Welcome to Xenosthesia

Milk and cookies keeping you awake?

To paraphrase a movie that does not have a theme of milk and cookies, or even a central plot point of milk and cookies (or, as far as I can remember, any prop of milk and cookies).

And that is the point of this particular ‘barchive * post. If you’re new to my articles and rants and sometimes-mentions of mountain biking, then you’ll be well informed to know these posts are not always the same. I find article content steeped in tradition, or one-topic-only ‘blogs, to be rather dull. Though they may be specialized and informative, they don’t catch my interest. They don’t keep my attention. So I’d rather view the world, life, and even the collective observations through a much broader lens.

If you’re new to my site and are wondering, “What is it all about?” well, it’s about anything and everything. At times it’s about Guitar Superheroes, at others it’s about science, and still others it’s about biking up and down those hills large enough to be called mountains.

Should you feel a bit like me and you don’t want to have the same conversation every time you run into someone, then you’ll probably appreciate my posts. Your wide range of interests will find a home here.

There’s bound to be something that doesn’t capture your interest, and I get that. I’m not interested in all the same things as everyone else. You may not be interested in the same things as me. At least here you won’t be tormented like you are with that uncle of yours who tells the same joke every single time you meet him. This is not your uncle’s platform.

It’s mine.

*A ‘barchive is a web archive.

Alcohol

Through it all, we used the alcohol. . .

. . .on our hands.

For sterilization, the alcohol has a high percentage of efficiency. Not many germs can survive when subjected to alcohol.

Some of us even thought our hands wouldn’t survive when smothered in the stuff.

It has a strong odor because it evaporates almost immediately. Regardless of whether it has scents added, or left by itself, the evaporation is inescapable.

No small number of people has grown accustomed to the smell of alcohol. Still, there are many who are done with the smell of it on their hands, and other people’s hands, from here to eternity.

True we couldn’t have survived without it, but the only reason we keep it around is because it works, not because we enjoy the smell.

Killing germs isn’t all, alcohol also has a cooling effect. It can leave surfaces pleasantly cool to the touch.

Although it can cool things, it can also dry them. If you use alcohol to sterilize your hands, you may find your hands cracking. They look like they’re shrinking out of sight.

One of the best solutions is aloe. The aloe plant has amazing moisture inside which can help skin heal.

If you know, you ask for aloe.

The BRAG

“Did a thing,” is a signpost for boasting ahead.

You know it! Time then, for a little bragging.

Recently, I did a thing. I entered two different screenplays in two different competitions.

One contest was for general spec scripts while the other was more specifically for comedies. I’m planning on entering more contests, since I have several more screenplays. I’ve got a couple more comedies, a sci-fi, a script that would work best as a computer animated feature, and a TV series. These two competitions I mentioned are the only ones which were open early 2021, so obviously I’m holding on to the other works. As the other competitions come open I’ll enter those as well.

There are multiple reasons these competitions are good.

  1. They have a deadline. If you’re like me, you’ll just keep on writing and writing, entering the fantasy worlds of your mind, never letting anyone ever see what you’ve produced, and keep it all to yourself. With a deadline (or should we say “due date”?), you’re forced to publicly share those worlds at a certain specified time. Without that time limit, the tendency to keep up the old habits is tremendous. Yeah, I’m expressing my own habits here. If you don’t relate, form your own habits.
  2. With some competitions there is promise of exposure. Flowing right out of the previous reason, this is a way to share the fantastic, bombastic, and quite often plastic worlds swirling around the imagination. Likewise, someone out there might be needing the very escapism you’ve been enjoying in your daydreams. Someone out there might be ready to pay for the brand of art you create. Let the consumers of entertainment know you have something to offer by putting your name and your art out there. 
  3. Prizes. There are monetary prizes and swag for the winners and runners-up in these contests, so why not make the attempt? It’s a motivation of sorts. If other motivations such as pleasure in the work don’t get you moving, then possibly prize money will.
  4. Suspense. Believe it or not, the writer of fiction needs to know how to describe suspense. What better way is there than being knee-deep in anticipation to teach a person what suspense feels like? The due date looms—that’s suspense. The announcement of the winners is coming—that’s suspense.
  5. The BRAG. Number 5, and my final reason, is for bragging rights. If you think I brag too much entering the contests, just wait ’til I win.

Personal Orbit

Zooming around our own personal orbit, we’re like electrons, waiting for the electric wave to catch us up and carry us away. The space we have to bounce around in is too confining for an energetic element.

How could any gravity even contain so much energy? If this dynamic form stored it for too long, the result would be like an intergalactic ricochet.

We’re quantum. We’re unstoppable. No natural laws define our movement, though we do enjoy an artful circle now and then. If obstacles get in our way, we go around, and around, and around. The random trajectories appeal, no doubt about it. However, we love to repeat when the scene is pleasant.

True, no barrier could possibly contain us, though a fast and convenient playground may keep us occupied for a long time. Who could resist the slide? Who could resist going for a ride?

Who could say no to a thin cover of frost to take the mundane to higher levels of fun? It could even be said the resistance in us is directly related to the resistance in the orbit.

There is space to be filled, and dynamic elements ready to explore.

Holding A Grudge

Not reserved for people who’ve been wronged, holding a grudge is also a novel way to occupy your time. You might be wondering about this new sport. “How do I join in the action?” The first requirement is another person. It takes at least two. Although I’ve heard of someone holding a grudge against the entire NHL organization, it’s much easier with smaller numbers. The grudge against the NHL didn’t last long because there was no way to vent to everyone at once, not to mention the teams got better the following year, so there was no longer a point to the grudge.

Likewise, it’s good to hold a grudge against those you know, because you see them more often and you can call them out by name. Plus, you probably know something about them few other people know, so the insults can be really juicy.

The only other real requirement is that you can communicate your grudge somehow, like speaking the same language. If, for instance, you hold a grudge against your neighbor for never trimming that apple tree so it stops dropping apples in your yard, it won’t do much if your neighbor speaks Swahili and you speak French. I don’t know how many Swahili speaking people there are in the world, it was just a far-out language I could use as an example.

Next you’ll need to know how to do it. Some grudge jocks prefer the method of passive-agressive insults, others like to play demeaning jokes on the focus of their grudge. One man in Florida intentionally moved three houses away from someone so he could leave little “gifts” by their door. The gifts ranged from stolen bicycles to stolen backhoes. He was trying to get his grudge neighbor arrested. Eventually he was the one who got arrested, but at least he played the sport like a champ. No doubt about it, he’s a legend in the grudge sport hall of fame.

In another historical grudge match, one man held a grudge against former President Jimmy Carter. That man is now dead and Jimmy Carter lives on. Looks like Jimmy had the last laugh on that one.

One of the best, most successful, grudge stars is Dean Koontz. It’s claimed among the literary community that he held a grudge against one person for so long he managed to write them into every one of his 497 books. He changed their name of course, but the person he held a grudge against has been shot, stabbed, set on fire, drowned, buried alive, lobotomized, colonoscopized, dismembered, dragged behind horses, whipped, throttled, and drowned again—all symbolically, of course.

Whatever your preferred method of holding and taking action on your grudge, remember these wise words from Confucius:

“Tolerance is for those who don’t know any good pranks.”