12.26.2005
Incensed
I always have to shop for other people on my birthday. On Saturday night, as I lugged armloads of shopping bags from the car to the house, a crazy man approached me and asked if I could spell incense.
“I-N-C-E-N-S-E.”
“Uh, yeah, um, sure, whatever,” he said. “But can you spell incense?”
“Wasn’t that right? I-N-C-E-N-S-E?” My bags were unwieldy and slipping out of my hands, and I wasn’t in the mood for games.
“Yes, yes, that’s very good. OK.” The man seemed as if he were looking for any excuse to get away, and quickly . . . an attitude I recognized because it precisely mirrored my own. Something inside him made one last try, however. He sniffed the air and said, “Can you smell it or not?”
“Smell it? Smell what?”
“Incense! I’ve smelled it all the way down the block.”
When we got that all cleared up, I went inside and watched the episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” in which Tasha Yar is killed by a tar beast and Captain Picard takes revenge for the loss of his dear friend by giving it a stern lecture. After Counselor Troi psychoanalyzes it, natch.
posted by
David at 7:47 PM
That was an awful episode. That whole season was pretty bad, except for "Heart of Glory" and "The Arsenal of Freedom" which I might have nostalgic enjoyment which exceeds any non-imagined quality. Didn't they blow up the shuttle to keep the tar beast from escaping, thereby dooming him to an eternity on the desolate world he so dearly wanted to escape?
Happy Holidays, and may they be free of bad science fiction.
Wait. Is this time correct? Are you doing this from . . . work? Wait, your entire life is work right now. Go ahead!
posted by: Amy on 12.26.2005 at 9:22 PM
1) Served him right for going up to you and asking you about smells. What you might smell or not smell is nobody's business but your own.
2) I was shocked when I first saw that episode. I didn't know regular characters were allowed to die, and it was upsetting, even though I'd never cared for Tasha Yar.
3)At someone's home for a recent holiday, I saw a holiday ornament in the shape of a shuttle craft. I pushed a button and got a personal message from Mr. Spock. JEALOUS???
posted by:
Cara on 12.26.2005 at 9:53 PM
Cara,
I have one of those ornaments! Of course, I don't have a tree (well, a pathetic Charles Brown tree ... no really, I got it from UrbanOutfitters), so my parents have it. I also have a Defiant ornament.
They killed her off for posing nude, didn't they?
posted by:
Mush on 12.27.2005 at 10:19 AM
Are you usually that blasé with crazy people outside your house? What kind of neighborhood do you live in?
Oh, and happy belated birthday.
posted by:
David on 12.27.2005 at 10:32 AM
Snay is correct about Tasha Yar being killed off. She did pose nude and you just can't have that on Star Trek now, can you!
DD, that wasn't me saying that, it was Mush. I think they killed her off in part because they wanted to give Michael Dorn/Worf more screentime and Denise Crosby wanted to pursue a film career or something.
Stupid ho.
Malnurtured Snay: Yes, that's precisely what they did, but I think it was the lecture that REALLY took the wind out of its sails.
Amy: I was on a break! Like Ross and Rachel.
Cara: Mr. Spock said you think you're so great.
Malnurtured Snay again: That a Defiant ornament exists at all is an argument for Armageddon.
Mush, Double-Dogged, and Malnurtured Snay again: She left because she felt as if she wasn't getting enough screen time and some lesbians convinced her she'd make a great movie star. Remind me to tell you about the entire "Call Me Lazy" theory.
David: Thank you, and yes. I live in a very special neighborhood, which is ruled by a fairy princess named D. B. J. S.
posted by:
David on 01.06.2006 at 9:29 PM
My immediate thought was that he was mumbling, "Can you spare any cents," and that you were mishearing him. But not! Ach. What a crazy world.
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