Don’t go away, I’ll be putting down “smart people” in a short while. Every so often I’ll flip through one of those books that pretend to give advice on how to make money with your computer. It gets harder to manage a wry smile every year I see those things. What gets me is how I’ve never met anyone who runs such a business. One recurring occupation in these books is running a form designing business. According to the authors, businesses are in constant need of new forms. That’s what I’m saying. Have you ever met anyone who makes a living at designing forms? I’ve done it (design forms, not make a living at it), but the most I ever earned was $15 and it took three hours.I was at the Hollywood Library with the famous door. This is the door with the library hours printed so small you can only read it from five feet away. But the motion detector opens the sliding door when you are eight feet away. (I missed a few votes on that one, I'm saying the door is designed so it opens and the printint slides into the pocket, but if you stand back far enough to close the doors, you can't read the tiny print. I mentioned this to the library five years ago; they told me the motion detector was for the handicapped. That’s for sure.
The shoe shop was quiet, meaning a lot of maintenance got done. Alfredo has arthritis in his index fingers, a lingering ailment I hope I never get. I cut the soles and inserts for him but I am not there all the time. I also crawled up the wall and got the filter out of the A/C. I doubt it had ever been cleaned. And that was my exciting day. Now you know what I inherently have against working for a living. It makes Jack a dull boy.
Now that is not to say one only has to be smart to avoid work. Heck no, some of the stupidest people on Earth are good at being lazy. It’s how you use the smarts, thus raising the contradiction that you are not necessarily being smart by having a better paying job. It is our strange society that fosters the weird belief system that smart people get paid more. What I find strangely beguiling is how often I am told that so-and-so is smart, so-and-so usually being a relative of the speaker.
Here’s a little secret—the questions that run through my head when I’m told somebody is smart. How many foreign countries have they lived in for longer than three months? How many languages do they speak? How many years before age fifty did they retire? How many dozen non-fiction books have they read in the previous year? How many hours a day do they spend writing? Where are their journals published? How many times have they been around the world? How many musical instruments do they play? They must be some kind of smart I never heard of. For the record, yes, I could answer all those questions back when I had a full-time job. But then again, I have never ever personally said I was smart, either.
Jerks in the news. Some reality TV goof allegedly killed his old lady and ran for Canada. I don’t have the details but I can tell you that if he headed for Point Roberts, he knew exactly what he was doing. He had prior knowledge of the territory, mark my words. The episode caught my attention for the pictures of the victim, all portrayed as sweet and blonde and innocent. Hey, give me a break. Model, my eye. I had a lengthy relationship with a model. Mine did not have breast implants or act and look like a hooker. Mine didn’t have to pose in semi-pornographic settings just to get noticed. You know what I’m saying, so don’t expect sympathy if you break rule number one: don’t date pretty boys. Except me, of course, except I'm not pretty or a boy, but still pretty dashing and handsome all told. HUmble, too.
Have we forgotten Miss Wilson and her 15 seconds of fame? If so, see blog of 2009/06/26. Contemporary media would have a field day with a young lady in the cockpit with a middle aged pilot, but the fact is there was no passenger compartment. The 1923 flying boat design meant with three people that she either sat between the two men, or beside the pilot with the other man behind. Nothing odd about it at all, only the accident was freakish.
Return Home
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
