Meme Monday: Quiet Memes

There are times when I want peace and quiet. 

That doesn't always happen, of course, but a guy can dream. Sometimes, however, I find the most peace and quiet in an MMO, where you'd think that is most likely NOT the case. I mean, the acronym means Massively Multiplayer Online, but hey, it happens. Especially when you do what I do and go against the grain.

From SrGrafo, via Reddit.

If you play it just right, you can find
some peace. From Instagram.

It needs to be said that this is merely
an illusion. Having been on the progression
train, I know that this peace only lasts
for a few moments at best. From YouTube.

Sometimes the peace and quiet finds you
standing in awe someplace for the first time.
From Instagram.

And then there's this image. (Minus the
murloc. Come on, don't ruin the feeling!)
From Facebook.

What am I Doing at 5 AM on a Saturday (Again)?

Who, me? Oh, not much...

This was around 7 AM. 7-ish.

Today was the morning of the Queen Bee Half Marathon, and I along with 40 or so other hams were providing communications for the staff.

As this was my first marathon, I was grouped up with our club's president, and I carpooled with her to our station (shown above) at the designated time. Since I was driving to her place first, that meant I was up at 5 AM to have an early breakfast, get dressed, and get out the door with my equipment by 6 AM.

I think I'm going to have to stop by this
coffee shop for a visit soon. The coffee
smelled delicious.

The water station was manned by kids from one of the nearby high schools, and we were joined soon after our arrival by spectators wanting to cheer on the participants. 

Our presence was there to not only contact Net Control for assistance --medical or otherwise-- should it be needed, but to also let Net Control know who the lead runners were so others would be on the lookout farther down the race course. Our water station was one of the earlier ones, so I expected people to be clumped together once they reached us.

To my surprise, that wasn't what happened.

The lead runners were moving at a really fast pace and were already well ahead of the main body of runners by the time they passed us, but eventually the field swelled. I could have easily taken dozens of pictures, but these two will do:

These were some of the first runners after the lead
pack came through.

Once the runners had mostly passed by, the race
walkers were behind them, moving at a steady
pace by themselves.

Typically the Queen Bee draws between 4000-6000 participants*, and that jives with what I saw this morning.

As far as incidents goes, they thankfully were few and far between, so it was an enjoyable morning for the two of us. After the sweep bus came through (following the last of the participants) and we were discharged, the a few of us hams grabbed a mid-morning breakfast at a local restaurant before heading home.

Okay Pippin, you win. Yes, it was a Second Breakfast.
From Pinterest, but really, it's from Fellowship of the Ring.

So... That's what I was up to.

*There's both a Half Marathon and a 4-Miler race, so unofficially there were 3174 who completed the half marathon and 2209 who completed the 4-Miler, which makes it about 5383 total. There were a few hand cyclists on the course as well, and they started (and finished) ahead of the official Half Marathon. Our station would have seen both the Half Marathon and the 4-Miler crowds, and given that not everybody who started was able to finish, we probably saw even more than the people who actually finished.

Meme Monday: Being Wrong on the Internet

In honor of the fact that I completely misinterpreted what the first video I posted the other day was about, I figured I'd touch on something that is incredibly common yet you'd never guess it from the way people act: being wrong on the internet.

Yes, I know, you're thinking of the XKCD comic:

From XKCD. But you knew that already.

If this was the only thing Randall Munroe was known for, he would live forever online. Of course, he's done FAR more than just this comic, and I heartily recommend his books as well as the entirety of the XKCD back catalog to peruse. 

Still, there's more than just this meme to cover for being wrong on the internet.

There is the Da Vinci method. From Idea Link.

Isn't this a sign of maturity that you don't wallow
in the pig sty (or the minefield)? Well, I don't often
have such restraint. I'm still trying, tho. From Quickmeme.

Or to put it another way, "You mad bro?"
Yeah, if people were saying that and put THAT
face in front of me, yeah, not good for my stress.
From memecoup via Instagram.

I've done something similar. At work. About
a decade ago. It could have gone really badly,
but the person I was complaining about did
de-escalate things. And we patched it back up.
From memegenerator.

Hoo boy. This reminds me of some of the holy
wars on soc.history.medieval on Usenet back
in the day. From Reddit.

This got me. /raises hand.
From Cleanmemes.

Meme Monday: 'Go Touch Grass' Memes

If you've been a gamer long enough, you've had a parent or some other authority figure tell you to "Go outside". Or "Go touch some grass." I was reminded of this on Saturday, when I was literally touching grass as I was doing yardwork.

So, in honor of parents or other authority figures providing you with direction to not sit in front of a screen all day (and all night), here's some "touching grass" memes.

(And not a single one involves weed, either!)

I don't use my phone for gaming (or own a Switch),
so this would be me. From programmerhumor.io.

I feel for ya, doggo.
From Memedroid.

I don't play League of Legends, but I'd imagine
that a subset of WoW players are like this.
From Instagram.

