Okay, I have a confession to make. I voted for Sanjaya after last night’s American Idol episode. That’s right. Sanjaya. Sanjaaaaayyyya. His name works best if you say it in a breathy whisper with jazz hands… go ahead. Try it. I’ll wait… Sanjaya! (jazz hands) See? Anyway, yeah, I voted for him… heehee… silly me. Actually, everyone did pretty well last night. And I quite enjoyed Sanjaya’s rendition of “Cheek to Cheek,” although he seemed to be channeling a used car salesman in his white suit with slicked-back hair (I much preferred last week’s “rooster-hawk” hairdo…). But he handled the song better than most 17 year-olds would be able to handle it. And as he cast what COULD be construed as “flirtatious” glances at the camera and danced with Paula Abdul, it became all the more apparent that American Idol is not always about which singer has the biggest lungs. Sometimes it’s just about who can make the crowd happy, and who can entice people to root for their underdog personalities. And I am SO rooting for Sanjaya right now. (Quiet people of the world, unite!)
So fantasy baseball season has begun, and after two days I’ve found myself in second place again. Which means absolutely nothing at this point. I just thought I would mention it. I just spent several minutes debating whether or not to play two of my pitchers – Matt Cain and Andy Pettitte – this afternoon. I finally decided on a no to Cain, and a yes to Pettitte. And now I discover the Yankee game has been postponed due to rain. So now I have NO pitchers playing today. Oh well… looks like that second place standing won’t last too long…
Anyway… moving on to other topics… I just finished a book I’ve been reading called “The Myth of You and Me.” It was, on the surface, about a friendship – not only its beginning, but also its end. Years after the demise of this relationship, our narrator is compelled to seek out her long-lost friend. Throughout her journey, the story of what happened between them is told in flashback. The deeper parts of the book focus on how the world is not always as black and white as we wish it could be. It’s not always about “right” and “wrong” or “good” and “bad.” At first glance, it may be simple to place blame – as it was for the narrator to place the blame for the end of her relationship solely on her ex-friend – but a more thorough understanding may reveal some of the “gray” areas that seem so fuzzy and out-of-focus and vague…
I liked the book, because it seemed to delve into the idea of looking at things from different points of view, and embraced the old adage about putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. If we only see things from OUR point of view, we may not comprehend the whole picture. We don’t always realize how much of an impact our actions have, or how the things we say might affect other people – or even how intertwined our lives are with the lives of so many others. All those little choices we make… each one subtly (or sometimes not-so-subtly) shapes who we are and what our lives are like – but they can also shape OTHER people’s lives, as well.
There was one line in the book that has stayed with me since I read it. Cameron, the main character in the story, is telling her friend that she considers herself a realist and not a romantic. And her friend replies with, “you’re not a realist… you’re a dreamer who doesn’t believe in the dream.” I found that line interesting, because it’s so easy for me to apply it to myself. I can’t say that I’m much of a romantic, and if someone asked, I’m sure I’d insist I was, in fact, a realist. But when I really think about myself, I’d have to say I DO tend to be a bit of a “dreamer” – I’m just a dreamer who doesn’t actually think most dreams come true. So what’s worse? Being a dreamer with a realist’s perspective, or being a dreamer with a romantic’s perspective? Is it better to dream with the assumption that your dreams will never come true (thereby preventing any sort of disappointment when they don’t)… or is it better to hold on to the belief that dreams DO come true, even if it results in heartbreak? (And can I still dream about coming in first in my fantasy baseball league?)
Well, I CAN dream… realistically, of course…
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