Word Slingers, Saturday October 10, 2020

Some Word Slingers product from this morning's session and their associated prompt.

It was number 7. The third RiteAid that morning, and the 3rd RiteAid on Highway 62. So much for the surveillance state, HIPPA and digital privacy. I was on my seventh flu shot of the day. Still not sure how I arrived at this challenge, but I was well into it now after a false start last year and just 3 flu shots in as many days.

I had my Rhodia notebook to collect the set of peeled off band-aids. I was still feeling good and had a boost of adrenaline when I gave out my false identity to the pharmacy clerk. My left arm was definitely tingling but didn't look worst the wear for all the morning's vaccine pricks.

A cheap high thanks to the borrowed Medicare credentials, but the mileage was adding up. What kind of high? Hard to say. Maybe just the hill topping, rock climbing type high. The trite "because it was there."

I wonder if the casino is giving out free flu shots today. I'm definitely feeling lucky.

Prompt: You're never going to believe this.

* * * * *

Due to technical difficulties and a bad connection, our previously schedule guest Mother Nature, who goes by the name Gaia, will not be joining us today. We hope to resolve these issues and have Mother Nature, whose goes by the name Gaia, back very soon in another installment of the Bodega Biosphere podcast.

Our deepest thanks to today guest, Diana, the Moon Goddess, who has agreed to  join for an in depth discussion of all things moon related. Let the lunacy commence...

Diana: First off, I like to tell Elon Musk to go fuck himself. What's with his Mars obsession. Such a little boy. Terraforming the moon too difficultt for you, you billionaire brat?

Prompt: The special guest on your podcast today is Mother Nature

* * * * *

Food poisoning goes by many names. One of them is Mayonnaise.

Used successfully against against a superior opponent, it's called Miracle Whip.

Practically unregulated, the single use poison packets fly out of eateries unsolicited and concealed in packaging and if you are lucky enough to survive, you will no doubt have new appreciation for the phrase "food to go..."

Prompt: Mayonnaise

Word Slingers, Saturday September 12, 2020

Some Word Slingers product from this morning's session and their associated prompt.

Greased pig? 

Where can I find that? 

Encoded in that phrase, some yesterdays, probably many, coming and going, peering out, returning again, disappearing again. 

If you're not lost in the archive, you haven't really visited it.

Some yesterdays are huddling for warmth, while others are contrarian and loners. 

Better to not make too many judgements, and just root around, the random walk, the drift, and leaving your wake to fractally assemble itself into... something. It's best not to get ahead of yourself.

That dog don't hunt.

 Prompt: Holding on for yesterday (song title)

* * * * *

It's a ball. It rolls, round and round.

Not just any ball, it's red and free and will certainly kill you, but in the meantime, have we got an adventure for you.

You don't have to squint anymore and the dollars seem to just keeping rolling in and vanishing (do the Martian canals really drain into subterranean bank accounts buried beneath the Swiss Alps)?.

Look up! Oops, did you drop this? It's mine now and I don't know how I got along without it. That red ball, that's opportunity and these giant silver Coors cans that look like reuseable rocket boosters are stuffed with cash. 

Dedicated to Earth-bound visionary space oligarchs everywhere.

Prompt: Life On Mars (song title)

* * * * *

Hard stop. Dark mode. Lean into it, future-focused.

Never mind someone's objective and key factors keep getting trod underfoot.

Has anyone seen a steamroller lately, or have they all been replaced by phantoms?

The horizon turns out to be the limit, to no one's surprise.  

Prompt: Don't stop me now (song title)

* * * * *

Am I ready for a brand new beat? You asking me, or telling me?

Streets? Sounds like another name for a cul de sac. Did I win anything?

Prompt: Dancing in the streets (song title)

Posting my writing on a long disused blog

I tried reviving my ERRguitar blog to share my writing, especially output from Kevin Bone's Word Slingers, but alas, somehow Facebook blocks that blog for non-compliance with its <sarcasm>vaunted</sarcasm> Community Standards. That might be just 'garden walls' against Blogspot or because earlier content on that 15-year old blog shared film images and sound files and could be interpreted as a violation of intellectual property rights (I think that's a stretch).

