Random undeveloped thoughts from vacation:
I'm not the biggest Linkin Park fan. I'm just not. With that said, I was unexpectedly very saddened by the death of Chester Bennington. Rightly or wrongly, I thought of the band as Chester saddled with a bunch of California Douchebags. I always liked and admired Bennington's singing ability, separate from the band's musical skills. I like a couple of Linkin Park's songs, but only loved Burn It Down.
I was sitting on the beach, thinking about the pain in Bennington's lyrics. It made me more sad, maybe someone could have done something more to help him. Or, maybe, just maybe, Bennington used Linkin Park as a vehicle simply to make it to his 40s. You never know the linear nature of these things. Oh, and I wasn't staring at the ocean, I was staring at a bunch of Fiddler Crabs waving their claws in the air. Hundreds of Fiddler Crabs, who let me watch them as I stayed motionless and silent.
Some Smart Aleck threw a raw chicken leg into the Crab's lair. I learned many things about Crabs on vacation. First of all, did you know that they love raw chicken? They swarm on that shit like ants on sugar. Then I wondered how Chicken-Stuffed Crab would taste. Really good, I bet. A crab ran across my foot and I just stared off. I wonder how much Chester Bennington left behind in his will. He had to be worth a ton of money....
$25 million, according to the always (ahem) dependable internet. The more I read about Bennington, the sadder I become. At some point I put down the iPhone. Who wants to be depressed on vacation? So I scrolled over to the ESPN site as an escape looking for something light to read. I was greeted with a headline that read Kyrie Irving Wants to be Traded. Great, now I'm mad on vacation.
Kyrie Irving has a $100 million contract. He's not happy and wants to be traded. LeBron James makes $20-something million a year, he wants to keep his options open, wants to test free agency, again. Is anybody happy? Does anyone say "I'm making a boatload of money and I'm happy?" Does anyone ever say that? "Let's play some basketball and have some fun?" Anyone ever say that?
And I couldn't shake it. The mix of sadness and anger. I could see a therapist, but I know my problem. I've known it for a few years now. How do you monetize your passion? I missed Beacon of Speech on my vacation. Jotted down ideas and thoughts on piles of napkins and post-it notes for a week. Didn't bring my laptop, only the iPhone. I'm not such a Tech Junkie that I'm writing with my iPhone (yet). How do I make enough money to make a sustainable entity? (Rhetorical question, of course, you sell out your principles.) How do you hold onto your principles and make money without becoming a casualty or a whiny baby? Ahhhh, that's the real question.....
Another article I read was on SBNation. I literally just wrote about Peter Karmanos Jr. 2 weeks ago. Now I see he's selling the Carolina Hurricanes (the old Hartford Whalers) for $500 million, or maybe not. Farther along in the article it claims Karmanos was losing $15 million a year in North Carolina. I'm calling my shot. If Chuck Greeenberg pays $500 million for the Hurricanes, which is the least valuable team in the NHL according to SBNation, then that team is NOT staying in the Carolinas. Not in Greensboro, not in Raleigh, not in Charlotte.
When I was young, I listened to the musical Trilogy of Anger and Despair, and it made me feel better. What is the Trilogy of Anger and Despair, you ask? Just the three greatest songs ever recorded about the mixture of Anger and Despair. If you only have Anger, they don't work. If you only have Despair, they don't work. It has to be a specific concoction, like, 5 parts Anger and 3 parts Despair....