Anxiety Activator #47: Beverage Companies with Disturbing Names

While sitting at a red light the other day, just minding my own business, working on my car karaoke and relevant choreography to go with “Psycho Killer” by the Talking Heads, a delivery truck skidded up next to me.

Normally, I would stare straight ahead and continue serenading myself, but not this day. Something inside me said, “Hey, check out this mofo,” and since bad things happen when I disobey my inner Sybil, I glanced out the window.

Thank the sweet fetus Jesus I did because I got an eyeful of signage advertising the most inappropriately named beverage company EVER. Painted across the side of the white trailer truck were the words, “Golden Spring Drinking Water.”

Good lord, I thought. That’s like Blue Diamond changing the name of their almond milk to Nut Juice. It’s thick, creamy, and high in protein. I marveled at the company name then shrugged to myself. Looks like someone has a good sense of humor and a vast supply of sterile urine. Apparently that is a winning combination in the refreshment industry.

If they ever get a tap water contract, they’ll have to include Golden Shower faucets. Anyway, I’m considering tossing my Flomax and going to work for their Westminster facility.

If I keep taking my B vitamins I’ll have a bright (yellow) future ahead. For once I agree with you, unemployment officer. I should utilize my vast reserves of untapped potential! In fact, I’ll go do so right now.

Cheers.

Anxiety Activator #46: 24 Hour Fitness’s Sadistic Insistence upon Covering their Gyms’ Walls with Reflective Surfaces

While torturing myself on the elliptical machine today, I became overwhelmed by embarrassment upon noting my sweaty face had turned the color one would expect to see on an albino who’d fallen asleep in a tanning bed for a week. 

   

I thought to myself, “Self, this is just wrong. You should go home and put some ice on that shiznit, maybe a bag of frozen peas, anything to cool your face down so it stops scaring the elderly and small children.”  

   

   

But then it hit me like Ike Turner after one too many brewskies. My bright red face could be incredibly convenient next time I get invited to an Angels game. If I just workout first, I’ll only have to paint my belly red. I am going to save so much money on face paint!  

   

Thanks, Power of Positive Thinking!  

not-so-smart2  

   

Couldn’t find a tanning albino photo. Shocking, I know. So I went with the dude sporting a pornstache who thinks it’s a brilliant idea to convert a tanning bed into a couch.  

   

“Seemed like a good idea till my ass turned crispier than a rodent on a spit. Heh-yuh! Honey, git out the couch and fetch me ’nother Pabst.”

Anxiety Activator #45: The My Snoring Solution Chinstrap

While reading the news just now, a sidebar with the following headline caught my right eyeball:

 

“Are You Snoring Yourself to Death?” it asked.

 

I immediately assumed the story’s title would have to be the best part of the article, due to the awesome rhetorical nature of such a question.

 

“Why, yes! Yes I am snoring myself to death. Normally when in a semi-conscious sleep state I have difficulty monitoring my breathing patterns as I’m ASLEEP, but now I realize I am not only snoring, but dying! Thank God I came across this article while being rushed to the hospital in the back of an ambulance.”

 

But then I noticed the accompanying photo of a man modeling the “My Snoring Solution Chinstrap,” which the author of the article touts as a life-saving step forward in the realm of sleep hygiene, and I realized that the headline was, indeed, not the best part at all.

 

Note Exhibit A where this young gentleman appears to be under the impression that wrapping a jock strap around his head is a smart way to increase respiratory functioning. Sure, it’ll stop his snoring…because it’s strangling him to death. I’d say the creator of this horrific invention had himself a good chuckle when he decided to include a money-back guarantee.

 

EXHIBIT A

EXHIBIT A

 

I was pondering whether or not the ear holes were really necessary (because that’s the kind of thing I like to do with my time) when it hit me that Spock must have been the only one available for the prototype fittings. Those cut-outs may be Vulcan-friendly, but they just don’t seem to sit right on the human face.

Hottie

Hottie

 

Really, it looks quite painful and just imagine the indents you’d be sporting on your cheeks the next day, the flesh demarcated with red lines. Your face would look like a fat lady’s ass after sitting on a woven beach chair too long. Then again, I guess that doesn’t really matter considering the whole contraption is a sick, sadistic death trap.

