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It’s Not the Size of the Ship…

Okay look, this is hard to admit… but I’ve admitted worse things here at Brown Road Chronicles… so I’m gonna just come right out and say it…

I’m starting to feel a little inadequate… okay, not just a little inadequate… totally inadequate… like really fucking totally inadequate… because mine just isn’t very big. In fact after seeing some of these other ones, I think mine is just plain small! Like… really freakin’ small! I’ve always felt so good about it too, like it was one of the bigger ones, something I could be proud of and show off… and even tell my friends about.  But lately I’ve seen some on-line that are just freakin’ huge! I don’t know how they grew them to be that big. I mean I’ve been working really hard on mine, but it just doesn’t seem to be growing. It was growing for a little while, but lately it has just sort of plateaued and frankly I’m coming to realize that it never really was that big in the first place. I guess I had just told myself it was big… huge even… but it’s clearly not.

My wife even said to me the other day, “Steve, it’s not really as big as you think it is, you’re giving it a lot more credit than it really warrants, and I’ve certainly spent some time with it. I mean, don’t get me wrong, its great and all and you do a great job with it… but it’s pretty small compared to what else is out there.”

Wow, talk about a blow to the ego… my own wife has even noticed. I’ve tried everything too, taken the recommendations of all the experts on ways to increase its size, did the exercises, spent the money on the gimmicks. But I guess those recommendations just don’t really work, well at least they haven’t worked in my case.  I don’t know… I’ll admit it can be a little frustrating. At least it hasn’t started shrinking yet.

I know, I know… I can hear you saying it… it’s not the size that’s really important. I know… really I do. What’s that old saying, “it’s not the size of the ship…” Okay look, I get that, I understand that it’s the relationships and the way you use it to develop those relationships. It’s the response you get to it. It’s the presentation. It’s making someone happy with it. It’s what you get out of it personally.  It’s the release you get from it. Sure, I know it’s all those things, but let’s face it… that’s all so cliché… we all know that the size is important… it just is… especially in this ego driven world we live in. The bigger the better, right?  We all may say the size isn’t important, but we all know it is. It’s what drives us, it’s what gets us up in the morning, it’s what keeps us coming back day after day.

I saw this ad the other day… It seems legit, so I was thinking I might give it a try.

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Zen and the Art of Home Maintenance

Clerk:  Good morning sir! Welcome to Home Depot, is there something I can help you find today?

Me:  Yes, I’m looking for the Zen.

Clerk:  Excuse me?

Me:  The Zen.  Can you tell me where I can find the Zen.

Clerk:  I’m sorry sir, I don’t understand what you are asking, is that like a brand of something?

Me:  No… not a brand… Zen… like in the book…

Clerk:  Uhhhh… the book?

Me:  Yes, the  book… “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”… have you read it?

Clerk:  No sir, I’m only 20, I’ve never heard of that book.

Me:  Oh… well, I haven’t read it all either…  I tried reading it five or six times when I was your age, but could never finish it. It was very complicated. Anyhow, from what I remember, the main character was always able to fix his motorcycle and keep everything in tip-top shape, while his friend’s motorcycle was always breaking down.

Clerk:  Okay… uhhh… so what does that have to do with what brought you in here today?

Me:  Well… everything is breaking.

Clerk:  What do you mean, everything is breaking?

Me:  At my house, everything is breaking. I have this list of things that have broken and need to be fixed, but I just can’t seem to get to all of it anymore.  I used to think it was fun to fix things, but now it’s just not interesting anymore.  Here… look at this list… there’s like fifty things on this list… dishwasher, bedroom screens, window cranks, electrical sockets, storm door window, lawn mower, security light, barn door handle, downstairs shower…

Clerk:  interrupts  Yeah, yeah, okay, I get it…

Me: I was hoping I could find some Zen and that might help me… you know… get everything fixed back up.

Clerk:  Yeah… okay… uhhhh… let me get my manager, maybe he can help.

A few minutes later

Manager: Hello sir! Welcome to Home Depot, how can I help you today?

Me: Well, everything at my house is breaking and I can’t seem to get it all fixed… so I’m looking for the Zen.

Manager: I’m sorry sir, what is the Zen?

Me:  Zen… like in the book…

Manager:  Uhhhh… the book?

