Line #101 Main/ContemplatingYourHands


1	[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/AnExtremelyGoofyMovie https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gloved_hands.png]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:"Do you ever wonder why we're always, like, [[WhiteGloves wearing gloves]]?"]]
3
4	->''"They call 'em 'fingers', but I never see them fing!"''
5	-->-- '''Otto''', ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
6
7	It is common for people undergoing the MushroomSamba to become fascinated with their own hands, often with lines such as "I can see auras!". Expect their hands to suddenly seem "huge", which may be shorthand for demonstrating the ability of narcotics, especially opioids, to alter spatial perception.
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9	Not the same as [[ContemplateOurNavels contemplating your navel]]. Common hobby of TheStoner. See also TheseHandsHaveKilled for when a character contemplates their hands for an entirely different reason.
10
11	----
12	!!Examples:
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14	[[foldercontrol]]
15
16	[[folder: Fan Works]]
17	* Subverted in [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5738252/1/But_then_I_got_high this fanfic]] with "My hand's freakin' [[Film/{{Avatar}} BLUE]] duuuudeeee!"
18	* George does this in ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached'' after his first transformation into a cat, which is pretty trippy. When he turns back to himself, he stares at his hands--"Beautiful pink stars!"
19	* In ''Fanfic/{{Enlightenments}}'', Wander briefly gets distracted by his hands at the start of his mushroom trip.
20	[[/folder]]
21
22	[[folder: Films -- Animated]]
23	* Bobby from ''WesternAnimation/AnExtremelyGoofyMovie'' stares at his hands once, and then wonders why so many of the cast are wearing WhiteGloves.
24	* For [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Twilight Sparkle]], the most jarring part about her [[HumanityEnsues transformation into a human]] in ''WebAnimation/EquestriaGirls'' is the fact that she now has ''fingers.''
25	* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', Mei looks at her hands in the moonlight contemplating her situation in the evening of the day she gains her red panda form.
26	[[/folder]]
27
28	[[folder: Films -- Live-Action]]
29	* In ''Film/DeathAtAFuneral'' one of the characters, Simon, accidentally ingests a designer drug thinking it Valium. One of the things he says--or, rather, screams--before he realizes what's going on is "WHY ARE MY HANDS SO BIG!?".
30	* In ''Film/LookWhosTalking'', baby Mikey has an experience like this in utero when his mother (who is in labor with him) receives an epidural.
31	* Willard does this during one of Kurtz's speeches in ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', checking his hand to see if he was just having a bad trip or not.
32	* Jack Black's character does it in ''Film/{{Envy}}'', as a way of introducing his offbeat character to the audience.
33	* In the extended edition of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing'', [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Gimli]] and [[OurElvesAreDifferent Legolas]] have a drinking contest. Now, [[AllThereInTheManual according to Tolkien's notes]], alcohol [[NeverGetsDrunk is not supposed to affect elves]], however, they drink so much of it that Legolas mentions that he's starting to feel tingles in his hand and begins gazing at it like a stoner. At the same time, Gimli is busy passing out.
34	* Marwood in ''Film/WithnailAndI'': "My thumbs have gone weird! I'm in the middle of a fucking overdose!"
35	* Jake Sully does this in ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' in a deleted scene where he has to go on a "Dream Hunt" by means of a venom-induced trip.
36	* ''Film/RiotOnSunsetStrip'': At the beginning of her acid trip, Andy intently studies her hands and feet before she begins her dance.
37	[[/folder]]
38
39	[[folder: Literature]]
40	* In the beginning of ''Literature/WhiteFang'', the last surviving dogsled driver (who is being stalked by the starving wolves that killed his partner) does this for a moment. In this case, it's less him being stoned and more him taking a little bit of what may be the last night of his life to consider how remarkable life (represented in part by the complexity of the human hand) really is, and [[ThisIsGonnaSuck how much it's going to suck to get eaten]] once he runs out of firewood.
41	* Tita does this when she goes insane for a short while in ''Literature/LikeWaterForChocolate'' or ''Como Agua Para Chocolate''. It's not used comedically, though.
42	* Makes an appearance in the notorious ScareEmStraight anti-drug tract ''Literature/GoAskAlice''.
43	* Appears to have become a (non-drug-induced...probably) feature of ''[[Literature/InheritanceCycle Inheritance]]''. Seems to overlap with AuthorAppeal, as various main characters have chosen to contemplate their thumbs.
