Friday Night with Otis

I really was not a big fan of Nirvana when they first hit the music scene. I distinctly remember hearing the album Nevermind for the first time. It scorched my speakers in the basement of the fraternity house while a bunch of us played some pool. I was intrigued but not really impressed. I preferred Pearl Jam and Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots. But now I miss Nirvana and I get just a little excited every time I hear one of their songs.

"Hey. Wait. I've got a new complaint."

For most of my life I have eschewed what is popular. As a kid I never wanted Nike shoes. In college I let my hair grow just because everyone else cut theirs. Even today I take a lot of pride in being a stay-at-home dad. Being different is very important to me. But don't ask me to explain the BMW I got when I turned 18.

"There's been a murder in the trailer park tonight."

As I was flipping through a Christmas catalog today - wait, I know, I WROTE the last entry. But we get like three catalogs a day and there are presents to buy. So I was flipping through one of the sillier catalogs and came across a sweatshirt that read "Mess with me and you mess with the entire trailer park." But actually I prefer "Jesus loves you, he just likes me best."

If that catalog gave a volume discount I would be getting everyone a sweatshirt for Christmas. Sure, it's a little more expensive than Chia Pets but there is a lot more variety. And everyone can use a cheap sweatshirt with a stupid saying on it. I just wish I knew someone that really was a "Struggling Hair Farmer."

"Gentlemen, at the sound of the harmonica solo, you may come out fighting."

I am not an environmentalist. Everything is recyclable. Sure some things, like banana peels, return to the earth in just a few years. While other things like, say, prosthetic limbs, could take thousands of years to decompose. But how many of those are thrown away every year? When I was younger I used to collect all of our aluminum cans and take them to a recycling center. Not because I cared about the environment - I wanted the cash. That may help to explain the BMW.

"We always did feel the same, we just saw it from a different point of view."