I-Odysee!

It’s amazing how I get into all kinds of trouble without thinking twice. In case you’re wondering dear reader, my current ordeal involves coming up with birthday party ideas for my nephew. Not that I lack ideas, but when it comes to birthday parties I’m usually better at organizing celebrations for people around my age. Putting together a good party for kids will be more complicated than it sounds. Well, for once I’m not really up to date on the latest trends, as far as cartoon character go. But I guess I can handle that easily with a little Internet research.

I mean a good children’s birthday party is supposed to be decorated with a nice colorful theme, right? And popular cartoon shows are usually one of the best options – at least they used to be, back in my day. Maybe I’m over-thinking, but I really want to do everything I can to make it a “awesome” party. I’m even thinking about requesting the services of a party planner, but I’m not sure if I’m up for that. I want to create something unique, something very much of my own. Something that no one else would have thought about.

…. So. Any ideas?

Last night I went to see the movie “Where the Wild Things Are” by Spike Jonze, with that kid Max who’s probably going to win the Academy Award for his amazing performance. Well, I must admit I was almost forced into the movie theater by a friend who knew I would love the movie. And I did. You see, my opposition was in that I was very much fond of that children’s book story, and I was afraid the movie version would completely butcher the concept. Fortunately, it really didn’t … much the other way around.

There’s something almost magical about this story, and I think many Americans easily attest to this feeling. It’s essentially a reflection on the confusing experience of being a child, and it focuses brilliantly on the idea that throwing tantrums won’t get them (the kids) nowhere nice. Watching this movie really made me go back to my childhood, and it evoked some old memories of my old childrens beds, and of my mom and dad reading me that book before bedtime. They always read me that story when I went to bed angry about something, and each and every time it made me feel better. If you don’t it yet, I highly recommend you check it out!

I already mentioned I am a reckless driver, right? Well, you might think I was overstating or otherwise just indulging one of my customary rants… but I’m afraid this is the real deal. I have had my bit of rough patch earlier in life, and there are people out there who have a good idea of what I’m talking about. Such as those Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorneys from that one time I did that one thing. They were really nice to me, and I couldn’t possibly expect for better help and support dealing with such a tricky situation.

For all the youngsters out there reading this, the best I can say is… do not drink and drive. Do not assume you’ll do “all right”. Do not get carried away by your drunken bravado, because more likely that not you’ll get into some kind of trouble. Ever since I smashed a car from “drunking under driving” and nearly running over an innocent person, I have indeed learn my lesson. Nowadays I prefer sleeping it off in my car, if it gets to that. But ideally, I altogether avoid drinking if I am in charge of driving for the evening. And I earnestly recommend you do the same.

There are two kinds of drivers I know of: careless drivers and serious drivers. If you’re a serious driver, you will be good with just about all kinds of insurance. If you’re confident in your driving skills and your ability to stay away from trouble while out there on the road, then you just need a basic insurance package. You know something that you will be unlikely to ever need to use, because you’re serious business when you’re driving your car. A crash is not something that is going to happen on your account – if you ever get involved in such dire event, you’re 99% sure it will be someone else’s fault. Someone reckless, someone who’s danger on wheels.

Someone much like me, I’m quite dismayed to admit. I’m very good at doing many things, but when it comes to driving I’m just a major slop. I’m the kind of guy who will better pay stock of his omissions and get appropriate short term insurance. At least then, such a guy will know that careless drivers are best off relying in fool-proof precautions against car accidents. Yep, I may be a lousy driver but at least I’m insured to the tip o’my toes!

Cars may be useful, I won’t argue with that. In this day and age, most people really can’t go by without their own private means of transportation – especially those who live in suburban areas. But all the while, cars are terribly addictive. Most people seem to altogether stop walking when they get a car. You may argue you’re different from everyone else, but when you get into the habit of sitting behind a wheel, you’ll easily find yourself too lazy to walk anywhere. And you know what’s the big problem about that? Once you lose the habit of walking, your health really starts going downhill.

So, what happened (you got that right, something did happen to bring about this rant) was that today my car went out of gas (not my fault, really – the meter seems to be broken), and I found myself in stuck way out the middle of a desolate road. Filled with bravado, I decided I’d simply walk to the nearest gas station… which happen to be about 5 miles back. Then I hoped I would get a ride back to the car, but it just didn’t happen.

I pretty much spent all morning walking around, and now I need a really good foot bath. And I really need to start losing the habit of driving around all the time! To think that I mashed up my feet so bad by walking about 10 miles… that’s just lame. When I was younger (and full of grace) I ran much longer than that and I never felt this tired.