I do not think it's from what you think it's from. :)

So, to anyone who saw my original post about The Road Not Taken, and then saw our addition of the movie clip, I hope you appreciated the irony! Haha! (I originally claimed the quote was from The Three Amigos! I thought it was part of the "plethora" conversation. I should have known, since I actually liked the line, that it was from elsewhere. By the way, Matt and his family enjoy really silly movies.... [Like Three Amigos.])

Matt is highly disappointed that no one wrote in to malign me for daring to strip The Road Not Taken of its most beloved meaning. Hehe. I told him my audience is too intelligent to actually read the poem and think it's saying what people think it's saying. :) As far as poetry goes, it's pretty straight-forward!

For the benefit of the weirdos on wikipedia (Matt wikipedia-ed the poem to see if Robert Frost ever had a good laugh over it. We enjoyed his quote: "You have to be careful with that one. It's tricky. Hehehehehehehe. VERY tricky. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" [implied laughter added] :)), here's a simpler version for wiki-people minds:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood

(Creating a perfect metaphor for life)

And sorry I could not travel both

Since, of course, I'm just one man

I considered my options for a long time

And looked down the one as far as I could to try to see what it was like

Then ended up taking the other one, which was just as good

And maybe, I thought, was maybe a better choice...?

Because its grass wasn't tromped on yet!

Although, truth be told, as for that...

(That is, as for how many people had already traveled on these roads)

Both the paths were really about the same

And both of them that morning were equally

Covered in leaves that no steps had tromped on

(Neither was less traveled...! Oh, how to choose?!)

Oh! The pain! I kept the first for another day!

Another day. Yes.

Oh, who was I kidding.

Knowing how one path leads to another...

I knew I'd probably never come back for that first path. Sigh.

This will always make me a little sad. And make me wonder. And make me sigh.

I can foresee that years from now, I'll change up the story to make myself feel good.

The myth will go something like this:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by!

And that has made all the difference.

Ok, that version stinks. Hehe. But wikipedia people, I daresay the "literal interpretation" is, you know, what the poem actually says. (It's not a toughie.) As for an "ironic interpretation," the common interpretation is, itself, the irony! He said it himself: Frost is a trickster! Hahahaha!!

I said it before, I'll say it again. What a GREAT poem. :)

To quote an excellent film:

I saw a reference to a famous poem today, and that quote ran through my head. The poem is one you all know: The Road Less Traveled, by Robert Frost.

Oh, no wait, scratch that. Hehe.

Most people would like it to be about the road less traveled. But did you know it's actually called "The Road Not Taken"? :) (Whoa! How's that for throwing the supposed meaning of the poem on its head? Ha ha!) And that the one thing it for sure is NOT saying is that the speaker "took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." A nice thought, I guess. But, haha!, Robert Frost would either roll over in his grave or have a really good laugh that it's the phrase everyone remembers and uses to back up their "take the road less traveled!" motivational speeches. Personally, I think he'd laugh! After all, his poem has done wonders to prove he was right that this is what everyone really does say to themselves! "And I, I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference!" Hahaha! Totally amusing. It makes me laugh for sure, and I'm not even the one who had thought about this enough to go and write a poem about it. Robert Frost must be having a good laugh. The poem is totally calling people out—and then we all use this very poem, completely incorrectly, to validate his point! Totally oblivious that a joke is on us! HA HA HA!

Anyway, read it again. It's a great poem. :) And, common misperception aside, it doesn't actually make me laugh, but rather think. And sigh. :) I love it, I love it, I love it.

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Smile! It's your birthday!

He started out a little shell-shocked by the big to-do, but he got into it. Hehe. It was so fun to see him enjoy his birthday so much! He really was awed by the magic of it all. Like when the servers at the restaurant suddenly started singing to him.... "They sang a song...! For...me...?" Hehe. I'm pretty sure that was the coolest thing to ever happen to him. Here are some snapshots of a super-fun birthday for a super-fun kid. We love this little guy. :)

A veritable mountain of gift wrap. :) Lucky kid!

Here you go!

Because I could never ignore such an awesome request! ;) Thriller for everyone!

(This video always takes me right back to feeling like my kid-self. I used to love that it would come on multiple times while we were at my Grandma's every Halloween—it was my favorite thing of the day! It always scared me soooooo much...but in a GOOD way. I loved it. I still do! :))

Watch it!

Because Dave was right that this is AWESOME, I'm putting another Jackson 5 goodie on here. Ahhh.... Enjoy.

RIP MJ

Michael Jackson died, and as big a deal as it seemed, I thought... huh, there's just nothing to say. 

