last day

So here we are.

Throughout my entire course of being, I’ve repeatedly heard and read the phrase Live each day like it’s the last day of your life. It’s the stuff of chat shows and greeting cards and bumper stickers, this supposedly inspirational statement, giving us all the power to do what we really want to do with our limited time here on Earth, unencumbered by our fears. 

It’s a really lousy idea.

don't worry

So here we are.

Please, dear reader(s), I beg you not to worry. I’m serious. I know that you’re all concerned about what could happen to me in the coming weeks, but I want to put your minds at ease:

I am probably not going to be named Pope.

be mine

So here we are.

Today is the day after Valentine’s Day. The day of reckoning. 

Just yesterday millions of people asked the question: will you be mine? They asked it via greeting cards and engraved chalky candy hearts and rose petals and all sorts of red and pink crap that’s half-price now. Some didn’t even ask. They just stated it bluntly: Be Mine.

And today, those who answered yes are living with that reply. Your Valentine owns you now. You have been bought with a Russell Stover heart and/or dinner. Now what?

Here are some possible answers to that:

understood

So here we are.

There is a force in the world, and certainly in America, that I like to call Understood Culture. It’s the massive generalization of where all of our pop culture lies in the lens of history. A gentlemen’s agreement, if you will, about what is Good and what is Bad. It’s made up of countless archived reviews and articles and lists -- holy crap, so very many lists -- of the Best and Worst Thises and the Best and Worst Thats, distilled into the common knowledge that becomes Understood Culture. 

yes or no

So here we are.

A friend of mine had a conundrum. He was asked a yes or no question, and yet it really wasn’t that simple:

Do you love [me]?

The brackets are there for a reason. The brackets represent the name of an app. That is correct. An app asked him this question.