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Random thoughts and observations
Planning a trip during a time as hectic as the Christmas season is something I usually try to avoid. However, this year I may have to just hold my breath and jump into it. I can't believe I'm actually going to do this, but I hope to fly out to California the week of Christmas to see my mother and brother, who's visiting Mom for ten days. I haven't seen my brother for five years, so I'm willing to brave crazy air travel and even crazier air travelers. After all, he is my baby brother, even if he did turn 39 this year. My earliest memories of my brother was when I was about seven or eight years old. I would come home from school and Christopher, who was about two or three years old, would rush up to me, grab me around the knees and start rifling through my pockets. I always brought him some sweets I bought in the school cafeteria and he knew it. His favorite sweet was in the shape of a pacifier complete with its plastic ring. He'd pop that thing in his mouth and run off happily. These days he's a jet-setting, sports-car driving, cosmopolitan editor of an auto magazine. He sends me photographs of all his travels, and I think he's been everywhere but Africa. (If Africa introduces a sports car, he'll be there.) I love to get e-mails from him that regale me of his travels to Italy or Japan, Spain or China. It's hard to imagine that this suave man who has test-driven a Lotus Esprit and Ferrari was once a skinny little kid in diapers who picked my pockets after school. American Masters I happened to catch the "American Masters" series on Georgia Public Television in the past couple of weeks and was delighted that they reran the ones with Carol Burnett and Lucille Ball. They are my all-time favorite comedians in television. When other girls wanted to be Cinderella or Tinkerbell, I wanted to be Carol Burnett or Lucille Ball. Ball was instrumental in breaking the comedy barrier that was once reserved solely for men, and Burnett had the top-rated variety show in a sea of variety shows dominated by male comics. I've watched countless reruns of both "The Carol Burnett Show" and "The Lucy Show." I never tire of either. I remember as a kid, how my mother and I watched Carol Burnett in Malaysia. We loved every minute of it. To say she's a comic genius is an understatement. Sometimes, if I'm feeling blah, all I have to do is go to YouTube and watch some of the famous (uncensored) video clips of her show. YouTube has the famous "Gone With the Wind" spoof that Burnett and her cast did so brilliantly, as well as the now infamous "Siamese elephants" skit. I literally laugh so hard I cry. And as for Lucille Ball, words defy description of her amazing talent. The fact the "I Love Lucy" show is still being broadcast on TV almost 60 years later is a testament to her longevity as a comedian. I wanna be a Millennial! Have you heard about the Millennials? They are the people born between the years of 1981-1995. Asharp contrast to Baby Boomers (who are in or approaching their 60s), the Millennials are the kids who have always been told they are "special." As a result of that, big corporations are now hiring consultants to learn how to "talk" to Millennials, because apparently, these new-to-the-workforce people are not used to straightforward, direct, or even critical language. They put themselves first before anyone or anything else. Bosses have to learn to work around their schedule, and not the other way around. They definitely value play over work. Sounds good to me. Where's a time machine when I need one?--Jacquie Brasher is senior staff writer for The Forest-Blade and may be reached at jacquie@forest-blade.com.
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