• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Hot air and ill-informed banter

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

No one could have predicted…

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Mobile Menu

  • Winnable House Races
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Balloon Juice 2023 Pet Calendar (coming soon)
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • War in Ukraine
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • 2021-22 Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Open Threads / Wakin’ on a Pretty Daze

Wakin’ on a Pretty Daze

by $8 blue check mistermix|  March 3, 201312:49 pm| 102 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

FacebookTweetEmail

Here’s something mellow from Kurt Vile, via Tympanogram. Open thread.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « One Side Does It
Next Post: Open Thread »

Reader Interactions

102Comments

  1. 1.

    Mnemosyne

    March 3, 2013 at 1:02 pm

    Something about this post triggered an ad for sex toys for ladies.

    Not that I’m complaining.

  2. 2.

    Comrade Jake

    March 3, 2013 at 1:10 pm

    If you haven’t seen the Dennis Rodman interview on This Week yet, check it out. It is strangely entertaining.

    Also, too, we’re looking for good family vacation spots (I.e. lakes) for this summer in West Virginia. Any suggestions? Any places we should avoid?

  3. 3.

    Steeplejack

    March 3, 2013 at 1:19 pm

    @Comrade Jake:

    Any places we should avoid?

    West Virginia?

    Yeah, I know, not helping.

  4. 4.

    Comrade Jake

    March 3, 2013 at 1:24 pm

    @Steeplejack:

    Heh. It just happens to be the state that’s halfway between us and another family we’re trying to meet up with. I honestly have no idea if there are some cool spots or if the entire state is redneck central.

  5. 5.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 3, 2013 at 1:27 pm

    Some people just don’t get how the whole “absence makes the heart grow fonder” thing works

    Sam Stein ‏@ samsteinhp
    “I mourn the fact that he’s not [president].” — Ann Romney on her husband

    Please, Lady Ann, please stay in the national spotlight, please keep talking. Maintain enough exposure to justify that blonde SNL actress doing the impression of you that cracks me right the fuck up.

  6. 6.

    Steeplejack

    March 3, 2013 at 1:27 pm

    @Comrade Jake:

    It’s just that it’s the most miserable state in the country.

  7. 7.

    jeffreyw

    March 3, 2013 at 1:28 pm

    Mmm… muffins

  8. 8.

    hildebrand

    March 3, 2013 at 1:29 pm

    Allow me to kvetch for a moment – I really hate the academic job search. I had a campus interview last week, I think I did a great job, but it is still an utter crap-shoot. Blech. Now it is just a matter of waiting – and trying not to completely annoy my family. In my own head I bounce between ‘yep, this is in the bag’ to ‘crap, I have to do all of this again next year because they will go with the other candidate’.

    Ok, I am done now. Well, for at least another five minutes.

  9. 9.

    Comrade Jake

    March 3, 2013 at 1:29 pm

    @Steeplejack:

    Well, that’s in reference to people who actually live there, such as our blog host.

  10. 10.

    Amir Khalid

    March 3, 2013 at 1:30 pm

    Saw Cloud Atlas today, but I don’t think I got everything at the first go. I’ll need to see it again.

    Also saw Lincoln this week. It’s impressive, as always from Spielberg. Daniel-Day Lewis is worth his Oscar, and Sally Field her nomination. But this is one of those movies where I sense that Spielberg is congratulating himself on a Movie With A High Purpose. He wasn’t like this with Schindler’s List; I reckon I first noticed this in Saving Private Ryan.

  11. 11.

    Comrade Jake

    March 3, 2013 at 1:30 pm

    @hildebrand:

    What field are you in?

  12. 12.

    Amir Khalid

    March 3, 2013 at 1:33 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    Like many here, I rejoice, rather, that Mitt is not POTUS.

  13. 13.

    Frankensteinbeck

    March 3, 2013 at 1:42 pm

    @Comrade Jake:
    The entire state is redneck central, except much worse than you can imagine.

  14. 14.

    scav

    March 3, 2013 at 1:46 pm

    Ex-Cardinal Keith O’Brien,

    In recent days certain allegations which have been made against me have become public. Initially, their anonymous and non-specific nature led me to contest them.

    “However, I wish to take this opportunity to admit that there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal.

    Guard
    Sorry, needed a lift, and besides, the above excuse seems of a more general applicability.

