The World of Stuff .com

700th post

Yesterday my friend Sean invited me to go to Lake Ida with him and some other friends, including Mike, for his birthday. His birthday was actually two weeks ago, but he was away then, so he celebrated it later. Not only did I give Sean a gift for his birthday, but he gave me a gift for mine. That’s what’s cool about your friend’s birthday being the day after yours.

We went in the mid-afternoon, which I had been told was a good time to go because most of the people were gone by then. It wasn’t very crowded. There was a lot of equipment to be brought: a personal water craft, a wakeboard, several inflatable inner-tube-type things, and of course, food. The weather was great for everything. There were clouds, but there was no rain. The clouds were mostly overhead, so it was bright enough without being hot, and I didn’t have to squint when I was outside.

At first, Mike tried to wakeboard, but he couldn’t get himself upright after many tries. Later, Mike and I rode an inner-tube-type thing tied to the PWC. The inner tube was long and you had to kneel on it in a single file while holding a handle in front of you. That made balancing kind of tricky, particularly on turns. Mike and I didn’t do so well at the whole balancing thing. We fell off a bunch of times, and at high speed, too. When this thing tips over, you lose your grip, close your eyes, and feel yourself tumbling and skidding along the surface of the water. The next thing you know, your life jacket is keeping you afloat and everybody’s laughing with you and trying to figure out who caused the accident.

So after six or eight or ten of those little mishaps, it was other people’s turn to have some fun, so I sat back and watched. My neck, as you might imagine, hurt quite a bit from all those falls. I committed myself to enjoying all the food and watching other people fall off inner tubes. Later, as it was getting dark, Sean took me out for a spin on the PWC. Man, did we go fast. I thought we were going to flip over on some of those turns, and I was trying to remember what I had learned about balancing from my last experience. It was quite a thrill. We really need to get one of those.

Sean’s mom mentioned that they should go back to the lake before summer vacation ends. That would be great. I had a good time, and I have the sore neck to prove it. Also, I heart my chiropractor.

Did you know that 90% of Ask Jordon questions come from my friends?

Gilbert: Why am I so cool? In fact, why are you…?

You’re cool because you’re like me, and I myself am cool. I’m cool because — wait. We’re not cool. Well, maybe you are, but not me. If you’re cool, it’s because of the ways you’re not like me, my friend. Can you make sense of that? Because I don’t think I can. That’s how uncool I am.

elles: what’s your view on love? (just in general)

Well, Elle(s), that’s a big question that I’m not really sure how to answer. It’s hard to explain how I feel about it. It all depends on the context, I guess. Let me tell you, unrequited love is the worst feeling in the world. You probably know that, but I know it more. On the flip side, there’s nothing in life that’s sweeter than someone loving you. That’s based on my inferences, of course, because such conditions are impossible for me to produce in everyday life! There was this one time when I asked out a girl and she said yes. That was a natural high right there. I know, I’ve said this a million times, but I never felt so good in my life. I felt like I could take on the world. But there was a misunderstanding, and we ended up not going out. Figures!

Just in general, my view on love is that it’s a good thing…. sometimes.

The earth is over 5 billion years old. It’s really hard for most of us to wrap our minds around such a length of time. Luckily, a simple way to visualize it is to use a roll of toilet paper as a timeline. If you have a roll that’s about 44 m long, then all of recorded history would take up the last 1 mm. Isn’t that wild?

Oh, those Japanese. It must have taken a lot of work to set up loads of everyday household objects so that they would fall like dominoes (YouTube link).

One year ago: “Hopefully by then we’ll be able and allowed to go.”
Two years ago: “But when (if) I get my driver’s permit, I better make sure they get it right lest I actually become Jordan Kalilich.”