Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Brettski

Rather than have all of the Brettski comments sprinkled throughout various threads, maybe we could put a few of our observations here......Burger mentioned on another thread " can someone get a handle on this guy"? I was involved in a couple of small group discussion with Brettski and he is uh, well uh, er, interesting. One included Fatty & Sunil, so you can imagine how quickly that one bolted past the boundries of good taste - which made it extremely funny. Another involved Burger, Theo, JHAP, JWHAP, and focused entirely on old music. From reading his post, I had an image of a middle-age, laid back, very organized and by the book guy who was very funny. He is that and a whole lot more. Any other " observations"???

Total Freak is one that comes readily to mind.

I do have to say that I've been deeply disturbed since Brettski told you, me, and Fattay two of his stories, and I mean deeply disturbed.

creepy....or really creepy.....

So far this year, reading some of Brettski's stuff has caused me to replace 3 keyboards plus one nice monitor, and get a very stern warning from the electric company for creating high velocity nasal fired projectile coffee that destroyed said electronics, creating an electrical surge so intense, it shorted out half the midwest electrical grid-----twice. The ATF investigation is ongoing, but my lawyer tells me the projectile coffee does not yet meet the federal explosives definition.

Other than that, he's kinda bland.

Smoke blower...........Good topic, rmedger. Cud get lengthy.

The discussion went something like this:
Burger "Most female country singers now are all about the look, not whether they can sing.

Brettski: "Yea, but take Shania Twain, she writes all her own songs".

That's why her concerts were filled with teenage to early 20s guys.

"By the book?" "By the book?" WHICH BOOK?

The Boy Scout Manual?
The Fabulous, Furry Freak Brothers?
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance?
Franz Kafka? Karl Marx? Groucho Marx?

To quote Barney Gumble, "He's all things to all Men, and ... one lucky woman!"

Or.....
Bretski: Theo who do you think is the most underrated male lead singer other than Sid Farcus and Pete Moss who each played backup on a Fingers Hinkelman hit - "Actually, I shot the deputy".
Theo: I have three candidates, but first...............

Brettski, in the midst of Dr. Runkle's Lake Thunderbird story of the young man who required an emergency arthroscopic Lepomisectomy (he got an 8" BG stuck in his throat):

"Swallowing fish is notoriously troublesome."

Sunil, I can't get that image out of my mind (the second story).
Oh the horror!!!!!!!!!

I feel naked and exposed.....a twisted blend of vulnerable and exhilaration. Yet, in a strange way, I feel as if a 2 ton gorilla has been lifted off my back (that was to be the 3rd story of the triology that got cut short when we realized that enemy spies were capturing the details) It's times like this that my photobucket acct flies open and I release my anxieties in oh, so many pics.
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...but wait. I have yet to hear from others of my peer group. Those whose opinion I respect and revere (and some, not so...these are my best friends). I want all forum members to feel cleansed and baptized, free of the evils that brought you to this Pond Boss intervention. I am prepared to receive.

The very first thought that came to mind after I saw him was...

"Is there some way that I can break this guys glasses?"

After I accomplished that task, I felt much more at ease around the man. I've always thought Brettski was the smartest person on the forum, but I also believed that he had an Oh So Slightly sinister side.

Nothing I saw last weekend changed my mind.

Did you reimburse him for those glasses, BTW?

No. I conveniently forgot.

Bruce's Optical-aid Crushing Service paid the loss in a slightly different way. I tricked him into eating the big burrito at Saturday's lunch offering. Now who can't focus?

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I feel obligated to adjust Theo's recollection of the dialogue. First, nobody will EVER be able to tell Doc Runkle stories like the good Doc himself. His personna of the wise old owl is mesmerizing as he crafts a tale. Then, BAM! he rips a zinger that brings the house down. His live performance, artificially enhanced with a couple goblets of wine, scores in the high Gufaw Quotient percentile.
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....he was well into a story about a young man that had a reputation for swallowing fish whole. This kid was with a group, partying heavily on a beach somewhere, when he decided it was time to swallow a BG whole. I cried out "no way! it had to be a tiny thing...right?" Doc quickly responds, with hands held out in a Condello'esque measurement, assuring me it was a 6 - 7" BG...and he swallowed it whole, head first. (now he has the table's attention...we're somewhere between amazed and ROFLOAO) We all challenged him a little on his recollection and assessment of the specimen size, but he kept coming back...making us laugh even harder. I asked him what would possess anybody to do something like that. He kinda shrugged and said that they were probably smoking, drinking, and doing who knows what kinda illicit narcotics. I immediately got real serious and looked him straight in the eyes and reminded him that fish swallowing is where that illicit behavior begins; that it's a known fact that it will lead to heavier drugs and ultimately personal ruin. Without missing a beat, our trusted wise old owl also gets very serious, drops his eyes to the table and stares blankly in dejection and defeat. He responds in somewhat of a sigh "Yes, fish swallowing is notoriously troubling".
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BAH!!!! He killed! JHAP is crackin' up hard and screams out "somebody write that down! words of wisdom that we should never forget, lest we also follow that road to ruin". Theo's bustin' up, fumbling for a hunk of paper to document this commandment.
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If it pleases the good Doc, I would sure love to have him jump on board and finish this story. It truly is an amazing fish tale. And, if it pleases the Doc, the sledding story is the one that made me laugh so hard I cried.

