Yesterday I saw a helicopter land on the highway.

I did! On the NJ Turnpike. There was a wreck, and they stopped traffic about a quarter mile ahead of me, and cleared out a space for the Medivac Helicopter to land. It was interesting to watch. Also interesting was how everyone around me was out of their cars watching as well, and how removed we all seemed to be from the situation at hand: clearly someone was very badly hurt, but we were all interacting as if nothing had really happened, as if we were just having a party on the pike. It was as if we had all gathered to watch a movie. Bizarre.

Although the hour break in driving set my schedule back just a little, I still enjoyed my time in the car thoroughly. Most people think I'm crazy (and of course they are right, but not just for this one reason), but I love to drive long distances. There's something about it that clears my head and lets me relax. There's also a point I reach where I hit delerium, and everything is silly and I giggle incessantly for an hour or so. Here's what I thought of during my delerium yesterday:

I'm not sure why more people don't use "Love Machine" by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles as their wedding song. (OK, I'm giggling even now thinking about it.) Can you imagine? There's something just fun and silly about it...about starting your life together with a silly song that indicates that you'll have a sense of humor and adventure about what lies ahead for the two of you. There's a little piece of me that wants to do this, but I'm pretty sure when the time comes...well, one of three things will happen: (1) my friends and my mom will veto this idea, (2) my future husband will veto the idea, or (3, and most likely to happen first) the part of me that has wanted to be a princess on my wedding day will overwhelm the silly side of me and it won't even be brought up. Although, Emily did have James Brown's "I Feel Good" as her recessional, which I thought was very cool...and that could be an option to satisfy the silly while still getting my first dance to be all romantic and stuff, since slow dancing is one of my most favorite romantic activities. But I still like to think about a couple using "Love Machine" as their first dance, and how they would giggle, and how cute it would be. You'd definitely know that those two had a good sense of humor.

"Love Machine," by the way, if not used as a wedding song, makes for a FANTASTIC driving song. Very great to groove out to as you plow down the highway.

And now to address some business from the comments section:

Emily asked the question: if you've been blind your whole life and you take a hallucinagen, what do you hallucinate? Good question. I've been very nerdy and thought this over a great deal, and I'm going to offer you my opinion, but I'd love to hear other people's ideas. First, on the super-nerdy end of things, I suppose this all depends on what it is that causes your blindness. If you are blind because the segment of your brain that processes visual images doesn't work, well...then I think you could maybe hallucinate other senses, such as smells, sounds, etc. But her question brought up another question in my mind: what do blind people dream? Because I'd guess however it is that they dream (and having taken neurobiology, you'd think that I would remember whether or not blind people dream, but I don't, due to my horrible affliction with teflon brain) that's how they'd hallucinate. And that is what I think.

Also, on the topic of the pirate v. ninja issue, my mom has commented that she does not feel that pirates are drunk all the time, instead only when they've just buried their treasure. And Emily brings up the point that we ought to consider why the pirate and ninja are fighting, as well as where they are fighting. Level of passion and home turf advantage may play a role. In the end, and to put it to rest for a while, I think this is a question that can only be answered when we truly see a pirate and a ninja in a fight. So, if someone happens to see this occur, or knows of a movie where it happens, let me know. I'd love to know the results.

Alright, enough procrastinating. There are Things to be done, and then later tonight I get to help produce the 11 show of the local news (thanks Bill!). Before I go, however, do me this favor: open up your arms wide, take your right arm and wrap it across your body and around your left shoulder, grab and hold. Then take your left arm and wrap it across your body and around your right shoulder, grab and SQUEEZE. Consider yourself hugged by me. Holiday tidings, peace, and joy to all!