44	* In the original ''Literature/TheMysteriousBenedictSociety'' book, the members of the society all study the backs of their hands after one of them points out the stupidity of the phrase "I know it like the back of my hand," since most people don't know the backs of their hands very well.
45	* In the novel ''[[Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact 2010: Odyssey Two]]'', Heywood Floyd wakes up in zero gravity with his hand floating in front of his face, and momentarily mistakes the lines on his palm for the surface of Europa (the resemblance really is uncanny).
46	* Bib Fortuna does this in "Of The Day's Annoyances", part of ''Literature/TalesFromJabbasPalace'', [[spoiler:when he realizes that the B'omarr monks are going to remove his brain from his body and put it into [[BrainInAJar something without hands]]]].
47	* It's common for characters in ''{{Literature/Dinoverse}}'' who're put into the bodies of bipedal dinosaurs to study their hands. Candayce, in the body of a Leptoceratops, which is [[RunningOnAllFours semi-quadrupedal]], is particularly displeased.
48	-->"They weren't hands. Not exactly. They were scaly paws. Or claws. Kind of. Three sharp fingers and two other stubby things that formed a, well, a ''hoof''. Like a horse might have."
49	* Not shown, but in Creator/KevinJAnderson's ''Death Warmed Over'', Dan consults the accounting records of an herbalist's shop to try to track down a poisoner. Unfortunately, the proprietor was stoned out of his mind on the day in question, and all that's written on the relevant page is "my hand looks funny".
50	* In ''Literature/DannyTheChampionOfTheWorld'', Danny contemplates his hand just before it is caned by Captain Lancaster. He also spends time examining the damage afterwards, which is described in detail; and it is also what alerts his father to the incident.
51	--> I looked at my palm with the fortune-teller's lines running over it, and I could not bring myself to imagine that anything was about to happen to it.
52	[[/folder]]
53
54	[[folder: Live-Action TV]]
55	* The TropeCodifier is probably ''Series/WKRPInCincinnati'', when a stoned Johnny observes his hand is a little expressway map.
56	* Donna on ''Series/That70sShow''.
57	** A common StockParody when a group of characters experiments with drugs is showing them in a circle like the one from that show.
58	* Spike from ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', describing Film/{{Woodstock}}: "That was a weird gig. I fed off a flower person, and I spent the next six hours watching my hand move." (Spike's an IdiotHoudini; he spent six hours tripping in public and the sun didn't come up or anything. Well, maybe he was in a tent. And it ''was'' raining...)
59	* The fourth season episode of ''Series/{{MASH}}'', ''Hawkeye'', features a concussed Hawkeye Pierce on a lengthy spiel about the human hand.
60	* On ''Series/TheOddCouple1970'' Felix takes a sabbatical in a monastery and spends a day marveling over his hand (before realizing that his foot is just as interesting).
61	* Creator/StephenColbert receives a gift of "[[IntoxicationEnsues little stamps]]" from his ''[[Series/TheColbertReport Colbert Report]]'' interns--upon licking them, his right hand suddenly becomes a lot more interesting.
62	** Done again in the ChristmasSpecial when he meets Willie Nelson ("I'm so high, ''you're'' hallucinating") and one of his hands turns into a reindeer's hoof.
63	* ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'': In "A New Leaf", Earl is high on "happy plant" and looks at his hands. He then wonders why they use a numbering system based on ten when they only have [[FourFingeredHands eight fingers]].
64	* In an episode of ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', Robin says that after mistakenly taking marijuana she said, on air, "This just in: look at my hand, how weird is my hand."
65	** Additionally:
66	--->'''Marshall:''' ''[looking at Ted's hand]'' I recognize the cliched nature of what I'm about to say, but...''whoa''.
67	* The clearly-stoned shoeshine boy in the "My Hands!" sketch in ''Series/TheKidsInTheHall''. This observation eventually evolves into more disturbing areas.
68	* Parodied in an episode of ''Series/{{Joey}}'': Joey is hanging out with a couple of stoned guys and they follow this routine. The difference is that Joey isn't stoned, he's just a [[TheDitz ditz]].
69	* This happened once on ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', when Tony was on painkillers. "My fingers...they're finging..."
70	* In an episode of ''Series/{{Community}},'' after getting high, Pierce puts his hands on someone's shoulders then freaks out about them being someone else's hands and runs away. Justified in that this is part of a larger thematic freakout he is having about how alienated he feels because of his age.
71	* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' gets high on cold medication in one episode. At one point, Niles holds a finger in front of Frasier's face. Frasier can't stop staring at it.
