Year of the Rat in the Rear View Mirror

Y2K IX: Top Three Reflections
(a.k.a. Chawbacon Ramblings):

1. Clearly, I need a good therapist ... so I can have someone to share my dreams with.

2. “Last night, I made Yogurt-Stuffed Three-Cheese Phyllo Triangles,” all you Martha Stewart wannabes tell me, rattling off a dozen ingredients I’ve never heard of, could enunciate or even afford … while I pop another Lean Cuisine frozen cardboard MRE in the microwave. Grrr.

Bottom line: DO NOT cook and tell.

3. A telephone answering machine message with teeth – “Hello? Hello? Anyone there? (keep saying this for 10 seconds; it’s deliciously fun).” If the caller persists, sigh disgustedly, then add, “Look: I’m already losing sleep over my expired car warranty. Where were you guys when I was buying a Yugo?”

Yep, my 2008 was a microcosm of reality: 2 parts philosophy, 1 part epiphany. Hard to argue that any bona fide 2008 Time Capsule should include a gallon $4 gasoline, a lead-based paint toy or two, an updated Jack & Jill nursery rhyme: (Freddie falling, Fannie a-tumbling after) and a smoldering 401K. For me, 2008 was the end of an era, the end of a dream: the Wall Street-day-trader dream. Hey, even a dumb animal like me learns.

As another riveting chapter in life’s fairy tale unfolds in 2009,‘happily ever after’ hangs in the balance. It’s a dangling carrot that I can no longer ignore, an Everest that I must pursue.

Step one: research. After burning half an hour in cyberspace, I hit the mother lode at www.wikihow.com, unlocking the secrets to life’s unsolved mysteries, including how to: ‘look like Anna Kournikova,’ ‘buy girl pants if you’re a guy,’ ‘safely use a public restroom,’ ‘be a ninja spy’ and (how to)‘stop talking about yourself.’

Solid information. The stuff of New Year’s resolutions. But not for me. I’m targeting Pulitzers, syndication, sitcoms in the crosshairs. I tell myself it’s easier than winning the lottery. We’ll see …

The 2008 jury for this column, however, has spoken clearly, saying things like:

“Just out of the blue, in public, I find myself suddenly thinking about that last column of yours and peeing my pants – semi-problematic, but manageable, thanks to my designer catheter handbag.”

Yes, yes. I know: Don’t let it go to my head.

To be perfectly honest, the feedback wasn’t all grins and giggles. One critic accused me of stunting my toddler’s physical and psychological development (because she sneaks sips of my lattes). Another reader swung lower (I’ll spare you the details). And I would be negligent to make no mention of the fallout over a typo (I erroneously called a novel “Praying” instead of “Playing for Pizza”). The lesson? Regardless of topic, writers always offend someone … just steer clear of the Grisham Fan Club if at all possible.

Despite the skepticism, there’s one 2 AM-staring-at-the-ceiling waking dream I can’t shake: making the NY Times Best-Seller List. This is why, in 2009, this column will not appear again in the Sky-Hi Daily News until April, and then make a monthly, not a weekly appearance. The lighter schedule will give me time for growing wild hairs, for chasing dreams, for breathing life into my someday.

But enough about me. Here's to YOUR someday! Let's make this rat lap around the sun count ...

... and thanks for reading.

The REAL Story:

• A Little Music with That Column?
  CLICK HERE
• NY Times Best-Seller ... Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!
  The way I see it, its either roll up my sleeves and take a whack at the publishing industry or bore my grandkids with oral, instead of written, tall tales. Here goes nothing. Next Sky-Hi Daily News column: April 2009. Next "Inspire Magazine" column: January 2009 (which I will publish on this blog). Not to worry, I'll still be blogging for those of you who need a fix.
• "Hello? Hello? Hello?" Props
  This phone message comes compliments of a 12-year-old prodigy.
  
• "Semi-problematic, but Manageable" Props
  "Semi-problematic, but manageable" is a direct quote from a reader known only as 'Young Twain' (who violates Reflection 2 with reckless abandon, but actually didn't cop to the catheter-handbag). Most critical accusation of 2008: the "chauvinist" tag. All I could say to the offended reader was, "I am sorry to have offended you."
  
