Prologue
From the windows to the wall (to wall?),
Till the sweat drops from my….
Well, that’s as far as I can get in that little ditty before things get a little too risque for a “family friendly web page”. Sure, you may argue that me naming “The Stand” as a book I’ve read over and over treads into dangerous territory. However, I kept it clean and anything that people discover from reading the book is the responsibility of Mr. King. So, read “The Stand” at your own risk, I suppose.
Lilodini, Escape Artist
Yesterday, I put “outdoor adventure” in quotes because it was “just a walk with the pup”. Oh my, a quoted phrase follow up to a formerly quoted phrase. This is gonna be good. Trust me. It was. I just hope that I can do it justice. We walked our usual route and made it about halfway. She tied herself around a light pole as she sometimes does. I tried to extract her from that predicament. This is where it goes sideways.
She somehow slipped her lead as I tried to save her. She looked at me. I looked at her. I knew I had 15 seconds, at most, until she realized and took advantage of her freedom. “Lilo”, I said as calmly and non threatening as I could manage. She cocked her head. I repeated her name. She cocked her head the other way. I risked taking a step towards her. Big mistake. The spell broke and she ran across the street, somehow managing to barely be missed by two cars, one coming in either direction.
I sighed. Having experience chasing Reese when he was a puppy, I knew this could take at least a half and hour and might even take all day.
Lilopocalypse, Destroyer of Walks
As luck would have it, a runner approached us and tried to help. At first, she seemed amenable to this kind stranger. Then, something inside her snapped. She either detected danger or wanted to test her newly found voice. She did her new barking at strangers thing that she recently discovered. He looked at me. I reassured him that she is not a threat. He trusted me initially. As the intensity of her barking increased, he reassessed the situation and his part in it and ran for it. She boxed him in a few times, perhaps as a last FU to me and my initial reassurances. Eventually, her short attention span ran out, she got bored, and allowed him to escape.
Resuming her game of chicken with a suddenly busy Main Street. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. But, I live in Orange, Massachusetts. As I’ve been telling people recently, we have Trailhead, Wal*Mart, a brewery, and now a dispensary if that’s your thing. Busy Main Street here is usually the line of busses either dropping off or picking up students from school. This was about 5:30, the usual rush hour for a city. The universe’s sense of humor continued to taunt me.
Spider-Lilo: Homecoming
I tried the old, “Fine, I guess you’re staying here and living here forever.” She smiled. I know people think that dogs can’t smile, but she did. It was one of those sardonic, taunting side smiles that Captain America always gives before saying, “I can do this all day.” As far as I knew, that’s exactly what she wanted. To become a vagrant dog wandering along Main Street in Orange, Massachusetts waiting for unsuspecting people to come along and begging for food and pets.
One of the residents came out of her house with one of those toothbrush treats. I’m sure she heard some of my colorful language and prepared to call the cops on this raving lunatic abusing (note, there was no actual abuse) his poor dog. Proving that she was just being obstinate, Lilo came right over to take the treat and then bolted when we tried to detain her. After another couple of rounds of dodging traffic (she had to have gotten a high score on Frogger), she relented and realized the we had both food and water for her. She allowed me to attach her leash and we walked home without further incident. Oh, we did see the runner from earlier waiting to cross the street, but I slowed my pace to allow him to avoid our tyranny.
The question for today: What do you display on the walls of your home — photos,
posters, artwork, nothing? How do you choose what to display? What mood are you trying to create?
Journal Part 1 – “Wall to Wall (at School)”
I have a memory wall in my classroom. I don’t remember how it started. I’m not sure how I’ve chosen everything to display. I can’t even reliably identify any particular mood that I’m trying to elicit. Is nostalgia a mood? I suppose it can be considered as such. I mean with the social media hashtagization of life, anything can be #MoodAF, right? Well, I’ll let you decide for yourself.
I have artwork from the students (both serious and funny), a Christmas card from two years ago with a poetic quote about Mathematics, a couple of programs from theater productions put on by the school, a thank you card that I received from a student this year, and a memorial card of a student who passed away last school year. See, if nostalgia is a mood, that’s the one I’m trying to elicit with the memory wall.
Journal Part 2 – “Wall to Wall (at Home)”
I actually thought long and hard about how to answer this question for my wall decorations at home. Do I talk about the room I’m currently in and where I spend most of my time? In that case, it is decorated with many pictures of the family. To be honest, that’s how most of the walls in the house is decorated. So, the mood is, again, nostalgia. There is also one of those inspirational sayings on the wall, “May our home know joy, each room hold laughter, every window open to great possibilities.” What can I say? Christine chose the decorations.
If we consider a room that has walls decorated by me, we have to look at the former playroom, then game room, and now Aiden’s bedroom. The walls contain posters from various Marvel properties, the cardboard inserts from Magic the Gathering bundles, miscellaneous treasures from Loot Crate, YuGiOh and Pokemon, and a partridge in a pear tree. As far as I know, that last one is a joke. It could be true. I haven’t looked closely at everything up there.
So, what’s this mood? Your guess is as good as anyone’s. It just sort of matches the chaos of nerditude that circulates in my brain 24/7. Comics, video games, CCG, RPG, board games, miniatures…You can get a taste of that chaos on the main page, if you like.
Epilogue
My choice in wall decorations seem to always want to bring nostalgia alive. I often say that I’m not much for nostalgia, but I’ve amended that as I’ve gotten older. I’m not one for “forced nostalgia”. I don’t like being told that I miss a certain era or brand simply because that brand wants me to spend money. Like when they tried to make Woodstock a yearly festival back in the 90s and the spirits of the old hippies haunted them until the last one ended in violence. Don’t mess with the hippies, Man. But, give me a pack of Magic the Gathering cards, an RPG source book, or emulator to play my favorite old games and you’ll keep me busy for hours on end as I reminisce with my friends via text about how great things used to be.