Who cares to play TJBM game, The Jelly Below Me, #75?

TJBM is late to the new thread of TJBM.

I don’t think so; 29 minutes after OP?

TJBM can tell us the difference between being late for a TJBM thread and being late for a mansion party

You can always play if you are late for TJBM, but you can’t eat anything if you are late for a mansion party.
TJBM will agree.

There are no pancakes at a TJBM.

TJBM like pancakes and popcorn at parties !

I don’t like pancakes. Popcorn is ok. I’d expect pancakes at a jelly party though.

TJBM likes baklava.

Not TJBY. I can’t handle sweets.

TJBM will tell us if they are a sweet or salty craver and describe their current food craving .

I like both. Kettle corn is great, sweet and salty, like sea salt caramel.

TJBM likes combining food tastes like sweet and sour.

I do, but I am more of a sweet and salty than a sweet and sour. I like syrup on my bacon, and kettle corn.
The only time I can think of that I do sweet and sour is sometimes the s&s sauce on chicken. I also like chicken sweet and sweet. Easy recipe: wrap a chicken breast in foil with a few raisins and half a dozen mandarin orange segments. Bake. YUM.
TJBM wants cool whip with their pancakes.

Never on pancakes. I’ll whip real cream for strawberry or peach shortcake. TJBM craves pecan waffles.

Ugh now I do! But I don’t have any pecans and I can’t go to the store tomorrow… and peanut waffles just wouldn’t be the same.

I have a complicated relationship with sugar and with salt. I don’t like too much of either, and I think they’re too intense together.

TJBM can explain why we see the color purple, specifically—and why the brain interprets red + blue (specifically those colors) as purple…. I found an answer online that sort of makes sense but it also prompts many more questions from me, who knows very little about how color frequencies and retinas work.

Otherwise TJBM can say whatever they wish, and I’ll just keep feeling confused until I have enough time to look this up more in-depth (I spend my free time in weird ways…)

Is this your source? To be honest I haven’t finished watching the videos yet, but I can remember something: there are only three basic colors: red, blue and green. The “colors” we see are just the three mixing together. The reason why we see purple instead of a mess of red, blue and green is that our brain is wired to interpret the mess as “purple”. And because colors are just the brain’s interpretation, there are occasions when different people see colors in different shades.
TJBM is a fact collector.

Thanks, Mimi! That wasn’t the source—I hadn’t thought to look at videos…. I was recently confused by why red and blue make seem to make purple, in particular. Because with a rainbow, red is on the opposite side of the bow from purple…. and in frequencies, from what I understand, red is fast, blue is slow, and purple is slower than blue… so it seemed like saying “the average of fast and slow is slower,” which made no sense. I looked online and was reminded that red/blue/yellow aren’t the true primary colors in pigment—something I’d known but forgotten—it’s actually magenta/cyan/yellow… but even then, I don’t see a combination mentioned that would make purple (at least not at that level)... But mixing magenta with cyan pigments, and red with blue pigments, does give purples when you try it…

And so I found this forum with this response:

When you look at red and blue light combined, it stimulates the red and blue sensitive photochemicals in the cones of the retina equally.

When you look at monochromatic purple light, it just happens to also stimulate the red and blue sensitive photochemicals in the cones of the retina equally.

Those photochemicals are not sensitive to ONLY red and blue light—they are sensitive to a range of frequencies, with a peak at specific red and blue wavelengths. It just happens that monochromatic purple light stimulates the red photochemical a bit, and the blue photochemical a bit.

Our eyes perceive only three distinct colors—red, green, and blue. When the red and blue signals are of equal magnitude, as is the case when looking at monochromatic purple light, we see purple. When you see red and blue light combined, the brain has no way of knowing—the stimulus is the same—a little red stimulation and a little blue stimulation—and sees it as purple, too.

Which is fascinating and sounds plausible, but I don’t enough one way or the other to really tell.

And is now reminding me of a story I had heard a while back about “true” blue-yellow… where scientists configured a computer monitor to flicker blue and yellow somehow so that our brains actually see those two colors together—because I guess blue and yellow together don’t really make green, that’s just how our brain interprets the mixture… Which sounds similar to the red+blue=purple scenario except that green’s frequency is between yellow and blue, so it sort of makes sense…. If you’re interested, I found an article discussing the experiment… and it says that we don’t have red and green and blue color receptors like I had been told, and like the excerpt above states, but red v. green and yellow v. blue ones. It also mentions purple as “bluish red,” so I feel like I’ve come full circle, where blue + red once again makes purple… Also, this explanation of colors makes a bit more sense with my experience of color, because “green” has never “looked” like blue-yellow to me, but purple has always “looked” bluish-red or reddish-blue…

So I guess my real question should have been… is the “violet” in the rainbow not the same as purple?

TL;DR: TJAM, I think I just might be a fact collector. Though not necessarily a good one….

AJ, sorry if I’ve derailed the quippiness of the thread!

TJBM has experience derailing things—conversations, trains, the edges of pathways, take your pick.

Haha, oh yes! I can easily go off track being an abstract and creative thinking type, one thing leads to another and another and another and I have to remind myself to rope myself in and come back to the point at times. Such s the nature of the right brained beast. I always joke about being a left handed right brained blonde, half brilliant, half completely scattered.

TJBM despises doing paperwork of any kind.

I can’t stand paperwork, but sometimes the job’s not finished until the paperwork is done

TJBM has another pithy saying.

Yes, I like to change around saying and songs, like ‘Deck the halls with Bow tied Ganders” and
” Be of the world but not in it.” haha

TJBM has seen my stunning 19 year old goose “Marwyns” best Xmas photo of all time.
www.photobucket.com/user/GooseCorral/media/P1060165.jpg.html

O! the humiliation.

^^You OK, Stan?

If Marvyn’s not older than me (in goose years) he will be soon.

TJBM can tell us the human equivalent of 19 in goose years.

No, not sure there is a formula for that. They are known to be long lived, especially Marwyns breed, the Chinese Swan Goose.
20’s is not uncommon and the worlds oldest goose, “George” died in England in 1975 at the ripe old age of 49 and 8 months!
My other little buddy died last year and the vet thought he was well into his 20’s.

They often end up having a stroke that effects their ability to ambulate.

TJBM has nicely groomed hands.

Yes, especially now that I have students that look at what I do with them.

TJBM is looking for someone.

No, and nobody is looking for me. I am already dead. My lungs have just not caught on yet.
TJBM is having a good weather day.

The rain stopped and the sun is out, but it’s all a deception. I’m not fooled, the weather, like the government and all of you is out to get me. TJBM is looking forward to the weekend.

Meh…I really don’t look forward to the weekends because my schedule is flexible.
@stanleybmanly You’re in CA. right? Same here up in the Sierra foothills, it is actually really nice out, clouds, sun, breeze, a little rain earlier. I have my house open right now, it is very mild out.

TJBM is dieting and doing very well.

No. I have never dieted.

TJBM gets angry when they see a car wreck.

No, I mostly just feel sad and hope nobody is dead or seriously injured.

TJBM likes to chat up perfect strangers.

I do. It freaks out my daughter. Oh well.
TJBM is ignoring their tummy grumbles.

Haha, actually I just ate “dinner” at 4 here about an hour and half ago and now I am waiting on a yummy coffee cake to come out of the oven in about another 10 minutes. Smells sooo good.

TJBM likes to bake on gloomy days.

Yes, but today is sunny, and I want a big slab of your coffee cake!
TJBM delivers.

Gladly, let me saddle up a pony here and the coffee cake express will ride. Neither wind nor sleet nor hail or whatever the hell the saying is, the coffee cake must go through! lol

TJBM would like a glass of my champagne with fresh pomegranate juice.

Oh that would be so nice. It’s never so cold that champagne isn’t in order.

TJBM has foods or drinks that they only have in certain weather.

My home made soups are mostly winter fare and any baking of course. We can get to 105+ here in the summer. Last summer I lived on salad produce from the garden and watermelon and Otter pops and plums. haha

TJBM knows and likes this old song.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaYfA7tfT1g

No, and the song is cheerful for the video’s image :p
@Soubresaut You made me confused too… I remember my video mentioning something about lemon having substances that make our eyes see yellow. So maybe the explanation for why the color purple and the rainbow’s purple is in the video too reminds me to go finish the video.
And if you have time to check out the uploader’s other videos, you will notice that he also has a tendency to derail the topic at hand. One video is intended to talk about where deleted files go, then in the end it turns into a talk about how humanity will end. I dislike his older videos because of that :p
TJBM tries to stay on-topic all the time.

No, I’m notorius for going off topic, I am a free association type, one thong leads to antoher and another and another…haha

TJBM is just ripped off their clothes and put on something comfy.

Nope: I don’t own any tear-wear.

TJBM has as many thongs as @Coloma does. ;-)

No thongs here. I don’t have fuzzy yellow underpants like hers either.
TJBM has seen bees with fuzzy yellow underpants.

@Brian1946 haha…the best part of the day s ripping off the underwear.

I have, pollen pantaloons.

TJBM sometimes takes their clothes off outside if the spirit moves them.

That would either get me arrested, executed, a rubber room, or booed. Ew, bugs!
TJBM has had a bug get too close to their happy place.

LOL. No but I have woken up with a frog on my pillow. The tree frog here are everywhere in the summer. No, I didn’t kiss it.

TJBM is an Grateful Dead fan.

Of course I am.

TJBM doesn’t like June bugs in their hair.

I wouldn’t mind have enough hair to snag a June bug.

TJBM has never crossed the equator or the International Date Line. If you have, what were your departure and arrival locations?

Memphis to Tokyo via Chicago and then back.

TJBM Likes dark chocolate.

TJBM doesn’t like travelling.

I love traveling, I’m an explorer at heart.

TJBM has taken a cool train trip.

I took a train to nowhere in Ketchikan, Alaska. You cross into Canada for a short time and back into America. It’s the rail that was used when gold miners were in that area back in the day. It’s very scenic, and a little rickety. You just take the train there and back.

I took the auto train when I moved to FL. A lot of people who don’t leave on the east coast have never heard of it. It goes from Virginia to Florida. They load your car into a train car and you ride in the train. There is a train at with a second floor that’s almost all glass for a scenic overlook. When I took it they showed a movie in the dining car, that has probably changed now. I took it many years ago.

I took a fast train from Tokyo to Kyoto.

I would love to do the Banff train.

TJBM Wants to take a cruise. If so, where do you want to go?

Oh yes! Hmmm…so many choices but…first pick would be to south america and then a river cruise on the Amazon and then Panama canal.

TJBM has taken the mule train to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

Nope. If I was in shape I’d rather hike with a mule as my trail friend, not as a beast of burden.

TJBM would like to see @Mimishu1995 correct the grammatical mistake in my previous post. ;-)

“I wouldn’t mind having”. Guess you do it intentionally.
TJBM intentionally makes typos to joke with people.

Sumtimz, yez.

TJBM knows how to weave baskets out of reeds.

Absolutely no idea.

TJBM draws their eyebrows.

@Mimishu1995 That was actually unintentional, and I didn’t notice it until later. I just thought it would be cool to have an ESL friend correct it for me.

No, I am very fair and my eyebrows are transparent blonde.

TJBM is blonde with blue eyes.

Expect to find one in Asia?
TJBM feels guilty for buying something. That’s exactly what I’m feeling right now. I haven’t bought anything though. I just want to buy it but feel guilty for spending money on it.

Yes. I just ordered about fifty dollars worth of little trinkets for my neighbor’s little girls, so I could give them a little something fun when I babysit them. Today my neighbor suffered a meltdown. Actually, the meltdown was hers, the suffering belongs to all the rest of us.
She screamed at her boyfriend, then later at me, and topped off on her little girls. Now I’m wishing I had gotten them a drum set amd kazoos. Free babysitting is discontinued.
TJBM plays a mean kazoo.

No, but I wouldn’t mind playing it, it looks interesting. “playing a mean kazoo” sounds like a good idiom too.

TJBMhears his/her own lungs now.

