How Worldly Are You? Take My Quiz and Find Out

I see so many of these life experience quizzes, and – mostly – they all seem the same. So, I decided to go bigger for all those souls who are maxxed out on the questionnaires that deal in questions like: “Have you ever been married?” and “Have you ever ridden a horse?”

So, give yourself one point for each yes answer (or partial points as described) tally up your points, and be sure to see the scoring guide at the bottom. Best of luck! [Also, please do NOT post your score in the comments section. I do not want any legal / moral hassles.]

[WARNING: Maybe distressing to: a.) those who’ve suffered trauma; or b.) those who are easily traumatized.]

1.) Have you ever plotted a coup? [Give yourself ½ point if it was only a workplace coup – unless your workplace is / was a military (or another part of the national security complex,) then it’s definitely a full point.]

2.) Has anyone ever died while having sex with you? [Give yourself a ½ point if you were a tertiary participant in an orgy or ménage à trois at the time.]

3.) Have you ever hired an expert in the removal of bloodstains?

4.) Have you ever been mauled by a bear or any other mammal heavier than a badger?

5.) Have you ever poisoned anyone? [Give yourself ½ point if it was entirely by accident.]

6.) Have you ever been hunted for sport? [Note: that does NOT say “been hunting” – i.e. have you ever been chased around by one or more armed persons who intended you harm?]

7.) Have you ever eaten human flesh? [Give yourself a full point even if you were not aware of what you were eating beforehand.]

8.) Have you ever participated in a mutiny? [A full point for mutiny both on the high sea and on the low sea, but only a ½ point if it was on a cruise ship.]

9.) Have you ever been on a private island that took full advantage of the fact that no national laws applied there?

10.) Have you ever forgotten the name of someone you are related to by blood or marriage for more than two minutes? [If you have dementia or Alzheimer’s, you should not be completing this survey.]

11.) Have you ever helped someone dispose of a package that you have reason to believe was once a human body? [Give yourself a 1/2 point if you were completely oblivious to the possibility until after the fact – e.g. you really and truly believed you were dumping some rolled up carpets until you saw the news story about the disappearance of your best friend’s nemesis. FYI – If your best friend has someone in his or her life who can legitimately be called a “nemesis,” you should be less gullible – and should reevaluate your friendships.]

12.) Have you ever woken up in a country where you didn’t speak the language, having no recollection of how you got there?

13.) Have you ever had a scare whereby you thought one or more of your organs had been harvested?

14.) Have you ever thought you were abducted by aliens, only to piece together what truly happened from memory scraps and witness testimony over subsequent days, and then earnestly wished you had been abducted by aliens?

15.) Have you ever been trapped under rubble?

16.) Have you ever engaged in a bare-knuckle cage fight in which there was neither a cage nor protective equipment of any kind? [Zero points for light sparring at local gym or dojo.]

17.) Have you ever fallen through a portal to another dimension only to later realize you consumed (or licked) something that was not safe for human consumption?

18.) Have you ever slid or fallen down a mountain into a tree or rock devoid of a sled, skis, a snowboard, a bobsled, or any other means of downhill conveyance?

19.) Have you ever been a hostage? [Zero points if other people would call it an “intervention” or being institutionalized for not being of sound mind. On second thought, give yourself a 1/2 point for being institutionalized for not being of sound mind.]

20.) Have you ever unwittingly joined a cult?

SCORING GUIDE:

15 – 20 points: Congratulations, you may have lived one of the most interesting – not to mention, luck-filled – lives of any living human. You should definitely sell your memiors to Random House. Alternatively, you are a compulsive liar and should seek therapy. Also, if you are not a compulsive liar, seek therapy anyway. [Your advance will more than cover it.]

10 – 14 points: Congratulations, you have made — oh so — many poor life decisions and lived to tell the tale. If you are not institutionalized, you soon will be.

5 – 9 points: You, too, have made a number of poor life choices, but not necessarily with the nine lives of a cat or the people with scores above you. Be careful, you probably occupy the most dangerous scoring segment.

1 – 4 point(s): I’m going to take a wild swing and say that you slipped and fell down (or off) a mountain, or you nodded “yes” and briefly ended up in a cult — but you got away before they extracted all your worldly possessions [or maybe both of the above.] Your memory may be slipping, and quite possibly your definition of a mountain is in question, but you’re probably going to be okay.

0 points: Congratulations on a nice safe life… but maybe you should get out more?