  15. 15.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 3, 2013 at 1:53 pm

    I simply cannot fathom the pathologically delusional self-importance of this man, and the fucked up priorities of people who think this subject was worth discussing on a program ostensibly dedicated to public affairs:

    Bob Woodward said Sunday that he will invite White House economic adviser Gene Sperling to his home as a peace-making gesture after a flurry of coverage over an email exchange between the two — and that he hopes Sperling will bring President Obama along for the visit.
    “He’s a peacemaker,” Woodward said on CBS’ “Face The Nation.” “I am in the business of listening, and I’m going to invite him over to my house if he’ll come and hopefully he’ll bring others from the White House, maybe the president himself, and we can — you know, talking really works.”

    Yes it does, and I’m about as interested in their personal relationship and their healing process as I am in feuds between Kardashians and Real Housewives.

  16. 16.

    Mnemosyne

    March 3, 2013 at 1:53 pm

    Charlotte is sitting next to the window chattering at the birds on the neighbors’ roof and getting annoyed at us for giggling at her for it.

    (If you’ve never seen your cat chatter at birds, this is what it looks/sounds like. That’s not Charlotte, just a random YouTube cat.)

  17. 17.

    Amir Khalid

    March 3, 2013 at 1:57 pm

    @scav:
    My understanding was that Catholic priests weren’t allowed any sexual conduct at all. Or, as a teacher at my Catholic mission high school put it (in reference to why it had fewer and fewer Catholic brothers on staff), “They cannot even hold the machine gun.”

  18. 18.

    Violet

    March 3, 2013 at 1:58 pm

    @Comrade Jake: Check out the southern part of the state around Fayetteville and Beckley and Summersville Lake. The rafting and other outdoor activities have really grown over the last decade or so and there’s lot of stuff for all ages to do. Even if you don’t want to raft, there’s hiking and some museum stuff the lake has general relaxing lake stuff.

  19. 19.

    MikeJ

    March 3, 2013 at 2:00 pm

    @Comrade Jake:

    Heh. It just happens to be the state that’s halfway between us and another family we’re trying to meet up with. I honestly have no idea if there are some cool spots or if the entire state is redneck central.

    Have you ever seen MTV’s Buckwild?

    Actually I have no idea what the whole state is like. I’m sure there are lovely parts with wonderful people. When I rode the C&O canal towpath I spent the night at Harpers Ferry. Hell of a way to end a long mileage day, climbing to the top of that hill. But it was a nice enough place with no indication of Buckwild-like things.

  20. 20.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 3, 2013 at 2:06 pm

    @Comrade Jake:

    Nothing to do with people, politics, or poverty, but an awful lot of West Virginia is just jaw-droopingly gorgeous. I drive through the state when I visit my Canadian relatives, and always look forward to that part of the trip.

  21. 21.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 3, 2013 at 2:07 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Dammit.

    Jaw-DROPPINGLY.

    Not jaw-DROOPINGLY.

    Stupid, stupid auto-correct.

  22. 22.

    mdblanche

    March 3, 2013 at 2:10 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Wait, wait, wait. I thought Sperling was a goon who threatened to take Woodward for a ride to sleep with the fishes. Now Woodward is inviting him and his worse-than-Nixon thug boss over for tea and kumbaya? I’m beginning to think Woodward is less scared than desperate for attention.

  23. 23.

    Suffern ACE

    March 3, 2013 at 2:13 pm

    Dennis Rodman, Elder Statesman? The earth swallows one man in Florida. a guy in Oklahoma may have spontaneously combusted. The pope selects brown shoes as his retirement wear. If someone told me that Assad was making an “it gets better” video, I would find no reason to question that story.

  24. 24.

    Mnemosyne

    March 3, 2013 at 2:13 pm

    @mdblanche:

    Starting to think? ;-)

  25. 25.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 3, 2013 at 2:13 pm

    @mdblanche:

    Desperate for attention? Woodward? Bob Woodward??

  26. 26.

    WereBear

    March 3, 2013 at 2:15 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Or, check out Renfield’s eerie laugh in 1931’s Dracula. At least, that’s how our Olwyn does it.

  27. 27.

    Melissa

    March 3, 2013 at 2:16 pm

    Anywhere near Seneca State Forest is beautiful and lots to do. The interpretative centre is great. Beware of the Poison Ivy I got while sitting on the edge of the Potomac River.

  28. 28.

    WereBear

    March 3, 2013 at 2:18 pm

    @Suffern ACE: So we ARE in the End Times?

  29. 29.

    mdblanche

    March 3, 2013 at 2:19 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: I know. I’m as surprised as you are.

    @Mnemosyne: Maybe. I’ll get back to on that, but first I’ve got to get my tongue unstuck from my cheek.

  30. 30.

    MattF

    March 3, 2013 at 2:29 pm

    From Steve Benen, the right-wing mashup of the week:

    http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/03/02/17159189-this-week-in-god?lite

    Pat Buchanan thinks it’s a great idea.