Not right now, but every single time I lie down, for several weeks now.
My breathing seems clear when I am up, but the moment I lie down I hear moaning, gurggles, whistles, and such.
Swear….
Two nights ago, with my mouth closed breathing through my nose, every time I exhaled, my lungs said, “hello”. It sounded like I’d swallowed a mynah bird.
SWEAR!
TJBM has swallowed a living thing whole.

Hmm almost. I had a bee fly into my mouth when I was biking once, but I carefully spat her back out. For a moment I could feel her little feet on my tongue—I’d caught her with my tongue a bit like a baseball in an open mitt. It was very strange.

TJBM is unexpectedly calm in certain situations.

I find myself more and more capable of keeping calm. I surprise myself too. I can keep calm in many situation that could have got me running around in the past. Sometimes I can even keep calm in situations when people around me panic.
Am I descending into sociopathy? ~
TJBM can control their feeling.

Actually, I don’t think I can. I rarely get upset, but when I do, have a hard time pulling myself together.

TJBM tends to unintentionally offend people sometimes.

I offend people more than I’d like to admit, and most of the time it is unintentional. Sometimes the reason surprises me. You can imagine talking to someone in the most normal manner possible and they just suddenly flip out. Or maybe I’m just an oddball.
Wait, did I offend you?
TJBM knows why they offend people when they do.

If I’m explained why, I may understand. I may not always agree with their reasoning for being offended, though.

TJBM is a minimalist.

@Mimishu1995 You didn’t offend me, I just wrote it for the game.

Not even close, but I am decluttering. My mind is always hopping from project to project – I need stuff for that :)

TJBM will describe their latest project/craft.

I made a cup for my pencils from a toilet paper roll and some thin cardboard. It looks real crappy in reality, but if you look at it from aside, it can look somewhat decent. I’m slightly proud of it; it’s far from great, but I made it heh.
Another bigger project I have now is moving out. My friend and I are about to move to the city in a few days. We should be there in March, possibly sooner. Now we’re looking for apartments, preparing for the movement and alla that. It’s stressful, but the sooner we do it, the sooner we can move in.

TJBM owns a record player and has some favourite records s/he likes to hear.

No turn table here, all of my music is either on my computer, CD’s or the radio but I grew up in the era of record players in the 60’s & 70’s. My daughter has a of old record albums from her dad and I.

TJBM is doing research on something right now.

Well, Native Americans and Trump and the Smasung SGH-T679. Lots of other stuff trying to help a newly divorced friend get on her feet with wifi and things she can’t afford.

TJBM wishes they were there.

Depends on just where is… there? haha

TJBM is starving and needs to have lunch.

Had a late lunch while we were at the laundromat. There is a fabulous dive bar next door and we asked John to make us a bbq pork fried rice. So delicious. He used to be a chef at one of Toronto’s best hotel restaurants and is well-known for his cooking at the dive bar he bought in our neighbourhood. It’s been a few hours so I am starting to get peckish but a big mug of tea is more important right now.

TJBM enjoys finding hole-in-the-wall bars and restaurants and will describe one of their favourites (current or from their past).

I do. This is a place about 30 from me near where I used to live, an icon of the area. Famous for their ribs and steaks and “Golden Cadillac” cocktails. A delicious milk shaky concoction of ice, heavy cream, White Creme de cacao and Galliano.

www.poorreds.com

TJBM will tell us their favorite blended cocktail.

I refuse For me it’s a tie between a peach margarita and a strawberry daiquiri, although I’d love to try a strawberry colada again.

TJBM knows that flowing water that’s only a foot (30.48 cm) deep can sweep away a compact (e.g. Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla) car.

I do now! haha

@Brian1946 go here… www.fluther.com/198131/calling-all-foodies-can-we-start-a-recipe-thread/#quip3344677 for the Golden Cdillac recipe, last entry at the very bottom. To die for!

TJBM is a foodie.

Yeah! I love good food! But I’m not that versed in food. Or maybe that’s a quality of a food snob and not a foodie?
TJBM knows the different between a foodie and a food snob.

The major difference is scope of standards. For example, I have been accused (wrongly) of being a coffee snob. Sure, I love a cup freshly brewed from freshly ground, small batch roasted, estate grown beans. What coffee aficionado wouldn’t? And i indulge on occasion. However, I’m not beyond brewing a nice cup of the store brand, or drinking the mass-distributed grind they’re serving with breakfast at my favorite diner.

TJBM will tell us about the bezt part of waking up

When it doesn’t follow sleep lasting less than seven hours.
TJBM could go for a big, juicy mammophant steak and cold, frosty shake.

No. It is only 8:15 a.m. here, on my 2nd cup of coffee. Food comes way later.

TJBM dislikes overly serious personalities.

I guess I do. It can be a real downer. I do like people who can have a serious discussion, but there is a time and place. I don’t like the other extreme either. People who can never be serious are a pain in the neck.

TJBM just ate something they wish they hadn’t.

Not at all. I had a very nice late afternoon lunch prepared by my loyal first mate. Last month I picked up some Vietnamese Udon noodles from a ma-and-pa grocery in Barbados in expectations of getting some ham hocks and cooking up a big batch of Banh Canh Gio Heo and freezing portions of it in one litre stackable zip lock bags for the continuing voyage. But we had to leave Barbados quickly and didn’t get a chance to do the cooking before setting out.

So, today the mate made a huge batch of it in the biggest pot available and I was the guinnea pig. And what a lovely job that was. It is a thck, hearty noodle soup and a couple of bowls alone can satisfy even my voracious hunger. The mint is a nice touch and prevents one sweating to death when eating this soup in tropcal weather. It would also be an excellent go-to winter soup for those of you living north of the snowline.

TJBM has a favorite go-to winter fare.

I love hot cornbread with butter and honey and soup!

TJBM is moving as slow as Molasses in February today.

Nope- I got up bright and early at 14:30 today! ;-D

TJBM knows what the standard equivalent of 14:30 is.

@Coloma LOL. When my husband and I moved to NC he picked up the phrase “molasses in the winter time” and started using it on me when I was moving slow. NC has a plethora of sayings, and often my husband doesn’t get them quite right, but that one he did.

2:30 pm.

TJBM goes dancing regularly.

Not anymore but I was quite the little dancer over the years. Last time I really danced the night away was at a big outdoor summer party I threw at my old house with 2 live bands in 2009.

TJBM has thrown a huge party before with everything, live music, food, booze, the works.

First, I don’t have that much money. Second, my friends don’t like big party that much.
@Espiritus_Corvus you should try this sometime. Its name comes from a region in Vietnam that is thought to be the birthplace of the food. There are some similarities between this and Pho, but the soup is more Banh Canh style than Pho style.
TJBM has friends who like noisy parties.

I don’t know. Does music count as noisy? I have friends who like dance parties.

TJBM knows what Zulu time is.

Actually, I don’t. Tell me J? :-)

TJBM likes this old song.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9sEQ2gzx_4

Zulu is the military term for GMT or UTC time. Zulu is used by all aviation I think also? Or, maybe outside the military they just call it GMT, I don’t know. All clocks are plus or minus GMT/Zulu/UTC time. For instance Pacific Coast Time would be 8 hours behind GMT, or whatever it actually is, I think it’s 8 hours.

EDIT: UTC isn’t really a time zone like GMT time or even Zulu.

I don’t know that song, and I’m not very fond of it, after listening to it.

TJBM likes the music of ABBA.

Oh, I do!
TJBM has had wishful thoughts about Brian Keith. (Sshhhh. I won’t tell.)

Who? I had to google his name.
TJBM really misses their kids when they are away.

My daughter is grown and on her own now for the last 8 years but yes, I miss her. We talk a lot and she only lives 45 minutes way, She is one of my best friends. :-)

TJBM has a great relationship with their adult kids.
@Patty_Melt I loved Brian Keith. Uncle Bill.

Well, you’ve already known my kid. I talk about her all the time. She’s doing great with me :)
TJBM likes random jokes.

I like random jokes, map jokes, planned jokes, sometimes even knock knock jokes.
@Coloma, he was also in Parent trap, Old Yeller, and the occasional western. He was hot, huh?
TJBM is dying to reveal an embarrassing secret about themselves.

No, why would I do that? haha @Patty_Melt oh yeah, the parent trap.

TJBM has a closet full of skeletons.

No, I’ve cleaned that closet years ago…mostly!

TJBM has a good movie to share.

This…hilarious, Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine rock!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJuhWKcY_6U

TJBM loves Jack Black.

I do?

TJBM loves Bruno Mars.

Yes, and the The Hooligans bass’ player Jamareo Artis went to high school three miles from my house.

TJBM has a a neighbor that is in the entertainment business.

No, I don’t. My grand daughter’s dad is a music man, though.

TJBM thinks chocolate cake for breakfast is just as healthy as waffles and syrup.

Sure, about the same. Let them eat cake.

TJBM likes spicy foods.

I do not. I can’t taste my food.

TJBM thinks people should get rabies shots.

Only if bitten by a dog without Rabies Vaccination !

TJBM had reheated leftovers for dinner.

I had leftovers for lunch. Super yummy chicken with mushroom sauce over rice and green beans.

For dinner I had a hot egg and cheese sandwich and salad.

TJBM Thinks the US stock market bubble is going to burst again before 2018.

If I could predict the market…
TJBM is probably living with a killer and can’t get them to leave.

Haha no, unless one of my cats is plotting my murder. ;-)

TJBM is plotting something.

Plotting writing Verizon, those f**king thieves.

TJBM started watching the Showtime series Billions.

Never heard of that show.
TJBM uses IMDB and notices something strange Answer coming up in next post

Not really, unless you’re referring to the Song to Song album jacket being tilted.

TJBM will reveal what this strangeness is.

I can no longer access discussion on movies. Usually when you go to a movie page in IMDB you can see a discussion section for the movie. That feature has disappeared now :(
TJBM enjoys watching internet drama from afar Something good I can say about Facebook :D

No. I don’t really want to know what average people are thinking or doing out there. I don’t like knowing that most of them are fucking idiots wasting their time on assinine drama. It’s deperessing. So, I’ll go on my blissfull way with the dogs and Shy and the people around me, thank you.

TJBM gets the feeling that most people who ask Fluther about their personal problems are more interested in confirmation than solutions.

I feel it too, especially questions from newcomers. And what really pisses me off is that some people don’t want a clear solution or even an explanation to their problems. Sometimes people who agree with the OP’s sentiment get a lot of lurves while the one who actually follow the question don’t get that much appreciation. I was once rebuked by someone here for giving an explanation because my explanation went against the supposed intention of the question. I can never understand why people ask for help and refuse to get the help.
TJBM is much different from their past self.

Of course. It’s called growth and development. I really don’t think I could stand to be in the same room with the twentyfive year-old me. I was one crazy, lost, horny mutherfucker.

TJBM is drinking something right now.

Haha, yes I am. My delicious Butterscotch Toffee coffee.

TJBM is cross eyed.

Nope, not loaded cross eyed, anyway. Haven’t done that in years. I was cross eyed when I was five, though. An older kid hit me in the head with a rock during a rockfight and I went home crosseyed. Had to have an operation to straighten it out. Close one.

TJBM remembers well a childhood injury.

Yes, I do. I was about 7–8 and a little neighborhood friend had this extremely cool tree house in her backyard that her dad had built. He had welded together about 3 lengths of tether ball pipes to create a firemans pole about 20 feet high or so to slide down from the tree house. I went to slide down and my friends older brother and his friends who tormented us to no end all jumped on and slid down dog piling me and severely spraining my ankle.

TJBM has a childhood injury to share as well.

