Well, I'm home sick ...

... 102 degree fever. So as the children at there friend's house and I already called in, I figured I might as well bother you two lumps before I attempt a comotose 12 hour fever breaking sweat fest.

You may be surprised to hear this, but I'm a big fan of the television series Frasier. And it has nothing to do with his (Kelsey Grammer) campaigning for Republicans. I was a fan well before I knew his politics. The writing, well lets just say it's not Tool Time, ok? Scattered reference of the Byzantine Empire for a laugh here, a joke about being in the placebo group when laugh pills are handed out there, and if you like smart comedy, you're hooked. Once his son came home and to everyone's shock, he was dressed as a "Goth", complete with black eyeliner, hair dyed black, black clothing etc. Frasier's response: "Freddy, I don't understand. The Visigoths were a ruthless, war mongering peoples and outside of your inclination to be a little aggressive with your Rooks at chess camp, I'm not seeing the connection." It cracks me up. I'd describe it as "high brow", in the world of television satire anyway, and my favorite after Seinfeld.

Well, the only problem is the reruns air exclusively on Lifetime. And I just can't bring myself to see the look on my son's face when they go to commercial for station identification. So, I purchased the 11 season series online at a fair price. And there was an interesting episode ...

It would seem that while at the ER to have bandaged a broken nose, a patient weary of waiting claimed to be "Frasier" when the nurse called his name, so as to skip ahead in line. Well that poor chap died. So the news release (Frasier plays a radio shrink with local popularity if you didn't know) that evening was that Frasier had died. An obituary was even written. And staring at his obituary in the cofee shop the next day Frasier remarked how he found it somewhat depressing. No where to be seen in the lay out of his life were all the "big" things he had planned on accomplishing in his youth. Writing a novel, learning Russian, running for public office. So he took to a "self actualizing exercise" as he described it. One is to sit down, write their own obituary, and then set about accomplishing all the tasks written therein. So as to have "no regrets" and shake you out of any potential rut.

I don't know, it seemed kind of creepy, the tempting of fate so to speak - like someone announcing, "if I got hit by a bus tomorrow, I'd die a happy man." One thing's for sure, if you see fit to say that I'd skip renewing my bus pass, if you know what I mean. But it is interesting. What would you want the obituary to say? I see them at Caesars routinely. The dealer population there has to be a median age well above the average. And there it is, pinned to our announcement board just above the toke book. The summary of a man's life in black and white. You read it, then a few days later, it's gone.

I don't know if I'm prepared to write such a thing. Short of it beginning with, "Former President of the United States ...", I don't know that it would be an enjoyable experience. Just a thought though ...

Well, off to bed.

PS> can you mix NyQuil with Vodka? Sort of a Russian bed time spritzer perhaps?

Kidding . . .