Corners Were Meant To Be Blind

      Happy Global Cat Day! It’s also Dictionary Day, Boss’ Day, Feral Cat Day, and World Spine Day. Although, just like last week, my laptop at home, and at work, told me it’s World Bread Day, which did not make the list on my usual site. Hmm. Cats, feral or not, are pretty popular. I’m not sure they need a day. I’m sure cat lovers everywhere are relishing in the merriments, if they’re aware this day exists. Most of the cat people I know, don’t need a special day to celebrate their cat. They do so already. Often! Boss’ Day!? Some sycophant probably came up with that one. If you have a job, you probably have a boss, and you’re probably aware they exist. If you work for yourself, you are the boss, you may not know about this day, and may not get any presents. However, I think there is something to say about a boss: Good ones are as hard to find as good help is. And, that should be understood. Also, to some degree, I guess we should be at least a little grateful, for those people willing to keep us employed. I don’t know that they need a present, but I suppose it’s worth mentioning that they are a major part of our lives. World Spine Day! I find it interesting because I happen to be having a bit of a back problem right now. It was the weirdest thing, I haven’t had a problem in several years, then, all of a sudden, I woke up Monday morning, my first day! And my back is stiff. I was bummed. Walking around like Frankenstein! Way to make a first impression. I spent most of the time sitting, but that didn’t make it feel any better. I’m a little better today. Hopefully I’ve been hiding it. Nothing like showing up, feeling, and perhaps looking, like an old guy. Spine health is something we should all probably be better acquainted with. We’ve been hearing “lift with your legs” for years. But do we?

     Bread Day?! Obviously, we all know what bread is. But, not everyone has some. Bread is so commonplace now, that I think for a lot of us, it’s hard to realize the steps it took our ancestors to come up with it. If you think about it for any real amount of time, it’s practically a miracle that we figured it out. Grow this stuff, grind it up, add some water, and salt, once you know what that is, figure out how to make a fire hot enough to cook it, and voila! Amazing! Then, it took until my grandparents were children for it to be sliced! Now it seems cliché, but there really was a time when nothing was better than sliced bread! Think about that for a second… Now stop thinking about it! You can’t, right? Anyway: Bread has become such a staple for so many of our meals, it deserves a day. We did that! And, once, for “Lent,” we gave up bread for over 40 days. It really made us aware of how much bread we consume. We had to have conversations about “What counts as bread?” Bagels? English Muffins? Tortillas? It became very eye-opening. Now there’s all this fuss about gluten. I know if you have celiacs, it is a problem, and needs to be avoided. But, most people going gluten free don’t have celiacs, and it feels as though they’re just doing it as a trendy thing. And, the big corporations, are right there for them, giving them the “gluten free” stuff they so desperately need. It’s no coincidence to me that “gluten,” and “glutton,” are spelled so closely. I see “gluten free” written on packages of things that don’t even include flour! That’s the definition of trendy. I saw a package of sunflower seeds that stated: Gluten Free. People are sopping it up because they feel that they’re “on trend,” and sticking to it. Good for them! Suckers. Totally unaware that they’re feeding into the corporate machine, and keeping themselves from enjoying one of our miracles.

     The show on Sunday was awesome! We killed it! It was this guy Mark’s birthday. He’s in a band called Kitty Plague. They’re kind of funny. They have a song about R2D2, if that gives you any insight. The first time I heard them, I didn’t get it. But this time, I saw the comedy of it, and had a much better time. Anyway: We were second, they were third, there were 6 bands. Our friends Dying Species were playing too, we were excited. We found out they were playing last, and got a little bummed, but we had to see them. The guitar player flew in from Texas for the show! And boy, were his arms tired! Sorry about that. Anyway: My point: the place was packed while we played! I felt bad for the other bands. Susan and I got a couple of cool points for staying, as we do, but most people bailed! I felt bad. People even came up to me later, and stated that they thought it seemed like everyone came to see the Calvins! It felt that way. It was noticeable. Everyone seemed to have fun, but it went from about 60 to about 20 as soon as we were done. Now, I’m aware that from an outside perspective, it could seem like we chased them away, but it didn’t feel that way, and a lot of people mentioned that they didn’t think that’s what happened. We were stoked! I’m not sure how much that had to do with my back issue this week. We had a bit of a crazy weekend. We got almost no rest the whole weekend. I tried to take it easy Sunday, knowing Monday was my first day of my new job! But, perhaps the weekend caught up to me. I don’t know. All I do know is that I’m very happy with my new job. I’m doing a lot of training, and still adjusting to how to get all of the things I’m used to/like doing, but the challenge is accepted! My wife is still looking, but we know good things are around the corner.