out.

 

So, at the end of the day yesterday, I was no closer to knowing who my mystery gift-giver.   As I quipped with one of my coworkers, "Have you ever seen Fatal Attraction?   Next I'll find the bunny boiling in a pot of hot water!"

 

Mystery #2 -- Here's what I came into work to find this morning

Okay, that's just getting weird.   If you can't tell from the picture, the poor rabbit is in a flaming pot.   Again, nobody knows anything about it, not even my coworkers.   All one can tell me is that it was like that when she stopped by cube at 5 p.m., but she didn't do it.  

 

I decided to bring the mistreated animal home tonight before anything else weird happens to him.   He'd look very cute in my cubicle, but I fear that I might come into work one day to find a decapitated rabbit.   <shudder>

 

That would just be scary.

Posted by: Windhazel at 19:32 | link | comments (3) |
pointless

Okay, JEL, I get it! NOW SHUT UP!

There are a lot of great commercials on TV today.   Some make me think.   Some make me laugh.   Some make me actually want to buy the products they're advertising (not really).  

Then there are the JEL public service announcements.   And those compromise the 30-seconds or so I feel like killing people. 

If you're not familiar, JEL stands for Just Eliminate Lies.   This is a flagrant anti-smoking campaign that goes just a little too far.   It goes so incredibly far that I want to START smoking again just to figuratively tell them to stick it up their smug, self-righteous asses. 

You know, I was insulted with the commercial where they hung little signs on hotel doors telling about how many people died today from smoking.   I was repulsed at the commercial where they wore little masks showing how people were "disappearing" from smoking.   But the latest onslaught makes me sick.

Picture this:  a bunch of people in a restaurant.   They're having their breakfast, but the drinks have cigarette butts floating in them.   The fries are mixed with cigarette butts.   There are cigarette butts floating in the syrup.    And, all through the commercial, people are passively eating them.   Cue tagline: "Every restaurant should be a no-smoking restaurant." 

Okay, that's just sick.   As an almost 5-year non-smoker, I'm disgusted.   It's like being against a woman's right to chose and showing aborted fetuses.   We've gone beyond an intellectual discussion about the social and personal dangers of smoking and have gone to pure sensationalist and gut-reaction politics.   By airing such trash, the anti-smoking faction have lowered themselves to a level below pond scum, even below the tobacco industry that they'll do anything to discredit, and are now their own worst enemy.   They have stretched their own credibility beyond the breaking point, now they deserve an anti-JEL faction.

Enter Windhazel.  Here is my open letter to JEL

Dear JEL.  

I hate you.  I'm not a believer in smoking, but I do not feel that smokers are criminals.  I do not think that smoking is the worst thing in the world.  With all the other problems in the world, probably caused by radical, polarizing activism such as yours, you've decided to pick shame and disgust toward 35% of the American population as weapons towards the very people you want to "help."

The fact is that smokers are people; albeit people with a really bad habit.   Some would like to quit, but I doubt your smear campaign portraying them as baby killers or malicious, insensitive sociopaths is going to suddenly make them wake up and realize how they are hurting themselves or even hurting the public at large.  You don't argue from a position of mind, instead you go for the most basest of gut reactions.   It's not the smokers, but you who disgust me.   You've tossed aside any claims to rationality; you've told me that you aren't interested in an intellectual discussion; instead you'd rather throw punches in a crowd on television, hoping to hit your  enemy.

JEL - I'm sick of you.   I swear that I will use every opportunity to point out the weaknesses of your arguments and emotional appeals.   If you want to engage the public on the merits or dangers of smoking, you'll have to do it mind to mind, not through emotional brutality.   This is how honorable people deal with one another, lest we become as "wrong" as the causes we fight.   The ends do not justify the means.   Take a lesson. 

Windhazel  

Posted by: Windhazel at 19:32 | link | comments |

Welcome to Rob Petrie's living room

As you probably know, I've been working on designing my living room.   Finally, I feel like it's coming together a little bit.   I have said in the past that I want the kind of place that you feel a little out of sorts if you don't have a martini in your hand, but the execution has turned into more of a Rob Petrie (that's the Dick Van Dyke Show, if you're not familar) than a Rat Pack place.   Eh, I can live with that.    The point is that I've finally gotten it to a place where I feel like the living room is coming together and it feels like a comfortable, yet stylish metropolitian place.  

