05 March, 2008

Sunrise on the Sufferbus

Day #3 of taking the bus was alternately amusing and disastrous. I got on and took the same seat at the back as I did yesterday and found myself surrounded by the same guys and next to the same blonde woman as the day before. Opening my book, I began reading only to discover that the chapter discussed behaviorism. How perfect.

Reading along, I got to the section on John B. Watson and his quote:

Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.

I chuckled to myself and wondered if Ian Anderson (he of Jethro Tull) had read or read about Watson. Does any of that quote sound familiar? Perhaps you know "Cross-Eyed Mary" with its lines, "Who would be a poor man/a beggar-man, a thief/if he had a rich man in his hand?"

Shortly after this, I rubbed my right eye and the burning started. The tears began to flow as the sensation became more intense. So there I was trying to read while on the verge of crying because one of my eyes felt like it was going to explode. It soon dawned on me what had happened. You see, today is the Chili Championship here at work and I had tucked a couple bottles of hot sauce in my bag which have obviously gotten some of the rectal rocket fuel on the wrong side of the glass.

D'oh!

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