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I (don’t) Write the Songs
I posted one of my favorite song lines on my alumni site today only to hear it as bumper music seconds later on a morning news program. “I used to be disgusted but now I try to be amused…”, a strange coincidence. So many song lyrics are stored in my head and when they pop up, if I am paying attention, there is usually a connection to the current events of my life. One of my all time favorite bands, Doug and the Slugs, recorded a song with the lyric”..men like me we need a roomful of clues…”. I love this line because it describes me in certain situations and is a handy explanation when I am a bit slow on the uptake. ” I got ramblin’, ramblin’ on my mind…” that one pops up often in meetings when the speaker just can’t seem to focus. Oftentimes I have played the whole song on my cranial MP3 as the speaker, well, rambled on.
Some of my favorite musical artists are strong writers. Little Feat, Bonnie Raitt, (…he stuck out like a ruby in a black man’s ear…”), people who can describe a lifetime in a phrase or write a phrase that you remember for a lifetime. Too many to mention and we all have our favorites, so listen closely and often, we all need a soundtrack to our lives.
Addressing my problem…
I had the privilege of going to court today. Thirty days ago I foolishly trusted another driver to make a left turn because he had his left blinky light signal blinking and appeared from my vantage point to be slowing to turn left. This maneuver would have put his vehicle out of my path as I was going to cross the street and make my own left turn and be clear of the space he would occupy as he was making his left turn. The little feller fooled me, however, and was planning a left turn for later in the day and was making sure his signal light was warmed up and working properly. I was completely stopped when he crashed into the driver’s door of my car in his 2009 Nissan Z-whatever-number-they’re-up to-now (audible turn signals not included) sporty car. This part is NOT funny as he was stunned and possibly injured by the deploying air bag. The paramedic on the scene assured me that he was OK but they did transport him to the hospital just to be sure. Anyway, that’s not why I called.
The police officer issued me a citation for “failure to yield” after I explained the events leading up to the collision including the left turn that wasn’t. He stated that the other driver lived on down the street and probably wouldn’t be turning left there cause, you know, he lived on down a ways and all. I accepted my citation and his reasoning because I had just been t-boned and was a little disoriented having almost spilled my Diet Mountain Dew and been killed. I did the online driving school to prevent “points” from being assessed against my license and went down to the DMV to pay my fine only to discover that I had been assigned a court date and Didn’t I know that? No was my reply and she (the DMV lady) said, yes, the officer made a mistake on your citation and that automatically means you have to go to court and you didn’t get the notice BECAUSE he wrote down your street number and the name of the other driver’s street. I was stunned to realize that the officer didn’t even know where the other driver lived but had also charged me with a statute violation that didn’t match the accident description. I know what you’re thinking, curioser and curioser.
Anyway I went to court today and when I was called the judge said “Mr. LeBlanc you are charged with…I have no idea what you are charged with, case dismissed” and did I mention that I believe in God?
It’s not just the speed limit….
I was surfing Facebook today and discovered a teabagger website. Interesting people however misdirected these particular folks were. We all have access to the same media yet we all claim to have the “correct” version of the facts. Does anyone believe that Pox news is even accurate? Forget unbiased, that is a standard that none of the news providers I am familiar with can boast. I can accept that they all have their point of view, could they just not knowingly LIE? Never mind, that was an obviously rhetorical question.
On a related note, what is this fear of “the intelligentsia” that I hear over and over from self declared conservative commentators? Is intelligence frightening to these people or just counterproductive to their goals? Do they seek out dull normal lawyers, accountants and doctors when they have need of these services? Do I ask a lot of questions? Questions are part of my plot to become intelligent and therefore a threat to the paranoid, twisted vision some have for our country.
