Much sooner than what?

I wrote in my last entry here (3 June)- I'd be back much sooner than later- Well....
I thought of stuff- but aside from working oddly variant hours again the past couple weeks- stretches of night shifts followed by early-morning stuff followed inversely the last few days by nights again- has really fucked up what little- if any- rythym I have in everyday life

Anyhow- when I left this a couple weeks back- I promised what would be my version of a celebrity/ politician/ exemplary citizen- type graduation/ commencement speech- had I turned myself into any of the aforementioned/ anything accomplished period

I thought of this as I drove past one of the larger/ more prominent private high schools in Cambridge- as I was driving to the liquor store on a weekday afternoon a few weeks ago- as their commencement ceremony was letting out- kids in gowns and mortar boards coming out with their families- beaming at the young one's accomplishment- All I could think was "It doesn't really get any better than this, kid"- Sure, college could be 4 or 6 years of good times and maybe that's the speech where the message of "It's all downhill from here, suckers" speech would perhaps be most apt

The whole scene got me thinking- not just about the fact I missed my own private school graduation ceremony 22 years ago last Saturday (13 June 1987)- which I helpfully reminded my mother of on the date itself- but that no one ever tells you when you're young that grown-up life really sucks when you get out of school and older- either way- you could cash your youth in early and become a full-on adult by getting married and/ or having kids - or you just run out of youth while living by the same ideals/ mores- The net result pretty much still sucks either way

If I were ever accorded an audience for such a speech- I think I'd want to come out to Sammy Davis Jr.'s "Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow (Barretta's Theme)" as my entrance- and if I couldn't - I'd feel the need to recite the lyrics of it to the kids- who were all born when Robert Blake was better known as the white O.J. than the man associated with playing the cop with a parakeet- "When the going gets narrow" being the particular point if I had to recite the lyrics back to the young people- and maybe a few extemparaneous remarks about the day but shit (maybe a Clay DAvis "Sheeeeet" from "The Wire"), the general message from me would be the same as TV's Al Bundy- "Life sucks and it never gets any better"

-Speaking of which- someone has told me I should embrace my leaning to my beat traits- I've also been told my leaning toward negative thinking is one of my strongest traits- I really think I can think the worst about anything (blush)

-How dumb can the local news stories here in Boston get? Touched on this many times now- but two particular examples hit me recently-

-The Little Leaguer somewhere around here who struck out all 18 batters a couple weeks back- Were "The Simpsons" that prescient when they ran the episode with Homer bowling a 300 game and becoming a "Springfield Square" and friends with Ron Howard? The TV people expected the Little Leaguer to be circumspect or at least glib about his greatest achievement to that point? See all my stupid shit above about life going downhill after high school or college

-Or the story in Boston about the Phish fan that spread "Yankee" fertilizer on the lawn at Fenway Park during the jam band's much-awaited reunion show/ latently-unwanted reprise a few weeks back (30 May)- was covered like it was some type of political asassanation by local TV types- like the stupid story of the "Ortiz 34" jersey buried at the new Yankee Stadium last year- What happened to the idea of Boston being the home of "America's Best" local TV?- oh that was back in the early 1980's- ouch