It was hard to ignore the hubbub over yesterday’s Rapture, but the date came and went and I’m still here. Whether that means I was left behind I don’t know, but as I speculated about the possibilities on Facebook, I now feel that I owe the world an explanation.
Normally I avoid boring people with extensive discussions of my personal life but when I saw Sarah’s post-Apocalyptic discussion, along with her admission — “I’m stealing a generator and THEN the big screen TV” — I simply couldn’t resist weighing in:
Wait a second. I am buying a hot tub, and they are delivering it tomorrow. Will I have time to use it?
To which Sarah replied:
Eric, can they INSTALL it tomorrow? Make sure they’re done before six. Since this guy is in CA, you probably have till… nine? Yeah, you should be able to use it. And Despina — it’s important to be properly handbagged for Armagedon! Back off, all of you, all the designer shoes are belong to me. 🙂
I lack the proper handbags, and I don’t own any designer shoes although if my bunion gets any worse I might have to shell out a lot of money for specially designed orthopedic shoes, except I don’t think that’s what Sarah meant by the term.
But the hot tub did arrive yesterday morning. It’s used — very used — and installation was not included. It leaks, and I am going to have to repair it. (A t-coupling and a manifold cracked during a winter freeze, but the motor works and fortunately, parts are available.)
And to tell the truth I didn’t really think I would be raptured up. Coco, though, is a lot more virtuous than I am, so in response to another friend’s FB question “Are your pets Rapture ready?” I left the following comment:
Coco is going! The only question I have is… will she take me with her? Or will I be left behind?
I was wrong. Coco did not go anywhere, nor did I. Here’s a photo taken late yesterday, showing both of us taking a dry run in the hot tub. A dress rehearsal for an event that did not happen.
Some things don’t hold water.
Anyway, this whole survival experience reminds me of an eerily prescient post title which no one seemed “get” at the time.
“DOG, I’M ALIVE! YO BOY, EVIL AM I, GOD!”
Well, maybe I can’t expect people to read things backwards. (Or get everything backwards as the case may be….)
At my age, when you miss out on something like yesterday’s purported Rapture and you wake up alive the next day, you might easily succumb to a feeling having your whole life flash before you. Which is time travel of sorts.
In a very odd coincidence, yesterday I found an extremely early photograph of myself:
That’s my mom, an elderly friend of the family, and tiny little me, eyes staring at the mystery woman on the right. As to how to date the photo (there is nothing written on it and the date does not appear on the back), note the Time magazine on the lower shelf of the coffee table. My dad subscribed to that weekly, and he threw away old issues, so the one on the table can fairly be assumed to the then-current one. The man on the cover is frowning, and there appears to be a building behind him. So I searched images for 1954 issues of Time, and I found the October 4, 1954 edition.
I zeroed in with a magnifier to compare, and sure enough, it is a perfect match with every element on the blurry image in the picture. Same style and position of Senator Arthur V. Watkins’ face, the diagonal strip that says “REPORT ON McCARTHY” over the E and part of the M, and the doors, ceiling line, and the galleries in the Senate all line up with the dark shapes.
Which means that I was about three months old when that picture was taken.
I have no memory of it, but hey, at least I was able to travel back in time with Time!
If only my memory could be as persistent as Coco’s.
She’s a time traveler too!
Comments
9 responses to “EMIT TIDE, EDIT TIME”
Will the singularity be the rapture for our silicon servants?
That’s some great sleuthing. I gotta admit, the first time I read through, I thought you were saying the older man was Watkins, but he’s probably significantly older than Watkins.
Great way to date a photo. No idea who the older gentleman is?
Good detective work,Eric.
And to think you did it without having a bloodhound for a pooch!:)
Thanks!
Ed, the older man is definitely older than Watkins; he is Senator Joseph R. Grundy, who was 91 at the time of the photo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_R._Grundy
Ah, apparently I can comment as Sarah, too. The scary thing, given our different ethnic/sub-ethnic backgrounds is how much your picture looks like the picture of my son (Eric) Marshall at 3 months of age. We have one of him propped on the sofa in the exact same position. I regret to say, though, your mom and the elderly gentleman are NOT present. (Or maybe that’s a good thing, all things considered.)
On the hot tub: I see why we get along. Okay, I’ve yet to buy a hot tub or appliances, because I’m not good with that stuff, but if I can buy my furniture used I PREFER to do so. And then I fix it up, of course.
On shoes — because I have a post cued up where I proclaim my disdain for shoes. I actually love shoes. I just really don’t care about the brand or even durability. The “nice looking” shoes get worn for very short periods of time, as otherwise they interfere with the knee and hip I ruined in my running days. So they just have to look good. The rest of the time I wear various forms of flats, tennis shoes and such from Propet, because it keeps me from having to lie down for hours until the pain passes and allows me to be active and on my feet.
Oh, and need I add I never expected the cats raptured? I mean, seriously. D’Artagnan is Slinky McEvil and the other ones are varying shades of grey-morals. Probably the most innocent is Havelock and he KNOWS what he does in front of my vanity. (Teh p*ss wars. We haz them.)
Sarah, you touched on a pet peeve, which is the fact that I was nearly unable to buy replacements for my worn out running shoes. I checked out several large sporting goods stores with large athletic shoe departments, and I was given the same excuse: so many people buy men’s 8.5 (including women and kids) that the size is almost always sold out. I finally found a running specialty store that had 8.5s, but had to pay much more.
But perhaps this is not a shoe beef. Perhaps it’s a market beef?
In any event, I cannot and will not buy shoes online. They vary, and might not fit, and I have a serious hallux rigidus problem so I don’t take chances.
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