jbw effect

the jason bruce whipple effect has me in its grip. it's a pleasant effect inducing convulsions of creative thinking and performance. i would call it inspiring. many people have this effect on me and i am grateful that they continue to appear in my life like muses and cheer leaders. in this particular instance, photographed, the jbw effect induced me to enter a friendly's restaurant in the springfield mall. the effect emanates from jason and in this case was amplified by his leaning up against a post and making incoherent gestures. if it hadn't been for jason's alluring performance at street level i doubt i'd have considered entering the place. i was more attracted initially to the absurdity of the brief strip of colonial fence atop the modern strip mall. at one point in my life i would have been drawn in by the oversized greasy posters of deep-fried food in the window. but, it was jason, his lust for ice cream, and his offer to buy one for me, that ultimately sold me on friendly's.

inside, we were assaulted by a layout reminiscent of bad highway design. visually, it was confusing. the busy carpet pattern made understanding the relationship between stools, benches and tables difficult, if not impossible. it appeared at once organized and completely chaotic. in contrast, the stainless steel production line extended directly behind the registers to the rear of the restuarant inducing a kind of horizontal vertigo. i nearly pitched directly into the counter.

after declining to sit, which caused some confusion, and after ordering two ice creams, one hard, one soft, which required at least 70 keystrokes at the register, a noisy and rapid stream of paper emitted from a bank of printers down the line and three employees in regulation uniform began to execute our order. i ordered soft. the fabricator operated the twistee machine competently, if slowly, and presented me my cone with the exclamation, "now, isn't that beautiful!" in fact, it was misshapen and listing. jason and i looked at each other in silence. as she handed it over to me i mentioned that i'd requested "chocolate sprinkles." she frowned, walked it back down the line, consulted the printout which apparently did not specify sprinkles. a bevy of command and control language ensued between the person who took our order and the woman who'd made my cone. it sounded like the chatter pilots make when approaching an airport. sprinkles were finally added to my order, sparingly.

unfortunately, for jason, his order was first presented to him as a denial: "i'm sorry, we are out of cookies and cream." jason immediately began a search for a second choice while the friendly's team offered to create cookies and cream for jason by taking vanilla ice cream and mashing cookies into it right on the spot! i applauded their ingenuity, but jason moved on to another, perhaps safer, choice which i cannot remember.

this is the kind of situation i find myself in during jbw effect. i thoroughly enjoy it. it reminds me of kant's description of beauty (the one thing i remember from philosophy class): purposive purposelessness. we were very seriously up to nothing in particular and that was pure delight.