Everyday Happenings

God help me, I really do enjoy John Mayer.

Lately, this excerpt from "Split Screen Sadness" seems poignant for me:

I called because I just need to feel you on the line
Don’t hang up this time
And I know it was me who called it over but
I still wish you'd fought me ‘til your dying day
Don’t let me get away

Cause I can’t wait to figure out what’s wrong with me
So I can say 'this is the way that I used to be
There’s no substitute for time
Or for the sadness

I think today was the first time I've done that. The sign said "Faith never complains because it sees the answer". WTF? So, if I complain or have troubles, then it just means I don't have enough faith.

No wonder people are tired of the church. Such smug self-righteous attitudes are so alienating.

I watch movies and wonder if some of my favorite lines would sound as good without the accompanying background music. I wonder if my deepest insights might be worthy of the silver screen or theater. I wonder if I could ever find the words to write a great song. The music from "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" really moves me. The love story, some individual quotes, and the background score combine to invoke some pretty intense emotions - at least from me.

I remember seeing this movie in the theater with Lisa. I remember that Joel is so scared that Clementine will begin to see that he's as boring as he thinks he is. I remember thinking that Lisa was beginning to see the boring in me, too. Joel wonders if he and Clementine are one of the boring couples he sees in restaurants - the 'dining dead'. I wonder if it only takes one person to create a boring couple. If so, am I boring enough to make someone else so boring?

The scenes in these movies show streets and neighborhoods that seem 'established'. They're neighborhoods and streets I imagine are in New York or Chicago once you leave the tourist and business centers. I picture these neighborhoods as the center of life as we know it. I don't see any of these neighborhoods in the places I go here in Florida. These places do look similar to places I remember around Peoria.

There's something so elegant and inviting about a night scene shot from a car driving down a street on a cold, wintery night. For some reason, the nights look crisper because of the cold night air. The absence of leaves from the trees add something unique to the composition of these scenes. It makes me think that being back in Peoria would be something I'd like. At this point, I'm not really sure why I came to Florida. I lived in Peoria for 26 years. Certainly, the cold weather couldn't have been the only thing driving me away. Maybe I didn't see a career future there. Maybe I needed to 'get away' from the life I had grown bored of. Maybe the thing I needed to 'get away' from was the wrong thing.

Alexander Pope's "Eloisa to Abelard" tells of a lover that seeks to forget her beloved because she cannot have him. This poem inspired so much of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" - even the title.

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd ...

Maybe the secret is about accepting the limitations, the imperfections. Maybe it's about realizing that perfection is found in the imperfect. Maybe it's about doing that thing you wouldn't normally do, taking that chance, being free to pursue something that isn't in 'the plan'.

Joel: I don't see anything I don't like about you.
Clementine: But you will! But you will, and I'll get bored with you and feel trapped, because that's what happens with me.
Joel: Okay.
Clementine: Okay.

"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is truly a cinematic masterpiece. I could never hope to capture the human experience and move the human emotions as well as this film does.

I joke sometimes by saying "The world would be a much better place if everyone listened to me". I say that jokingly, but I always have anecdotal evidence to back up this claim. Work, finances, dating, whatever. I know I'm intelligent, but I'm not one of the world's great minds. So, how do I do it? It's called 'common sense'. That's it. Common sense, being quite un-common, is what gives me an advantage over many of life's situations.

Knowing that this is my secret, everyone has two options:

1. Develop your own 'common sense' skills
2. Listen to me

If the world would do one of those two things, we could wipe out hunger, stop war, and never have another recession.

Playing on the iPod: "Split Screen Sadness" by John Mayer.

I've been enjoying this song lately. One line in the song really catches my attention:

"I can’t wait to figure out what’s wrong with me / So I can say 'this is the way that I used to be' "

I wonder if John Mayer would be as good of a songwriter if he were a Christian.