Okay, I’ll demean myself, and tell of a stupid stunt I pulled.
I was walking downtown with two friends after school. I was twelve. I had a paper route which passed the front doors of both friends. Since it was a beautiful day, the girls decided to make the whole walk with me, including the stop at the office to pick up my papers.
We cut through an area where the city was doing a beautification project in front of the town library. There was a large expanse of new concrete, a slight downward slope to it. Near the far end a manhole had been included which didn’t yet have a cover, so sawhorse type barricades were set either side of it.
Being a much welcomed spring day; warm, sunny, too beautiful to have been lashed all day to a school desk, I was full of jet fuel. I declared that I could take a running start, and clear both barricades with one leap.
Oh, how the egged me on! I handed one my news bag, the other my jacket. ZOOM! I took off, bit just before my impressive leap, I stepped on my untied shoelace. Down I went, and slid head first toward the hole… and… in! Yes folks, she went in the hole head first, arms pinned to her sides, legs still running like mad.
My friends could be heard laughing their asses off, somewhere out there, in the vicinity of my feet. They finally pulled me free, each wishing aloud she had a camera on her. (Yes, kiddies, there was a time we walked around without devices which made phone calls, searched the test answers, told the time, and took instant pictures.)
I went through the front door at work so I could ask the office ladies for a band aid, and so I could get a gumball. Uh, pink. I wanted blue. Yes, I also got one for each of my stupid, giggly friends.
When the lady with the bandaid saw my mangled elbow, small area, but deep enough for a test tube cork, she wanted to faint.
I still have the scar.
My friends pestered me the whole first half of my route with wiggly peace signs, and wailing, “help, get me out!”

TJBM just did the wiggly peace sign just to get the full giggle out of it.

No, I didn’t, but the story did amuse me.

TJBM holds a map of his/her country above the work desk.

No, but I have such a map in my head. I know it well, because I have been in, near or through almost all areas and regions of this country.

TJKBM is well-travelled

Fairly well, in this country.
TJBM is having an oddly spring day.

It does seem as though Spring arrived about a month early. We had a great thunderstorm last night.

TJBM loves thunderstorms.

Nope. I don’t want to get hit by lightning thank you very much. I personally know people who have had lightening encounters.

TJBM always has their toenails painted.

Well you don’t go stand outside in one!

Um. I don’t think I’ve ever painted my toenails. I don’t even paint my fingernails.

TJBM thinks long finger nails are a hindrance.

I would imagine so. Pain in the ass, actually. How do they keep them clean? I always wondered how women back in the day before copying machines, when there were floors of female typists with fashionably long fingernails, could type like 70 wpm. My mom could do that. Amazing. Their jobs depended on it. It’s right up there with Ginger Rogers following Fred Astaire backwards in high heels.

TJBM is amazed at something today.

I’m amazed at how incredibly strong and resourceful I am. haha

TJBM is strong and resourceful.

I suppose. I’m stubborn as hell, that’s for sure. Resourceful, too. LOL.. I can make a mountain out of a molehill.

And chop it down with the edge of my hand
Yeah, I can stand up next to a mountain
Chop it down with the edge of my hand
And I can pick up all the pieces and make an island
Might even raise just a little sand
‘Cause I’m a voodoo chile
Yes, I’m a vooooodoooooo chile!

TJBM is a voodoo chile, too.

Yes, yes I am! And so was my brother Jimi!

TJBM knew of my “brother” Jimi.

Big time. The Filmore in SF. Magic.

TJBM: There’s a sister out there who knew brother Jimi.

I was too young. I missed Woodstock and everything.

TJBM attended Woodstock and got nakit and had a baby there.

I didn’t attend Woodstock, I was an infant, but my aunt did.

I used to go to Woodstock, the town, when I was a young girl. We used to stay at a sort of resort near there in the summer time.

TJBM likes eating al fresco.

I like eating, period. haha

TJBM will tell us what they had for lunch.

I ate a bunch of fresh, raw, green beans. Then I had a white omelet with ham, mushrooms, onions, and cheese.

TJBM works from home.

LOL. I suppose you could call it that. It’s home for now. And if playing with two dogs, a horse and pushing a bunch of sheep around all day is work, I suppose you could call it that, too. I can think of a lot harder ways to make the rent.

TJBM is just gettin’ home.

I’m coming home, I’m coming home. Tell the world I’m coming…
TJBM knows another lyrics that can be used for a situation.

They say there’s a place, where dreams have all gone
They never said where, but I think I know
Its miles through the night just over the dawn
On the road that will take me home

I know in my bones, I’ve been here before
The ground feels the same, tho the land’s been torn
I’ve a long way to go, the stars tell me so
On this road that will take me home.

Love waits for me round the bend
Leads me endlessly on
Surely sorrows shall find their end
And all our troubles will be gone

And I know what I’ve lost, and all that I won
When the road finally takes me home

And when I pass by , don’t lead me astray
Don’t try and stop me , don’t stand in my way
I’m bound for the hills where cool waters flow
On this road that will take me home

Love waits for me round the bend
Leads me endlessly on
Surely sorrows shall find their end
And all our troubles will be gone

And we’ll know what we’ve lost and all that we’ve won
When the road finally takes me home.

TJBM knows this hymn

No. The only thing I know is that it fits you perfectly.
TJBM knows what their theme is.

Theme: They’re coming to take me away ha ha!

TJBM has been on every TJBM since #1.

Of course not.

TJBM will choose a favourite Disney villain.

I have! Every single on.

My favorite Disney villain is…Cruella! I love her hair!

TJBM will choose a favorite Disney hero or heroine.

I love Megamind…well, he becomes the hero in the end instead of the villain.

TJBM has seen Megamind.

Uh, uh. But I just discovered the thread where you all have been hanging out for the past two days. Jesus. So, was she a troll, or what? Anybody figure out what country she was from?

God, we’re bored here

TJBM knows the answers.

No, it was just crazy nonsense and the answer is there are no answers. lol

TJBM knows who Gertrude Stein was.

A Carafe, That is a Blind Glass.

A kind in glass and a cousin, a spectacle and nothing strange a single hurt color and an arrangement in a system to pointing. All this and not ordinary, not unordered in not resembling. The difference is spreading.

A Riddle, That is Below This.

A kind in jelly and mind, a premise and something new a many cheery paths and a practice in a method to reaching. All this and not over, not unbelow in not confused. The pattern is going.

@Espiritus_Corvus so you know the basic story huh? Have you seen her seduce question too? Well I’m confused too. I thought it was just a run-on-the-mill troll, but then it became hard to determine if she was for real or not. And there was more! This is the part of the story that fewer people could witness
And from my pm section, my best bet is that she was somewhere that has similar timezone to mine. Could be India, judging from her English.
TJBM is relaxing so that they can leave their stress behind and get their cheerful self back You know who I’m talking about :p

I’m sleeping a lot and in a much better mood than I was a couple of weeks ago. I should know by now, after all these years, that when I become inexplicably grumpy that there is a physical problem soon to surface. It’s a form of denial, I guess. I’m a firm believer in mind over matter and it works most of the time.

Yes, Mimi, I read both threads. I wish everything in life was a easy as seducing a 19 year-old male. A glass of wine, a conversation in soft voices, a gentle grasp to the inside of the upper thigh, a moist whisper to his ear—voulez vous coucher avec moi? LOL. Next thing you know, you have a bull in a china shop. I figured it was some horny troll with a literary bent using subterfuge to elicit women’s writings on male seduction. A sexually repressed culture like India sounds about right. Nice work, Sherlock.

@Coloma & @Soubresaut Funny, I just revisited Stein a few days ago. She’s had about three revivals in my time, the first for me being in the early 1970’s. The anti-establishment subculture at the time loved Stein, the ex-pats in Paris, the stories of her and Toklas.

She resurfaced again in the late eighties on campuses as a heroine of the late second wave women’s movement. It’s funny how these cultural things evolve. And there was another Stein rennaissance in the early just recently, about 2011 during the third wave, only to be torn to bits as a supposed Nazi collaborator. That really pissed me off. This Millenial generation so easily condemns heros of the past—at a time when heros are needed more than ever.

The deal is this: Peope today find it very difficult to understand how two bohemian American lesbian Jews could survive in Vichy France during the Nazi occupation without being either deported to the US or the camps. Stein and Toklas had vowed as far back as WWI that they were never leaving France. For better or for worse, they considered France their home.

When Paris was occupied in 1940 and became intolerable due to shortages, she and Toklas moved to some rural property Stein owned in Vichy France. Back during her Paris salon days on the Rue de Fleurus, one of her many young artist friends was a guy named Bernard Faÿ. He had since become a Nazi official in Vichy. Was there collaboration? Fuck, man. These were two 65 year-old ladies and old friends of his. He may have been a Nazi, but I think he was risking his life to cover his old friends. Ha. I suppose even Nazis could be sentimental.

And there is no evidence that Stein ever ratted on people she knew from the old days to be in the Resistance. There is no evidence she assisted them either. These were two eccentric old ladies, for chrissakes, fomerly the most important facilitators of one of the one of the greatest avante-garde art movements in history. And now, seventy years later, these young academic cowards choose to snipe at them in an egoistic attempt to revise cultural history. It really pisses me off.

Then there’s Stein’s 1934 quote, “I say that Hitler ought to have the peace prize because he is removing all elements of contest and struggle from Germany. By driving out the Jews and the democratic and Left elements, he is driving out everything that conduces to activity. That means peace.”

Jesus. Anyone who knows Stein’s writing would know that this was sardonic humour. The quote is taken out of the context from a pre-war interview. I was so pissed off at these young, stupid, lazy, rabidly ambitious academic whippersnappers, that I dug up the original interview HERE. Judge for yourself. The interviewer even states that she followed up the statement with an impish grin.

This reminds me of a quote by Sigmund Freud when he was being deported to England. When Sigmund Freud’s supporters tried to pay his way out of Vienna in 1938, the Germans made a condition for his release. They demanded a declaration that he had been well treated by them. Freud declared: “Ich kann die Gestapo jedermann auf das beste empfehlen,” which translates, “I can heartily recommend the Gestapo to anyone.” Isn’t this the way Jewish humor works? Stein recommends Hitler for the Nobel Peace Prize, just as Freud “recommends” the Gestapo — with the same perfect irony.

So, I spent quite some time this week attempting to clear Stein’s name in response to this new avalanche of anti-Stein books like Two Lives: Gertrude and Alice and Unlikely Collaboration: Gertrude Stein, Bernard Faÿ and the Vichy Dilemma and this hate-filled article in the Jewish Weekly News.

Bloody hell.

OK. That’s my unsolicited rant for the week.

TJBM doesn’t mind an unsolicited rant every once in awhile. (I hope)

Yeah, keep that in mind EC, when you become grumpy again. No one likes to see a grumpy Crow :)
And I don’t mind rants at all, if they are done casually. In fact, that link I gave you is some sort of rant too. The OP did sound genuine to some degree. And I just can’t believe there could be someone who is so stupid and delusional. A bit update: apparently she still decided to go on having sex with the boy, but at least she agreed to let the boy know everything and ask him to sign a contract of keeping his mouth shut and never claiming the baby. Hope she will go quiet from now on. This whole drama got me tired anyway.
TJBM thinks sometimes people like that make the tidepool a bit more lively.

Yeah. We’re bored here. I sometimes think we’ve covered, more than once, just about every subject there is in the world on this site.

I like your rants, too, Mimi. I like to see how that incredibly energetic alpha head of yours works. LOL. I share your curiousity for detail and love of mystery. You’re sometimes quite funny, too, when you don’t mean to be so. You and Sneki both.

TJBM was surprised today already.

Yup. I don’t know why this surprised me, but someone else thought that because I recommended not calling Republican names, and trying to have a conversation with people that it somehow means I support Trump. I’m so tired of it. Everything I stated agreed with the Democrats position on the topic, and fully agreed with what the person who assumed I support Trump. We completely agreed on policy. All I did was suggest that the Democrats and “liberal” media should be more careful not to be hypocrites and not to be so rude. Don’t open ourselves up to that sort of criticism. It’s incredible.

TJBM has brown hair.

I’m all about the silver tresses these days. Easier than colouring. The odd side-effect has been the significant increase in attention/interest from men. Thanks, but I’m fine.

TJBM is enjoying the current weather.

I do. It’s sunny here, quite a jolly weather. I just got from the city. It was hot in that coat I wore, but the sun really made me feel good. I guess I could say it had quite an…..enlightening effect on me.

TJBM makes lame puns.

I’m sure I do at times and I call my cat “Punny.” haha

TJBM has about a 100 nicknames for their pets.

The only contact I make with my bitch is winking, and occasional “Shut up!”.

TJBM would like to have a squirrel as a pet.

