If you are looking for a trip report or review or seeking advice on collecting frequent travel loyalty program miles and points, this is the wrong article to read, as I am simply imparting some stuff — read random thoughts — on my mind.
If you do read this article, it is at your own risk. You have been warned.
Stuff On My Mind Which Has Nothing to Do With Travel — September 2017
Houston, Barbuda, Dominica, Puerto Rico, Mexico City, Cabo San Lucas, Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos islands, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, most of the state of Florida, and portions of the states of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas, Louisiana and Tennessee: with storms such as Harvey, Irma, Katia, Maria and earthquakes — does the past month seem like one major disaster after another?
My thoughts and prayers go to all of the people in all of the places listed above.
The Equifax debacle teaches that an entity — which you never even had a say in safeguarding your most sensitive information — can abuse your trust and cause you to fend for yourself to protect yourself…
…and now the scammers and the schemers are coming out of the woodwork to legally or illegally attempt to take advantage of this mess — hoping to profit by scaring you at no matter the cost to you.
How nice.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.Gasoline prices had no problem jumping up as much as 60 cents per gallon in one day — yes, because of Hurricane Harvey, which devastated much of the gulf coast of Texas — but now they are decreasing ever so slowly, with some fuel stations dropping prices as little as a penny per gallon every few days.
Why does the price for a gallon of gasoline usually shoot up but slowly “float down” — even when no natural disaster is the cause?
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.I do not understand something: people all over the world seem to be fascinated with blinking lights — yet many of them do not use their turn signals while driving. Why is that?!?
Am I the only person on this planet who thinks that there is nothing special about the new iPhones and watches recently released by Apple?
Photograph ©2014 by Brian Cohen.My mother — may she rest in peace — was a smart woman. Her solution to avoiding war was instead of sending thousands of members of the military to risk their lives in order to win, just send the leaders of each country to battle in a boxing ring. Whoever wins, wins the war. No innocent people are killed.
Imagine this theory being applied to the latest war on words between Donald Trump of the United States and Kim Jong-un of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which is the official name of North Korea. Just let them duke it out in a boxing ring.
On second thought, do not imagine it: the image in your mind about both of them wearing boxing trunks in the ring might not be easy to erase and may cause nightmares…
If Gary Leff of View From The Wing were to open a restaurant, this would be it, as it has the perfect name for him.
The restaurant is called L’Effervescence; and it is located in Tokyo. Owning this restaurant could be his next career move if View From The Wing ever gets shut down.
All right, I know — there is an apostrophe in the name of the restaurant, alluding to a French name. Why should that not count — especially when the apostrophe is not in the URL of the official Internet web site of the restaurant?
Ask René deLambert of René’s Points, who has been the subject of the controversial missing apostrophe in the name of his weblog.
Vehicles line up at a traffic light to turn left onto on access ramp to the eastbound lanes of Sultan Qaboos Street in Muscat. Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.Speaking of turn signals: whenever I am stopped behind another car and we are both intending to turn, the turn signals of both vehicles are never synchronized — even if the two cars are the same model from the same year. One turn signal always blinks or flashes faster than the other. Why does that happen?
Source: Baz Brothers Production.I am proud to announce that the latest movie in which I have a minor role — and that was just fine with me — is being released through digital platforms and limited cable television nationwide as of Saturday, November 4, 2017.
The movie is called Making Moves. I had the same role in the first iteration of this movie greater than nine years ago; but it never was completed. I am one of the very few actors who was in both productions. Attending the red carpet premiere of this film was surreal to me — people were constantly photographing me; and I think one person even asked for my autograph.
I have worked with Jeff Bazile — who is the writer, director and co-executive producer of this movie — of Baz Brothers Production on several projects; and I enjoyed working with him on every production. He deserves all of the success which comes his way after the hard work he put into this movie.
I also enjoyed working with the cast as well, as it was my pleasure working with them. They are good people.
Just be aware that if you are interested in watching this movie, it contains profanity, adult situations, and violence.
Speaking of people named Gary: is Gary short for Garold — like Harry is for Harold? Perhaps Gary is short for Gawrence, like Larry is short for Lawrence? Did you know that Barry is short for Irish names such as Barrfind and Finnbarr — so would you find Gary in a bar?
I did not know about the origin of the name Barry — which basically means fair haired — until I wrote this article; so I just learned something new myself.
Speaking of apostrophes, an apostrophe is little more than a comma which is currently high…
…like you must think I am after reading this article.
Speaking of first names, what about Ed, Ted and Fred? If Ed is short for Edward — as in Edward Pizzarello of Pizza in Motion — then is Ted short for Tedward and Fred short for Fredward?
Of course not. Ted is short for Theodore; so therefore Fred must be short for Freodore and Ed would be short for Eodore — which sounds like the name of the sad character who is a friend of Winnie the Pooh…
…or if Fred is short for Frederick, then is Ted short for Tederick and Ed short for Ederick?
I am hoping that I did not cause anyone named Gary, Harry, Larry, Barry, Ed, Ted and Fred to become short about their names being shortened…
Graphic ©2016 by Brian Cohen.Quotation marks are what happens when apostrophes get married — at least, the ones shaped like 99s; and not necessarily the ones shaped like 66s.
I am not even going to talk about what probably happens when a single one shaped like a 6 gets near one shaped like a 9…
Summary
This article is the second of a loose series of articles where I speak my mind — no matter how strange and inane are my thoughts.
The first article is found here. Do yourself a favor and do not click to read it…
Graphic ©2016 by Brian Cohen.
