Dirty laundry

I thought I'd spice up my blog with a bit of edgy commentary!! For real though...I do recognize in myself a sometime unhealthy gravitation toward the salacious...details about incidents or individuals that I just don't need to know. Why is that? Don Henley wrote, ''It's interesting when people die, give us dirty laundy.'' Not sure the propensity bears nourishing though. Your thoughts...why do we care about Britney, Brangelina, or Hurricane death tolls?

Hold on Loosely...

I was chatting with a friend over lunch the other day and we agreed that sometimes we (or anybody) can wrap our head around and idea, argument, position, or expectation and literally stop thinking! We cease taking further data in about a subject or conception and thereby risk missing the discovery of a better or improved understanding. The presumption is dangerous because our understanding of reality is continually being refined. Think this is too philosophical...think "parenting!" Just when I've got one phase figured our...bam, my kids age on me!

While it is critical to "keep an open mind", I also believe that we do so in order to then close our minds upon better ideas and deeper truths. It is a process. If we fix our minds too rigidly, we stop allowing ourselves to be refined. [Old Guy Alert!] There's this 80's band called 38 Special that summed up well what I'm trying to say:

Just Hold On Loosely,
but don't let go
If you cling to tightly,
you're gonna lose control

[PS - The Daffy Duck image above is from a 1956 Looney Tune entitled Ali Baba Bunny and NO, I'm not that old, but I do like cartoons.]

The Santa pause...

At my desk this morning and as I looked out my window, what should appear...but Santa Claus. Actually, just a guy with extra girth, a white beard, dressed in a red suit and hat. He had shown up to do a gig at a work Christmas party. My cynical side did a slight guffaw - what a racket!

Then he waved at me and smiled. This arrested my cynicism and I grinned to myself...as he vanished from sight. In a strange way, I felt like Santa still remembered me :)

R-T-W

Goin' round-the-world in an easterly direction seems easier than the other way around. Simply stay up all night...(safely) drive to the airport...and then sleep on the flight, with a little help from Melatonin and hopefully a business class upgrade. Steppin' on the plane with a Grande Americano in hand from near Gate 11 in Seattle! Wish me blissful dreams!