Archive for the ‘Ditties’ Category
Misinterpreters’ Disorder (I Just Don’t Get It)
This is how the day began at my Misinterpreters’ Disorder Anonymous Meeting:
Me (to group): Hello, my name is David Hardiman and I suffer from Misinterpreters’ Disorder.
Co-sufferers (collectively): Hello David.
Me (visibly shaken): What do you mean “Hello David?” What are you trying to say? I wish I remained anonymous.
With Misinterpreter’s Disorder (MD), the big things (relationships, schooling and parenting) I got. It was the little things (simple greetings, stop signs and expiration dates) I just couldn’t process. They took on a different and wholly unexpected meaning not at all related to my drug use (if you can call watching Hogan’s Heroes drug use). This newly discovered disorder is now covered by ObamaCare along with treatment for people who still belong to the Mark Hamill Fan Club. MD sufferers often misconstrue the cues in their environment and interpret them incorrectly. For example, the other night at a poetry reading, a woman leaned over and quietly sneezed in my ear. Not wanting to embarrass her I calmly said, “God bless you madam.” She looked me at me kind of funny and said, “I didn’t sneeze. I was just asking if you enjoyed haiku.” Read the rest of this entry »
Happy Birthday Steve
“Steve” turned 69 on the 14th of August
Dear Steve,
You are so invited to my house for kale dogs and a tour of my Presidential Library. There’s even a guest room for you and Mrs. Steve and a bassinet for baby Steve. All in all it should be a splendid Stevecentric time for everyone. In fact that’s what I set my watch to. I’m on SCT: Steve Centric Time. I know you must be too. Text me or just show up. We’re pet friendly and have a carpeted Cat Condo for kitty Steve.
P.S. Except for Wally Cox you’re the only celebrity to whom I’ve made this offer.
Fond Regards,
David
Red Loin Hotel Chain now Caters to Gay Seniors
Red Loin Hotels: Championing Gay Geriatric Sexuality for almost 2 weeks (In other words, we’re trying to increase our occupancy rate)

No matter how old you are, age is something you always have. And as you approach your twilight years Red Loin Hotel chain recognizes the special needs homosexuals of a certain age may require. And that’s why not only are we gay-friendly, but we’re also LGBT-compliant even though we have no idea what the B or the T stand for. Our marketing department can worry about that. We simply want to get the message out to people who enjoy similarly equipped people, that we’ve taken concrete steps to ensure your stay with us is both memorable and unforgettable; even though memorable and unforgettable both mean the same thing. Our marketing department can worry about that. We had earlier taken wooden steps to ensure your stay with us was memorable, but we found the concrete steps were more enduring and so will you.
Therefore it is with great pleasure we present Red Loin’s gay-friendly amenities: Read the rest of this entry »
This Page Left Intentionally Blank
I know what I want to say I just don’t know how to say it. So in this case we’ll just let nature adore a vacuum. And don’t bother depressing the Read the rest of the entry>> link below – it’s depressed enough.
New Apple iCar: Far from Polished
Apple Corporation whose Midas touch has yielded an unbroken string of innovative and advanced products has whiffed mightily on its latest venture: the Apple iCar. I’m sad to report this Apple is a lemon. Although the iCar was Voted Car of the Year for 2015, what Apple failed to mention is that it was voted car of the year by the National Towing Association.
As expected Apple has made the shopping experience unique. Instead of buying the car, you “bob” for it. The company announced a hybrid model whose gasoline engine is supplememted by the buyers own sense of self-importance. The iCar comes in two versions prompting one marijuana-dazed customer to comment, “Wow man. It comes in 2 virgins. That’s frickin’ amazing. How’d they get it to do that?”
Each iCar contains an authenticated tear-stained note from a desperate Foxconn worker who helped build it in China. These workers are constantly reminded that Apple means Jobs. This wordplay confused the workers causing one to remark, “Of course Apple means Jobs. But is it Steven or the actual job?”
A test drive revealed the Apple iCar possesses crisp handling, but is decidedly low-tech. Evidently engineers let one of the cars ferment. And that’s how one bad car spoiled the whole bunch of them. The vehicle does, however, come with a touch screen that allows for “good touches.” Or for an extra fee you can get a touch screen that allows for “bad touches.” The new iCar is powered by a search engine that doesn’t seem to know where it’s going. As if it’s always looking for something. Apple says the car should be parked in a cool, dry cellar. If it’s left outside too long it tends to get mealy.
