Some people use the left side of their brain. Others use the right side. Mr. Mustachio prefers to defy the norm and use only the thin layer of the brain that separates the two sides. With a normal level of abnormality in his thoughts and opinions, Mr. Mustachio will attempt to put those into words for the viewing public. Do not be afraid of his love of Ponch and 80's T.V. shows. Actually, you may want to be a little scared.
I am thankful for Subway. About 25 pounds ago, I thought people with their pants hanging below their buttocks were a bunch of young punks who were boycotting belts. I have started to realize recently that maybe they have just dropped a bunch of weight and haven't had time to get better fitting clothes. A while back I finally started feeling like my ankle was as good as it was going to get. I realized that I could stand to drop a few pounds, so I decided to actually start working toward getting back into shape. More than anything, I knew that I needed to start changing my eating habits. It wasn't going to be easy to limit the late night runs to Tommy's, and I knew that I would get some flack for drinking white water (a.k.a. skim milk), but it was something that needed to be done to reverse my progression toward becoming Augustus Gloop. I think the one thing that gave me the final push was Subway. I knew that I could eat healthy and actually like what I ate (Thanks for all that advertising, Jared). Even at Subway, I had to make some changes to what I ate. I went from ordering The Joshua (Meatball with pickles, olives, lettuce, mustard, mayo, avocado on Italian bread) to Cold Cut Combos, Sweet Onion Teriyaki, or Black Forest Ham on wheat. After making changes to my diet I added some almost daily exercise and I have turned my former plumpness into a chiseled model of exquisiteness. I know this to be the case, because every pool party I get invited to requests that I wear my Speedo. The downfall to all of this is that I can't seem to keep my pants on, but nobody seems to be complaining. So, I am thankful for Subway.
I am thankful for wisdom. I like to think that there is a difference between intelligence and wisdom. People who are intelligent are smart, but people who are wise tend to use their smarts for a few laughs. I'm pretty sure that is where the term wise guys came from (ask Encyclopedia Britannica). Today we went to the funeral of my great uncle Gary (I also think that old people came up with the idea of adding great to the front of older relatives job titles. Because, can the father of the father of the father of your father really be great enough that it has to be stated more than once?). Back to Gary. I would consider him to be a wise guy. I remember a time when my brother Jed and I went to our grandmother's (Gary's sister) house to install a ceiling fan for her. Gary lived in the house in front of her and was interested in seeing how we were going to get this task accomplished. He wasn't the only one, considering that neither Jed nor myself had ever done it before. I remember him being in the room with us and asking us what tools we were going to use and wanting to know what our plans were. We pretty much told him we were going to learn as we went. He then disappeared for a short time. I think it was because he knew that we were going to be dealing with electrical wires and he didn't want to get blamed for anything. When he came back to check on us he seemed quite surprised to see that we had replaced the light fixture with the fan and were in the process of just attaching the blades. After having attached two of the blades, Jed asked me to hit the switch to see if it would work (we hadn't tested anything up to this point, because it really didn't say to in the instructions that were in what I assumed was German). Gary stood there watching our little brains think this idea over briefly and then stepped out of the doorway. Jed was still up on the ladder as I flipped the switch. What happened next was quite a funny thing to watch, unless you were somebody on top of a ladder with a couple of fan blades swooping down at your head at a high rate of speed. I don't know which law of physics was responsible for the fan doing that when all the blades weren't attached, but I learned not to do that the next time I installed a ceiling fan. Jed was immediately yelling to turn it off and Gary stood there with a look of "I knew that was going to happen on his face." When I think of Gary, I think of that story. Gary was a wise guy and I am thankful for wisdom.