72	* ''Series/ICarly'': Sam thought she was missing her thumb while high on laughing gas.
73	* ''Series/TheWonderYears'': When Kevin attends a wedding, he gets drunk on a bottle of champagne and begins staring at his "magnificent hand".
74	* A brief one: in episode 1.07 of ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'', when Topher and [=DeWitt=] have accidentally gotten high, [=DeWitt=] says, "I find lentils completely incomprehensible," then gets distracted by her hands.
75	* In one episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', one of the Q (not Q, a different Q) becomes human, and, during a monologue, becomes distracted by the appearance of his own hands.
76	* In the Series/StarTrekVoyager episode ''Timeless'' Seven of Nine contemplates her hand after a [[CantHoldHisLiquor single glass of synthehol champagne]].
77	* In one episode of ''Series/{{Sliders}}'', Colin acts this way after getting shot by a tranquilizer dart. He becomes mesmerized by his hands and wonders why he has so many fingers.
78	* In one episode of ''Series/WaterlooRoad'', when Josh is high on marijuana in class, he is seen raising his hand and staring blankly at it.
79	* In a season five episode of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', Castiel time travels twice (first to go back in time and then to return to the present) which is both times extremely difficult and leaves him very unwell. After his arrival the second time he holds up his right hand and stares at it, presumably to reassure himself that he's in one piece.
80	* In one episode of ''Series/TheSmokingRoom'', Len absentmindedly sniffs at a tube of glue Clint used to fix down a loose floor tile, and before long he's away with the fairies.
81	--> '''Len:''' Aren't hands strange? They're like feet, only on your arms...
82	[[/folder]]
83
84	[[folder: Music]]
85	* In Music/PinkFloyd's ''Music/TheWall'', during "Comfortably Numb", Pink says that when he was young, he had a fever, and his hands felt like two balloons, and now he has that feeling once again.
86	[[/folder]]
87
88	[[folder: Newspaper Comics]]
89	* ''ComicStrip/{{Doonesbury}}'' did this a lot in its early years, and occasionally still does it.
90	-->'''BD:''' ''[after eating pot brownies accidentally placed in his care package]'' Have you ever looked at your hands? I mean, ''really'' looked at them?
91	* ''ComicStrip/GetFuzzy'' referenced the gag by having Bucky say "have you ever ''really'' looked at your paw?" after [[HighOnCatnip doing 'nip all day]].
92	* Parodied in ''The Quigmans'', with ''[[Series/TheAndyGriffithShow Mayberry LSD]]''.
93	-->'''[[http://www.thewvsr.com/mayberry.jpg Andy]]:''' Hey, Barn, you ever ''really'' looked at your hands?
94	* Andy does this off-panel while strung out on allergy medication in ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot''.
95	* In one ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' strip, Garfield wonders if it's going to be another boring day. Jon answers his question when he dully says, "Aren't fingers amazing, Garfield?"
96	* In one ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' arc, Dilber loses that subconscious connection between his job performance and salary, and realizes that he gets paid even when he does nothing but flick his fingers. His co-workers notice this, and soon the entire department is flicking their fingers, much to the PointyHairedBoss's annoyance.
97	[[/folder]]
98
99	[[folder: Video Games]]
100	* ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' has you literally fight "the urge to stare at your hands" as a random encounter when you eat "astral mushrooms" and go on a Mediocre Trip.
101	-->"(You may wonder why you can actually attack, with your weapon, a feeling that you're having. Yup, you certainly may wonder that. We won't stop you.)"
102	* Though amnesiac rather than stoned out of his mind, The Kid from ''VisualNovel/{{Ever17}}'' wonders about his metaphorical "forgotten sixth finger" at times when he looks at his hand and contemplates his lost memory.
103	* In ''VideoGame/CrashTwinsanity'', after clearing Cavern Catastrophe, Crash is seen doing this after he and Cortex both get out of the caves. Cortex was not impressed, to say the least.
104	* VideoGame/{{Paladins}} has a spray where Jenos is looking at his hands, which, in the context of the Io Reveal trailer, was meant to be a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment for him, but it immediately became a meme format because of how silly it looked. MemeticMutation happened, and the developers later released said spray "Interstellar Crisis" as a reference to it, as well as an avatar.
