Latitudes and Attitudes

Many friends are already blowing in to San Jose for the 2012 US National Figure Skating Championships. I still have a few days to go before I arrive.

I was trying to think of an appropriate blog for this annual rite of passage. There is a lot that needs to get done, both at home and work, before we board the Big Bird to SJC. Once there, it won't be a marathon; we will be in full sprint mode. This is NOT a vacation by any stretch of the imagination, but there wasn't a place on my time card to mark "Five days off for insanity, after which I'll need a break."

This all leads me to my usual 3AM mental wake up call.

After spending the better portion of Friday night sending and receiving a flurry of emails, texts and messages on Twitter and Facebook regarding plans for San Jose, I tried to set my mind on cruise control and get some sleep. Early this morning, after dreaming about thunder storms and tornadoes carrying our house away, I woke up with a song stuck in my head. I don't know how it got there, but as I found myself randomly humming it over the course of today's pre-trip shopping frenzy, I realized why my subconscious had struck up the band. With apologies to my former Old Snowmass neighbor, here is a minor adjustment to his lyrics:

I took off for a weekend last month

Just to try and recall the whole year

All of the faces and all of the places

Wonderin where they all disappeared

I didn't ponder the question too long

I was hungry and went out for a bite

Ran into a chum with a bottle of rum

And we wound up drinkin all night

Its these changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes

Nothing remains quite the same

With all of our running and all of our cunning

If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane

Reading departure signs in some big airport

Reminds me of the places Ive been

Visions of good times that brought so much pleasure

Makes me want to go back again

If it suddenly ended tomorrow

I could somehow adjust to the fall

Good times and riches and son of a bitches

Ive seen more than I can recall

With these changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes

Nothing remains quite the same

With all of my running and all of my cunning

If I couldn't laugh I just would go insane

If we couldn't laugh we just would go insane

If we weren't all crazy we would go insane