I Got Your Number When You Walked Thru The Door

Did anyone but me get the reference to a 1980s, two-hit wonder band called Sugarloaf?

If Mankind was not “Created” or “Intelligent Design”-ed, we developed our survival skills through evolution.  People are just great at seeing patterns, even where no such pattern exists, and almost always in one direction.  We see faces in clouds, but never clouds in faces

The caveman who saw a sabre tooth tiger in the grass a thousand times when it wasn’t really there, had nothing to answer for.  The fool who didn’t see it when it really was there, only made that mistake once.  He who frights and runs away, lives to fright another day – and sire children.

None of which has any actual bearing on the post I’m about to publish.  I just have a bunch of figures spiralling in toward the event horizon of the black hole of my intellect.  Some of them are vaguely related, but, if you can see a pattern, you’re a better man than I, Charlie Brown, even if you’re one of the impressive ladies who read my posts.

First, there was that little bump to the ego, and sideswipe to the self-esteem when I hit the age of 69.  That little internet birthday party helped buff out the worst of the damage.

Next – the blog is coming along nicely.  The second last award I was given, The Liebster, is only given to bloggers who have less than 200 followers.  A lovely crop of newcomers has recently shown up and pushed my numbers to 215, so I shouldn’t receive another of those, although Sparklebumps is well over 200, and recently had a Liebster thrown at her.  She had the presence of mind, not only to catch it, but to do what I have never bothered to do, translate it, basically, respected or beloved.

If all the numbers added up on the same day, or even within a week, I’d claim a pattern, but they’re too strung out.  Perpetually calm and cool, I don’t ever remember being strung out.  My views recently exceeded 10,000, and my comments are rapidly approaching 3000.  I know that’s not terribly exciting to those among you whose follower counts equal the population of Colombia, or the number of drug dealers in the U. S.  (Wait!  Aren’t they the same thing?)

I was given another lesson in humility recently.  They arrive unannounced, and usually unwanted.  AFrankAngle offered me a link to one of his older posts – March 2009 – not even back to his “In the beginning”, but long before I could spell blog.  He’s published almost every day, and often as loquacious as me, for over five years.

I, on the other hand, still have a bit of paranoia about where my next semi-lucid idea is going to come from, and limit my posts to every three days.  I still compose the occasional non-time-specific post, and tuck it away in a Word file, to be pulled out if I have a bout of brain drought.  This post should go up about number 250, and there seems to be almost 50 more, hidden away, so I should reach at least 300.

The wife jokes (At least I hope she’s joking.) that I could die today, and she could keep pulling them out and publishing them for six months to a year.  If it weren’t for a shortage of smart-ass, inane comments and replies, you guys might never notice, or miss me, and John Erickson being back, yet again, isn’t going to help.

I’ve done 450 on-line crossword puzzles since the last time the computer was initiated.  I had my average time-to-solve down to 8 minutes and 46 seconds, but hit a few real puzzlers and drifted up to 8:52.  The more puzzles I do, the more seconds I need to shave off to affect the average, but I’ve pushed it back down to 8:48.

I told Benzeknees about a local couple who didn’t think they could afford to pay for a marriage ceremony.  Her mother alerted her, and she entered a contest to win a free wedding at a local marriage chapel, and won.  They were wed on the 11^th month, the 12^th day of the 13^th year, at 2:00PM, the 14^th hour, at 15 Queen Street.  Any numerologists in the crowd??  What does that signify?  I should know.  I have CDO!  It’s a lot like OCD, but the letters are in the proper alphabetical order!

My numbers for watching The Tonight Show are in a countdown.  I have until Feb. 6, 2014.  I’ve watched the show almost every night since we were married, almost 47 years ago.  The first large segment of that was the Johnny Carson Golden Era.

I’ve seen a few of the original Steve Allen episodes.  He could be giddy, and uncontrolled in his humor.  I’ve seen a few of the Jack Paar editions.  He could be so cerebral; it was like watching paint dry.  Johnny Carson was the perfect mix, a bit of magic, a wide range of humor, good guests, great interviews, and very little ego.

I sent a letter endorsing Jay Leno as his replacement, and a submission for his “Headlines” bit.  I got back a nice letter, and an 8” X 12” autographed photo.  I’ve watched a bit of Jimmy Fallon, who will replace him, but have decided I’m just too old to “get it.”  I could learn how to run Netflix, or just read and blog more.

The anonymous and never questioned They, say that one volunteer/hero is worth a thousand unwilling conscripts.  I feel that the small, but steadily growing circle of continuing, concerned, conversational, commenting, dedicated readers, is worth a showroom full of tire-kickers.  Thanx for stopping by.  🙂