Me:  Yes, the  book… “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”… have you read it?

Manager: Ohhhh, I see….. yes, I have read it… you know, sir… it doesn’t really have much to do with Zen… or motorcycle maintenance… or even maintenance in general. It is really an essay on the subject of quality and how quality is the source of our perception of things… you know, rightness and wrongness… it’s about thinking dualistically, separating mind from matter… and how when we have feelings of uncertainty… well, that is the very thing that we should engage, in order to learn more about truth and about ourselves.  You sound like someone who enjoys your home romantically, right? What I mean by that is… you enjoy the experience you feel when you’re in the home or out in the yard, the feeling you get when the wind is whistling through the windows or a soft snowfall is falling outside and a warm fire is crackling in your fireplace. On the other hand, some people enjoy their home classically, they understand and are compelled by the structure of it and all its working parts, how the rooms flow together in a seamless workable format. This was addressed in the book…  see the main character was always focused classically on his motorcycle, the mechanics of it and keeping it well maintained, while his friends were only focused on the romantic part of the journey, the wind in their hair, the picturesque scenery. You see, a person with a classical understanding sees the world and it’s underlying structure, while a person with a romantic understanding sees only the outside appearance, the instant gratification. This is all covered in the book… of course, that endless search for quality is what drove the main character in sane… that’s sort of the premise of the story… what leads him on their bike trip in the first place.  So I don’t think it’s Zen you are after… I think you just need to find that balance between a classical definition of your inner existence and psyche and a romantic definition… and in doing so, attempt to bridge the gap between humanity and science and resolve the metaphysical definition of quality… does that make sense?

Me:  Uhhh… no, not really… so you don’t have Zen?

Manager:  No I’m sorry sir, we don’t have Zen… is there anything else I can help you with?

Me:  Can you tell me where I can find the duct tape?

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Hilarious or Hysterical?!?

Do you think I am hilarious? Or even better, do you think I am hysterical?

Many of us, including myself, use these words interchangeably. In fact, I probably use the word hysterical more frequently than the word hilarious. As in “dude, that post was hysterical!”

But I got to wondering which was the appropriate word to use in a situation where you find one of my posts funny… or I find one of your posts funny.

So I did a little research.

Hilarious means: marked by or causing hilarity; extremely funny.

Hilarity means: cheerfulness; mirthfulness; boisterous gaiety or merriment.

If you weren’t sure, like I wasn’t, mirthfully means: joyous; gay; jolly: a mirthful laugh; providing mirth; amusing: a mirthful experience.

On the other hand…

Hysterical means: of, pertaining to, or characterized by hysteria; uncontrollably emotional; irrational from fear, emotion, or an emotional shock; causing hysteria; suffering from or subject to hysteria.

Hysteria means: a psychoneurosis marked by emotional excitability and disturbances of the psychic, sensory, vasomotor, and visceral functions; behavior exhibiting overwhelming or unmanageable fear or emotional excess.

With all that in mind and after reading through some older posts… well… I guess I don’t really know which is the appropriate word.

So I thought I’d take a poll:

 

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Sunday Search Term Limericks

Here’s five fun limericks based on some of this weeks most intriguing search terms. Warning: may contain R-rated material and potty jokes and/or references to Men from Nantucket.

The links are where these folks likely ended up.

1.
“Peanut butter and jelly fine dining”
You searched this as your wife was pining
For a meal with her beau
But you had little dough
And your chances of sex were declining

2.
You didn’t know quite what to do
You had clogged up your girlfriends loo
So while staring at turds
You typed in the words
“flushing an unflushable poo”

3.
You had run over someone’s cat
The sound it made, something like SPLAT!
Now your tire looked low
But you didn’t quite know
So you searched the words “is my tire flat”

4.
You pulled out your favorite tubes
From your basket of sexual lubes
But something was creeping
A rodent was peeping
So you searched “squirrel looking at boobs”

5.
You were selected to be on a panel
For a show on the Hillbilly channel
But your knowledge was short
Of your part to report
So you searched “stoned goat wearing flannel”

Perhaps I’ll have to turn this into a weekly feature! Your challenge? Write me a limerick from one of your recent funny search terms. It’s harder than you might think!

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