Deep Thoughts With Jerry #19

I just got done prepping dinner (chopping veggies, measuring spices, etc.) because Jerry is going to make his Beans & Greens (my very favorite comfort food). While I was prepping, he was writing this post; and now I'm putting the post together while he cooks dinner. I'm excited to eat it! (I also find it so random that Beans & Greens are one of my favorite foods; I'd never even tried the dish until last year.)

Anyway, here is Jerry with his "deep thoughts" for the week...

One of Katie's readers sent her a link to some new ice breaker questions for me so I figured I would give it a shot. Here we go:

According to you, what is the most mind-numbingly dull movie ever made?

Look, I'm going to get a lot of flack for this, maybe, but you have to hear me out first. The Lord of the Rings trilogy was dull AF. And it's not because the story was bad; the story was fantastic. The acting is great. The visual effects are top notch.

The runtime of 9 hours and 17 minutes combining the 3 movies consisted of 8 hours and 50 minutes of the characters walking around. Each one of these movies could've been knocked down to 2 hours and it still would've went on for far too long. Being the dork that I am, I would still sit through these movies to catch the great story part of them all. And, I love the Amazon series if that helps me keep my nerd card. Very story driven and keeps me completely engaged. 

Would you rather sit through a Star Wars marathon, a Lord of the Rings marathon, or a Harry Potter marathon?

Given the previous statement concerning LotR, I have sat through and watched them all. Just the first three though, not The Hobbit. It is well documented that I have sat through two Star Wars marathons--one with Noah when The Force Awakens came out and another with Noah and Eli in Chicago when Rise of Skywalker came out.

That last one was awesome to do with the boys and we were in the theater for over 22 hours. I've seen the Harry Potter series; I just broke it up through a couple days. With all that being said, I would do the Star Wars marathon again in a heartbeat. Star Wars just holds a special place in my heart.

How would you spend $50,000?

This could either be a really selfish answer or a very practical one. Selfish answer first, I would buy a truck for myself. I've always wanted a really nice truck. Everyone is driving them now, just not me. I'm patiently waiting, it'll happen one day, just not now. Katie has always said that as soon as the house is paid off, she wants me to go out and buy any truck that I want. If all goes according to plan, that should be in less than two years.

Now, for the practical answer... I would pay off car loan and house. After that, whatever is left would go to home improvements such as new siding and windows. Boring, I know. But, I truly love the idea of not being under the weight of some debt and the freedom it brings could be a huge game changer for everyone in the house. 

Do you believe in ghosts?

Absolutely, to a certain extent. I have a story. When I was a kid living in California, maybe 6 or 7 years old, I woke up in the middle of night and saw a face and torso floating at the top of my doorway. I hid under my covers and peeked my head out to see if it was still there and it was. After a couple times of doing this I fell asleep.

When I woke in the morning there were gum balls all over the hallway floor from the gum ball machine my dad had on the top of a cabinet. I explained the experience to my parents and I don't remember their reaction. It wasn't until years later when we moved that I saw the face again. This time it was at my gram's house. It was on a picture that was hanging on her wall and it was of my uncle Joe. I had never met my uncle Joe; he died before I was born.

I've heard my dad talk about stories from his childhood, a lot involving my uncle Joe. But I had never seen his face. Ever. No pics, nothing. I'm not sure if my dad believes me to this day, but I saw what I saw. Some 35 years later I can still recollect the experience like it was yesterday.

What TV reality show is your guilty pleasure?

Katie and I love watching the relationship shows. Usually our commentary on the shows consists of talking about the unnecessary drama the people start, and laughing at just how ridiculous people can be. It also makes me happy to know that I don't have to be part of the dating scene, I've already caught my trophy wife. If I ever had to go back out and date I don't think I could. Our latest show was "90 Day Fiancé". We just finished up the first season and now it's on to the second. There are so many seasons of the show, we figured it had to be good, right?

What is your favorite Happy Hour drink?

I think I've only been part of a Happy Hour once, and it was when I went to run the Indy 500 Half Marathon. The hotel we were staying at had Happy Hour the day we arrived and while everyone else was getting mixed drinks I stuck with my beer. I'm not too keen on the mixed liquor drinks because they can be too good, and can quickly lead to a bad night and a horrible hangover. 

What have you learned about yourself during the pandemic?

I need people. I need interactions with real, flesh and blood people. Not a text, not an email. Has to be in person, even to hear their voice. There comes a point when you're just answering an email or a text and you're kind of forgetting the face of the person you're responding to. Everything just becomes so impersonal.

After the pandemic, getting together with friends has been few and far between. We have a group chat where we just stay connected but we can go days or even weeks between hearing from each other. In the fall, I had to call each one of them individually to deliver some pretty shocking news, something you couldn't just say via text. Hearing their voices was such a relief and made the news a little easier to deliver and it reignited our friendship. That's when I knew that I needed people. 

Do you think technology improves our lives or destroys them? 

Kind of a broad question. It really depends on what you're talking about. Social media is the absolute worst thing to ever be invented. It has transformed into this fear mongering, hate spreading beast where you can say anything you want to people without ever seeing their face. It's brought out the worst of humanity, it's completely changed our way of life for the absolute worst. It's toxic and I despise it. The world was a better place before it and now we can't put that genie back in the bottle. (Can you tell I'm kind of passionate about that opinion?)

MP3s... just off hand, completely changed my life for the better. Long gone are the days of flipping though my books of some 1,000 discs looking for the artist I want to listen to. Just pull it up on my phone and I'm on my way. It's so convenient. If you would've told me 30 years ago that in the future I could pay $15 a month and have access to any song I want at any time on this little device that also serves as the ultimate connection to the world, I would've thought you were crazy. We had just gotten into compact discs and that seemed so futuristic when it came out. Now, that shit's in museums all over the country, along with the rest of my childhood. LOL