My first inclination was to think, oh no, I'm a Michael Jackson fan, I'm supposed to be reeling! But I have a serious problem with fans of some stranger's music bowing down before the person when, a) he's a stranger, and b) he's a PEDOPHILE! Hello?! That's just wrong. That's like saying to kids everywhere, celebrity-love is more compelling than you. Don't you think? I mean, wasn't it horribly disturbing when fans showed up by the hundreds to hold up support signs when he was on trial—for alleged child molestation! "Don't worry, Michael. I love Thriller, so I'll support you no matter HOW many kids say you abused them. Dumb kids, trying to take down Michael Jackson!" Anyway, that was all rather appalling. It's not quite as appalling that fans are swarming to bawl over his Hollywood Star. But, still.... I just couldn't go there. Besides, Jackson 5-Off The Wall-Thriller-Bad-Michael Jackson has been gone a long, long while anyway....

The other inclination was to notice a plethora of jokes that could be made about the relief in this situation.... Hehe. But, you know, the poor guy was super-disturbed, and it's just not nice to poke fun at the deceased.

So, we said, "What?! NO way!" And then . . . . There just wasn't anything left to say. (Not that the news thought the same. Hehe.) What a bizarre event. 

Go watch Thriller, though. Because it's awesome. And even more awesome are Jackson 5 videos. That kid—you know, Michael Jackson :)—was THE coolest, most talented child ever, ever, EVER! In my next life, I'm gonna have soul like that. :) Watch for no other reason than to marvel at the soul I'm gonna have. Ha ha!! ;) 

(The end is the best! Only two minutes, watch it all!)

Huh?

Why did my wildly hilarious elevator entry suddenly disappear? Ha ha! Lightning bolts from above because I admitted to that evil, evil deed! (Seriously, I've never had an entry disappear before. And I have no idea what happened.... Don't worry! It'll come back! Hehe.)

Morality

I recently saw a fairly interesting report of a Gallup poll that attempted to assess Americans' moral compass. It was pretty limited—I think respondents were only asked to define if they thought a certain thing was morally right or wrong (in most of these categories, I find myself thinking it's not so cut-and-dry). But many of the results surprised me! What do you think? Here's what the article reported:

Ninety-two percent of Americans who responded to a recent Gallup poll say having an affair is morally wrong [surprise: the other 8% said it's ok? hehe. Also, I was surprised it ranked so highly above some of the things below], more than any of these other deeds:

Divorce: 30 percent say it's wrong [higher than I would have guessed for how the question was apparently phrased]

The death penalty: 30 percent [Also higher, to my pleasant surprise—though I hope it gets much higher! I so do not understand how the death penalty is at all acceptable, other than when the person is really, truly a continuing threat to society, even from behind bars. Dreadful.] 

[A side note, though: I've often wondered if the death penalty could be appropriate for child molesters. Does that sound crazy, that I find it reprehensible against murderers, but maybe reasonable against child molesters...? First of all, nothing makes me angrier than a person being evil enough to hurt a child. Second, I can imagine that, unlike murder, the death penalty might actually help prevent child abuse. My mom thinks child molesters should be castrated from the first offense. Awesome! Too bad the Supreme Court would surely call it "cruel and unusual punishment," like hard labor is. And being killed isn't?]

Buying and wearing clothing made of animal fur: 35 percent

Gambling: 36 percent [wow! Other than other Mormons, I can't think of anyone who I'd guess would think gambling is morally wrong.... 36%!]

Medical research using stem cells from human embryos: 36 percent [I was glad to see that lower than I would have guessed....]

Medical testing on animals: 36 percent [I wonder what people are picturing here.... Could a whole 36% of Americans really think we shouldn't use animals to make advances in medicine? Without animal testing, we'd all still be dying when we're 40.... As I'm typing this, Matt is actually packing his bag to go do surgeries on mice and pigs to help figure out pulmonary hypertension, particularly for pediatric patients. That's kind of a funny concurrence. Hehe.]

Sex between an unmarried man and woman: 40 percent [40%!! Are you kidding me? That's actually pretty cool! Well...I guess.... If you consider that everyone fornicates anyway, maybe this stat is a little depressing.... :)]

Having a baby outside of marriage: 45 percent

Gay or lesbian relations: 47 percent

Doctor-assisted suicide: 56 percent

Abortion: 56 percent [a prime example of how this study might be too limited.... so many scenarios to consider here!]

Cloning animals: 63 percent

Suicide: 80 percent [again, too many different scenarios to consider...]

Cloning humans: 88 percent [And what are people picturing here? I picture cloning people for fun reproduction, and I can't imagine 12% thinking that's ok! But maybe people are imagining cloning to produce 16-celled embryos for stem cells...? If a Gallup pollster asked you if you thought cloning humans was morally wrong, what would you picture?]

Polygamy: 91 percent

Married men and women having an affair: 92 percent

Anyway, what do you think of all of it? Interesting, no? :)

I'd avoid it. I would.

But it's still less than half the cost of a photo-light fine.... ;)

HAHAHAHAHA!!!