{"id":20611,"date":"2017-04-30T21:27:14","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T01:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=20611"},"modified":"2024-03-22T16:29:35","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T20:29:35","slug":"weirdness-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=20611","title":{"rendered":"2024 – Week of Weirdness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ……………….<\/span><\/span>(ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on March 20, 2024)<\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve encountered three odd things in the last week or so and rather than make three posts about them that may not all be interesting (perish the thought!), I\u2019ve decided to combine them into one post that may or may not be interesting, starting with the least weird one.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. If you\u2019re a regular reader, you know of my three posts about the \u201cBanded Together: The Boys From Glen Rock High\u201d movie:<\/span><\/p>\n

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The links:<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=14920<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=17345<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=18145<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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About a week ago, I found this in my TV listings:<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201c\u2026Band Together\u201d title?<\/span><\/p>\n

Brothers in the band (and one\u2019s named \u201cFloyd\u201d)? Too close to the Glen Rock movie.<\/span><\/p>\n

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2. This one starts off about as boring and mundane as you can get: I had to take my car for its bi-annual inspection at the NJ-DMV\u2019s Paramus inspection station, which I\u2019ve done dozens of times before.<\/span><\/p>\n

Depending on what day of the month you go, it can either be very long wait with what seems like a hundred cars in front of you or it can be pretty quick, which is what I got this day with only 7 cars in front of me.<\/span><\/p>\n

I started to take pictures when there was only one car in front of me\u2026(click the next 4 pictures to enlarge):
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\u2026and then none:<\/span><\/p>\n

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No matter which bay you\u2019re called into, you\u2019re told to walk over to the right wall of the right bay and enter the roped-off walkway. I was hoping I\u2019d get called into the right bay, so I could take pictures without other cars in the way in other bays\u2019 lanes.<\/span><\/p>\n

I got called into the left bay.<\/span><\/p>\n

No biggie – traffic was light and the middle bay was closed.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The inspector pulled up to the hurricane-force 5-fans test and my car didn\u2019t topple over (click next two pix to enlarge):<\/span><\/p>\n

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But then came the weirdness: a new \u201cauto-flexibility\u201d test that was the equivalent of the Medieval torture device – the rack – and it stretched the entire car – tires and wheels included – to lengths I thought were impossible:<\/span><\/p>\n

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I\u2019m glad I took this picture because the car must have been stretched to at least THIRTY feet long! Who would believe me if I hadn\u2019t? (and who\u2019s dopey enough to believe any<\/em> of this?)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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After a while, the car returned to normal length and then aced the last grueling test – do the brake lights work?<\/span><\/p>\n

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The car passed (total time here between the wait and the inspection – a mere 20 minutes) and I\u2019m good for two more years\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2026and the inspector marveled at its odometer reading (28.5K original<\/span> miles in a 26-year-old car!). I told her that I had become that little old lady who only drove her car to church on Sunday (the truth is I actually park in a church lot, so – theoretically – I don\u2019t have to drive it at all\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026except to inspection).<\/span><\/p>\n

And if you’re wondering what all that schmutz is on a brand new sticker, it’s the old dried glue on the windshield from the previous sticker that the inspector’s scraper missed.<\/span><\/p>\n

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3. Strangest and REAL, this one took place at home. Behind my building is a municipal parking lot with night lights that only shine downward:<\/span><\/p>\n

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A week or so ago, I could see from my living room picture window one night that the parking lot was dark\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..all<\/u> of the lights were out. I figured that it\u2019d be fixed the next night, but it wasn\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A night or two later, I noticed flashing that partially illuminated my LR ceiling. I looked out and saw that the lights in the part of the lot that was closest to the side street were flashing for a while and then stopping and starting repeatedly, while the rest of the lot was dark.<\/span><\/p>\n

Weird.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s GOTTA be fixed the next day, right?<\/span><\/p>\n

Uh-uh.<\/span><\/p>\n

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So I went out two nights ago for a better view.<\/span><\/p>\n

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This video starts from the back of my building where I could see two of the lights flashing. Then I walked around the lot for wide video shots and closeups and finally ended back in my apartment for the overhead view of the flashing:<\/span><\/p>\n