I have 100’s of Squirrels living aroud me so no, they are cute but I can admire them from afar I have had pet rats, they are very smart and fun little pets.

TJBM is trying to get pregnant using a water pipe. LOL

A bong works better.

TJBM thinks That Water Pipe Person is simply under educated.

Oh, no. I don’t even want to know about this one. The mind reels.

@Sneki Look into Chipmunks, веверица, they are much cuter and don’t bite much, according to Elizabeth Taylor who kept them as a kid..

TJBM knows what they are talking about.

Most of the time, I think so anyway. haha @Espiritus_Corvus Nice pet if you want to get Bubonic Plague. lol

TJBM knows what Hanta Virus is.

Yep. Big scare a couple of years ago. It was on a Hopi reservation out West, I think. The CDC put out a ton of bulletins to all health workers.

TJBM figures if it’s not one thing, it’s another.

Always. One damn thing after another sometimes. The Tri-fuckta phases. lol

TJBM likes poached eggs on toast.

No. I get all my eggs legally.

TJBM kind of wishes her husband or wife hadn’t actually gone out and gotten a box of assorted chocolates on Feb 15, even tho the TJBM whined becasue they didn’t get any on ♥ day. GET THAT SHIT AWAY FROM ME NOW!!!!

Nope, no husband here anymore, I just get my own damn box of chocolates. Lately I have been mixing a little bowl of raw almonds with dark chocolate covered dried cherries. my new addiction, sooo good and pretty healthy overall.

TJBM is kinda draggin’ this morning trying to get their groove on.

I am.

TJBM wishes someone would vacuum this house.

Sure. I want your house vacuumed so bad that I’m sending a guy right over. He’ll be well-buit and wearing nothing but a bow tie and a red, heart shaped athletic cup with, “Happy Valentine’s Day. I’m here to make up for your husband’s forgetfullness. I like my job” written on it. You’ll probably have to get down real close to read the fine print, but he smells nice, so it’s OK.

TJBM is waiting for the rain to stop.

False. I’m waiting for the rain to happen, and I’m impatient.

TJBM has high hopes for an auction they’re putting their RV into this weekend.

No, I have no high hopes only realistic ones. haha

@Espiritus_Corvus Do you do windows too, and, I’d prefer you wear a kilt so I can look up your skirt when you’re on the ladder. lol

TJBM thinks men in Kits are the sooo sexy.

Men in Kits? Easy, gurl. The endorphine rush is affecting your typing. That’s how the English language got the word “pr0n”, “bae”, “teh” and “mo483rfetthe485jpeg”.

If you insist.

TJBM will tell us the last piece of music they downloaded.

I recently downloaded music by Los Panchos including this. I’m considering choreographing a small tribal fusion piece to some of their music.

TJBM enjoys foggy weather in the city.

Definitely. To be on one of the old residential hills in San Francisco late on a quiet weekday night. Spooky. Silent. The glow below. Amazing.

TJBM has a favorite city they like to be in when it is thick as pea soup.

Hamburg. Hamburg is wonderful in the fog. I love the sound of a working harbour in the fog.

TJBM prefers oceans to deserts.

Of course. In the desert you can’t remember your name because there ain’t no one for to give you no fame. I would hate to forget my name.

TJBM would like to live in a house that is under the ocean.

No. I mean the view might be nice, but life is rough enough without having to worry about whether your central life support system is going to hold up.

TJBM isn’t quick enough. LOL

That is news. I’m usually accused of being too fast/too snappy etc. Maybe I’m learning to chill?

TJBM is more/less relaxed than they were a decade ago and will explain the change.

I am. It took about three years of retirement before I finally realized a lot of shit didn’t matter anymore. It was time to hand over the baton. It’s a good feeling once you get over the depressing feeling that you’re not necessary to anyone or anythng anymore. I own my life now and am comfortable with that.

It’s funny. I went into the workforce confused, afraid of being trapped into a life sentence of drudgery, kicking and screaming. And when the time came to make room for the new generation, I felt dejected and abused. I wanted to chain myself to my desk. They had no right.. It took a while to get over that.

TJBM is cooking something really nice soon.

No.

TJBM doesn’t cook much.

I enjoy cooking, especially with friends. I would cook even more often if I had a reason to.

TJBM will tell us about their favourite hobby.

Camping. We graduated from the back of a Suburban, to a pop up, to an RV. We’re going to try to sell the RV at an auction on Saturday, to pay off the new pull-behind camper we bought recently.

TJBM doesn’t read near as much as they used to

Books, true, but they have been replaced with reading online and I do read Smithsonian & Nat. Geo every month.

TJBM hates it when their hair blows in their face.

I used to. So, I tied it back. Then I cut it all off. No more Captain Ron.

TJBM has really long hair.

Medium long, can still do my signature pigtails. haha

TJBM is multi-tasking.

Yes. I’m doing work for my husband, my media company, fluttering, and watching TV.

TJBM hates fans blowing directly on them.

False. I love it.

TJBM wants to work hard.

I want to, I really do, but the work won’t harden me.
I’ve no idea what does that mean either.

@Espiritus_Corvus Both chimpunk and squirrel are called veverica here. If it looks like Cipiripi and has a big fluffy tail, it’s a veverica.

TJBM will try to guess what product does Cipiripi represent. btw, it’s read as “tsee-pee-ree-pee” with ee read short

Aviator glasses?

TJBM wishes it was time for bed.

No, it is only 1 p.m. it is time for my lunch.

TJBM wants a tuna sandwich.

That does sound good, but I already ate a burrito.

TJBM is trying to hide the valentine candy.

No candies here, and you were wring @Dutchess_III.

TJBM is a night owl.

wring?
Used to be. Not so much any more.

TJBM is looking forward to the weekend.

So, so much. Everything should be solved by Saturday.

And I meant “wrong”.

TJBM has had a lot to do this week.

On & off, yes.

TJBM has brown hair.

Yup. Under the sun, it has a beautiful chestnut shade. It’s basically one of the only two things I inherited from my mother: brown hair and brown eyes. The rest of her beauty didn’t reflect on me, sadly. My hair is of medium lenght, it reaches my shoulders.

TJBM will wish me luck in finding an appartment tomorrow.

GOOD LUCK!

TJBM is experiencing a breathtakingly beautiful day.

We had a short violent squall, now it is very nice. Went down to the cove and snorkled for some nice, big stone crab claws for dinner. God, they’re paying over between a hundred and two hundred bucks in fish markets for ten of these in Florida right now. Mine are basically cost free. LOL. And bigger.

Good luck, Snecki. I hope you find a nice one.

TJBM loves stone crab

I’m sure I would!

TJBM loves pretty much all seafood, except sushi and calamari. And raw oysters.

Nope. I don’t eat most shellfish. Shrimp is the only shellfish I really like. I also don’t squid or octopus. I don’t eat sushi either. I like a lot of fish though. My favorites are Dover sole, flounder, salmon, rainbow trout, snapped, and cod.

TJBM was sick within the last month.

No, knock on wood. I haven’t been sick since Dec. of 2013. I did get my flu shot and a good friend did not this year, she has been down for 12 days straight with fever and all sorts of miserable symptoms. I feel great! Think I might run out for a bottle of wine infact. haha

TJBM owns thermal underwear.

Several sets from when i worked outside in -40* F (wind chill).

TJBM has been outside in -35* F AND 120* F before.

Yes. I’m pretty sure we were working in those temps on the Burlington Northern RR in Chicago in ‘70s. The wind coming off lake Michigan and shooting through the Eola yard, basically a big, long ditch with like thirty tracks side-by-side, was murder. I was in -50F up above the arctic circle in Finland on a calm, bright sunny day while tagging along on a reindeer culling. My piss froze before it hit ground. It’s quite shocking if you’re not ready for it. Made a popping noise in midair on the way down. And I’ve been in the Mohave when it was 126F. The only good thing about that was that it was a dry heat.

Because TJBM knows that it’s not the heat, it’s the

Cold?
TJBM knows it is ________

Motion. lol

TJBM will explain that saying to @Mimishu1995

C’mon, Coloma. It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.

Californians. Bah. You guys have it too easy out there with your dry heat and mild weather. A little rain and you completely freak out.

TJBM thinks Californians have it too easy.

No, freezing winters and the summers are brutally hot…too many extremes.
@Espiritus_Corvus I thought my little play on words was quite funny. lol

TJBM knows it’s not the meat but the motion.

The angle of the dangle…?

TJBM knows something about the relationship between the angle of the dangle and the heat of the meat.

More than I care to.

TJBM has a five year old who learned about oral hygiene in preschool and is now terrified of sugar and bugs in her mouth.
Dimwitted teachers

I read about similar things a lot. My question is, are the teaching methods being used today appropriate for five year olds, or are we now producing nervous, high strung kids that can’t be taught pro-active, preventative health care without being totally freaked out?

It’s been about sixty years since the nurse came to our class and gave us something that made our teeth red. I think she said the red showed bacteria or plaque or something. We thought red teeth were pretty cool and pretty much left the ramifications to our parents to worry about. Wasn’t that the point? Send the kids home with red teeth and a printed message to the parents as to what that represented? Why freak little kids out?

Just tell them to brush their teeth. If they ask why, you just say because you told them to. They’re little kids, for chrissake. Save the disaster stories when their brain is developed enough to handle it. It’s all in the text books on the stages of child psychological development.

I never did pediatrics, but I think Erik Erikson was the favored theorist in my time in healthcare. Spock was all the rage when I was a kid. As to stages of development, they are all about the same. It’s pretty clear stuff. How difficult is it to understand?

Or are our kids just generally freaked out because of the believable visuals they see in films, vid games and TV, with cgi and all? Hell, we had a 21 year-old college junior here a couple of years ago asking if vampires were real. A college junior. Fuck an A, man.

TJBM will share their opinion on this subject with the rest of us.

Fuck an A? Is that how you’re supposed to say it??

I think there are good teachers and bad teachers. It’s possible that a dental hygienist came in who had 0 training in dealing with kids. My oldest had a 2nd grade teacher that had the kids watch an Indiana Jones movie…the one where he eats monkey brains. Really traumatized my daughter. I called the teacher. I was livid. Long story short, she was dismissive and rude. Said the scenes were so obviously fake. I asked her to remember what those things were like when she was a child. She said she was a child genius, so she had never thought like a child.
I lost it at that point. I yelled, “You’re a first grade teacher who knows absolutely nothing about children????”
I pulled my daughter out over Christmas and put her in a private school. I also talked to the principal and the school board.

TJBM thinks there are good teachers and there are bad teachers.

Absolutely. I tested gifted as a child, for what it’s worth now, and my 2nd grade teacher was a witch. Not only did she tell me I was painting my milk carton monster the “wrong” color…WTF, but…she also drug me off the the bathroom one day and tried to scrub the birthmark off my inner right arm. When, after repeated attempts to tell her it was a birthmark and not dirt she roughly grabbed me and drug me back to class. Her name was “Mrs. Box.”

Yeah well.. Mrs Box never managed to step out of her, clearly, fucked up box I hope she died a horrible death.haha

TJBM has a childhood teacher memory, for better or for worse.

I was in love with my fourth grade teacher bigtime. Sister Immaculata. I still have the yearbook and I must say, I had pretty good taste in women in those days. Why such a gorgeous young woman would sign on for life to be a nun is beyond me. Hollywood beautiful. All the nuns in my school were from northwest Ireland, a poor, isolated region at the time. Strict, but fair and dedicated to teaching us rich, spoiled, clueless kids how to be decent human beings and that not everybody had swimming pools and two cars in their garage. Ha. They had their provincial prejudices about Californians.

I really don’t remember any real psych cases like you guys had. The monsignor was a bit of a case, I think. Real old school Catholic about 80 years old. Thank god he wasn’t around much. I was tasked to represent the class in a project to draw and color the 14 Stations of the Cross onto a 30 foot x 3 foot wide strip of construction paper that Spring. It got really involved and began eating up all my spare time and I wanted to quit at about station seven. There was no time for baseball and I had to make up my classtime with a ton of homework. I I asked the Sister if she could hand the project over to another classmate—who actually was a better artist and pissed that he didn’t get the project and she refused.

