DID YOU KNOW-This week I discovered that stressed spelled backwards is desserts! No wonder we gain weight when we are feeling the "slings and arrows" of modern life. Sweets, carbs and chocolate decadence envelope our escape from anxious moments. Though why don't we crave broccoli and cantaloupe when agitated? Nope hand me the cheese puffs and beer Charlie, and wine, lots of wine....
ROOMMATE STORIES-That reminds me of when my old college roommate and I would have "pun" contests. Cantaloupe would trigger "I cantaloupe with you my love" with the "lettuce discuss this further" rejoinder and the School of Hard Knocks - "Gross Tech" followed by "Far mouth groupie".
Which further reminds me of a dorm episode when two roomies decided to pop a joint-which is a really dumb idea in a dormitory on campus as we all know the smell is minor and undetectable, right... My joke about reading the offenders their rights almost got me tossed out the window (5th floor). Apparently "narcs" did hide under the beds in the pot paranoia of the late '60's. The OH and I felt the better part of valor would be to bogey away from the inevitable police round-up. Oddly enough we got a friendly tap on the car window by the cops as we "talked" near the beach at Lake Lansing. The "smokers" who stayed were not detected and unbusted. How fair is that?
WEEK'S RANT -Latest stupid news is all about banning books if they mention nudity, cuss words, rape, gender preferences, the holocaust, slavery, logic, intelligence-you know the realities of life. My Mother was very open-minded about what we read, but we had to tell her and often she would read the "questionable" book, but she never forbade anything. I know she was a little shocked when I found "Andersonville" a compelling read. It was a graphic depiction of the horrendous conditions of the notorious Civil War prison. And I am sure "Portnoy's Complaint"and "Lord of the Flies" not to mention "Treasure Island" would appall these pseudo-protectors as well. Of course, the Left has problems with Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, both of which I enjoyed in my youth. Slavery was a fact of life in the 1800s. We might have to condemn the Bible as well as it encompasses all the above-mentioned topics as well. See where book banning gets one?
The narrow-minded are spawning the children who show up at college or the workplace with no knowledge of reality but feeling perfectly capable of rendering judgement of what they do not understand-fear I suppose. I roomed with a Jewish girl at college, and I know we rocked her world quite a bit due to her conservative upbringing. But we all became friends and learned about each other, though her parents became convinced we were the proverbial den of iniquity.
MORE ROOMIES RAP -Two of my roommates (4-person room) were pre-med. Easy right? Lots of math and science. Well by the end of freshman year, one decided life at a major college (MSU) was a little overwhelming and went home to Community College. The other, whom I lived with for two years, switched her major to Russian Literature- yes that's a thing. She became an Attorney I believe. But at least I ended up being able to pronounce "Dostoevsky" and managed a working knowledge of "War and Peace" and "The Brothers Karamazov". I had to write the Russian names down so I could sort through the characters on these long, long epics.
I also got a better understanding of the Russian people and why Communism was a welcome release from the Imperial reign except for its minor problem of becoming restrictive and totalitarian. Because I am also a fan of Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged) I understand the lure of Capitalism, beyond its minor problem of being easily corrupted and manipulated by the rich and powerful when motives are less than pure (how naive of me).
For my part I majored in Journalism but dropped out after sophomore year when I got married. $150 a week for the two of us didn't go far in covering books and tuition. At least when I finished my degrees later, with a full-time job and a child, the ultimate goal was clearer. Though I ended up a safety skate and Personnel Director there has always been an opportunity of continuing to practice my communication interest. College, if you let it, opens your eyes to the world and teaches skills one can utilize in previously unimagined ways. Now I'm writing scripts and producing podcasts - a specialty one could not even have conceived of in our pre-internet world. Any learning is good learning - good or bad I suppose. If only to "kill" at trivia contests!
MISCELLANEOUS FUN FACTS--- Several zoos have found that pair-bonding occurs with birds of the same sex, and it turns out they make very good "parents for orphaned eggs; both in hatching and caring for the chicks. Conjecture is that certain populations are becoming more extinct (less candidates for pairing) or maybe "they were just born that way".
-- Insurance companies are required to justify any premium raises for the Affordable Health Act in 2022 but are not using Covid as a contributing factor (AARP)-interesting.
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