It’s my earnest belief that the best things in life…the things that we tend to regard as the best things in life, I should say…are things that happen on their own…randomly, curiously, suddenly, quietly, oddly and sometimes even annoyingly. But they always drop in.
Sometimes they’re free and sometimes they happen as a result of being somewhere that you wouldn’t have had access to if you hadn’t attained a certain level of income or privilege or cunning.
One of the best things I’ve ever done is ride a bicycle along the dirt roads of Caye Caulker, just after sunset. I never would have tasted that experience if I hadn’t earned some coin to begin with.
One of the worst…okay, stupidest things I’ve ever endured is getting bitten in the ass by a Caye Caulker pit bull. And yet, looking back, memory-wise, it’s a weird keeper.
The original lyrics of this 1927 song were written by Buddy DeSylva and Lew Brown, and I honestly think they’re crap.
I know for a fact that the best things in life almost never happen to bums or addicts. If you don’t work hard and avoid the usual pitfalls and show some discipline and achieve a certain level of economic stability you’re never going to sample the best of anything.
And you must have good wifi everywhere, at all times, forever. Have you ever sampled the wifi aboard the Paris metro? You’re sitting in your seat, the train is racing from stop to stop, Parisians are getting on and off, the sounds are great and the totality of the experience…it’s glorious, man…really glorious.
All my life I’ve tried to follow the example of Cary Grant, and this has served me well. Always try to be gracious and gentlemanly. Stay as trim as you can. Be a cheapskate. Try to eat less. Enjoy good wine but stay away from the booze. LSD can be good for the soul if you treat it with respect and keep a copy of the Bhagavad Gita nearby.
And don’t go bald. If you’re going bald anyway or developing a bald spot, buy a ticket to Prague.
Robert Redford: “Life is essentially sad. Happiness is sporadic. It comes in moments and that’s it. Extract the nutrients from every moment.”