Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Arachnoscreamia!

Behold, the all-important 10th blog entry! Yes, we've reached double digits and if you haven't read them all then you have some serious laughs left in the chuckle bank!...

There has been much debate in recent years over the “National Pastime”. Baseball was the national pastime for a century before yielding to “America’s Game” …American football. American football is not to be confused with “The World’s Game” which we call soccer and everybody else calls football. It’s all very confusing and there’s much to be said on the subject. Baseball happens to have been my first love, but the word “pastime” seems appropriate because true baseball fanatics are hard to find anymore. Football has taken over the national consciousness from high school to college to the NFL. Soccer has taken over the city of Portland in a way I never would have thought possible. But here’s what they’re all missing and I can’t think of a way any of them can close this glaring hole: none of these sports involve yelling at the top of your lungs at spiders.

Let me tell you a little story. My wife’s family has a long tradition of meeting at a park in Oregon City every 4th of July. Nearly every year the extended family (cousins and second cousins and first cousins once removed and great-great-great aunts and ladies named things like “Doris” and “Betty” and men with names like “Dick” because that wasn’t a funny thing to call people back then) gets together for cheap hot dogs and too much chocolate and old stories. Well, when I married into this family I began attending this every year and there was one common theme at each: I know 10 people out of 60 and I’ve seen all 10 recently so I really don’t have any catching up to do. Thank God Andy married Tara so I can have somebody to throw things at, whether that be a baseball or a football or a Frisbee or an insult or a stick. At least I’m not sitting on a bench pretending I’m interested in the grass I’m staring at.

Well, a couple of years ago during this picnic the kids were finally old enough to run around. They weren’t yet old enough to run off and do their own unsupervised thing, but they were old enough to circle the party making quirky noises and occasionally run into something hard/sharp/hot and start crying. That’s not the worst thing in the world because then you have the opportunity to hold them and console them and kill time all the while looking like a compassionate parent who didn’t just send your wild and crazy offspring running around to bash their face into a piping hot barbeque. Well, someone had the idea that it would be a good idea to send the kids off to go play in the tree next to the structure the party is held in. Before you go and judge “someone” who did this you have to understand that this tree is some sort of hemlock tree that isn’t really climbable. It’s not pokey like a spruce so the kids could go into it kind of like a tent and run around it kind of like little Indians (I don’t know why I wrote that but I’m not a racist…except when I’m trying to outpace my opponent).

Anyway…the kids are playing in and around this tree and I decide it will be funny to scare them. So I go up to the tree and I get behind where my son is and I yell at the top of my lungs. The 50 strangers probably looked at me like I was half nuts and looked at my wife pitying her for marrying this idiot but I didn’t see any of that.What I saw was the spider in the web in front of me flinch. By “flinch” I mean it raised a couple of legs in the air and flailed them around. “RAAAAH!”. I tried it again. Flail! “RAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!” FLLLLAAAAIIIILLL!!!!!

I was onto something…I was onto something BIG. So I found another spider and I yelled at it too. Flail! In fact, I found out, the louder I yelled, the more the spider would flailed around. This was great. Pretty soon the kids are yelling at the spiders. From a distance I’m sure we looked like idiots, but like I’ve always said “it’s better to look like an idiot from afar than be far from an idiot.”

So for the rest of the summer my son would find spiders in the backyard and as long as they were in their web we could go right up to them, bark loudly and watch them freak out. We started rating our Spider Yells by the number of legs that made it into the air. A 2-legger is a pretty weak effort. A 4-legger is about what you’d expect a girl to be able to do – sidebar: I’m not being sexist and saying that girls are worse spider yellers than guys…I’m simply saying that calling someone a girl is the same as calling someone a wus. Now when you can get a 6-legger you’re really making progress because now you’re talking about only 2 legs sticking to the web with a full 75% waving in the air. I’ve yet to see the holy grail of spider yelling, the 8-legger, which I would imagine means the spider full on falling from its own web. Maybe I should buy an air horn to see if this can truly be accomplished.

Here is the link to the YouTube video of some Spider Yelling…or if I’m really technical maybe I learned how to embed it after writing this. Please forward this blog and/or the video links to Spider Yelling to everyone you know. People will love you just as you now love me.

