"Oh, she says well, you're not a poor man. You know, why don't you go online
and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet?
And so I pretend not to hear her.
And go out to get an envelope because I'm going to have a hell of a good time
in the process of buying one envelope.
I meet a lot of people. And, see some great looking babes. And a fire engine goes by.
And I give them the thumbs up. And, and ask a woman what kind of dog that is.
And, and I don't know...
The moral of the story is, we're here on Earth to fart around."
--Kurt Vonnegut
Today I got to do one of my favorite things... I took some time by myself and ran some errands, and "... I don't know..." just farted around :) No kids, no lovely DW... just me... and I'm often content just to drive around as I do a few errands, observing the changes in the cities and neighborhoods along the way, and observing this diverse and rich body of humanity that teems all over my suburban Texas stompin' grounds....
The danger to this is... my very strange brain begins to work overtime, since I'm not constantly answering questions from my children, and the input devices observe things, and the computer whirs and bangs, and releases steam, and out comes the random thoughts, some mundane and some weird, all of which are, truthfully, only interesting and humorous to me, myself, and I. Ignoring that little nugget of helpful personal insight, and in the spirit of "If you don't write it down, it never happened", I record my Kurt Vonnegut trek here....
- The distance from my house to our normal Walmart is almost exactly one "American Pie" in length. Yes, that song by Don MacLean. Long one of my favorites, and just long enough to make it to the parking spot. However, this highly scientific assessment is based upon hitting the same number of red lights, with similar lengths...
- There is an egg company in our little town- they no longer produce the eggs here, but are still headquartered here and have some buildings over where their facilities used to be. There is a sign out front that got me tickled, that said in effect: "Warning: Agricultural site. Possibility of occasional dust or strong odors". Well, hello, Captain Obvious!!
- Fishtrap Road is a really, really, cool name for a road.
- Stopped at a gas station to buy a drink, and a mother and her teenager daughter came out, headed to their car. After they passed me, I heard a high-pitched squeal and turned around to see a very embarrassed middle-age lady with a sheepish look, who then identified her assailant as a.... grasshopper. She had the maturity of spirit to be able to laugh at herself, which is a marvelous trait.
- I always have mixed feelings when I see new businesses that have not survived... I feel sad for those whose livelihoods are effected, yet feel sanguine about the continuing process of the free market system doing its thing, and also feeling a tad guilty because I know I didn't go eat there, or purchase their wares, very often if at all. Ah well, I'm just one little ol' consumer after all.....
- Related to the item above: one of the things I dislike most about where I live is that it is almost impossible for any restaurant, bar, entertainment venue, etc to survive if it isn't part of a large chain that people are comfortable with. The little unique places with character and great product that people make into their "place" just don't survive on a regular basis. So, a 30-minute drive takes one past the same chain after chain after chain, and inside they all look the same...but I don't really want to hang out there, or frequent it any more often than the next Big Box place, rotating among the types as my appetite or procurement needs require. I don't really like them, per se
Now that I think about it, part of me thinks Kurt Vonnegut would agree with me on that last one.
