Leigh's Views

Now I know there must be someone out there who loves Christmas music. How do I know this? Because it seems that every radio station in the country has decided to play Christmas music and only Christmas music. It’s not like I’m a Scrooge or a Grinch. I don’t mind the occasional holiday song or two. But come on, hours and hours on end? And this really became a problem when I ended up on a 7 hour road trip in a vehicle without a CD player. There we were with no option but to listen to the radio or each other. We didn't know each other well enough to fill the void. Thus, we ended up being so desperate even country or rap music would’ve been better than another version of ‘Jingle Bell Rock’. Or ‘White Christmas’. Or ‘Rudolf the red nosed reindeer’. Or ‘Silver bells’. Or whatever other song we heard. However, we didn’t have any luck. It seemed every station had gone to the dark side. Over and over again, some DJ would proudly announce, “We’re the home for your holiday favorites until...

So I was having coffee with a friend the other day. All of a sudden, she makes a statement to the effect of how she’s driven nuts because I talk so fancy. Uhm, not sure what’s up with that. Now I know I sound nothing like 90% of the people around me – I’m not southern and it shows. So, is this like how everyone equates an English accent to being sexy? But, somehow I doubt my lack of a Southern accent sounds even remotely fancy, therefore, it must be something else. Okay, I’ll bite. I go ahead and ask what she means by this declaration. “You find a way of using big words in every sentence and make it look easy. Plus, you never swear. Cause, I’m not counting your use of ‘fudge’ every once in a while.” Wow, who knew that was all it took to speak eloquently? Fine, sure, I’m well read and thus, have a rather extensive vocabulary and apparently I can use said vocabulary without even batting an eyelash. As for not cursing every other word, as most Americans are prone to do, sorry, I wasn’t ...

Now I remember the days when parents would say things like “I’m going to slap you into next week.” Or, “I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it.” Well, you just can’t say that anymore – it’s child abuse.   Before you jump all over me, I know abuse is a serious issue and should be treated as such.   However, what I’m talking about here is discipline.   When you knew your parents were serious and you stopped what you were doing before you got punished – usually.   Well, you apparently can’t do anything to keep kids in line anymore – it’s a free-for-all out there.   The reason I mention this is because of what I witnessed at a mall over the weekend. Wanting to relax, maybe find an item or two, I made the mistake of daring to enter a mall.   As I walked through a department store, I began to realize there was something amiss.   Several children, without parental units anywhere in sight, were wandering aimlessly.   They were pullin...

Okay, I was visiting a new town. Wandering around as I like to do. More than a little bit lost. However, I wasn’t minding since I was finding some very interesting things, buildings, people, sights, sounds. It didn’t matter if I didn’t find what I was actually looking for – there was, after all, tomorrow. Then I noticed a guy with a cart walking my way. He seemed rather out of place with his shopping cart, but who am I to judge? When he gets right up to me, he stopped and asked if I would like a loaf of bread. Uhm, what am I going to do with a loaf of bread? There was no way I could eat it before I leave town and I would have to buy something to go with it. Nope, bread would complicate by life beyond measure at that moment. Thus, my reply was thanks but no thanks. Then he started the hard sell. Ah, but it’s fresh, artisan and free. ‘We’ are just trying to spread some love this holiday. By using the royal ‘we’ did he mean there was a roving band of bread guys around town? Was I goin...