I mean cut me some slack would you. How do you think an extroverted Taurus is going to live his life. That’s right, bouncing from the last great adventure, the last great moment – to the next. It was a fun ride, I have to say but not much time for reflection in there.
Sometimes in this chaotic, violent world I feel the need to defend being nice. What it is. What it means. Does it matter or should we all drop the pretense and just embrace all the chaos and the outrage, that seem to be so much the currency of the times. It can be tempting.
Donald Trump likes to tell us that he is unpredictable. He says his unpredictability is a strength, that no one knows what he might do next. That his unpredictability gives him a strategic advantage.
Sure.
He’s about as unpredictable as a teenage boy on a Saturday night date.
I love the English language.
Now it takes some learning, I’ll give you that. I mean what on earth is the silent ‘h’ all about? And surely to goodness the same word does not have to have several meanings. And if the plural of ball is balls, the plural of horse is horses why isn’t the plural of roof, roofs. It can be infuriating but in the end result it is a magnificent tool box of words which we can use for any purpose required.
My friend is running at full load and has been for years now.
I was reaching out to him recently asking how we was doing? Knowing that he was overwhelmed with demands on his time. I caught up to him as he was waiting with his family member in a hospital.
“Perspective” came his one word answer.
“Nothing else matters just now.”
I am so proud of my son Toby.
Turns out this is a man who understands the power of Silliness. I should have known of course. His election slogan for grad class president at Kelowna Senior Secondary was “Don’t be Hatin’ Vote Peyton’ a memorable, phonetically rhythmic vote getter if ever there was one. Landslide.
I do bear some resentment to my friend’s discovery. I mean it wasn’t as though she was looking for a new word, neither was she ambitious to be so recognized. As a man who has searched his entire life for just two things, a nickname and a new word, this is indeed a hard pill to swallow.
The Oak Bay Beach Hotel opened March 30, 1928. It burned to the ground shortly thereafter and was then rebuilt and reopened in 1930, smack dab in the middle of a world wide depression brought on by the infamous stock market crash of 1929. To say the Oak Bay Beach Hotel had a rough couple of years, is to craft an epic understatement. But survive it did, and It is where my story telling will begin.
Writing for profit is a fool’s game. I don’t, I write for myself. Some of my writing is profound, some is important, but most of it is neither of those two things. I am at my best as an observational humourist, filtering the mundane through the ‘amusing’ lens and writing.
David Sedaris is a great American observational humourist and he has unknowingly guided me as I spelunked my way through many a dark, confusing writing tunnel. He taught me to stop worrying about inspiration. He says that human beings are very funny, hilarious at times. The knack he says is to get better at seeing it. He is right, if I have grown as a writer it is because I am better now at ‘seeing’ us as we are, simple and complex, shallow and profound, tragic and hilarious. We are endlessly fascinating, a never ending source of writing inspiration.
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