Week 6 of the quarantine… I haven’t started talking to the walls yet, but one of the dogs told me to shut up yesterday, and the voices in my head are tired of talking to me as well. So what’s the lyric from the Harvey Danger song, “Flagpole Sitta?”
Hear the voices in my head
I swear to God it sounds like they're snoring
But if you're bored, then you're boringThe agony and the irony, they're killing me (whoa)
So…. This week’s topic is “Stir Crazy”
Thanks this week to the Baklava Fairy, Lsig, Ms Justice, Jana Bushaw, Gavin, Jason, Susan, Erica, Little Man, Alesha, and some other guy.
On to the questions:
1. What (if any) formerly innocuous sound now drives you nuts?
The skype call chime. Fuck off skype, I don’t want to put pants on.
2. Which of your family members is most stir crazy? Who is coping best?
I think the youngest is losing her shit. She needs some person to person contact. Honestly it is probably the Ex-Wife who is doing the best. She looks at other introverts and scoffs at their dependence on people.
3. Have you seen “Stir Crazy” starring Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder?
What are you doing?
Getting bad.
Yeah, the Richard Pryor/Gene Wilder movie about 2 guys being framed for bank robbery and then have to do a rode3o for some weird reason? Yeah, I’ve seen it
4. Who would you remake “Stir Crazy” with?
Hmmm… Point the first, it was directed by Sidney Poitier… so I think it should be directed by Viola Davis and be gender bent with Saturday Night Live famous people like Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon. Change the bank robbery framing to white collar embezzling and keep the rodeo.
5. Where did this term, stir crazy, come from?
I wish it were more sexy, but in the 1920’s there was slang for calling jail “the stir.” So “stir crazy” means overstressed from being confined.
6. Are there famous incidents of going stir crazy from a historical perspective? Not just ones leading to murder or cannibalism...
Well, I will eschew the bored Donner Party then. Hmmm… not really. I think it is more apocryphal than anything. I think it is when someone decides to stop being bored.
7. Are there people who are obsessively compelled to stir non-stop?
I’m sure it exits, but I could not find anything about it. My bet it would be referred to as tangerimania.
8. How many bro-medies, bars, and songs are called “stir crazy”?
There are honestly, not that many. There is a restaurant chain, the movie mentioned before and 2 songs. That’s it.
9. Create a cocktail with that name--what's in it?
Well, it would not be a shaken cocktail. I would go with a Manhattan base and replace the sweet vermouth with some kind of tawny port (much fruitier) and use a garnish of blackberries. So, 2 oz Rye or whiskey, ¾ oz sweet tawny port, dash of bitters stirred with ice and strained in a martini glass with a garnish of blackberries. Let me know how it is.
10. Does “stir crazy” come from turning family members into stew? Are we there yet?
It does not, and not yet. Week 13… it is unlucky for a reason.
11. How many new shows have you watched?
Not that many. I have caught up on some shows I was behind on though.
12. Best popcorn maker?
Oh, a question after my own heart… It isn’t one of those dumb air poppers I will tell you that. It is the Stir Crazy. Best popcorn maker out there.
13. Are there other terms for stir crazy?
The only one that I can think of offhand is Cabin Fever. It is also about being confined and losing your shit
14. Ever been to “Stir Crazy: Fresh Asian Grill?”
Nope,. It looks pretty good though. If I am ever in Northbrook, IL or Creve Coeur, MO I will happily try it.
15. So what is the craziest thing you have thought about doing in the house to combat the Stir Crazies?
Painting a mural in my bedroom. I need some wall art in there. I have some designs in my head
16. What are you doing to combat going Stir Crazy?
Drawing not nearly as much as I should and tons of texting.
17. What do you do tomorrow to eat/drink the crazy away?
I think I am going to start watching Bob’s Burgers for the first time while drinking a Stella Artois Cidre. It will be relaxing and glorious, but it won’t truly keep the crazy at bay.
18. What is the thing about your house that makes you most frustrated?
My dishwasher went out 4 days prior to shelter in place don’t let strangers in your house to fix dishwashers orders. I have been washing dishes by hand in my house with 2 useless kids dirtying dishes and not doing a damn thing to help clean them. I need that damn thing fixed.
19. Anything good for staying in the house?
I have been cooking a shit ton (soooo many dishes) and I think that has had me losing some weight. That and I have been taking the doggos on walks nearly every day (they sometimes go to doggie daycare when I have meetings I am hosting).
20. Stir Crazy? I hardly know her.
What?
To recap:
This quarantine is hard on everyone in some way or another
Be nice to each other out there
Best thing I have seen so far was someone walking their dog in one of those Tyrannosaurus Rex blow up costumes
That was week one
Pretty sure that person has dyed their skin blue and is standing on their roof in a diaper encircled by rosemary and chalk invoking the old ones to wake
That person shouldn’t do that
I mean, even as a joke, because, what if it does actually work?
We can’t stop Shaggoth of the Bilious Depths
We can’t even get a good testing program out there
How are we going to defeat an eldritch evil of the times before
Can’t even test for a virus that the world has tests for
We probably couldn’t even stop a minor slaad
Stay safe out there
Wash your damn hands
I have so many dishes to do
Have a great week everyone