AbsoHilare Covers Swine Flu

So,

Unless you live under a huge pebble (*washes hands), you’ve heard about the flu de swine (*washes hands). Scary shit, I know. So scary that I even pondered sporting a MASK home (*washes hands) due to the fact that I take the Subway. But, as I thought about it further I realized that not only would being the only person on the train (*washes hands) with a MASK make me resemble that of a gargantuan douche bag (*washes hands), but people would probably also think that I was actually infected with said Oink Flu.

(*washes hands)

I’m not sure why but it’s the people with the masks that I see and worry about. Though a good idea to prepare yourself, I don’t think I will go with it just yet. Speaking of being prepared (*washes hands), I know a of a certain someone who once redefined being prepared for a certain situation. Itty, care to speak on this?

Well THAT’S not putting me on the spot or anything…  [Oh, Itty here.] I just happen to be afraid of unknown viruses and words like “pandemic.”  Is there anything so wrong with that???  Have you all not ever seen “Outbreak?!”  Dude, Patrick Dempsey does NOT fare well.  (Umm… Spoiler?)  Anyways, I always imagine that the first case of any new virus found in my small town will immediately result in the government quarantining the entire city and secretly planning to blow us all up and thus, solving the problem of the virus.  Things were no different when the Bird Flu came about in 2005.

It was all over the news and people were dropping like flies.  (Much like “The Golden Girls” these days… R.I.P. Dorothy…)  The usual scenarios start playing in my head.. Me being dragged away from my family telling them to be strong and I would be back in no time, all the while KNOWING I was about to bite it.  Stuff like this gets to me.  So, that’s when I tell my ex that we have to start a secret stash…  I don’t know what came over me in the next few days but I started stockpiling every non-perishable item I could get my hands on.  All of it…under the guest bed.  I mean, I was SERIOUS.  No bird flu was going to starve me out!  I was going to be prepared and every couple days I’d shove more bottled water or Ramen or cans of soup under the bed just waiting for the announcement to be made.  The one telling me I was on LOCKDOWN…

Well, as we all know that announcement never came.  So eventually I stopped the craziness and went about my every day life.  Until one night we had some friends over to help us move the furniture in order to get the carpets cleaned.   Things were going well until we got to the guest room.  That’s when I realized I had forgotten about my emergency rations under the bed and at this point it was entirely too late to do anything about it now.  They were in mid-move with the mattress.

There was an audible gasp when they saw it.  My secret had been exposed!

Everyone stopped and stared at me in silence.  Imagine how someone would look at you if they just found out you were addicted to something like clown po*rn.  Ok, now take that look and place it on my friends staring at me in the room.  Finally, Colleen, (Musin and I lovingly refer to her as Cleen) speakes up…

“Itty!  What is this?!”

*kicks rocks, looks down at the ground in shame, all the while my face is turning red…

“It’s… It’s my emergency food should the Bird Flu become a pandemic.  In case I had to be quarantined in my house…”

So, you know, I come prepared…  That’s the story.  Nothing more to see here… Move it right along.  And don’t forget your complimentary face masks.

[Musin here] And wash your hands (*washes hands) for it will help us all!

[STBTG] Sucks to be THAT Guy Pt. 1

You know the drill… The lady two cubicles down is making the rounds.  It’s Wednesday and that means it’s Lotto Pool Day.  You dig in your pocket or your wallet or your purse to pull out a measly dollar or two and fork it over.  Every now and then there’s the day where you don’t have the cash flow… Just not happening this week.  And don’t even deny the tiny sigh of relief when you walk into work that Thursday morning and it’s business as usual.  Clearly, there were no winners here.  You didn’t miss out on that brand spanking new beach house you’ve always planned on buying if Lady Luck ever did happen to be on your side.  But what if… what if the unthinkable happened?  What if they DID win on the day you opted out???  You come into work only to find a dimly lit office… maybe a fluorescent light flickering in the far corner.  Talk about bad feelings.