PROMPT: Crazy Business

Daily writing prompt
Come up with a crazy business idea.

Well, as we all know that voice-activated “digital assistants” (e.g. Siri and Alexa,) have both become insanely popular that they and spy on you around the clock, gathering information to sell to “big data” marketing firms, I propose a service that would involve coming to your house and making noises and statements that would turn the collected “information” into disinformation. The best part is, the package could be tailored to your desires and preferences. If you’re a milquetoast person but don’t like that reputation, you could get the Orgy Pack which would make your house sound like a non-stop bacchanal. If you’re really a mobster, there could be the sounds of meetings to set up a church bingo night. The possibilities are endless.

Remember, until the Robot Uprising, don’t let yourself be punked by the machines. Subscribe to DISINFORMATION DAILY today.

Firewalker Limerick

There once was a wild-eyed firewalker
 whose show turned out to be a shocker.
   His feet were unharmed,
   but clothes not as charmed.
  they burst aflame & he became a firesquawker.

Bad Parenting [Common Meter]

I don't mean to cast aspersions,
but it would seem to me
parents shouldn't give a child stabby
things 'fore the age of three.

I don't know whether this household
has a pup or kitty,
but if the kid can spear the floor
the pets ain't look'n pretty.

Saying a babe shouldn't have a spear,
you'll call me "left-wing nut,"
but I don't like dog-on-a-stick:
even if it's a mutt. 

DAILY PHOTO: Bull Oversees the Line at Soylent Green Production Facility

Taken on July 24, 2021 in Sigandur, KA, India

Prague Limerick

There was a clockmaker of Prague,
master of the spring, gear, and cog.
To thwart a reprise,
they poked out his eyes,
that mean Old Town Council of Prague.

Note: There is some disagreement as to whether this actually happened, but it makes an intriguing story. i.e. The town government blinding a craftsman with red-hot pokers to prevent him from building a more beautiful clock for another town. [It reminds me of a similar story (or, possibly, old wives’ tale) about Shah Jahan ordering the Taj Mahal craftsmen’s hands cut off so that they could never eclipse that structure’s beauty.] The rest of the Prague clockmaker’s story is that he returned to his creation and, despite his blindness, smashed up the mechanisms so badly that they couldn’t be repaired.

POEM: Old Soulless Zombie

He was an old, soulless Zombie
I met in a diner out on Route 5.

He said he’d kill us all,
but I thought he was joshing.

Then when his music was over–
an ELO tune from the jukebox—
he lunged at the waitress and
bit her clean through the carotid.

It spurt like a shock therapy patient
had a ketchup squeeze bottle in hand.

The diner’s diners commented,

“Surely, that old, soulless Zombie
isn’t gnawing on that poor girl?”

“Poor child probably don’t make minimum wage—
even with tips—
and now an old, soulless Zombie has his chompers in her.”

How to Kill a “Cereal Killer” and Restore Halloween

cereal killerI know what you’re going to say. Why would I want to murder a cereal killer, a taco belle, a holy cow, a pig in a blanket, a deviled egg, or any of the other bearers of bad Halloween punnery? First, you want to kill someone.  You don’t have to admit it to me and I’d advise against admitting it to the District Attorney, but at least admit it to yourself. Second, if you kill the person you really want to kill (e.g. your boss, the tax man, your personal trainer, or your hairdresser—sorry, low blow) you’ll be the lead suspect. Therefore, you need to find a way to vent your homicidal rage into productive outlets, and I’d argue that the killing of punsters is community service. You shouldn’t even think of it as murder. It’s more like culling the Halloween herd. Forest fires kill, but the next year the forest is more lush and beautiful than ever before.

 

Now let’s get down to the real reason to conduct your own Halloween killing spree. Because it’s the perfect time for the perfect crime. Think about it.

  • Anonymity: Except for the lazy people who wear a T-shirt with “Halloween Costume” printed in unimaginative block letters, everybody is in makeup or has their head stuffed in some stinking mask that five people have thrown up in within the last three years. This makes it almost impossible to identify suspects. The lazy bastards would be eliminated immediately anyway because it takes commitment to be a homicidal maniac.
  • Relative Inconspicuousness: You won’t be the only one who’s apparently blood spattered. Besides Marti Gras and full moons, what other nights can one say that. There will be large numbers of people wielding weapons and looking creepy. What better time to blend in?
  • Distraction: If I might be granted a brief diatribe. Halloween used to be the holiday of terror, but no more. Valentine’s Day may be the holiday of romance (or florists), but Halloween is the holiday of sex. However, you can use this trend to your advantage. There’s a great deal of distraction to be garnered from the proliferation of sexy nurses, sexy waitresses, and sexy actuarials. When the girl whose costume is painted on rather than worn walks through the room to get a single potato chip, that’s a good time to jab the hypodermic into the neck of the nearest drunk pun and get the hell out of dodge.

