My Life As A Hobby

I went to a children’s beauty pageant this week. That’s because I had a beauty at the pageant - words spoken as a proud grandparent.  I was happy to attend. However, I must go on record by saying that I’m not a fan of these things. There is an inherent cruelty that you just can’t hide.   It was on full display when the winners in the kindergarten category were announced. It was kind of depressing because one girl garnered most of the awards, and the others stood and watched silently, sadly. I found it hard to watch. Two of the tiny contestants were in tears. Life is full of enough heartache - why start dumping it on them at the age of four?   That said, I will be the first one to tell you I do not care for participation trophies, especially in team sports. The score is a measurable thing. You win or you lose. But in beauty pageants, there is lots of subjectivity. So, it could be that the girl with the nicest, most expensive dress and the nicest, most exp...

Occasionally, I run across something that baffles me. For example, I am mystified when I watch the Discovery Channel do a program on how the Egyptians made the pyramids.  I wonder how a bunch of caveman built Stonehenge. And I don’t know if anyone will figure out why those enormous heads on Easter Island were carved.  As for Machu Pichu. - I’ve got no clue.  But there is another puzzle that also has me flummoxed. Why are so many people backing into parking places? This is a rather recent phenomenon, but it is definitely happening.  I went to the YMCA today and the parking lot had at least a third of the cars had their headlights pointing out.  When I was in my twenties I had a friend of mine who always backed his car in the driveway because he had an expired car tag. Did the same thing at Walmart. I get that.  But surely there can’t be that many people who have out of date car registrations.  Perhaps some of these folks have knocked off a liquor ...