An Incredible Life

Have you ever been so out of it that you catch yourself doing something inappropriate, but not until 15 minutes later?

Don't get me wrong, I've lasted longer than 15 minutes doing inappropriate things, but those were by choice and sometimes I've enjoyed the fruits or suffered the consequences of those transgressions.

I'm talking about small stuff, but still stuff you'd not readily admit to your friends.

One time wasn't so awful, like when I flew back from Hong Kong in 1990 and it took me 15 minutes before I realized I had the in-flight movie on the Chinese channel and I obviously didn't know what anyone was saying. That's just me being an idiot, but there was another occasion that would have led any other self-respecting adult to pay a visit to the nearest man station and willfully surrender my ID card.

I was driving home from work one time in Cincinnati a few years ago and the drive was only 10 minutes long. I had a typically frazzled day, so perhaps my brain was fried and I just wasn't as sharp as I normally am.

So when I got off the highway and realized I'd been listening to an NPR interview with Belinda Carlisle of all people, I actually exclaimed out loud something like, "What the fuck am I listening to?"

It gets worse.

Way worse.

In the 1.5 seconds it took for me to reach for the radio buttons, the host threw to one of BC's best old tunes, "I Get Weak." Yes, I listened to it in its entirety, including the last minute or so of it after I'd pulled up in front of my house. I just wasn't ready to leave the car and abandon a song that took me back to memories of Kim Sadowsky in Cleveland, my first girlfriend. Aaaahhhhh, the good old days.

What prompted this blog entry? I'll tell you what prompted this blog entry.

I got home from work about 45 minutes ago, set the bags down, plopped on the couch and turned on the TV. I watched "Weekend At Bernie's II" for a good 15 minutes or so.

I've got to think that the first movie in this series was so awful that at one point in my life -- probably not too far off the release of Belinda Carlisle's Greatest Hits tape -- I said out loud to someone that the movie was awful. What prompted its makers to think it was good enough to merit a sequel no one will ever know.

So there you have it. "I Get Weak" and "Weekend At Bernie's." What an incredible life I've lived.