Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not
Efloofgelist (floofinition) – A person who seeks to convince others of animal rights and intelligence.
In use: “The Internet has amplified efloofgelists’ message by showing videos highlighting animals acting and thinking compassionately, like bears saving crows, a pit bull mothering kittens, a cat befriending a lynx in a zoo, and a cat embracing an orphaned squirrel as one of her own.”
Hey, it’s Righty Friday, April 9, 2021. Daybreak came at 6:40 AM as Ashland rotated around to Sol’s embrace once again. Night is expected after the rotation turns us away from Sol at 7:45 PM. Between those hours, we expect the sun to take our temperatures into the upper sixties under azure skies. We’ve made it to 43 F so far.
I’ve been living with Righty Friday for several years. A right hander, I’ve always enjoyed reverse days when I attempt to use my left hand as my dominate. Part of that is flipping the order of donning my pants. I put my pants on my left leg first by habit. The difficulty I had putting it on my right leg first amazed me. By then I was in my late fifties. My recurring practices had shaped my muscles, bones, and coordination. Thereafter, I designated each Friday as a Righty Friday, when I would put my underwear and pants on my right leg first. Although it’s called Righty Friday, I alternate left and right throughout the week. So, Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday, I put my pants on in the correct order, left leg first. It’s reversed on the remaining days.
Today’s music is by Chaka Khan. Prince wrote and recorded “I Feel for You”, but I’m intimate with the Melle Mel and Stevie Wonder infused version. Released in 1984, it reached number one on several U.S. charts, and made the top ten on music charts around the world. We were well familiar with the music video. I was stationed on Okinawa, Japan. We had limited music videos, and this one was played ALL THE TIME. Melle Mel’s rapping always amazed me and my friends. We’d try to keep up with him. Impossible. The effort reduced us to blithering, laughing idiots.
It’s a memory, prompted as I think about visiting with friends as we cautiously begin re-opening in southern Oregon. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and get the vax. Cheers
Mondefloof (floofinition) – A misheard word or phrase that causes an animal’s reaction.
In use: “Noting that when she asked her husband where the wok was, the dog went for his leash to go for a walk, she vowed to spell wok in the future to avoid the mondefloof.”
I was with some others. They remained misty and uncertain, voices on the periphery of my awareness.
We were to drive three identical Cadillac automobiles. Cream and brown two-toned sedans, I knew them as late 1940s cars, a model called ‘Sedan de Ville’. I was to be the driver of one of these three large cars.
Sheets of silvery rain were soaking the world outside the building where we talked, striking down visibility whenever I looked out a window. I knew we were in a city. We were addressing a large, electronic map. It showed the route to follow in thick dark green on a yellow background. Part of the discussion was about what to call our exits. Studying the map, I somehow came up with Jo Three, which struck me as funny. I explained why it should be called that and why it was funny but those details are lost to waking me.
Before leaving, white brunette women dressed in 1950s fashion presented each driver with two loaves of freshly baked warm bread. These loaves were set on the back shelf behind the rear seat, on on each side, in all three cars. I happily went about, checking the loaves, verifying what they were (rye, marble rye, whole wheat, etc.), and that each loaf was unique. Satisfied, I confirmed my loaves were where they should be, climbed behind the car’s massive steering wheel, and set off.
Rain still hammered the streets and sidewalks, denuding color so that everything resembled sepia photographs. With no wind, the rain fell straight down. Although it was day, street lights were on. The straight multi-lane roads were in good condition. Traffic was sparse. The place seemed familiar.
I saw a woman walking along a sidewalk under an umbrella. I knew her. I thought she was upset and decided that I needed to speak with her, and that I would offer her a ride. As I caught up with her, she was under an underpass at an intersection, waiting to cross the street. She crossed; I turned left, pulled alongside her, and wound the passenger window down. As she didn’t stop, the car continued parallel to her, propelled by the idling motor.
Leaning across the street, cold as mist came in the open window, I called, asking her if she wanted a ride, speaking loudly over the rain and the car’s engine. She declined, telling me that she enjoyed walking in the rain. I then apologized to her and told her that I understood why she was upset. She replied that she wasn’t upset, and that’s not why she wasn’t accepting a ride. She had been upset but now she just appreciated being alone, walking in the rain.
I accepted her answer and drove off. As I did, I looked back in the rearview mirror and watched her walking on the sidewalk in the pouring rain, getting smaller as the distance increased.
Greetings from Ashland, ladies and gentlemen, floofs, and the rest. The day is Thursday and the date is April 8, 2021. Our sun broke sky at 6:42 AM. The sun will exit sky west at 7:44 PM. That’ll give us a pretty solid thirteen hours of sunshine, brothers and sisters! Current temp has us at 42. A high in the upper sixties to low seventies is looked for but not counted upon.
I awoke with “I Can Dream, Can’t I?” by the Andrews Sisters (1949) roaming the streets of my mind. Yes, dream magic invoked that song, for sure. Thinking of it (1949, when I was born in 1956?), I wondered how I’d come to know it. I suspect Mom’s influence with her stereo. That’s the easy response but I recall seeing them sing it in black and white, so I pivot to seeing them on a television show or a movie.
Can’t I adore you?
Although we are oceans apart
I can’t make you open your heart
But I can dream, can’t I?
h/t to Metrolyrics.com
It was later covered by others, like The Carpenters, and Annie Lennox, but I enjoy the sisters’ powerful vocals and harmonizing.
Another song, “Hanky Panky” by Tommy James and the Shondells (1966) quickly overtook the Andrew Sisters offering. I can’t trace its lineage in my mind today. As far as learning the song, that would probably be my older sister’s influence. She was one of those forty-fivers, spinning little vinyl discs on her portable record player. Or I learned it via AM radio in the car, or on television from shows like “American Bandstand”. Do not know.
Anyway, that’s today’s music choice. Here’s an interesting video of it. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and get the vax. Time for coffee. Cheers
Lunafloof (floofinition) – 1. Animal who acts silly.
In use: “Many puppies and kittens act like lunafloofs when they’re young, but Blur never matured, remaining an entertaining lunafloof racing about the house even at sixteen.”
2. A person who is overly enamored with animals.
In use: “Entering her home, you knew immediately from artwork, statues, photoraphs, you were in a lunafloof’s dwelling.”
Good morning. It’s Wednesday, April 7, 2021. Already into the fourth month. Just eight months to go in 2021, if you’re doing time.
Haven’t had my coffee yet. Thoughts remain low and slow. Something about sunrise at 6:44 and sunset at 7:43. Be over thirteen hours of sunshine today. Temp is 52 F. We expect to kick into the seventies.
“Thank U” by Alanis Morissette outta 1998. I find it an introspective song, fitting today’s introspective moodiness. Edged with a tinture of restlessness, there’s a sense that I’d like to break out of my daily mold. First, though, I must have my daily coffee…
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and get the vax. Cheers
