Regarding the name of your wonderful invisible duck: I don’t know how he acquired his name, but it sounded Asian to me, perhaps Chinese, I thought. (I have, at times, been immersed in Asian culture). It turns out those words are Vietnamese. You may already have looked it up, but I found the most frequently referenced use of those names together in this:

Fire Dragon Festival, North Vietnam, early February [celebrates the] victory by which King Quang Trung defeated the Quing invading army, in 1789.

So it appears your duck has quite a noble lineage, strength, courage, and even a balance between two opposing sides.

CJ: Well, you mentioned the blanket so mysteriously, Muse, I couldn’t just let it go. That’s interesting, though, so the blanket was still an imaginative device, in that it took you away into this other world of the stories… and who’s to say what we imagine is any less real than what’s around us? I used to love One Thousand and One Nights too, the stories of Aladin, Ali Baba, Sinbad… I found it again later with my studies of mythology, and the themes are fascinating, particularly the similarities with other myths and tales.

I think Quing Quang came from childish talk, but maybe I picked it up from a tv special or something like that… if not, it’s a funny coincidence! The opposing sides is interesting because I always thought it sounded like Yin and Yang, as a child might mispronounce them… interesting, I’ll have to give it some more thought. I know my favourite toy was a monkey called Dum Dum, which I think came from the Bridge of Khazad-dûm. Maybe I have a history of doing it, eh?

And: “until this guy falls down on me”. Well, that may not be everyone’s fantasy. I’ve experienced similar misunderstandings, but that one’s a hoot!

CJ: Maybe eccentric is a good word for me, eh, Muse? I’m one of the people who likes memes; the good ones seem simple, but if you look at them closely you learn a lot about the author. That’s what I was trying to do with this; to show a bit of my personality, and that shone through with yours as well.

And yes, I’m still living that one down! I suppose sky and guy sound similar; Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze has the line “scuse me while I kiss the sky”, which a lot of people swear is really “scuse me while I kiss this guy”. So at least I’m not alone!

CJ: Yes, I’m totally addicted; glad I’m not the only one! My main problem is that I like getting them finished, rather than leaving them up for a week or so; 500 pieces is good for that, not so much 1,000 or 5,000… I normally put the box away the second time I do one, but I’ll have to try that more. It’s definitely a challenge.

i fancy daniela hantuchova myself.
those aren’t weirdos, those are sploggers!

i played freerice the whole weekend, donated about 12000 grains. my vocab level’s lousy though, keeps fluctuating between 30 and 40. and i keep making the same mistakes, grr!

CJ: I knew, but eh, I still thought I’d have something a bit weirder than that; I’m a guy after all.
Now Hantuchova and Sharapova in a doubles match - that’d be worth watching!

Yeah, I’m addicted too; I got up to about 4,000 grains over the weekend and my vocab’s somewhere between 44 and 48… it’s so annoying when you trip up on the same word. It’s like sudoku, I never learn!

Colorfull of solidarity

CJ: It’s a pretty exciting site, isn’t it? The chance to be able to help, and in such a simple way. And it’s addictive when you’ve played it for awhile.
Thanks for your support, CV; all the support FreeRice is getting is wonderful. And the numbers are staggering: 122,377,240 grains of rice donated yesterday alone is amazing. It shows everyone can help, even if they are half a world away.

no7…i used to be embarrassed about mishearing english lyrics. cos english is my second language and i developped listening skills on my own. so i used to feel i am not good enough. but now i know native speakers can be like that too!
freerice is a good find. thanks for bending the rules in favour of freerice!

CJ: Ah, so I’m not the only one! That’s not so weird, though, we often imagine things to help us or make things a little bit easier. And if we believe the world is a spiritual place, maybe that comes into it as well.

Yeah, don’t worry, I mix up lyrics and even things I’ve written all the time! I have a reasonably good memory for details, but I’m scatty about that kind of thing unless it’s a song I really love. There’s actually a website dedicated to it; Kiss This Guy. It’s a lot of fun.
I love the idea of FreeRice, so I’m really glad people are supporting it. Even just a few hundred grains is enough to feed somebody; five minutes work, and it can make such a difference.

3. not that weird, she’s hot! cocaine tendencies notwithstanding.

4. weird but understandable. i used to have plenty of imaginary characters. not friends because i was playing makebelieve - i was the lead of course, lol.

5. not weird, writers are very insatiable thinkers.

6. okay that was kind of weird.

7. haha, embarrassing but not weird! i often mishear lyrics myself.

overall: you’re one not very weird guy. the disappointment!

CJ: Sorry sulz, I tried! Guess I’m just not that weird… I might have to lock myself away for 5 years and become a hermit. That might do it!
What I didn’t say about the computer is that I’ve been using Windows for the past 10 years, but I’m still a Mac guy at heart, even after so long… not weird, but you never forget your first OS!
And Martina Hingis was very hot, and a brilliant player… that’s why it hurts. It’s like all my childhood memories of watching her play are tarnished. Ah well, there’s always Justine Henin.

Guess all the weird guys are off blogging somewhere else, eh? Where oh where have all the good weirdos gone… Blogger?