Anyway, one of the funniest (to me) stories involved a phrase that many Kiwis used that took some explaining. They would say "sweet-as." Now, you have to understand that to my untrained ear, it sounded like they were constantly saying, "sweet ass!" (When Kiwis say "ass" it sounds more like "arse" of course, but again, I didn't know any of this at the time.) Sweet-as is short for "sweet as pie" or "sweet as cake." Basically, it means "cool."
I was staying in various places around the North Island, volunteering with the Department of Conservation. Quite often, the locals would take pity on me and invite me to their house for dinner or a party. (I was pretty lonely...) One time, the family that invited me over had a young daughter. I think she was about five. Imagine my shock when she's running around saying (what I thought to be) "Sweet-ass!!! Sweet-ass!!!"
How does this relate to this hideous monstrosity, you may ask? Well, when I was thinking of a title, all I could think was, "That is one scary-ass painting..." Now, I've also been struggling with a dilemma for this, my second blog. I have some posts coming up that may be offensive to some viewers. Nothing too crazy, but there may be some nudity and swearing in future posts. I've been trying to decide how to proceed. I don't want to piss anybody off, but I also think we, as Americans, are much too quick to react negatively to a little nudity or swearing. (This feeling is also something that was cemented for me when I lived in New Zealand. They aren't nearly as prudish about every. single. thing. as we seem to be.) So, I think I've decided to go ahead with the posts without the "adult content" warning for now. I wish I could selectively set the adult content warning for certain posts, but I'm not enough of an internet wizard to do that (if it can even be done at all.)
This painting, by the way, has been making its rounds around our office. It hung for a very brief period in my cube. I couldn't stand it for more than about 35 seconds and it was promptly removed. It's a good painting to randomly hide in someone's office, though. It was a decent painting of someone's mom or aunt or grandmother at one point before someone took some Sharpie to it.So, what do you think? Should I include an adult content warning on this blog or just run with it until someone complains? Do you have strong feelings either way? I can't imagine there's too many kids out there who really care at all about a blog dedicated to thrift store finds. If you have strong feelings one way or the other, let me know in the comments! In the mean time, enjoy this ridiculous scary-ass painting.
