Monday, April 06, 2009

Random list

1. It's 3:15 a.m.

2. Regular Palmolive dish soap applied with a wash rag is the best way to keep your new acrylic tub fresh and gleaming.

2.5 Gleaning is only one letter away from gleaming.

2.75 Which is the better word? Which word would you pick to be on your kickball team? To stand next to you during the Apocalypse? Which of those words makes a better lemon bar?

3. This might be the saddest 10 minutes of YouTube footage I've ever seen:



3.25 I downloaded "Human Nature" and "The Way You Make Me Feel" after viewing it just the same.

3.5 That doesn't mean you should stop reading this blog, but if you feel thusly inclined, so be it.

3.6 I used to wear a black knit mini dress (with shoulder pads), black fishnet stockings, black anklet socks with white lace trim and black leather pumps.

3.75 The outfit was inspired by the video for "The Way You Make Me Feel."

3.9 I guess I can't blame you if that puts you over the "I'm never reading O'Brien's blog again" edge.

3.96 No, I do not have a picture of the outfit.

3.97 I've just about expended the 3's for this list.

4. Yesterday I started a 2,000 piece puzzle.

4.2 The image is "Femme a Tete de Roses" by Salvador Dali.



5. Farrah Fawcett is dying.

5.4

6. The number six deserves a riff of it's own, but the space in front of me is filled up with the idea of anal cancer killing Farrah Fawcett.

7 The numbering system for this list is a sham.

7.1 I can always go back and insert another number.

7.1258 The numbers between any two numbers are infinite as long as you don't limit the number of decimal places.

7.2 Farrah Fawcett is entitled to such an infinity and Michael Jackson wishes he were.

7.4 I wonder if there is actually 2,000 pieces in my puzzle.

7.5 If there are really only 1,999, I'd be okay with that.

7.54 Unless it means one is missing.

7.9 One missing puzzle piece changes the entire puzzle, although you'll try to convince yourself otherwise when it happens to one of your puzzles.

7.91 That's one of those details you don't want to spend too much time thinking about, the sadness associated with a missing puzzle piece.

7.98 See what I mean about the numbers?

8. It's 3: 53 a.m.

20 comments:

Tony Rugare said...

Did you nod off between 7.91 &7.98. Cleaning is only one letter away from gleaning - maybe the palmolive only gleens vs cleans

Erin O'Brien said...

Nod off? For all I know, I'm nodding off right now. Or cleaning with glee.

Jen said...

random lists are a favorite of mine. i might have to go make one today!

the answer to 2.75 is gleaming. it's always gleaming.

dean said...

Take it from me, gleaming makes a much better lemon bar than gleaning.

I always wanted to hunt down the peson responsible for naming Gleem toothpaste and kick him in the balls. As misspelled brandnames go, it is particularly obnoxious. Gleam with a single E has a roundness, a fullness to it. Gleem with two Es is cheap, a rhinestone shimmer.

It's cool that you were up at 3:15. I was up at 3:25, but we're in different time zones. If we were in the same time zone, you could have called me and we could shoot the shit at 3:30 AM. How cool would that be?

Erin O'Brien said...

GG: Let's get matching Gleam Team tee shirts.

Dean, I'm game, but you see who you're dealing with here. I'm risky territory at 3 a.m. in every possible sense.

Bill the Wrenchbender said...

I want to see you in the dress. You know you have a pic somewhere.

Amy L. Hanna said...

6. The number six deserves a riff of it's own,

(Shakes head)

**********

Re the decimals: What, no 3.14?

VideoDude said...

I second Bill The Wrenchbender's request, LET'S SEE THE PICTURE!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!

Kirk said...

Michael Jackson actually evokes fascism toward the end of that video.

Erin O'Brien said...

Bill and V-Dude: I truly do not believe there is a picture, but believe me, it was an awful outfit. AWFUL!

Amy: Hey, at three in the morning, you can only ask so much from the author/copy editor/publisher.

Kirk: He is so pathetic to me throughout, repeating "This is it," and trying to mimic the moves that made him King of Pop twenty years ago that the whole thing struck me as beyond tragic.

Alan states said...

How could someone so good go so wrong?

Erin O'Brien said...

Hi Alan,

I hope you're talking about Jacko. After rereading this strange post, however, I realize your statement could apply to Jacko, Farrah or me.

help.

dogsdontpurr said...

I love these kind of posts. And you do them with such flairrrr! Even at 3:30am.

Glass Houses said...

I have to say Gleaning is a better word than Gleaming. Gleaming is superficial. You have gleaming skin or hair, or a gleaming car.

Gleaning...now that's a word that works hard. You glean nutrition or knowledge from things. It's a good recession word.

So yeah. I vote for Gleaning.

vancemac said...

The four of us attack from the east.
And spill out onto the street, looking similar but different.
I strain against the pull of the hose
While groups stand in their yards and point.
The steamer cap spins off and
Dirty water flushes into the street.
The hose connects and
As I spin the wrench on the hydrant top,
A dark haired, teenager yells at me.

“What happened?”

I shake my head and complete the 15 turns to fully open the valve.
We both can see the flames above the house across the street.
She is a spectator, I am not.
I only know I am a small piece which interlocks with others,
And I know, somewhere, there is a photo on the box lid that makes sense,
And I know the scene will not be complete but for my part.
I join my crew and put my hand on the shoulder of the nozzle man.
Maybe, she will get to see the completed picture.

Dad said...

Please post a picture of 3.6 please!!!

Whitenoise said...

Shouldn't you have numbered according to the time? You could have started at 03:15 and ended at 03:53... Okay, I guess that would just be like someone taking the minutes at a corporate meeting... But- glean- glean has negative connotations. It's kinda like harvest but in a bad way, being more like strip clean...

Erin O'Brien said...

DDP: Thanks. I didn't know what to write, so I just started with nothing and kept going. Weird.

GH: You could have a gleaming cock, which is pretty crass but true just the same. You're right about gleaning, it is a good recession word.

And who indeed is Mr. VanceMac? Aren't you an intriguing devil, a very intriguing devil ...

Dad! You're embarrassing me!

Whitenoise: AHA! you've exposed me. If I did the comments by actual time, you'd see how I constantly go back and add/edit as I write. What's next? You tell everyone what color undies I'm wearing?

Mone said...

Missing a piece of that beautifull Salvdor Dali Pic would NOT make me gleaming!

Norm said...

3.6 I used to wear a black knit mini dress (with shoulder pads), black fishnet stockings, black anklet socks with white lace trim and black leather pumps.


Another friend of mine recently posted a scan of herself in exactly that outfit, on the way to a Judas Priest concert in 1986. And it was blisteringly hot. Where is my time machine, science!?! (yes I know I'm talking to myself here, but who better to receive random demands)