 

As you can see, the model is already posing in classic Law & Order corpse position. It’s like he’s just waiting for the chalk outline to be traced around his suffocated body. Don’t let his peaceful smile fool you – that’s just what $69.99 worth of recycled underoo elastic working against gravity looks like.

 

I’d like to see a full infomercial for this product. I can just imagine the model sitting up in bed, stretching his arms above his head, then slingshotting his Mexican wrestler mask across the set.

 

 

He would smile into camera three and say, “I used to snore myself to death every night, but then I discovered a solution. Ha! Why, it was so simple. All I needed was something that could form a vice grip around the circumference of my cranium and squeeze the sh*t out of it for upwards of eight hours a night. Thanks, My Snoring Solution Chinstrap!”

Anxiety Activator #44: The Kind of Blog Post that Occurs when your Body is Wakefully Functioning, but your Brain? Not so Much.

Yesterday was one of those anomalous days wherein the elusive concept of productivity sounded like a fun way to spice up my quotidian routine.

 

(Read: I may have accidentally ingested a tall boy of Monster, a mug of coffee, and upwards of one niblit off an Adderall pill.)

 

My day went well enough.

 

(Meaning I did not nap from the hours of noon to 11:59 in the p.m. only to rise for a one woman showing of The Big Lebowski pre-night nap.)

 

Unfortunately, it turned out SOMEbody did not share in my laudable energy output goals and was under the mistaken impression that midnight would be an acceptable hour for him to go to bed.

 

“Pshaa!” I said. “You can sleep when you’re anesthetized against your will in the mental ward of a Turkish prison.”

 

I was shocked to discover my logically sound argument did not sway him.

 

“I’m so tired. I feel like my brain is going to explode,” a certain whiner complained.

 

How he had enough energy, then, to incoherently mumble that he was too tired to play Boom Boom Rocket until I kicked his ass till it bled is beyond me.

 

Even more confounding, given his alleged state of exhaustion, was how he mustered up the oomph to add, “What, did you get into some crack today? You’re like an insane ball of energy – stop humping my leg! What? No. Seriously, I said I don’t want to play Connect Four like fifteen times already.”

 

“Well, fine,” I said. “Marriage is about compromise. You only have to connect three.”

 

“Oh my God.”

 

“Two?”

 

“What’s wrong with you tonight?”

 

“What’s wrong with your face!” I high-fived myself.

 

Unintelligible moaning from my not side of the bed.

 

As you can imagine, I found his response irksome. So I did what any productive, goal-oriented person would do and dedicated myself to my objectives of getting both some delicious nachos and a nocturnal not-nemesis.*

 

*There is no useable synonym for “friend” that starts with an N and alliterations are the spice of literature, so just shut your pieholes and welcome not-nemisis into your vernacular.

 

“You will play with me. You want to enjoy a steamy box of chips smothered in cheese-flavored liquid. You are getting very, very not sleepy.”

 

When my laudable attempt at hypnosis proved too complex for his unenlightened unconscious to grasp, I reasoned that a guilt trip was in order. But it had to be compelling. It had to rouse this dead beat from his semi-slumber. It had to inspire the kind of get-up-and-go that would help me avoid a sleepless night with nothing but my Netflix on demand to entertain me. I didn’t want to watch Whale verses Shark, not this night anyway. I wanted a man on demand, goddamnit!

 

Having no other viable option, I decided to showcase my dire need for an anti-sleep ally through the art of song and dance.

 

“Puma,” I said. “I just transposed my inner screamings into a soothing lyrical rendition which shall commence now. Please pay attention.”

 

More indecipherable whimpering.

 

“Okay then.” I pointed my ballerina toes and swooped into the performance of my life. This routine involved no less than five (attempts at) triple axels, all of which were completed in close proximity to his head for optimum viewing pleasure. Twirl-crashing into the mini blinds, I sang my heart out, skillfully capturing the pain his refusal to rise was causing me.

 

“Lonely couch, lonely couch, the prospect of it makes my heart say ouch.”

 

My operatic crooning crescendoed into such a moving falsetto that my lower neighbor applauded on his ceiling/my dance floor with what sounded like a broom or perhaps an inordinately long dildo, I cannot be sure which due to my obvious point of view constraints.

