Thursday miscellanea #474

• Lea and I had an out-of-the-blue conversation about Aretha Franklin not two weeks ago. “Freeway of Love” came on and I noted how unlikely it seemed for her to have such a big hit in the middle of the ’80s, but that the song worked all the way around—definitely hers, but also definitely part of the era. And now here we are mourning her today. What a tremendous legacy. RIP.
• Almond milk works well for my overnight oats. I may keep some around for that. I don’t see it making any bigger inroads in my diet, though. It’s too expensive when I don’t have any compelling reason to drink it.
• Of course there are people coming to Jose Urena’s defense after he hit the hottest bat in baseball, Ronald Acuna Jr., with his first pitch. Of course there are.
• Can’t wait for Pocono on Sunday! Last big oval of the IndyCar season, and a fine “two weeks to football” event!
• Watch Rocket City Mom for some great restaurant reviews. We have a couple of splashier ones on deck between now and the end of the year, but we’ll have a hidden gem up in the next few weeks.
• The tranquil, contemplative demeanor I have carefully cultivated for myself in traffic was momentarily threatened yesterday when a jackass in a black BMW 428i last-second merged in front of me going west on Madison Pike. I hadn’t kept an aggressive following distance, because well, that would be aggressive, and I’m trying not to do that. But, if I don’t do that, then things like that will happen from time to time. So I need to be OK with them too. Growth opportunity.
• And while I’m talking about those, I unpleasantly discovered last night who mystery-unfriended me a couple of weeks ago on Facebook. Folks, I know lots of y’all are all who cares and I’m being silly and whatever, and intellectually I get it, but depending on who it is, it can really hurt my feelings. I thought I had a sustainable connection with this person. She, clearly, didn’t think so. As I said in private correspondence with a (different) friend only a month or so ago: “This is a pretty significant growth area for me right now…Sometimes I get it, or I can at least write myself a plausible narrative. Other times I’m totally mystified. My personal discomfort is having to face that fidelity to who I am is all I have control over, and if someone decides s/he doesn’t click any more with that genuine me, then so be it. Clearly, it wasn’t my switch to flip anyway…The hard part for our hearts is that on some level, the departed meant more to us than we meant to them. That part is, superficially, just like any other breakup.”

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