But you KNOW there was THAT guy.  Somebody didn’t have a warm and crumpled up dollar shoved in their pocket.  Someone just HAD to have a bag of Skittles from the vending machine of the fourth floor.  Someone was a McD’s Dollar Menunaire for lunch only to miss out on being a legitimate MILLIONAIRE the very next day.

And there really couldn’t be a more depressing situation as you sit, plugging away entering in that account information while the new guy next to you says, “Oh so you’re new here too?”  You have to tell the truth.  It’s going to come out.  “Actually, no, I was the one guy who didn’t put in on the lotto pool so I actually had to KEEP my job.  I’m the only original employee here.”

*Awkward silence, sideways glances, possibly the sound of someone in the background sucking in air through their teeth… You know, the universal sign for “Ohhhhh, too bad.” [if you haven't already, seriously try doing the above and see how familiar it is]

We can all have a good laugh now… You know, until we end up being THAT GUY.

Welcome to the new series of Sucks to be THAT Guy.  Long live AH!

Too early to be so effin’ chipper…

You know how at Starbucks the employees working the drive-thru are required to make small-talk with you while you wait for your drink?  Oh.  You didn’t?  Well, they are.  And it annoys me.  I’m rarely at Starbucks other than in the morning… It’s my jumpstart, my little kick to start my day.  A delicious, grande non-fat cinnamon dolce latte WITH the whip cream, thankyouverymuch.  Before I get that little jolt of energy, I”m not in the mood to talk.  Therefore, logic would bring us to determine that I am NOT in the mood to chat while I’m waiting for my drink.

Logic would be correct.

I’m not a big fan of morning people anyways.   Are you a morning person?  Sorry… It annoys me that you’re this happy to be up so early in the morning.  It annoys me that you don’t want to still be snuggled up in bed  and it REALLY annoys me that you’re so chatty where as I am still trying to wrap my brain around being up so early.  I don’t like to talk.  So, no, Mr. Starbucks, I don’t want to tell you my plans for the day!

Today, though, I had the most cheerful person on the planet.  Perhaps, he was sent from God to make me learn a lesson.  To learn a lesson on how to be nicer or, I dunno, more of a morning person.  Either way… I don’t think the lesson worked.  I pull up to the window and I had made the unfortunate mistake of ordering one of their new breakfast sandwiches so I had to wait even LONGER than normal, thus giving me more time to chat it up with the guy at the window.  I tried to phone a friend (Why, yes, I did watch “Slumdog Millionaire” last night… What of it?!) but to no avail.  I was stuck.  Stuck in the midst of awkward conversation…

Him: Headed to work?

Me: Unfortunately.

Him: Oh come on.  Work gives us a reason to get out of bed every morning!

Me: I’m pretty sure I still would have woken up even if I didn’t have to be at work…

Him: (Staring dreamily off into the distance) Yeah, I guess I”m one of the lucky ones.  One of those people who found what they love to do and are good at it so early in life…  I get to wake up every morning, come to work, make people happy and come home.

Me: BLANK STARE

I mean, REALLY???  You’re trying to tell me that being a barista (which, come ON… fancy word for coffee-maker…) is your calling in life?  You were DESTINED to work at Starbucks???  And what do you mean “make people happy?!”  You don’t save lives!  You make coffee!  You don’t provide any sort of profound wisdom that wouldn’t otherwise be bestowed upon us!  YOU MAKE COFFEE.

Imagine if he continued on about his love for brewing & pouring said coffee, then even breaking out a Starbucks Coffee Barista Certification document–preferably a certificate. Chances are I would give him a pep talk then & there that sounds a bit like this:

“You know, guy, you really do have the world at your coffee-brewing fingertips.  Just think… If you keep it up, you’re going to make it to manager and then one day, if you stick with it, maybe even a franchise owner…  And THEN if that happens you could only do one other thing that would be fitting and that would be… TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!! MWAH HA HA HA HA HAAA!”