 

So how will you choose your target? First, as indicated, it’s best to pick someone who’s inebriated because no one will realize they’re dead–and not just passed out–until they begin to stink. Don’t worry, finding a drunk won’t be hard. At a given Halloween party there will be four designated drivers for the 150 people in attendance—so 148 people will be completely hammered. [No, my math is not that bad. Two of those designated drivers are cheating bastards. If you kill a pun who’s a cheating designated driver you’ve hit the trifecta—OK, maybe my math is that bad. At any rate, you get bonus points. ]

 

Next comes the question of determining whether the costume is a pun or not. This can be harder than it seems. Sure there are the easy ones I mentioned above (and others like Kevin “Bacon” [Kevin nametag on a meat vest], “Bat” Man [w/ Louisville Slugger], Down for the Count [Dracula with a blowup doll orally affixed to his crotch region], Spice Girl, Dust Bunny, Formal Apology [tuxedo-clad man with “sorry” written on his tie], etc.) that will be immediately obvious.

 

However, what if one sees a guy in a Grim Reaper costume with a bag of pot. Perhaps this is just someone who likes to imbibe. However, if the pot is dayglow green, then you may have a “the grass is greener on the other side” who desperately needs killing. The key is that one must pay attention to the details. Sometimes the costume will be poorly done. Imagine a fine “Tom the Cat” costume with three misshaped spheres feebly stapled to the crotch region. This is a “horny as a three-balled tom cat” who must die.

 

On the other hand, you should avoid reading too much into costumes. Say you see a girl who looks like a stripper. You shouldn’t engage in some Rube Goldberg-esque thought process in which you conclude that she is saying, “All that glitters is not gold–because sometimes it’s a stripper.” Said woman may merely be costumed as a stripper, or might be a stripper who just got off stage and didn’t have time to go out looking for a costume.

 

When in doubt, if the costume doesn’t seem to make a lick of sense, it’s probably someone’s sense of clever gone awry and you shouldn’t feel bad about friendly fire against a non-pun.

 

Finally, some general rules of thumb (BTW: feel free to kill anyone dressed in a giant mitten with a page of the tax code taped to the thumb):

  • Only kill one pun per party. Being a killer of puns is like being a Marine Sniper—except that it’s completely illegal and involves no honor whatsoever—my point is that if you loiter in place you’ll get pinned down by the Vietcong. It doesn’t matter whether the party in question has the best pigs in a blanket (i.e. the hors doeuvres, not the cutesy couple costume), the best DJ, or the sluttiest witches, maids, librarians, or geologists in town. Don’t get greedy. Get in and get out—well, you can grab a handful of those delectable pigs in a blanket on the way out, but then get out of the house!
  • Never wear the same costume to more than one party. The police call that a clue. You have to be like Kathrine Heigl in that 27 Dresses  movie—which I never saw. Do the quick change like Clark Kent between parties. That brings me to an alternative killing scheme whereby you can kill anyone who’s dressed as a character from a romantic comedy.
  • Don’t consume a lot of legumes, high fiber foods, beer, or Taco Bell before your outing. Just because no one will see your face inside that barf-splotched mask doesn’t mean they won’t be able to smell you. Plus the zippers in costumes are unreliable, and you don’t want a case of Taco Trots to hamper your evening’s fun.
  • Don’t wear a costume that’s too menacing. You want to be able to point to someone who is nearby, completely innocent, and who looks like a killer and say, “she did it.” Also, don’t wear the “Identity Thief” costume in which one has name tags all over one’s outfit with different names. First, it plants the seed of criminality in the mind of those around you. Second, it’s a bad pun and may result in your being stabbed. Which brings me to the ultimate rule:
  • Don’t wear a pun costume yourself, it may result in your being stabbed. I’m not saying that I once stabbed a prostitute with a Seeing Eye dog who turned out to be just another good-hearted Halloween killer because “love is blind,” but…

 

I hope this guide to perpetrating a Halloween massacre has been helpful. I think we’d all like to bring the fear back to Halloween like all the Saints who partied down on All Saints’ Day Eve intended. So, whether you’re a first time killer or you’ve been around the block (another potential costume cliché to kill), a few simple steps will keep you out of the hands of the slutty cops—or regular cops.