A couple of days later the forboding personage of the Monsignor Coleavy showed up in his black cassock and told me that this was a holy work that I had been tasked with and that if I didn’t finish it with the best of my abilities, I would go to hell and burn forever. Dude was deadly serious. When I got to Station Twelve, where Christ is actualy crucified, I went full bore on gushing blood from the crown of thorns, hands and feet, guts pouring out of his stomach where the soldier stabbed him—the whole nine yards. I was painting Corleavy, that baseball-hating sonuvabitch. Sister Immaculata asked me to tone it down a bit.

I think that was about the time that I began to stop taking the catechism seriously. LOL. For some reason none of that ever stuck. And I don’t remember it sticking with any of my “spoiled little rich kids with swimming pools” classmates. But the the human being part did, I think.
The sisters were good teachers, especially conerning English grammar— and good people, not those maniacs you see in the movies.

But I’ve heard horror stories from kids who went to Catholic schools in the East Coast cities—Boston, especially—and it sounds like they were all taught by people like Monsignor Corleavy. Real fire and brimstone stuff, all punishment and guilt. I think I got “Catholic Lite” compared to the East Coast kids. We were taught to emulate the way of Christ, not to fear him or the Father. I think those little Irish nuns at Our Lady of Assumption school had the right idea, in spite of their grumpy old Monsignor.

TJBM has a childhood teacher memory, for better or for worse.

My “serious” comic career started when I was 10. It was a fanfic or mockfic of Tom and Jerry with the two being friends and battling evils. It started out as a joke among the kids. It was widely popular among the kids, mostly because they had never seen a comic written by a kid before. The comic finally reached my 5th grade teacher, and somehow she decided that writing comic was bad for my mental health and banned me from writing anything. She even told my parents how she was concerned for me being a daydreamer, resulting in me hiding every cartoony drawing from my parents since. Nevertheless, the comic was done and even spawned an unfinished sequel though the sequel was later discovered and taken away by her.
TJBM thinks deeply about life when they visit this site

No, it doesn’t. But it does make me think that I need to help my dad with genealogy.

TJBM enjoys discovering and hearing family stories from many years ago.

Yes, I do. I’ve told my husband stories about his parents, because they tell me things from before he was born that he was never told. Really great, fun, stories.

My aunt and grandma always told me stories about themselves and myself when I was little. One of my dad’s best friends tells me about my dad when he was growing up, and about my grandma whom I never knew, because she died before I was born.

TJBM doesn’t have any pets.

False. I have 2 cats and one goose.

TJBM had fun visit with a friend or family member today.

I will be spending time with friends at the pool in a bit over an hour. Definitely fun.

TJBM prefers social time that is structured/has a vague goal to random sitting around.

I can go either way, I’m flexible.

TJBM likes chopped walnuts in their oatmeal.

I like chopped wallnuts. Not sure what oatmeal is.

TJBM gets worried easily.

I try not to, borrowing trouble is not a good idea, but sometimes you must weigh possibility over probability. If it’s highly probable then worry. haha

@Sneki95 Another word for Oatmeal is Porridge.

TJBM has peas Porridge in the pot 9 days old.

I did, but now it’s 9 years old, and now it’s a pot full of mold.

TJBM knows that EC is alive and well.

Yes, alive and well and I’ve pieced together an old laptop in order to get back here and bore the hell out of you guys some more. Telephones are a ridiculous instrument to write with.

TJBM will tell us how many tabs they have open at the moment.

5 tabs on the old Android phone.

TJBM is or recently was sick in bed.

Sick, but not in bed.

TJBM hates it when their big dog is lying down on the floor, and decides to jump up just as you’re stepping over her.

No big dogs but I have a monster 17 pound cat. He lays right next to me at night, head next to my pillow and it makes getting out of bed really hard. he does not move, dead weight he weighs like 30 lbs. haha This morning I had just settled into my chair on the patio in the sun, with my first cup of coffee and my neighbors dog ‘Tavvy” a Husky, came by to say “hello” and barked. I had a serious startle reflex and freaking threw my cup of coffee all over myself. I was not happy.

TJBM has had some amazing sushi rolls recently. Oh man, I found a new litte place with some amazing fare.

Oh please @Coloma, don’t remind me of my sadness :’( Sushi is my favorite thing ever, and the most out-of-reach thing ever! The price is sooooo high, and I can’t find anyone who have the same enjoyment :(
@Espiritus_Corvus YAY! You really should check out the chatroom. I was being such a wimp when I thought you were gone forever.
TJBM has read Lolita.

A lo-o-ong time ago. The Lolita I read about would be an old lady by now…

TJBM is looking for someone familiar.

Yeah, I’d like to know where Cruiser went. I miss that guy. Haven’t seen him for about 2 years now.

Thank you Mimi. I think I would find walking into a chatroom where I’m the subject under discussion to be way too, I dunno, weird. But never think that giving a damn about somebody else is wimpy. Being afraid to express that is wimpy. I’m re-reading Lolita right now after finding it in free downloadable pdf format here and here. It will be interesting after not having read it in about 45 years. Both I and the world have changed.

TJBM is reading a really interesting book right now.

Nope. I’m watching The Oscars.

TJBM has dirty dishes in the sink right now.

Not a one. I’m a tidy type, but I do hate vacuuming and procrastinate on that. haha

TJBM will tell us their most hated household chore.

Unloading the dishwasher.

TJBM cuts their own hair sometimes.

I did it once and here’s what happened.
And EC, speaking of Lolita, it was mostly unknown in my country. It was published here but no one cared for it. Not until very recently, when a serious pedophilia case rocked the whole country. And it happened right in the US! You may not know about it because you don’t live in the US anymore, but maybe people like @Coloma will remember it because it went on TV. Long story short, a Vietnamese comedy actor was arrested for molesting a 15-year-old American teenager. For some reason he only had to serve about 12 months in prison. When he was released and went home, people were openly sympathetic to him, saying that it was just a cultural misunderstanding. Some even blamed the kid for not protecting himself. People against him were enraged, and for the first time pedophilia was openly discussed in Vietnam. That was how Lolita got the attention. I guess if Lolita was based on a true event, then maybe a Vietnamese Lolita could be published right now like what you said on the Lolita thread.
And I’m really sorry on behalf of that pedophile. He left such a bad taste about my country to you Americans.
TJBM has seen a weird hairstyle.

In the 80’s everything was weird!

TJBM doesn’t have the money to pay the bills.

I don’t have much money these days but, I only have a couple bills so I manage.
Gone are the days of the $700.00 tanks of propane, fuck me. lol

TJBM has gas/propane heat.

Well, gas furnace, courtesy of the city. No propane.

TJBM loves to go camping.

No. Since I have lived in the hills for years I get the feel I am camping every day with the bonus of coming inside and sleeping on memory foam. haha

TJBM has dropped their laptop recently. OMFG, my brand new laptop fell off the couch last night, it seems fine but it hit the ground pretty hard. keeping fingers X’d.

I don’t have a laptop or a couchtop. If I did, it would be less likely to fall off my couch than to be sat on by me or pawed, clawed, and slept on by my feline housemate, Roofy.

If your laptop fell onto a carpeted surface and you don’t see any cracks in the screen or the chassis, it’s probably ok. Do they make shock-resistant jackets for laptops, like the one that fits around a smart phone?

My tabletop has never been dropped, but since I live in a fault zone, there’s no guarantee that it won’t get launched to the floor in the future.

If I’m not mistaken, the San Andreas fault turns west and goes out to sea several hundred miles southwest of where you live, so I don’t think a seismically-generated catapult is a concern for you.

I’ve dropped my tv remote onto a hardwood floor at least 10 times.

TJBM recognizes the ionospheric phenomenon (the green tornadoey thing) in my avatar.

Yes, the Northern Lights?

@Brian1946 Hoping it’s fine, seems to be running well as usual.

TJBM is off to market, to market, to buy a fat cabbage lol

Well, close. I just came back with two bags of golden beet/kale/cabbage slaw among the goodies.

TJBM cheated and already had their Fat Tuesday/Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras treat.

blueberry paczki <swoon>

What? There’s a special day on Tuesday.
TJBM has encountered a stalker before and successfully dealed with them. I just did yesterday. Seems like everything has come back to normal but it still gives me a creep.

No, I never have. Did you encounter the stalker online or in person?

TJBM will type something as fast as they can, without correcting any typos.

Nope. I can’t speed-type on the thumb-pad the way I can on the standard keyboard. On the old IBM Selectric I used to regularly type over 90 wpm. When I switched to computer keyboards, I regularly exceeded 100 wpm on typing tests. But on these thumbscreens I feel like an old fart with failing knees, trying to do the 100 meter dash!

TJBM remembers typewriters.

@Mimishu1995 Shrove Tuesday

__

I remember my first manual typewriter, my first electric typewriter (which I got when I graduated from university), and this baby

TJBM will share a fond memory of an old piece of technology/proto-technology.

Back in 1995 I bought my very first 56 MB flash drive for my senior year of high school. It was $30. I felt so empowered! In 2017, my daughter bought a flash drive for her senior year this year. It’s a 64 GB at $40. Oh my gosh!

TJBM encountered a dragon! What do you do?

Clearly, I befriend the dragon with my incredible dragon-bonding skills, and then I have a friend who will fly me places and singe my enemies! :)

TJBM takes a step towards the dragon, some raw meat in an outstretched hand. Smoke curls out of the dragon’s nostrils as it takes three steps backwards… What do you do?

Toss the bloody handful as far into the air as I can, then offer the dragon my 12” Garden Veggie Patty on toasted wheat flatbread, from Subway. The dragon can have roasted meat, or a delicious veggie alternative.

TJBM dislikes unusually hued foods, like orange tomatoes and yellow watermelon.

I love orange and yellow tomatoes but not too keen on the yellow watermelon.
I love red cabbage!

TJBM will tell us their stripper name. You combine the name of your first pet and the name of the first street you lived on. Mine is “Boots Merrywood.” lol

I would be King Osceola!

Osceola was a Seminole resistance leader. The street I lived on was named for him.

TJBM suffers from self-doubt sometimes.

Not really, I suffer from other people doubt. lol

TJBM suffers from a rare disease.

@Coloma Oh God! You just described my situation too. Sometimes people just don’t trust me enough, and it can be irritating :(
Maybe my rare disease is the addiction to rare things ~
And btw anyone who wants to know the stalker story can PM me. And keep it a secret or else!
TJBM suffers from a non-fatal but annoying disease.

Yes, it’s called getting older, well, it is fatal, eventually, but right now it’s just achy joints and puffy morning eyes and various little annoyances.

TJBM has a stalker story too.

I thought I had one—a mild one—when I was in high school. Looking back, it was more of a dreadful high school drama consisting of a series of miscommunications. He was getting mixed signals from people who kept telling him to try harder, that I was just “shy.” I was having a hard time holding normal, everyday conversations with people, so having a “just to clarify I’m not interested” conversation was beyond me, and instead I resorted to various dodging techniques that held him at bay. My sadness made me seem fragile and he was a bit hooked on the idea of helping me—white knight syndrome I guess—I know this because of the poem and later public post he wrote. And so for half a school year he kept trying to convince me to talk with him, and I got very good at scanning crowds and ducking around corners, ignoring voicemails and deleting online messages. And then he wrote the public facebook post, didn’t name me, but blamed me for giving him a bunch of “signs,” which were all factually incorrect, and then icing him out, which was true. I was angry for a while; it confirmed my sense that he was a bit full of himself. Mostly I was confused at how I could have been so completely misunderstood, and at how little his infatuation with me was about me at all.

TJBM has a good story of miscommunication.

Well, I’ve had three stalkers in my life who I’m sure claim that their behaviour was a result of misunderstandings. One nearly destroyed everything in my sister’s apartment because she thought that was where I lived, the other sunk my boat at dockside by breaking in and opening all the sea cocks, and the other tried her best to destroy my marriage in a bid to eliminate my wife from the picture. Two went to jail and the last died of mixing alcohol with benzodiazepines once too often.