I am thankful for music. My life would be so boring without music. Could you imagine driving to work every morning without music? Would I be able to actually run in the morning without my ipod blaring Jamiroquai? What would we do in the middle of the 7th inning without music? How lame would films be without the score? How deprived would the world be if there wasn't music for me to dance to. I have only one musical talent: the ability to listen to it and usually enjoy it. The only college class I ever stopped going to was guitar. I was asked to take singing more seriously and stop messing around while trying to sing in a church choir (I was actually trying my best). So, I just stick to listening. I always have some song stuck in my head at any given time. Currently I have a spoof song in my head from when the Jonas Brothers hosted Saturday Night Live ("I was struck by lightning!" is doing non-stop loops in my head). I think the thing I like most about music is the memories that can be associated with certain songs. I know I am not the only person who hears a song and is immediately transported back in time. Everybody has certain songs that remind them of some thing or some one. Here are a few of mine:
Toto-Africa: This song reminds me of Disneyland. I remember being a youngster and waiting in line for Space Mountain. A cover band was performing and they played this song. From then on whenever I hear it I think of Disneyland.
Malcolm Mclaren-Buffalo Gals: This song reminds me of the days of break dancing and being care free. Those were the times when you would sit next to the radio with your tape recorder on pause. You waited for the right moment when your song was coming on the radio to unpause it. Hopefully the DJ didn't talk all the way up to the lyrics.
Men at Work-It's a Mistake: This song reminds me of my brother Jed. The video features the often forgotten Eagle Force toys. We had these and played with them in forts we built with Lincoln Logs. Men at Work was my favorite band of the 80's, so it also reminds me of my early childhood.
The Penguins-Earth Angel: The first time I can remember slow dancing with a girl was while this song was playing. It was at a friend's birthday party. I think this was probably in 5th or 6th grade. The song was playing from a juke box.
A Tribe Called Quest-Can I Kick It?: This song reminds me of my cousin, Tyson. My cousins probably don't know that they were responsible for introducing me to a few music groups. Yaz and They Might Be Giants come to mind, but A Tribe Called Quest was by far the best. I'm sure I probably would have discovered them later (After all, they are my favorite rap group.), but Tyson was the first person to play this for me.
Chris de Burgh-Lady in Red: This song reminds me of youth dances at church. There were a lot of frequently played slow songs, but for some reason I associate this one with pressure of walking up to girls and asking them to dance. I don't even think this was a very popular song outside of the church dance world. I hardly ever hear it these days.
Keith Sweat-Nobody: This song reminds me of a trip to Magic Mountain with a bunch of my friends during my high school years. Somehow this got stuck in somebody's head. As the day went by it had attacked every one's brain. By closing time we had serenaded many a lady with this song while waiting in line for rides. Who can love you like me? Nobody.
Shakira-Antologia: This is our song, so of course it reminds me of Sara. But it also reminds me of when we were still dating. When it was just she and I. When she was my whole world. Before all of the kids and responsibilities of growing up. It reminds me of our young love.
Wilfrido Vargas-El Venao: This song reminds me of my time spent in Ecuador. There are a lot of songs that remind me of that time, but this song always baffled me. It was tremendously popular (It seemed to be playing on just about every bus we got on.) I just remember listening to the chorus and thinking that it would never really translate in English. Could you imagine a song asking people not to call you a deer? Then again that was before people like Master P and T-Pain came around. Now I believe people will listen to just about anything.
The Smiths-Girlfriend in a Coma: Whenever I hear this song I am reminded of a time being in a van with a bunch of friends. We were all "manly", "jocks" and this song came on. Every one of us not only knew the lyrics, but we sang out loud. Then the song ended. There was a brief pause and we never discussed it again.
The Killers-Somebody Told Me: This song reminds me of Skyler. This was the first song I can remember her actually singing the lyrics to. It was at that point that I made sure to pay attention to the lyrics of whatever songs I was playing in the car.
Kid and Play-2 Hype: This whole album reminds me of my brother Knick. We had this on constant rotation. Knick was pretty young, but he started reciting some of the lyrics. I think our favorite to hear him sing was 2 Hype.
Pearl Jam-Black: This reminds me of my time spent working at the Post Office. It was my first job after high school. I had to be there super early, but that didn't keep me from staying up super late. So, when I got home I would be pretty tanked. I would put Ten in the CD player, put on the head phones and lay down for a good nap. As a side note, Ten is one of the albums that I listen to from beginning to end without skipping a song.
This list could go on and on, but I think I'll stop here. What songs take you back to another place? This is the song that I currently hope to hear on the radio:
