Today’s post comes from formerly reputable journalist Bud Buck, now mired in entertainment and personality news.
Fans of The Sun are aghast at what she has been doing in recent weeks – and NOT doing.
“I’m worried about her,” The Moon told me recently. “This was supposed to be her year to cut loose but lately she’s been really boring and that’s just not like her.”
In fact, observers had predicted that 2013 would bring one flashy outburst after another from the celestial orb, always a daily favorite for those who can’t get enough of watching the stars. The Sun’s behavior has been tracked so extensively that patterns have started to emerge clearly showing a boom/bust cycle of outrageous activity followed by relative calm. The Sun had been on an upswing as recently as last Fall when a widely publicized incident caused considerable chatter.
“For no apparent reason she expelled at least two plumes of superheated gas in a really random, almost casual way,” said a passing asteroid. “We were appalled. You can’t eject stuff like that in a crowded solar system and expect that no one will notice.”
While there were no injuries in the November incident, it was reported as a precursor of outbursts to come. But lately The Sun has settled into a low-activity phase that has some observers predicting we are in for an extended lull. Some have even wondered if the recent “coolness” of The Sun might foretell a chilling effect that could counteract Global Warming.
Others discount that theory.
“Of course The Sun is hot,” explained Venus, also smoldering. “But everyone overestimates how important she is. Global warming on Earth is caused by a build-up of man made pollutants – the Sun has very little to do with it. She only wishes every little expulsion of hers would get noticed.”
But the consensus seems to be that the new quiet spell is only another moment in a changeable series of phases for The Sun.
“I wouldn’t call it ‘settling down’,” said Curiosity’s Mars Rover, which recently had to go into a form of mechanical hibernation to wait through an increasingly rare Solar Outburst. “She’s always going to be The Sun, so there’s unlimited potential there for explosive, really fiery displays. But I watch her all day, every day, and aside from the occasional tantrum that spews a bit of electrically charged hydrogen and helium, she’s been pretty quiet.”
Others worry that this is just a pre-storm lull.
“I wouldn’t put it past The Sun to be holding back – saving up material over time for an upcoming night of extreme craziness,” said another experienced star watcher, the Hubble Space Telescope. “Understanding,” he added, “that when you’re the sun, it’s never really night.”
Describe your behavior in its wildest, most unpredictable phase.
Trail Baboon 
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Rise and Shine Baboons!
Party On. Sophomore in college, post boyfriend break up. Oh dear.
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Yeah, think I had something like that during my college years, too.
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Gin and dancing are most often involved…what happens along with that varies (and perhaps shouldn’t be talked about lest I besmirch my, ahem, pristine reputation).
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the s&h will tell you that his mom is pretty trippy with little to no sleep. Not exactly wild behavior, but you have no idea how hilarious Algebra II can be when you have been up for more than 24 hours. Watching MST3K later was almost life threatening-could not stop laughing this weekend.
Of course, there was always the case of champagne opening night tradition at UW-Madison-lack of sleep combined with a shade too much alcohol-best not discussed (although I do remember every minute of it).
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I can relate to your ‘lack of sleep’ hilarity. When Kelly gets tired she giggles at everything. And last night, reading ‘Curious George Makes Pancakes’ to Amelia I somehow turned George into a Monkey from the South side and gave myself the giggles. It was just weird.
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Oh lord! For me that would have to be the six years between my two marriages, 1973 -1979. I became a member of a group of six to eight women, all newly divorced and very involved in the Women’s Movement. Together we explored the boundaries of civilization as we understood it, partied and did lots of therapeutic work. Often painful at the time, I now recognize those years as some of the most important in my life, but as both Jacque and Anna have hinted at, perhaps the details had better remain private. Unlike mig, I’m not sure I can truthfully say I remember every minute of it, and to tell you the truth, it’s probably better that way.
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oh yeah, not all those memories bring me joy…..
