...wasn't even something intentional.
First, a bit of history. One of his nicknames for me years ago was Mr. Acronym. He wasn't being mean with that, if anything it was a compliment. Back in the day there wasn't an acronym I didn't know, and was forever making everything else into acronym. So it was well deserved. I was the UDA (Universal Dictionary of Acronyms) hand me one and I'd tell you what it meant. When many people in the business in those days spoke in jargon, I spoke in acronyms. I wish I was kidding, regrettably, not so much.
So last night we were having a great time, and he said something about acronyms, and mentioned one and I shrugged. "Oh come on Sam, you must know what that means..." For the life of me I didn't, and I looked at him and said you should probably sit down, I need to tell you something important. "What? You can tell me anything you know that." "No, really, I think you should sit down for this" I said with all seriousness "you'll be glad you did."
So he sat down and I said "I'm not really all that into the itty bitty details of what every acronym means. At this point in my life all those letters just don't mean anything to me and clutter up life with tiny details to pack my head full of trivia that doesn't do anything for me. I'm more into how things feel, how they make me and everyone else feel." The look on his face was priceless, the shock written there, and for a moment he was speachless. Finally he said "Who. Are. You?" and after a moment I said aren't you glad you were sitting down?
To be honest I really think that shocked him more than when I told him I was fixing my gender issues.
I think being shocked by you might be a rather enjoyable experience...unlike some of my other electrical adventures!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas, my angel friend, and may the New Year bring much happiness!
alan
Yes, because I have more than enough background in electronics and technology to know how to do it without causing damage, or worse, death. My, I've been hit by lightening twice, short of an extremely high current load, I don't think I can be shocked anymore. I once had the flyback transformer from a computer monitor dump into my arm, got a little burn mark, and felt a wee tickle, but otherwise it was uneventful. I should have been at year least blown across the room and badly burned. Not so much though. I'm strange that way. When I was a kid I used to stick things into the AC mains and hold on until the tickling stopped. Usually because the breaker had tripped. To say my father wasn't amused would be a gross misuse of language. Probably would have got a good beating if he hadn't been so confused. He kept looking at me saying "Child, you just get stranger all the time. Why ain't you dead?"
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to you and the whole family Alan. I hope the New Year is happy, healthy and prosperous for you and yours!
sam
We were sitting in the living room watching something on TV some 20 years ago when suddenly the lights dimmed and there was a buzzing sound from one of the kids rooms. Running, we found the oldest had talked the youngest into holding paperclips across the terminals of a 9V rechargeable battery as he stuck the 2nd end into the outlet...
ReplyDeleteHe has a degree in astronomy now and is working in DC as a contractor for NOAA.
My last "burn" was putting a range hood in our kitchen without throwing the breaker first because my wife was watching something on TV and I didn't want to make her stop. I had my rubber handled needle nose and everything...didn't think about the metal cover on the grounded box while I held the hood in place with my arm and then got my finger down off the rubber on the needle nose. Screaming internally to myself to "fall down, fall down" as it was going all the way through both arms, I finally managed to start to fall only to contact the gas line to the oven sticking up through the floor and ground myself again...
I felt that one for 3 days!
Thank you for such wonderful wishes and may they return to you a thousandfold!
alan
wow. I never was good with acronyms myself, but its interesting how much people change.
ReplyDelete