Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
A joyous blog meme; Jake & Doug’s near death experience
Gabriele has tagged me. Now we’re even.
This one looks kinda fun . . .
Search your blog for the word “joy” used in the context of “happiness.” If you cannot find the word in your weblog, you may use any of the select list of synonyms below.
joy — amusement, bliss, cheer, comfort, delectation, delight, ecstasy, elation, exaltation, exultation, exulting, felicity, gaiety, gladness, glee, good humor, gratification, happiness, hilarity, humor, jubilance, liveliness, merriment, mirth, pleasure, rapture, regalement, rejoicing, revelry, satisfaction, wonder
If your weblog does not include a built-in search engine, then you can use Google to search it only for the word you wish to find.
If you’ve found the word and it was not used facetiously or sarcastically, good for you. All you need to do is link to your earlier entry, and write a few words about that joyous moment. If, however, you have no joy (whole words only) in your weblog, you must dig deep in your soul and find something wonderful in your life right now. One little thing that fills you with warmth, that bubbles you over with quiet happiness, or tickles you with its good-hearted hilarity, or makes you glad you just took a breath, and are getting ready to take another. It doesn’t have to be anything big. A smile someone gave you; your cat on your shoulder; the way the light angles through your window and casts rainbows on your floor. All it has to be is something genuine, something real, something that matters to you.
Because we all need joy in our lives, and need to take the time — from time to time — to recognize it. And sometimes, we need to pass it on. Even if we’re a big pain in the ass when we do.
Is that a long-ass set of instructions, or what?
Anyway, here’s the link: Jump for Joy, a painting by my friend and all-around cool artist Kenney Mencher. And I did, indeed, feel joy when I saw this painting. Oh, how I laughed.
Kenney likes to create images that spark the viewer’s imagination. He wants us to concoct a story to fit the painting. He’s successful, too. I have his Fortuna hanging in my office lobby, and it’s impressive how many different stories my patients come up with to explain it.
As for Jump for Joy, here’s my story. High school quarterback bets his girlfriend’s best friend that he’ll dominate the Friday game, doing lots of whatever it is quarterbacks do. (Sorry. Don’t know much about football.) If he wins, she’ll suck his stinky toes. If he loses, he’ll strip buck nekkid, grab the pom poms, and make a spectacle of himself.
In the game, she watches in growing horror as he intentionally loses the bet.
Hence her less-than-impressed expression.
I tag: fiveandfour, Eugie, Candy, Robyn, and Lilith. Get joyous, y’all.
Before I forget: my Tangent Online editor, Eugie Foster, is vying for the title of Christmas Babe, or something like that. The server was jammed up this morning so I couldn’t vote. When I finally get through, Eugie’s getting all twelve of my votes. I don’t even need to look at the other candidates — that’s how dedicated I am to my editor.
Jake and I went to Medford today for a fun-filled afternoon of rampant consumerism, camel toe-gawking, and general mallratting. At Barnes & Noble, we picked up Chris Paolini’s new book (Eldest), Terry Pratchett’s Thud!, and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. This last one is on Jake’s recommended reading list for college. Looks interesting, but I can already hear him griping about the new words.
On the way home, we had a near death experience. Highway 199 is one of those killer roads: narrow and curvy, with long stretches in which the driver has a sheer rock face on one side, a precipitous drop on the other. We’d had a rainy day, so the road was wet. Pitch dark too, of course.
We came around a curve and I saw what looked like a bunch of dirt clods filling my lane. No, Maureen, I wasn’t speeding. I had no choice but to drive over this crap.
Long and short of it (considering it’s 11:49 PM, you’re getting the short of it), we had TWO flat tires, but I managed to get the car over to the side of the road without incident. I flicked on the hazard lights, assessed the damages, cursed, and flagged down some exceptionally nice folks. They drove Jake and me to a restaurant where we called 911 on the land line. Uh, yeah — did I mention that this happened in an area where my cell phone had no service?
Yes, “near death experience” is hyperbole. Still, I can’t help but think how much worse this could have been. Jake and I are fine. Even the car will survive. But but but but . . . two flat tires, pitch dark, wet road, cliff on one side, steep drop on the other. Damn.
That’s it. Damn. You’re not going to get much profundity out of me at 11:55 PM. G’night.
D.
Blimey you poor things! I’m glad you’re both home safe :o)
Of course it was a near death experience! You have every right to feel that way and I can relate to your story completely. Thinking of all of the things that could have happened, you walk away feeling very fortunate indeed.
I’m glad you and Jake are okay. My DSL won’t be back on til the 19th, so I’ll have to wait for my tag then. Moving sucks!
1. Scary highway story! Did you ever discover what it was that caused the double blowout? Or were they actually dirt clods–of the fierce and tire-killing variety? Glad you avoided bodily harm (and death), and survived to blog about the experience.
2. *mwaaa!* Thank you so much for both the babes votes and the plug!
3. You tagged me. Eep. Okay, okay. Look for joy in tomorrow’s LJ entry. *grumble* Joy. Hmph. 😉
Thanks, everyone.
I think they must have been rocks, not dirt clods. They were dirt-colored, the tricky bastards. Perhaps this was fortunate. If they’d looked like rocks, I might have slammed the brakes, which would have been a big mistake.
Whew, breath of relief on the road story. I had a similar experience late at night once, coming back to Portland from LaGrande. A semi had overturned and lost its load and the stuff was all over the road. Dark night, no street lights, lots of lumber strewn all over. The driver was thankfully ok, so my car full of people joined with a few other people that pulled up just after us and started getting planks and 2x4s off the road. This was in the days before cell phones so I don’t know how it was that we called the police. It’s been a long time since that happened, but I still remember that eery trancelike feeling of tiredness and unreality at picking up wood by car light with a racing heart and thoughts of how it could have been unutterably worse. I also look to that spot in the road every time I pass by it, as if a ghostly impression of what happened was left on the landscape that can be seen if you know where and how to look for it.
I’ve done my joyful entry with only minimal cheating by use of the word “wondrous” in lieu of joy. ::Pats self on back::
Doug- I would never accuse you of speeding. So glad you and wee Jake are fine.
Re: Jump for Joy. The fellow jumping is the cheerleader’s brother. Her gay brother. Didn’t we straighten you out on that before?
Or
the cheerleader is a vocal homophobe, and the boy is jumping for the pure joy of making her a tiny bit uncomfortable. Either way, that boy is gay.
I figured he was just a shameless exhibitionist ;o)
Thanks for your good wishes, folks.
1. I’m so glad you and Jake are okay. Two flat tires and a wet road? DAMN.
2. Thanks for the tag. 🙂 I did wonder what trouble you’d gotten me into next; imagine my relief when I found I could satisfy two memes with one blog. *snort*
Hola, estaba leyendo su blog, y se me hizo muy interesante. Casualmente mi nombre es como un pleonasmo. Gaiety Joy, el mundo es pequeño, comparto mi alegrÃa en este bello momento =)
Yo comprendo casi todo, pero no comprendo “pleonasmo”. Possiblemente esto es una palabra muy sucia, no? Usted esta muy amable.
Creo que no supe explicarme adecuadamente,la palabra pleonasmo quiere decir: “doble”. Entonces, lo que trataba de interpretar de mi nombre (obviamente en español) es AlegrÃa AlegrÃa (este es un pleonasmo). Asà es mi nombre Gaiety Joy (doble alegrÃa). En verdad es muy grato para mi que usted me haya contestado, le mando un abrazo =)