3.21.2003
twelve o'clock dummy
i just had to blog about this as soon as i got to work. so, remember how i was saying that growing up on an air force base (i guess any kind of military base, for that matter) probably changes your perception of the world? so, me and andy were watching msnbc this morning before i left to go to the lab and andy left to go to the DMV. andy likes watching the coverage because not only do they have people talking (he really cares very little for what they are saying since he believes all media LIES), but he likes watching the action coverage of what is going on over there. anyway, so this morning while andy was outside smoking a cigarette and talking on the phone i was watching the coverage and they had a shot of baghdad and it was saying that they had air-raid sirens going off and then you could see these people running in the streets... where they were going, i wouldn't know, but they were running. so, then i started thinking and i was wondering what those air-raid sirens were about. i thought they were maybe from the US and it was like a "hey, we're about to bomb" you kinda warning since there are these "war fighting" rules that have been established, but at the same time that seemed kinda silly, too. i was going to ask andy this morning before i left the house, but he was on the phone, so i didn't get a chance to. anyway, i came home for lunch and andy was watching msnbc again, and i remembered i was going to ask him. and he clarified for me that it wasn't a siren by us, but by them warning their own people, i guess, that they are under attack. and that made a little more sense to me. so, andy goes "we had air-raid sirens at williams." and i was like "we did? i don't remember." and then andy goes "don't you remember 12 o'clock dummy?"............ now, let me explain 12 o'clock dummy. twelve o'clock dummy was this game that we played every day (school days, at least) because every day at noon, these sirens would go off. and since it would be during recess, the game was that you couldn't be touching the ground or you were the "TWELVE O'CLOCK DUMMY." this didn't really mean anything, like we didn't chuck rocks at the poor sap who couldn't make it onto the jungle gym in time, but kids are silly, and it is fun to do anything that can exclude someone else. so andy goes on to tell me that that siren that would go off at noon was really an air-raid siren and the base was probably doing practices for in case they ever really needed to use the siren.... HELLO??!!! i was a little freaked out. i mean, here was this pretty important warning, and children had made it into this really crazy game. and then i started wondering what the adults must have thought of this game because i'm sure they knew what it really meant. i could just imagine a teacher going... "don't you know what that is? it's a warning in case we are ever under attack and we must evacuate." do you know what kind of freakish things that would do to a child who is already is a little weirded out because they live on a military base? every time you heard that siren would be a reminder that you could eventually be bombed one day. wow, that was a really weird thing to learn today. anyway, i called neneng and she remembered twelve o'clock dummy, but didn't know that's what that siren was either. i'm gonna have to call toto today to find out if he knew that's what it was. see, what did i say about living on an air force base? trippy................
i just had to blog about this as soon as i got to work. so, remember how i was saying that growing up on an air force base (i guess any kind of military base, for that matter) probably changes your perception of the world? so, me and andy were watching msnbc this morning before i left to go to the lab and andy left to go to the DMV. andy likes watching the coverage because not only do they have people talking (he really cares very little for what they are saying since he believes all media LIES), but he likes watching the action coverage of what is going on over there. anyway, so this morning while andy was outside smoking a cigarette and talking on the phone i was watching the coverage and they had a shot of baghdad and it was saying that they had air-raid sirens going off and then you could see these people running in the streets... where they were going, i wouldn't know, but they were running. so, then i started thinking and i was wondering what those air-raid sirens were about. i thought they were maybe from the US and it was like a "hey, we're about to bomb" you kinda warning since there are these "war fighting" rules that have been established, but at the same time that seemed kinda silly, too. i was going to ask andy this morning before i left the house, but he was on the phone, so i didn't get a chance to. anyway, i came home for lunch and andy was watching msnbc again, and i remembered i was going to ask him. and he clarified for me that it wasn't a siren by us, but by them warning their own people, i guess, that they are under attack. and that made a little more sense to me. so, andy goes "we had air-raid sirens at williams." and i was like "we did? i don't remember." and then andy goes "don't you remember 12 o'clock dummy?"............ now, let me explain 12 o'clock dummy. twelve o'clock dummy was this game that we played every day (school days, at least) because every day at noon, these sirens would go off. and since it would be during recess, the game was that you couldn't be touching the ground or you were the "TWELVE O'CLOCK DUMMY." this didn't really mean anything, like we didn't chuck rocks at the poor sap who couldn't make it onto the jungle gym in time, but kids are silly, and it is fun to do anything that can exclude someone else. so andy goes on to tell me that that siren that would go off at noon was really an air-raid siren and the base was probably doing practices for in case they ever really needed to use the siren.... HELLO??!!! i was a little freaked out. i mean, here was this pretty important warning, and children had made it into this really crazy game. and then i started wondering what the adults must have thought of this game because i'm sure they knew what it really meant. i could just imagine a teacher going... "don't you know what that is? it's a warning in case we are ever under attack and we must evacuate." do you know what kind of freakish things that would do to a child who is already is a little weirded out because they live on a military base? every time you heard that siren would be a reminder that you could eventually be bombed one day. wow, that was a really weird thing to learn today. anyway, i called neneng and she remembered twelve o'clock dummy, but didn't know that's what that siren was either. i'm gonna have to call toto today to find out if he knew that's what it was. see, what did i say about living on an air force base? trippy................