 

WARNING:   THE FOLLOWING TEXT AND PICTURES WILL PROBABLY ONLY HAVE INTEREST IF YOU FIND HGTV, "TRADING SPACES," OR OTHER MAKEOVER-STYLE SHOWS ENTERTAINING.   IF YOU COULD CARE LESS, YOU MIGHT WANT TO SKIP TO THE NEXT BLOG, WHICH I HOPE WILL BE MUCH MORE CAPTIVATING TO A GENERAL AUDIENCE.

 

I promised that I would share with you the work I've done...so here it is.

 

The view from the kitchen.   Nothing radically different here, but I did pick up some nifty end tables.  I think they're walnut with a small checkerboard pattern.    They helped pull together the dark walnut finish that has been the look throughout the room.  Oh, notice the curtains.   More about those in a sec.

Opposite view.   I forgot to mention that I used a pastel green, pastel blue, and pastel yellow as the key accent colors.   How cool that I happened to have a book on minimalist design (in pastel green) and I found a candle at WalMart on sale (in pastel yellow).   I didn't have a candle holder, but a sudden moment of inspiration reminded me that I had a Russel Wright Iroquois bread and butter plate in pastel blue that would work.   Put them together on the end table, and it's a nice effect.   Actually, the Russel Wright plates are my primary inspiration for this room's "spring" look.

Another look from the hallway.  The canvases are original  Windhazel art.   What you can barely see is that my cheap-o auction plant stands in the corner have been painted the same blue and yellow as the artwork to further help the look.

The dining area.   I've been trying to pick up the EC 127 chairs as I can, but these are my first two.   The chairs are upholstered versions of  bent plywood chairs designed by Charles and Ray Eames in the 1940's-1950's, hence the EC (Eames Chairs).   They're surprising comfortable. 

I promised I would talk about the curtains too, so here we go.   The curtains are something that my wonderful girlfriend and I found at a local antique store.   The colors worked with the room and I thought they were really cool, authentic 1950's-1960's curtains.   So, my wonderful girlfriend surprised me with them for my birthday.   Awww....how sweet is that?!     Here is a close-up of the patttern.

Okay, there's what I've been up to as far as decorating my living room.   It's probably only interesting to me, but it's one of those things I'm proud of myself for doing.   Having a cool place to hang your hat does not make you a better or smarter person, but I'm getting to the point where I WANT to bring people to my house because I'm so proud of my home.  

So, who will be the first to come hang out in Rob Petrie's living room?   I'll be waiting with a martini just for you! 

Posted by: Windhazel at 19:50 | link | comments (5) |
pictures, mid-century modern life

Quickly...

I really don't have time to write, but I have to say SOMETHING about tonight's Deal or No Deal.   I think the phrase that comes to mind is "Holy shit!"   It just got over and my heart is beating like I just have spent a day riding roller coasters.  

Now mind you -- I don't watch too much TV that isn't Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim."  But this show just grabs you, smacks you around emotionally, then then leaves you a heaving mess left screaming at the TV to "TAKE THE DEAL, YOU FREAKING IDIOT!!!!"   I am always disappointed when we go to commercial, and I'm always glued to the TV for the full hour (or two) it's on.   Tonight, I didn't want to get up to go to the bathroom, but I thought sitting in a pool of my own urine may be a symptom of a deep-seated psychological problem, so I snuck away during a commercial.   Chalk up another loss for my therapist. 

Okay, NBC...you still suck for putting on this show.   I'm hooked for another season!   Damn you!

Posted by: Windhazel at 19:10 | link | comments (2) |
rants, pointless

WATCH THIS SPACE

I know I haven't written lately.   Believe me, it's not because I don' t have anything to say, or because I've given up on blogging.   Really, it's because I have no time lately.    And when I say I don't have any time, I mean from when I get up to when I go to bed, it's run-run-run!  

Here are some upcoming blogs:

- I've recently been doing some interior decorating in the living room and bedroom.   Pictures will be posted soon.

-I've been doing some stupid, unthinking, man stuff.   There's one or two blogs about stupid things I've done just biding their time and waiting to be written about.

-I've been training for a half-marathon.   I've got some views on the joys of running and running and running which will be posted here.

- My ex-wife has been pissing me off lately.   Not much to write about, but I thought I would state that for the record.  

There are probably a few more topics in me, but I'm too tired to think of them now.  

So, don't give up hope, you faithful reader (all one of you)!   I'll be blogging again before you know it.   Watch this space!

 

Posted by: Windhazel at 15:35 | link | comments (2) |

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