Which Reminds Me

Yes, I do not remember myself having any appointment to meet you in Washington D.C. I saw the book but it did not seem to have anything to do with me. Why are you calling me? No, obviously nobody was calling me. Wouldn't I just look ridiculous pretending that was about me.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I imagine that you were saying something about those wacky witches in Louisiana, but, Ok, fine, so what do you want from us? It is hard for us to trust them with any personal information when they have been proven to be so stupid. We never really liked their particular brand of stupid, even though they do have lots of money and power. 

Which Reminds Me

Yes, there has always been the rumored idea in our family that there could be an Indian, which is to say a Native American, somewhere in our family tree, although no proof is available to confirm such an idea. My mother's recent DNA test shows only that she is mostly English and Scottish, so nothing there to remark upon. No trace amount was recorded by the DNA people, so probably someone was confused. Besides which, of what use would it be to prove the nearly irrelevant point, given that I am not seeking employment in the casino industry. 

Which reminds me that Cor's friend Joshua Whiskey, at our college, mentioned that he had previously been employed as some type of blackjack dealer at a Las Vegas casino, but probably that would have been before he got saved and decided to attend a Christian college, or at least that is what one would tend to assume to be the case, although I really do not know very much about that.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I imagine that Cheryl would have been such a good leader. She would make David and Timmy go and wash their hands and also behind their ears and then she would inspect their ears to make sure that they had done so. I myself never would have thought of doing that. But Cheryl died at age 12 so she does not have to worry about that.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I vaguely remember that when I was nine years old before falling asleep, rather than counting sheep, I was telling myself a story about a winged fairy who lives and flies around amongst the flowers, perahps inspired by some book. Who did I mention this to? Maybe I was asleep, I do not remember how the story ends. It was only dream anyway, a child thing to be soon forgotten. Who did I mention this to.

w/hich Reminds Me

Yes, perhaps I do wish that I had not said that in the first place, but anyway, why should I compound the error by repeating it again and again in some other context? I think that I should resist the temptation that you present of wasting time going down that useless detour road to nowhere.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I remember that the Childcraft book says that you do not necessarily have to have a special occasion, such as a birthday, to have a party. You can just get your friends together and play games. But that is what happens, or one might expect to happen, at recess anyway, although not at that scary school.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I vaguely remember that Sharon Turner, John's secretary, was saying about John that his wording is always so perfect, that he always uses the most appropriate and mos specific word in every instance. So that was Turner's opinion. All the more astonishing that such a highly respected authority figure should say, but, well, we have to look the other way and not notice how he filled in the blanks that way because we are not that powerful and would be expecting a Ph.D. treatise explaining why are those guys saying that, but the treatise seems to be in short supply.   

Which Reminds Me

Yes, probably the next time I decide to plan a party for myself, I will be required of necessity to discuss this idea first with my mother, who will probably explain to me that it is not a good idea for me to go around inviting people to my imaginary party, because this is actually not a good time for me to be planning a party, even though I read about this in a book, Childcraft. Sometimes when you are eight years old you are not playing with a full deck, not thinking things through, and so just inviting people to my party where the book says that we are going to play games and have lots of fun, does not make it happen, especially when I forgot to explain this to my mother beforehand. I also can think of some persons who would not be invited to any future parties given their extreme attitude about this point. My mother said that when I grow up I will probably laugh about the crazy things that I did when I was a child, so obviously you are not my mother. Needless to say. Obviously.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I suppose that I could launch into some bizarre speech berating this idolmonger Rob for taking away all the dollars and leaving me with these few crumbs. But anyway life is short. I will be dead soon enough and the battle will then be left to some other cat in the bag because later it won't be my problem. I will be gone.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I suppose that you were expecting me to warn you against hitching your star to that worthless Icky Bob (Robert or Robbie) who has seen fit to set himself up as a golden idol before whose pedestal we pathetically wretched slaves are expected to bow and scrape and worship and be fleeced. Everything that the Bible says about idols may be applicable to Bob. But I should not have to explain this. You should already be wary of that if you were really reading the Bible and not some other mythology. It should not be about me.  

