"Remember, you're an aged college student now..."

Looking back on a college orientation session from 1989, the way a moderator attempted to make us feel more like adults amuses me.  It wasn't sufficient for each incoming student to choose a seat in the lecture hall and sit down.  Instead, she had to guide each of us to a seat while addressing each one of us as "Sir" or "Ma'am."  I didn't say anything at the time, but I thought, "I'm pretty sure I'm 18, not 98."  However well-intentioned her gesture was, it struck me as odd and unnecessary.

So, yearbook signing isn't all fun and games...

Despite the benefits of high school yearbooks that I wrote about yesterday, one awkward situation sometimes arises.  A friend remembered someone who asked her to sign her yearbook.  "Why does she want me to sign her yearbook?" my friend thought.  "We've never gotten along all that well."  Stuck for what to write, she spotted an "Elect Steve Jenkins" campaign poster nearby.  She wrote, "Elect Steve Jenkins," in the other girl's yearbook and handed it back to her.  Shortly after reading it, the girl confronted her.  "Why did you write, 'Elect Steve Jenkins?!'" she demanded.  "What do you have against me?  What's wrong with you?!"

I still contend that, more often than not, it's fun to sign other people's yearbooks.  Every now and then, however...

Christmas cards and yearbooks

I've always enjoyed writing on Christmas cards as much as I liked signing people's yearbooks when I was in high school.  In both cases, you have the chance to tell people you admire that they're in your thoughts and that you respect them.  It's also interesting to read the feedback you get in return.  Someone once wrote in my yearbook, "I'm glad we finally met this year, as I had heard many stories about your bohemian personality prior to actually meeting you."  Another favorite autograph read, "I know you'll go far in this world, and if you don't, make up one of your own.  I could only say something like that to you because only you would understand it."  It was a pleasure to respond in kind to both of those people and many others like them.  Regardless of how independent you think you are, it's always nice to be appreciated.

Baffling hostility toward the ostrich

It's probably best not to to read one of Snapple's "real facts" on a bottle cap when you've just gotten up and aren't wearing glasses.  At first, I thought I read, "An ostrich's brain is smaller than its ego."  Then, I put my glasses on and woke up a little more.  I saw that the fact actually reads, "An ostrich's brain is smaller than its eye."  I'm glad I gave that fact a second glance.  I wouldn't want to think that Snapple or any other company is anti-ostrich.

World ending? Advance notice is considerate.

The priest had never ended Mass this way before.  Ordinarily, he would end Mass with a standard closing such as, "This mass has ended.  Let us go in peace."  One day, however, he departed from the usual text.  Turning gravely serious, he said, "And, if this is to be our last day on Earth, may we go in peace..."

At age 11, I couldn't help wondering, "Did God say something to him about the world ending?  If he tipped him off about the world's imminent demise, it would have been good to know that before today."

No desire to be done with Christmas

I knew someone in the radio business who said he liked to "take all of the Christmas decorations down on December 26 and just be done with it."  I can't fathom that.  According to my bent-to-my-own-reality calendar, the Christmas season doesn't end until at least March 1 most years.

The serenity of Christmas, in the moment

December 25, 2005: Peaceful, easygoing Sammy under the Christmas tree.

Around 4 a.m. today, I stood at the entrance/exit of a parking garage looking at a Christmas tree and many shimmering lights in the distance.  I didn't feel in a hurry to go anywhere.  I just wanted to take in the serene feeling of the holiday.  It's a shame that peaceful feeling can't be bottled for times outside of Christmas.

Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it.