  31. 31.

    raven

    March 3, 2013 at 2:30 pm

    @Comrade Jake: Check out the schedule for the Augusta Heritage Festival in Elkins.

  32. 32.

    Mnemosyne

    March 3, 2013 at 2:32 pm

    @WereBear:

    I didn’t realize until I was older how perfect an imitation of that laugh Arte Johnson was doing in this movie.

    (I don’t care what anyone says, that movie is still damn funny. Though the version I have swapped in some crappy song for “I Love the Nightlife” in the big dance number.)

  33. 33.

    quannlace

    March 3, 2013 at 2:36 pm

    Like many here, I rejoice, rather, that Mitt is not POTUS.

    Yup. And the early hours of Election night were particularly stressful, since the early returns were all southern states going to Romney.
    ********
    Love how in that interview Ann again is going on (and on) about how wonderful, generous, self-less a guy ol’ Romney is. And implying it was all that big bad media’s fault that the voters never got that.

  34. 34.

    MattF

    March 3, 2013 at 2:51 pm

    @quannlace: It does look like “Defeated Republican Presidential Candidate” is becoming a category. And not a pretty one, either.

  35. 35.

    the Conster

    March 3, 2013 at 2:54 pm

    “We weren’t effective taking our message to minority voters. That was a failing. That was a real mistake,” said Romney.

    LOL. This cluelessness about what failed with minority voters is why a Republican will never win another presidential election. Keep fucking that chicken, goopers.

  36. 36.

    Ruckus

    March 3, 2013 at 2:54 pm

    @quannlace:
    The Media?
    They tried, oh how they tried, but at the end of the day if you start with a shit sammitch there really is no way to improve it.

  37. 37.

    Another Halocene Human

    March 3, 2013 at 2:54 pm

    Meh, I prefer Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya.

    Seeräuber Jenny

  38. 38.

    hildebrand

    March 3, 2013 at 2:56 pm

    @Comrade Jake: Medieval history.

  39. 39.

    Another Halocene Human

    March 3, 2013 at 2:58 pm

    @the Conster: Anybody who cuts off constituents or voters or whatever you want to call it with “I’m talking” is going to forever puzzle about what they got wrong.

  40. 40.

    Todd

    March 3, 2013 at 2:59 pm

    @the Conster:

    “We weren’t effective taking our message to minority voters. That was a failing. That was a real mistake,” said Romney.

    Gosh, Mitt, one wonders why 3 decades worth of conservative failure at helping lives improve materially didnt resonate in a positive way, particularly when accompanied with a “we hate you ni****s, you ruined everything” message.

    This is akin to kvetching about school testing results when kids look around and see little benefit to be gained for decent academic performance.

  41. 41.

    Another Halocene Human

    March 3, 2013 at 3:02 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Southeastern Kentucky is incredibly beautiful, lush country and it just kills me that the people there are so mean, xenophobic, and hateful. I don’t understand how you can be like that in such a beautiful place. Meh.

  42. 42.

    dance around in your bones

    March 3, 2013 at 3:03 pm

    @Mnemosyne: My cats used to chatter at birds through the screen door.

    Your link led me to COBRA CAT! Hysterical (and short).

    ETA: MUCH more entertaining than watching Todd, NR and T&H make fools of themselves on the thread down below (One Side Does It).

  43. 43.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 3, 2013 at 3:03 pm

    @Another Halocene Human: He also tried to say he was misunderstood or misspoke with the 47% remarks when if anything that notion has just spread throughout the Republican party. I see Ryan’s smug nonsense about the social safety hammock repeated by a lot of right wingers these days. They think that’s a devastating insight.

  44. 44.

    quannlace

    March 3, 2013 at 3:10 pm

    “We weren’t effective taking our message to minority voters. That was a failing. That was a real mistake,” said Romney.

    Now how many times during the campaign were we ‘reintroduced to Romney,’ ‘shown the real Romney,’ ‘tonight America will meet the real Romney’
    Maybe they can also blame that the little bio-pic that was supposed to air during the Repub convention got bumped for Clint Eastwood talking to a chair.

  45. 45.

    Another Halocene Human

    March 3, 2013 at 3:15 pm

    @Amir Khalid: My understanding was that Catholic priests weren’t allowed any sexual conduct at all.

