"May You Live In Interesting Times…"

That famed “Chinese Curse” that the Chinese never really said. Even if the authenticity of its origins is questionable the weight of the “curse” is undeniable; may you live in interesting times. Gentle Reader, lest there be no doubt, these are interesting times.

“How so?”

Once more, that is a very good question, Gentle Reader and, dare I say, something that I would ask myself if posed such a question. What do you say we check out some of the headlines for the last 24 hours or so, hmmmm? …Now lets see here… ignoring the wars and elections…

Bo Diddley passed away at the age of 79 (see: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080603/ap_en_ce/obit_diddley_10). “Who?” You may not know him but you know the sound that he created. With a homemade rectangular guitar he introduced a new rhythm, a new music to the world – it was called “Rock and Roll”. He died surrounded by his family at his home in Florida.

Ted Kennedy was operated on for a malignant brain tumor. Putting politics aside I know exactly where he and his family are right now. I pray that all goes well with his recovery and that the doctors are able to “get it all”. Cancer is a hell of a disease that simply does not care who you are or whatever it is you do or have done or haven’t done with your time here; it just grows and spreads. I truly wish him and his the best with the radiation and chemotherapy treatments that will follow. What more can I say? God bless.

Universal Studios was on fire. Two city blocks worth of movie sets including the New York and New England street sets are gone. To put that in perspective Ralphie’s town from “A Christmas Story”, Marty McFly’s town from “Back to the Future” and Spiderman’s New York have all just turned to ash. I realize that it will be built again and I am pleased that there has been no one hurt and no loss of life but the film history that just went up in smoke is somewhat – for lack of a better word; sad. These sets have appeared in countless films and television programs. From what I understand the television archive was burning too. This particular archive was where they stored copies of the original master prints and those prints are safe. Universal needs a better plan for times such as this. I hear that this is the seventh fire since 1916 (?).

In what can only be seen as a sign of the End Times, “Sex and the City” beat out “Indiana Jones” at the multiplex this past weekend. What kind of a world are we living in?

Then there is the tale of my almost accident. I was almost in a head on collision after church on Sunday. A gentleman in a blue pickup truck decided that he was tired of driving on the right side of the road and decided to head directly for me while I was waiting at a stop sign. He missed me by about a foot and a half, put his truck in reverse and began blaming me for our near collision.

“You know they have these octagonal things that you are supposed to stop at.” He said. The fact that he was speeding, had passed a solid line, and was clearly in my lane escaped him in his mission to assign blame anywhere else than where it needed to be placed.

“Really? You know, they’ve also got these things…” as I began to reply my eyes caught the Ixthis fish carabineer that I have hanging from my rear view mirror and the words of the Sunday morning message began to resonate in my ears “You are the only church some people ever see”. It’s somewhat of a shame too since I really had some pretty good material to choose from – I could have gone with the speeding or the crossing on a solid line thing, but what I really had my sights on was the whole wrong lane thing. I could hear myself mentioning the fact that while choosing the left lane is perfectly acceptable in the Bahamas or Jolly Ole’ England it is frowned upon here stateside. But I did not.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“…Stay safe.” I said. That was it, nothing more, nothing less. He drove off one way and I the other; just another tiny blip in a sting of interesting events.

Here’s hoping that things get a little less interesting in the next 24 hours.