Thinking (totally new concept)

Hilda and I had a decent weekend. I went to her house after work on Saturday (about noon) and repaired the drywall in her mom's bedroom and the kitchen. We went to Little Anthony's Diner for a late lunch, spent some time at the house and went to the Gaslight Theater for the late performance of "GNAT MAN". It was a riot. It was a musical comedy version of the old Batman TV series. We hissed the villains, cheered Gnat-Man and Gnat-Girl and had a fine old time. Sunday, we watched an old Robert Wagner movie (pretty bad one) that was filmed in Tucson in 1955-1956. It was really neat seeing some of the buildings and landmarks as they looked 50 years ago when Tucson was a small town.

O.K. now. I have been in a few conversations of late with Beau Chantz, Reinhardt Yu and Marla Chantz that got me to thinking about why (and how) I am different from the rest of middle America. I mean ... seriously folks ... we all know that I am weird. The question is HOW weird?

By-the-bye ... did you realize that WEIRD is one of the words that disprove the ancient adage of 7th Grade English "I before E, except after C"? And ancient is another. But, back to my subject, ... I do have one I think.

Firstly: .... that's always a good place to start ... secondly should follow ... please forgive my rambling, it is late and I am in a great mood.

Anyhow ...... let's take words. I am irritated to the max about "you're vs. your" ... gives me conniptions at times. Also, I am aghast at EBONICS ... either you talk English or you do not. My English is not what I would prefer it to be and I lapse into southern speak/cowboy-ese/local vernacular/ et cetera at the most inopportune times of late. My only defense is the onset of old age and possible Altzheimers or just regression into childhood bad habits. If you want to be a citizen of this great country of mine [... ours?] ... learn the language. We should not publish driving regulations, voting information, welfare information, et al in ANY OTHER language. No other countries do this ... why should we?

Secondly ... we got there finally didn't we, .. LOL (I tell you, I am in a funny mood). But ... let's take television. As Charles Dickens wrote "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times". Is there anything on ABC, NBC, CBS, WB, or FOX (outside of sports) that I find interesting or enjoyable? NO ! As far as I can remember (Altzheimers ... remember my last paragraph). Then WHY DO I HAVE 2 ???? Well, in my defense, there are: The History Channel, The Food Channel, Spike, Bravo, A & E, Discovery, The Learning Channel, The Travel Channel, Outdoor Life, FOX News, ESPN's 1, 2 ad infinitum, and American Movie Classics.

Thirdly .. or, so on and so forth ..... I am UNDER whelmed by what passes in this country and this day and age as BEAUTY. I see beauty in almost everyone. It is easier to see .. if the person you are looking at has any semblance of pride in their appearance. It is harder (but not impossible) to see, if the person is sloppy or unkempt or has no idea how to dress ... I see that a lot. I look back at pictures of people that I thought were attractive (or not attractive) in the days of my youth and I am amazed at my naiveté, conceit, and my lack of recognition of the the items that constitute, or any understanding of the true prerequisites of, beauty. I find almost no actresses extant "beautiful", although Jorja Fox of CSI is certainly one of the most interesting. Indeed, to my way of thinking, Rachel Ray of the Food Channel's "30 Minute Meals" is Jorja's equal in the interesting department. I have (what my friends have named) the Rigney Beauty Scale. There is:

10) Beautiful (can't think of anyone right off who is in this category)
9) Stunning
8) Impressive
7) Interesting
6) Pretty
5) Attractive
4) Fresh
3) Cute
2) Sweet
1) Needs assistance, bless her heart ... (this category includes most actresses, models, TV Anchors and assorted trailer trash)
There is nothing lower than 1, except for cheap hookers, druggies and certain celebrities such as Hillary, Madeline Albright, Anna Nicole Smith, Oprah and a few others.

I know that there are many other differences between me and the rest of today's society, but that's enough for now.