BrianJarrett.com

A couple months ago on our way to get haircuts for Orson and me the family stopped for dinner at White Castle since it’s right next door to the salon. When I walked in I saw a really old man sitting at a table, just watching people. He observed us for a while and then he made a few references about how nice our family was and about how lucky I was. I agreed, fleshing out my response with a bit of small talk. He hung around for a while and then came up to us again and started a short conversation. He talked about fighting in World War II, about bombing Germans and lying about his age to join the army.

He told us again how lucky we were, how we had everything. Then he said “I’ve lost everything”. Traci made a empathetic gesture but I wasn’t sure what to say. I was deeply affected. We spoke a bit more and then he strolled around the store for a ten minutes or so, going outside to smoke once or twice before he left. Read more…

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Around the time I turned 35 (and my oldest son turned 4) I started thinking about some of my own experiences from my childhood while I watching my son hard at play with some of his favorite toys. I had a wonderful childhood, at least up until my parents’ divorce in 1983, but my fondest memories are primarily from the 1970s. I was born in 1974 but I have memories all the way back to 1976 (albeit not too many from that young of an age). Most of my memories are from 1978 and on.

I’d been wanting to put together some sort of nostalgia page, something to commemorate the things I liked the most from the 1970s, from the days when I was still young and innocent, before my world was turned upside down and I was forced to grow up way too early. I thought I’d include some of my favorite toys and television shows and anything else that struck my fancy from those days. As I watch my son experience the world for the first time (and now my youngest son doing the same) it reminds me of my own experiences of me doing the same thing. It makes me want to make his experience as special as possible. Read more…

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I ran across a song titled The Fall of George Mallory, written by a band called Gatsby’s American Dream.  Having such an interest in the disappearance and legend of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine I thought I’d post the lyrics here.  The story has also inspired me in many ways.

And the birds eat your insides
clutching the mountain side
(it’s where the day takes you)
Did you think you would try to climb the face?
There’s longing and it breaks you
(synthetic lies)
You’re filling up with concrete

Didn’t miss a breath
When you climbed so high
Did you see your wife and child
And were you ready to die
A million miles away, would you throw it all away?

Simple dreams in the mainstream
Is where the day takes you
Simple dreams in the mainstream
But you just died a million miles from home

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That stupid ShamWow commercial I uploaded to YouTube back in June of last year has been viewed over a million times. And to think that the time I just figured only a few people would even care. Here are the stats as of today:

For more of the same you can also views Vince’s other claim to fame, the Slap Chop. Oh yeah. I guess that hooker he beat up knows the full extent of Vince’s “slap chop”. That joke really just told itself.

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