    Yes, but,

    Not sure how this works out theologically, but culturally, within the church, even though just ogling somebody and liking what you see is a sin, for those priests and brothers in the life intermittent sexual outbreaks are considered much, much more acceptable than a committed relationship. (In fact, I wonder if the lid is ever going to blow off the fact that the American Jesuits have been tolerating that very quietly for years… I guess Ratzinger wasted all his ammo on lay professors at Catholic colleges and outspoken nuns. Jesuits are a religious order separate from parish priests, traditionally with a very different education and outlook. Among other things they’re a teaching order, and a lot of Jesuits can’t figure out why a long term relationship is supposed to be more sinful than a different guy every week, but Jesuits have LONG had a problem with knuckling under church authority, despite their “fanatical devotion to the pope”. I think they’ve been suppressed and rehabilitated twice already.)

    The reason, Amir, as odd as it sounds, is that for ethnic Catholics in the US, “living in sin”, cohabiting without marriage, was a sort of offense against church authority, whereas the guilt-ridden sneaking about may have been sinful but did not involve pride, it did not involve the challenging of Church authority in the intimate details of the life of the individual and the community. Losing that sway of fear over people was much more threatening, whereas sinning and the shame/guilt/catharsis cycle was precisely how the church maintained control over its adult members.

    Despite this, common law marriage was pretty common among people on the bottom of the economic ladder in the US in the early 20th century. The elaborate Catholic wedding was an expression of middle class achievement.

    ETA: Forgot to mention, in monastic orders there has long been a rule against “particular friendships” which means a close, clingy emotional relationship, whether or not sex is involved.

  46. 46.

    chopper

    March 3, 2013 at 3:20 pm

    @the Conster:

    “We weren’t effective taking our message to minority voters. That was a failing. That was a real mistake,” said Romney.

    oh, they were effective in taking their message to minority voters all right. the problem for mittens was that the message was ‘fuck you, minorities’.

  47. 47.

    Yutsano

    March 3, 2013 at 3:21 pm

    @dance around in your bones: KITTEH-FU!! When cats do that fur will fly!!

    I think that other thread should die. With fire. But hopefully the trolls will be busy down there all day.

  48. 48.

    the Conster

    March 3, 2013 at 3:23 pm

    @Another Halocene Human:

    To say nothing about telling minorities to self-deport. Yeah, Mitt, can’t imagine why that message failed with minorities.

  49. 49.

    Another Halocene Human

    March 3, 2013 at 3:28 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Hm, don’t knock the Kardashians. So there was nothing on at midnight when I hit the gym but E! playing endless K-sister drama and I pumped way more iron than I ever have watching Rachel and Lawrence O’Donnell. Sorry, Rachel. I think watching MSNBC just depresses me, plus I’m always trying to up the volume over the noise I’m making on the treadmill and straining to hear more than focusing on what I’m doing.

    Which is to say I wouldn’t be caught dead watching E! on the sofa at home (Agatha Christie mysteries, however…) but it beat dumbass pawn shop reality show reruns, “Locked Up”, “Yukon” whatever*, race car reruns, boring movies, HSN, and FOX. So it has its place.

    *-I was watching this b/c outdoors, and the accents are cute, but it was so damn fake and staged (and I ended up watching Kardashians–I KNOW!!) I had to flip the channel.

    If they would have been running something good on Animal Planet, like the NYC SPCA or the Maine game wardens show or the guy who gets snakes out of peoples’ houses, or even that one show that is nothing but cute cat videos, Kim and I would have been splitsville.

  50. 50.

    Dan

    March 3, 2013 at 3:31 pm

    @Amir Khalid: a lot of that could be due to John Williams. Spielberg should be able to ask him to dial it back a little.

  51. 51.

    dance around in your bones

    March 3, 2013 at 3:32 pm

    @Yutsano: I know, it’s like Kung Fu kittie!

    I guess he just didn’t get to the wax on/wax off bit.

    I think that other thread should die. With fire. But hopefully the trolls will be busy down there all day.

    I find those threads so dreary – the same points being made over and over to trolls who are impervious to logic. Why bother.

    Kung Fu Kitteh!

  52. 52.

    scav

    March 3, 2013 at 3:32 pm

    Keep writing off more and more groups of people as “minorities” over and over again and you’ve eventually backed yourself into a pretty small “majority”. whoops.

  53. 53.

    WereBear

    March 3, 2013 at 3:35 pm

    I think Romney’s intentions came through clear as crystal… and THAT was the “mistake.”

  54. 54.

    catclub

    March 3, 2013 at 3:36 pm

    @Comrade Jake: Isn’t The Greenbrier Resort there? WV

    I would recommend Chalet Club in NC mountains. I have only been there once – 35 years ago. It was ideal for a high school kid who likes to read and can entertain himself. Not sure if it has changed since then, but I am pretty sure it still exists.