TJBM knows someone personally who is presently addicted to hard drugs.

Maybe. My neighbor, in recovery, just moved out very suddenly, and after a couple weeks of extreme behavior.
I hope the little girls will be okay.
TJBM will send good energy my way, that my next neighbors will be more compatable here.

Yeah, here’s one energy from me. Having bad neighbors sucks, and I suffered from it sometimes in the past. I used to have very nice neighbors and we had a lot of good time together, but now no one wants any intimacy anymore.
TJBM will send good energy my way, now that I’m going to spend my apprenticeship in Thailand in three days.

OMG! Sending good energy! I hope you have a wonderful visit there. How long will you stay? I hope you are more excited than nervous or afraid. You will keep in touch, and describe all fun and excitement you encounter, won’t you? Good energy, good energy, good energy…

TJBM is doing better than me, and does not sound like a sheet of poppie bubbles every time they move.

Thanks so much @Patty_Melt. I will stay there for a month. My job is to teach English to some Thai college students, but I highly suspect that this whole thing is a cultural exchange program in disguise, meaning that the teaching part is just a secondary job. I promise I’ll give you guys a detailed report when I come home. When I’m there, I will still be able to come to Fluther everyday though, but my time will be very limited and I can’t stay for very long nor craft long answers. I think I’ll mostly stick to this thread then because I won’t have much time to go look for questions.
TJBM will give me some tips to survive a foreign country, for I have never traveled abroad before :p

Congratulations Mimi! Have a blast. Just learn the basic necessary phrases of the language and have fun, eat lots of new foods! Ride an Elephant too! haha

TJBM knows how to speak Polish.

I tried studying Polish. Tried. I know how to say “girl”, but I can’t write it. Maybe I know one or two words more, but that’s it. I like Czech more than Polish.

@Mimishu1995 Oi, have fun out there! We’ll be waiting for you here to tell us all the great experiences when you come back! :D Wish you all the best!

TJBM knows what “kurwa” means.

Yes I do. And the plural sounds like “curvey”.

TJBM knows what a homonym is.

Homonym is a word that has several different meanings, while being spelled and pronounced the same. For example, the word “letter” can mean both “a physical representation of a phoneme/ a grapheme” or ” a long written message” (among other things).

TJBM remembered the alphabet without learning the alphabet song.

No. I learned the alphabet song first. Best way to teach small children. Put it to a song.

TJBM thinks turning learning into songs and games is the best way to teach small children.

Songs and chants have been teaching kids for several centuries. I have to hope it is a good method.
TJBM has some sort of food in their home right now which they bought in a barrel.
(Mine is cheeseballs)
(If we keep eating cheese balls, will cheese become extinct?)

I would never buy an entire barrel of food, especially not snack food.

TJBM is thinking that they will have some imitation crab for dinner here in a bit. Or something.

^ LOL…seriously, I am having some right NOW, for lunch, with spicy cocktail sauce, sliced, radishes, snap pea pods and Wasabi rice crackers. A delicious low cal lunch!

TJBM loves radishes of all kinds.

Never ate them.

TJBM can fish.

I’ve fished about two times, but I’m not sure if I still remember how.

The last time I fished I caught a salmon in July, 1980. I hit the poor creature over its head to prepare it for consumption. I still eat salmon because it’s an excellent source of protein, but I’ve heard that certain blends of seeds and nuts can supply humans with all 23 essential amino acids.

TJBM will name the nearest major city, state, province or country to where they live.

The nearest big cities are Orlando and Tampa, Florida, USA. Tampa is a little farther than Orlando. I’m fairly central in Florida, but straight north about 2 hours is Georgia.

The closest countries if you are willing to travel by boat or plane are the Western Caribbean islands and the Yucatán peninsula of Mexico. The Bahamas and Cuba are the closest. To the north, many states away, is Canada.

… ^^^

TJBM likes the show Humans.

It seems interesting but I haven’t yet watched it.

TJBM ate not too long ago, but still feels hungry, but isn’t going to eat again anyway.

Wrong, just the opposite; I ate a few hours ago. It was a class about food sources, which involved hydroponic gardening, and I was asked to share my expertise. Today was the last class of this rotation, so we harvested. There wasn’t enough for a full meal, so we supplemented the harvest with fresh organic ingredients and had a “Waldorf” style salad and eggplant Parmesan for 14 for under $50.

But when I came home, my daughter was preparing authentic Hungarian goulash…I’m not really hungry, but I’m not missing out on that!

TJBM knows what they’re missing.

I do. I do. Oh do I.
TJBM needs something replaced in their kitchen.
(Not food items)

Only have one roll of paper towels left, they will need replacing in a few days.

TJBM goes through a LOT of paper towels.

A roll lasts me about 6 months.

TJBM can name the planet closest to Earth.

Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus.
TJBM knows that Pluto is no longer a planet.

I do, but he’ll always be a cartoon canine!

The reason is that Pluto doesn’t have its own orbit. Instead, it’s part of the Kuiper Belt, and isn’t even the largest object there.

TJBM will be eating Thai food in 2 or 3 days.

Very possible. We usually eat out once on the weekend, and I’m in the mood for Asian food.

TJBM has given up something for Lent.

Nope. No gods boss me around. When I give up something it is because I have decided it is not adding enough to my life to keep it.
TJBM has gone swimming in something other than water.

Um, no. Jello would be fun.

TJBM has seen ” The Big Short” movie about the financial crisis/subprime mortgage blowout. Really good film, riveting!

No, and I doubt it will come out to my country’s theater. But I have just watched Ace in a Hole a couple of minutes ago and I’m still in shock. This is one of the few movies, if not the first, to give me so many kinds of emotion in less than 1 hour. And I’m still recovering.
TJBM notices that @Coloma is very quick to see new movies.

Haha, well, some new movies, and then there is Netflix. @Mimishu1995 Never saw that, with Kirk Dougas, will look for it.

TJBM will tell us what kind of bird species are in their area.

Lots of cranes, some eagles, and all sorts that I can’t identify. We have swans, geese, and ducks too.

TJBM was given ginger ale to soothe tummy upset when they were young.

Yes, or 7-up. I recall a terrible bout with the flu. I was tiny, thin, and that flu seemed bad enough to kill a man. 7-Up was the only thing I could put in my mouth, and I was so grateful for each sip. I got so weak, I had to be carried to the bathroom.

TJBM has had a poultice used for them.

No. I don’t think so. Isn’t that like a hot cloth? What exactly is it used to treat?

TJBM can touch their toes without bending their knees.

I can, but I can’t run and I have trouble climbing stairs.

Although my hamstrings are fairly limber for being 70, I have an arthritic right shoulder and an even more arthritic right knee.

TJBM can lick one at least one of their elbows.

I tried once and almost broke my arm and back.
TJBM tried something stupid once.

Only once? No. I have tried something stupid lots of times. Sneaking out my bedroom window onto the porch roof, riding my pony standing to practice for the circus, Ernie, holding a field mouse by the tail so I could see its cute little nose twitch, oh, I could do this all night.
TJBM has caught a wild animal bare handed just so they could see it up close.

No. Unless you count picking up ants, frogs, and worms when you’re a kid. I grew up in a place that there were all sorts of warnings about rabies, so we didn’t risk going near wild animals. Although, my sister did come home with a stray cat that we did wind up keeping.

TJBM just woke up.

Lol. I keep forgetting the TJBM.

I woke up an hour ago.

TJBM thinks there will be peace in the Middle East within the next 10 years.

[snickers] Yeah right, just like there was peace in the previous thirty years.

TJBM is somewhat cynical in nature.

Less so as I age.

TJBM will tell us about their plans for Friday night.

I invited a friend out for dinner but she is busy so we rescheduled for next week. Actually that is fine with me as I am dying with spring allergies and very sore from a deep tissue massage on Weds. I am just going to tidy up my little house and relax, maybe watch a movie, fluther a bit, relax.

TJBM gets seasonal allergies.

Very much so. I’m all yucky right now. Thank goodness for my best friend, who always brings me back Tavist when she travels to the US. They stopped selling it in Canada, and it is the only thing that works and doesn’t give me a drug hangover.

TJBM prefers autumn to spring. <ahchooooooooo>

Yes, though fall triggers some allergy issues too, the dryness and dust out west here and things going to seed. TJBM will tell us the first thing they see right now.

Meteor Man.
TJBM has seen a meteor light up the night sky.

Yes, I get some great meteor acton up here in my hills.

TJBM thinks that PC is getting out of hand and being taken to ridiculous levels a lot of the time.

Oh, do I….

TJBM sometimes gets so hungry s/he has no idea what to eat.

haha, yes, I just experienced this. I hadn’t had any breakfast so just wolfed down some sottage cheese and a handful of almonds. I was too hungry to make anything that took more than one minute to prepare.

TJBM struggles with snacking at night if they don’t go to bed early.

No.

TJBM routinely skips meals.

Skipping meals would mean there is a specific time I usually eat. Since there’s no such a thing and I eat whenever I manage, no, I don’t skip meals.

TJBM knows the difference between a state and a country.

They’re entirely different entities. Not all countries have states.

TJBM will provide an example of something they enjoy doing with friends.

Just sitting outside in the sun chatting, taking river walks at one of local river parks, going out to lunch, making picnic lunches and going on day hikes or drives, going to the movies, drinking wine. Girls night spend the night, dinner and wine. haha

TJBM is going out now…goodbye, goodbye-goodbye…Coloma fades away.

I’m not going out just yet…but later this evening I’m going to join a group of folks that have Yu-u-ugh collection of vintage Super8 films and home theaters to present then! Last time we met, we saw At War with the Army, starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis as the feature, with a silent short by Charlie Chaplin, The Adventurer.

TJBM has a new or renewed interest they’re following.

Myself. I gave and gave so much of myself, I lost me. I am renewing my love for self, and make sure I do little things for me.
TJBM still plays with toys.

Well, I guess you’d have to redefine “toys.” I like playing with new computer programs, just for fun. When I’m with the Grandkids I enjoy playing with their toys with them, showing them new and fun stuff.

TJBM sometimes skips the question TJAM asks and waits for the next round.

I was about to skip you until I saw that.
TJBM will ask anything.

I limit the kinds of things I’ll talk about/ask about here.

TJBM is interested in travel (either their own or others).

Yes. I want to travel. I really want to take a Panama Canal cruise.

TJBM likes potato chips.

TJBM loves good food Is it too obvious?

Doesn’t TJAM acknowledge the existence of potato chips? ;-o

I love good food more than I love people. The thing is, good food will never cheat on you, leave you for another mouth, and break your heart. ;-(

TJBM has had their heart broken by a wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime meal.

No! I can never deny potato chips! @JLeslie Potato chips keep me alive!
I ate walnuts once, and it was a once-in-a-lifetime meal! It is so expensive that I can never buy it again :’( My time with walnuts was the best time of my life that I will always cherish :’(
TJBM has a story behind a heart broken meal.

I have had lovely meals in my time, and ordinary meals, but I don’t recall any heart breakers. Your mention of walnuts is stirring. The farm where I grew up, we had walnuts. I wonder if you had black walnuts, or english walnuts. Ours were black walnuts, as many as we want to pick up. I like hickory nuts better. We had those too.

TJBM sometimes feels like a nut, sometimes they don’t. Which are you right now?

Nuttin’, Hunny

TJBM has a lovely bunch coconuts

I’ve never seen a real-life bunch of coconuts. Not sure I want to as it would mean travelling to someplace hot. If I could travel in a cool, non-air conditioned bubble I’d like to see those coconuts.

TJBM will share a beautiful piece of music for a sunny weekend.

Here you go It looks more like I’m showcasing my new favorite actor, but the music is enjoyable anyway.
TJBM will say goodbye to me. I’m going tomorrow Hope this isn’t the last time I see you all. ~

Are….are you really leaving us? After….[sniff] after all this time? I…. I can’t. I just can’t. Goodbye, Mimi-senpai. Hope you’ll have a nice time without us. [turns away in slo mo, while a single tear remains, twinkling in the air]

Kidding. I wish you all the best. Drop by at least once in a while to let us know you’re still with us, y’ hear? Have fun and travel safely sista. We’ll be waiting for ya! :D

TJBM is sad that Mimi leaves for a while, but is also glad that Mimi goes into an exciting adventure.

