Monthly Archives: September 2019

That Texas drawl. Those half closed eyes. That stoned self confidence. It’s been 27 years since he played the part, but Matthew McConaughey will always be ‘Wooderson’ in Dazed and Confused. Yesterday on an NPR’s game show, Ask Me Another, he told the story about the role that started his acting career– and then he won a Rubik’s cube for his knowing 4 school mascots.

She was a cowboy’s sweetheart and she yodeled right up to the end. Joan Mathis left this world last Saturday night. She was 91. I became friends with her through her oldest son, Jim, who was my first boss at Homer’s Coffeehouse from 2004-2008. She was always smiling and she loved music. She was always there at Homer’s when Jim’s band played, or when my band played. Ironically there were a lot of coffee mugs on display at her funeral. She had collected them over the years. Everyone was encouraged to take one home. I think I got the best one from her work at AT&T.

It doesn’t have to make sense, it’s better when it doesn’t. Sometimes I feel like my brain’s secretary when I write down details from my dreams. It’s as if there’s an executive pushing a button in his office, speaking into an intercom, and summoning me– only he’s calling me by a woman’s name: “Mrs. Finklestein! I need you to take a memo!”  Here are the remnants from one of those sessions last August: I was gonna ride a bicycle in a marathon somewhere in CA. I was borrowing the bike from Angie (Homer’s) and she had a lock w/a combination– 139. It was gonna cost $1200 – $1300 to ride, but that included a place to camp. The brochures were full of green camping equipment ala Coleman brand. John Cleese was in charge of the registration & when he got my last signature, he reached out to shake my hand, but only let me grab two fingers. He said, “You’ve done a good thing here by saving my grandmother.”

When I was really little, I could tell you what time it was if there was a TV and a TV guide nearby. My parents had a hard time getting me away from the TV back in those days. I was glued to it. They wanted me to turn it off and play outside. They didn’t understand that I would lose all concept of time if I spent too much time outside! I didn’t understand how to tell time by looking at “the big hand” and “the little hand” on a clock. It was easier to just turn on the TV, and see Bugs Bunny or Porky Pig. I knew it was somewhere between 9 or 9:30 on Saturday morning. That was close enough for me.

It was sunny, there was free time, and we were overdue for a Sunday drive. Those were basically the reasons that Jenny & I drove to Ottawa yesterday. We turned north off highway 68, parked on the shady side of Main Street, and started walking. Some of the sights we took in included a Sears store, an army surplus store, and a church built in 1887. Ottawa is about 45 minutes southwest of us, and the speed limit goes up to 75 a few miles before the first exit.

In Star Trek when Spock does a mind meld, the first thing he always says is, “my mind to your mind,” and then he uses a Vulcan trick get inside someone’s head. One time he even got inside some thing’s head– it was a piece of molten rock. Anyway, the real reason I’m making this post is because I heard words sung to the old Star Trek TV theme song last night. They were actually written by Gene Rodenberry so he could get half of the royalties. Click here to listen, or you can read the lyrics below, and sing them yourself:
Beyond the rim of the starlight
My love is wand’ring in star-flight
I know he’ll find in star-clustered reaches
Love, strange love a star woman teaches.
I know his journey ends never
His star trek will go on forever.
But tell him while he wanders his starry sea
Remember, remember me.