Random Notes

Remember Wolfman Jack?

I can’t seem to form a cohesive thought in my head today. It’s all just coming in snatches... like you’re trying to get AM stations at night and your fiddling with the dial. You get a bit of a talk show here, then maybe a sermon, then... Wolfman Jack! Ha! Just kidding - but remember him?

Anyway, that’s what it’s like in the ol’ soup tureen I call a noggin today... and here are some random thoughts that have been churning away in there:

1. While writing for print is very rewarding, it’s also a bit more taxing on my psyche than blogging. With blogging, I can just write whatever and no one edits it, although I’m sure you will agree that sometimes someone should! I just submitted what I thought was a dang good column to the local newspaper and when I saw how it had been edited... well, I was a little disappointed. I thought it made more sense the way I wrote it, but then, I’m in my head, and that’s a whole other world... Anyway, seeing it cut was not easy.

Young, earnest Bono

2. My son, Bill, says things that sound downright hilarious coming out of the mouth of a little kid... Like one morning when he was three, he said at the breakfast table, "So what's happening in Iraq?" But... at what point will he be old enough that the stuff he says is no longer incongruous? Similarly, at what point is him walking around with Sherlock Holmes hat and magnifying glass looking for clues not cute, but weird? Or will this always be cute? 

3. The movie Killing Bono that I wrote about the other day was actually adapted from a book, which I am now reading. It’s a cliche, but I am having a hard time putting it down... and I am not speaking figuratively. It is fascinating to read the author’s rhapsodies on pop/rock music because he is, first and foremost, a brilliant music journalist. I love even more his baffled descriptions of Bono as a fervent youth, who even then was all charisma, sly humor and an unnamed quality that is, I am convinced, the Holy Spirit. If you require proof, click here.

Jacob and Esau

4. I read today about Jacob coming home to meet Esau and sending before him a peace offering of hundreds of heads of livestock from his herds... a peace offering. Basically, “I know I screwed you over, please don’t kill me.” It occurred to me that I spend a lot of time and psychic energy trying not to piss people off. Basically, “I know I’m a screw-up, please don’t be mad at me!” Now, I ask you, is that any way to live? I’m thinking not... It’s not very dignified... But how do I change this defensive posture towards life?

Bill and a pal at Cub Scouts... NOT listening

5. Cub Scouts: Bill has to be talked into going to every meeting. During the meetings, he talks and whispers with his friends, oblivious to the actual scouting activities going on around him. He can’t keep up with the pieces and parts of his uniform. Any “acheivements” he earns are under duress. All racing vehicles – pinewood derby, raingutter regatta, etc. – are completed only by extreme machinations by one or both parents. So my question is this: Why are we doing this? And, do we have to?

6. Cuisinart Bread Machine, where have you been all my life? And how does adding heat to just flour, water, salt and yeast produce such delicious bread, and in just an hour?

What I long for...

7. Is it ever going to snow this year? Today it was 70 degrees here. What’s that all about? It’s February! I want to wrap myself in fluffy sweaters and a down coat, pull on my boots, bundle up in scarf and hat and tramp out on to a snowy white landscape... then have a crazy, cold, wet snowball fight with Bill and Tom... followed by a cozy night wrapped in blankets, in front of a roaring TV with a hot cup of cocoa, marshmallows and all. Am I dreaming too big? Has the globe just become too dang warm? 

8. Does enumerating these random thoughts make them any less random? And am I ashamed to post this weak excuse for a blog entry? A little. But then... I know I’m a screw-up. Please don’t be mad at me!