RobZerrvations
Musings from a Meandering, Mischievous Mind
Rubbed The Wrong Way.
I have been happier than I have ever been in my life. I know this because a few days ago I was watching Glee and the teacher, Mr. Shue, remarked during a phone call that for the first time in his life, he was "completely happy." I burst into tears. Well, not full-on tears, but a wisp of a tear did well up in the corner of one eye. Ordinarily I would have attributed this to an unexpected onset of allergies, but I know this wasn't the case. I am just truly, completely happy for the first time in...
And… Scene.
I used to like drama. I guess I still do, but more in a motion picture or TV show kind of way where actors merely act out their lines, rather than trying to really be dramatic in life, which is a whole other matter. I know people who revel in drama. I'm not really sure why, though I profess to once enjoying tons of drama in my own life. It's kind of a circle jerk, though. The reason is simple. If you really love drama and sharing it with everyone around you, soon you end up with only drama...
Home Sweet Home.
In the Wizard of Oz, it was "there's no place like home." Of course, there's the old saw, "Home Sweet Home." And "home is where the heart is." There's Zillow.com out there, too. You know, the place where they say you can buy a home, but no homes can be had. Sure, there are houses for sale. Lots of them. There are also townhouses, condos, apartments and flats. But it's impossible to buy a home. They don't make them. Since returning to Seattle I have lived in a lovely house. It's rather new,...
A Grate Edumakation.
The Mock Turtle went on. “We had the best of educations . . . Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with, and then the different branches of Arithmetic—Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.” Education pains me these days. No, not my own. It continues on to this day as I've never stopped learning. I gained my love of learning while I was still in school. I had some amazing teachers who knew how to reach out to this once young man and show him how fun learning could be. It was...
I’m Alive! And It’s A Miracle.
It's funny how governments think they have to save us from the world in which we live. I recently learned that kids under 18 can no longer tan, even if they got the permission of their parents. Yes, one day you are 17 and you can't tan, a birthday comes and goes, and the next day you can, as if by magic something in your physiology changed to make tanning safe in 24 hours. Now, I have never tanned. I don't even like to lie out in the sun on a sunny day to get a tan. After eight years in...
A Universe-al Truth.
I have been swimming upstream for many years. Judging by some of the posts on Facebook, it appears I've been in good company, too. There have indeed been times when I have walked down that very dark road, using humor to cover my pain, bitching about the hand that was dealt me as if none of it was my choice, and playing the perfect victim in life. It was all nonsense, of course. It was also easy. It's so simple to blame everyone else for your troubles - your parents, your siblings, your boss,...
A Tale Of Two Cities.
I wrote a RobZerrvation some time ago entitled "I-I-I Don't Love A Parade." I thought this was true, largely because I've done more than 300 over the years and believed that they have absolutely no entertainment value, either for the audience or myself. Well, surprise, surprise, I was wrong - again! It's not that I like parades any more than I used to, but I have come to learn that I am a really good street pirate. It's a gift, a unique skill set that very few people are blessed with. To...
A Great Time To Be Alive.
As I watched CNN last night, I was reminded of a speech Ronald Reagan once gave. Here's a little excerpt: In my life's journey over these past eight decades, I have seen the human race through a period of unparalleled tumult and triumph. I have seen the birth of communism and the death of communism. I have witnessed the bloody futility of two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf. I have seen Germany united, divided and united again. I have seen television grow from a parlor novelty...
Drama Queen.
I have only recently learned that I have been a drama sponge for much of my life. Over the years I've attracted drama like fruit attracts flies. I used to think that life was supposed to be like this. In order to have a relationship, you had to have drama. It was a package deal. Whether you liked it or not, you had to embrace the fact that others would bring drama into your life and in return, you would bring drama into theirs. It's bad enough that the vast majority of my relationships with...
The Devil You Say.
Many years ago, I attended Green River Community College. It was a relatively small college back then. Eventually you ran into virtually everyone enrolled there, except those stealthy trades people who never seemed to leave the Welding or Automotive Repair buildings on the far side of campus. Community college was a lot like post-high school. There were still the cliques: the geeks, the freaks and the popular kids. There was the show choir, sports stars and the folky types who would sit out on...
Pull Dammit!
Being at Rusty Scuppers Pirate Daze this past weekend, I had the good fortune to watch kids have a really good go at tug-o-war. It certainly brought back lots of memories for me, and not always good ones. You see, I have never been good at tug-o-war. Oh, sure, I've played it plenty of times. Occasionally I would even get a good first pull in, only to find that I quickly lost ground. I rarely ever anchored, because everyone knew that I would lose my footing very quickly and end up getting drug...
Oh Canada!
Yes, this was a week ago... but I really was in Canada when I wrote it. Editing it and posting, however, is back home, safe and sound. I am in Canada as I write this. For some, this is an unremarkable event. For me, it is fairly infrequent, but not because I don't like Canada. I do. I just rarely have reason to go there. I can count the times I've been to our neighbors to the north on one hand since I've been an adult. O.K., that's not quite accurate as I have been to Victoria B.C. many times,...