"Communication"

That’s what you hear before you order. If you know what you hear after you order, please comment with that. The first to do so will win my conditionally undying affection for an undetermined period of time.

Back to Georgia we* traipse Wednesday morning for two clinics and a judging gig at this guy’s school, trivia with anyone who is there (including the GGBlogPongs), dinner with all three members of Barrow County Oobdom, hanging with this person’s fam-damily, an evening with the folks, and a clinic here. (*Catches breath*). It should be fun, and it will be nice to be around some familiar faces and voices for a few days.

I really appreciate the words lots of you had for me since my rant. Things are getting better, though I really am thinking that there are a couple of changes that I want to make. They will wait until I get back here. Not getting what you want sometimes can motivate you to do some things that will make you better, and that’s fine and good. In a perfect world, none of us would need a reason to better ourselves, beyond the simple desire to be better for our own sakes. As for me, a disappointment or external stimulus often helps me get my shit together – so I’ll go ahead and take advantage of it.

A couple of you in particular pointed something out to me yesterday and today that I had never realized. No details here, but it was really nice to hear. I’ve mentioned before that I think it’s easy to ruin a positive situation or trait of someone by pointing it out (what one might call “Ron Burgundying” something). But every now and then, a well-timed friend can answer the question “Why bother?” before you have even had time to mope enough to ask the question. You know who you are, so thanks. You helped a lot.

There is an old anecdote about a songwriter who had just been through a breakup. Several of his songwriter “friends” take him to the local bar to chase the pain with some booze. On about the third drink, the “friends” begin to press the conversation in the way that some real friends would when they act as novice therapists. In this case, however, the emotional spill from the victim of the breakup is met with more than nods. As one of them asks, “So man, how do you feel,” rather than grinning knowingly and putting their arm on his shoulder, they instead break out pens and paper, recording the miserable thoughts of the poor sap in an effort to capture the germ of the next great American breakup song.

Since none of you are actively pursuing a songwriting career to my knowledge, when you see me this week and I find myself on the wrong side of getting over my little head-hanging episode, do me a favor and give me that hook back when I can do something with it. I’ll make it worth your while… in a PG-13-Rated way.

I’ll try to blog while I’m in God’s Country, but we’ll see what happens.

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Notes: * - Someone pointed out to me years ago that I have a defense mechanism that I often don’t realize I am employing. I think I picked it up from Garth Brooks or Brad**, as in “We’ll talk to you later.” Aaaaaanyway. That mechanism is referring to myself in the plural, perhaps in an effort to spread the blame for my (usually rather benign) actions between myself and multiple other versions of myself (which most certainly don’t exist). I’ve never stopped doing that, and I don’t think I’m going to.

** - This phrase, when taken out of context, could sound really, really bad. For some reason, I began to think of things that someone might actually have picked up from Garth Brooks… namely a rash or some other type of unsightly medical condition. It then occurred to me that raw numbers and unfortunate facts within the human condition probably allow for the possibility that there are groupies out there who take pride in the STD’s that they have picked up from rock stars along the way. Sick as it is, I am quite certain that, at some point in time, someone has felt that they had trumped someone else by picking up a more severe ailment from another star… as in:

Groupie #1: “I got genital warts from Mick Jagger.”
Groupie #2: “Oh yeah, well I got Hepatitis C from Tommy Lee!?”
Groupie #1: “Touché.”