Random Thoughts

I’m most comfortable outside my comfort level-which would be funny if it weren’t true, but consider the following.

1-I have a stutter-it’s slight and I’ve learned how to control it, so of course the subject I picked for my Bachelor’s Degree was Communications. I’ve learned what words trigger it, so I either trick my brain as it were before I say them, or I choose different words altogether.

2-I have an aversion to guns. I don’t hate them; I just don’t feel comfortable around them: so of course I enlisted in the army. I grew up in the south and the Drill Sergeants assumed I was weaned deer hunting. I’m also not a fan of violent movies-unless the violence drives the plot, which is rare. So picture a 40 year old with an aversion to guns and violence standing in the middle of 18-24 year old trying to blend in.

 

When I was a kid, I learned the verbal patter I now have by watching old movies.

I thought Groucho Marx was the funniest person that was ever-ever. I believe I can still quote most of his lines from any Marx Brothers movie. I don’t remember which one of their movies I first saw, but I remember the local PBS station every Saturday during the summer playing a Laurel and Hardy, a Marx Brothers, or W. C. Fields. These were treasures to a fat kid with no friends, and I developed the timing that unknowingly became me. I didn’t set out to become a Julius, a Bill Dukenfields, a Stanley Jefferson, or Groucho, W.C. Fields, and Stan Laurel respectively. My mustache is not made of grease paint, but I’m able to go into a whimsical wordiness that would woo. Thanks Groucho.