Which Reminds Me

Yes, speaking of the Reese pecked syndrome, I can only remember that they were fond of boasting of their facility for flying back and forth across the pond, whatever that meant. I suppose that would really bother the Italians who have to continually struggle to not be deported to Italy, even while berating our U.S. patriotism probably because they are still conflicted about thir owne fascist sympathies of WWII. There might have been something Cartersque about the Jerry Reese family, but I cannot quite recall why I have that impression. It was just a general impression that I cannot quite articulate in so many words.  

Which Reminds Me

Yes, there was something humorous about the way Miss Marken, our 10th grade English teacher, would sometimes begin class with a short bit of chatter about recent news events, and one day she was talking about the feminist NOW organization and some odd events relating to Gloria Steinem, Gloria's discarded apparel burning and her leap into a swimming pool. Hmm.m.... Yes, those activists are crazy sometime, certainly not us. 

Which has nothing whatever to do with something my mother said about wonen's rights. We don't give much thought to the Gloria Steinem brand of feminism. I really don't see the connection.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, that was interesting, what I read about Willard Peck Calkins, who anyway is my sixth cousin three times removed so not really any close relationship there, was that his second wife was Adelaide Beckhuson and her picture appears in one of the ancient newspaper articles. Strange that they would have to get married at the American consular office in Japan. Where does the Philippines fit into this picture? I don't understand much about these people who by mere coincidence have the same surname as myself. Why should I trouble myself to figure out all of these extraneous details that have nothing to do with me?

Which Reminds Me

Yes, now, scanning the Internet, the only fact that I can find about Cantelon is that he was a Canadian. But that cannot be what the problem was. You cannot make a rule of not reading books by Canadians. That would be too ridiculous. And would you not watch Star Trek because Shatner was a Canadian? No, obviously, we do not live in a hermetically sealed planet. Other things may be going on out there that we cannot see at the moment but, anyway, we have enough of what we need.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I vaguely remember, during high school, one day Lois Bueno arrives at our house and was asking me what book am I reading, and I say that it is a book by Willard Cantelon, one of those prophecy guys who are always writing books about Bible prophecies and that type of thing, and she laughs and tells me that Mr. Cantelon is  ridiculous, always so pessimistic, predicting the death of the dollar and other worst-case scenaries, and also there are things about him that I don't know,  and that I should not be reading all of these seriously exaggerated books, I am so ridiculous that way, and I think that, hmm, she may have a point, that puts a grain of salt into the mix, because who knows what to believe about that anyway, but I also still have an insatiable reading habit. Besides which I got the book for free because they send us free samples. It wasn't like I had to go out and look for that. 

