Archive for January, 2010

Cat Shit Lobotomy

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

I’ve never been a cheery or optimistic person, but I think I have a plan to change all that. Now, before you ask, I’ve been on all the happy pills you could possibly imagine. Happy pills tend to have some negative side effects, not the least of which is the sensation that your brain is being fried by sudden, unexpected jolts of electricity. They also cost a lot of money in both the long and short term. Happy pills don’t work right away. You need to give them at least four to six weeks to kick in. You also can’t just quit them: the entire balance of the quantum universe depends on you being on them for years. You don’t want to be the one responsible for the actual death of Schrodinger’s cat, do you? So it’s a long-term investment. In the short term, there’s big pharma’s bottom line to think about. Let’s face it; Prozac is now available in generic, and what pharmaceutical company wants to sell it at a whopping’ $10 a pop? No, you need the newest and the best money can buy. You need to spend a lot of money; otherwise, suicide will be the least of your worries, what with your brain being melted to the back of your skull and all. That means $12 per pill advancement in technology. You can’t trust your brain to cheap crap that’s been available and sort of working for 20 years. You want latest in artificial happiness, in spite of the fact there’s no guarantee it’s going to be any safer or better than the $10 per month crap.

Or, you can consider my plan. I have a novel new treatment for mental disorder I like to call the “Cat Shit Lobotomy.” Now bear with me while I go all medical history on you for a minute. Cat feces contain a protozoan parasite called “toxoplasmosis.” This parasite can actually kill you. However, if you are NOT immunocompromised, you can get over it and lead a relatively healthy life.  Toxoplasmosis infection is associated with schizophrenic and bipolar disorders in humans. While researchers can’t prove a direct causal relationship yet, a lot of people who hear voices have also ingested cat shit in the past. (Of course, if you’re ingesting cat shit, you have more mental issues than can be addressed in one doctor’s visit or a blog of questionable moral character.) If you don’t develop a catastrophic mental disorder that has you talking to Jesus or going into a rage and killing the family pet immediately followed by three months of suicide watch, you get to reap the benefits of toxoplasmosis. Women infected with toxoplasmosis tend to be, “more outgoing, friendly, more promiscuous, and are considered more attractive to men compared with non-infected controls.” (Wikipedia. I would never lie about this.) This is a considerable benefit compared to being labeled, oh, a “bitch on wheels.” I could use that. Really.

Now, if you’re reading this, you’re probably not so mentally deficient that you’re completely familiar with the concept of a lobotomy. Lobotomy is literally the destruction of sections of the pre-frontal cortex of the brain. It cures mental disorders as well as toilet training, the ability to add sums that add up to more than ten and most of your childhood is gone (But hell, you don’t really remember it being all that good anyway, do you?) The most infamous procedure is the “ice pick” lobotomy in which an ice pick or awl-shaped device is inserted into the nose and hit with a hammer until it punctures the skull and brain. “According to the Psychiatric Dictionary published in 1970 prefrontal lobotomy reduces: anxiety feelings and introspective activities; and feelings of inadequacy and self-consciousness are thereby lessened.” (Wikipedia again, thanks.) I could use that as well. Unfortunately, getting part of my brain hammered with a large metal spike lacks a certain amount of appeal. What to do, what to do…

I know, Cat Shit Lobotomy! I own two cats. Those two cats shit more times in one day than the average cow does in a month. There’s a 50/50 chance that one or both of them carry toxoplasmosis. All I need to do is figure out how to get all the benefits of the parasitic infection without the nastiness of dealing in cat shit. Let’s face it; NOBODY is going to volunteer to be exposed to all the joys and wonders of a fresh, steaming pile of kitty leftovers. (If they are, they need to go to a different page. Seriously. Go now, don’t come back.) So I need to figure out how to get fresh distilled toxoplasmosis out of a foul, unbearable resource. GMP logistics aside, wouldn’t that be the best option for those of us who want the benefits of lobotomy and/or happy pills without the expense and unrelenting seizures? I say scientists who are a lot smarter than me need to come up with a treatment using toxoplasmosis. Guys, who wouldn’t want the ladies to be friendlier and easier? Girls, who wouldn’t want a man with “low novelty seeking (aka, “no new ho’s”) drive? It’s all coming down to processing a resource that’s all too abundant: cat shit.