 

And while said neighbor’s thunderous approval was encouraging – so encouraging, in fact, that I gave him an encore performance of both River Dance and Stomp – it was clear that my intended audience was not to be persuaded. Indeed esoteric art is so oft lost on such philistines.

 

Losing steam, dejected and denied (and also nursing a newly gimped out footatarel joint) I gathered up my blankets and trudged to the sofa where I laid down with my Costco stockpile of Fiber One bars. As I bit into the rich chocolaty roughage, I noticed I was holding a makeshift mic. There was only one thing to do:

 

“Fiber couch, fiber couch, the daily recommended dose bloats my marsupial pouch. Fiber couch, fiber couch, tomorrow morning you’ll make my colon say ouch. Fiber couch, fiber couch, man I’m getting really tired now. Damnbien time, Damnbien time, because I’m too exhausted to end this rhyme.”

 

No more Adderall, no more Adderall, it makes me stay up until four a.m. writing blog posts that are really baderall.

Anxiety Activator #43: The “Generally Mild” Side Effect of Screaming Yourself Awake After an Anaconda Tries to Murder You in Your Own Home

One of the problems with taking happy pills and sleepy pills (that’s right, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs are heading up the crack team of scientists down at Eli Lily) is they tend to have unintended consequences. And contrary to the lawyers’ rapid-fire promises at the ends of the TV ads, side effects are NOT generally mild.

 

Case in point: Just about an hour ago I had what could only be the sort of morning that gave rise to the cliché “a rude awakening.” After switching up my sleeping pill regimen a bit last night — and staying up just long enough to kick my husband’s butt at five rounds of Boom Boom Rocket on the Xbox, while hallucinating I might add — I awoke eight hours later not to the sound of an alarm, or a leaf blower across the street, or the gentle nudge of the tooth fairy stuffing ones under my pillow. Nay.

 

I screamed myself awake today after sweating through a night terror that involved a giant snake slithering through my apartment, chasing me, then disappearing, then stalking me and waiting to strike. Call me crazy (and you’d be correct), but I will be writing at the library today…with a shovel by my side and a Ginsu knife in my sock.

 

Here’s hoping that tonight I just get the old biting-your-tongue-off side effect.

Anxiety Activator #42: Seahorses

Absolutely disgusting. So wrong on so many levels, God. Nice work forgetting all of their LIMBS! How are they supposed to commit suicide now?

Absolutely disgusting. So wrong on so many levels, God. Nice work forgetting all of their LIMBS! How are they supposed to commit suicide now?

Nothing creeps me out more than these tiny floating testaments to Satan’s existence. They are prehistoric, and creepy, and amputated of all their hooves. I do not approve of their little curled up stump, their little unileg, their sick miniature merman tail. It’s disgusting and begs so many disgusting questions. How do they bone? How do they urinate? You know they’re taking in a lot of water, what with being all seafaring and waterlogged and whatnot.

 

 

Seahorses should have gone extinct millions of years ago and if God had a suggestion box in the sky I would inform him as such. Unfortunately, The Lord continues to refuse to take action on my complaints (you know what I’m referring to Holy One – don’t pretend “menstruation” doesn’t ring a bell), yet I hereby request that if you’re listening, Sweet Fetus Jesus, please do something about the ocean’s seahorse infestation. Until then I refuse to go to church. Or the doctor’s office with the disgusting aquarium set up. Or the beach. Or Sea World. Or the bathtub. Amen.

Anxiety Alleviator #Can’t Remember: Alpacas

Fucking alpacas, man. What could be cuter? That was rhetorical, but now I find myself answering the question. Inner monologue: I know what could be cuter than alpacas, little alpaca fetuses in the womb like that NatGeo special Oprah is always promoting, even though they just have lame ass elephants swaddled in placenta juice and no alpaca zygotes. It’s kind of ridic how tender the goddamn alpacas are with their little humming sounds and their projectile saliva. I just want to pinch their yarn-covered cheeks and nuzzle them in their facial regions.

al-1

If anyone knows of a high class alpaca ranch in the SoCal area please leave a comment. I’m kinda in the market for at least one female alpaca, but Big Mama’s got to be show quality. Non of that imitation llama crap and don’t send me to some toddler populated petting zoo, either.

