Saturday, April 12, 2003

A Case of...

Nerve

Haven't visited them for a while. Very neglectful.

Many worthy articles... two of particular note.

I did it for Science -- Gay Bar by Grant Stoddard in which the author attempts to see how he fares as an object of carnal desire in a gay club.

It reminded me of one of the twin's recent forays to a rainbow club after taking in Extreme Elvis on 6th Street last month. He and his straight pals were dared to go by a gay friend who was evidently disappointed but their lack of reaction. Then again, this is the Austin gay scene which is relatively conservative. Seriously. This is Texas after all -- even gay people are tightly wound.

The other article is: The Essential Vocabulary of the Adult Novelty Store -- by Nicky Beer.

Well written, interesting and educational!

Its put together as 26 short essays built around the alphabet... A, for Anal beads, etc...

My favorite is the V entry, for Vocabulary:

agalmatophilia: arousal from statues or mannequins
capnolagnia: arousal from watching others smoke
entomophilia: arousal from insects
gynelophilia: arousal from pubic hair
hodophilia: arousal from travelling
iantronudia: arousal from exposing oneself to a physician by faking an ailment
knismolagnia: arousal from tickling
maschalophilia: arousal from armpits
nanophilia: sexual attraction to a short partner
ophidiophilia: arousal from snakes
psychrophilia: arousal from being cold or watching others freeze
siderodromophilia: arousal from trains
taphephilia: arousal from being buried alive
undinism: arousal from sex in bath tub
vicarphilia: arousal from other people's exciting experiences

You can't say you didn't learn something new...

Other than checking out Nerve, this past week has been spent on a road trip to San Diego and various landscaping chores.

The highlight of the West Coast voyage was a stop at Dateland Arizona. Dateland is one of those places you'll miss if you blink, and such a shame it would be.

While there, I picked up six pounds of Medjool; two pounds each of Halawi, Zahidi, and Khadrawy; and a pound each of honey and Dateland dates.

If you aren't into dates or esoteric knowledge -- skip the next part.

Medjool are considered the ultimate delicacy. Quoting from the brochure:

A soft, sweet, succulent date with a velvety texture and a delicious taste, Medjools were originally grown in Morocco exclusively for royalty. It wasn't until 1927 when disease threatened to destroy their trees that Morocco sent 11 offshoots to the United States to prevent this delicious fruit from becoming extinct. Since the Moroccan trees were indeed wiped out by disease, all the Medjool Dates grown in the world today are descended from those original 11 offshoots.

I occasionally find Medjools at Sam's Club or Costco -- around seven bucks for two pounds.

However, I prefer the ones from Dateland.

Currently, I am munching my way through the honeys -- which along with the Dateland dates -- can only be bought on site. The other types are available online.

The landscaping chores include planting 25 assorted blueberry and raspberry plants. More complicated than you would think due to the acidity requirements for the soil. I'll edit this later with the list of actual plants. They were bought online and most are patented. Had to sign a form saying I wouldn't sell cuttings.

Also -- I'm making a new bed in the front yard next to the drive. A brilliant green cactus resembling the photo of this online yucca was part of the original landscaping on the side of the house. It spawned and now has two teenage sized and three infant sized offspring. The plan is to move them to more prominent and roomy quarters with a contrasting red lava rock filler. This will also eliminate a chunk of the front yard and decrease the area requiring mowing by about ten percent. All part of my master plan to eventually eradicate the front lawn entirely.

And with an evil villain laugh, I am off to find the shovel.

posted by Bohica at 9:09 AM