Road to Nowhere

This morning, after breakfast, I took a walk with my parents and my grandparents, and I'm pretty sure we walked down the road to nowhere. It was a kind of dirt path/horse trail/atv trail. I'm with family in southern Nevada and it's pretty desolate here. They like to pretend this community is a picturesque look into the idyllic, agrarian past dreamed of by Jefferson, but the truth is they are getting pretty advanced. My grandparents have dish and wireless Internet which is why I can grace you with this post even though I am kind of in the middle of nowhere.

Interestingly, in his anthem, Ozzy discusses a theme that I've thought a lot about. He says, "The wreckage of my past keeps haunting me...I guess I'd do it all again." I think we all need to live with no regrets, we need to live so that when death comes we can say that we would do it all again. If it's too late, then live that way from today forward. Even if your past is like a wreck, and you wouldn't do it all again, make the rest of your life a pleasant drive down the interstate (with no construction). It is possible to wipe the slate clean, and that makes it infinitely easier to look back with pleasure on your past.

Holiday

I love holidays and I am always looking for a new holiday to celebrate. Every Tuesday is kind of a holiday with 2 for Tuesday celebrations everywhere. Everyday at 10pm (if I'm driving) I celebrate with "Get the Led Out," but I was looking for something more concrete. I thought Billy Joe had given me a new holiday, but saddly he was just whining about how our morals or ethical reasoning are now "on holiday," (it's a British term for vacation). I thought I would need to change my religion, my ethnicity, or my gender, or get married or have a kid to find a new holiday. Turns out all I had to do is listen to the U.S. Surgeon General, who once again lags at least 100 years behind the Mormons. The Surgeon General has declared November "Family History Month," and the 4Th Thursday as "Family History Day." (I think I've heard about the importance of family history somewhere before.) Basically, the Surgeon General is asking all Americans to find out about their family health history so people can be more aware of what unhealthy conditions they may be especially susceptible to due to genetics and commonly held beliefs, traditions, and other health-related activities. So celebrate this month any way you desire. Just remember, it's apparently not a party without a little family history.

Footloose

Few things define the 1980's quite like Kevin Bacon fighting for his rights and quoting scripture in Elmore City and dancing into our hearts to the tune of Kenny Loggins. Today I was blessed to relive those wondrous days. I got to watch a 30 minute short produced by Standford University about how to create effective Public Service Announcements for my health communication class. The catch is the short was made in 1986, so all of the good and bad examples were from the 80's and everyone was sportin' great 80's fashion. As I am a magnanimous soul I will share with you an example of an ineffective PSA. Who knew Star Wars could be so awesomely awful? Everyone who has watched the Star Wars Christmas Special that's who.

Beverly Hills

I feel like I'm livin' in Beverly Hills. I got some great stuff for my Birthday that makes me very like one of the red carpet personalities livin' it up in SoCal. I am sipping high class hot cocoa from my niece and nephew which was heated in a microwave (not over the stove or in the oven as it has been for the last few months) which I got from my parents, and I'm seated at my first kitchen table-procured with funds from my Grandparents and the U.S. government. The plant (which is usually not on the table) adds the color and homey feel that only a sister-in-law with a degree in Horticulture can give you. Thank you all, I am really living the high life now; the real one, not the alcohol induced high life promised by the Miller Brewing company. On that subject, for all you college students looking for an internship, Miller gives free happy hour EVERYDAY and 3 free cases of beer every pay period to all interns over 21, the only drawback is you have to work and live in Wisconsin.

Real [Man] of Genius

Halloween is truly one of the greatest holidays-you get to become anyone or anything you want, if only for a day. This year I chose Hulk Hogan and as you can see it was awesome-complete with a beautiful handlebar mustache that I am going to keep. I even got over-50 female support for keeping the 'stache from the other volunteers at the Senior Center. I had a good ol' time with the fam' and a fun time at the other parties I went to. Sadly, the crowd must have been too young to recognize the awsomeness of my costume, as I didn't win any awards. I am excited for NCAA basketball to start this month, the NBA just started, the World Series is wrapping up, and football is getting interesting-Fall is truly the most wonderful time of the year.

PS If my recent prodigious use of links has tired you out, do not excuse yourself from following this one-it is perhaps the best link I will ever supply you with, and I might just pare down my future use to please you (and squease you, if you know what I mean).

Green is the Colour

You French cinema enthusiasts might remember a little 1969 film called More about idyllic life on Ibiza. Partiers in Ibiza enjoy the lush, rolling green hills often associated with Ireland or New Zealand. I will soon be a partaker in their joy. My apartment complex started putting in sod today, and while the dirt yard was nice, I think I'll like the grass even better. This is another example of me getting excited about the mundane, but I'll try to deal with it-it happens to the best of us. I mean even Snoop dogg pontificates about grass in Starsky and Hutch, so why not me? (mild expletives in this clip) And Green is the Colour is one of my favorite Pink Floyd songs (they wrote and performed the soundtrack for More including this ditty).

You're the Best Around

So I realized this week that I'm kind of a loser. My roommate finally got us a shower curtain and a rod, and the first time I saw them I was so excited-giddy with anticipation. I hope you don't know how hard it is to take a shower with no curtain while keeping the floor and the toilet relatively dry, but let's just say it's been a struggle. So when you start getting excited over shower curtains, your coolness level plummets (good thing mine was so high to begin with). Of course (to bring up Halloween again) if you get excited about shower curtains because you bought one to follow in Ralph Macchio's footsteps then your coolness level sky rockets, and perhaps you too will become the best around. By the way, I recommend that costume if you don't have an idea already. A nice young man named Dan tells how he did it here.