The Magic Door revisitied
Well I must admit I do like the fringey characters, at least most of the time. Those who live on the psychic "outskirts" of town. There was one I knew in College, a friend of a friend, who definitely had a connection with some other dimension.
Not sure what he was studying there as far as a major, but he was apparently writing a book on "alternative lifestyles". As to what sort of "lifestyles" were referred to here(political, social, sexual, all of the above)I never found out. But he was an author pretending to be a student. Or maybe a student pretending to be an author. Never found that out either as far as which was which...
But an interesting character, whatever his pretensions. Had a poster in his room that said, in huge letters: FUCK authority. And then these two little characters at the bottom: "All authority?" "Yep, all authority". Okay this was the 70's(the decade that spawned the word lifestyle as well, for that matter), and the poster has since been watered-down to say Question authority(wimpywimpywimpy, but that's another blog!). He was real big on personal freedoms, which is- well, probably cool.
One of his two salient characteristics was that he was a nicknamer. Had a nickname for just about everyone, and they were all pretty- well, tart maybe. The friend I knew him through was The Educated Goldfish, due to thick glasses and thick lips. I was Tobacco-Pouch Beard(or, for convenience: TPB. "I was talking with TPB today", he'd say to my friend). Then there was this little Chinese girl, Squeaky Teapot, and her stocky Romanian boyfriend, Beef Stroganoff. And a guy he called Slamdoorface since he looked like he'd had a door slammed in his face. " But Ma." "Shuddup, boy!!"(slam!!).
Well okay, being a nicknamer in itself isn't that big a deal. I mean, it is cool, but there are a few folks out there who are skilled in the fine art of sobriquet. Among them is a musician friend of mine who once gave this name to a guy who useta help as a roadie: 10-watt. (For, of course, having 10 watts of brain power, strangely enough about half the capacity of the normal human brain!) . Whew!
Besides the nickname thing(and this is the other salient characteristic), he invented a baseball game played with cards. And he would hold the games I guess in his dorm room but they'd take place in Pearly Gates Memorial Stadium. And the players were--well, us! Tobacco-Pouch Beard, The Educated Goldfish, Squeaky Teapot, Beef Stroganoff. Maybe even Slamdoorface, for that matter("but Ma"..)..Never witnessed one of these games and don't know the mechanics of the game as far as what card means what(or doesn't mean what), and don't know anyone who did. But all the same he would regale us with the goings-on at the games, and how we performed.
He definitely had his own domain, probably pretty close in with the guy who thought he was in The Flock(see The Magic Door a bit further down), and probably just needs a thumbprint to get through his own Magic Door...
What the hell. He wasn't hurting anyone, and it made him happy. At least I think it did. And it was pretty entertaining to those of us he'd nicknamed and appointed positions on his team. I just wish Tobacco-Pouch Beard could've had a better RBI that season..
Not sure what he was studying there as far as a major, but he was apparently writing a book on "alternative lifestyles". As to what sort of "lifestyles" were referred to here(political, social, sexual, all of the above)I never found out. But he was an author pretending to be a student. Or maybe a student pretending to be an author. Never found that out either as far as which was which...
But an interesting character, whatever his pretensions. Had a poster in his room that said, in huge letters: FUCK authority. And then these two little characters at the bottom: "All authority?" "Yep, all authority". Okay this was the 70's(the decade that spawned the word lifestyle as well, for that matter), and the poster has since been watered-down to say Question authority(wimpywimpywimpy, but that's another blog!). He was real big on personal freedoms, which is- well, probably cool.
One of his two salient characteristics was that he was a nicknamer. Had a nickname for just about everyone, and they were all pretty- well, tart maybe. The friend I knew him through was The Educated Goldfish, due to thick glasses and thick lips. I was Tobacco-Pouch Beard(or, for convenience: TPB. "I was talking with TPB today", he'd say to my friend). Then there was this little Chinese girl, Squeaky Teapot, and her stocky Romanian boyfriend, Beef Stroganoff. And a guy he called Slamdoorface since he looked like he'd had a door slammed in his face. " But Ma." "Shuddup, boy!!"(slam!!).
Well okay, being a nicknamer in itself isn't that big a deal. I mean, it is cool, but there are a few folks out there who are skilled in the fine art of sobriquet. Among them is a musician friend of mine who once gave this name to a guy who useta help as a roadie: 10-watt. (For, of course, having 10 watts of brain power, strangely enough about half the capacity of the normal human brain!) . Whew!
Besides the nickname thing(and this is the other salient characteristic), he invented a baseball game played with cards. And he would hold the games I guess in his dorm room but they'd take place in Pearly Gates Memorial Stadium. And the players were--well, us! Tobacco-Pouch Beard, The Educated Goldfish, Squeaky Teapot, Beef Stroganoff. Maybe even Slamdoorface, for that matter("but Ma"..)..Never witnessed one of these games and don't know the mechanics of the game as far as what card means what(or doesn't mean what), and don't know anyone who did. But all the same he would regale us with the goings-on at the games, and how we performed.
He definitely had his own domain, probably pretty close in with the guy who thought he was in The Flock(see The Magic Door a bit further down), and probably just needs a thumbprint to get through his own Magic Door...
What the hell. He wasn't hurting anyone, and it made him happy. At least I think it did. And it was pretty entertaining to those of us he'd nicknamed and appointed positions on his team. I just wish Tobacco-Pouch Beard could've had a better RBI that season..
posted by Roger U Roundly at 11:51 AM
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