Spider Yelling 1


Spider Yelling 2: Extreme Spider Yelling!


My charge to you is to go out while there are still a few straggling spiders in the yard. Find one in a web and scare the hell out of it. Yell at the top of your lungs. Your neighbors will think you’ve lost your mind, but the joke’s on them because you will know you are enjoying the emerging movement of people who enjoy screaming not because of, but AT arachnids. You’re a pioneer in the sport of Spider Yelling. Yell loudly and yell proudly.

21 comments:

Kyra Matkovich said...

Oh my gooness that is FREAKING FUNNY!!!!!!!!! We did Sheep Screaming, which is a similar concept, and equally as entertaining. Hilarious.

Who's this Randy Guy Anyways said...

I almost doused my work laptop with gross work coffee while watching the second spider video

franc said...

You have me giggling like a maniac. Thank you.

"Keen" Keith said...

Glad you enjoyed! For a change of pace check out Hillbilly Hand Fishin'. It is the story that got me to start blogging.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sexist but "girl" equals "wus".

Autumn said...

Whenever I'm feeling really crappy I go watch your spider yelling videos, they never fail to to make me laugh so hard that I have tears in my eyes.

"Keen" Keith said...

Hi Autumn. I'm glad Spider Yelling can brighten your day. I hope you aer now an eager participant in the movement that is SPIDER YELLING! I'm always glad when I can make girls cry.

Staceemaree said...

Too funny! I actually DID Laugh Out Loud! Spiders are an important part of my family's life, because (1)wherever you are, you are never more than 6 ft away from a spider, (2)We live in the woods, in the south, where spiders are actually aliens in disguise, and (3)We hate them. My son is a total spider "girl" (using your terms). He's the one who turned me on to this new game. I suspect the neighbors will be speaking about us at their dinner tables, because we are about to become official "spider yellers". Thank you!

"Keen" Keith said...

Hi Staceemaree. I love that you laughed out loud and even more excited that you are joining the sport. No longer do we have to fear spiders because, like bears (no, not really like bears), they fear us. I hope your enjoyment lasts a lifetime!

Staceemaree said...

Ever since the post, we've been looking for spiders to terrorize, but alas, there are none to be found. I think they're on to us.

Sue H said...

Oh, they are so, so funny.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

I've never laughed at a spider. I love you hahah

Anonymous said...

Spider yelling? Hilaarrious!

'Not being Sexist because you're equating being a girl to being a wus'???

COMPLETELY FU*KING SEXIST.

Obviously you have no daughters.

Dumbass.

"Keen" Keith said...

Dear Anonymous,
Keep taking everything so seriously when in a conversation about yelling at spiders.
Sincerely,
Better-Than-You

Claire Walsh said...

I aM SO upset...

Just popped into the garden and was looking at my plants when I saw a web... Looked closer, medium sized spider in it! So, I go a bit closer, take a deep breath and 'RAR' at the spider, which is so sucessfully yelled at that it falls out of its web!

I DID scream and run away, but I still win!

Was I recording? NO! Will try again and post results on youtube later this week!

Unknown said...

I just saw these videos for the first time today and, at that moment, I had my 3yr old on my lap. She was laughing so hard, she was in tears and snorting! And of course I was too. She made me play video #1 about 20+ times, and laughed harder with each time. No spiders here for now so she has taken #spideryelling to the level of #animalyelling. She began running around RAWR-ing at each of our 4 cats and 2 dogs. I'm sure each of them will need anti-anxiety meds by Monday.

"Keen" Keith said...

Rachel, I love that you and your daughter got a kick out of it! Please apologize to your pets for me!

Debbie C. said...

Spiders have always creeper me out! But I can now say I've actually laughed at a spider. I love your videos! Thanx for putting a new twist to a terrifying aspect of my life💜

Debbie C. said...

Spiders have always creeper me out! But I can now say I've actually laughed at a spider. I love your videos! Thanx for putting a new twist to a terrifying aspect of my life💜

Anonymous said...

Keith, Hi. Im from reddit. Your spider yelling video is great. Please yell at more spiders, aswell as different spiders and upload videos. We will make you famous.

Also, the air horn will be too much. It will just blow them off of their web or destroy it. Try heavy base, a gong, or a taiko drum. The narwhal bacons at midnight.