  

Sky-Hi Daily News version: CLICK HERE


email: ifguyscouldtalk@hotmail.com

Wanted: A Simple Mary Ellen Goodnight

Some find security
in knowing that December’s full moon is fading. Others do not …

Goodnight Irene, Saigon, Sweet Darlin’ – all you sipping tea with long-lost relatives, executing superhero duties flawlessly, reliving childhood … all you aboard the REM Sleep Train. It’s pushing 2 a.m. You sleepmongers are getting fat and happy.

Newspaper column link CLICK HERE ... or read on.

Not me. Turns out I’m nocturnal – lying here on the couch, remote in hand, surfing for the Insomnia Channel (which for some reason I think is a PBS affiliate).

As luck would have it, I catch Mary Ellen blitzing John Boy, Elizabeth, Jim-Bob and the rest of the overalls with NyQuil-grade “good nights.”

“Niiiice!” I snap.

My kids stir in their bunk beds at the outburst, then, gradually doze off again.

“C’mon, Mary Ellen. Throw me a bone,” I say, softer this time. As flippant as she is with goodnights, would it kill her to toss one my way? It’s not like I’m trying to squeeze a goodnight kiss out of her, just a simple goodnight for someone who really could use one.

Exhausted, I contemplate a sleeping pill, but stop myself. I have to hit the grind in 4 hours. Too late for a sleeping pill; the zombie risk is too high. If only chamomile tea did something more than exercise my bladder.

Why me? Why tonight? I don’t deserve this. I exercised. I showered. I read (a chapter of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” … which reminded me to lock the front door). I smoothed the sheets. Fluffed the pillow. Turned off the lights. Relaxed my tongue.

But shortly after closing my eyes, The Bangles concert fired up in my head: “ … the school kids so sick of books, they like the punk and the metal bands. When the buzzer rings, oh-way-oh, they walk like an Egyptian” … 25 words that incite educators, sensible parents, “Dancing with the Stars” addicts and all of Egypt. Twenty-five words and a voodoo-like melody that encroached upon my sanity from 10:30 p.m. until 1:50 a.m. when, finally, I threw off the covers, found the CD and torched it in the fireplace.

Now, as if on cue, Mary Ellen appears.

“Goodnight, Mary Ellen,” I say, turning her off, turning on the lamp and finding “Dracula” again. Like me, he’s a night owl. Like me, he fancies himself in a cape. Like me, he doesn’t like to be disturbed when sleeping. The coincidences are sobering.

Like Dracula, I never bought that Ben Franklin “early to bed, early to rise” crap. If boot camp hours are bliss, why then do most heart attacks occur in the a.m. shortly after the alarm clock jolts the Sleeping Beauty in us? And why do roosters taste like chicken?

I wander to the bathroom, hit the light and search for meaning in the mirror. My un-dead reflection stares back, looking anemic, iron-deficient, like I need a red meat transfusion … or a Geritol tablet. But it’s chicken, not steak on the brain at 2 a.m. Why? Before I can connect the dots, the poultry pangs give way to something stronger … the urge to Google Mary Ellen.

What happens next is fuzzy — images of a suffocating mist, boxes of unclean earth, releasing the hounds. Sometime later – how long I don’t know – the alarm clock pierces the fog and echoes down the hallway. Why is Mary Ellen on my computer monitor? Why do my house slippers have mud on them? And why am I clutching a blood sausage?

Disturbing, but something tells me I don't want to know. Besides, it's time to get ready for work.

Minutes later, I cut my neck shaving. The sight of blood triggers something: a simultaneous dreading and yearning for the night, the full moon, my primordial self. I notice my reflection in the mirror; the fact that I still have one is comforting.

Mary Ellen is safe … for now.

On my way out the door, I open the freezer. The chicken thighs jump out at me. That’s dinner, I decide, tossing the package into the sink to thaw. After dinner, after sinking my incisors into dark meat, I promise myself a long, hot shower. Hopefully, that does the trick. I better nod off tonight before Mary Ellen stiffs me again at 2 a.m., or heaven help us all ... even if the moon is half-empty.