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🙂
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I’m gonna disappoint everyone here, even myself, as I don’t think I ever had a “wild” or unpredictable phase. Some people get naked and dive into waters they know nothing about, and sometimes they break their necks hitting shallow sandbars. Me, I walk into the water, and I usually wear a bathing suit. The logical time for me to get wild would have been after my divorce. I sure had chances to do unwise things then, but I was too cautious and considerate to do things I would later regret. And hell, my self esteem wasn’t sturdy enough then to allow me to be crazy.
My regrets now are mostly about opportunities I chose not to take, and (really) I know I would have regretted doing what I wanted so badly to do. I experimented a bit in my Match.com days, but always with a characteristic sense of what would be right for both parties. The story I would like to tell–but cannot tell here–is of Friday Phyllis. It is a great story, but not one that I should launch into perpetuity on the internet.
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Hmmm, I seem to remember a story about your exit from college that might qualify for “wild & crazy”… 🙂
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Nawww. I remember every minute of that party. And while I intended to do evil, I didn’t bring it off. Just a youthful indiscretion that looked worse than it was!
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I’d been really buttoned up in high school, so I pretty much cut loose in college and beyond in the usual ways, and San Francisco didn’t exactly put a damper on that. But teaching kindergarten was sobering, figuratively and literally, and I’d never liked drugs anyway, so I calmed down a bit – quit cigarettes, got a steady boyfriend, and reduced drinking to wine, occasionally. I still cringe thinking back to some of that, though; we did some really stupid things that could have turned out badly.
Now about the wildest I get is when dancing – there’s something exhilarating about doing the same steps with a bunch of other people to wild rhythms and foreign sounding instruments. Different feelings between the fast and slow dances, but a lot of it has a slightly “wild” feeling. And then there’s free form dance – if you can let yourself go, there’s nothing like it – and trance dancing, which I have yet to really explore.
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Morning all. Having a really rough start today w/ work issues. Suffice it to say that there has never, in the entire history of the planet, when a big software installation/migration/switch over a weekend has EVER gone smoothly.
I’m not sure I’ve ever had a wild period. Can’t think of anything off the top of my head anyway! I’ll cogitate it on it — maybe something on the trail will jog my memory as the day goes on.
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Some might consider deciding to go to China and adopt a fine daughter as a solo parent to be kind of wild-but in a good way.
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Definitely a good thing, but completely in keeping w/ my character. Had the feelings, lived with them for a while, did lots of research, waited until I had finished my degree (although I admit that I turned in the first adoption paperwork the morning after my last final), made checklists and timetables and got everything done in record time. Although I suppose I could say that single parenthood has been a wild ride so far…
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Sounds familiar. A lot of big decisions I’ve made that seem spur-of-the-moment have actually come after years of research and consideration. But when it is time to act, it seems like things happen very quickly.
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The craziest AND most dangerous thing I ever did was probably during the 60s. Even though I was a young mom of two toddlers, the civil rights crisis compelled me into action. Blind, stupid, naive action. I literally walked into the North Side downtown district asking people on the street what I could do to help. I wound up in the back of some store with the resident black Panther leader of the unrest with a leather whip wrapped around my neck and fury like I’d never been exposed to in my life. They then laughed at me, taunted me, and sent me on my way. I’ve wondered since then if my desire to help mend relationships between the races wasn’t really an unconscious death wish?
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Ooh, scary in all kinds of ways.
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my wild and crazy days may still be ahead did you happen to see saturday night live with steve martin and dan ackroid ding their wild and crazy guys relived? funny stuff but how dis they get so old?
my curiosity and poor judgement were sometimes perceived as wild when in fact the logical result of curiosity is an affected result i was able to participate in. drugs and mountains and an adventerous spirit tend to make it look a little wilder than it really is but there have been a time or two when my friends words come to mind when asked what you are doing he has been know to reply im having an adventure. it would be good for me to realize i was having an adventure while i was having it instead of looking back and realizing it for historical purposes. i look forward to wild times modified (i think broken feet slow you down) and i hope to be able to break my leg falling out of a tree like george bernard
shaw and geti g a couple shot of adrenalin along he way
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The details of my wildest, most unpredictable behavior are a deep, dark secret, but we all know where I ended up because of it.
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😉
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Seems to be that with today’s topic, nothing is really off topic. Am I right? This strikes me as wild:
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That is unexpectedly funny.
