21. I do not follow organized sports of any kind. It is just not my bag. Never has been.
However, there is one sports figure that I consider a personal hero: Muhammad Ali. The older I get, the more inspired I am by Ali’s sheer will, physical power, wit, tenacity and his intellectual prescience on the subjects of race and the media. I never tire of watching documentaries and footage from his career, and I have watched everything about him that I can get my hands on.
My personal favorite is Muhammad Ali: The Greatest by William Klein. Watch it if you ever have the opportunity. It is an outstanding social document.
…Oh yeah, and I do also root for the fictional Dillon Panthers on television’s Friday Night Lights.
22. I am often susceptible to a collection of phobias that are just shy of paralyzing. These phobias kick in when I encounter the following: Fire, sharp objects, heights, and other people’s wounds.
23. My favorite joke that has ever been made by a relative, was delivered by my step-grandmother, Ruth “Betty” Scully to her nurse, late in her life, when she was incapacitated and very ill.
The nurse needed to bathe Betty and wanted to know how she preferred they go about it. My step-grandmother said:
“First wash down as far as possible… Then wash up as far as possible… Then wash Possible.”
24. The following is my account of my favorite (and the most blasphemous) spontaneous joke that I can ever remember making:
It was days after my 33rd birthday and I had recently become self-conscious that the pounds that I was putting on in my thirties.
I was hanging out with my friend Anne Harley, who asked, “So, how old are you now?”
I said 33. She laughed and remarked, “Wow, the same age as Jesus.”
I sighed enviously, “Yeah… the same year that he lost all that weight.”
25. “I used to be disgusted, but now I try to be amused.”
– The Angels Want To Wear My Red Shoes - Elvis Costello
Thanks for reading everybody.
Like thought 24. great humor!