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Monthly Archives: August 2011

Harvesting wings from a buffalo

On Tuesday I went over to my friends’ place for pizza.  Their apartment complex was having a “resident appreciation night” and were selling Pizza Hut pizzas for 7$ each (it makes you think they live in the dorms or something).  A reasonable deal.  And since we typically eat together on Tuesdays anyway, we thought we’d take advantage of this.  Now, the flyer was very vague.  I think it only mentioned that they were selling large pizzas but not the type of crust or toppings.  For all we knew, they were going to sell thin crust cheese pizzas exclusively.  That makes for a bit of a bland meal.  So I volunteered to bring buffalo wings.

Buffalo do indeed have wings.

Did you know buffalo have wings?  They do.  They have several pairs of wings.  And you have to harvest thing if you want buffalo wings as a side dish to your meal.  But don’t worry, the wings are kind of like corn.  They grow on the backs of the winged buffalo and after they’re ripe enough, you can harvest them without hurting the buffalo at all.  If you catch just the right season, you can get the wings when they’re still boneless.  The bones are like seeds in fruit.  Some people really don’t like them.   But unlike fruit, you need to cook the wings before you can eat them.  They can be poisonous otherwise.  Cooking the wings denatures the poison and then you can safely consume them.  Oh, even though the poison has been denatured, you can still kind of taste it in the form of the spiciness.  Did I mention that the wings are naturally red?  They are.  I may have forgotten to mention that.

Or…really, I brought over a pack of this (because we were running short on time and boneless heats up faster)

and  I recently obtained a Wacom tablet and it came with Corel Painter Essentials.  I was having fun painting a buffalo with wings.  In case you’re wondering, I traced most of the buffalo because I have no idea how to draw a buffalo.  Then I colored it in some.  I realized later that my colors layer was on 20% opacity, so it looks kind of washed out.  I guess that’ll learn me not to check the opacity settings.  Anyway, I was having fun.  It’s been a long time since I did anything remotely resembling painting.

Mt. Fuji: Japan’s highest mountain

I thought I might as well continue “Posts Inspired by AIM Conversations!”  (Please insert the lightning and thunder yourselves).

So, my friend has been looking through these old American Express appointment books as part of her job.  These appointment books are full of interesting quotes and factoids.  That’s right, factoids and not facts.

fac·toid

noun \ˈfak-ˌtȯid\

1 : an invented fact believed to be true because it appears in print
2 : a briefly stated and usually trivial fact
From what my friend has shared with me, I gather that some of these factoids are completely off the wall, some of them are rather mundane, and others…well, they’re just strange and you can’t verify them.  I don’t know why they’d be in an appointment book.  But whatever.  Here’s one of them that immediately sparked my imagination.  In fact, I think the conversation itself is good enough that I’ll let it stand on its own.  Maybe I’ll put in a brief explanation here and there when it gets really obscure.

[11:05:14] cherriebb515: “Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain, has for many centuries been a favorite suicide spot for thwarted lovers.”
[11:06:03] Moosterkey: THWARTED!
[11:06:19] cherriebb515: So…
[11:06:27] cherriebb515: I haven’t noticed anyone committing suicide on Mt. Fuji.
[11:06:40] cherriebb515: I’m not sure how anyone could commit suicide on Mt. Fuji.
[11:06:42] cherriebb515: He’s so small.

Note: Mt. Fuji is also a plush cell phone charm, although recently relegated to bag bling duty.  He looks like this:

Mt. Fuji was in a badge holder when I took the picture, but you get the idea.

Anyway, continuing…

[11:07:55] Moosterkey: Alas! My beloved and I are estranged! My love goes quite unrequited! Quickly! I shall go up to yon mountain! Yon mountain, there! And I shall throw myself from its steep precipice and rid myself of this life that is indeed, quite unbearable to me!
[11:07:59] Moosterkey: That is what they say.
[11:08:00] Moosterkey: All of them.
[11:08:19] Moosterkey: With the back of their right hand upon their brow.
[11:08:27] cherriebb515: hahahahaha
[11:08:31] Moosterkey: At the foot of the mountain.
[11:08:38] Moosterkey: And then they hurry to the peak.
[11:08:43] Moosterkey: And then hurl themselves off.
[11:08:57] Moosterkey: I keep wanted to say that they hurl themselves off the battlements, but I don’t think Mt Fuji has any.
[11:09:10] cherriebb515: hahahahaha
[11:09:23] Moosterkey: Oh, I forgot to say that they make that speech in a breathy kind of voice.

What?  It amused me.  Also, just out of curiosity, does no one else think like this?  Because…I think this is a perfectly normal thing to think upon reading “Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain, has for many centuries been a favorite suicide spot for thwarted lovers.”