What Goes Through Your Head

they always say that when you are confronted with the moment of death, your life flashes before your eyes. you review very quickly all the happy and all the sad moments of your life.

this last weekend, while i was visiting with my best friend jennie ann- we decided to walk up to a local restaurant for a couple of drinks. as we were crossing the street at the appropriate crosswalk and during the appropriate time, a car came quickly around the corner very quickly. it came straight towards us. i'm not sure they originally saw us crossing the street.

so what happened? well. nothing. it was sheer shock. as the car came quickly toward me (of course, to veer away at the last moment), i stood in shock. my mouth gaping open with a look on my face that communicated, "what the fuck?" i didn't think of when i was 6 years old and my mom bought me a matchbox car. i didn't think about when i graduated from high school. i didn't think about my brothers' first day of elementary school. i thought nothing. shock.

besides that, i did reach out and grab jennie ann's hand. so there we stood. shock and awe. mouths open. holding hands. in the middle of the street.

i think this whole life and death thing is far less complicated that most people would have you believe. though, i'm glad i didn't die on the street in plaza midwood while on my way to some horrible bar.

SNL and Being Old(er)

last saturday, after visiting the mayfest in north myrtle beach (which featured a couple of "members" of the beach boys and dean from jan and dean), we discussed our plans for the evening. i mentioned how i wanted to watch saturday night live, mostly because my morning jacket would be the musical guest.

then i made the comment about how watching SNL is good because you go out but ensure that you make it home by 11:30pm. that is when i realized, i never use to watch SNL when i was in my 20's. i mean, it was an occasional experience, but i never really planned to watch it. and i never watched it because on a saturday night between the hours of 11:30 and 1am- i probably didn't know where my car was...or where i lived. when i was younger, i was usually wasted at this time- on my way to finding out where the after party would be taking place.

now, i'm not casting a rose colored tint on my previous late night activities, because i'm glad i'm not trying to find the after party- because honestly, it seemed a bit sick and sad in retrospect- but it just seems that if you are a regular SNL viewer...then you are either 1) on your way to being a certain age or 2) moving away from that certain age.

the thing is...a nice night staying at home watching snl and waking up on sunday feeling rested seems like a perfect way to spend a saturday night. yes, i'm old.

My Summer of Craftiness

today is day one of my summer break. as some of you may know, summer is at both times the greatest and worst time of the year for teachers. you go from organizing the grades and schedules of 100-200 students to not even organizing your own day. you also go from having a pretty regular income to having absolutely none. now, i am doing some teaching this summer- but it also means that i'm coming up a bit short. with the upcoming move, i've been considering numerous summer employment options.

one involved me working with alligators and outside.

another one involved working at one of those places where you "model" for customers.

and then i realized i'm going to have to play this summer like the White Sox won the 2005 series. one ball, one base, one run at a time. so, i figured out the total i need to earn for moving by the end of the summer. and i've now gone about chipping away at this total. i figured i'm saving myself at least 50 bucks a week by not leaving my house. besides orchestrating a deal to work manual, hard labor for my mother for a week- i'll probably be calling on you this week to see what i can do for you. that's right, i'm for hire.

besides that...i discovered today that students shouldn't be the only ones that are allowed to sell back their books at the end of the semester- which was certainly one of the most awesome days in college. what a brilliant idea. your parents buy the textbooks at these outstanding prices, then you sell them back at less than half the price and keep the money, never mentioning that bottle of southern comfort to mom either.

so...my horrible confession. i sold back books today online. i couldn't fathom being caught by any students, so i went online- where all wrong-doers can feel better about themselves. i'm pretty sure i'm not even suppose to be doing this. but once i saw that i could get 26 bucks for one book, i was hooked. to clear my guilt, i did donate a couple of books to bringing about world peace...but here is the thing...after it was all said and packaged for the post office- i earned about 170 dollars today.

now only 2830 more to go.

Fortune Cookie, Take Your Time

i'm not a religious person. i try not to say "things always happen for a reason" too often. as i always question, well- why? why do things always happen for a reason? it just doesn't make any sense, particularly without the great patriarch pulling the strings in our lives.

that being said (which is something i try to say often), i find myself seeking meaning in the oddest of places.

1) i always believe that if a random homeless person approaches me and provides me with some nugget of philosophical rambling- that this has particular importance for my particular life.

2) i supremely believe in the power of what i call "the radio game." this game got started on the many, many long road trips that i took during high school and college. finding myself bored with all the tapes i had packed, i would switch on the radio. finding a great oldies station, i would designate the next song as my theme song. the song that would tell me something about my life. then i would spend those 3minutes seeing how sam cooke's chain gang related to my life. of course, this game can be played with any radio station- as well as i have adapted it for my ipod, by simply using the shuffle option. beyond your theme song, you can provide narrow parameters- for example, "this is my song about this weekend" or "this is my song about moving" or "this is igor's song about his love affair with gravy"...yes, it is very entertaining and yes, the possibilities are endless. though i do find myself spending WAY too much time on the road playing this game.

3) i've always found fortune cookies to be ultimately telling about my life. and i don't think i'm the only one that believes in this power. it reminds me of a scene in no country for old men. in that we like to imagine this particular fortune cookie traveled all that distance just to make it to our particular table on this particular evening...just to communicate this particular message to us. perhaps it has no meaning at all. (note: this was the best clip i could find, but it cuts off one second too early...before he says, "which it is.")




regardless, i have recently received these two fortunes...i'm still trying to interpret accurately the first one. any suggestions will help.

1) the best throw of the dice is to throw them away.

2) don't be hasty; prosperity will knock on your door soon.

Two Types of People

it dawned on me yesterday on my way to school that there are two types of people in this world. there are those who merge into traffic easily, quickly, and without the incoming lane of traffic having to slow down.

then there are those that don't merge into traffic easily. they hesitate. they stop and place their blinker on at the end of the merging lane. it causes the entire lane of traffic to stop, slow, have to get over into other lanes. trouble-makers, i call them.

i think its hesitation due to a lack of being able to see a few steps ahead in time.

two types. and it speaks about more than just your traffic courtesy...but could perhaps be applied to other areas of life. not that i'm passing judgment.

yes, classes are almost over.