Travel Musings

Made a trip to a former church to help celebrate a member's life, and so some notes ensue:

1) You can live a mighty full life and make a mighty big difference even if you spend most of your time in one county in a mostly rural corner of a mostly rural state. Nice to know.

2) I miss those folks.

3) I do not miss the length of the drive, or the H.E. Bailey Turnpike -- a road which I have previously described as "paved in Braille."

4) Always nice to visit a store you haven't seen in awhile to browse the used music selection. Although I'm somewhat torn. On the one hand, my willingness to take a chance on a band that looks interesting increases dramatically when the CD costs me ninety-seven cents. I have found many an unknown gem this way. On the other hand, I feel kind of bad, because if I'd paid attention to them when the CD was released, their catalog might not be filling the remainder bin today. If only there were some venue that could play certain songs by a wide range of artists in some fashion that allowed you to sample the output of new or previously unknown performers. It could be free to listeners, but supported perhaps by advertising revenue. And it could be broadcast, so that people could listen in homes, at work, or in their cars. When will some creative genius produce such a system?

5) Some modern artist has seen fit to add his or her colorful work to the words of Tacitus and Ronald Reagan displayed on a highway billboard. They are illegible, which one might think would defeat the purpose of either commentary by or notoriety for the tagger. But at least the self was expressed! And probably esteemed.