Which Reminds Me

Yes, in every generation we have these people who are speculating about what the Bible prophecies may actually mean, they are there all of the time talking about that various scenarios and how that may be unfolding in history. There was the "Late Great Planet Earth" in the 1970s and many other books of that type that at least serve the purpose of making people stop to think about things of eternity, whereas otherwise we rarely think about this.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, what was that I said about prophecy? The Book of Revelation says that there is a blessing to having read the book, whether or not it is understand, and I have read it more than once, but do I understand it? No, obviously not. Speaking for myself, I can clearly say that I am humble enough to admit that I do not know what the prophecies actually mean. As I was saying, sometimes you can only understand the prophecies after they have been fulfilled, so maybe when you are in heaven looking back you will then see how all those pieces fir together, because while in the throes of the life struggle one cannot often see what it all means.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I vaguely remember that there was a prominent deacon at our church, whose name was Art Bailey, but he was not a George, so I really do not see what that has to do with the price of tea in China.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, that was nice of Margot to invite me to work on that homework project at her house. Even so, that does not make me her legal representative in any sense of the word, nor did I ever say anything about her internal conflicts with Patty, so I do not understand why I am getting all of these weird messages from her whacko lawyers. hat was never my problem. Don't try to make that my problem. You might be surprised to learn that I do not know anything about that and as a matter of principle I would prefer to stay out of their internal squabblings whenever possible.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, what was the name of that little Miss Buzzard who was always stopping me to talk to me and ask me questions. I did not want to be mean, but it really did get sort of tiring to have to think of answers to all of these questions that are being rhrown at me. Some of these girls thought of me as everyone's "big sister" but I have other roles, other things on my mind they know not of,  that they are preventing me from exploring because I have to do whatever they want.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, that was sort of a mean thing for me to say about Mr. Moran's name. He was a nice man overall as a PE teacher. I don't really remember why that came about. He wasn't really that mean. He really didn't deserve that.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I do not remember having much opportunity to chat very much with our Chinese classmate. She is very quiet and nobody seems to consider that a problem for her to mostly be a very good student and very quiet.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I suppose that our high school PE teacher might also remember that. That would be Mr. Moran, a name which, in terms of pronunciation may sound sort of like Moron, but with emphasis on the second syllable. Mr. Moran might have been somewhat of a blusterer, I don't remember anything specific, starts by putting us through our calisthenics routine and blowing his whistle sometimes.

Coincidentally, our next door neighbor here in Florida was also a Mr. Moran, but from Honduras, although he had to leave and sell his house due to his moronic behavior. But that would be a completely different story. I don't imagine there would be any connection there.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, how can I forget the time in high school, while doing exercises in PE class, a fly happened to fly into my mouth, and it had a sort of metallic taste. Ick! Yuk! How did that happen? Yes, who did I mention this to?

 

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I vaguely remember that there was a fight, during ninth grade, between Patty Cruz and Margot. I have no desire to take either side in their internal conflict of no interest to me. I really do not remember what their thing was all about, whatever the facts might have been. I cannot really say too much about that. Nor would I care to bend over backward in defense of Margot's witchcraft. She really did claim to be a witch, I heard that myself, but I do not know how serious that was. I would try to witness to these pathetic vicious fighting pagans of either side, but there is not much opportunity. They won't listen to me.  

Which Reminds Me

Yes, why so strangely hostile and defensive about that huge letter L imprinted on your forehead? Why does every minor conversation devolve into hostilities, as if I would not notice the thinly veiled anger? Why so intent on pursuing this futile line of dialogue when I am about ready to be rid of you? Why can't you just take your lumps like everybody else, we all have our limitations, and go home to Quebec or Ottawa wherever it is you actually belong?

Which Reminds Me

Yes, there are some puzzling things about what my grandparents might have done in the distant past, but given that the Scripture says that the sins of the parents are not to be visited on the children, I really do not feel any great need to analyzer these points more deeply at this time. Thanks, Grandma.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I vaguely remember that I quoted Scripture in my application, in which something is said about the good works that God has prepared for me to do. Maybe not the good works that I was expecting to do, but anyway, God's thoughts are not my thoughts.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, it is a bit mystifying to ponder why this nasty Kathy is strutting around high school pontificating as if she were the royal Catherine, Empress of Russia and the Kingdom of Cathay, all the while attempting to dump on me her rotten attitude in regards to her ex-boyfriend, and all of this is none of my business and do I dare to say something about this? Well, it all depends on the conditions.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, interestingly, coincidentally, shortly after I heard about Kathy's distraught outcries concerning her boyrfriend's being seen at the fair with another girl, interestingly, our friends from church invited us to go to the fair with them, and so we were there with them, a couple, and my sister and myself, and we ate some cotton candy and funnel cakes and rode on some ferris wheel and roller coasters and, then I am tested later on various points of this. Oh, was that intended as some sort of bizarre commentary on Kathy's boyfriend. The thought of what completely ridiculous thing are my stupid friends saying about me behind my back did start to creep into the back of my mind, but that would seem ridiculous, that would make it seem as if my friends were really spies hired to make me look like a complete idiot, for which I congratulate your success, because certainly I seem as if a complete idiot.  