  55. 55.

    dance around in your bones

    March 3, 2013 at 3:38 pm

    @WereBear: So true.

    It’s the same problem the Repubs have as a party – it’s not their ‘messaging’ or their ‘outreach to minorities’ (tokens) IT’S THEIR GAWDAMN POLICIES! No ‘messaging’ is going to cure that ill.

  56. 56.

    JoyfulA

    March 3, 2013 at 3:41 pm

    @Another Halocene Human: And that “living in sin” doesn’t mean unmarried; it means not having had an official Catholic marriage. I encountered priestly tirades more than once as the Protestant half of a mixed marriage.

  57. 57.

    Mnemosyne

    March 3, 2013 at 3:46 pm

    @dance around in your bones:

    BTW, G is very very jealous to hear that you live in SB now. His work-related dream is that the manager of their branch office in SB will retire and he can get that position and we can move there.

  58. 58.

    dance around in your bones

    March 3, 2013 at 3:57 pm

    @Mnemosyne: So sorry to make G jealous!

    It is an incredibly beautiful place – ocean on one side, mountains on the other and no billboards or out of control signage, lots of lovely old beach cottage type homes (w/the occasional McMansion next door), old missions and tons of healthy-ass things to do. Lotsa shiny happy people, too….(i.e. you can oogle the hot bodies of either sex you prefer as long as you are discrete about it).

    I hope y’all make it out here some day!

  59. 59.

    Mnemosyne

    March 3, 2013 at 4:06 pm

    @dance around in your bones:

    Oh, we visit at least once a year — we were just up there for a day trip when my mother-in-law was in town. It’s just that G would like to make it a permanent vacation. ;-)

    We usually stay at the Cheshire Cat Inn on Valerio Street. It’s just far away from downtown that it’s reasonably quiet but close enough to walk to just about everywhere we want to go.

  60. 60.

    WereBear

    March 3, 2013 at 4:07 pm

    @JoyfulA: And yet I’m watching the 2006 documentary, Deliver Us From Evil. Where a woman, molested as an eight year old, was told by Catholic authorities that because the contact was “heterosexual” they did not consider this “sick” and decided the priest was simply “curious” and so they did not act.

    And apparently a priest is not allow to form emotional ties with anyone? And yet they counsel people on their problems? I was raised Baptist and they are very weird… but this sounds so twisted to me. I just can’t grasp it.

  61. 61.

    raven

    March 3, 2013 at 4:09 pm

    @dance around in your bones: In 1970 I had flunked out of Illinois after one semester. My buddy and I went to Tempe, over to LA and then headed of to thumb to Mexico. When we got to San Diego we ran into some dudes who said it was a bad idea for 2 long hairs to be hitch hiking south of the border so we took the advice and headed for San Francisco where some of my buddies from the Army were. We made it up to Santa Barbara and plopped on a corner right by the newly torched Bank of America and tried to thumb a ride to the bay. This was before there was an interstate all the way and that part of the PCH was primo for hitchin because of the stoplights. We stayed there for 24 hrs. People in front of us and behind us would get rides but we just stood there. Now, my pal had a jewfro as big as Angela Davis and, while my hair was still fairly short, the motorcycle jackets probably didn’t make us all that appealing to Mr Jones. We finally had to give up and go to the bus station where we brilliantly got on a local from SB to SF. It stopped at every intersection in the entire goddamn San Joaquin Valley. Took is most of another day to get there. And that’s my Santa Barbara story girls and boys. I still have the sign that we used.

  62. 62.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    March 3, 2013 at 4:22 pm

    @dance around in your bones: I like the place too; I have friends who live in Carpinteria, so I’m down there a few times a year.

  63. 63.

    dance around in your bones

    March 3, 2013 at 4:30 pm

    @raven: Well, it’s a good story!

    My husband had his long hair forcibly cut at the Mexican border, so you’re right – they didn’t care for the long-hairs.

    Ok, here’s my ‘Watch this!’ story….my sister and I were hitchiking to LA after we got stranded in San Fran (after a long cross-Canada trip with 5 girls in a VW bug) and got picked up by a truck driver. We were cruising along at night (sister asleep in trucker’s little bed in the back) when trucker said “Hey, have you ever seen the phosphorous on the ocean?”

    “No, sez I”, dumb little 15 yr old grrl. He pulls over and we walk along the low little sea wall, looking at the glow on the waves. Then – “Watch this!” he sez, and does a one-handed jump over the sea wall.

    I hear nothing, and nothing and nothing, then a terrible moan way far away. I look over the wall and it’s about 80 feet down to the sand. Run back to the truck and wake up my sister, saying “I think the truck driver is dead or something!” We stand in the highway waving down cars to no effect until a CHP comes along.

