Wonderfully Articulate Piles of Warm Laundry

"Mellifluous" Beeped the Laundry machine as it spewed freshly dried, warm clothing across the small room.

This was the tenth time today that articles of clothing had been ejected in this manner. All the machines had been modified for maximum efficiency so when one load of laundry was finished it would be neatly tipped into a basket and moved away to wait for the arrival of the laundries' owner. The thought was that it would greatly reduce backup in laundromats from people not coming to claim their clothing out of machines for long periods of time. The problem was that some of the machines had been malfunctioning and shooting the clothing out like a colorful blast of a canon.

That's where Ian came in, the building's superintendent had called after the first incident. Ian had arrived from the laundry company's maintenance team an hour later. He had just sat observing the machines for a few hours, taking notes from time to time. The dryer's had been programmed to say things like "Have a good day!" or "Enjoy the warm clothing!" or "We delight in a job well done!" yet they seemed to have just started to beep randomly sophisticated bits of this and that. Ian's notebook read as follows of the words and phrases the dryers had been emitting:

"The Orangutan's Orange Exterior!"

"Lava flowed down the apex of the mountain during the equinox!"

"Cornucopia!"

"Salutations!"

"Rifles ripple upon the rumpus!"

"The gravy boat poured fresh gravy unto the heaps of mashed potatoes"

"Red-haired Rebels befuddle anarchy"

"Fibonacci numbers undo"

And with each succeeding quotation more clothing flew yards across the room. It didn't make the least bit of sense, the wiring all seemed sound, the clothing was all suitably warm. Where were these machines learning new words and phrases from? It was curious and befuddling for sure but there was really nothing that Ian could do for now. He decided to make up a sign telling patrons to stand at the ready to catch their laundry in midair until a solution came about.

Old friend Adventure

Happy New Year, hope everyone had a good one and a good holiday. I am back at school and the snowing is lightly coming down it truly is winter. I am happy about that. I've said this before I think, but I'll say it again, for some reason I really like Autumn and Winter the best of all. The crisp leaves of the fall, the warm drinks and soups, the white snow the blankets everything, they all seem like old friends. I like bundling up, I dunno maybe those things are weird, who cares. And yes the days are shorter and the sun light's never quite enough, but that's okay. As Bob Ross said many times, you need the dark to let the light shine through.

I think part of life, is trying to get to that point where waking up is okay. Where you aren't dreading one thing or another, not thinking about that potential alligator which could be camped outside your door ready for your departure. So you fight and persevere and run like hell trying your best not to get eaten by the alligator, not to fall into a flaming pit, to overcome the minotaur in the labyrinth. So that one day you'll open that door and there will be an ostrich, or what have you, ready to take you where you need to be.

Is life fair? No, no it is not. But with a little imagination, grit, and friends, it can be an adventure. Maybe..

Winter Jazz

We are more than halfway through December, and some of you are probably sick of me referencing the date in these posts. Well time..its a big part of our lives, it is. It keeps moving, it never stops. Sometimes it seems to go really fast and fly by as if powered by rocket-fuel. Other times it goes slow as molasses, or sap running down a tree. And for the most part, we cannot change that. We have no time machines, nor does it seem like we will anytime soon. Nor teleportation devices, the world has gotten easier to traverse but not that easy yet.

My past winter breaks have passed at near a snail's pace. This year's break has been much faster.

I saw the Dave Brubeck quartet perform with the Cleveland Orchestra this past Thursday night, they were really good. Some really awesome upbeat jazz music. I spent half the concert thinking of awesome ways to swing dance to it. I'll leave you with one of his most famous pieces, though it was so much cooler live.

Dave Brubeck Quartet
Take Five