The Velocity Of Mediocrity.

I operated a motor vehicle for the first time in nearly two months. In Los Angeles. Everything was fine until I was no longer able to ignore the fact that there were other motorists on the road. It was at this moment when I realized how common "driving" yourself to work actually is. More common than taking the train even. For example, I had to yield to oncoming traffic, activate a blinking light to "request" lane changes, and perhaps most humiliating of all, I had to stop at intersections when no other motorists were nearby and wait until some inanimate blinking box indicated it was OK to proceed. Need I even go into the parking. No there is very little about "driving" that I find even remotely compatible with my personality.

In an altogether separate matter I was shocked to look at the headlines today and be told that I actually cared about Anna Nicole Smith. Yahoo, MSN, and a myriad of other news agencies were emblazoning headlines all over my computer screen insinuating that I cared about this individual. Well ordinarily I just find the news insipid, however, this indeed was a revelation so I forced myself to read on, and then I got bored. But it made me think about a conversation I had last night over dinner. In the conversation I came to realize that I had no independent recollection of the woman known as Anna Nicole Smith. In my mind she was an amalgamation of other similar looking "blond bombshells" and all details of her life were interchangeable with the others. When talking to my friend about Ms. Smith, I came up with all manner of stories which my friend was good enough to tell me had nothing to do with Ms. Smith, but some other blond celebrity whose name escapes me, and will never conceivably stick in my mind. Such is the way with constructing beauty myths, and gender stereotypes. It remains a way of making everyone interchangeable and altogether average. Or you could say common. I really like that word since my experience in the motor car.

Derek on the other hand is starting to recover from the pain and anguish of last seasons early play-off dismissal. In a candid interview he discusses the cathartic effect of spring training and turning over a new leaf. I've included a link to article here, and you can read it although I'm sure it will bring a tear to your eye like it did mine. However, for all I know you could be one of those Hegelian supermen that can "drive" a motor vehicle without breaking down in tears. And if that's the case then congratulations. You win.