Phonebook Commentary

Yesterday Paula brought up phonebooks on her blog and the ridiculous amount of paper that is wasted on just such items (see, 300,000 Numbers in Quadruplicate).

This put my wacky mind to work and caused me to remember a couple of phonebook instances that I thought I'd share....

Do any of you remember the episode of "Friends" where Phoebe's Grandmother is "updating" her phonebook by going through the Obituaries and marking the names out of the White Pages? And this is my only reference to pop culture in today's blog.

My grandparents used to keep their local phonebooks for years and years. There were a couple of reasons for this. But first you must understand that my grandparents, both sets, live(d) in small towns in the Mid-West and their phonebooks were a combined white and yellow pages and probably no more than 3/4 of an inch thick. The phonebooks were a reference tool, and not just to look up some body's phone number. The "adults" (up until just a couple of years ago, I was still considered one of the 'kids'...I guess when one of my cousins became a grandparent, that moved us all into the adult category) would sit around the kitchen table and play Scrabble and talk about friends, events, and the good ol' days. Every now and then a point would need to be clarified, and typically it was based on events of when and where they happened. The conversation would go along the lines of "It was when so-and-so lived over on Baker Street..." In order to clarify this, the phonebooks would come out. There would be rifling through the books to first find so-and-so and then to determine what their address was.

Similar conversations would occur at my other grandparents' house as well, but Scrabble wasn't involved.

With the dawn of the Internet, that is no longer possible. I don't even know if they still publish the white/yellow pages in Smalltown, USA anymore. Its funny how looking back on my youth makes me wish for that simpler time. And, now I'm getting all weepy and sentimental.....

"Tell Me What You Want.....

..... What You Really, Really Want. I'll Tell You What I Want. What I Really, Really Want."

I was very torn as to what to discuss today because there were a number of things that just really irked me first thing this morning (stupid people who annoy me at work, stupid people who send nonsensical worthless emails, and stupid people who lock my office door when I don't have a key). Instead, I decided to take the higher road and try to look on the positive side of life today and go with my initial plan, which was to talk about soundtracks to your life....

Yesterday, on Jenn Ann's blog, Ann commented on the picture that she heard circus music in her head and I immediately thought about how I am constantly hearing music in my head, depending on the situation. I then realized that I have a lifelong soundtrack running pretty much all the time. The only time I probably don't is when I'm listening to the radio and that is because I'm singing along with the radio.

I also have a tendency to answer questions in the form of song lyrics. I don't do this intentionally, but after I answer a question, the rest of the song then starts playing in my head. I know this is very difficult to understand, unless you know how my wacky mind works. So, here is an example:

While putting on my makeup this morning I started thinking about what I wanted in my life, so wouldn't you know I started hearing the Spice Girls in my head, hence the title of this blog.

Other artists that I've heard include Madonna, The Who, Marvin Gaye, Patsy Cline, Salt 'n Peppa, Rhianna, Joan Baez, and many, many more.

Does anybody else experience this phenomena?

Random Thoughts

Well, it is another one of those posts where I don't have anything specific to talk about, but wanted to put some things out to the universe...

Rude People - I had another encounter with a rude person yesterday and just don't understand it. I was walking to my pilates class and coming towards this guy on the sidewalk. I made the effort to get out of his way, but there was somebody on my right, so I couldn't go very far. He made absolutely no effort to move and rammed his shoulder right into my shoulder, hard. I turned around and apologized, not that it was my fault. He did not a thing. Jerk.

Right of Way - While thinking about the above rude person I started thinking about who has the right of way when you are coming towards somebody and why I always seem to be the person who gives way. For example, you are walking in the mall with your friend. A group of two or three people are walking towards you. Shouldn't we all take a moment to sort of slow it down and line up so that we don't run smack into one another? I always tend to be that person who steps behind (or in front of) the person that I'm walking with so that the people coming toward me don't have to. I guess that just means I suck at playing chicken.

DUI vs DWI - What is the difference between these two? I guess I could Google it...

Personalized License Plate - I saw a Vanity Plate the other day, and sadly I didn't get a picture of it, but it said "BOIL MKR". I want to know, is this person somebody that causes boils to just pop up on people when he shakes their had and if that is the case, then I don't think I would advertise that. OR, is his favorite drink a Boilermaker, and if that is the case, I probably should have flagged him down to see if he knew what the difference is between a DUI and a DWI.

That's all the randomness that I have for today. I wish each and everyone of you a happy, happy Wednesday!!