I'm starting a new feature with this post: The Daily Chuck Norris Fact. (Hat tip to "Chuck Norris Facts," by the way, one of the funniest websites I've ever seen.) Today's Chuck Norris fact:
Chuck Norris' tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried. Ever.
----------------------
I have been thinking a lot lately about my favorite sounds, the sounds that I could never tire of hearing and that always make me happy or feel positive. Now, these are in no particular order of priority, so don't read anything into any one of these. I've had these on my mind for a while. So let's go:
1. Bath water draining from the tub. This one has been my all-time favorite for a long time. In fact, I often rate places I live by the sound of the water draining from the tub. I think I get this one from my early childhood.
2. The breathing sounds of either of my children as they sleep. If you have kids of your own, and can honestly say that this sound doesn't make you feel that all is right with the world...well, it might be time to recalibrate the ol' Moral Compass.
3. A cat purring. Another one of those "Moral Compass"-related sounds, purring usually indicates a cat is happy, and more importantly, happy WITH YOU. So, the more the better.
4. Train whistles. This is another sound I've loved since childhood. Trains have an interesting and romantic hold over many people; the whistle always evokes ideas of travel, the old West, and the mountains for me...earlier, more "innocent" times and values in American history.
5. The crowd at Owen Field. While this sound can be found at just about any stadium, this is as much a locational sound for me; I've heard similar sounds at lots of venues, but they just don't have the same appeal. The power of this sound is multiplied by 100 if it rises as the result of a long run by an OU Sooner running back (trust me, I can't count the number of times I've heard THAT sound, and it always sends chills up my spine).
5a. The sound of "Boomer Sooner" or :Oklahoma", played by the Pride of Oklahoma Marching Band. Brings tears to my eyes, especially when I'm standing in the stands at Owen Field waiting for kickoff.
6. Heidi's voice. Heidi has a very pleasing voice; not shrill, not gruff, but not too sing-song or girly, either. It's soft and soothing. It's very attractive and alluring to me, and it has a strange way of bonding me to her as she speaks. It also gives wonderful indications about Heidi's feelings, there's nothing hidden in her voice when she talks. It's all out in the open, and I love that.
7. A thunderstorm in Oklahoma. There's nothing on Earth like the sound of that thunder rolling in. If you get a big boomer right over your head, it shakes your house and you feel it all the way from the top of your head down to the soles of your shoes. But not in a threatening way; it has a comfortable quality for me, as though it speaks to me. God's voice spreading His good will across my home.
Those are it for the sounds. I am sure there are others that don't spring as readily to mind, and if I think of them, I'll add them to the list.
-----------------------------------------------
Did any of you see the "Wife Swap: Husband Edition" that came out right before the holidays? It had a rough-edged biker trading places with a back-East liberal living in a Boulder commune (oh, it SAID he was from Colorado, but those of us from here know where he is REALLY from). This would have normally been a very humorous situation, but I was more infuriated than interested. It openly displayed, for all the world to see, the primary issue from which nearly all liberals seem to suffer, and which seems to cause most of the problems with our American political discourse.
Both the liberal husband and wife, when asked what they wanted to get out of the situation they were about to be put in, talked about it like this (and in nearly identical words): "We want to raise the consciousness of them"..."We want to try to show them the benefits of our way of life"...blah, blah, blah. What they said, in essence, was, "We're more enlightened than these other people and we want to show them that our way is the right way." The biker family didn't have such lofty aspirations. In fact, THEIR view was the more truly "liberal" of the two. They said they wanted to experience the way other people live and see the world. Ask a liberal today and they'll tell you that diversity is the key concept to happiness in the world, so that people understand one another. But it was ironic to me how the "liberal" family was actually the more dogmatic, the more inflexible with their beliefs, while the lower-class, "less educated", more moderate family was the more liberal in the historical sense of the word.
When it comes down to it, today's liberals seem only more and more hypocritical to me.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Yesterday's Broncos game just underscored again why I am so unwilling to heavily invest my emotions and loyalty in Colorado sports teams. They just can't seem to close the deal, and they have a strange habit of falling apart at the wrong time. Granted, Colorado teams have won championships; the Broncos won two Super Bowls under Elway in the mid to late 90s, and the Avalanche have won two Stanley Cups. But look historically at Colorado teams, and you will find a long trend of high hopes dashed by near-total collapses. The Broncos had gone to the Super Bowl 3-4 other times, most of those with Elway, yet couldn't close the deal until he was nearly ready to retire. The Avalanche won their first Stanley Cup (and Colorado's FIRST pro sports championship, interestingly...strange that it was in hockey) in their first season after moving from Quebec; it was still half Quebec's team in spirit. The Broncos, Buffaloes, Nuggets, Mammoth, and Avs all have strange ways of just phoning it in during the worst possible times, and yesterday's debacle, along with this season's complete collapse by CU's football team, are just more examples in a long line of "Good, but not quite good enough." It doesn't amaze me that so many people in Colorado prefer extreme sports, where the concept of "team" and "loyalty" are largely unnecessary, because everyone performs on their own; the whole team sports thing here just seems to be broken.
That's it for today. Thanks for reading along.
No comments:
Post a Comment