Cooler than You: Stupid Things I Say and Do

Twenty bucks says there's typos.  Oh well.   While I most likely had every intention of brain dumping about my recent trek down Insanity 95, reading a piece on rituals made me think about things.  Particularly, my mind has been swirling around what rituals actually are and what they mean.  Rituals, in and of themselves, are strange beasts of memory, burden, and daily life I presume.  Yet, do all rituals look alike and do they all provide a sense of spiritual release, connection, and solace?  Doubtful, as I would say the face of the ritual changes with time and place.  My drives from NY to DC, always along I-95, change for meaning and purpose.  Yet, the trip never alters.  My parents live three plus hours south of DC, along the dreaded I-95, college friends live in Richmond and DC.  The bulk of my trips have landed me in DC, and they have not always been filled with the laughter and cheap beer that old college buddies bring.  Ho...

These days I'm contemplating the image of the solider verses the veteran.  Fun stuff, for the nerd in me.  Particularly, I'm looking at The American Legion Magazine , and mixed within these pages of patriotic valor and dutiful honor advertisements abound.  That is no surprise. Yet, a continual theme has arisen.  Advertisements for girdles, corrective footwear, and dentures abound.  The dentures  . . . a simple black and white photo of false teeth seems to jump off the page to startle and haunt me.  Gah. I think I was four or five when my Mom's Dad came to visit us in Washington State.  Visits with grandparents are just that: filled with presents, sweets, and good stuff.  Yet, Grandpa left his dentures in a glass on the back of the toilet (or maybe the bathroom sink).  I did not know he had dentures.  See where this one is going? I came running from the toilet with my curls flying screaming about monster teeth.  Good times....