    Trip to the hospital, where truck driver has a broken back and the cop tells us trucker had about 3 different ID’s on him. “You girls were lucky! sez cop. “He prolly would have raped you”.

    Cop takes us to an all-night coffee shop where he tells the waitress to keep an eye on us and that he will be checking in every hour until dawn. He did.

    Next morning he took us to the bus station where we scratched up enough dough for tickets to LA. And then there’s a whole ‘nother part to the story about our week in LA at an old guys’ SRO hotel.

    Oh, and I had a handful of acid tabs in my pocket, so I was really glad cop didn’t search us.

    “Watch this!” It’s really real.

  64. 64.

    Mnemosyne

    March 3, 2013 at 4:31 pm

    @The prophet Nostradumbass:

    I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned the seal rookery in Carpinteria before, but it sounds pretty cool. We tried to go see it one summer, but we went too late in the season — they tend to head back into the ocean by the end of May.

  65. 65.

    Mike in NC

    March 3, 2013 at 4:36 pm

    @dance around in your bones:

    My husband had his long hair forcibly cut at the Mexican border, so you’re right – they didn’t care for the long-hairs.

    Hmm. I recall reading about some guy who was into forcibly cutting people’s hair. The name is right on the tip of my tongue. Someone help me out here.

  66. 66.

    ColleenMary

    March 3, 2013 at 4:36 pm

    @Comrade Jake: There’s an alpaca farm and B&B just over the WV border into Maryland. Alpacas at Rivers Edge Farm. Website is http://www.barbsalpacas.com Neat place to stay, near the Potomac River, towpath, lakes, kids love alpacas, Barb is lovely and knows everything about cool things to do nearby.

  67. 67.

    dance around in your bones

    March 3, 2013 at 4:37 pm

    @Mike in NC: Money-boo-boo?

  68. 68.

    Elizabelle

    March 3, 2013 at 4:39 pm

    @dance around in your bones:

    And here you were begging us yesterday morning to keep YOU entertained.

    Watch this. LOL.

  69. 69.

    trollhattan

    March 3, 2013 at 4:40 pm

    @quannlace:

    “Hola, chums, whither the releasing of el perro?”

    Willard’s minority outreach was a thing of wonder, fer sure.

  70. 70.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 3, 2013 at 4:41 pm

    @Another Halocene Human: It is that. For that matter, north Georgia is just gorgeous, but it is true Deliverance country. I don’t understand it either.

  71. 71.

    Baud

    March 3, 2013 at 4:48 pm

    @raven: @dance around in your bones:

    On one hand, I have no interesting stories to tell. On the other, I’m sure the only stories I might have had would have ended in my death.

  72. 72.

    dance around in your bones

    March 3, 2013 at 4:48 pm

    @Elizabelle: Hey, I could keep this up all day!

    Try the veal, and don’t forget to tip the waitress.

  73. 73.

    raven

    March 3, 2013 at 4:52 pm

    @dance around in your bones: Killer. Ok, here we go. Xmas time probably 73. We had driven to Mexico (with really long hair) to fish down at Guaymas. Engine lunched in the chevy wagon but we nursed it back to Tucson. My grandmother was dying in LA and my mom said “you gotta get here”! My ex, ralph the dog and I hit the road to thumb over. We got up to 10 and, like you, a trucker pulled over. He was a Nam vet and he had been burned on his legs the night before in Dallas by a guy who was steam cleaning his ride. We hop in and she and Ralphie get in the sleeper. Bout 20 miles down the road he and I are babblin about the Nam and he blows right through and AZ Highway Patrol roadside check. They run us down and he tells my lady to hide in the cab and me and the woofer get out. The cops are runnin the “the hitch hiker will kill you” to him and the “the trucker will kill you to me”. Finally they both turn their attention to him and I’m playing stick with the dog. I look down and there’s 12 gauge sawed off laying in the sand. I bent over and picked it up and yelled “hey look what I found”. The cops both drew down on my dumb ass and I dropped it and froze. They did their thing on the radio and figured out that it had been used in a holdup in Phoenix the night before. They searched the cab and not only did they not find my old lady but they missed the pills and weed stuck up in his AC vent. The cops said he could take me to the next interchange but had to let me out there. We got in and hustled down the road and he said “fuck em” they don’t tell me what to do in my own truck”! God we were stupid and lucky.

  74. 74.

    Maude

    March 3, 2013 at 4:52 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    #70, The jokes tell themselves.

  75. 75.

    raven

    March 3, 2013 at 4:54 pm

    @Mike in NC: It was an Amish deal.

