One thing that has always interested me, is people who do things to the extreme. Who take a good thing, or an okay thing, and do it to the extent that it becomes bizarre, unwholesome, and endangers health and happiness.
I was drawn to people who tan too much, who tattoo too much, who pierce too much, who work out too much. Those who stretch their ears so they dangle down around chin-level. People who augment their lips, breasts and butts and once they do it a little, they think “just a little more” until they lose sight of how gross it has all become.
Here are a couple of examples.
Tenk you to my family fodda gym membership! It’s been a great six weeks.
That was some party last night! Hope I didn’t do anything I’ll regret…
But what can you say about that, really? We know people exist who do this, and if you’re like me, you’re kind of morbidly fascinated by what people are willing to do to their bodies.
I googled “extreme” and followed that by every letter of the alphabet, trying to find extremes that one might not necessarily think of. I did find one, “extreme eyelashes” that was pretty cool.
Ack! I hate clumpy lashes.
But when I got to the letter “i”, I found something veddddy innnteresting!
Extreme Ironing!
What?!!
Extreme Ironing is for real. I am not making it up. People take ironing boards to remote locations and iron items of clothing. According to The EI folks, Extreme Ironing is the “latest danger sport that combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well-pressed shirt.”
Here are just a few (there are many more) locations of where Extreme Ironing has taken place:
I have seven questions for our Extreme Ironers.
- I note that all the pictures of Extreme Ironers are men. Why is this, when we all know it’s women who do most of the ironing?
- Has the shirt been correctly laundered, i.e. stains removed, fabric softened, color-safe bleached when necessary?
- Is the ironing board cover clean and in good repair, i.e. no rips, tears or spray starch stains?
- What about your iron? Do you use steam? Have you flushed it recently with distilled water?
- What if my shirt is permanent press? Doesn’t ironing become moot?
- How does it work, when you iron a shirt underwater exactly? Can you do this without getting an electrical shock?
- Where do you plug in the iron?
Just curious, you understand. I do think it is a very, um, unusual, concept.
The Body Builder by Slim45hady Body Art by Frederic Poirot eyelashes by arsenic
Lynn Schneider Books 
Hmm, if you iron a shirt underwater, won’t it be all wrinkly again by the time it dries on land? Then you’d have to repeat the process all over again. Sounds counter-productive if you ask me.
Great post. Your captions to the photos had me in stitches. And that first guy? I’d be scared to wake up next to that. Maybe even more so than waking up next to the tattooed, pierced guy. Okay, maybe not. He’s pretty creepy looking.
Well, yes, that would be true. I did wonder about underwater ironing myself. The Body Builder guy there, I guess that little string thongy thing is the only clothes that fit. And, can that part of the anatomy be extreme-exercised? Food for thought…
Thanks, but I think I’ll pass on that food thought…
I shared your post on Twitter. It’s getting some love over there too. None of us can resist the freakish muscle man.
Thanks for the tweet, Carrie.
My pleasure. 🙂
The former Mr. Cahier confessed to intentionally doing household chores “wrong” so that he wouldn’t be asked to help out with them again. Hence, the answer to #1. It’s a whole “sport” concocted to get out of doing the real ironing. 🙂
Oh, that old story again, the menfolk saying “Oh, but honey, you change diapers so much BETTER than I do!” I wonder who came up with ironing, I mean, why not vacuuming? Seems like it would be harder to haul a Hoover around, thus making it all more “extreme”.
That body builder picture made me feel sick. He looked as though as we ready to explode at any minute! Great post though, by the way. 🙂
Thanks, Sarah. I doubt Mr. Body Builder can get much bigger so exploding may be the way to go.
Hi Lynn,
That was very funny, a good lift for my day, thanks.
johanna
Thanks Johanna, glad to help out. I needed a lift the day I wrote it. 🙂
Great weird post. Honestly I thought mr. muscle was photoshopped. That just can’t be real. yuk.
I think it must be. And it does look like Lance Armstrong. Unless he’s hittin’ the steroids again, I don’t think he looks quite like that.
Is that Lance Armstrong’s head on Mr. Muscleman?
That’s what I thought. It does look like Lance A. I can’t imagine anyone REALLY looks like that. Would probably be a little hindering for a cyclist, having a body that big. Most likely photoshopped by Slim45hady.
Those ironing pictures are brilliant. I’m a little concerned in most cases, at where the basket might be with the rest of the shirts.
Yes, that is definitely a good question to add to the list. What do you do with that shirt once it’s ironed? Thanks, Elliot.
LOVE it! 😀
Thanks, Lauire!
Awesome post!! Weird, but somehow I lived my entire life without ever hearing of the term “extreme ironing.” So thanks a lot for that precious gift.
To me this sort of thing is just one more piece of evidence that humans have got to go. They are setting themselves too far apart from the normal evolutionary existence. As a species we have become too extreme.
Also, I think this goes without saying, I’ve got to give you a two-point reduction for failing to include the word “irony” in this post. Sorry but those are the rules.
Irony!!!
Damn! Why didn’t I think of that! I certainly deserve the two-point reduction for that. Thanks for reading, liking, following! Yay!