Going phrazy!

The pop culture imbibing world has got a new catchphrase this week courtesy of a dude with a brain that “fires in a way that is — I don’t know, maybe not from this particular terrestrial realm.” He’s Charlie Sheen, of course. I’ll admit, I get way too much entertainment value out of reality TV and the regular nonsense that TMZ and Inside Edition report upon. It’s escapism. But, for me, I’d rather get a chuckle out of the human zoo that these outlets depict, than feel angst about Wisconsin, North Africa, the state debt crises, what the idiots that populate our state legislatures are doing to address those budget issues, the unemployment rate, or how nearly 4 years out of law school - having put up an above 3 GPA and participated in the law review - I can still not find full-time employment at a law firm. So, despite all the troubles, I’m with Charlie . . . I’m “winning”.

It’s so simple. Just found out that I’ve got another temp job starting soon. Winning! Got an email address for a girl that I might hang out with. Double winning! Even when confronted with bad news or an accusation of ineptitude, the term is still accessible. Charlie demonstrated it when he was asked if he was perhaps bi-polar and responded that he was “bi-winning”. Next time I overeat, I’m over-winning. A few too many cocktails, it’s only too much winning. If somebody ever told me I was bad at fantasy football, which I am, I’ll just turn it around on them ‘Oh, yeah, well you’re lousy at winning’. The “winning” mindset may even be good for your overall health. It’s best not to be too hard on one self, and what better way to take it easy than to simply announce that you are “winning” whenever the opportunity arises. What a tool; what a great catchphrase!

Unfortunately, this post is two days after “winning” hit the airwaves, and the term may already be too overplayed for me to adopt “winning” as a true catchphrase. The terms that I have always used the most have been stolen, but from sources that are either relatively obscure or so far out of date that no one knows the extent of my lack of creativity in my overuse of phrases. I was a big Henry Miller fan in college, and so, like Henry, after a powerful, profound or ridiculous comment I’d say “What!” I got into Kurt Vonnegut after Miller, and like so many Kurt fans, after stating something that was generally unchangeable or a little depressing came the obligatory “so it goes”. As my tastes changed from world class literature to garbage reality TV, so did the catchphrases. I am still trying to kick my Gordon Ramsay inspired “yeah” in question form habit. Luckily for me, I believe that tendency is starting to wane, in its heyday I received some pretty weird looks from girls after asking “Yeah?” following nearly every statement. Maybe if I had thrown in Flava Flav’s “come and get your clock” to those girls who didn’t completely roll their eyes, I’d have had better luck. There’s also the movie Strange Brew’s “beauty”, and probably some more, so it goes. What!

The thing with catchphrases is that it’s kind of an organic thing. I don’t remember consciously adopting any of those that I have used. Maybe once in a while to be a jerk, but I don’t remember those really sticking. So, if “winning” sticks, only time will tell. At least there’s a really cool Santana song that could be my theme then.

First blog post. Winning!