So here we go again, reviving a 12-year old blog devoted to mobile phone images. Let's see if this is more agreeable to Facebook. Why Facebook, because it's a convenient way to share links via Messenger or the FB feed directly. We'll see. Won't we?

Reviewing its history, I'd forgotten the blog was intended as a site for fellow Brand Ramblers hiking club members to post their photos via an email link. Hence the abbreviation in the URL as BRGOMO, Brand Ramblers Go Mobile. Alas, the Brand Ramblers are no more as they were associated with a now defunct software outfit based in Glendale CA on Brand Blvd. Rest In Peace and keep hitting the trail you ramblers. Low before its demise, Brand Ramblers moved onto Facebook and Twitter so the site became a place for my Motorola Razr pics which I especially loved for their skewed resolution and impressionistic rendering.

Please note that I'm posting this update on September 11, 2020 but have added in the previous 3 Word Slingers posts to their actual posting dates on the ERRguitar blog,

PS: The image is of "Katafygia - Burden of Dreams" an artwork from 2019 that I contributed to the Refuge show at Joshua Tree's Beatnik Lounge. Also note this photo is is from 2019 LG mobile phone and not a 2008 era Motorola Razr.

Word Slingers, Thursday September 10, 2020

Some Word Slingers product from this afternoon's session and their associated prompt.

Position 9828, Kama Sutra Records Archive, September 10, 1987

Initially a vertical joining, with a consensual dip into a semi-horizontal posture. Vocalizing stops and is replaced by rapid shallow breathing, followed by a glance at the supplied lyric sheet, and a 2nd glance to the left, at the evening's setlist. Attention refocused, eye locking, the previous established rhythm suddenly stops and the position held until the lights drop. Returning to vertical, the partners turn to their right and bow at a 90 degree angle, several times, until the applause diminishes and the band strikes up the next number. 

Barry delivers a warm "Thank you" and Manilow returns "The pleasure was all mine."

Prompt: Barry Fuckin' Manilow

* * * * *

I took the fire stairs. The elevator was too slow, crowded and I didn't want to run into coworkers. 13 flights can take a few minutes and I was already running behind according the real-time updates on the Glendale Today app.

Pope mobile passing Colorado and Brand. Perhaps the waving and flower throwing would slow the procession. I still had a chance to see the Pope. It'd be third Pope sighting in the lifetime of this elapsed Episcopalian. Still, the record would be impressive for some States-bound non-believer who's never been to Rome

Exit door - Alarm will sound. 

Prompt: A Missed Opportunity

* * * * *

Danced around? Danced over? Danced through? Just danced. If you're going through hell, just dance - or so says a dub-stepping Winston Churchill. Usually in the kitchen and it was always alone, to some saltwater dub or down tempo retro-mix. "But there's booze in the blender, and soon it will render..." the lyrical hooks that "let it all hang out" welling up with the bottomless bass and layers of skittering guitar. How many times, how many ways can you be seduced to dance alone to the ridiculous? 

Prompt: I had never danced like that before

Word Slingers, Saturday September 5, 2020

Some Word Slingers product from this morning's session and their associated prompt.

The commander would not be happy. The hab was a shambles and most of the guests had flown off, flapping their wings. Not really what I expected - this reversion to arm-flapping flight, but Titan did offer that. That and lots of methane and organics readymade for plastic habs and and other structures.

The party was for teams arriving and departing. What a mix! These are long deployments and expectations and disappointment had to be strictly managed. But the camaraderie was real and the food and beverage selection was above par thanks to the arriving team and the tradition of stowing rare Earth delicacies.

I'm staying another deployment due to a resource constraints and I'm happy for that. I could do without the jealousy of those who were departing but would have liked to have stayed over. And I'll miss my bunk buddies. 

Prompt: A Party on the Moon

* * * * *

Better late than never. Oh boy, and how.

The concert was a one-off, a one time only event of a lifetime, and the featured artists, all of them, were retiring together, going into the Hall of Memories, preserved for all time, encapsulated individually in polished brass banks that lined the walls like a 20th century mausoleum.

How could I miss this? The City has ways and it's own memories to impose on even a determined traveler. By the time I was able to extricate myself from the tube the marquee was dark. I continued my fast pace stroll up to the doors but they were locked.

