The intellectual equivalent of a ham sandwich.

Archive for December, 2016

And I’d Say to the Aliens

The Aliens had been on Earth a few weeks, and countless people had been brought to them to answer their question but still no one could do it.

The media was in a frenzy over trying to figure out what was happening. They had heard about a question, but it was only rumor. There was debate over if there really was a question, which side was asking the question, if the aliens were even real, and on and on.

Somehow I was called in as someone who might have the answer.

I approached the Alien mothership with fear, reverence, and curiosity.

The Aliens, I learned, had studied Earth. They had studied humans. They had studied our history, our culture, our contradictions, our common hopes and dreams and fears.

And they understood us more than we understood ourselves.

But.

They didn’t understand one concept: loneliness.

I laughed as I said, don’t worry about it guys. I’ve got your answer.

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This simple display at Costco answered the aliens question – what is loneliness?

 

P.S. Happy New Year’s, all. I hope you won’t be spending the night eating a family sized summer sausage by yourself.

Merry Christmas!!!

The other day I was getting my haircut and the girl cutting my hair asked if I was ready for Christmas. I replied by saying how sad it is that when I was a kid the countdown to Christmas was agonizingly slow, and now every year it seems to get here sooner than I realize.

Christmas somehow sneaks up on me, which is something I never would have thought possible as a kid.

But it’s not that I don’t look forward to it. I just enjoy things differently.

Now, it’s more of a slightly heightened enjoyment of a whole lot of things. Am I one of those who enjoys seeing the Starbucks cups turn colors even though I don’t think I’ve been to Starbucks since the last time I did a road trip? You bet I am.

Do I enjoy seeing the neighborhood slowly get decorated? Heck yes. (We even have a few lights up!)

One thing I take a lot of joy in now that I don’t think even registered when I was a kid – finding the perfect gift. That thrill when you’re wandering a store and see it, or you’re doing something random and it clicks, ‘OH! <Name> will LOVE this!!!’ That’s a great feeling.

Maybe Christmas sneaks up on me because I appreciate the slow build-up, the whole time period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I’m too busy enjoying the little things to realize the big day is now here.

I hope you and yours have a lovely, merry Christmas, or a very wonderful December 25th.

And for you Christmasers – as esteemed author of thenonreview.com pointed out, it’s hard to go wrong with the soundtrack of Home Alone, so knock yourself out. I’d recommend starting here.

If My Name Was Cloris Nightborne

I don’t know with absolute certainty, but I feel 97% confident that if my name was Cloris Nightborne I’d be a burglar. And a magician.

I would be a pretty good magician, no, scratch that, pretty DARN good, and I would be THE guy rich people would call to have come to their parties to perform magic. Sure, I’d go, I’d impress everyone, I’d banter with the best, and I’d be on my way.

Oh, what’s that, you expected me to have robbed someone of some expensive jewelry before leaving? No, come on, I’d obviously be caught. A set of homes where I am the only common denominator? What do you think this is, open mic night?

Nope. I’d be a bank robber. Way more high profile, and I could show off my magic while robbing people. ‘Excuse me miss, I’ll take all of those coins … OUT OF YOUR EAR!’

I’m driving home having changed out of my robbing clothes and into something a little more snappy smart, and a cop flashes his lights behind me.

I stop my car and wait, wondering, is today the day?

The cop leaves his car and puts his gun up, yelling, ‘Mr. Cloris – I know you’re the magic burglar!’ After a long, cautious and safe approach, I’d be in handcuffs and the cop would sigh loudly.

“Long day?” I’d ask casually.
“Oh, Mr. Cloris – you won’t believe how exciting it is for me to capture you. I don’t like you breaking the law, but I have to say, I’m a huge fan.”
“Oh, always nice to meet a fan.” I’d turn to face him, smiling, my hands handcuffed behind my back.
“Yeah, see, I was there for one of your robberies when I was a kid. You had a deck of cards and you said to this guy, ‘pick a card, any card!’ so the guy took one and you had someone else shuffle the deck, and then another guy cut the deck, and then a lady shuffled again … and then you were like … is THIS YOUR CARD … and you pulled the guys credit card out of the middle of the deck of cards!”
“Oh yeah, I remember that.” I’d say this fondly.
“Yeah, it was super cool! You even high-fived me!”
“Say,” I’d say, “do you want to see a magic trick now?”

The cop would pause then, knowing this was probably against protocol but …

“Are these your handcuffs?” I would turn slightly so he could see my hands handcuffed.
“Yeah!”
“Are THESE your handcuffs!?” I’d say, turning back to show that I was no longer in the handcuffs but holding them.
“YEAH!”
“ARE THESE YOUR HANDCUFFS!?” I’d say, pointing with perhaps a trifle too much nonchalance at his hands, now handcuffed.
“WOW! YEAH!!!”

It turns out a few days later he’d be fired, turns out he was monumentally incompetent.

But hey, that’s just a day in the life of … CLORIS NIGHTBORNE!

Also in case you are wondering I’d have a once a month conversation with my parents where I’d ask why on earth they named me Cloris.