Doomtoy
03/03/2003, 14:50
The term is "punchdrunk," or "punchy." It originally denoted a fighter or boxer who's still on his feet, but groggy due to absorbing a bit too much punishment. Nowadays, it refers to "groggy from lack of sleep."
Ever had a day like that? I still remember a certain morning in 1988.
Chum of mine and I were in Houston, working on some stuff. We worked like hell all night, got the project done about six in the morning, and debated whether or not to go home -- a four hour drive -- or seek lodgings. We elected to have breakfast and determine how we felt afterwards before making that decision.
It is important to note, by the way, that neither of us had had any alcohol to drink, nor were we partaking of any drugs. We were just tired, that's all.
We wound up in a local shopping mall, where there was a pancake house. We ate, and then got lost trying to find our way out of the mall.
We remembered there was this drugstore that had one door feeding into the mall, and the other end feeding into the parking lot. We decided to leave through the drugstore.
...and we found ourselves walking through the toy section, right?
"Masters Of The Universe" toys were big, back then. This particular drugstore had all these Mexican MOTU knockoff toys. One of them was a wizard, complete with pointy hat. Due to some imperfection in the painting process, he was crosseyed.
Well, for some reason, this struck us funny.
We had to stop and see if there was another wizard in the little wire bin, for comparison's sake. There was. He was crosseyed, too. We eventually dug out some twelve wizards, all equally crosseyed.
...and this had us giggling like idiots.
...and then... he pulled out this barbarian figure, blister-carded. Muscles on his muscles. Big axe. Big sword.
He read the barbarian's name aloud, off the card. "MAGOON," he said.
And we both cracked up laughing. I had to see this for myself. I took the figure away from him, and read the card. Sure enough, his name was Magoon. "Ma-GOON," I said.
We cracked up laughing again. My chum adopted his best bass voice, with a slight tremolo at the end. "Mah-GOOOOOOOOONNNN," he rumbled.
And I about died laughing. This had him laughing. Pretty soon, both of us were hunched over, laughing uncontrollably, unable to get our breath, we were laughing so hard. He actually fell on the floor, still clutching one of those crosseyed wizards. I thought this was even funnier, and I continued to laugh, maniacally.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the elderly pharmacist. He was watching us. He seemed a bit nervous.
My chum noticed this too. He looked at me. He then sat up on the floor, looked at the pharmacist, looked at me, looked back at the pharmacist, and then pointed at the toy display. "Mah-GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNN!" he shouted.
I couldn't believe he did that. I also couldn't believe it when I began laughing again, and could NOT stop. I laughed so hard, I cried. I dropped Magoon on the floor, and narrowly avoided crushing him when I fell to my knees, I was laughing so hard.
The pharmacist shifted from "nervous" to "frightened." Plainly, these two geeks were on some SERIOUS drugs... and here he was, alone in the store with them. He picked up a phone and began dialing.
I grabbed my chum, dragged him to his feet, and together, still laughing maniacally, we staggered towards the outer door. We then had to stop and put the crosseyed wizard friend of Magoon back, but we lammed out. The elderly man was still on the phone, still looking frankly worried.
We ran to his truck, leaped in, and fled.
There were cops all over the interstate. We were quite certain they were all looking for us. We didn't dare check into a motel, so we drove, weaving, all the way back to central Texas, and home.
...and whenever he seemed a little droopy at the wheel, I'd scream, "MAGOON, you $#@hole, MAGOOOOOOOON!!!"
...and we'd both start laughing like loons, and he'd have to pull over while we got control of ourselves.
But at least he never quite fell asleep at the wheel...
Ever had a day like that? I still remember a certain morning in 1988.
Chum of mine and I were in Houston, working on some stuff. We worked like hell all night, got the project done about six in the morning, and debated whether or not to go home -- a four hour drive -- or seek lodgings. We elected to have breakfast and determine how we felt afterwards before making that decision.
It is important to note, by the way, that neither of us had had any alcohol to drink, nor were we partaking of any drugs. We were just tired, that's all.
We wound up in a local shopping mall, where there was a pancake house. We ate, and then got lost trying to find our way out of the mall.
We remembered there was this drugstore that had one door feeding into the mall, and the other end feeding into the parking lot. We decided to leave through the drugstore.
...and we found ourselves walking through the toy section, right?
"Masters Of The Universe" toys were big, back then. This particular drugstore had all these Mexican MOTU knockoff toys. One of them was a wizard, complete with pointy hat. Due to some imperfection in the painting process, he was crosseyed.
Well, for some reason, this struck us funny.
We had to stop and see if there was another wizard in the little wire bin, for comparison's sake. There was. He was crosseyed, too. We eventually dug out some twelve wizards, all equally crosseyed.
...and this had us giggling like idiots.
...and then... he pulled out this barbarian figure, blister-carded. Muscles on his muscles. Big axe. Big sword.
He read the barbarian's name aloud, off the card. "MAGOON," he said.
And we both cracked up laughing. I had to see this for myself. I took the figure away from him, and read the card. Sure enough, his name was Magoon. "Ma-GOON," I said.
We cracked up laughing again. My chum adopted his best bass voice, with a slight tremolo at the end. "Mah-GOOOOOOOOONNNN," he rumbled.
And I about died laughing. This had him laughing. Pretty soon, both of us were hunched over, laughing uncontrollably, unable to get our breath, we were laughing so hard. He actually fell on the floor, still clutching one of those crosseyed wizards. I thought this was even funnier, and I continued to laugh, maniacally.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the elderly pharmacist. He was watching us. He seemed a bit nervous.
My chum noticed this too. He looked at me. He then sat up on the floor, looked at the pharmacist, looked at me, looked back at the pharmacist, and then pointed at the toy display. "Mah-GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNN!" he shouted.
I couldn't believe he did that. I also couldn't believe it when I began laughing again, and could NOT stop. I laughed so hard, I cried. I dropped Magoon on the floor, and narrowly avoided crushing him when I fell to my knees, I was laughing so hard.
The pharmacist shifted from "nervous" to "frightened." Plainly, these two geeks were on some SERIOUS drugs... and here he was, alone in the store with them. He picked up a phone and began dialing.
I grabbed my chum, dragged him to his feet, and together, still laughing maniacally, we staggered towards the outer door. We then had to stop and put the crosseyed wizard friend of Magoon back, but we lammed out. The elderly man was still on the phone, still looking frankly worried.
We ran to his truck, leaped in, and fled.
There were cops all over the interstate. We were quite certain they were all looking for us. We didn't dare check into a motel, so we drove, weaving, all the way back to central Texas, and home.
...and whenever he seemed a little droopy at the wheel, I'd scream, "MAGOON, you $#@hole, MAGOOOOOOOON!!!"
...and we'd both start laughing like loons, and he'd have to pull over while we got control of ourselves.
But at least he never quite fell asleep at the wheel...