The REAL Story:

• A Little Music with that Column?
  CLICK HERE
  
  
• Duh-Nuh-Nuh-Nuh-Nuh-Nuh ("Waltons" theme song)
  Born in '69, my memories of the Waltons are sparse: John Boy's mole, his secretive journals and, of course, all those "goodnights."
  
  
• Bram Stoker's Masterpiece
  As a rule, I DO NOT partake in the horror genre. However, the storytelling of "Dracula" and the character development is second to none. I picked up a $2 copy at a second-hand store, expecting a chapter or two of amusement. It did not disappoint. Seventy pages of amusement, giving way to compelling, and ending with a bang. Most fascinating: the good guys hunting Dracula, unraveling the mystery of the "un-dead."
  
  
• Tribute to Strolling Tunes
  My 2 favs: The Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian," Katrina & the Waves' "Walking on Sunshine." Honorable mention: Johnny Cash's "Walk the Line." But why walk when you can "Jump?"
  

email: ifguyscouldtalk@hotmail.com

A Slice of Inspiration: the Welk Outhouse (Just off to Your Left)

On the 12th day of Christmas, OPEC gave to me cheap gasoline. The $1.69-a-gallon carrot is being dangled, saying, “It’s safe for you SUVs to come out now and claim your lost summer vacation.” But with a fledgling economy, takers will, no doubt, pinch pennies … which brings us to soapbox Issue No. 10: visiting childhood homes of celebrities.

This train wreck always lurks between rest stops: You’re driving along, destroying dental work with Corn Nuts, washing it down ... FULL STORY

The REAL Story:

• A Little Song & Dance with that Column?
  CLICK HERE
  
  
• "A One and a Two and ..."
  Yep. I've driven past the Welk home ... more than once. Proud to say I was never sucked in. Nothing personal. As the article suggests, it's the principle of the matter ... I'm waaaaay too protective of my wallet.
  
  
• Taking Swipes at the Tour Guide
  Confession: I wouldn't mind being your tour guide for one day, then writing about it.
  
  
• Tossing Dad's Socks out the Window
  Guilty. Dad marched me outside, pointed to the polyester pile and said, "How did that get there?" He didn't buy the 'ol gust-o-wind-blew-them-out-the-window routine. My whoopin' that day was epic.
  
  
• Orbit Maui Melon Mint Gum
  Try it now and be forever changed. Really, really.
  
  

email: ifguyscouldtalk@hotmail.com

No More Bedtime: Sending Kids to the Freezer Instead

Found: happy place.
Theme song: M.C. Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This.”

“I love you,” I told my 3-year-old, grabbed her face, then smooched both cheeks Italian style.

She giggled, leapt into my chest, squeezed with all four limbs and whispered, “I love you more."

“Awww,” friends with teenagers say, before taking whacks at my toddler bliss with adolescent horror stories – texting, not talking, My Space, video game hangovers, shrink-wrapped clothes, body piercing.

“You’ll come home from work one day, your little angel will bat her eyes at daddy, empty your wallet and total your car while trolling for boyfriends,” they cackle.

“Buh … buh … buh .. buh-oyfriends?”

Thus began the nightmares:

She brings the leech home. He’s all smoke and mirrors: clean cut, dripping with body spray, the personality of a rice cake. Too obtuse to read my vibe, he stays for dinner: steak and potatoes. He wants it well done.

“Your college major?” I ask at the dinner table.

“Journalism,dad,” my princess answers for him. “He’s a writer … just like you. He’s brilliant.”

Brilliant? It’s a word she has never used to describe my writing – the writing that filled her belly, put a roof over her head, paid for her manicures, her designer handbags and her evil iPhone. Brilliant strikes a nerve.

Boy Wonder smiles, nods and, in raptures, shoves another $0.30 of charred meat down his esophogus. The urge to wipe the ‘this-could-be-the-beginning-of-something-beautiful’ look from his face is palpable.