[*Continues evil laugh while jumping through the window and knocking over pot after pot of what he said was his "special perfect blend". Eff your brew, get a life!]

Alas, I gave the guy my credit card for payment and peeled out of the parking lot.  I’ll take my coffe with a side of relax this morning.  ‘Preciate it.

Subway Chronicles Pt. 12: Bum Armstrong

Aw man! The F train comes through in the clutch with yet another chunk of comedic gold!

The date, 3/10/09. The time was approximately 9:15pm and the train pulled up to the Roosevelt Island stop and on RIDES this bum directly onto the train. Now, normally people who have a bicycle get off and walk the bike onto the train, not this man! Bum Armstrong opted to pedal his way onto the train car, hilare!

[As soon as I saw that shite, I knew this could only get better]

In efforts of chaining his bike to the railing he was trying to swing this heavy bike chain around the railing but just continually kept throwing it straight ahead, not the correct around the railing motion he was looking for — wasted! After getting help throwing the blasted chain, he takes a seat and literally RIPS into this plastic container. I heard this thing open OVER my music, which was blaring (as always). I look over, I see about three chips TOPS in this carton. Pmo! All that noise for nothing.

[I then thought to self, "self, this guy is abso ridic, let's not pay him any mind." Then I heard self say, "you liar, clearly youre going to pay keen attention in order to accurately post yesterday evening's moments of hilarity on AbsoHilare.com." Damn you self, always so wise.]

While zoning out to some tunes (Wale’s Mixtape About Nothing…still) I realize there is somewhat of a miniature subway-stampede going on. All the people from Bum Armstrong’s side of the train flee to the other side in haste as if someone released a deadly airborne virus.  So I’m like what the Weezy F is going on here…I take a look and this man is smoking a cigarette–on the train! Too bad he cursed everyone as they were running away, single-handedly redefining reckless abandon.

*dead.

(*brought back to life; boss.)

I couldn’t believe it, my friend and I blurted out in blatant laughter because it was just so wild. I’ve NEVER seen anyone pull that shit before, though I did see this one dude roll a joint (literally, a joint) on the 7 train, yeah. Luckily our stop wasn’t too far off so we endured the nicotine tainted air for a few minutes (while cracking up!) then went about our way.

AND just for the bluff callers who may say, “Oh Musin, no effin way bro!” I utilized my paparazzi abilities to snag the most solid of images. Without further adieu, Bum Armstrong.

LONG LIVE AH!

Subway Chronicles Pt 11: Subway Song Gone Wrong

Alright this didn’t happen on the train, it happened on the bus–but so what? As I thought to make a whole new Category I said to myself, “self, how often do you take the bus?” Surprisingly (lie) self said, “not often, not often at all.”  A dear friend of mine was fortunate enough to witness this comedic gem so I felt as if it was my duty to spread the hilarty. So with the wind behind me, and my fingers storming away, out came the latest Subway Chronicle! Alas!

Clearly Subway [no, not the train system] was onto something when the folks over in marketing pushed through this little 5 Dollar Foot long Jingle, but who would’ve thought this could go international?!

Here is the story as it was told to me:

So I’m on the bus and this random guy comes on singing that stupid Subway song…”Five!…Five Dollar!…Five Dollar Foot loooong”.. PMO! As he goes to take his seat he continues to sing the song the whole time. Finally he sits down behind a Spanish lady and her child then does the unthinkable. Out of nowhere comes, “Cinco!..Cinco Peso!….Cinco Peso FOOT LOOONG!.”

If I was on this bus I would’ve erupted in laughter, maybe even began the spanglish sing-along. What would possess a man to perform such a ridiculous act? Things like this make me want to take the bus more often as the Subway hasn’t been the most active as of late. Bums are quiet, people are behaving…nothing much to see these days. I bet when it gets warmer everyone will start with their shenanigans again.

Bring on the warm weathered tomfoolery!