It's A Bull Roaring Tuesday!

Wow! The questions came flooding in overnight, so here's another round of reader's questions answered.

AND remember people, if you'd like me to answer your questions, throw a question at me (gently) through this link! Ask early and ask often. http://www.formspring.com/forms/?805682-tVpvj8P8KQ


Beatles or Stones?

My short answer is the Stones, but, as you can probably well imagine, I also have a longer answer.

If I were stuck in a living situation where I was only allowed the complete library of either of those artists, I would 9 times out of 10 pick the Stones. However, I am very fond of the solo work of both John Lennon and George Harrison probably more than anything they did in the Beatles although, to give a little perspective, I own nothing by any of them including the Stones (except Beggar's Banquet.) I like some individual songs of the Beatles (Norwegian Wood, Something, A Day in the Life, Here Comes the Sun, In My Life, and many more), I love Laibach's Let It Be cover album, and, yes, I am one of those people who really likes the work of Yoko Ono. I also love Harry Nilsson probably more than the Stones or the Beatles.
Anyway, the long and short of it is that I strongly dislike Paul McCartney and "the Paul McCartney sound." And I love the Stones' complex, wild, rock-blues sort of sound. So, it's purely a matter of taste and not a hill I'm going to die on. I'm not much of a listener of either.


So an orange hypothetically explodes in your bag. You try your best to clean it out, but nevertheless, your entire bag now smells like orange (not in the good citrusy palmolive sort of way either!) do you a) go out and buy a new bag, even though this one has been so good to you in the past? or b) do you try to clean it more thoroughly (and with what?) or even c) get it professionally done, but at what cost!

Right, so I have two answers to provide for this question. The first is what I would do left to my own devices, the second is what my wife would do because she knows how to deal with these things better than I do.

First of all, it's a perfectly good bag aside from the smell. By no means would I immediately buy a new one or even pay someone else to clean it. I would try to clean it out more thoroughly maybe with a watered down TSP solution or something similar that I found around the house. Then I would take a small cereal bowl, fill it with coffee grounds, set it in the bag and close the bag overnight, by the heater in the winter or out in the open air if it's a little warmer out. Hopefully, this would cause my bag to smell strongly of coffee grounds (which I would find pleasant) and not some disgusting coffee-orange mixture. Although I kind of doubt it. But I probably wouldn't even get that far as Laurie would catch me putting a bowl of coffee grounds into my bag and trying to set it up by the heater in a way that the cats won't knock it over in the night. She would stop me and tell me what I should really do. I'll wait until she gets home and see what she says.

I was close. She said that she would clean it out again really good, dry it completely with heat (sun, heater, hair dryer), and then spray Febreeze or another odor neutralizer in there.


I never got an answer to my last one!

Don't yell at me!

Well, I have answered every question that has come to me, so either you've missed a few question answering entries (you might take a moment to scroll down and check out the previous entries on this blog to make sure you haven't missed a question answering post: http://ticklemebrahms.blogspot.com/ ).

Or, and please don't take offense as none is meant, we have a Code 18 problem here. Perhaps the question asking button wasn't pressed before the page was navigated away from. Perhaps you're operating on the secret government internet that runs parallel to this internet and forgot to switch over when you asked the question. In which case you'll have to file a 18714-H voucher before proceeding. Once you've ascertained that I have not already answered your question, follow the link and re-ask. I would be more than happy to answer your question so long as you keep it clean. My mom reads this blog.

Unless, of course, the comment is objecting to the quality of one of my responses. In which case I can't really help you. Like I said, I can't promise answers, but I can guarantee responses.


what did you turn to in college?

With all due respect, the wording of this question suggests two possible questions to me. I'll answer both!

The first is probably what I focused my studies upon. I majored in Theater at Chapman University with a focus on 1) playwriting 2) stage management and 3) technical theater (as in building sets, designing lights and costumes, etc.) My goal was to do monologues like Spalding Gray and to work in the theater in technical capacity to support myself. I minored in Religion.
Or, the question could be "turn to" as in religion, spiritual walk, coping mechanisms, and so on. In the Religion department at Chapman I studied under Marv Meyer who was one of the chief members of the Jesus Seminar, one of the translators of the Gospel of Thomas and the Nag Hammadi Library, and a man you will probably see if you see an ABC special or a history channel show on "The Historical Jesus." In other words, about as liberal as Christian theology gets. I was a Quaker and highly influenced by Albert Schweitzer's doctrine of Reverence for Life. I also turned to Transcendental Meditation and was a frequent visitor to the Hare Krishna temple in Laguna Beach. I was consumed with doctrine dictating a lifestyle focused on social justice and somewhere to the left of Leon Trotsky.

So, that was college aged Paul.