I’m not a happy person. Oh, I laugh all the time at and with my students. My cat busts me up. The kid and wife even have their moments, too. I’ve watched some stand-up comedy lately on cable tv, and many of the comedians have busted me up. I am funny, know what’s funny, and can laugh at myself and others, with varying results.
But, COME ON, people. How is everyone so darned happy these days? Is it President Trump making America great again? Is it the stock market at all-time highs for rich people to make more money? Is it everyone moving to the South Bay to add to our lovely traffic? Is it those commercials with Matthew McConaughey driving Lincolns (alright, those ARE amazing)? Has the Disney vault let loose some new movies? Is Kendall Jenner being wooed by Coke now?
I don’t know what it is, but everywhere I turn, people are having the best time. Maybe they have a nice car with a kicking stereo system to blast Josh Groban or Taylor Swift on their ways to work. Maybe their job is “cushy,” while others at their job languish in labor. Once again–dunno.
But I do know something, for I am old. It’s a ruse. People are full of crap. Just because you might not be happy doesn’t mean you’re not in the right club.
The wife and I once stayed in a McMenamin’s property in Portland. They had two bars. One was the “Honors Bar,” while the other was the “Detention Bar.” I may have been an Honors kid, but I’m going to the Detention Bar. Because if I have to look at another winky-tink with that pitiful smile of oblivion on his or her face, it will be too soon.
The Force Awakens is not a great movie. Nor is Jurassic World. They are both in the Top 5 all-time for gross ticket sales. What on Earth are you smiling about, and why on Earth do you think these movies are good? Um, Netflix and chill? No. Netflix and have an opinion.
This is not Shakespeare. No longer are there “daggers in men’s smiles.” There’s just teeth. Plenty of them, too.