Sir Edmund Hillary, Monty Python, and George Harrison

It's getting into the evening and I'm sitting here, post-search. I was looking for the business card of an artist/friend. I thought I'd lost it for good when it popped up as the book marker for a book I'm reading. Actually, I'm re-reading it. Have you read, The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz? If you haven't, you should.

My search took me through my planner in which I jot down notes to myself. These are things friends have said that I want to remember and things I've said I want to remember; a few good ideas, or things that seemed like good ideas at the time. So, here are some of these notations as they appear in the chaos that's my planner, with additional notations in parentheses added today in a miserable attempt at clarification:


"It engenders panic in the masses." (a statement from a friend who loves conspiracy theories)

"I think the mistake a lot of us make is thinking the state-appointed shrink is our friend." (a favorite Jack Handy saying)

"Silent Opera House" - a Gus Heinze painting

Scalar standing-wave points within a morphogenetic field (don't ask)

Rid yourself of excess baggage to which you cling as some sort of support or means of comfort. (astrological advice I thought worth writing down)

"The Darjeeling Limited" - Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody

Crossing the monkeybars

Learning to love the fool in me

Clark Gable's tombstone

37 million people living in Tokyo

Red Skelton wrote every day

"How Krispy Kreme Lost Its Way"

Bucky and The Ferret storyline in Get Fuzzy

"You mean, I've got to water these two sticks?" (a friend, referring to a non-blooming orchid)

If I had a scanner (as opposed to a hammer)

Primal Order of the Dimensionalized Universal Manifestation Template

"Eating oatmeal, listening to Tom Waits." (a friend's response to the question, 'What are you doing?')

A simple twist of fate (thinking about a camping trip just off Highway 61 on the north shore of Lake Superior, thus the Bob Dylan reference)


I thought I'd write about one of them but my mind wandered and next thing I knew I was thinking about Sir Edmund Hillary, the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest, with his Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay (calm down you Mallory/Irvine fans). I've always thought he seemed like a really cool guy (no pun intended). Plus, I found this great video on YouTube - a 1953 newsreel of the return to Kathmandu shortly after their accomplishment.

As you know, one thing leads to another and suddenly I was watching a Monty Python video, "Hairdresser's Expedition On Everest," which lead to a bit they did at a George Harrison tribute several years back called, "Sit On My Face," which led to watching George, my favorite Beatle, in his concert for Bangladesh. And that's how you spend an afternoon.

Here's a brief newsreel. I Love old footage.