A small figure in the shadow of the loading door stirred. Even with the passing years I recognized him right away. Topo Gigio, Ed Sullivan's famous sidekick. 

[To be continued? Abandoned sidekicks in the shadows. Senor Wences' Pedro and Johnny? "Deefeecult For You-Easy For Me"]

Prompt: When being late led to a positive if unexpected outcome.

* * * * *

Quantum Crayola: Diagramming made easy for 7th, 8th and 9th dimensions.

"That's not what my box says!"

"What version?"

"7.007.3"

"There you go, try one of mine. I've been modelling with just the flesh-colored one. Ha, that what I like to call the blue-green one. Reminds me of blue-green algae and soil crust."

"Thanks! Let me have that blood red one - I know what I need to do and it's not going to be pretty."

"Be my guest. Actually, keep it. I never work with blood."

Prompt: A box of crayons... possibly having a discussion

* * * * *

Eight minutes. Baby Jane Doe.

A handful of breathes, and then the long wait. Three years for the pauper grave at Evergreen, the County's own cemetery. The annual December ceremony has really grown over the last 8 years and all denominations are now well represented.

But you're a date and almost a name. One of 1400 or so others interred, the others mostly named and definitely dated as in years. But eight minutes, or the eight plus months earlier. 

Missing you.

Prompt: Write about someone you've not known personally, but has made an impression on you

Word Slingers, Saturday August 22, 2020

Some Word Slingers writing workshop products from this morning's session and their associated prompts. 

How could she walk away from a Popsicle in August in the desert?

It wasn't a survival course and she had to pee. Setting it down on a stack of napkins she walked swiftly to the restrooms.

The swamp cooler was blowing chilled air and invisible smoke ash gently over the paddle shaped treat that was already descending into a swampy puddle.

Balance, that was what was needed. An exchange of molecules, pro's and con's, options with a reasonable chance to resolve into a happy compromise. Can I respect the urgent demands of my bladder while sustaining a frosty and refreshing mouth engagement. Certainly there's no Popsicle holders in the ladies room.

When she returned it was gone, only a slight stain on the counter.

Prompt: Single word "Popsicle"

* * * * * 

Grow Houses I Have Known.

We kept putting up signs - Fresh Tomatoes, with a red arrow pointing down the dirt road that ran perpendicular to the two lane highway.

I think the water haulers thought it was funny and we never heard from the tourists again, but I suspect we'll have to be more stealthy putting up new signs to replace the ones torn down by the grow house help.

It was a shining example of the grey economy and was clearly another ephemeral extraction industry for these parts. Jobs for a few and quick profit for backers willing to gamble against blistering winds and marauding dust devils.

Something to shake your head about while offering a slight chuckle when gathered with neighbors.

It's legal and it's not. We grow some of the finest tomatoes here! 

Prompt: Single word "Marijuana"

* * * * *

ONE STAR. Wouldn't Recommend. See photo gallery (21 pics)

If you're looking for a good time look elsewhere. He was a stone cold blank. Seemingly wordless, even his mumbles lacked conviction. I think he might have drooled once when my Festival Chili Dog was placed in front of me (see surveillance pic 7-9, thanks Arbys!) The dating app clearly needs to update it's liability terms. Maybe they did and the brain-dead have slid into the 'available for fun and food adventures' tier. If that was so, why Arby's for our meetup? Look elsewhere.

Prompt: Write a Yelp-like review of a date. 

Local Playwright Arrested on Opening Night

Dale Basin Times-Dispatch  (XP Wire Services) - Chambless, CA, Thursday 14, 2019

Local area playwright Cefin Tarsus was arrested by San Bernardino Sheriff's Thursday evening on opening night of his play "Over Herd: The Bartender's Trap" The play was being staged at the Salt Cedar Saloon where Tarsus is a bartender and event planner. Deputies declined to enumerate the charges but indicated they involved multiple violations of privacy, unauthorized used of personal data and aggravated identity theft.

Bar regular Red Farnham witnessed the arrest as startled actors, patrons and employees hastily retreated to the bar as the deputies left with Tarsus. "He'd been working really hard on this piece. Ever since those Marines from the base gave him the idea, it's been his sole outside project. The guy works his fingers to the bone at the bar and gets up early to pound out his plays." 

