Ooh baby baby it's a wide world...

... Sorry. I couldn't think of a good title. 

I wrote this blog post yesterday, but I couldn't post it because of internet problems. By this morning, the issue had spread to my landline, my cable and my wireless router (which affects Facebook on cell phones and horror of horrors, iPods), all of which are connected to the same modem, which just sat there, all black and lightless. 

Bleary-eyed (I was still waiting for my coffee to brew) and while my cereal got mushy, I mashed the reset button on the back with a half-chewed pencil. The modem lights flickered, then flickered out. So I called Comcast to have them send me a refresh signal. Didn't work. The automated lady offered to put me through to a real person, who said he couldn't see my computer from his end. He asked me if it was plugged in. Of course it is, I thought. Otherwise no lights would have come on when I hit the reset thingy, right? Made sense to me. I had no idea which plug in the power strip was the modem, so I just started pushing in random plugs, and guess what? 

Yep. Shut up.

So anyway...here is the blog post I was gonna post yesterday. I'll wait for you to finish laughing. 

I have figured it out. I live vicariously through my subjects. Either that, or I'm ADD. 

We won't discount that possibility.

There is a ginormous world out there, and as much as I want to experience it all, I can’t. As much as I want to do it all, I can't. I meet people every day who are passionate about what they do, and they become amazingly good at it. That is why we write and read about them, after all. They study everything they can get their hands on about their one specialty.

I would love to have a fraction of their knowledge and be just a tiny bit good at whatever it is that they do. But frankly, I don’t want to invest that kind of time. Plus, I just find way too many things fascinating to be tied down to one specialty for very long. If I took a six-week course in everything I find interesting, I would never do anything outside a classroom. Besides, in three days I'd be like, "Okay, that was fun. What's next?" 

Take today. I talked to a 29-year-old chef who is clearly rising quickly to the top of his field. Twenty medals in the 13 years or so he’s been with the American Culinary Federation. There aren’t many chefs in his position in this area, I’m told. But every time I tried to talk about him, as a person, he steered the conversation back to food, and the profession. Actually, I don't think he steered it so much as we just kept ending up there. That's the passion talking. I tasted a fruit leather (think fruit rollups without all the sugar) he created just that morning. Just...out of the blue decided to make some berry puree and stick it in the dehydrator to see what it would do. And then there was the brisket he had cooking in this tub thingy that smelled absolutely divine. They won't be ready until Friday, though. All I know is, after 30 minutes of talking to him I was ready to sign up for a cooking class.

Then tonight, I spent two hours watching members of the Aiken Community Playhouse rehearse The Great American Trailer Park. What started off as an interview with a director ended up feeling like I was just hanging out with a group of friends. Or, talking to a group of friends I was welcome in but not necessarily a part of. Yeah, that’s it. Then they invited me to stay and watch. So I did. I remembered drama class in high school, and all the times I get up and sing karaoke in front of strangers. It is all fun and is great for building confidence. This group had so much fun “working” that frankly, I kind of want to go back tomorrow night. I almost wanted a part, too. And I left wanting to join a theater group. But honestly, I don't think I could handle the rehearsal schedule. Four nights a week. All day on Sunday. My hats off to all of them. 

Hmmm….maybe I need to write down all the things that I'm interested in. Sort of a Bucket List of things I want to do or learn before I die. Then I guess I need to get started doing something! 

Ballroom dance

Learn how to adequately decorate a cake

Take a cooking class

Take a writing class

Learn to row

Bike

Run

How to make a latte, or a cappuccino, or an espresso, or some other yummy coffee with whipped cream on top

How to run a business (preferably a coffee one)

Learn how to buy coffee beans, and how to roast them

Go see another country. Perhaps to buy coffee beans

How to invest and grow money

How to make some extra money...without sacrificing time with my kids/friends/family or a somewhat clean house (needed in order to grow money)

Gardening

Planting and tending a vegetable garden

Canning the stuff I grow in the garden….provided any ends up edible

Learn how to take an X-ray

Learn to give a shot (I don’t know why. I hate getting them.)

Learn how to write a book

Write for a home magazine

Sew curtains…and pillow cases…and a dress

The fundamentals of interior design

Learn about architecture

Walk across the country. (I’d be happy to drive, too.)

Coupon like a champ

I will definitely have to add to this list later. These are just off the top of my head. Tomorrow I’ll probably meet someone else cool, and I’ll want to do what they’re doing, too.

How times have changed

So there I was, interviewing a guy for a story when in walks his grown son. The son had to be in his late 40s, at least. If you said 53, I wouldn't be surprised.

My very first initial impression was, cool! (Please don't judge me. I am a child of the '80s.)

His full head of more-salt-than-pepper flowed behind him as he walked with that arena-rock-star swagger adopted strictly to make it move just like that. You remember how these guys walked, right? They threw their hair better than a swimsuit model. I don't remember if he were wearing a Motley Crue T-shirt, although that's how I now have him pictured.

That first impression lasted all of 10 seconds.

My second thought was, "Man, 20 years ago I'd have thought you were the coolest thing ever. Now, it's kinda sad."

I mean, that was 20 years ago. I would have been 18, that look would have been cool, and I would have been dumb enough to think that awesome rock-star good looks were all that really mattered, even if I was jealous their hair was prettier than mine.

It's funny how times and tastes change. The reason our parents hated to see us come home with one of those guys was that even 20 years ago, he probably didn't have a steady job. That would have been evidenced by the fact that he only had the 2-60 air conditioning in his Trans-Am (two windows down at 60 miles per hour). He probably would have lived in his parents' basement, too.

To see a guy like that now you think, wow. I bet you still work in a record store. Or the skating rink. (I've seen more of his kind there.) Is it bad that I was picturing this guy sitting in a Naugahyde recliner in the paneled living room of an old single wide with Kiss and Lita Ford posters all over the walls?

*Sigh* Me and Cathy talk about this on our walks sometimes. I told you we used to walk this very neighborhood when we were 12 and 13, didn't I? We used to look for these guys! We totally overlooked their primered cars with cracked windshields. We could forgive them because they were cute and looked very nice from behind in those Levis. We loved it every time one of them honked at us while we strolled the sidewalks of the highway. They still honk, only now we look at the cars and think "Yeah, right. Not in this life, buddy." Because the kind of guys who impress us now don't have longer hair than we do blowing in the breeze. And they would have more class than to honk anyway.

It's one thing to appreciate classic rock, but dude. You really don't have to dress the part anymore.