"Reconnecting with Omari" by Mr. BananaHammock (not Omari)

I was beginning to think that my "not Omari" series was going to have to be retired. Omari hadn't posted in a while. Then today, joy (permalink)! I was also busy with a self-portrait photo shoot today. I think I look a little deranged in this one.

I spend a fair amount of time in virtual worlds. My “job” requires that I spend a lot of time perusing the Craigslist M4W personal ads – dissecting them, commenting on them through the generous use of satire, even sometimes writing my own original prose that was not inspired by some quirky poster. This post, obviously, is not the case here.

Oddly enough I was thinking about Omari today and how I hadn't seen a post of his in a long time. Had he died? Had he found true love? Had he blogged himself completely insane? I visited his site today and nope, he is still alive and kicking, sharing his musings with all of us online folk. And then, an hour later, his Craigslist ad.

That “garlic aroma” that Omari cites in his post is caused by the mixing of allin and allinase which are present in garlic. The allin and allinase mixing occurs when the clove is crushed, or sliced, or milled, or chopped or whatever, and the allin and allinase combine to create allicin, which is credited with providing many of the health benefits attributed to garlic, including that great garlicy smell.

Patricia Arquette is said to have been quoted that her and her former husband Nicholas Cage had made this agreement that they would eat raw garlic during love scenes in their movies. When she was filming "Nightwatch" with Ewan McGregor, a problem arose. She said, “So I ate all these cloves of raw garlic... Ewan's allergic to raw garlic apparently, so... (laughs)" Laughs? Make me sort of wonder where she was kissing Ewan and what was swelling?

In any event, I'm not sure anaphylactic shock is a laughing matter. In some cases it can cause death. And those with peanut allergies I am told are especially susceptible. And also, where would we be without his great portrayals of Lincoln Six Echo in “The Island” or Christian in “Moulin Rouge” or even Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace as Obi-Wan Kenobi had he succomed to the wicked machinations of Ms. Arquette? I doubt Heath Ledger, for example, could run as well or sing as well (although from his performance in “Brokeback Mountain” he'd probably be fine swinging around his lightsaber) as Ewan.

I was watching The Patriot on cable last night in which Heath Ledger plays the supporting actor role of Gabriel Martin, a young, brash kid who defies his father, played by Mel Gibson, and joins the army to go to war against the British. Mel Gibson's middle name is Columcille, which ironically enough is also the name of a Megalith park and Celtic art center “a playground of myth and mystery” located in the Appalachian Mountains in eastern Pennsylvania where unleashed pets and open fires are not permitted.

Columcille (521-597 A.D.) was also the Irish Celtic Monk who founded the Celtic monastery on the Island of Iona off Scotland where the Book of Kells was created, and converted the pagan Northern Picts (Northern Scots) to Christ. He lived about 60 years after St. Patrick Interestingly enough, Celts were big fans of garlic and even introduced its formal name, Allium sativum. And Mel Gibson portrayed the Celtic struggle of the Wallace clan in his film “Braveheart” and brought us all closer to Jesus in his production of “The Passion of Christ.” The parallels are astounding.

On that note I think it's time I climb out of this virtual world and enter the physical one now...I need to go grocery shopping and I think I may need a reality check.