Late Boomer's Den

  • Bottomless universe?

    Is it turtles all the way down, or will they find the last turtle one day?

    #Universe, #Infinity, #Turtles, #Drugs, #Sturgill Simpson, #Conundrums

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  • I’m a ramblin’ guy

    Steve Martin doing “Ramblin’ Guy” on the Muppet Show, in case this video gets deleted. It was this or the Allman Brothers.

    I’m supposed to be working on my first “sermon” for our Unitarian church. We don’t have a preacher right now, so we have to pitch in. I volunteered, even though most of what I know about Unitarians I got from the pamphlet.

    I’m still getting used to calling it a church. I grew up Baptist. This doesn’t resemble.

    My wife knows I piddle, so she scared me by accidentally on purpose insinuated I had to do it next Sunday instead of the Sunday after next. “I just know you ramble when you’re prepared and when you’re not prepared, you REALLY ramble.”

    She has a point.

    She has to listen to me ramble because she signed a contract, but these folks didn’t sign up for that kind of torture. I need finish a draft early. She wants to help me chop it down to 15 minutes so our friends can eat lunch.

    I promised I’d get right on it, but I had a bunch of rambling I wanted to do first.

    #Unitarian, #Non-dualism, #Rambling, #Steve Martin

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  • Where do left and right come from?

    Can starfish tell left from right?

    #Conundrum of the day

  • A man and his turtle…

    What the hell did I just watch?

    I don’t know it’s supposed to be gross or touching. Touching I guess?

    Kudos to this guy for caring, but a turtle with its heart sticking out?

    Maybe I’m wrong about turtle psychology, but even after all his trouble, I just don’t think it gives a shit about him. What’s the difference between a piece of baloney on a stick and a piece of that guy’s finger to a turtle? Nothing.

    Maybe I’m just biased because I grew up swimming in creeks, worried about snapping turtles that won’t let go until it thunders.

    #Turtles, #Pets, #Chuck Berry

  • Let them eat pie

    Why did people get so mad at Marie Antoinette for saying let them eat cake? I like cake.

    #Conundrums, #MarieAntoinette

  • Most toxic girlfriend ever

    “On the Computer” – by Treasure Mammal. A song from a more innocent age. I saw these guys during “Yeast by Sweet Beast” in Austin and they were so fun.

    I fell in love with the Internet, even though it nearly put me in the street. I was in denial for years. Newspapers would adapt. Only the dailies had to worry. The weeklies and semi-weeklies would always be in demand.

    It looked like my salvation at first. It was a wild and sometimes dangerous place, but it was exciting. So much knowledge, so many possibilities.

    The Internet let me experience a world I couldn’t afford to travel to. I lived most of my life in small country towns, always broke. People weren’t interested in my favorite bands or sci fi books. They never seemed to get my jokes.

    On the Internet I found my people. Or thought I had. I could talk to other music geeks and women who weren’t looking to marry a church-going cowboy.

    I wasn’t a liberal, but I got along with liberals. They were usually good for a band rec. Even during the Iraq War you could agree to disagree.

    Looking back, I feel so naïve. I thought it would always be about LOLcats and David After the Dentist and Charlie Bit My Finger. I might have been helping to put myself out of a job, but it kept me sane. For a time.

    Now it feels like the hot stripper girlfriend who stalks my every move and keeps slashing my tires. I should probably hide someplace she will never find me, but I keep waiting for the magic to return.

    What are we gonna do with this thing we’ve created together?

    #Internet, #LOLcats, #Newspapers, #Yeast By Sweet Beast, #Treasure Mammal, #Traps

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  • Where do babies come from?

    If this pepper was human, would the little green thing be a tumor or a fetus? I’m the only one who seems to care about this question.

    #Conundrums, #Reproduction

  • Rescued by Chameleons

    The Chameleons UK are more than just a band to me.

    I once used “Second Skin” as a user name on a dating site. The Chameleons are criminally unknown, so anyone else who loves them was bound to get me.

    I never got any hits.

    I finally realized how it looked if you didn’t know the song. Girls probably thought I wanted to wear their skin like Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs.

    I didn’t realize till later, but I kind of tested my wife before we got serious. I had shared “As High As You Can Go” with a girl I was crushing on and she texted back, “IDK if I like that.”

    I lied to myself for a while cuz she was cute, but I knew it was never gonna work.

    My compromise position was my future soulmate had to at least like the Chameleons. I played “As High As You Can Go” for my future wife and she loved it. Score!

    Why such a big deal?

    I discovered them during a rough time in my life. Editing a newspaper is hard anywhere, but I was a real fish out of water. I wasn’t used to East Texas and had few friends. Dating was out of the question. I didn’t belong, but I didn’t know how to leave. 

    Luckily my boss introduced me to postpunk (think punk, but more artful). He had been a college DJ. I was mostly a hard rock guy, so this was strange stuff to me. 

    Until it completely transformed my taste in music.

    When I heard The Chameleons I was sold. Lush, beautiful, passionate, intricate, hard-hitting, entrancing, thought-provoking… I played them non-stop as I drove to interviews and delivered papers.

    That was a short period in my life, but postpunk became my new musical home base.

    I still have times like today, where I need my Chameleons fix. And my wife loves them too, so I don’t have to use earbuds. Score again!

    #Chameleons, #Postpunk, #Journalism, #Newspapers

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  • A direction, finally?

    I’m starting to see a theme here. I’m always trying to figure out life, trying to grab hold of as much Truth as I can, wherever I can find it. If I feel like something is falling into place for me, I’ll share it.

    I’ll post what I’ve figured out about life (at the moment – that always evolves), what I’m trying to figure out, lessons I feel like my past mistakes taught me.

    Definitely lots of old man opinions, but as I’m a weirdo, at least they won’t be typical. I don’t know if I’d call myself “wise,” but I’m wiser than I used to be. Maybe that will rub off on somebody.

    My opinions about what is true and right have changed a lot over the years and will continue to do so. I think it’s good to be flexible. Especially as an old man. Change is good. Usually.

    I’ll also post about my past and current obsessions and whatever catches my eye, maybe they’ll add up to something.

    #nerds, #interests, #life, #blog, #Johnny Cash, #Truth

  • Bickering = bonding

    Last night I asked my wife when she expected get back from a shopping trip I had no interest in joining. That’s all I wanted. An approximate time. 

    She started listing her whole itinerary of girly shopping plans. “First we’re going to a store to look for maternity clothes (her friend has a bun in the oven), then we’re going to Target, then we’re probably going to eat at Cracker Barrel, then we’re going to…”  

    I said, “Babe, can we just get to the part about where you give me a time? I don’t need to whole rundown.” She got a sparkle in her eye and finished her story. “…and then we’re going to stop at a 7-11 and get gas.” 

    We both busted up laughing. It’s like she was saying “touche asshole, if you can be an asshole so can I.” We laugh a lot. It’s one of my favorite things about married life.

    My wife and I have never fought for real. We’ve been friends since Day One. But we bust chops constantly. It’s just something we do. I pick, she picks back, we get distracted and forget what we were talking about.

    I’m usually the instigator, but now and then she gets me with a burn so sick I’m like, damn, what have I done? I taught her too well. Usually it’s something like whether I’m right that the Beatles are awesome (They are. I’m not budging on that one).  

    When her mom was with us, she used to hear us from the next room and think we were fighting. She was like, “Baby is your marriage OK?” Which cracked my wife up. Eventually her mom accepted we were just being us. 

    It’s just how old couples are, when they love which other and are both massive nerds.

    #Marriage, #Relationships, #Laughing, #Arguing, #Triumph