America demands that all of its citizens look on the bright side. The media pounds us everyday with the message we are all supposed to be happy, cheerful and optimistic no matter what the actual circumstances of our lives actually are. I for one can’t do that. However, with some remedial help, namely the Cat Shit Lobotomy, maybe I can be an unthinking, happy person too. I’d also get laid a lot, that’s a plus. So, if you’re not on board already, let the whole “handling feces” aspect of this go. We need to look past the negativity and vomit-inducing smell and figure out how best to use this abundant natural resource. The world is counting on us to be pioneers and not pacifists on this. Now get out your positive attitude and a kitty turd and get distilling. The cure for all the pessimists in the world is but a litter box away.

Thor! and Pascal

The harbringers of doom, or just a cure for modern ills? THEY certainly don't look stressed to me.

Bathroom Mushroom Farm

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

I wandered into the bathroom room yesterday morning to find another fine crop of mushrooms growing on my floor. Okay, so I don’t know if they’re exactly mushrooms, but they’re a fungus of some sort. They sprout up between my baseboard and tile floor. This isn’t just a rainy season thing, it happens all the time. See, my bathroom is conveniently located in a swamp. Something leaks, and every day I experience the joy wading through two inches of water to get to the toilet. Now, I know what you’re thinking. If I heard this story, I’d think the same thing. Something along the lines of, “Well, why don’t you shut up and fix that?” I would but for the fact that I’m not the actual owner of the swamp/bathroom. I technically am not in charge of any repairs or fungus colonies that show up, the landlord is. Too bad my landlord is less than enthusiastic about any sort of repairs or dealings that have to do with the property.

I live in what housing experts would call, “a total shithole.” I wish there was some way to sugar-coat this, but there isn’t. When I went on the walk-through for this fine piece of real estate, the landlord assured me that all repairs and finishing work would be done. I pointed out, with some trepidation, that I was supposed to get the keys in two weeks, and that didn’t seem to be enough time to paint the place, install the range hood, mount gutters, paint the outside, seal the showers, caulk the windows, do something about the two inch gap between the front door and the floor, landscape, install a dryer vent, replace the toilet seat that dumps you into the bowl when seated, and clean the place up. He apparently figured out the same thing, because by the time I moved in, he failed to do any of those things. By that time it was too late to try to get another place, and I didn’t have any other options. It’s not like I can do these things myself either. My experience with tools pretty much involves picking up a screwdriver, acknowledging that is a screwdriver, and putting it back in the toolbox. Now, I have mushrooms growing in the bathroom.

The shower leaks. I don’t know where from, but there’s always a gigantic puddle on the floor. We have a second bathroom, but there’s no caulking or sealant in that one. The landlord told me to, “Just go ahead and use it, it’ll be fine. I’m not worried about it.” Of course he’s not worried about it—he doesn’t have to live here. I’ll be the one stuck with the mold and rotting drywall. Oh well, at least it will match the moldy, peeling drywall around the windows where he failed to seal the window frames properly. To make matters worse is the toilet situation. The swamp bathroom has a toilet that is safe to use for all members of the family. The non-sealed bathroom has a wobbly toilet seat that tends to dump the user into the bowl during every sit-down job. Of course, I have to think about the convenience of this. I mean, maybe the landlord actually thought that if you can’t use the shower, you should at least have the option of a bracing and refreshing dip in the toilet before heading off to work. Then there’s the final insult: the mushrooms. It’s bad enough being afraid to plug anything in on the off chance that I might fry myself, I have to see fungus actually growing from my baseboards and floor. I’m not joking about this, but if I see a giant caterpillar sitting on one smoking a hookah, I’m going to move out and join AA immediately. I’ll live in a cardboard box instead, thank you very much.

My friends tell me to always look on the bright side, so I’m trying to do this. Since I can’t find a job (even though the media insists the economy is fan-freaking-tastic), I figure I’ll supplement my income by harvesting the mushrooms and selling them at the local farmers’ market. I’ll tell people they’re a variety of chanterelles or something. Better yet, I can make some real money by selling them as peyote or some other hallucinogen. I haven’t actually tried this to see if it works, but if it makes this shithole anymore livable or attractive, I think it could be worth shot. I’m picturing myself at my little tent now, “Try it, man, it’s totally the bomb. You like, see caterpillars smoking a hookah and shit.”  Don’t they always say, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.”? Well, life handed me mushrooms, and it’s time to make the best of it.

Bathroom Mushroom

Mushroom/Fungus/Alien Entity residing in my bathroom.