Ozymandias, friend of friends

[freckles_and_doubt]

Oh, dear, it's a Red Bull day - or at least a V day, given that wolverine_nun introduced me to this rather more palatable equivalent, and there's still a can in my cupboard. I'm very stressed at the moment, and it's exacerbating my insomnia to new and baroque heights. Last night I became convinced that my bedroom smelled funny, with a sort of sharp, chemical pong, as though a local factory had suddenly ignored all pollution controls and was emitting something sulphuric and slightly charcoally. My throat closed, my eyes streamed, I coughed and sneezed, and sleep, laughing cruelly at the sleeping pills I fed it, eluded me quite. I wandered around the house for ten minutes trying to isolate the smell, and couldn't smell it anywhere else. When I went back into my bedroom, I couldn't smell it there, either. I think I may have dreamed it, in that half-asleep hypnagogic state which is all I achieve for about four hours at a time when insomniac, and my sinuses obligingly jumped on the bandwagon. I finally got to sleep around 3am. It was ugly. And I have to be enthusiastic and inspired about the Harry Potter movies for an hour and a half this afternoon. Aargh.

However, by way of consolation, Randall Munroe has updated the Map of Online Communities, which I would still give to my internet culture students if I thought they'd get a fraction of it. Sigh.

The V is making me feel rather more awake, but now my teeth are furry. Phooey.

Comments

Stinknose!

[first-fallen.livejournal.com]

There's a terrible Afrikaans affliction called "stinkneus" - it's when there's a horrible smell that only you can smell. It's incredibly annoying. There is a school of thought that suggests that this is the reason for the Great Trek. There was a mass outbreak of stinkneus that caused the farmers to pack up and move North. Maybe it was the smell of the sea, who nose? (ahem)

I had a case of this last night, I wandered around the house for ages looking for a vaguely poopy-sulphur smell. I didn't find it, but husband smelled it too. Maybe my stinkneus is catching. If so, sorry about that. There is no known cure.

Re: Stinknose!

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

OMG! If you smelled it too, then possibly I didn't hallucinate it. There may actually have been a factory pumping out fumes, or something unpleasant and Cthulhoid going on in the drainage system. The main drain for our house goes straight under my bedroom, and then heads off under the hospital in your general direction.

Of course, I get incredibly hypersensitive to smell when I'm menstrual or pre-menstrual, which means often there is a smell only I can detect.

Re: Stinknose!

[first-fallen.livejournal.com]

Curiously, I am also PMSy. Omg, the entire Great Trek was because of hormones!! I can see it now....

Boerwife: Hannes, I don't like this plaas anymore. It smells of seaweed and there's Strandlopers everywhere and this fynbos does _nothing_ for my complexion!

Boer: Ok, Liefie, whatever you want. Just please don't throw me with anymore koeksisters. Hannes Jr, hitch up the oxen! We's moving North!

Re: Stinknose!

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

Sorry, should have added that actually I'm not PMSsey, so can't fall back on that excuse this time.

I am somewhat amused by your Alternative Great Trek Theories, and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Re: Stinknose!

[veratiny.livejournal.com]

I have been thrown with a koeksister by my sister, nogal! M mum and i still get paralysed with laughter when we reminisce--my sister she is not amused!

Re: Stinknose!

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

Please will someone parse for me the deliriously wonderful phrase "thrown with a koeksister"? I'd glossed over first_fallen's apparently idiosyncratic use of prepositions without realising it was actually an Afrikaans idiom. I must know!

Re: Stinknose!

[first-fallen.livejournal.com]

It's not really an idiom, it's one of those adverb misuses that Afrikaans ppl do. In Afrikaans it would be "sy het my met 'n koeksister gegooi". In Afrikaans "met" is "with". They don't really have an "at" equivalent.

So, whenever I hear this mistake I think "wow, the person must be really strong to throw you as well as the (stone)(petrol bomb)(whatever)" :P.

Re: Stinknose!

[first-fallen.livejournal.com]

Ack, -adverb +preposition. Engrish fail.

Re: Stinknose!

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

Ah, right. Interesting. It's not just the with/at confusion, then, it's also a word order implication: "throw a koeksister at me" becomes not "throw a koeksister with me", but "throw me with a koeksister". Presumably because the literal translation of the Afrikaans is (takes wild stabby guess) "she has me with/at a koeksister thrown". Yes?

Re: Stinknose!

[first-fallen.livejournal.com]

Yes. You can nearly like to speak Afrikaans!

Re: Stinknose!

[springonmars.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

Also, I have never heard this misuse from someone who could actually pronounce the "th" sound - it's always, always "frow you wif a koeksister".

Is poss the most charming common language error ever.

Re: Stinknose!

[first-fallen.livejournal.com]

Yep, totally. Also, the "wif" is more of a "wuhf". You have to put some effort into it :P

Re: Stinknose!

[strawberryfrog.livejournal.com]

to "throw x with a y" instead of "throw a y at x" is a classic grammatical mistake made by Afrikaners with a poor grasp of English. Though you don't get many of those any more.

[wolverine-nun.livejournal.com]

It was the EL, giving off ketones during his pupating process.

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

You are an evil-minded woman. Hee.

[virtualkathy.livejournal.com]

She is! :-D

Larval stage

[first-fallen.livejournal.com]

Oooh, will he turn into a butterfly or a moth?

[khoi-boi.livejournal.com]

Were you watching Big Bang Theory last night too?

[first-fallen.livejournal.com]

Lols, yes, I was wondering the same thing. I love that show much more now that the silly Penny/Leonard romance thing is over. Sheldon ftw.

[veratiny.livejournal.com]

For me it tastes...i frequently get a metallic taste in my mouth unrelated to food i may have eaten and unresponsive to breath freshening antics on my part...i know your frustration

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

Do you mean PMS tastes, or hallucinatory experiences? I find the metallic taste is mostly a sort of hangover aftereffect from painkillers or sleeping pills.

Drowning in the River Grind

[dicedcaret.livejournal.com]

That map is awesome! There's a tiny island called XKCD, and I loved the Spawn Camp on the MMO isle. Thanks!

Oh, and Red Bull ftw. No furry teeth, and it completely overwhelms your olfactory receptors.

Re: Drowning in the River Grind

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

I can't stand the taste of Red Bull. I got through a couple of Orientations on it, but I pretty much have to hold my nose while I chug it. V makes my teeth furry, but its pseudo-not-quite-lime flavour is verging on the acceptable.

The map is full of in-jokes, fun little digs and other delirious detail. It seems to have lost Cory Doctorow in his balloon from the first version, but has acquired Kanye's Isle of Sadness off Twitter, and an inlet in YouTube called OK Go Bay. Hee.

I am, however, truly horrified by the size of Facebook. Ulp.