Phenomenon

I must be getting older... Issues that seemed to be nice and clear cut before are starting to look all sorts of shades of gray. Even seemingly the simplest issues can cause controversy, and I am having trouble choosing a definite side...

As an example, take yesterday's news of the death of MJ. Now, I am far from being the world's biggest fan of the guy, I don't think I've ever even owned any of his albums, never made a point of listening to his music. Still, I have been known to hum along to "Smooth Criminal", or "Billie Jean". In most recent years, I've shaken my head many a times while hearing news items about the guy, not able to figure out what was fact and what was sensationalism. So much about him seemed truly bizarre, but then again, who knows what I would have behaved like if I had been a child star and a multi-gazillionaire, and had never gotten to know the more mundane side of life.

And yet he's touched so many people around the world. He had an undisputable musical talent, appreciated by young (and not so young) people all over the planet. And bringing people together is one of those things that are hard to quantify and even harder to force. Yet I do believe that we need more common ground like that (for example music, art, nature), to ease our transition into a healthier global planet. From that perspective, MJ has done more to unite the world than I could ever dream of accomplishing in 100 lifetimes.

On the other hand, is his death any more tragic than that of the thousands of people dying of preventable causes all around the globe every day? Children dying of hunger, war, genocide? Is it even something that can be compared? I like to believe that we are all equal in death, but is that really true? We do mourn the people we are familiar with a lot more than the quickly flashing faces on the nightly news. It is human nature I guess. In truth, most of us are probably not able to handle thinking every day about all the people dying unjustly - I know I'd probably be crumpled in a heap on the floor. So maybe in a way we use the deaths of celebrities as our vehicle for mourning? A chance to grapple with our own mortality, and the unfairness of life and the world and

Not sure where I am going with this. In truth, I am not really all that saddened or upset by the news, maybe just a little shocked. It just got me thinking about all of this peripheral stuff, and people's reactions and things...

TMI

It figures, of course as soon as I decide to try and start posting more often in here, BR decides to up and stop sleeping at night (ok, so maybe she didn't quite decide it, it's more like her teeth started bugging her, but you get the picture). It's been almost two weeks of multiple wakings per night, and trouble getting back to sleep. I've been walking around like a zombie. Luckily last night we seem to have turned around a corner: she only woke up once at 3:30, and pretty much put herself back to sleep.

All that to say I'm still trying to post more often, as long as circumstances allow for it.

So here's a quickie for today. It may be considered in the "too much information" category, but I think it's kind of funny (and when's the last time you've seen something funny on this blog?).

So I have this pair of underwear. Plain and simple, nothing unusual about it. The tag on it spells out the brand as St. Eve. Except it's in all caps. So pretty much every time I go to the bathroom when wearing this pair of underwear, I get to see the following text (in big, bold letters): ST.EVE. And either one of two things happens: either I start wondering why my underwear says Steve on it, or I don't pay enough attention and the word just seeps into my subconscious, and I am left wondering hours later why I have the name Steve on my mind. A less practical person would probably get rid of this pair of underwear, but I keep thinking there's nothing wrong with them... Well, except maybe for the induced neurosis.

Honestly, though, why would anyone put the name ST.EVE on women's intimate apparel? I'd like to know...