Parking Garage Comedy

Kids. They're fun.

Especially when they think they know everything.

News Flash: They don't.

Headed back to the parking garage ground level where we were parked (the kids were on the third level), they called out they'd meet us in a minute and to follow them. Suddenly, while waiting in the car for what seemed like an inordinate amount of time, the cell phone rang.

"Well ... we have a problem" I thought I heard from the driver's side of the car as my better half answered her phone. "Zeke left his keys in the car. They're locked in inside."

The suggestion was put out there: "Just call AAA."

"Can you call for me? He doesn't have AAA and I left my card at home. I don't carry it with me. Besides, my phone is almost dead and I'll probably get cut off in the middle of talking to them ..."

"Don't you have a spare key for the car? We could run you home and grab it ..."

"He has one but it's locked in the car, too. He keeps it in there so he doesn't forget it ..."

Kids. They're a barrel of laughs.

We drove up to the third level of the garage where they were stranded. That's when the comedy (for us, at least) really kicked in to high gear.

"How did you leave your keys in the car?" I asked Zeke.

"I thought I had them. They're in the ignition ..."

"In the ignition?!? Really?!? Don't you check to see if you have your keys before you get out of the car? Or at least before you lock it?"

"Well ... not this time ..."

"And your spare ... it's in the car as well?"

"Yep. You know ... so I don't forget it ..." The sheepish look of embarrassment from him became even more so.

"Good plan there ..." I commented.

"And why don't you have your AAA card handy? You should keep that in your purse wherever you go just in case," mother queried daughter.

"Well, I never need it ..."

That response tripped one of my favorite little triggers. "That's why you shouldn't use the word 'never' ..." It was time for her to dole out a sheepish look, quicker than you could blink.

"If I just had something like a hanger to jimmy the lock I could probably open the door ..." Zeke commented.

"Better response: If you would have made sure you had your keys with you prior to locking your car doors, we could be on the road already to our next destination ..." I noted.

Kids.

.......... Ruprecht ( STOP )

Poor Fred

Much to his chagrin, Fred chose the wrong date for the evening ...

.......... Ruprecht ( STOP )

Talk, Talk 2

You have to wonder how, sometimes, words twist to the point they're interpreted in a completely different manner than originally intended.

While it can be the power and the passion with which they're delivered, just the same tossing them to the wind with a lackadaisicalness can promote unintentional and detrimental feedback. 

It happens all the time. Reviews and critiques from the media. An interpretation of some television or radio ad. The way something comes across in a print article.

Good intentions skewed awry.

I found myself on the giving (and receiving end) of such "a twist" much to my chagrin. And, while it caused consternation, discussion and a couple apologies, it rounded out with something I say continuously:

You don't learn from your successes,
you learn from your mistakes.

Interestingly enough, I had dreams last night of being unable to reproduce lyrics to various Bachman-Turner Overdrive and Loggins & Messina songs I was recording in a studio somewhere. (Hey ... I can dream, can't I?) So ... the lyrics below - courtesy of Stan Ridgway - work perfectly :

"Now when the world is over, clocks run outta wind

Somebody will scrape through the ruins and find

A little picture of you and in a file they found

Sayin' 'Just a little too smart for a big dumb town' ..."

- "Big Dumb Town"

"Trees are tall and grass is green

One's alone and two's a team

Play guitar and make a scene

Read about it in a magazine.

"Tired of playin' what to be?

Friend is now an enemy

Slam a door and break a glass

From there to here has gone too fast."

- "Gone The Distance"

"He took a drive down the coast highway

Blowin' where the air was fresh and clean

He had a plan that said 'I'll do it my way'

but he could not plan for what he couldn't see ..."

- "Down The Coast Highway"

.......... Ruprecht ( won't ever STOP putting his foot in his mouth* )

* And this is okay. Because, if that ever happened, it would be a really boring life.