105	[[/folder]]
106
107	[[folder: Web Comics]]
108	* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'':
109	-->'''Calix's Father:''' When a boy has come of age and must pass the trial of manhood, his father tells him this tale only once, precisely as it was told to him. For that is the way of things. Prepare yourself for the horror you are about to face as I tell you the story of how we came to be here...''duuude''! There was, like, this sorceress? And one of our warriors totally spit on her. She went "That's it; I'm sending your whole village to the bad place forever!" And she totally did! And the gods took pity on us and protected our village in a bubble, of, like...protection. Kinda wished they took enough pity on us to rescue us. Thanks, Gods! Now we have to cast our children outside for the gods to judge them worthy to return! ''Sniff''! Sometimes I think the gods stink more than the sourserious...sar-saurus...sorseres...sorceress! ''[moves his hand as in confusion while looking for the word, then begins waving both of them in front of him]'' ''Hey'', do this with your hands really fast! ''[serious again]'' ...You will tell this to your son ''precisely'' as it was told to you.
110	-->'''Calix:''' Grandpop liked to smoke the blue plants, right, Pop?
111	* Tim of ''Webcomic/{{Loserz}}'' demonstrates it [[http://the-qlc.com/loserz/go/182 here]].
112	* According to ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'', if you're a fan of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peirce_quincuncial_projection Peirce Quincuncial map projection]], you ''have'' [[http://xkcd.com/977/ really looked at your hands]].
113	* In the Amsterdam plot arc of ''Webcomic/DrugsAndKisses'', Bobby shows up to a business meeting after a three-hour visit to a coffee shop and [[http://drugsandkisses.com/comics/92/ immediately starts staring at his hand]].
114	* In ''Webcomic/TwentyFirstCenturyFox'', Jack finds that the D.N.A. robots have to look at their hands and intensely study the joints in order to calibrate their hand-eye coordination. He wonders why anyone would have programmed them like that, and then he realizes it was written by the programmer the team dubbed "[[http://techfox.comicgenesis.com/d/20121112.html Druggie]]".
115	* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' strip "[[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1145.html The Highfather]]", Odin, who is a bit loopy due to [[spoiler: the Northerners of the previous world hating magic, meaning the Northern God of Magic wasn't getting the right kind of belief]], observes "Mortal height is fun. My hands are hand-sized!"
116	[[/folder]]
117
118	[[folder: Western Animation]]
119	* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode "The Flakers", Richard does this when high after a dentist visit, saying that they don't match.
120	* ''WesternAnimation/BigMouth'': This is the first thing Jessi and Nick do when they eat THC gummies, laughing like idiots about their "finger knees" (knuckles).
121	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
122	** In the episode "The Problem With Popplers", Lrr, ruler of the planet Omnicron Persei 8 does this after eating a hippie: "Dude, my hands are huge. They can touch anything but themselves..." And then he touches them together. "Oh, wait."
123	** Zoidberg does it with his pincers in "Bender Gets Made" when given a big dose of painkillers to shut him up.
124	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
125	** In "Weekend at Burnsie's", Homer gets marijuana for an eye injury, and he and Otto ponder: "They call 'em 'fingers', but I've never seen 'em fing...oh, there they go." (This was itself a line borrowed from an earlier episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic''.)
126	** From the same episode:
127	--->"We could stop this law from being put into action, or we could just sit here and watch our hands."
128	--->"Whoa, they're ''huge''!"
129	** Lisa also did this after drinking the water at Duff Gardens in "Selma's Choice".
130	--->"I ''am'' the Lizard Queen!"
131	* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': [[spoiler: Ford]] stares at his hands often, but this is less to do with him being high and more to do with his sixth finger.
132	* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In a CutawayGag, Peter goes live-action (with the actor wearing a head in the original animated style) during a drug-induced freak-out.
133	* The finger-less [[Franchise/ThePowerpuffGirls Powerpuff Girls]] seem to be all right with this. Inverted and lampshaded in "Criss Cross Crisis". The Professor's gone-wrong experiment causes everybody to switch bodies, with Buttercup in the Professor's body. When she sees she now has fingers, she bursts into tears.
134	** When the phone rings, she tries to pick it up, but doesn't realize she needs to use fingers to grab it and only slaps the phone with her open palm.
135	--->Buttercup: "Professor, your hand doesn't work!"
136	* Beavis from ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' occasionally stares at his own fist while in Cornholio mode.
137	[[/folder]]
138
139	[[folder: Real Life]]
140	* TruthInTelevision in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txqiwrbYGrs this viral clip]] of a 7-year-old boy under the influence of dental anesthetic.
141	[[/folder]]
142	----

Context Main / ContemplatingYourHands