Yes and yes, I am mostly excited that she gets to have an exciting adventure!

TJBM has or knows someone whose travel plans to Europe will be effected by the Visa free travel bans.
My daughters May trip to Poland, Amsterdam and Rome is looking sketchy right now, since they have now added Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Cypress and Croatia.

I do not. Not that I know of.

TJBM has met someone who was a major behind the scenes player in a famous movie. The guy who did all the cars and trucks in Twister lives in a small town next to us. He has cool stories to tell! Like, they had to keep the dirt patterns the same over several days and several shots. So what he came up with is to get the dirt pattern they wanted, then put a coat of wax over them.

My ex Uncle-in-law was a camera man in Hollywood for years and met a lot of actors. I guess you could say he played a major role in the behind the scenes production work on a lot of popular movies.

TJBM likes strawberry yogurt over fresh strawberries and sliced bananas.

No. I like strawberry short cake without the strawberries, though.

TJBM likes something others think is weird.

I love dipping cabbage wedges into Miracle Whip. The lazy womans cole slaw. haha

TJBM is bustling around between about 6 incomplete tasks.

Nope. Frequent napping today. Extended bouts of pain interrupted sleep has me making up over the past two days.
TJBM has been astride a horse when they suddenly decided the itch on their back HAD to be fixed with a roll.
JUMP!

Haha, I have had a horse go down in a river and start rolling, yep, jump!

TJBM has a tummy ache.

No tummy ache.

But I did have a horse start to “stop, drop and roll” while I was riding. It was a literal “burr under the saddle”!

TJBM is hearing prognostications about an unusually warm dry March.

No, but I just read one. ^

We’ve had a considerably colder and wetter rainy season than usual, but so far our March has been as you described.

Isn’t there a part of I70 that’s over 11,000 feet? I think it’s near the Eisenhower tunnel. If I’m not mistaken, we drove through it going from Denver to Vail.

TJBM has a big chip on their shoulder…

and it’s made of chocolate!

Haha, no, the chip is made of sesame sticks, chili rice crackers, cashews and wasabi peas. I ate about half of a giant jug of that mix last night while watching a suspenseful movie. No wonder I have a stomach ache today. Wasabi ulcers. lol

TJBM loves Wasabi.

Most Wasabi in the US is basically horseradish colored green to resemble the paste of tbe original herb leaves found in Japan.

But I do enjoy my horseradish with my sushi!

@Brian1946 you are correct. The Eisenhower Tunnel is at approximately 11,000 feet elevation. Before I-70 and the Eisenhower, motorists had to go by way of Guanella Pass, about another 600 feet in elevation.

TJBM has seen some of the scenery in the Rockies.

Yes, I traveled through Colorado back in 2006 was left breathless, literally, on a few hikes. haha

TJBM has been to yellowstone natl. park

I have seen lots of scenery in the rockies. I have not seen Yellowstone but I have seen beautiful coverage of it on tv.
TJBM will share some travel stories.

@Strauss Is there still access to Guanella Pass? It seems that would be an excellent part of a great road trip. I think the scariest airplane trip I’ve ever taken was on a twin-propper flying from Denver to Steamboat Springs.

Coming up in a month, if you know what I mean :D
TJBM will tell us about the last place they traveled.

@Mimishu1995 Are you still in Vietnam, in flight, or in Thailand?

@Brian1946 I’m still in Vietnam. It’s 4:35 a.m here, and I’m getting ready to go. I’m not going by plane though, by bus. Now you have a spoiler.

The last place I traveled to was Santa Barbara, which is only about 128 KM from here. I guess it would be like you going to Huế.

My bucket list trip was a trek around the Annapurna massif in the Himalayas.

TJBM will tell us about their favorite trip or one they’d like to take someday.

Gosh. So many of them! Going to Oklahoma, near the Arkansas border, and us staying in a cabin, and my son and his family staying in the cabin next to us. It was wonderful.

TJBM often goes country cruising and sometimes finds themselves wandering through cow pastures.

Not since I was doing auto parts deliveries in Connecticut, I used a farmer’s road and cut through his cow pasture to get to a repair shop on a “dead end” road. The road to the shop was 3 miles off the state highway but I could take a ¾ of mile drive through the farmer’s pasture to get to the shop quicker.

TJBM remembers a short cut from when the were much younger.

(We found ourselves wandering through 117 acres of cow pasture in our VW Passat today! Life with Rick.)

We lived about a mile out in the country. To get to town by road was a long, long walk. However, we had a creek on the lower level that we cut across which cut off that mile and then some. It came out in the back yard of a residential area in town.

TJBM will share the most interesting thing they’ve come across in the country.

Where I live now. It’s a weird and fantastic little bubble. Most of the people here are republicans, and the founding family, the developers, give tons of money to the Republican Party, but if you live here it’s sort of an exercise in socialism with benevolent dictators at the helm.

The developer not only developed the residential, but the commercial too. Almost everything you buy puts a penny in their pocket. Groceries, clothing, restaurants, everything. They are basically the local government.

We pay $150 a month recreation fee, or maintainence fee, and it covers the many rec centers, golf courses, swimming pools, pickle ball, tennis, shuffle board, bocce, air gun, softball, and I’m sure I missed something that we can enjoy here. All included. That fee also covers the care for the common grounds, the common lawns, flowers, etc. many communities charge the same and provide nothing in terms of recreation.

The community is an active adult community so almost all residents are over 55. Most are retired, so people are busy all day having fun. There are hundreds of “clubs” to fun at, learn, teach, exercise, support groups, everything. Zumba, philosophy club, freethinkers, bible study, singles, yoga, Minnesota club, veterans, German-American club, British at tea time, samba, east coast swing, genealogy, writing, trivia, canasta, just every type of thing you can think of, and if it doesn’t exist you can create the club. We can all use the rec centers for free, and set up a club. So, it’s socialist sort of, because we all pay in and get a huge benefit. Houses are from $80k (mobile homes in the oldest section) to over a million in other section, but we all are equal in the community and the community services.

When grandkids come to visit they can go to camp here. They do special things for young children so they have plenty of activities. The camps runs during winter break, spring break, and the summer.

There are three town squares with live music and dancing every night. You don’t have to be a resident to partake in this, it’s open to the general public, like all the commercial areas. Even the 12 club house restaurants at 12 of the golf courses (there are over 30 golf courses) are open to the public. If you’re paying money, generally you can assume it’s open to the public, if it’s free then it’s for residents only.

The town is over 100,000 people and still growing. One developer developed the entire master planned town. It actually crosses 3 counties. It is completely golf cart accessible. Golf cart paths go everywhere in town. You don’t need a driver’s license to drive a golf cart nor a license plate and they get lots of mikes per gallon or you can use an electric one. The two main roads for cars going north south have mostly traffic circles for intersections, which is unusual in America. I’ve never counted, but my guess is there is about 20 circles here.

The name of the town is The Villages in Florida USA.

TJBM didn’t bother to read my answer here, because it’s too long.

Wrong. I read it. Cool. I wish I could use a golf cart to go everywhere here.
TJBM grew up to be what they wanted to be when they were little.

I never knew what I wanted to be for sure. An artist, a writer, a hippie cowgirl, a mother, a wife, a lawyer, a veterinarian, a psychologist.
Butcher, baker, candlestick maker. I guess I have been all of these to one degree or another. lol

TJBM is a joker, a smoker, a midnight toker.

Just ⅓ of what you mention.
TJBM is drawn to morbid topics and is proud of it.

Sometimes. I am a sciencey type and love a good murder mystery and am not squeamish. I have seen some pretty gruesome crime scene photos from famous cases like the Manson murders and others.

TJBM is not a squeamish type and can watch surgeries and other graphic content without being upset.

@Mimishu1995 Are you in Thailand now? Are you staying at a hotel or private residence? How do you like it so far?

I used to squeam when I saw things like that, but now I can watch an entire autopsy video. I don’t feel scared at all, just a bit gross. I don’t know if it’s called “growing up” or “practice makes perfect”
@Coloma I’m still sitting in the bus. We will arrive there in the evening. We will stay in the school’s campus. Everyone is getting tired and bored and many are sleeping. I pass the time with high-volume jazz while getting lost in my imaginary world and watching my imaginary detective drinking wine and eyeing a familiar girl Yeah, who the hell knows what I’m listening and thinking?
TJBM knows what I mean by “practice makes perfect”.

Well, yes. And it’s true. As long as you’re practicing the right way and are willing to correct and be corrected.

TJBM is eating breakfast at 2:15 p.m. on a Sunday.

Sort of. I didn’t eat breakfast this morning, my first meal was close to 2:00 EST. It wasn’t “breakfast food” but it was my break fast.

TJBM saw the movie Hidden Figures. (I saw it this morning. It was so good!).

TJBM occasionally deletes all but the most recent restore point in their pc to regain memory space.

How about if I’m editing assume I’m writing something for TJBM.

Are you?

TJBM is looking forward to jalapeno poppers for dinner! You can have the po’k chop.

I didn’t see you editing your reply. Apparently once it’s posted, the reply is still visible to other users while it’s being edited, whereas the editing process is visible only to the editor.

I haven’t seen it, but because of the subject matter, I wish Hidden Figures had won at least 2 Oscars.

No. I’ve never had jalapeno poppers, but I’d try at least one if it was offered to me.

TJBM would like to name a person they’d like to see return to Fluther.

That guy with Stuart Little on his profile image was funny.

TJBM feels a bit empty inside when their favourite show ends.

I’m curious about to whom you’re referring. Do you remember anything about their posts?

Not usually. I have access to about a thousand different programs that I really like. However, I was very disappointed that Stalker only lasted for one season.

TJBM will tell us what some of their favorite cookies are.

@Sneki95 I don’t think this user is the one, but did the one you mentioned have a similar avatar?

I’m confused. Are you saying that there’s a type of cookie beyond chocolate chip? ;)

My family has a recipe that belonged to my maternal grandmother first, I think, although I’m fuzzy on timeline—it may have first been a generation before her. The copy I grew up with was typed up on a typewriter for my mom by my grandmother, one of many family recipes that were passed on in handwritten or typewriter copies. It’s called “Neiman-Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies,” and the story I heard growing up was that it’s the same recipe that the Neiman-Marcus retailer used(/uses?) when it handed out(/hands out?) cookies in its stores—aka, a shopper-tested, delicious cookie.

I was making cookies with a friend and whipped out my copy of the recipe (retyped on a computer and printed). She stared at the title and was shocked. I said it was my grandmother’s recipe, and she preceded to tell me all about a legend of some lady stealing the recipe from Neiman-Marcus. She had me half convinced the story was about my grandmother before I realized it all sounded suspiciously urban-legend-y and looked it up… Turns out there are a ton of urban legends surrounding the “Neiman-Marcus” cookie recipe, and prior to this interaction I’d been entirely oblivious to all of them. Somehow, though, they all have the same recipe proportions that I know—at least, the versions I’ve seen do. It may be an urban legend but it makes a mean cookie.

TJBM has a (funny?) story behind something passed down to them.

My sister and I went through my grandma’s jewelry when she died. My sister took some things, I took other things. This one ring had a fairly large diamond. It looked fake. I had never seen it before. My sister said she would never wear it, so I took it, and threw it in a zipper pocket that I never zipper in my purse. My purse is usually a little bit of a wreck, with three lipsticks, multiple receipts all over the place, a wallet, a few pens, another zip bag of health cards and grocery cards and business cards.

I fly back home a couple of days later and had forgotten about it. A couple of weeks later I go through my purse to purge it of the mess, and come across the ring. Oh yeah, grandma’s ring. I rinsed it off under the bathroom faucet, and holy shit, it looked real and gorgeous. The dust had taken the twinkle away, but now it shown bright. I brought it to a jeweler. Estimated to be from the 1890’s, my aunt later told me it was my great grandmother’s ring. Near perfect stone, with one small flaw, but the color and clarity is the best. A cut that you don’t see anymore. It’s worth thousands, and I had it in my purse just like I keep my $20 hoop earrings.

