Tuesday, November 25, 2003

trix Be on the look out for Duh! artifact 1037g: the Trix Tractor Trailer (donated by Rodney and Kim). Very soon I will post clues and directions to the whereabouts of this powerful amulet.  The discoverer of the Trix Tractor Trailer will acquire several amazing powers, including: the ability to get instant service at very crowded bars, the ability to make other people instantly pee in their pants, and the power to perform simple card tricks. Duh! value: 10 Duh! points. 10:35:24 PM    comment []

whatchu doin? I tried to get fancy and take my picture in the reflection of this industrial strength dryer.  But as soon as I got into my zone of artsie-ness, this black lady walked by on the sidewalk and said, "Whatchu doin? Takin' pictures in a laundromat?  That's really weird." Then I felt kind of funny and put my camera away and went home.   8:41:22 PM    comment []

a little bit more unraveled Here's my dilapidated laundry basket.  It's one of those things that I've had so long that its origin just blends into the fog of my personal history.  I don't know where or how I got it.  It's just always been there.  And each trip to the laundr-o-mat it comes a little bit more unraveled. 8:35:48 PM    comment []

Here's the bleak little laundr-o-mat where I took my dirty clothes tonight.  I mean there's just something really sad and lonely about laundr-o-mats.  The sterile flourescent lights.  The single moms with their dirty kids whining and clinging to their leg.  The cold and impersonal CHANG-KA-CHANGA-CHANG as the coin machine spits out your quarters. When you're in love it can be kind of fun to go do your laundry with your loved one.  But when your single, its really just very bleak. 8:31:18 PM    comment []

Coinstar Tonight I  took my big cup of change to the coinstar machine at the local Kash n' Karry.  I poured all my coins into the tray and let the machine count it all up.  I was pleasantly surprised when the Coinstar said that I had $23.23 total. Then, next to the Coinstar machine I noticed a bubble gum machine.  Mmm, bubble gum would be nice, I thought. But then I realized I didn't have any change for the bubble gum machine.  I had given it all to the Coinstar. Damm, I thought. 7:53:39 PM    comment []

the green snake   Once, in 6th or 7th grade, I like many other boys, really wanted to get a pet snake.  Amazingly, I talked my mom into getting one for me.  It was a good sized green snake, which we put in our old fish tank out in the garage. I'm not sure why I didn't keep the snake in my room.  It may just never have occurred to me to move the tank from where it was, or maybe my mom said I couldn't.  So to visit my snake I would have to go to the garage, which was kind of a dark and uncomfortable place. I never really did too much with my green snake.  If I tried to reach for it, it would wiggle violently away like it didn't want to be bothered.  And I don't like to bother things that don't want to be bothered.  So pretty much, my snake just lied there in the darkness of the garage not wanting to be bothered. I never really saw my green snake eat anything and I kind of worried it might starve to death.  I would catch little lizards from time to time and put them in the tank for my snake to eat.  Then I would check the tank every day to see if my snake had eaten the lizard.  It never did.  After a while I would start to feel bad for the lizard and I would take him out and let him go in my yard again. Anyway, one day I reached into my snake's tank and it bit me on my hand.  It wasn't a terrible bite, but I still went to the doctor to get antibiotics.  After that, it was decided that the green snake should be let go.  My mom and I carried the old fish tank out next to the woodpile in the back yard and tipped it on its side. The green snake lay there motionless for a moment.   And then it just slithered away.   (from Beautiful Loser, 2002) 7:08:33 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Mark Michaels. Last update: 12/4/2003; 9:25:38 PM.