Today is my birthday and I have enjoyed many kind wishes and greetings from a variety of folks that I have met over the years, many of whom I have been reconnecting with on Facebook and my high school alumni site. My life has been a series of very dramatic changes over the past few years and I have been feeling nostalgic about the old hometown and the friends I made there. I want very much to enjoy the balance of my time in this life and look forward to whatever happens next. Thanks to all for the birthday wishes and may you enjoy the kindness of others that you have wished for me.
What have I done?
I just signed up to blog on this venue and and was once again reminded that my self knowledge may not be comprehensive. Is my upbringing really the central fact of my life as I stated in my profile? My father died when I was four and the passing through male influences of my life were not nearly as strong as my sisters who raised me. My sensibilities are often out of sync with my male friends and I am usually happy when that is the case. My sexual orientation is exclusively hetero but my female friends talk to me, sometimes, as if I were their gal pal. I say give women a chance to run the world, men have proved to be less than stellar leaders despite their having an anatomical rudder to guide them. Or maybe that’s a tiller with no rudder attached. Maybe this is the most awkward analogy ever attempted, I don’t know, but my guess is it’s a contender.
Thanks to Laurie for leading me to this site and saving me money as I was paying to have markaleblanc.com to post my musings and expose my skewed view. I will convert that to its intended use as a marketing tool for my real estate business and thus the fees will be tax deductible.
I highly enjoy and therefore recommend In Laurie’s Brain and A Southern Bell trying not to rust as well. Both feature a geographical point of view that sometimes transcends the anatomical.
I was surfing around on my high school’s alumni site recently and came across a former classmate who is a prolific blogger and poster on the website. She obviously has a passion and talent for writing. I enjoyed her work and it made me feel guilty that I don’t post that much here lately. I may post shorter entries from now on instead of the essays that I usually write.
Speaking of the newly discovered alumni website, I’ve been reflecting on the nature of friendship. I am peeking into the lives of people I haven’t seen or talked to since ‘73 or so. I have always believed that friendships don’t end, they just go on hiatus. We’ve all gotten the emails that tell us some friends are in our lives for a season, or a reason, or whatever rhymes but I have always enjoyed visiting and chatting with old friends partly because you are visiting an earlier version of yourself.
Are you still….? fill in the blank, interested in photography or writing or whatever happened to…? and the memories of the different people you have been or planned to be come back to mind like a thought you never completed because you were distracted. The memory of a friendship forgotten resurfaces and brings other thoughts to mind that are like temporarily misplaced souvenirs of a trip you enjoyed. I like that feeling and it’s fun to revisit your life with the wisdom of years.
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Bipolar Food Issue Blues
Well, it has been a week of paying attention to my food intake. I have other things going on in my life now but this weight thing dominates or I don’t lose weight. I have more energy, a brighter outlook, and a more grateful attitude. Cooking and preparing food are therapeutic activities for me as I view them as essential, nurturing expressions of love. Love for others, certainly, and self love because I am treating myself better. I am constantly on guard against negative self-talk, more in others than myself. I guess the way I talk about myself is no more important than the way I treat myself and nourish my body.
How many times have I told others that they call it SELF esteem because it comes from self and not others. I am discovering that the way I treat my body (the temple of the Spirit) is at least as important as my thought life. To strive for a spiritually healthy life I must live a physically healthy one as well. One follows the other and enables me to fulfill my purpose as well as I can.
Well, it’s all well and good to focus on these truths but keeping focused when the carbs come calling will be the daily challenge. It is so easy to relax and let the poor choice reflex run things.
I just looked over what I’ve written and it is obvious that part of my problem is equating food with love, preparing food with nurturing and as a result, giving food an inappropriate role in my life. The truth is when I eat poorly it’s because I’m not preparing food, I’m eating what is convenient and fried. Did I say fried?, I meant tasty.
Well, this has been a rambling, stream of thought monologue and I thank you for reading this far. Life truly is the journey and that never bores me but writing about it is not easy for me although it does help. If it benefits you as well, so much the better. Oh, by the way 13lbs. lost this week. No diet advice needed, I know that’s a lot but I have a lot to lose.
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