Ha! "Me to touch grass!" is right
up there with "You no take candle!"
From Memedroid.

I have to admit it's a clever way around the
issue. From HyperX.

It depends. Can I get revived easily while
I'm outside? From Memedroid.

Meme Monday: Stardew Valley Memes

Yes, I've been playing Stardew Valley again. Maybe this time I'll stick around past the two year mark, but we'll see about that.

In honor of my courting of a redhead (probably Leah this time, as my wife is an amalgamation of Leah and Penny), here's a few Stardew Valley memes...

Unlike some people, I don't mind Pierre
that much. Still his "Closed on Wednesday" stance
early in the game pisses me off. From The Gamer.

I gotta be honest: I'm probably "the kid" in this meme.
It never occurred to me that people would actually
put Lewis' purple shorts in the potluck soup.
From Reddit.

I'm not sure why, but this made me laugh.
From Awkwardzombie.com and Kate Tiedrich.

Yeah, romancing Harvey kind of dredged up some
uncomfortable surprises. He's still overall a nice
guy, though. From @sonniegaming on Instagram.

I lived in a dorm in college that this reminded me of.
Well, minus the fireplace and the nice kitchen. From Reddit.

Yeah, I know. I figured it out, and so did everybody
else who played the game. Still, would YOU
want to be the one to tell Pierre? From
@StardewValleyBut-I-Draw3 on Pinterest.

EtA: Added references.

Meme Monday: Missing Out Memes

Well, I'm back.

How's things going?

What's been happening? Anything interesting?

Temperatures up in Milwaukee were really warm for mid-September, low-to-mid 80F/26C or so, but by the time Sunday morning rolled around, the temperatures were becoming more seasonal (60F/15.5C) for the late morning. And rain rolled in just as we were leaving, so we narrowly avoided bad weather.

There was at one point during the trip that I wondered if it were more cost effective to fly up there and back rather than drive, but I doubt that the price is worth it. Really, avoiding Chicago traffic is the primary reason to fly up to Milwaukee, but it wasn't that bad this time around.

But anyway, I figured for this Meme Monday, I'd focus on the other things that happened this past weekend, and the consequences of being away from all that.

Such as Week 1 of the NFL season. (Go Bengals!)

Tee Higgins makes a catch while a Tampa Bay
Buccaneers defender is hanging onto him. From WCPO.

Hey, I'll take a victory, after baseball's Cincinnati Reds were abjectly terrible this year and our MLS soccer team, FC Cincinnati is fading horribly down the stretch.

This does bring up the question: what about people who are missing out on what they love when they're doing other things?

Hence this Meme Monday.

Okay, I thought this amusing. From Facebook.

Whenever I'm in that situation, I shudder.
From Cheezburger.

And then there are days/weeks/months where
I've totally missed out on things in game worlds.
From 9GAG.

Sometimes Marvin Gaye just knows what
to say. From Cheezburger.

And then I'm missing out by not paying attention.
From Reddit.

Meme Monday: Book Memes

This past weekend my wife and I ended up at a couple of bookstores, at whom I found several items I took photos of and shared with my Questing Buddy. She's a Romantasy fan, so I knew that she'd find them interesting.

You get the idea.

Oh, you want to know what I found?

The historian in me had a field day when I discovered this...

He also has a new book out about
Bablyon, but I'm going to wait for the
paperback edition...

Anyway, that got me to thinking about book memes. I mean, it's technically Meteorological Fall, so I could get away with Fall Memes, but I think Book Memes is a better choice today.

Here's a counterpoint: have you READ HP Lovecraft's
works? From Pinterest.

This is why I don't read George RR Martin.
From @jkcomics.

Ha! I'm absolutely sure that when I finally
start reading the Fourth Wing books, my
Questing Buddy will have this expression on
her face. From Kindlepreneur.

Um, I need bigger walls first.
From Pinterest.

I've mastered this look. From Instagram.

I have been there, only that I reach that point
in the novel around 4 AM for some reason.
From Thunder Dungeon.

Meme Monday: Raiding Memes

Yeah, it's been quite a while since I've raided, even in a one-off, but I've got my share of raiding memes I have around. So after my chat with my Questing Buddy the other day, it reminded me about those raiding memes that needed a post.

So here we are.

Can confirm that I was mentally freaking out whenever
that was my job. From Reddit.

My Rogue only got MC hand-me-downs, so
I can confirm this exists. From Reddit.

I have the original around somewhere, but
I kind of liked this updated version.
From Reddit (again). I think I detect a trend.

And yeah, I've listened to raid leads behave
like this. Some of them really do love to hear
themselves talk. From imgflip.

Every time I hear people talk about how easy
Classic raids are, I'm reminded of this little fact
from back in the day. From Reddit.

And yeah, I couldn't resist. Redbubble put
this on t-shirts! From Redbubble and Midsummer1942.

#Blaugust2026