The πs have it!

Disneyland, March 14, a few years ago. It was a dream come true. I had already met Captain America, and now I was about to meet my first mythical Norse god. I don't recall if it was Thursday, the day named after him, but it isn't every day or vacation that you get to meet two greats who are worthy to wield Mjolnir! We lined up in the antechamber, which included several important artifacts, such as Loki's pointy hat. Then the door opened, and there he was in all his Thormidable greatness.

For a powerful Norse deity, Thor was quite friendly. It was Pi Day, and he observed I was wearing a π t-shirt. He reminisced fondly about how they had π back on Asgard, but it was different. It was served on a plate. It was delicious.

I will always remember that day. The day I met a great fictional Norse god on π Day. It made me proud to be Norse myself.

****

Another π Day, a couple years earlier. I was studying design, and I had recently learned the wonders of Adobe Illustrator. At the time, Gangnam Style was all the rage. It was all over YouTube, TV, memes, social media, everywhere. It was hard to miss. I also observed that Psy, the artist who brought it to the world, sounds similar to π. The following illustration was the result of this observation. Oppan πnam Style!

I know, it's random, but there you have it.

Happy π Day!

(By the way, if you are on a PC, you can type π by holding down Alt and typing 227 on the keypad on the side of the keyboard.)

Words @ Random

October 25, 2004, I stopped at Tully's for my morning latté on the way to work. They knew me pretty well, and I almost always ordered the same drink that we had decided to call a triple-berry latté. I don't remember if I had started asking for nonfat, no foam and no whip at that point, but they put one squirt of blackberry syrup, one squirt of raspberry, and one squirt of cherry. "Triple berry" was much less of a mouthful than having to say all that, and the baristas were familiar with it. In any case, as the machine was whirring that morning, the barista said, "Airplane." That was a bit unexpected! She was surprised to find out she had said that out loud, and explained that it occurred to her that the machine sounded like an airplane. I commented that it seemed she was saying words at random...then realized that sounded like a song title. So I told her maybe I would write a song and put it on my first album. She liked that. I wrote the song (well, poem), but I haven't recorded an album yet. Maybe someday?

[Side note: A few years later I would start counting calories and discover that daily morning lattés are not the best idea if you need to lose weight. Now I only have them occasionally, generally once or twice during pumpkin spice season. I still drink coffee, though, black.]

A project for a graphic design class
a few years after writing this poem.
I translated the poem into French
and made a poster based on the
visual poems in the Futuristic style.
"Cracked" is the title of the font.

Airplane
Miniature Schnauzer
Oh the joy of saying words at random!
Indubitably
Scrambled
What a way to chase the blues away
Just saying words at random
Meow
Anemone
People look at me like I'm strange
But what do I care?
I'm saying words at random!
Spiffy
Brazilnut
It's so fun being easily entertained!
Which leaves me just one more thing to add:
Xylophone!

---

As mentioned in the caption above, I translated the poem into French for a design project a few years later. Following is the French translation:

Mots au hasard

Avion
Schnauzer miniature
Quelle joie de dire des mots au hasard !
Indubitablement
Brouillé
Quel moyen magnifique de chasser les idées noires !
On n'a qu'à dire des mots au hasard !
Miaou
Anémone
On me regarde comme si je suis fou
Mais ça m'est égal
Je dis des mots au hasard !
Épatant
Noyer d'Amazonie
Que c'est amusant d'être facile à divertir !
Ce qui ne me laisse qu'une seule chose de plus à dire :
Xylophone !

Discombobulated

October 28, 1999, I was in college and had a shocking epiphany that I couldn't think of a single poem that used the word discombobulated. It had such poetic possibility! This could not stand! I hastened to fix that problem, and the following story of an abduction by Vikings (and other randomness) unfolded. I set the poem to a techno tune. (Note: I am proud of my Scandinavian heritage. That said, I was going more for rhymes than historical accuracy. Also of note, the first four stanzas have nothing to do with the rest of the poem, except that they rhyme.)

Ein Wikingerüberfall (A Viking Raid)
Ferdinand Leeke, 1901

Discombobulated

Uncoordinated
Unsophisticated
Discombobulated!

On the road I skated
And I rollerbladed
Discombobulated
A racket I created!

To the mob I stated
My speech right now is slated
Discombobulated
Unsophisticated

I stated and restated
Jack Sprat is underweighted
His wife is overweighted
Discombobulated!

The two were unrelated
Until the day they were mated
Her hair he daily braided
And they were both elated

Until the Vikings raided
Their house they had invaded
Their ego was deflated
And those men they hated

Their home was desecrated
Discombobulated
Their glory, it soon faded
They became outdated

Their language he translated
The verbs he conjugated
To Norway they were crated
They were unsedated

To a land they were freighted
On a great ship, gold-plated
Their happiness negated
The Vikings they berated

Their birthday cards belated
Their arrival long-awaited
Their fury unabated
The Vikings soon were jaded

Against their will they aided
And, boy, had they debated
Bibliography annotated
To them clearly dictated

Discombobulated
Their sla-ve-ry was fated
In the ground they spaded
While the Vikings recreated

They left so much unstated
The snow was underrated
And their teeth they grated
Their eyes were soon dilated

Escaped! They soon vacated
Their home was reinstated
Architecture they updated
Gothic they predated

This song is overrated
People interrelated
Discombobulated,
This song is terminated!