Pismo

9.1.2k1

I got a bunch of projects I just can’t seem to get off the ground. I got others that are in various states of development: Some almost finished, some just started and others in a state of perpetual hold. Like my ship-in-a-bottle. Man, I was the happiest clam in the chowder when I found that sucker on the eBay. The listing claimed, “The romance of the tall sailing ships can be magically captured in a bottle,” and boy, by the look of the finished product on the scanned packaging they weren’t joking. Four big masts, lots of rigging, the sails fakey-full of air … one could almost taste the salt spray.
I’ve done a fair amount of internet auction buying. I was told early on how to win them: Wait until there’s ten seconds left in the auction then bid your max. That way you’ll certainly win if you are the highest bidder, as there is no time left for anyone to out-bid you. If your bid is not the highest, then: A. You make the other bidder pay more (which is sorta sneaky-cool), and B. You take solace in the fact that you’re not paying more than your max.
So this ship-in-a-bottle started at a great low price. I watched it for a few days as the price went up a little, then a little more, and still a little more. On the last day of the auction the price was still within my max and the minor bidding-war had subsided. Just noisy_pants331 left with a high bid of $33.45. I synced my PB’s clock with eBay’s and counted down the minutes – ten, five, one – then the seconds – 45, 30, 20, 15! Oh how exciting! At ten seconds to go I placed my bid: $44.51 and I became the high bidder! Moments later I won! Yee ha! Somewhere out there I heard noisy_pants331 scream in anguish – the plaintive, anguished lament of the recently-defeated in bidding. Sucker!
I paid electronically with the PayPal and a week later a rather large, heavy box arrived via the UPS. I cracked that sucker open and dang there were a lot of parts. And the bottle was bigger than I thought. A lot of parts, a big bottle with a small hole. This was going to take a while.
In anticipation of the project I had gone to the hardware store and upgraded my tweezer collection. I got two copper-plated flathead tweezers, a solid brass needle-nose tweezer and a custom-painted stainless steel alligator clip tweezer. (I had a local artisan who specializes in painting “Your Name On A Grain Of Rice” paint a vista of the driftwood-littered beach in Monterey on the shaft of the tweezer.) I also went to the optics depot and got a couple magnifying glasses. One was a free-standing one that you could position, one was a pair of magnifying goggles and I couldn’t resist the old-school Sherlock Holmes antique.
Yeah, so, piece by piece I got the hull put together. It was a total pain. Then I put the deck on. Jesus. That took a month. The masts took another month. That’s when I took a break. The thought of stringing up the rigging shivered me timbers. That was two years ago. Haven’t touched the sucker since.
Got several projects in limbo like the ship-in-a-bottle. When I gear up to take them on, something gets in the way. Most often it’s a six-pack of Vida Alta that road blocks.

North Beach drinkey-poos here:

Drinkey Poo

News: Okay. One more week to pick out code names. Several of you lovely list members have submitted some clever names. Now for the rest of you. You’ll need a code name for future Venue Announcements.Submit via email here: Code Name
Kathleen is back onna list. yea!
Golden Boy Pizza is right around the corner from tonight’s venue. Do yourself a favor and get a slice. Mmm-mmm!
Mary Haring had an announcement but I forgot what it was.

Comments: tnsc@therein-lies.com

TONIGHT'S CONTEST: Find the reference!

Last Week’s Contest results: For the reference to “Backwards K” Longtime List Member Mrs. Alan J. Chimenti posted this found reference: “Barry Bonds, strike out, K is the scorekeeping symbol for strike out. Specific enough?” It’s funny that she said “Specific enough” because, sadly, it’s not quite specific enough. As an out of state List member pointed out, the backwards K is the scorekeeping symbol for a called third strike, the kind cock … er … Barry Bonds had for the last out in last year’s playoff game. So our winner … Longtime List Member Mrs. Alan J. Chimenti. Huh? you say? “Why not,” Robot says.

Dramatic reenactment: Filling in for Tonight’s Dramatic reenactment is Tonight’s Satanic Word: Chimenti

TONIGHT'S SINGLED-OUT LIST MEMBER: Mark Bobek. He's back from Asia for a week.

PORN TITLE OF THE WEEK: Der Porno Filmer (Sounds like a foriegn job.)

ummm ... tonight. The bar. Bring your friends. I know I will. See you there!

bye-ee!