  76. 76.

    dance around in your bones

    March 3, 2013 at 4:56 pm

    @Baud: So MANY of my stories could have ended up in my death.

    I can’t believe I’ve made it to almost 60 (this year). My hubby used to have that t-shirt that said “Live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse”. Well, he made it to 64, much to his dismay.

    I still needed him and I still feeded him. He even had all his hair still, Mexicans be damned! (It grows back).

  77. 77.

    raven

    March 3, 2013 at 4:58 pm

    And I just learned if you get caught up in writing something you CAN burn a turkey neck in damn pressure cooker!

  78. 78.

    Baud

    March 3, 2013 at 5:02 pm

    @dance around in your bones:

    I’m glad you made it, DAIYB!

  79. 79.

    raven

    March 3, 2013 at 5:02 pm

    @dance around in your bones: If I knew I was gonna live this long I would have taken better care of myself.

  80. 80.

    Mnemosyne

    March 3, 2013 at 5:03 pm

    @Baud:

    Same here — my extended family has a poor track record when it comes to surviving their own stupidity, so I tried to avoid getting into those situations. But I do love to hear other people’s stories of lucky survival!

  81. 81.

    trollhattan

    March 3, 2013 at 5:05 pm

    NASA “coronal rain” video of the sun.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFT7ATLQQx8&feature=player_embedded

    Completely hypnotizing. H/T TRMS blog.

  82. 82.

    raven

    March 3, 2013 at 5:05 pm

    @dance around in your bones: I kept my ponytail from the time I broke my back in a van wreck in Atlanta in 74. They piled my hair up and taped it with athletic tape. After they saved my life, installed rods on my spine and looked after me for two months the tape came off. Not washing really long hair for two months gets pretty nasty (this was right before dreads hit). Live fast and die young indeed.

  83. 83.

    Wvskir

    March 3, 2013 at 5:06 pm

    Stonewall Jackson Lake is fabulous @Comrade Jake:

  84. 84.

    Wvskir

    March 3, 2013 at 5:07 pm

    Stonewall Jackson Lake is fabulous

  85. 85.

    Patricia Kayden

    March 3, 2013 at 5:08 pm

    @mdblanche: You’re just figuring that out now? Seeking attention is a nice way of putting it.

    And what makes him think President Obama has time to go to his house for dinner? Wow. Just wow at the hubris. I would love President Obama to come to MY house for dinner too.

  86. 86.

    Baud

    March 3, 2013 at 5:08 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Battling trolls on Balloon Juice is about all the excitement I have in my life.

    I am one sad, pathetic SOB.

  87. 87.

    Yutsano

    March 3, 2013 at 5:11 pm

    Uh-oh…The Swiss r being mean to their jerb creaters!!

  88. 88.

    raven

    March 3, 2013 at 5:11 pm

    @Baud: Go easy on yourself.

  89. 89.

    Patricia Kayden

    March 3, 2013 at 5:11 pm

    @the Conster: Yet even after his defeat he was talking about minority moochers/takers. Why is he worried about his “minority outreach” now?

    Princess Anne and Romneybot 2.0 need to enjoy their retirement years and stop pining for what was never going to happen.

  90. 90.

    Maude

    March 3, 2013 at 5:11 pm

    @trollhattan:
    I bookmarked it. If I get poor man’s broadband, I’ll watch it.
    Gonna call tomorrow.

  91. 91.

    dance around in your bones

    March 3, 2013 at 5:14 pm

    @raven: Gawd, your stories are great.

    Ok, second part of the story – we get to LA, with zero money, and need to find a way back to Albuquerque. Start the thumbing thing, and a big black guy pulls over in his Cadillac (I am not making this up)and sez “You wanna go to San Bernadino, baby? I’ll take you to San Bernadino”.

    We drive for about a block before he throws his arm over the seat and sez “Slide on over here, baby!”

    My sister started screaming like a banshee and pulled out her Swiss Army knife and brandished it in his face. He pulled over and threw us out and we walked the block back to the bus station.

    We ended up going to Traveler’s Aid, who referred us to the city kid welfare department (we were 15 and 16). Had to sign some document that our father wasn’t supporting us anymore (I felt bad about that) and they put us up in the old guys’ SRO hotel for a week and gave us $5 a day to eat on. We ate a lot of Taco Bell and der Weinerschitzel hotdogs (5 for a dollar!); the old guys at the hotel were very kind and protective with us, and finally we got on a bus back to ABQ.

    There is a lot more to the story but that will have to suffice for now :)

  92. 92.

    raven

    March 3, 2013 at 5:19 pm

    @dance around in your bones: Where were you coming from across Canada?

