My DQ Blizzard Bonanza! - Week 4

How do I forget about paranoid thoughts of a dystopian social media future?  By picking up my 4th free Dairy Queen Blizzard, of course!   Plus, winning another Tumbleweed from the Tumbleweed Cafe also helps!  Yeah, I answered the easiest pop culture question ever...(Which Looney Tunes character said, "What's up, Doc?)"...but a freak's gotta do what a freak's gotta do for free food prizes.

 

Once again...just say NO to whip cream!

The Hot Cocoa Blizzard was not literally hot, but it did taste like cocoa!  The creamy chocolate ice cream wasn't just chocolate.  There was an unmistakable cocoa flavor, with a few chunks of Oreos mixed in for some chocolatey crunch.  I must confess Oreos are far from my favorite cookie, but their distinct taste added to the richness of this unique cup of cocoa!  

Thank you for reading my half-blind, ice cream words.

Freak Out, 

JLH

P.S.  In case you missed Week 3...

http://freakboyzone.blogspot.com/2017/11/my-dq-blizzard-bonanza-week-3.html 

The Flow of Happiness

"We are here to help you."

This is how it begins.

The brainwashing in the name of good.

The end of authentic emotions.

The beginning of imitation happiness and fake kindness.

"We detect from your social media post that you are not happy, therefore you are a potential threat to yourself and a possible disruption to the Flow of Happiness in others.  The authorities have been notified."

Then they arrive, no matter where you are.

Maybe just to talk, at first.

Then they will come for you.

Take you away for rehabilitation until your Flow of Happiness is at a comfortable level for others.

Your family, friends and neighbors will simply nod their heads in approval because they must.  It's for your own good and theirs.

"Keep smiling.  Everything and everyone is good."

Perhaps world peace will be achieved when we are all being watched all of the time and forced into a perpetual Flow of Happiness that we don't  necessarily feel.

When this fraudulent coexisting contentment begins to crack, there will be only one option left to keep the happiness flowing.

A day to release all of the negative feelings we've been forced to suppress and deny.

"The Day of Release now concludes, and everything and everyone is good.

Keep smiling.

We are here to help you.

