Uppers and downers

I have that same shirt!

I remember in 4th grade when Felicia P. came into class and had that same blue and white striped shirt on, the one I really loved and if it weren't for people making fun, I would wear every day. My first thought was to never wear the shirt again. But then I had this system to make sure we wouldn't be caught wearing it at the same time. I would just wait until she wore it and then I could safely wear it the next day.

That got me wondering why this sort of thing doesn't happen much more often. The other day I was buying something and the girl at the register goes, "Oh! I have that same shirt!" I really don't know how to react to that. I always feel like when people see me wearing the same shirt as them, a light goes off in their head that maybe they should donate that shirt. Is it embarrassing that people have the same clothes as you? Would you wear the same clothes as your friend's grandma/grandpa? What if you had the same t-shirt as your friend's 4 year old kid?

I guess clothes are one of the few ways to make yourself unique in this world, and who wants to be like the other guy?

....but I ended up buying him anyway

Banning recess is for chumps

I remember that day in elementary school when Ronnie Simmons cracked his head open on the blacktop. I was too scared to go outside after I heard. But I saw that janitor standing there hosing off the area. And now, after reading this article, I wonder if Ronnie Simmons would have been better off if they banned running around and accidentally falling on your head during recess.

I know I would be better off today if I hadn't hurt myself at school all those times. So much for my future as a leg model. They make big bucks you know. And I could too, if it weren't for my unfortunate playground accident involving tripping over my friend's foot during a game of corner tag and ripping out a huge chunk of skin that eventually healed into a keloid. Or as people like to call it, my "boob knee".

And I think of all the times I can't point directions out to people or push the buttons on the elevator without worrying about my freaky index finger that I jammed during a friendly game of softball in high school. Would I have been better off today if that could have been prevented? Maybe at least I would have had a huge settlement from the school...they are after all liable for anything that happens on their property. But I guess I wouldn't have all this character that I've built up all these years of tripping and falling and hurting myself in school. And no amount of legal settlement or playground rules can buy that sort of thing.

Fear of flying....things

What if everyone were nice?

I saw an ad on Yahoo (as I was minding my own business reading the news) for some new book called "The Power of Nice". It's about how being nice to people will get you ahead in the business world, and that the era of belligerent dictatorial management is over, because the time for warm and fuzzy leadership is now at hand. So I wondered what the world would be like if everyone were nice.....

We wouldn't have any need for traffic signs and lights, because everyone would just share the road and take turns at every intersection.


Foreign relations would be a piece of cake, countries would treat each other like next-door neighbors and even borrow and lend power tools without expecting anything in return.


Waiters and waitresses would be among the highest paid professionals since everyone would be nice to tip even more than 220%.


I think the only problem is that it only takes one tiny, little thing to change it all.