Mall teens

I was at the shopping mall. It's a weekday.

At about 3:30, the teenagers arrived, fresh out of school, all wearing their school uniforms. Mostly girls. Where I come from -- the Seattle area -- I'm not used to school uniforms, so they seem odd to me. Each school has their own colour combinations (e.g. white and green).

These little clumps of 2-5 teenagers roaming the mall, in different sets of matching blazers and neckties -- it was like being surrounded by well-dressed, well-behaved gang members. A little freaky.


--TG

Band names

A bit of a random thought:

There's a band or hip-hop group out there called "Dilated Peoples." (I don't know anything about their music; neither GG nor I own any of their albums.) That's a good name.

80% of the fun of being in a band is choosing the bandname. It's all downhill from there. ;)


--TG

Winter's coming...

Winter's coming to Brisbane. 11pm, 65F inside the house (an old, drafty Queenslander). And it'll only get colder...

--TG

Aussie slang

Some Aussie slang for you:

Yobbo -- joe-blow, everyday guy (e.g. "It's set up so any yobbo can do it.")

Drongo -- schmuck; like "yobbo," but dopier connotations

whoop-whoop -- generic way-the-heck-and-gone location (e.g. "I don't want to have to drive all the way to whoop-whoop just to buy a replacement part.")


Feel free to spice up today's conversations with these new vocabulary words! :)

--TG

New word: "prosaic"

I learned a new word last night, from Grisson on CSI: prosaic.

I'd heard it about, on a number of occasions -- just never looked it up before.

Prosaic -- like prose, matter-of-fact, straightforward; ordinary, lacking in imagination or spirit. My interpretation: plain-Jane.


--TG

The spinch effect

"The Spinach Effect" would be a good band name.

The Lady made a spinach salad for dinner. I like spinach -- and it's good for you -- but it leaves a dusty feeling on my tongue that lasts for hours.

--TG

Musical instruments in the home

I was replying to the comment on my May 7th post, and was reminded of a relevant conversation with Gye Greene:

GG is unnerved when he goes to peoples' homes and they have **zero** musical instruments. Now, he doesn't expect them to have a zillion guitars and amps, like he has. But, a piano in the parlor? An old acoustic in the attic? A cheap Casio keyboard in the closet? **Something!!!**

He doesn't see how people can live like that. It's like... not owning a stapler.

The Lady pointed out that other people probably don't live like him. Which is true: Most people don't need to have a musical instrument around, just in case they need to pick out a tune or a riff. That need (apparently) doesn't arise for the majority of the population.

GG has been known to keep a guitar at work. Currently, he actually has an electric bass and an electric guitar at work -- but no amplifier. He doesn't play them, though: one he bought from a co-worker, and one he bought on the way to work, and didn't want to leave it in the car. Neither has made their way home.

For the record: GG has around 15 stringed instruments; four(?) synths; two guitar tuners, two drum machines, and three metronomes. And a Radio Shack decibel meter.

So, maybe he's at the outer end of the curve. :)


(BTW -- "an old acoustic" refers to an acoustic guitar. If you play guitar, you probably figured it out; non-guitarists may or may not. Out of curiousity, please leave me a comment re: whether you sussed it.) :)


--TG

Amusing RCMP (Mountie) story

E-mailed from GG's dad, who said "Either an amusing fabrication, or perhaps true. But still pleasant either way."

------------

The following news story appeared in a recent edition of Canada's "Globe and Mail".

In most Canadian provinces, police forces have a policy of checking on any stalled vehicle on the highway when the temperatures drop into the single digits or below. One morning in March, about 3:00 a.m., RCMP Constable Bill Wisen was alerted to respond to such a call. A car was parked off the shoulder in sub-freezing temperatures on the Trans Canada Highway outside of Medicine Hat, Alberta.

Constable Wisen located the car, its engine still running, stuck in deep snow alongside the highway. Pulling in behind it with his emergency lights on, he walked to the driver's door to find a man passed out behind the wheel and a near empty bottle of vodka on the seat beside him.

The officer tapped on the window and the driver woke up. Seeing the flashing lights in his rear view mirror and a Mountie Constable standing next to his car, the man panicked. He jerked the gearshift into drive and hit the gas. The car's speedometer was showing 20-30-40 then 50 kph, but the vehicle was still stuck in the snow, wheels madly spinning.

Constable Wisen, having a sense of humor, began running on the spot next to the "speeding" but still stationary car. The driver was totally freaked out, thinking the officer was actually keeping up with him.

The "race" went on for about 20 seconds, then Constable Wisen pounded on the window and ordered the man to "Pull over."

The man obeyed, took his foot off the gas pedal, turned his wheels and stopped the engine. Once out of the car, the drunken driver asked about the RCMP's special training and just how the Constable could run 50 kph..

The man, Mr. Robert Duport of Medicine Hat, was arrested for driving under the influence, still believing that an RCMP Constable had outrun his car.

---------------

Two comments:

1) Well, sure!!! 50kph is only about 30 miles per hour. Now, if he'd been going **freeway** speeds (80-100km/h) -- now **that** would've been something! :)

2) A Montana friend of GG's e-mailed GG, who forwarded it to me. Said it could be true; she lives near the US-Canada border, and people out there get stuck like that all the time.


--TG