The Perils of Being Blogged

I got an amusing little story from Xebeth yesterday that she’s granted me permission to pass on…

Must make this quick…. Out in the [doctor’s] waiting room- I am typing away on blog and then zoom to your site to see what’s new (love those pics!), when guy next to me goes-

“That’s the numbnut from Microsoft- right??”

I just kind of stare.

“Sorry- probably rude of me- but is that the guy who got in trouble for taking pictures and posting them on his website.”

I have to admit- I was dying at this point. “Yes. Michael Hanscom.”

“You actually know him??” Guy is now turning my computer towards him.

DO I EVER?! I think what I really said was more like, “Very close friend of mine.”

Guy now takes my hand and starts shaking it. “Well pleasure to meet you. Tell your friend I think he is great. I read his website everyday. I think he got hosed. Cool guy, seems nice. Hold it!”

At this point I am a little scared. I take back hand. “Hold what?”

“You look familiar!!!” Oh dear god- please no- not in the hospital….

Pickles!! PAP SMEAR!! I loved that!”

Yep darlin’, you’ve made me famous. Not as famous as you of course, but famous…!

Apparently there are occasionally some interesting side effects to knowing me and being mentioned on here! Too funny.

Oh, and hello to my mysterious reader! Rude or not, I’ll certainly not be one to disput the ‘numbnut’ label for that particular adventure. ;)

Of abnormal psychology and meeting women

Many years ago, Royce and Jana (the “untamed librarian,” in Royce’s words) were taking an abnormal psychology class together.

One slow day, they decided to relieve their in-class boredom by stringing together every symptom they could think of into one long word…then figure out what it meant.

The result:

Pseudocoitoxenohematomysonecropyrobestioacroclaustro-ochlohydrophobia: The fear of being forced to pretend to have sex with the unfamiliar bloody infected corpse of a flaming animal at 15,000 feet in a small crowded wading pool.

Later on, when I was hanging out in the Yahoo chat rooms, I attempted to use this for a screen name, but it was far too long. Instead, I pared it down to pyropedonecrobestiality, and used that as my default chat name. One day the name caught the eye of someone else in the chat room, who figured that anyone who’d use that for a name had to have both a sense of humor and a few brain cells to rub together, and they struck up a conversation…

…and that’s how Prairie and I first started talking. Eventually (after somewhere over a year) we actually met in person, and things gradually went on from there, but at least at the beginning…

Yup.

I met my girlfriend because the chat name I was using declared that I was sexually aroused by having intercourse with the flaming corpse of an underaged puppy.

Bet’cha there’s not too many people who can make that claim when asked how they met their significant other.

iTunesMind Your Own Business” by Pigface from the album Easy Listening… (2002, 3:25).

6,000+ Pictures

I’ve just passed the 6,000 picture mark in my Flickr account…I figure I’m averaging about 10 pictures a day uploaded. Can anyone say photo whore? ;)

This, then, is picture number 6,000:

Cal Anderson Ducks

Ducklings! Cute widdle fuzzy ducklings looking at their fuzzy widdle tummies!

Excuse me…I need an insulin shot now.

First Time in Five Years

Every so often, I get the urge to hack off my face fuzz. Most of the time, I manage to talk myself out of it — I don’t really look my age most of the time to begin with (or act it, but that’s a different matter), and going clean-shaven just makes me look even younger.

However, every few years I actually get up the nerve to see just how goofy I look without the beard. The last time was five years ago (and no photos exist of that round), so I figured it was finally time to give it another shot.

Me Without Face Fuzz

End result — well, I definitely look younger…the most popular estimate has been somewhere around 20 or 21 (which really isn’t bad at all for a guy who just turned 33). It’s hard for me to look at myself without thinking I look goofy this way, but I’ve been assured that I look fine, and that it’s probably just me being so unused to looking like this.

I still think that I’ll be letting the beard grow back in rather than stay like this.

iTunesKeep On the Sunny Side” by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The from the album Will the Circle Be Unbroken (1972, 4:27).

Mother’s Day

It’s late in the day, so most won’t read this until the day after, but…happy Mother’s Day to all the various moms I know (and, for that matter, all those that I don’t know). My own mom is, of course, right at the top of that list. Other important moms that I know of: my sister-in-law Emily; my aunts Pam and Susan; Prairie’s mom Char; my friends Erika, and Melissa…and I’m sure there are more that I might be able to bring to mind if it weren’t just after eleven at night. ;)

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you.

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