There are many generous people in this world; people who would give the shirt off their back, or at least pull one out of the hamper, if you needed it. I have been privileged to know such people. Thankfully I’ve never found myself in need of their shirt, but they have graciously offered encouragement at times when reality has taken its toll on me.
It seems to be happening to many of us lately. We struggle to find answers, try to make our way in this world with some dignity, hold on to a bit of sanity. Some days fighting the good fight, well, it sucks. Some days it’s all we can do to just breathe and make a peanut butter sandwich. I know this.
Posts here have focused on some difficult realities. Atrocities that make us mad, sad, and terrified that this is in fact our reality. The reality of the future. When we realize it is also the reality of the past, well, it sucks. We need to do something, but what? We want to say something, but only if it doesn’t make anyone uncomfortable, create tension or attract unwanted attention. WHAT?! SERIOUSLY?!
And then…someone with dignity to spare, and a bit more sanity, threw me a lifeline. Thanks Allan for redirecting my focus and helping me to remember to laugh at myself.
Yippee!
Allan Smorra at Ohm Sweet Ohm passed along the REALITY BLOG AWARD to me and a few other bloggers we both follow. No matter how you may feel about blog awards, it is humbling when someone such as Allan, with an arsenal of talent, says that they find your blog to be an inspiration. So, here are my answers to Allan’s questions.
1) If you could change one thing, what would you change?
I would change the location of highway on-ramps. Yeah, they should not be located near off-ramps. That’s right! Traffic should not merge on and off the interstate in the same lane. Am I the only person who knows this?
Merge right. No, left. No, right!
2) If you could repeat an age, what age would it be?
Hmmm, tough choice. The ice age with all of those woolly mammoth carcasses everywhere, the stone age when everyone smelled like goat or the bronze age, well, really more like burnt sienna…Nah! If it’s a number you’re asking for, I think age 100. Yeah, the age when I bungee jump and get a tattoo might be worth repeating.
3) What one thing really scares you?
Reincarnation. Screwing up this life so badly that I have to come back and live in a car. Very scary.
This Sucks!
4) What’s one dream you haven’t completed and do you think you’ll be able to complete it?
A world without laundry has always been a dream of mine. Yes, it would be totally possible with a RepRap 3D printer. Imagine leaving a design on a printer at bedtime and waking to a new outfit every morning. At the end of the day, just throw it in the recycle!
It’s like the Elves and the Shoemaker, only with dresses!
5) If you could be someone else for one day, who would it be?
This must be a trick question. So, I’ll answer it with a question of my own. Why in the world would I ever want to be anyone else?
Thanks Allan. I don’t have any nominations for this award, but Black Box Warnings is one hell of a reality blog whose contributors were generous and courageous.
Honie Briggs 
Congratulations Honie on another award. Well deserved. I can always count on you to make me smile. Love the way you look at the work. Love your work!
I actually hope reincarnation is real. I’d love to come back as a cat. A fat, lazy, spoiled cat who sleeps for 21 hours a day. I figure I’ve worked hard enough in this life, I deserve a break!
You should write a book entitled I Wanna Be A Cat Dammit!
Completely well earned and well answered! Congratulations
My worst nightmare would be to not only be reincarnated, but to come back as a laundry room attendant. Congrats on the award!
Oh, that would suck.
Well done Honie at keeping it real ….. And funny.
Always. Thanks S.W.
Congrats on your award, Honie. We live in a metro area plagued with clover leafs and shared interchanges. I’m always amazed that there aren’t more car accidents, especially since drivers here can be very aggressive. Good luck to that bungee jump in you 100th year – you’ll give bag of bones a whole new meaning!
It seems most of the cities where we’ve lived/worked have at least one malfunction junction. Five minutes can make all the difference between making it to work on time and sitting in a traffic jam because of one careless driver.
Yeah, bag-o-bones HA! Just cut the cord and let me float on down the river!
I am so with you on the on-ramp/off-ramp thing. I might not have felt so strongly until today when I drove into the Dallas Gift Mart – holy freaking cow! Give me back my Ozarks hairpin turns! This is insane! Congrats!! You so deserve it!!
Of all the places we have lived, Texas has the most screwed up highway system. Welcome to the jungle!
I also don’t understand why the ramps are so high in the air – it’s freaky.
Those are called fly-overs and they give the illusion that traffic is moving, but when you get to the end-yeah, parking lot.
Their undulations look like roller coasters, only not as fast.
The exit ramps need to be BEFORE the entrance ramps, not after. Voila! Problem solved! Now, why no one else realized this and made the ramps the correct way… I have only one guess: women weren’t involved. Men love the adrenaline of wondering if they will live, women, well… we just want to get there in one piece, thank you very much.
“Some days it’s all we can do to just breathe and make a peanut butter sandwich. I know this.” –a favorite line.
I am so with you on the on ramp and off ramps. The only good thing about their proximity is when I take the wrong exit and want to get right back on the interstate. For that, they’re handy. 🙂
I have actually seen drivers backing up on the interstate when they’ve missed their exit. How insane is that?
Very!
Honie,
Royalty is back. You wouldn’t argue with a man with a broken back.
Congratulations, friend, and many thanks for the Black Box Warnings nod.
Eric
Dear Broke Back Eric,
You’ll get no argument from me.
BBW gets nods, hugs, the shirt out of my hamper, but not my tiara.
Yours Royally,
Honie
Congrats on your award, Honie! You write beautiful posts, sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, always interesting and worth reading. The idea of reincarnation scares the King’s Speech out of me too—the idea of coming back here and doing all this again? Nope, nope, nope. Not at all appealing to me.
Madame, thank you for being such an encouragement to me. Your support means a great deal and I KNOW! F! I’d rather spit shine the devil’s shoes than do this over again.
Honie, welcome back! Emailed you and I was beginning to get a little worried. Glad to know you’re back and congrats on the award. Happy weekend!
Hey there Brigitte. I’m still here. Just didn’t want to infect the blogosphere with menopause Monday and chin whisker Wednesday.
But it’s Friday now….so heeeeeer’s Honie!