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Glad you took the time to look at it, BiR: I think it’s hilarious.
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This gets funnier as it goes along. And I’m a fan of anyone who has hair, so all these guys are heroes in my book.
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Don’t you just love the commentary?
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At the Blevins Book Club meeting yesterday, the spinach dip was popular. How popular? You guys ate two pounds of dip. The recipe isn’t mine. You can find it on every package of Knorr’s dried Vegetable Soup mix.
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It was yummy. And on that topic, I will try to remember to type up the Melktert recipe this week! Even Teenager liked it!
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And we thank you for remembering.
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Yep, I know I ate my share…
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Good afternoon. I am late posting today because we didn’t leave the Twin Cities until mid morning today. It was a good thing that we didn’t try to get home last night. the roads weren’t bad today, but there were a few cars in the ditch along the road due to a heavy snow storm that started late yesterday. The trips back and forth between Clarks Grove and the Cities on bad days can seem like something only a wild person would do. I’m glad we stayed over night in the Cities.
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This is only slightly OT. The Blevins book club meeting yesterday was delightful as we all chatted about those randy Brits who colonized East Africa in the 1920s and 1930s. The one big surprise of the afternoon was Sherrilee, who turns out to be a scholar of that period, having read book after book on the topic. If you ever wonder exactly who gave syphilis to whom in that time, ask Sherrilee. She knows all that stuff!
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I wasn’t there, so I don’t know if this came up at all. Both books were set in the timeframe of “Downton Abbey,” so although they seem quite antiquated, a lot of social norms that strike us as absurd now, were the order of the day. For instance, Blixen’s attitude toward her black servants seems racist, but I think her attitude was really not based on skin color. I think there was great mutual affection and respect between her and her servants. I’d love to have a discussion with Sherrilee about this. Having read Alexandra Fuller’s more recent accounts of growing up in that environment, lends a lot of perspective to these books, well written all.
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We’ll be talking about Africa again next time, since (if memory serves) we’re reading Cutting for Stone…
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PJ – there was side discussion yesterday of Alexandra Fuller. A highlyy recommended author — did you read Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs or Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness?
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I did, I have read all four of her books. She’s a wonderful writer. I own all of her books if anyone wants to borrow them.
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Tonight, Alexandra Fullers’ good friend and fellow writer, Terry Tempest Williams, discussed her new book “When Women Were Birds” at the Waeyerhouser Chapel at Macalester College. Wonder if anyone went?
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Afternoon–
Another snow day for us. And it took a while to dig out; it’s wet and sticky.
Hmmm, wild crazy behavior? Probably 19 – 22… Nothing too outrageous but as crazy as it gets for this farm boy I guess.
There were a lot of theater cast parties and I didn’t drink or, uh, anything like that, until I started doing theater. They taught me a lot. I mean A LOT! 😉
And there was that one cast party where our cast managed to drink more champagne than any other cast. (something like 2 bottles / person). I haven’t liked champagne since.
And of course ‘Porta Potty Parties’ had to start somewhere.
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I’m not familiar with “Porta Potty Parties,” Ben, did I miss out on something?
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PJ, Didn’t you get the invite??
Every now and then we host a ‘Porta Potty Party’ at the farm. Had one last summer for the first time in about 10 years. It surprised us it had been that long. Basically, we rent a porta potty and we have a party!
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Oh, I do remember the invite to the last Porta Potty Party. Didn’t go, don’t remember why. I’ll be sure to be at the next one though.
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My wild and crazy days-hmm. I go in spurts, and have wild and crazy hours every so often. A busy day at work, but the highlight was an hour in the infant room at early Head Start. Eight little ones ages 3-12 months. I got to make so many funny faces! My task was to assess the staff and their interactions with the kids. It all looked good, but I would have suggested more staff copycatting of the little ones’ vocalizations and actions.
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I have wild and crazy nights: the FDA halved the allowed dosage of my sleep medicine. At this dosage it does me no good.
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Wild and unpredictable? From time to time I’ve been known to put a little Bailey’s in my cocoa.
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