- Ain’t No Man
- Amazing Grace
- Amazed
- After All
- And Can It Be
- Alice the Camel
- A Little Less Talk
- Ave Maria
- All About the Bass
- All Star
- Anaconda
- Alcohol
- A Life That’s Good
- A Few More Days
- American Soldier
- Any Old Road (Will Take You There)
- Ants Marching
- Ants Go Marching One By One
- All My Life
- A Whole New World
- All By Myself
- All Summer Long
- A Thousand Miles
- Africa
Word That Describe My Mother (Because it’s her 70th birthday today!)
Foods That Start With R
- Ramen noodles
- rutabaga
- rhubarb pie
- rigatoni
- ravioli
- rarebit (Which I’ve heard of but have no idea what it is)
- rabbit (Which I’ve tried and it was not good)
- raisins
- red pepper
- red grapes
- red potatoes
- red onions
- rice
- raspberries
- ricotta cheese (Which is not as tasty as a cheese should be)
- radishes
- ribs
- romaine lettuce
- ranch sauce (Which according to my sister should be its own food group)
- refried beans
- rattlesnake (Tried it and it was tasty)
- reindeer (Also tasty)
- rocky mountain oysters (Which I’ve never tried and please nobody ever put them in front of me because my personal rule is that I must try every food once and I don’t want to try these)
And a few beverages
- root beer
- rum
- rumchata
Things I Absolutely Wanted to Do Since I Was a Child and Have Done as an Adult
- Go to the top of the Empire State Building
- Visit the Redwoods Forest
- Swim in the ocean in the Cayman Islands
- Swim in the ocean in Hawaii
- Go on a vacation without worrying about how much money I spent (Because I knew I had enough, not because I’m an idiot.)
- Take random road trips at the spur of the moment
Ways to Be Kind Today
- Hold a door for someone.
- Smile at an elderly person.
- Look your cashier in the eye and greet them.
- Pay for the person in the drive thru line behind you.
- When somebody posts a new selfie, comment on it and tell them they look nice.
- Tell your employee how much you value their hard work.
- Tell your boss how much you value their hard work.
- Pick a wildflower for a friend.
- Let your partner hold the remote control.
- Send a “Just Because” greeting card in the actual mail.
- When a child tells you “watch this,” watch it.
- After the car cuts you off in traffic, don’t scream at them.
- Offer a sincere compliment.
- Take snacks to your coworkers.
- Take snacks to public workers (policemen, EMT, nurses).
- Upvote everything on Imgur.
- Follow through on a promise you’ve made in the past.
- Send a donation to your favorite cause.
- Find a brand new cause you love and send them a donation too. (Here are some ideas.)
- Prepare dinner for your family.
- Take the family to dinner.
- Invite a single friend to dinner with your family.
- Call people by their name.
- When you ask someone how they are doing, listen to the answer.
- Write a personal note to someone you care about.
- Leave a clipped coupon next to the product in the store.
- Give cold bottled water to your garbage collector or mail carrier.
- Tip well.
Things I Have Eaten in the Last Two Days
- half a cracker
- 5 almonds
- 2 Jell-o cups
- 1/3 package of ramen noodles, just the noodles with no flavors
Best Lines From the Classic Movie Independence Day (with Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum)
- “We will not go quietly into the night!” We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive!
- Forget the fat lady. You’re obsessed with the fat lady.
- Well he – uh – just did.
- I voted for the other guy.
- You want to see my clearance? Maybe I’ll just leave this here with you.
- We’re going to have to work on our communication.
- The L.A.P.D. is asking Los Angelenos not to fire their guns at the visitor spacecraft. You may inadvertently trigger an interstellar war.
- It’s the White House, for crying out loud. You can’t just go up and ring the doorbell.
Patriotic Songs I Can Sing at Least One Verse of By Heart
- Star Spangled Banner
- You’re a Grand Old Flag
- I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy
- I’m Proud to Be An American
- American Soldier
- America the Beautiful
- God Bless America
- Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue
- This Land is Your Land
- Battle Hymn of the Republic
Things My Friends Have In Common
- Kindness
- Sense of humor
- Willingness to laugh at themselves and at me
- Food sharing
- A little bit of craziness
- Acceptance of everyone, no matter who they are
- Enjoyment of games of one type or another
- Down-to-earth realness
- Loyalty
B Towns
- Boston
- Bar Harbor
- Bisbee
- Bessemer
- Biloxi
- Bettendorf
- Birmingham
- Bridgeton
- Blue Eye
- Burlington
- Burlingame
- Barstow
- Brainerd
- Brooklyn
- Beardstown
- Bradenton
- Bloomington
- Big Rock
- Buckeye
- Bronx
- Barrington Hills
- Bartlett
- Baxter
- Bolingbrook
- Buffalo
- Burr Ridge
- Blankenship
- Buford