    I hear you, they are gonna ban us if we keep it up. Jamaica, Amarillo, Boston Common, Hwy A1A. . .all near death or long jail terms. Such a night it was.

  93. 93.

    raven

    March 3, 2013 at 5:22 pm

    @dance around in your bones: Oh, ABQ. Have you ever seen “The World’s Fastest Indian”. Great LA motel piece in it.

  94. 94.

    Mnemosyne

    March 3, 2013 at 5:28 pm

    @Baud:

    I did ride my 3-speed bike on Huntington Drive yesterday, where there are no bike lanes and the drivers don’t bother to check for other vehicles before pulling out of parking spaces at 60MPH. That was enough excitement for me for the week.

  95. 95.

    dance around in your bones

    March 3, 2013 at 5:30 pm

    @Baud: Thanks, Baud. I kinda can’t believe it myself.

    @raven: FIDO.

    Uh, the Canada trip started in Baltimore, up through New York state to Quebec, all the way across Canada (through Regina, Saskatchewan! which made us roar with laughter every time we said it) to Vancouver. Crossed the border back into the UsofA thinking we’d just wave at the border guys and drive through.

    They TORE US APART. All our camping gear and tent and duffel bags AND THEY DIDN’T EVEN PUT IT BACK TOGETHER! Plus they found the little pot pipe I’d hidden in my panties. Got a lecture but they let us go.

  96. 96.

    raven

    March 3, 2013 at 5:34 pm

    @dance around in your bones: Yep. I took my sister up to Sault Sainte Marie when her boyfriend split the draft. I hitched back and at the border there was an American family that was going to take me all the way back to Chicago. Motherfuckers made me get out, went through all my shit and made me sit long enough for the folks to have to leave. “Thanks for your service”.

  97. 97.

    Yutsano

    March 3, 2013 at 5:39 pm

    @efgoldman: All of our furloughs are scheduled to start after filing season, so my guess is we get the word starting April 1st (since they have to give us 30 days) and then who knows what happens.

    Back is good. Hips are killing me but I’ll survive until we do something.

  98. 98.

    Another Halocene Human

    March 3, 2013 at 5:40 pm

    @JoyfulA: Pretty ironic given that a thousand years ago village people had to beg priests to bless their marriages and even when they did, they did it outside because inside would profane the church (that’s also why they were traditionally held on Saturdays). Now it’s a “sacrament”. Lolwut.

  99. 99.

    dance around in your bones

    March 3, 2013 at 5:41 pm

    @raven:

    I’d be inclined to say to them “Well, fuck you very much!” but I have learned that being obsequious to police/customs agents and the like is much less hassle. Even if it is galling at the time.

  100. 100.

    raven

    March 3, 2013 at 5:43 pm

    @dance around in your bones: Yea, I was in no position to do that up in the north woods. That was a year after the well placed fuck you to a cop landed my face in a brick wall and my ass behind bars.

  101. 101.

    Another Halocene Human

    March 3, 2013 at 5:46 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: No lie. A Black acquaintance of mine was in Dahlonega looking at some real estate with his wife and some old white guy made threatening statements to try to run them off. (Implying they still had a curfew, don’t be caught here after 9pm, etc.)

    The AT trailhead itself is okay. The state park there attracts Atlanta people. Very different phenotype, not to mention attitude.

  102. 102.

    raven

    March 3, 2013 at 5:53 pm

    @Another Halocene Human: Yea, that’s where the dude murdered that poor girl from Athens.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8

Recent Comments

  • Sebastian on War for Ukraine Day 390: The Owl Has Sharp Talons! (Mar 21, 2023 @ 4:01am)
  • Traveller on War for Ukraine Day 390: The Owl Has Sharp Talons! (Mar 21, 2023 @ 4:00am)
  • NotMax on Late Night Open Thread: Schadenfreude Shots All Round! (Mar 21, 2023 @ 3:27am)
  • 🐾BillinGlendaleCA on Late Night Open Thread: Schadenfreude Shots All Round! (Mar 21, 2023 @ 3:18am)
  • Frankensteinbeck on Late Night Open Thread: Schadenfreude Shots All Round! (Mar 21, 2023 @ 3:18am)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
We All Need A Little Kindness
Classified Documents: A Primer
State & Local Elections Discussion

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
TaMara
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Join the Fight!

Join the Fight Signup Form
All Join the Fight Posts

Balloon Juice Events

5/14  The Apocalypse
5/20  Home Away from Home
5/29  We’re Back, Baby
7/21  Merging!

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!