Which Reminds Me

Yes, we sometimes say not to worry too much about the past, not to worry too much about what will happen in the future, mostly live in the here and now, the present so to speak, because we just don't know what could happen later. Because if I expect something good to happen to me, probably the vicious nasty Roberts will be there to pull the rug out from under my feet, and make sure that all my plans for the future go awry, because horrid Roberts thinks that everything is all about herself. Obviously Roberts and company will not be hired by me and I don't need them for anything. 

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I vaguely remember than in the high school yearbook there is a photo of Kathy sitting next to her boyfriend at the time, whatever his name was, I do not actually remember him or who he was. He was just some guy who was Kathy's boyfriend during high school.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I seem to feel that I will not be needing the Stones for anything in future. They do put on such airs of haughty arrogance, as if everything had to be gotten from them, when actually we will be just fine, perhaps even better off without them.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, it is somewhat annoying to find these Italians imagine that I would ever be their Wilson Sugar Daddy. There should be a polite way for me to stand aside and point them to the Wilson broomstick closet because I do not know anything about that.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I vaguely remember, one day in high school, in the girls' bathroom, I happened to overhear Kathy complaining loudly about her boyfriend who was seen at the fair with some other girl. 

That sounded like an emotional moment for them, but as for me, I find it impossible to keep track of these Italian soap opera characters. Whatever. I would prefer not to have to speculate on these matters that are none of my business.

I walked out of the girls' bathroom shortly afterward and there outside of the door I saw Kathy's boyfriend standing there near the door, probably eavesdropping on their conversation. So there you have everything that I could possibly ever know about that matter if you ask me. I wash my hands of their Italian soap opera to which I have no connection whatsoever, because they all look the same to me. I can't tell them apart. They are permanently angry people who do not want my help with that.  

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I vaguely remember that during one year in college, my roommate was Kathy Murray, which was almost like not having a roommate at all because our schedules were so different and we rarely talked. During that time she was dating that Oriental guy, Kent Miyashiro, of whom she was saying that he was a product of Crystal Cathedral, being saved and discipled by those Dutch Reformed people over there in Garden Grove. I am not sure quite when they broke up, but about that time he was trying to strike up a conversation with me and for some reason I was in his car and he was driving around the campus and asking trappy questions as if trying to catch something about me, and then not getting very far with that line of inquiry, so that was basically the end of a shallow and meaningless conservation. Clearly, I am not going to get serious with vapid Kathy's left-over junky worthless ex-boyfriend, in whatever order that happened.  

Which Reminds Me

Yes, the withholding of my checkmate check means that my utter failure remains a merely symbolical or figurative oe. However, on the other hand, I continue to have a corporeal existence in this physical body that has its physical requirements in terms of food and clothing and a roof over my head, so the omission of the checkmate check becomes a problematic problem that cries out for a solution to this impasse as to how I may be in receipt of my checkmate check while explaining to the Czechs that I do not really need them for anything.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, interesting that my Dad's being 9 percent Chechen means that my great-grandmother might have been closer to 50 percent of that. However, not to worry, her husband, our great-grandfather, was mostly German, (Bavaria or Saxony?) and also some Swiss, (did not our ancestress Mary Carr emigrate to America from Prussia?) so that probably explains how my Dad is also 20 percent Central European, not to mention the 70 percent mostly English. So the Chechen thing has not that much weight in the whole scheme of things that I should give a hoot about the Boston bomber. That would be too ridiculous for words.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, speaking of mindless Czech serfs, not to be confused with the mindless Chechen serfs, it really is way beyond my capacity to to ponderate on the question of whether there be any brain cells in Ronit's head, given the complete lack of communication there. Here in the United States we do not have much connection to those Israeli fighters whose successes we congratulate, even though we are not planning to go there any time soon. 

