I certainly don’t believe in god and I’ve become generally skeptical of other “spiritual” theories. However, events occasionally force me to reconsider. There’s the big stuff: love, the birth of my children, natural splendor. But what really gets me is the potentially divine camouflaged as routine. So, this happened to me again today: Of all the mountains and mountains of pages published every year, somehow the exact pages I need to read happen to find themselves before my eyes at the exact moment I need absolutely need them. Today it was a book I’ve considered reading at least a half dozen times – even checked out of the library and checked back in unread - but never got around to. But there it was today, after a series of unbelievably dramatic and borderline tragic moments (that now seem almost scripted) left me shaken, shamed and lost. I’ll try to describe the impact of this novel without hyperbole or melodrama, but the first two chapters touched me to my core and illuminated everything (okay I failed). I guess if something as crazy as a platypus could come to exist by circumstance, chance and natural selection, so could these books find me at the right time. But today, trying to read through tears, I wonder…

aging ungracefuly

“You know, you’ve really stumbled upon something slightly brilliant,” I told the young, indie-looking waitress who had earlier commented on the book I was reading while waiting for my Pad Thai. “Is that book good,” she had asked in the excited and utterly unabashed way only a person under 30 can ask a mundane question?” She apologetically told me she had seen the movie, but should have read the book first, reminding me even the young are not free of hyper self-consciousness. “If you see the movie first, you might enjoy it a bit for a while. If you read the book first the movie will always disappoint and seem like a waste of time. It’s the same reason we eat desert after the meal.” These are the types of things you find yourself telling strangers when: A. You travel a lot. B. You want to talk to someone, but for no longer than a couple seconds. C. You get old.

Random thoughts

• All other things being equal, most women prefer a man who eats Asian food with chopsticks rather than silverware. • The main differences between cheap and business-class hotels are the towels and the number of smokers outside at any given moment. • And you never have run out of toilet paper in nicer hotels. • Why do women call really masculine, muscular, often hairy guys “cute?” Bunnies, babies, funny animals, feminine women: cute. Men? • If you see a movie based on a book you liked, you will likely enjoy the movie for 0 minutes, as most adaptations are fair at best. If you see the movie first, you might enjoy it - at least a little for at least a while - and the book will be just as good either way. So, the second method increases the overall percentage of pleasant time you spend alive. • When you flip through the channels and miss the title of the movie, but Nicholas Cage’s name comes up on the credits, it’s pretty safe to keep surfing. • I look so good naked, when I get out of the shower even my bath towels get wet.

The 5 songs that saved my musical life

As a young music fan, I was heading down a very narrow road of nothing but hard rock, pop soul and testosterone. Aside from “Beth” by Kiss, if it didn’t rock – and rock hard! – I wasn’t interested. Don’t get me wrong, I still love my Zeppelin, Sabbath and Judas Priest, but if it weren’t for these songs I would have missed out on so much incredible music and some really good times. Take me to the River – The Talking Heads. The first time I heard this song I was stopped dead in my tracks. I had the feeling I was experiencing something big that I didn’t quite fully understand. Like I was over-hearing an important adult conversation. I had never imagined white people could make music so funky, soulful and deep. This song made me feel down to my core how rhythm is just as important as melody. But what still blows me away is how this song simultaneously sounds fresh and brand new and deeply rooted - and almost anointed - by the oldest of American music traditions. The Talking Heads were the first non-rock band I feel hard for and they opened up the world to me. And who was this David Byrne character? A nerd to be sure, but in total command. Was he serious? Was he a joke? Was he crazy? Whatever he was, he was the man! Rock Lobster – The B52s. The first time I heard this song I was in my friends front yard goofing around and something very strange came wafting out the window of his older brother’s room. We all looked at each other wondering, “What the hell is that?” I took my music very seriously in those days, and it was a mortal sin to hear “There goes a dog fish – woof woof…” But the disturbing part was I liked it… a lot! This song helped me realize music was supposed to be fun and freaky. It filled me with a sense of abandonment I don’t think I was nearly secure enough to find on my own. And, oh yeah – it ROCKED! Five Years – David Bowie. I was probably in about third or fourth grade when I first heard Ziggy Stardust and at the time, I completely associated rock with machismo. Here came an androgynous, wafer thin, wanna be spaceman, ass-kicking drama queen to cast the first doubts in my rock-god worship. Search and Destroy – Iggy Pop. I didn’t quite know what to think of punk at first, but Iggy made it crystal clear to me – it’s just rock and roll. He stripped away the circus and the excess and brought me back to the core of rock. Meat Puppets – multiple songs live. Country music was my last musical prejudice. By the time I saw my first couple of Meat Puppets shows, my musical horizons had expanded pretty much every direction except South. It took me a while to figure out that one of the things I liked best about this incredible band was their bastardized country influences. My walls came down and I found some great music. Imagine, I might have lived a life without Willie Nelson!

Believe it or not

• Jimmy Carter acted decisively and sent in Delta Force when the hostages were taken in Iran (the military and CIA failed). Ronnie Reagan cut and ran in Beirut when 250 Marines were murdered in their sleep. Not the picture that's been painted for you, but it's the truth.