Koalean Pondering

I'm eventually going to talk about whether koalas spend their lives in a permanent state of "whoa, duuuuuuude," but first I need to introduce the concept of TWP.

TWP stands for "That's Weird, Peter," coined by friend, fellow blogger and fascinating personality Larry Dahlke, whom I worked with in The Killer Angels at Wayside Theatre. One day I mentioned to Larry that the metal content of pennies had changed around 1982, which I'd learned by flipping pennies in the air as a bored teen -- pre-'82 pennies made a different (and more satisfying) sound that post-'82 pennies. Larry thought that was wierd and did some research. He posted his findings (zinc is to blame) on his old blog, with the heading of "That's Wierd, Peter."

A second TWP was recently added (and now oddly I'm copying my words from his blog):
"TWP: In order for a non-Belizian to leave the country of Belize, you have to pay an "exit fee" in US dollars. You can not pay in Belizian dollars. This is when you are in the Belize International Airport, talking to the Belizian staff. But they do take Visa and Mastercard."

Larry and I recently chatted about TWP, and he said that if I contributed 2 more then TWP just might get its own subcategory. So I mentioned that I'd heard koalas spend their lives high because eucalyptus leaves contain a mild narcotic, and maybe that would qualify.

So I researched koalas and their potential drug addiction. The results are . . . undetermined. First, none of the scientific stuff I read said that eucalyptus for sure acted as a narcotic on koalas. And second, for something to be high suggests that there must also be a norm, right? If koalas are always high, then that's their norm, which doesn't make any sense. So, I thought, not high. But then I thought of this: koalas spend about 22 hours a days sleeping. The scientific rationale for this is that eucalyptus doesn't have much energy content, and so koalas conserve their energy by sleeping. Okay . . . but consider this: pandas eat bamboo, which digests poorly and so doesn't give them much energy, either, so to get enough energy, they eat all the freakin' time! So why don't koalas eat this way? Well, obviously: because they're high, so they're sleepy! But then again, if they were high, wouldn't that give them the munchies?

So, is this a TWP? Well, what is a TWP, really? I'm still trying to feel it out, but certainly a TWP is some sort of odd fact, odd in such a way that you respond to it with something like "hunh" and by cocking your head slightly to the side, the way a dog does when it hears a high-pitched noise.

*Sigh*. I guess the high koala doesn't qualify as a TWP, because it's difficult to be sure of the facts. So, Larry, I think I shall look elsewhere. Well, there are the exploding ants of Madagascar.

Oh, by the way, to the ladies out there: Larry is a wonderful man and phenomenal actor who, I think, deserves to be stalked in a gentle, affectionate manner. Swing by Wayside, see if I'm right.