One bright spot for Apple is the iCar’s crashworthiness. The car is dent-resistant, although it does bruise rather easily. To restore the finish to its usual luster just fog it with your breath and buff it out. If you’re offered one (especially by a saleslady named Eve), you’d better think twice about sinking your teeth into it.
I hope you find these apple metaphors a-peeling.
Better luck on their next venture – the iCondom. Supposedly this one also comes in 2 models…I mean, if you’re lucky.
Going Larval, as Opposed to Viral
The theme of this piece is me. How appropriate. Theme, the me, me. It’s all one idea in 5 letters. I can’t remember a time when it wasn’t about me. But how did I, David Nostradamus, get discovered at the advanced age of 55? I would never have predicted it. 55 is a time when men of a certain age are coping with their wife’s menopause. Not me. Instead I became incrementally famous – not virally, but larvally.
With so much noise in the channel how does a Baby Boomer compete with InstaBook and FaceChat? The answer is, you don’t compete. You transcend. I didn’t so much go viral as I went larval. You see I’m a slow burn. Some might even say I’m an acquired taste and now that I’m well-aged and have developed complex flavonoids, I’m very tasty indeed. And this is not just wishful thinking; it’s an empirical judgment. For example, at a recent barrel tasting of my work at the offices of New Yorker Magazine in Altoona, PA, all agreed my latest think piece on Monica Lewinsky went down very easy. And even though it’s a stale topic and a cheap joke it was unable to mask the superb notes of organic brilliance and herbaceous luminosity in each sampled sentence. These palette pleasing phrases indicated the indigenous soil from which the story sprang was not only incredibly fertile, but also really dirty. And I had no trouble dishing the dirt. Read the rest of this entry »
Travel Guide to Washington DC (for my niece Maria)
Dear Maria,
Good evening and hello. We’ll just assume it’s evening. It reads better that way. It appears your next adventure in this journey we call “life” remands you to the District of Columbia (originally a 10 mile square tilted cube until 1846 when Virginia retroceded its portion back into the state leaving Maryland’s cession as the location of present day DC.). You are both fortunate and burdened to have your intellectual capacities exercised to the degreee they will be in DC (The extra e in degreee was intentional, although it serves no purpose, in much the same way long parenthetical entries are more confusing than enlightening – agreed? Agreed!). Yes Maria, your lot in life will soon revolve around DuPont Circle (formerly DuPont Square, but numerous revolutions have rounded its corners rendering it DuPont Circle). Read the rest of this entry »
We Got a New Kitty and She is the Kitty of the World. Of All the World. All the Time!
I’m so crazy-go-nuts for our rescue cat. I spend way too much time nuzzling her. She’s smusher-dependent and I’m smusher-codependent, so we’re very compatible. I enable her cuddlemorphic binges by making sure her furry ears are properly smushed every 30 minutes. She in turn uses her little sandpaper tongue to keep my eyebrows sparklingly groomed – like they’ve been threaded or something. She is like a cuddly drug that’s good for what ails you.
Her formal name is Joan. Yes. Joan the cat. Her nickname is Midge, but I usually end up calling her BubBay or if I’m feeling a little frisky I may resort to BooBay or (if I’ve eaten too much of her Science Diet) BooBooheimer. As in “How’s daddy’s little BooBooheimer today.” And she understands everything I say. It’s so rewarding to be fully understood when you make baby talk.
Here are some snatches of dialogue I lapse into whenever I get near her. It’s not really dialogue because that would suggest 2 people are talking. And even if she only says, “Meow,” I hear her loud and clear:
“Who’s the best kitty in the world? It’s you isn’t it? Well yes it is. You’re a ThunderKitty with superpowers and when they make a Superhero movie based on your superior fluffiness, I’ll be your agent and make sure you get a Cat Trailer filled with aged mice.” Read the rest of this entry »
Fly Malaysian Airlines:
Way too soon and with a thousand apologies I submit the newest marketing slogans for Malaysia Airlines:
-
We’re still the safest airline in the world. Based in Malaysia
-
Now selling half-way tickets.
-
The only airline with odds.
-
If you’re flying another airline all we can say is, “Chicken!”
-
Proving that what goes up doesn’t necessarily come down.
-
We must be safer now. All our bad luck has been used up.
-
Win-Win. You either arrive safely or rest assured your loved ones will receive a handsome insurance settlement.
-
Statistically we’re still safer than jumping into an active volcano.
-
We recognize that man’s ultimate destination is God’s Kingdom. We just try to get you there faster.