I don't believe there was anything artificial about that wine.


Yep, Doc Runkle can tell a tale with the absolute best of them. In retrospect, one could have seen the punchline of the sledding story coming, but he had us so unbalanced by then with high suspense and acute trauma that it was a complete surprise.

brettski artfully hijacked this so i now know about doc runkle (well worth it)...........but lets get back on track here....

i did hear (from a good source) brettski is really INTENSE in person.......

(dang it!)

Intensely intelligent, maybe.

You just never know what the guy's gonna say next.

Good job capturing the Doc's story Bski. I'll hijack the thread momentarily and then return it to it's original programming:

The good Doc (Layton Runkel) is a very, very funny guy and his wife is a great gal. He is not one of these "I am God" (forgot what movie that is from) kind of people. My wife, being an RN and I have socialized with quite a few doctors and most will make you quite aware of the fact that they are a physician. I don't blame physicians for feeling this way, it takes years and years to become an MD and even more years to obtain a speciality, pile on that the fact that Docs like Layton do in fact save lives has got to mess with your psyche somewhat. Not so with Layton, he is a laid back unassuming guy. If I were a doctor I'd make you all call me DOCTOR Jhap and bow in my presence, because of course you would not be worthy. As an also and besides if I was a Doctor I'd be a brain surgeon just because I like getting inside peoples heads and I'd want to be able to say on a daily basis things like "Pond management is difficult, but it's not like brain surgery, which by the way I did yesterday." Knowing my luck though I'd be forced down the path of Proctology just because I have a knack of ending up and the wrong end of most situations that I encounter. Anyhoo, to return back to my previous thought pattern (somehow I hijacked my own hijack), Layton is a great guy with a gift for story telling. I can tell you that his funny stories were IMHO some of the funniest moments during the conference and as you can imagine there were some very funny moments. His stories were the only time that I can recall that Bski and I had tears running down our faces due to laughter.

Ok so now back to the task at hand.

Impressions of Mr. Brettski:
First off Chicago/Wisconsin (I think Wisconsin) accent. I don't know why but I never expected that. Razor sharp wit. If he were a stand up comedian (which by all rights he could be) he would shred hecklers in one or two sentences. I described him to DIED as intense which is NOT at all what I expected him to be. I though he would be light and goofy acting all the time based upon his love of the Three Stooges and his quick wit. With Bski that is not the case (IHMO). He is scary intelligent (if he and Theo ran the CIA the world be be a safer and much funnier place, Presidential breifings would probably have to be televised on the Comedy Channel). When discussing serious matters, Bski listens purposefully and INTENTLY (hence my intense description), considers his reply for a moment and then discusses the topic with a fervor. He is obviously quite well read and can discuss global economics as easily as "best vocal artist that never made a top 10 record." I personally enjoyed participating in several round table discussions that included Bski and quickly learned to listen when he spoke. Get in a conversation with Bski, Theo and Sunil (two other personalities that should be discussed and are deserving of equal attention) and the topic would bounce between insightful intelligent banter and laugh out loud hilarity. Bski has an extremely high energy level. I'm sure that he was probably the ring leader/alpha male of any adolescent group that he hung out with. And I'm sure that group did some scary, scary stuff.

Fatty McButterpants is also well worthy of a separate thread. I've met some funny, funny people in my day and I will go on record, right here, right now and say that I think FMB is the funniest person I've ever met in my life bar none. His web humor doesn't begin to convey just how funny this guy is. He switches from quick wit to physical humor instantly. His Bill Murray Caddy shack impressions are "Last Comic Standing" worthy at that is NOT an exaggeration.

And Bski looks good in shorts. Not that I looked that much

With great hesitation , because no matter how well one writes it is next to impossible to capture in words the essence of someone's "self" , my thoughts on B'ski.

As with most PB members words do not do justice to the person they really "are". That is one reason you need to meet them in person at the Conference. In all seriousness B'ski is my friend and that is all that needs to be said.

I could say, as has been noted , funny , smart , enlightening , observant , multi-faceted and widely experienced and that would be correct. I could also say , that like most of us he has worn the tin-foil hat (see some of his pics) a few times. I could claim a kindred "Stooges" sprit with him which would also be right. Daring and out on the edge would also fit quite well. All of these traits would fit well in a description of B'ski. However they would not explain who he is at the core and what drives those traits.

No I think better words would be deeply spiritual and at ease with who he is and where he is going and what matters in life. That sense of self allows one to let all the other traits flourish and flow with imagination. It lets his passion for life in all that he does touch each of us.

On the other hand I could be wrong and he could simply just be insane with multiple personalities.

I, for one, believe the world is a better place with you in your current niche, JHAP.

"Dr. Jay-HAP" sounds like a discount Bond villain.

OTOH, "Jay-HAP, CPA" would have made a great '80's detective series. You could have toured the hills and highways of California (conveniently shrunken by helpful network executives so that San Diego and El Dorado county were only one shot sequence apart - think of the commute time you would save!) in a resto-modded 1950 Ferrari Barchetta (red, of course) with you sidekick Ricki, solving all manner of mysteries with the use your keen accounting insight.

You ought to see him with a speedo melvin.

Please, let's not go down that road again!

I still think Theo, JHAP and Brettski are one and the same. I actually never saw them 'speak' at the same time.