Power to the Quirk


A few days ago, my bud Crotchety Old Man passed along a non-mandatory and unusually laissez-faire meme suggesting I share things about myself with you folks which are either "boring or quirky."

Regular readers are probably already snickering into their hands because, you know, even pre-meme, Cabbages is pretty much up to its leafy bits in Quirk.

As the Quirk does tend to ooze from the pores (sorry for the smell, I haven't found a good prescription-strength de-quirkorant yet), I figured we'd play along today. I was pretty sure I still had some quirkworthy items that hadn't been covered yet.

Because since Carnival Freak Shows have been outlawed, now we have memes:

  • I actually like the smell of gasoline. I mean, not enough to want a new body fragrance called "Chevron Number 5." But I do find the smell of a filled fuel tank to be pleasant. More pleasant, of course, if it costs under $4.00 a gallon.
  • I still occasionally catch myself walking with my thumbs tucked into my fists, because of too many years of marching band. WHY?!! What is it about flagrantly flappy thumbs I'm worried about these days? I mean, it's not like I also put on white rubber spats over my ballerina flats. Or wear a stupid hat with a large plume shaped like a guinea pig, anymore. But the thumbs. I simply cannot undo the thumbs. Curse my band director and his pointy baton!
  • My Thanksgiving comes complete with gigantic spiny reptiles. Yes, I know what you're thinking. I'm seeing turkeys, right. Ugly Thanksgiving turkeys. But no, my friends. I am seeing Godzilla versus Megalon, camped out in Dad's backyard in the Florida Keys. Because Little Hannah couldn't take her moderately-sized pet iguana along when the family moved to California. And Little Harrison, the same. And now their cute little lizards, left to the south Florida wilds, have grown. And expanded. And enjoy sunbathing. In between, y'know, stomping Tokyo.
  • My dad listens to fish. No, really. He studies bio-acoustics, which is a fancy way of saying, "Toadfish make booping noises; and I listen to 'em." Not that he knows precisely what they're saying. Not that he's a toadfish therapist or anything, and tells them to lie down on the reef and tell him what's bothering them. ("I zink you verr traumatized early on as ze egg.") But he records them, pulls data, writes academic papers... And when I phone him, sometimes toadfish are booping over his stereo system in the background. I bet the neighbors love it! He's also made a CD of these sounds, and likes to drive around to it. Road trips with The Pop are... interesting.
  • I Flex-All my face sometimes. You know, Flex-All, that burning hot muscle rub? Yep. I have killer sinus migraines regularly, and one way to help them is the Flex-All. It could be because of the comforting vapors. Or it could be just the stinging, eye-tearing, hot-cold excruciating pain of the stuff distracts me from my actual headache. Mine is not to question.

Now, I bet you all think I'm going to Meme the heck out of you, picking off blog buddies from your ranks like ducks in a shooting gallery and publicly peer-pressuring you into a meme-along....

Well, okay, that would be kinda funny... But NO! In the spirit of the Quirk, I will NOT ask you to meme. I will passive-aggressively suggest that if anyone wishes to meme of their own accord, then let the meme-ing begin! Otherwise, may you live happy and meme-free this day.

And possibly just think fondly of me a moment should you see an iguana the size of a Humvee.... a bottle of Flex-All... or some idiot walking along with his or her thumbs tucked neatly into their fists.

Until tomorrow, my friends!

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15 comments:

Miss Shirl said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you. No memes until Blogger's Unite is over.

Unknown said...

Shirley- No problem. I can Not Tag people all day! :)

Bee said...

My hubs told me the smell of gasoline makes him hungry. Weird.

Unknown said...

Bee- Hm-- I can almost see that. I wonder why that is...

Greg said...

You know, how much does Chanel #5 or any of those other fragrances go for per gallon? It could be your nose is helping you see what a sweet deal you're getting on gasoline.

Or it could be all that exposure to Flex-All has just destroyed your olfactory senses.

You should totally make today's art into a Birthday Card for de Pop. (You'll probably want to study photos of actual fish, though, so you don't hear about getting the fins in the wrong place, or the gills upside down, or something...and those lips might have to go...)

Unknown said...

Gosh, Greg-- it's like you've MET him. Even as I was drawing that toadfish, I thought, "I am probably putting those fins in the wrong place. And his color might need to be more brown than gray... and De Pop would SO be all over that." :)

Da Old Man said...

Chevron # 5. LOL. You know, I'm thinking a lot of people must like the smell of gasoline because when the stations switch to winter blend, quite a few complain about it.
The thumb thing cracked me up, too.

Unknown said...

Da Old Man- The thumb thing was one of those items I remembered recently-- as I was doing it-- and made a special note of it, in case I'd need it for a meme someday. The thumb came in handy-- hahahahaha!...

Ahem. :)

Melanie said...

Ok, is flex all kind of like Icy Hot? And if so, does it make your face break out. I get terrible sinus pain that turns into migraines too. I've thought about using the IcyHot type stuff I have, but the idea of putting it on my face...eewwwwwww. Still, if it works...........

Unknown said...

Melanie- Yes, it's a lot like IcyHot. I've used that, too, though I think it isn't quite as icy... or as hot... as FlexAll. :) It's never made me break out, though. Just make sure you don't put it near your eyes.

MYM said...

Wow. I simply don't know where to begin.

But the fact that you're often high on gasoline pretty much explains a lot ;)

Chat Blanc said...

well, at least no one can accuse you of being "all thumbs", right? ;)

btw, when you were telling us that your dad talks to fishies, all I could think was--he's the Fish Whisperer! I hope you take your ipod on car rides! :)

I loves me some good quirks and you've got 'em. Woohoo for my fellow quirkster!

Unknown said...

Drowsey- Heh, this coming from a woman who's taking a bra and a doll on a tour of the city... :)

Chat Blanc- HA! The Fish Whisperer, I LOVE it. I am ABSOLUTELY going to try that out on him at Thanksgiving... Brilliant!

PS- The fish sounds CD is a big improvement over his CD he recorded of himself playing the "Top 33 Songs He Likes" on the electronic piano. He likes to listen to that in the car, too. The holidays are... um.... fun. :)

Kathy said...

I don't know where to begin either. I'm so sorry you have migraines, but happy you've found something more punishing to take your mind off them. Gad!

Regarding the Peeps... Just Born, the company that makes them, is located just 6-7 miles from my house. For New Year's Eve, they drop a gigantic yellow fiberglass peep from a pole to ring in the new year in center city. I don't like Peeps myself, but I'm proud they're my neighbor!

Unknown said...

Kathy- Well, I figure whatever works. :) I learned the FlexAll tip from a friend's mom, who also has the sinus headaches. Mostly, I would enjoy a sinus transplant, but you cannot transplant what is, technically, an empty space. :)

The Peeps thing, well, that just tickles me greatly-- a giant fiberglass Peep-- too cute! I actually prefer to craft with them than eat them, as well. Just because they're so darned funny.