Asked about the Marines, Farnham added "these two jarheads who work on swarm robotics lent Cefin some machine learning software he needed for speech analytics. Cefin has been processing huge data sets of audio, parsing linguistic blocks, tuning models, filtering and training data for deep learning."

Recently retired as a registered ethicist for San Bernardino County, Farnham enjoys afternoons at the saloon where discussions between locals and base personnel frequently diverge into advanced subjects like neurotechnologies, artificial intelligence and Red's own 'Farnham Equation,' an updating of the famous Drake Equation about the density of intelligent life in the universe.

One saloon regular who requested his name not be used said Cefin would pause to scribble in notebooks and scratch pads throughout his bartender shifts but abruptly abandoned the practice after installing a series of small ceiling devices he claimed were remote controlled air fresheners. "He seemed to lose interest in some conversations but would suddenly interject unusual and provocative subjects and personal stories that we'd never heard before."

While Sheriff's Deputies declined discussing charges, saloon owner Larry Sable who arrived after the arrest volunteered his thoughts. "Cefin is a smart guy but works too much. Too much on his own stuff that is! Once he got all digital and mixed up with smart ass Marines he'd come in for his shifts all bleary eyed and distant."

"Started telling me how he could peer into things, know ahead of time what's going to be said. Started finishing people's sentences for them. Not great for business! Might work for a Tarsus play but obviously not tonight!" 

The Salt Cedar Saloon was briefly shuttered for a few days last Spring when it was learned that the recently installed Pabst Blue Ribbon beer sign contained facial recognition software that collected data over an unencrypted wireless link. Owners promptly apologized and the beer distributor claimed no knowledge about the device, its purpose or the fate of the visual data collected.

-30-

NOTES: Transataumancy is divination by interpreting something seen or heard accidentally or unexpectedly, such as snatches of speech and conversations while walking through a crowd.

This 'news article' was prepared to illustrate a scenario intended for a local bartender who is also an event planner playwright.

Mossarium update

I think the bird's nest fern may have a baby.

Under the 110 and over the river

Just a quick shot from the pedestrian walkway beneath the 110 just east of Elysian Park as we trod Dan Koeppel's post-Thanksgiving walk (that's Dan of the Big Parade LA).

Many gorgeous, unexpected vistas discovered that day - many thanks to Dan and fellow trekkers!

Vernalization - or an early Xmas jade

Looks like an early Christmas - as the very common (and lovely) jade plants in Los Angeles usually bloom later in December. The early weeks of cold have accelerated the flowering - and coincidentally I just learned about the process of vernalization: the acquisition of a plant's ability to flower or germinate in the spring by exposure to the prolonged cold of winter.

Personal space at work - food and text

Ah, my unloading at my cube, with my lunch and personal items to the right of the "work station."

The poet looks hungry - mad hungry. Maybe he's looking beyond the banana to the Boccalone lunchbag and its promised of "Tasty Salted Pig Parts."

High summer to deep winter in 7 days

To the delight of many, and one week after a record 113F downtown temperature in Los Angeles, a big wet chunk of winter descended on the seasonally challenged inhabitants of this metropolis.

Looking towards the backside of Griffith Park from the garage on Doran.


Looking to the north across the parking structure, the shrouded spine of the Verdugo mountains.

Cirnati Dobrogea

Dried Romanian garlic sausage - a few ounces chopped fine go great in eggs

Alien loaf

An apocalyptic Russian rye loaf purchased at the Silver Lake farmers market Saturday.

Avery's Art

Melanie's customized monitor

Mustard anniversary

On our 10th anniversary - everything (including recipes) for making mustard!

Poppy Harvest

Our crop of California poppy seeds harvested over the weekend. The random popping of the seed pods inside the tucked away paper bags was disquieting until we identified the source. Now all husked and gathered the grey seeds await scattering in the late fall.

Liebe Frau Tiger Milk Bars

Mom's homemade snacks (wrapped in fashion ads) for our son's lunches - replacing the store bought Tiger Milk bars.

Painting with Pixels

Flowers from our yard adorn the kitchen table recalling early color photography (recalling Impressionist painting).

LA Vinyl Type Has Its Appeal

On Hyperion near Trader Joe's