Blatherings for a Saturday.

While it has been a cool day for late May, it has been a beautiful, sunny day. It is currently 62 degrees under partly cloudy skies. Looking out the windows on the 14th floor, the lake has taken on a lovely azure color today that I usually associate with tropical waters in much warmer climes. Day by day, more and more boats come back. Last night there were large cruise boats visible from the windows and it turns out that they were hosting....Ready for this?....Proms. Who gets to have a Senior Prom on a cruise boat? Man, makes my Senior Prom...Excuse me, Senior Ball. We had a Senior Ball, not a Prom. It was still held in a friggin gym, though.

Ah but I date myself. I'm sure the Prom on the boat was absolutely lovely, if a bit pricey. I mentioned that I bought a ticket...Excuse me...I sponsored a young Latina lady to the Prom because she bought a pricey dress and then didn't have the price of a ticket to the Prom and her parents are poor and couldn't come up with the cash. Why? The tickets are $95 apiece. The Prom was held in a ballroom at the original Hilton Hotel on Michigan Ave. Man, do these guys cough up the cash for two tickets if they have a date, or do they go Dutch (No offense to any Dutch people out there intended. Some of my best friends are Dutch. My mother's maiden name was Vandevier. I really like tulips and windmills. I'm thinking about buying wooden shoes. I'm investing in dikes and water pumping technology. And I said dikes, not dykes, so no offense to women who like other women either, OK? Remember the stereotypes blog? That was two days ago, I believe. More on that later.)? Anyway, god knows how much it costs for a ticket to a Prom on a cruise boat. Then the kids like to rent limos as well so they don't drive drunk or high or anything. All of this as a celebration for graduating from high school when no one gets anywhere today without a college degree, preferably an advanced degree. But the high school kids are springing (or their parents more likely) for hundreds and hundreds of dollars for a celebration of "I did what every schmo is expected to do at age 18, regardless of anything.

Back to the little aside above, though. It's difficult to know what is going to elicit a response when I write these things. At times I attempt to purposely provocative to no result. I put up one post a short while ago in which I compared all religions to stupid superstitions like believing in bad luck from black cats and what did I get in response? Nada, that's what. Then I write some blathering about comfort foods and TV when you're sick and people comment to beat the band. Loved it. Go figure.

Recently, I've been on a more serious turn in my writings and a couple of days back I wrote a piece about stereotypes and how people feel free to make fun of their own but bristle when anyone outside of the group does the same. A very small part of this post was a mention of how African-Americans use the N word in reference to themselves, but no one outside of the black community is allowed to do so. Just mentioned it in passing on my way to other things like jokes about people from Indiana for instance. Jennifer, have you heard the one about the girl from Valparaiso?

Honestly, Views From the 14th Floor has a pretty small following but somehow I managed to elicit a response from an African-American gentleman from Los Angeles when I saw fit to include my reference to the N word. You can see his response in the comments. I was directed to a You Tube video that went on about N***r as opposed to N***a and how N***a is a term of empowerment for black people. It seems the gentleman in question has written a book about this topic. How in the heck did this guy find this little blog from Chicago, and why did he see fit to comment? Don't know. It made me think about things a little. I checked out his website, and his You Tube posting, and it all seemed to me like a little self-promotion. I hope his book sells well.

Went to my Site Meter and started looking at where the hits were coming from. What's up with hits on my little blog from Ireland, the UK, Australia, India, the Netherlands, Norway, L.A., New York, Arkansas, and Oklahoma? Who knows? Kind of flattering, I suppose. Then again, some of them may be random hits, of marketing firms who hit on certain key words that show up in searches. You just never know what is going to get a hit. Does any of this mean anything? Again, who knows? I think I'll have a glass of wine with my wife, go for dinner, and some jazz. Have a wonderful Saturday.