Lake Wobegon Days in L.A.

ALWAYS, before any trip, I'm ABSOLUTELY wired outta my mind with excitement. Just last week, the night before flying out to SLC, UT, for example... I was up until 5AM!?! I had only two hours of sleep before going to work!?! Crazy? Yes. Avoidable? I haven't yet figured out how to rewire myself. Tomorrow morning -or should I say, later this morning?- I'll be hitting the highway for L.A., to meet my sweet lovin' FIANCE' (Woo-woo! yeeeaah BABY! YEAH!) for an evening 'concert of sorts' at the Hollywood Bowl. It'll be my first Hollywood Bowl event, and we'll be going with my honey-man's former spouse, dear Wendy, and her beau, plus a friend. Willingly socializing FOR FUN with the ex-wife of one's sweetheart may be unusual behavior for most, but for those unfamiliar with my world, we all enjoy one another immensely! So, as I had said, this evening "concert of sorts"~~ It's not a rock concert, nor any symphonic event... but Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion! Not impressed? Ahhh, come on!

Didn't you grow up with earthy, intellectual-type parents (mine, although truly capable of pure silliness, often behaved older than there were) listened to and read and enthusiastically enjoyed the wry sarcasm of Garrison Keillor and Lake Wobegon? As a child, forced to either listen in the car on the radio or in the kitchen, via purchased tape cassette recordings, didn't you ever feign "oh the torture," to not only catch yourself listening intently, but also laughing - like I did? Did you "grow up" on Keillor? No? Well, I did and I liked it. In fact, I love Garrison Keillor so much, when I took "Regional Creative Writing" in H.S. for a year, for one entire semester, we were asked to mimic the writing style of a notable Midwestern/Regional author of our choice, and I chose Keillor - - and I did well at it! WHAT?!? Doesn't sound like raging fun? Well, I haven't mentioned this too recently, but I'll say it again: I'm a self-proclaimed nerd. Anyhow, AN IMPORTANT NOTE Re: Regional Creative Writing in H.S.: I got an A each semester and became my favorite (can you say, "HOTTIE?") H.S. teacher, Mr. Pudz's teaching assistant via that class. ANOTHER NOTE: "Mr. Pudz" was not his name - that's an abbreviation. His real name is crazier, but in case the man ever Googles his own name on occasion, I won't reveal it. Although I must admit, I'm sure it wouldn't shock him (or cause concern) to discover I had had a crush on him (how the hell could he have not known!?!)!

Have a good weekend, everyone!