 I do not know when I would be able to afford to travel that much, given the lack of an actual check to accompany this symbolic or figurative "eheckmate," so I can safely ignore the idiotic demands of these wannabe Czech employres.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I am thinking that there really ought to be some nice and polite way to tell those Czechs to go away and get off my back. I am not their Czech serf, needless to say.Perhaps they had mistaken me for some other mindless Czech serf.

Which reminds me that someone had declared a checkmate on me, because Heather, of whom I know almost nothing, had married a Czech man, as if I should care about that, and in contrast to that, myself being single, must of necessity have a check for a mate. So that is awkward. If my check is my mate, does that by extension make my employer a mate of sorts, and what if my employer is an idiot? Does my employer thus define my personal agenda in its entirety? How would I diplomatically extricate myself from such a dilemma? Can I expect some simple-minded Czech aristocat employer to comprehend the complexities of anything? In such case, the ideal thing would be to have my check separately and apart from the demands of some clueless Czech employer, although in this complex universe that becomes problematic because the money has to come from somewhere, and everyone is connected to everyone else somehow. Needless to say. But I digress.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I do vaguely remember being in Denver maybe once in my life, in 1976, and it was a Sunday and so we attended a very large church there in Denver, of which I remember almost nothing, only that the parking lot alone seemed immense. Even so, I do not claim to be acquainted with all of the people of Denver. How can I talk to these persons who are no acquaintance to me? Why am I getting mail from some Catty witch in Colorado who is always sniping at me from afar? I don't even know who you are or why I should care about your Czech attachments.

Whcih Reminds Me

Yes, it is somewhat annoying to me also that they are expecting me to dishonor myself first, and encouraging such, in order to provide a convenient handle and to facilitate their own honorable promotion to a position of trampling all over my back, and thus it becomes dangerous to use any form of self-denigrating humor, because they will take that very seriously.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I cannot think of anything of a personal nature that I would need to discuss with Mr. Filipino Geek. Needless to say.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I vaguely remember that I said that myself. I was telling a story about how, down there, sometimes people assume that all white people are rich and have an overabundance of money to pay higher prices, which is not necessarily true, but anyway, no need to overact this point. And there is the time when we went to the downtown marketplace, and as we were leaving we noticed a big wad of chewing gum stuck to the back of each of our heads. How did that happen? Yes, interesting how other people can tell all of these interesting and humorous stories about themselves and nobody thinks anything of that, But if I say something, somehow it becomes WWII. Weird! So I should just let you explain for yourself what you were doing in the principal's office, because anyway I don't care that much.  Because I myself do not remember why I was there maybe once for purposes of schedule changes, and also my sister was there changing her schedule, because every year they accidentally mistakenly placed her in boys' PE class because her name is not spelled with the feminine double E ending, inconveniently. Did I need to change my schedule also or was I only there as the companion. I really don't remember now. You should have asked me before you killed me, because now I don't remember.     

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I seem to remember that my Dad's DNA test found him to have 9 percent of one of those ethnic groups that live somewhere in the vicinity of the Ukraine, what was that. Sometimes I forget about that. Only almost 10 percent, which means that my great-grandmother might have been closer to 50 percent of that, whatever that meant.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, it is mystifying to ponder why are all of these French fried whiners so vigorously defending the Salic laws which exclude women from inheriting the crown. We think that England was quite reasonable in not having Salic laws, and that Elizabeth did well enough in defending against the Spanish Armada, assisted as she was by such excellent advisors. 

