From the Observation Deck

The title of this post is a quote from a famous heckler. If you’ve ever watched the Muppets Show you’ll remember the two gentlemen in the balcony who make fun of everyone. I don’t know why I’m writing about this. Just needed a funny break and I’m procrastinating painting my house.

I found this Muppet personality test online. What Muppet are you? I’m Gonzo. Not sure how I feel about that. Muppet Wiki describes him like so:

“Gonzo is the resident daredevil performance artiste on The Muppet Show. He is an odd looking, unclassifiable alien creature with blue fur, bug eyes, and a long crooked nose. He takes pride in his uniqueness and enjoys everything that he does — no matter how painful or ill-advised it may be. Gonzo performs terrible acts but considers them artistic.”

Hmmm. They are saying he’s dilusional when it comes to his talent. Whatever.

Take this poll and tell us who your favorite character is.

As much as I love Mahna Mahna and the Swedish Chef, I’m going to have to go with the Statler and Waldorf.

Statler: That really offended me. I’m a student of Shakespeare.

Waldorf: Ha! You were a student *with* Shakespeare.

My family and I have always been interested in learning new things. New cultures, history, earth science, computer science (not me on that one), and marketing trends—well you get my meaning. Sometimes I’m sure I’m that geek who hangs out in a bar with her friends talking about inane things and spewing trivia. Kind of like Cliff in Cheers. And sometimes I’m the geek who wants more explanation of a concept, or wants to read details about 16^th century politics and legends.

I should probably just watch Jeopardy like my aunt Sandy who is smart as a whip. And I do watch it sometimes, it’s a great show, but right now I’m catching up on summer reruns and avoiding the three foot jungle growing in my backyard.

So I’m going to throw out a challenge. Hardly anyone comments on this blog and maybe that says something about the content. I’m going to pretend it’s your fault so my ego doesn’t get crushed. I would like to challenge you to reply to this post and give me a good, “Did you know?” Tell me something random, something weird, something interesting—or not—anything. Give me a good conversation starter for those awkward moments when I need to impress someone with my wide breadth of knowledge.

No cheating now. You can look something up but no Balderdash type stuff.

Here’s some stuff to start you off with.

Did you know…?

• That my dog is color-blind and that I dream in color?
• That the Star-Spangled Banner was written by a lawyer and inspired by the sight of the American flag still flying after a massive barrage on Fort McHenry?
• That it’s impossible to go into a Costco and not come out with $100 worth of stuff that wasn’t on your list?
• That in the 18^th century, the French used to wear makeup on their faces (which contained lead and burned holes through their skin) to look as though they did not labor in the sun and were therefore part of the upper class? And today a tan symbolizes a life of leisure. Hmmm.
• The Afghan war is now the longest war in U.S. history?
• That Grendel the dog barks, on average, 12 times per year?

 Well, did you?

Well I’m back in the real world grinding out the work and running errands and getting things fixed. You know, the never ending cycle of take one step forward and add three things to the to-do list. That’s why I love vacations. I love just sitting on the beach. I am very blessed to be able to spend time at my beach house with family and friends like I did last week. And it never fails that my blood pressure goes down about 20 points as soon as I enter the house and look out onto the ocean. God is good!

Unfortunately I can’t live there full time. Yet. That is my goal in life though. One day I want to live either at the beach or in a cottage on a lake. If all you people who visit this blog and read it would tell 5,000 of your friends to come read it, then I could get hired to write my amazingly insightful observations on life and be able to live my dream.

But in the meantime, I’m going to give thanks and praise to the Lord for my job, my home, my pets, my loving family, my awesome friends, and for helping me not completely fall off the diet wagon this week (not all of that was in any kind of priority by the way). I wish I could devote more of my time to God and to basically other pursuits more worthy than couch imprinting but I tend to run out of gas after all the work and chores are done.

So I’m not perfect. Revelation! But whatever. Here’s something I saw on Facebook that was really cool so I’m going to share it with you. This lovely lady, Tamara, says in her one-minute sermon; make your peace with God before it’s too late. I’ve done that already so now I think I’ll go watch Royal Pains. It’s a nice little summer show that I’ve gotten into. God bless!