I mean to say that I want to visit a premiere breeding ground for the finest, most sexy alpaca specimens. And don’t write me any hate mail saying, “You can’t get an alpaca at your tiny beach apartment! Where will it graze?” or “You cannot afford an alpaca. Do you have any idea how much it costs to feed and dress an alpaca?” or “You can’t get an alpaca after your bestiality conviction.” Silence! I’m not buying the freaking alpaca to put on my balcony, dummy. I just want to put one on layaway or something until I have a yard. Jesus, what kind of messed up pet owner do you think I am?!

Oh, look at YOU with your little matching beard and toupee set!

Oh, look at YOU with your little matching beard and toupee set!

Anxiety Activator #40: Optimism

Life cereal. Why is everything so optimistic? I’m creating a cereal called Death. The natural taste of arsenic clusters. Mikey like(d) it.

mikey

Anxiety Activator #39: The Various Ways Meth Addicts are Ruining my Life and my Ability to Enjoy my Sinus Infection

I remember back in the good old days, before the crystal meth scourge cracked out the nation, when I could look forward to a nice head cold as it meant I could get all hopped up on OTC sinus congestion meds. There was nothing better than discovering I had a cold right before finals in college. I could pop some cough tablets and shebang! After studying all night earn record high scores. Now the damn meth addicts are ruining my life with their stupid habit of buying up multi-symptom cold and cough pills in bulk, causing laws to get passed! Thanks a lot, crackle heads. Now my head cold and my Sudafed PE are neither fun nor useful. Pseudoephedrine free — like that’s really something to brag about, Pfizer. Great marketing strategy there. How’s that working out for your sales? I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only patient who enjoyed having all the energy of PCP addict while eliminating mucus and sore throat. Maybe you are still helping to loosen my phlegm, but I’ll tell you what you’re not doing, Sudafed, and that’s easing my minor aches, you pain in the ass!  Non-drowsy, my bronchial tubes!

How about "Get Your Pseudoephedrine Back Where It Belongs"?!

How about "Get Your Pseudoephedrine Back Where It Belongs"?!

Anxiety Activator #38: The Dentist who Jammed a Needle in my Pie Hole Nerve and Paralyzed my Face for a Week

scary_dentist

Yesterday at the dentist I had the pleasure of undergoing what the dental community proudly refers to as “The Bull’s Eye.” What this means is that your dental “professional” accidentally stabs you in your piehole nerve with a needle full of numbing agents.

 

What this also means is that you can wind up wandering around drooling with what appears to be Bell’s Palsy on your half-paralyzed face for as long as two months.

 

The best part about this experience was not the horrific electro shocks that permeated my jaw, nor was it the ensuing panic attack that led to my impatient dentist’s command to “Go to the bathroom and slap some water on your face and don’t come back until you calm down. I don’t want you to get all freaked on me while I’m working.”

 

No, the best part of all this occurred after I’d gone to the restroom to freak out and returned to find the doctor and her assistant discussing their own dental horror stories.

 

As I stared up at the yellow overhead light, the blue gloved hands and shiny, clanking implements invading my face, I was treated to the following conversation.

 

“Don’t feel bad, Dr. A. When I was a kid, my parents took me to a dentist who had glaucoma. He’d tell dirty jokes the whole time while he worked on the wrong teeth and poked my gums out.”

 

“Oh, that’s just great. Real nice. No, but when I was a kid, my dentist never washed his hands and he didn’t wear gloves and he’d chew gum, smacking it in my face like this…”

 

At this point my dentist removed her mask and started slapping her gob around above my open mouth that the assistant still had the spreader in. I flinched even with my safety goggles on and watched her, appalled at her poor mime skills. She looked like Mr. Ed after getting into a crate of Jiffy.

 

On and on they went one-upping each other in the horrors of dentistry until I began to wonder if I’d wandered onto the set of a Monty Python sketch instead of a place of serious business. That is until a drill was shoved into my mouth that rattled my skull with all the gentle pulsating of a rogue jack hammer.

 

Needless to say this was not a fun experience and I will now be taking Xanax with me to get fillings. That is if ever go back. My chin and lower lip are finally less numb, but I doubt I’ll ever trust that Little Shop of Horrors to operate on me again. I finally understand why so many people hate the dentist.

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