The Flow of Happiness depends on it."

~~~~~~~~~~~

My sister and I  heard the news about Facebook's A.I. suicide prevention software today.  This caused an I wish this sounded crazy, but it really doesn't conversation in which we discussed the unsettling growing realism of the films THE CIRCLE and THE PURGE. This post was inspired by our dystopian cinematic chat.

Thank you for reading what I hope is just my half-blind nonsense.

Freak Out, 

JLH

P.S.  Speaking of being watched all of the time, the social media sites have got nothing on Anapola Van Der Van for patience, tenacity and subtle manipulation...

myBook.to/DarkExcursions

My DQ Blizzard Bonanza! - Week 3

Freakboy Fun Fact:  I detest whip cream, almost as much as I detest GALACTICA 1980.

Even as a child, I felt pie and other desserts were ruined by this glop of white stuff.  It's too sweet and instead of enhancing the dessert's flavor, whip cream covers the original tasty taste.  Obviously, I'm in the minority here, so direct your vicious digital diatribes to your trash bin, which is just where whip cream belongs!  

Though, I will admit that, maybe, there are situations where whip cream is tolerable, but that is a very different blogpost for a different time, probably after dark.

As for the following Thanksgiving-related Blizzard, I inquired if I could 86 the whip cream.  Like asking a Godfather, my special request was granted, so hopefully I don't wake up tomorrow to find a mutilated red DQ spoon next to me.

 

Just say NO to whip cream, but always say YES to nutmeg! 

The Pumpkin Pie Blizzard surprised me!  Truthfully, I wasn't expecting to overly enjoy it, but I wanted to try something different.  "This seriously tastes like a pumpkin pie!" is what I exclaimed after my first lip-smacking spoonful.  Another surprising aspect was the bits of pie crust mixed into the smooth pumpkin ice cream.  The sprinkle of nutmeg was the cherry on top of the sundae, so to speak.

Thank you for reading my half-blind, ice cream words.

Freak Out, 

JLH

P.S.  In case you missed Week 2...

http://freakboyzone.blogspot.com/2017/11/my-dq-blizzard-bonanza-week-2.html

Lonely Late Lunch (a short story)

A middle-aged man sits alone at a table for four in a slightly upscale fast food establishment.  His eyes peer out the window at the afternoon flow of traffic.  People coming and going, their lives in motion while he sits and watches them go by.  

Three young men sit at a table across the dining area.  The middle-aged man eavesdrops on their conversation, not because of what is being said, but because anything is being said.  

Voices.  Voices communicating, expressing ideas and opinions.  Sometimes taking turns, sometimes overlapping.  Inflections noting sincerity to sarcasm.  Laughter mingling with words.  Friends sharing this moment in physical life.  

The middle-aged man's  friends sit in the chair beside him.  Within a satchel resides a portable device.  An out-of-date tablet full of people.  People he has known in his life but are now mostly online connections and people who will always remain photos and typed words on the screen.

He thinks about the three young men and tries to imagine  what it would be like to have a friend sitting at the table with him.  Would they speak of what was, what is, or what could be?  Would they debate some topic, dissecting it until understanding is reached?  Would they make each other laugh, causing the sensation of being happy?  Happy to be alive?  Happy to be experiencing this moment with this friend?  

He thinks about his old tablet, tucked safely into his satchel.  Maybe he could find someone to connect with during his lunch, if only the Wi-Fi wasn't down.  It should be easy to inform an employee of this technical glitch, but that would be tantamount to confessing his feelings of being a pathetic loser who can no longer connect with people in the physical world.

So, the middle-aged man sits alone at a table for four, watching his life go by.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for reading my half-blind nonsense.

Freak Out, 

JLH

P.S.  A short story from last November...

http://freakboyzone.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-now.html

My DQ Blizzard Bonanza! - Week 2

Ok, yes, it is technically still Week 1, but I an calling it Week 2 to avoid confusion later on down this Blizzard blogging road.

I earned the following ice cream treat after watching yet another half-blind eye-rolling episode of GALACTICA 1980.

 

A Blizzard supper is super!

The Strawberry Cheesecake Blizzard is definitely not strictly strawberry ice cream.  My first spoonful drew a passionate "Oh, that's good!" from my lips.  The cheesecake chunks are bite-size tasty surprises and I saved that fresh slice of strawberry for the last delicious bite!

On a side note, the Dairy Queen manager asked if I was going to use all of my DQ VIP card.  I said I'd be here every week.  He told me how a winner from early in the year has only used the card 4 times!  I am sure that will not be the case with me, because free food is a terrible thing to waste!

Thank you for reading my half-blind, ice cream words.

Freak Out, 

JLH

P.S.  In case you missed Week 1...

http://freakboyzone.blogspot.com/2017/11/my-dq-blizzard-bonanza-week-1.html

My DQ Blizzard Bonanza! - Week 1

I guess I should thank two of my Omaha friends for being a couple of sickies on October 7th.  Their several hour drive to Broken Bow just to see their half-blind freakboy was cancelled, so my sister took me to DAIRY QUEEN for an anti-disappointment dessert.  While my sis and I were there, we each registered for a chance to win various food prizes.  After a week passed, I assumed neither of us won anything and forgot all about it.

Flash forward to November 14th.  I received a call announcing that I won one free small Dairy Queen Blizzard...a week...for a year.   A year!  Seriously!  52 ice cream dreams come true! 

I wondered how this sort of prize would work.  The local  manager handed me a DQ VIP card that has 52 dated circles ready to be punched out one week at a time.  The first circle was dated the week of November 6th, my birthday.  For some reason  the winners were drawn a week after when the VIP card started, so I will receive last week's and this week's Blizzard this week!

A freakboy & his DQ VIP card

I probably could've got my first two Blizzards simultaneously, but I decided to start with my favorite, as a belated birthday present to myself, and then pick up my second one in a day or two.

I brought this Blizzard home for supper 

The Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Blizzard sent me into a state of ice cream bliss!  Some of the mouth-watering cookie dough chunks got so blended into the vanilla ice cream that every bite was cookie dough heaven!

I hope to try a different flavor each week, if that's even possible!  It's a delicious goal to set, and with every scrumptious bite, I'll be thinking of  my two Omaha friends who were too sick to drive that day.  ; )

Thank you for reading my half-blind, ice cream words.

Freak Out, 

JLH

P.S.  An older post about when I ate a tumbleweed...

http://freakboyzone.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-day-i-ate-tumbleweed.html 

Android John Gets Naked

Last November I said I'd let the world spin and see where it would take me.

One year later and the world has taken me nowhere, but it did take a chunk of my vision.

To say this year has been difficult is the understatement of the year.  Anger, confusion, sadness and frustration were the cornerstones of my new half-blind life.  Sadness and frustration still envelop me when reality becomes too real by thinking about what's next..

Let's face it, my left eye had a stroke, which was my body's opening salvo on existence.  This means my story will most likely end sooner rather than later.   

Grains of sand quickly slipping through the hourglass...this is what I hear when I remove my ears.

A hazy, so-called future...this is what I see when I remove my eyes.

Still, I can't ignore the fact I have kept a part of my pre-visually impaired life alive by creating videos and even blogging again.  These projects have kept me sane or at least distracted me from morbid, but truthful thoughts.

Yes, there are things I'd like to accomplish in the coming year.  I just need to focus, but it's not easy when I see too much every time I open my half-blind eyes.

Thank you for reading, and Happy Birthday to me.

Freak Out,

JLH

P.S. The FreakOptic Files version...

http://freakoptics.blogspot.com/2017/11/android-john-gets-naked.html