“Delicious,” he says.

“Delicious” breaks my “brilliant” trance. Delicious? That’s the best Little Lord Hemmingway could muster after swallowing half my cow? Not succulent, epicurean, nectarous, titillating? I’m thinking journalism is a line – a vile plan to infiltrate the family.

Under the guise of a bathroom break, I excuse myself, slap water on my face and do some deep breathing exercises – returning to the kitchen in time to hear my daughter say, “Go ahead. Take it. Dad doesn’t need that.”

Are my eyes deceiving me? Is that leech actually removing the chocolate cake from my plate? My chocolate cake?

“Try that again and you’ll pull back a bloody stump,” I snap, picking up a steak knife and waiving it.

While I clear the table, he snatches my remote, sits on the couch waaaaaay too close to my daughter, surfs the channels and finds Paris Hilton. I suffer the offense by biting my lip.

“Come here, dad. Tell us what you think of the first chapter of his novel,” she says during the commercial.

“A novel? Really?” I’m almost impressed.

Within 3 sentences, I’m sucking air, digesting scenes inspired by the movie “Saw,” no longer underwhelmed. There, sitting not 10 feet from me, in my own living room, picking burnt meat from his teeth, ogling my daughter (I swear, if she uses the word “fate” and his name in the same sentence one more time, I’ll lock her up in the nunnery until death do us part) is the seed of Dracula, Edgar Allen Poe’s protégé: my future son-in-law.

That’s when I awake, baseball bat in hand, drenched in sweat.

I cope by Googling ‘cryogenically freezing toddlers’ every month or so – hoping science will throw me a bone. It’s my only hope: Thawing out the kids on my days off, sending them to the freezer instead of bed – delaying adolescence as long as possible. Maybe Dr. Frankenstein could make it happen … and take out Little Hemmingway while he’s at it.

The REAL Story:

• A Little Music with that Column?
  CLICK HERE
  
  
• Hammertime!
  I am NOT a big rap music fan, but Hammer's 'Can't Touch This' brings out the bad dancer in me. My friend Shawn Hammes ... a.k.a. "Hammertime" pays the price. When his name pops up on caller ID, I answer, "Hey, Can't Touch This. Whazzup?"
  
  
• The Maddie Python Hug
  No lie. All 4 limbs. Big, heart-piercing squeeze. Then she finishes me off with her blue eyes. No one has to tell me: I am one lucky daddy.
  
  
• The "Saw" - "Bloody Stump" References
  Every "Saw" reference reminds me of one of my all-time favorite characters (and best friends) - the unforgettable Chad Reisenauer of "Honey, I painted the bedroom walls black" lore. "Bloody stump" comes compliments of classmate Wendy Crocker Bailey.
  
  
• What's with Dracula?
  I picked up a $2 copy of Bram Stoker's masterpiece at a second-hand store in Fraser, Colorado. I thought I'd read a couple chapters for kicks. Surprisingly, I find myself wildly captivated.
  

email: ifguyscouldtalk@hotmail.com

You Got Your Soup Face On?

It’s that time of year again: soup time. The living dead (among us) have survived another Black Friday free-for-all, and the all-you-can-eat turkey noodle soup lovefest is suddenly ... FULL STORY

The REAL Story:

• Good Tomato Basil Trips (to Date)
  Notable tomato basil hot spots: The Walrus (Bismarck, ND), The Rapids (Grand Lake, CO) and The Sagebrush (Grand Lake, CO). DO NOT under any circumstance buy canned tomato basil. Been there, done that. Lived to tell about it ... but just barely.
  
  
• Sneaking into MENSA
  Yeah, right. My IQ is only 140. According to a recent free, online test, I'm smarter than the president. Maybe. Maybe not. I know I'm not bright enough to be the water boy at any sanctioned MENSA event.
  
  
• Regarding Nasty Films
  Am I the only one who ever had to eat water-based tomato soup? The only survivor? Surely some other poor soul has a Campbell's war story or two.
  
  
• A Little Music with That Column?
  CLICK HERE
  
  

email: ifguyscouldtalk@hotmail.com