March 19, 2007

• There used to be a dark ride in Conneaut, PA, or maybe Erie, PA, where a major highlight of the ride was the "wall o' gum" where riders would stick their wads en route. The smell--an indescribable melange of mint, fruit, and more mint--was nauseating (maybe not quite as bad as a bottle redemption facility, but close). At last report the wall had been cleaned up, or the ride torn down, or something... at any rate, it no longer exists. On Yucatan, however, I was able to observe chicle-collection going on, where the native populace were collecting chicle gum base in buckets beneath the slashed trunks of trees. I assume this is the ORIGINAL chewing-gum tree. Think I'll avoid the rest. *wrinkles nose at memory of aroma*
• And here it is.
  
• Not sure if it still exists, though (photo tour is from 1999). Perhaps only the smell remains.
• The Gum Wall in Seattle. I'm fond of the dark patches of gum markings on the subway platforms in NYC - especially during crowded times - as they align with where the doors open.
• More colorful than the Booger Wall, to be sure.
• Also, when I was a little kid, Juicy Fruit ran commercials depicting their little yellow packs of gum being plucked from trees. Being a gullible little tike, I was 100% certain that this was factual. I remember looking out the car window during trips, looking for the Juicy Fruit gum trees... only to be disappointed.
• At WSU, there was a 5 or 6 story stairwell that connected a parking garage and the Art building. The admin had officially given the stairwell to the graffiti artists, and it was completely covered floor to ceiling in layers of paint. I saw some great art there. On the underside of one of the flights of stairs was the gum wall.
• OK, is this the antidote to the squee overdose of the penguin sweater thread?
• Exactly. Just stick wads of gum on the bloody penguins, and the oil will come right off.
• The very first job I ever had was doing the shit work for a drive-thru malt shop. Outside the drive-thru window, people would toss their gum before they got their malt. Over the years, this gum had accumulated to a circle around 6 feet in diameter, about an inch and a half at the center, tapering off in all directions. My first assignment was to scrap up all that gum. Spent 3 days on it, 3-4 hours each day. It started off as a total nightmare. By the end of it, ABC gum was No Big Deal. I know that people think of gum something totally gross to touch, but I haven't ever been able to go back to that mindset. Like, much later life, at an amusement park in Florida, there was a tree totally covered in gum like the picture shown in the article. I had a blast pulling the pieces off and tossing them at my friends, while they freaked out the whole time. I think most people look at gum as old food, making it gross. But to me it's just some soft putty.
• Some soft putty that's got someone's mouth germs all in it. BLEAH!
• That's not a chewing gum tree. This is a chewing gum tree. It stands just outside Ford's Theatre in DC, where President Lincoln was shot. Ah, history.
• I didn't view the Seattle link above, but when I was in junior high school I made a rather impressive cum wall myself.
• how many owls did it take, bernockle?
• PA: Now, THAT'S impressive. *gags a little Hmmm, took 'nockle a whole twelve comments to trash the post.