Which brings up the question of why should I care about your inheritance? If I had my own inheritance to gain, certainly my gender would not preclude me from taking possession of it in the English scheme of things, but as it is, there is nothing to be gained by perpetuating these hostile encounters and quarreling. Methinks thou dost protect too much on this point.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, we acknowledge that Jacob Chamberlain wrote the book, "The Kingdom In India," which is a very enjoyable read, even though he was actually from the Dutch Reformed and worked during the 19th century, even so, we liked his books very much and think that he has many good things to say about the work there in India.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, it is somewhat puzzling to ponder why do these people imagine that I would answer to the Reformed Duchy of Central New York. I was never Dutch Reformed, although there were some of those people attending our college, but even so, I myself was not Dutch, except in the sense of paying for my own plate of onion rings at the coffee shop. Perhaps Diane Roberts was Dutch Reformed. Perhaps Diane Roberts could articulate more clearly what is this takeover plot that she cooked up in her Dutch Reformed milieu of which I was mostly not a part, because I did not know anything about that. And yet you insist on getting all of your wrong information from some off-campus broken clock, which is your problem, and why should I trouble myself trying to fix all of these off-campus misunderstandings of which I was not the author?  

Which Reminds Me

Yes, poor Shelly, or was that Shelly whose husband ran away with some other women during college, which goes to shoe that going to college as an already married woman may not may not end well. But I cannot say much about that. I did not know her that well.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, well, maybe you also may know how hard it may be to tell your spoiled rotten relatives the brutal truth, something about how they are really not that important in the whole scheme of things, and when they do not want to listen, it becomes that much harder to be able to talk about that in a public forum. Sometimes there is not an urgent need for the public to know more details about that.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I vaguely remember when I was looking at some of the family photos, there were photographs of Alaska and with the name of Butterfield attached to them. There was an earthquake in Alaska, but I hesitate to speculate on that. I will leave it to those cousins to explain their own Alaska connection because I personally did not know anything about that.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I seem to remember that there is a photograph of me sitting there reading a book while the maid does the housework. Ok, so I am not too proud of that moment, but anyway, I always read too many books. So?  What of that? What point are you intending to make? Probably nothing to "help" me.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I know, my college classmate Diane Roberts is so musically talented, she writes her own songs and sings them in chapel, and she studies musical composition at the Crystal Cathedral with Johnny Carl, and she has all the chips needed to pave her way to a musical success. Whatever happened to Roberts anyway? I haven't heard anything recently. I know she hated me but whatever, everyone always hates me. My diary explains that anyway, about how people don't like me. I don't need Roberts to explain that to me. So, are you saying that you stole my diary?

 

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I did find the Kolbrin book an interesting read, even if the snippets of narrative are somewhat disconnected, and it is not clear when did all of these events happen anyway, and who was Penelope really and what did she actually look like? I don't understand. I did not even know that book existed until quite recently.  

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I did notice that much noise emanates from the Illinois connection. I never "got" anything helpful from Illinois, so I really do not understand why all of this hullabaloo about nothing much.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, it is a bit confusing to be mistaken for someone else, to be assigned the role of scapegoat, so bothersome to bear the sins of other people, and to go wandering around the wilderness with this wearisome heavy pack now on my back, that I did not originally have and did not know was there and do not know where that came from or how I happened to come across it.

 Yes, no reason to pretend to feel energetic about this pack of nonsense, but if you want energy you could always try drinking a pack of Red Bull and then peel yourself off the ceiling.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, I remember that my editor at one time suggested using the phrase "on tap" when writing headlines for small announcements, such as, "Festivities on tap this weekend," and that sometimes works well enough, although not a cliche I would have originally thought of, but these editors are sometimes full of little tips for improved wording for cutting the clutter and simplifying the paths of communication.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, it is always a bit awkward being mistaken for my horrible cousin, whatever her name was. I forget who they were.

Which Reminds Me

Yes, why all of this to-do about Amen? I vaguely remember that there was some guy at our college by that name, but I would not want to claim him as a friend of mine. He was a friend of Lynda's and I only remember something that Lynda had said about him, that he was leaving to go to medical school, and that is the only thing that I can remember about him.