My wife has a small basket that sits next to the toilet in the bathroom. It’s mostly for looks, but also has some magazines in it. I don’t really believe they’ve been placed there for reading purposes – certainly not for me. I've never heard of any of them - and neither my wife nor I are toilet readers - so I assume they serve some decorative function.
My friend Ross Jones tells a great story about a line his grandfather used regarding some of the unknowns in life. He said “you never pass up a good chert road.” I seriously dig that. I don’t know what Ross’s grandfather looks like, but in my mind I see Wilford Brimley – and that alone is enough to give those words some weight. If you’ve never heard of chert, it’s a sedimentary rock that was used years ago to make sharp tools, start fires, and sharpen steel. Today you might see it as a decorative rock, or material for road surfacing. In my part of the country it often has a brown to red/orange color.
I watched a celebrity being interviewed on television the other day and almost didn’t recognize them. They’d had so much work done on their face that I wasn’t sure who it was. I double checked the name to make sure I was seeing correctly. We’ve all seen someone who’s had too much cosmetic surgery and it didn’t seem quite right. Think Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire when he says “I’m ready for my close up Mr. Demille.” I’m not sure what “right” is supposed to look like, but I know it when I see it.
I was driving down the interstate recently listening to one of my favorite SiriusXm channels – The Groove. Right after I almost blew my speakers listening to Parliament’s “Flashlight”, a song came on I hadn’t heard in years.
I read recently about the resurgence of the measles virus in the United States even though it was considered eradicated back in 2000. Since that claim there have still been between 50 and several hundred cases reported each year. A big factor seems to be travelers returning home from other countries where the disease is more active and infecting those who are not vaccinated. I won’t get on my soap box about those that don’t believe in vaccinations, even though it’s ridiculous, unfounded, and irresponsible. Does that count as a soap box?
There are several movies I feel compelled to watch every time they appear while I’m surfing through the channel guide on my television. Some are classics and some I would be embarrassed to name, lest you judge my cinematic taste. From The Godfather to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, I’ll watch. You want to take a deep dive into Jeremiah Johnson, fine. I’ll also take that dive with you intoTalladega Nights. I like to call my taste eclectic. Some call it unexplainable. Whatever.
I was doing some research for a talk I gave recently – OK, research is a strong word – I was looking up stuff on Google. I searched for lists of common things that make people uncomfortable. As you can imagine, a lot of the same stuff showed up on different lists: heights, snakes, confrontation, public speaking, etc. There was one however, that really stood out for me. It only showed up on one list, but it was by far my favorite. I chuckled out loud because I had never considered it, and it was sort of true for me.