First World Problems Are So Adorable

 

How deep is it? No one knows.

How deep is it? No one knows.

In the interest of enhancing global understanding and camaraderie, I’ve built a translator of common first world (FW) problems–putting them in terms of their Rest of the World (RoW) equivalents.

FW: This food needs salt.
RoW: This food needs food.

FW: My health insurance premiums went up $20 per month.
RoW: My right foot, which recently turned from purple to black, just fell off.

FW: My car is in the shop again.
RoW: My right foot, which recently turned from purple to black, just fell off.

FW: It’s raining again today.
RoW: My house was washed off its foundations and is currently floating down the Brahmaputra River.

FW: Looks like those devils from the other party got a majority in the legislature.
RoW: This coup was particularly bloody.

FW: Squirrels are getting into my bird feeder.
RoW: A tiger ate my family.

FW: A traffic jam made me late for Pilates class.
RoW: While limping through the Kyber Pass to get antibiotics for my right stump, I was socked in by an unanticipated blizzard.

FW: My GPS says this road cuts under the interstate, but now I’ve got to go around.
RoW: What’s GPS?

10 Tips for Averting Tiger Attacks

As with mean drunks, never interrupt a drinking tiger

As with mean drunks, never interrupt a drinking tiger

I was working on a short story that involved a tiger attack, and–knowing almost nothing about the subject–I did a little research. I found some fascinating factoids. Here are some important tips to keep in mind in tiger country:

1.) Avoid squatting postures as it’s thought that many tiger attack victims are cases of mistaken identity. That is, sometimes an individual crouching to do his business or whatnot is mistaken for a tastier species. Apparently, tigers don’t realize that humans are the only creatures that wear clothing. Despite attempts by missionaries to educate tigers on biblical stories such as that of Adam and Eve, tigers continue to see themselves as god’s favorites.

2.) Avoid wearing leather, it makes you smell and taste like cow. While cows are sacred in India, tigers have denied receiving that memo. Or perhaps tigers are like members of PETA and are attacking those wearing animal hides to make a bold statement… but I doubt it.

3.) Avoid carrying meat in your pockets. Enough said.

4.) If one is attacked, don’t immediately counter-attack. Some tigers are just trying to express their passionate feelings on the subject of breakfast cereal, and one would not like a needless fight to ensue. One should only partake in needless fights when one has a good shot at winning– no offense to any one who has ever fought Manny Pacquiao.

5.) Don’t leave your dead out and about. Apparently, human is an acquired taste that tigers will find a fun exotic treat once they get used to it. We are the Rocky Mountain Oysters of the tiger world.

6.)  Be aware of your surroundings, and–as with Zombies–CARDIO-CARDIO-CARDIO. Tigers can run at speeds of up to 35 miles per hour (56km/hr.) for short bursts, but have the stamina of a pack-a-day smoker. If you can keep them from getting close to you, they’ll lose interest.

7.) Stay in the city. Tigers almost never go into the city because they tend to attract unwanted attention. The average tiger weighs about 400 pounds (180 kg.) and the orange and black stripe pattern that camouflages surprisingly well in wild sticks out everywhere except Paul Brown Stadium or the lingerie section of an inner-city K-Mart.

8.) If you are attacked, the tiger will leap up and put its fore paws on one’s shoulders to push one over onto one’s back so that the cat can leisurely crush one’s neck in his or her mouth. When the tiger rears up on its hind-legs you may either try a kick to the crotch or to engage the predator in a foxtrot. The former offers a 1 in 10,000,000 chance of success. The latter has never been tried before, and so no one can rightly speak to its likelihood of success, though it’s suggested that one not try to lead (You must recognize that–at that point– you are the tiger’s bitch.)

9.)  Because humans aren’t ideal tiger food but we are slow, weak, and are skilled in disciplines like “managerial analysis” rather than hunting or survival in the wild, man-eating tigers tend to be the old and infirm cats that find gazelle and antelope both too fast and jungle savvy. Because only the oldest of cats tend to attack, a sure strategy is to get your attacker talking about how things were back in his day and how the current generation of tigers are all misfits and hooligans.

10.)  If you’re attacked, make loud noises and violent “shooing” gestures with your arms. You’ll still be eaten, but you will appear quite brave on the video in comparison to those who go fetal and poo themselves.

Best wishes and be safe out there.