Slice of life humor in search of a title
Coincidences continue to mount, everyday Lebowski vibes, the Snackle Box trend, catalytic converter thieves busted!
Last week, I told you there’s no such thing as coincidence. Well, that was a bunch of crap. As Mark Dykeman, who writes How About This commented, “Two things can happen for completely different reasons at roughly the same time, and people can get caught up in those intersections of chance.” By coincidence, I guess, Tab emailed me a photo that really drove Mark’s point home.
Well played, Tab and Mark, well played!
Snackle Box is on trend!
The conversation about coincidences was actually part of a larger conversation about something called a Snackle Box, which grew out of a previous conversation about the time I went to a stranger’s home to buy a cheese plate, which after some discussion, turned out to be a charcuterie board.
A Snackle Box is a fishing tackle box that’s been repurposed to carry snacks like cheese, or charcuterie. When I first saw it, I figured the Snackle Box was one of those random products that’s just weird enough to catch the eye of some poor bastard laboring in an internet content mill. But it turns out that actual humans are feasting on Snackle Boxes. Anne Kadet, who writes Café Anne, left the following comment:
I was so taken by the idea of the Snackle Box that I had to google it. It’s a huge trend! The best versions, of course, are filled with candy cookies and general junk food, PLUS cheese, PLUS nuts, PLUS pepperoni, PLUS sugar cereal. Enjoy!
Naturally, I needed to confirm Anne’s findings, so I turned to the internet’s best authority on trends: TikTok. Turns out, there are a lot of TikToks about Snackle Boxes. Here are a few popular TikToks.
Life hack Snackle Box👇
ASMR Snackle Box👇
Random act of kindness Snackle Box👇
Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Baller & shot caller charcuterie Snackle Box👇
Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
I’m a Lebowski, You’re a Lebowski
At the risk of getting political, I wore a Lebowski 2020 t-shirt to a local burger joint. Unlike a child who wanders into the middle of a movie and wants to know [what’s going on], the cashier took an immediate and informed interest in my attire.
“Love your t-shirt, sir.”
“Thanks. But I’m the Dude. So that’s what you call me. You know? That or His Dudeness, or Duder, or, you know, El Duderino, if you’re not into the whole brevity thing.”
“Well, it really ties the room together.”
We traded a few more Big Lebowski quotes, then I said something about how we could be here all night.
“We probably could be here all night,” he said. “What can I get you?”
I thought about ordering a white Russian, but since I don’t really drink and the burger joint didn’t appear to have a liquor license, I got a Cobb salad and a fountain drink.
The fountain was one of those fancy Coca-Cola machines where you construct your own soda. I selected a diet vanilla cream soda, but when the soda came out of the dispenser it looked a little funky.
I took a sip. Too much soda water, not enough syrup. I tried a few more concoctions, but they all ended the same way. No soda tonight, not unless I hit up the In ‘N Out Burger on Radford.
Thankfully, the Dude abides, and he also drinks iced tea.
Did law enforcement find Mr. Big?
After banging the drum about my stolen catalytic converter (here and here), my friend Wendy hit me up on Twitter with astonishing news. According to an Oregon Public Broadcasting story, police in Beaverton took down a ring of 14 catalytic converter thieves. Allegedly, the ring trafficked more than 44,000 stolen catalytic converters since January 2021. That’s a lot of precious metals!
ICYMI
I wrote about returning to the office and coconut water. Not a single Situation Normal reader raised their hand to defend offices or coconut water. Obviously, Situation Normal readers are the best people in the world.
Some housekeeping
Seven weeks ago, I began putting out a Wednesday edition of Situation Normal. I called that edition Big Wednesday because it comes out on Wednesdays and because I’m a sucker for obscure movie references.
But just like Charlie, I don’t surf, so the connection between Situation Normal and the 1978 John Milius surfing epic Big Wednesday was always tenuous at best.
Long story short, I plan to futz around with some new names for the Wednesday edition of Situation Normal. So, if you’re wondering what’s going on, now you know.
Another change around here. After nearly two years on Substack, I finally decided to add a header image, logo, and tweak the default color & font settings. If you like the new look, you have Christina to thank for it. And if you don’t like the new look, you’ll get used to it in time for me to change the aesthetic again. Here’s the banner (in GIF form, naturally) 👇
Stick around and chat!
You know the drill. I’ve got questions, you may or may not have answers.
Was I wrong about coincidences the first time, or was I wrong about coincidences the second time?
I’m a Lebowski, but are YOU a Lebowski?
What kind of a guy goes to a burger joint and orders a Cobb salad?
Have you bought your Snackle Box yet? What will you fill it with?
Are you a fan of Big Wednesday, or do you hate cinema?
Do you have any suggestions for what to call the Wednesday edition of Situation Normal?
Contribute to Situation Normal!
Do you have a question about something I’ve written? Got a hilarious anecdote or overheard you want to share? See something on the internet, or IRL, that made you LOL or WTF? Find a funny product like the snackle box in the wild? Have suggestion for what I should call the Wednesday edition? Send your submissions to me at 👇
michael.j.estrin@gmail.com
When submitting, please tell me if you’d like to use an alias, or do the first name last initial thing. If you write a newsletter, I’m happy to link to it, so let me know!
“Snackle Box” taught me that I take myself far too seriously. I couldn’t imagine saying it without turning into a walking stack of greeting cards. I’m going to say it five times fast every morning until I become fun at parties.
Situation Normal brings such strong Lebowski vibes - which is what makes it an absolute pleasure to read - that I think the series formerly known as Big Wednesday really needs a Lebowski title. How about these?
There are Ways
The Whole Brevity Thing (I like this one)
Let's Go Bowling
Strangers in the Alps (if you know, you know)
Alternatively, given the Apocalypse Now references, you could try these:
Unsound Methods (really sad I didn't think of this for my newsletter)
Extreme Prejudice
Or these derivatives:
Situation Abnormal
Extreme Tolerance
Making Some Internet
Penultimately, you could try a new title each week with a movie title/quote related to the themes of the day. Hope this is helpful!
Finally, to prompt #3, the type of patriotic citizen who cares about climate change and animal welfare.