TJBM has a stock tip to share with us.

Never buy stock expecting to see it go up, then jump out with the profits, You might as well hit the blackjack table. Pick something(s) which see a fairly steady “up” even if small, such as Clorox, or Con agra, and leave it sit for years.
TJBM can name three products which seem completely unrelated, but are owned by the same mass conglomerate.
(ew, is that spelled right?)

Not without researching first and I am too lazy to do that in the moment. haha

TJBM had a busy and productive day.

Yup.

My husband and I went to see the Movie Hidden Figures this morning (where I live the first showing is 10:30am) and we loved it!

Afterwards, we ate lunch out, Greek, al fresco.

After that, we went to Target to buy a toaster oven and food for tomorrow.

Next, we went home and watched some DVR and then did about two hours of work each of us.

Lastly, a little more TV, and that’s the day.

TJBM has an analog clock in their house.

Yes. Right above the kitchen sink.

TJBM has an analog radio in the house

I do, I have three. One is in a box packed up, due to my move. One is an alarm clock my husband uses, and one is a wind up radio and flashlight for electrical outages that is kept in my nightstand.

TJBM makes flan from scratch.

@Brian yes, it’s the one. There’s also been that one with an image of a man in speedo and a bear mask, he was funny too. I found them on accident when looking at old questions.
No, I don’t even know what flan is.

TJBM is a heavy sleeper and sometimes has troubles waking up.

I usually sleep well but wake up easily. It comes from living in the country for years and always keeping an ear out for predators in the night trying to break into the hen house. Many a night I have leapt out of bed from a sound sleep because I have heard a hen cackling in the middle of the night. Racoons, Coyotes and Bobcats are always looking for a delicious chicken dinner.

TJBM just woke up a bit ago.

I’ve been awake and up for hours. Not entirely sorted in my head yet though. I need to slow down and focus on one thing at a time for a bit.

TJBM has an interesting week planned.

No. Same ol’ same ol’.
TJBM is curious how Mimishu is doing, and if she is enjoying her internship.

Yes, hopefully she will update us when she has time. :-)

TJBM has a crick in their neck.

Yes, very curious about how things are going for @Mimishu1995.

Not today, but yesterday my neck was unhappy. Worked that out in the pool – and now it’s my glutes from adding a new swim routine.

TJBM knows where the nearest Ibuprofen is.

Yep, I have a giant bottle of 200 in my medicine chest. haha

TJBM has cleaned their house in the last few days and is enjoying everything being in order.

I wish. I’m in a decluttering / purging process and things are always worse while that’s going on. I have bags of stuff to take to donate, plus stuff to swap and two bags of clothes to take to friends. There are moments that I just feel like throwing everything out on the snow.

TJBM can be flustered by very simple things while handling the big things.

Sure I can. It’s distracting and a bit of a problem, really.

TJBM wonders what happened to the five word sentence thread.

I generally wonder how to retrieve threads I was involved in that seem to have disappeared.

TJBM knows how to work Fluther.

Retrieving old threads is easier done from a computer than from a phone.
If you want to spend the TIME, go to your profile page, or the profile page of someone you know participated on the thread you seek. See where it says greatest answers? It will also say see all. Click that. Then you scroll until you find an answer to that question. Click the question, bink you are there. TEDIOUS!!
Or, go to the stuff you are following, and start hitting stop following on all the garbage you never want to see again. (Keep the eating your own hand thing) Eventually you will find the stuff you want to revisit.
TJBM thinks this all sounds like too much work, and maybe will just start the thread over.

Yes, I did like that game though, maybe I will do a search and try to find it.

TJBM is freeezzzzing, damn cold out there over here. haha

GEEEEEEEEEZZZZZZ the wind is a total freakin’ bugger today!
I saw everything going super fast from east to west in my yard, a few minutes later stuff was going super fast from west to east. I am hoping the opposite directions will cancel each other out, but so far no luck. My house is making all kinds of new noises. I have a mental image of the mailman somewhere holding someone’s porch railing for dear life, bag flinging about, trying to yank itself free.
TJBM wants to shut it all out with a good movie.

I plan on doing that later yes.

TJBM will notice I have resurrected the 5 word game.

Yes! Wow. I don’t even remeber playing, but there it is. Headed there now to check it out.
TJBM is basking on a beach.

Haha, no, but, coincidentally my best friend wants me to go to the beach with her for a couple days for her birthday next month.

TJBM loves the smell of the seashore.

Definitely. And the Pacific, Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Baltic, North Sea, Mediterrainian and Caribbean all smell differently. The Pacific smells freshest, especially north of San Francisco, the North Sea smells but saltier. The Baltic has the most subtle smell of all, but salty and fresh. The Atlantic has a very slight stink to it much like the Med, but the Atlantic smells fresher. The GoM smells less fresh of all, but not as stinky as the Atlantic. The Caribbean smells a lot like the GoM, but with a slight fruity smell. This, of course is quite subjective and contingent upon the temperatures when I was on these seas.

TJBM can list the seas they’ve seen.

Hurry up Brian, are you dozing off at your keyboard. lol

Here are the sees I’ve sean:

Tyrrhenian, Ionian, Adriatic, Aegean, Mediterranean, Caribbean, Arabian, perhaps Storms and Tranquility.

TJBM can name a mountain taller than Everest.

Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth.

TJBM has seen an ostrich in person.

Yes, and I had neighbors with Emus once, their eggs are the most incredible deep turquoise black. Like this. www.emufarming.org/emu_eggs

TJBM has seen Emu eggs.

Yes. When I was doing patient homecare, I got a panicked call from one of my octogenarians about a huge bird-like creature in her neighbor’s backyard. It was very agressive and tried to snatch a sandwich out of her hand from over the fence. She was totally freaked out because she’d never seen a bird this big before in real life. LOL. I was close by so detoured to her house. It turned out to be an Emu. My thoughts were that if these things were supposed to be smaller than ostriches, then ostriches were a helluva lot bigger than I thought.

This thing’s head stood at about five feet. The poor guy next door bought it intending on getting another and breeding them for money, but neglected to get a license to do so. It was a working class suburban environment. So, the old lady had animal services come in and take the bird away. Sad. I stayed out of those kinds of disputes. My advocacy was for the health of my patient. You have to stay focused, even when you think your patient is wrong in some things.

TJBM has had to make tough professional decisions.

Yes. I have also had to make tough mommy decisions.

@Coloma, better avatar?

TJBM is dieting.

No. I’ve never dieted. I might lay off something that is causing me problems, like cured meats because of gout or coffee after a couple of weeks of going overboard, but never taken on a low-fat, or low sodium, or low carb, or low sugar diet. Instead, I either work out, or enjoy strenuous activities and let my body take care of itself.

But I’ve never been a big drinker, snack eater, sweets eater, and I eat a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits from my garden—by choice. And since I left home at 17, I’ve always eaten multi-grain breads. I love whole milk, real butter, cream sauces and red meat. I will die a happy man.

TJBM is on a diet right now.

Well..I don’t like to say diet but yes, I am backing off some as I want to look nice in my summer dresses.Too many stormy days and snacking the last few months. I had a delicious bowl of stewed tomatoes with garlic, basil and oregano for lunch with some kashi multi-grain crackers and a slice of mozzarella cheese, very satisfying.

TJBM knows what the Hokey Pokey is all about.

@Patty_Melt haha, you didn’t have to do that, but yeah, that marshmallow cookie was distracting me from my stewed tomatoes. lol

Sometimes I think I’m part-way there, and then I’m part-way out. I think I’m more-the-way there, and then it’s shaking me about. I do it all again, but I’m completely turned around. Still don’t know what it’s all about!

TJBM has done or seen blackout poetry.

I’ve used that technique here with spam, to create spoetry. Spam written in Engrish are my favorites to work with. Late at night, with Coloma and a couple of others. We would eliminate a few words from the text to form new, interesting and often funny paragraphs, or interesting blank verse. Sometimes we would add our own Engrish sentences to bring it all together. We haven’t done it in a long time, though. Everyone here goes to bed too early nowadays.

TJBM has seen spoetry.

Oh, please link to some examples of what you have done!
TJBM likes tadpoles.

I do, especially the big squishy kissing lips of bullfrog tads. haha

TJBM will write a Limerick.

The limerick form is complex
Its contents run chiefly to sex
It burgeons with virgins
And masculine urgin’s
And swarms with erotic effects.

@Patty_Melt Alack and Alas! We can’t show you anything because—Lo!— As part of the beauty of such late night efforts was the knowing that any moment the moderator, like a God, would come along and cast our fine works forever into the great unreachable ethernet.

TJBM walks a fine line every single day.

Lately it seems like that. The last few years in my marriage things are more tense due to outside circumstances, and probably we could be handling it better. Never before did I feel like I had to walk a line so much regarding watching what I say to not offend, anger, or upset my husband. I’m not very good at it.

TJBM uses “find friends” or some other gps to locate family and friends.

No. I know where they are, because we’re usually all in the same place.

TJBM has a big family.

No. My husband and I don’t have any children. I have one sister, and my parents each have one sister. Only one of my my aunts has a child, just one son. The son, my cousin, doesn’t have any children. I know of 8 other more distant relatives, one, I guess two, I feel fairly close to, even though we don’t communicate much. Close because growing up I knew them, and they know my family over the years. The rest I barely know. That’s it.

TJBM is experience bad weather recently.

Nope, not forty-foot seas bad. We get a few windy spring days with refreshing 80F temps now and then interspersed with torrential rain, but nothing unusual. It’s been a nice spring so far.

TJBM has seen a tornado recently.

Nope, but I saw some jellies on Facebook posting bad weather and tornado warnings were in their area. I’m glad not to be dealing with that this spring. We get it now and then here, but not with regularity like some parts of the country.

TJBM can feel the seasons changing again.

I heard the geese flying north overhead this morning, made me think of the coming of spring.

Nope. Change is very subtle here. In about 45 days, temps will climb into the mid-90’s, then in the following month into the high-90’s and stay there. One of the ways to note the seasons is by which flowers are blooming and the appearance of different birdlife as we are on the Atlantic flyway. Starting a couple of weeks ago, I was seeing birds that normally live summers in Canada and the Northeast, so it looks like winter is pretty much over for most of you up there. The big bill fish, the Marlin, Sailfish and Tuna, are running heavily in the channel between St. Lucia and Martinique, which is a sign of spring. They will run through August and be replaced by large schools of Kings and Mackerel, and the bays will fill up with Redfish hiding in their holes.

TJBM knows how to read nature, the stars, the sky, the clouds and the weather so well that they rarely need a watch, compass or calendar.

Yep. I don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

TJBM will answer with another “Dylan-ism”.

Well, without context, it’s kinda difficult. Recently life has been like the subterranean homesick blues, with me sitting on the pavement thinkin’ ‘bout the government.

A couple of Spring Breakers, a quart of half-empty Stoly in hand, just showed up at the boat. One of the chicks blurts out as soon as she steps on deck, “I got the most amazing weed—it’s orange, it’s sticky, it stinks like a rat’s ass!” Fuck. I gotta find a better class of clientele.

Mama’s in the basement, mixin’ up the medicine…

TJBM can quote the strangest thing they overheard recently.

I can’t quote anything verbatim but I had to suffer through a persons ” Trump is all that” tirade the other day. The man is a fucking God to this person, it is all I can do to just stand by complacently nodding and smiling and plotting my exit. puts finger to temple pulls mock trigger.

TJBM is quite adept at sending non-verbal clues that are impossible to accurately read. haha

If they are impossible to accurately read, they aren’t adeptly sent.?

TJBM has no problem clearly conveying “It’s the end of the world as you know it if you don’t stop,” with one look.

Oh yeah. The look. Everyone around me knows it. The only one who doesn’t care is the little dog. I learned it from my dad. He’s the master.

TJBM is finally getting the hipster toque thing.

Nnnnnnnnnn…
ah.
Not for me.

TJBM wonders if Mimi is watching.

I do. Hope she’s good out there. Mimi, if you’re watching say hi! :D

TJBM chooses practicality over beauty.