The Absurdity of It All

This is one of the new screens installed at the gym during the otherwise excellent renovation in 2023. Apparently, four giant multi-paneled screens were not enough so they squeezed in 10 more. And also, apparently, aspect ratio settings don’t matter or are too hard to fix.

I spend too much time attending to tedious technical problems, so I’m not going to look up how they could fix this.

At least basketball players are supposed to be tall.

Really? Jury duty is what has been planned for my 64th birthday in 2024.

Maybe they will cancel or toss me out of the jury box during the selection process (which happened years ago).

I can dream but can’t plan that much ahead of time for this year.

2024 promises to be an absurd year.

On the surface, this looks innocent. These bound notebooks have really, really nice paper. So very nice that I’m afraid to ruin them by using them. They’ve been sitting in my study for years and years.

Of course, this is absurd.

Am I the only one who can’t let go, let it rip, messiness and all, and ‘ruin’ beautiful paper bound in a book format?

Let’s admit that the blank page can be terrifying, at least.

That is also absurd.

There is a name for our propensity to see faces in things and it’s pareidolia.

This old, heavy-eyed dude lives in our neighborhood, whistling along with the traffic on the parkway, unheard.

*******

Perhaps our brains are built to allow for and to create absurdity.

Perhaps it’s a simple gift of pausing–a gift of seeing and noticing and jotting it down.

Perhaps dipping into the absurd helps us shoulder circumstances that plop in our lap, invited or not.

*******

Good-bye for now 2023.

I’m sure to see you in my dreams.