I mentioned a few posts back about how Mooney and I got a fancy new television set for Christmas. Not only did we get a High-Definition picture-box, we also got a Digital Video Disc player machine! And we also got the entire Twin Peaks Box Set, which we have been watching almost nightly. Now that, dear readers, is one strange story!
And I highly recommend it. Twin Peaks is one of Mooney's favorite programs, and I even found her a Log Lady T-shirt for Valentine's Day a few years back. Up until a year ago or so, though, you could only get the first season - on good-old VHS tapes. Nowadays you can get the original movie and both full seasons in one box set! Oh my, The wonders of digital technology!!!
We are getting near the end of the story, and in last night's eerie episode, FBI Agent Dale Cooper had a few memorable quotes. The first: "Fellas, coincidence and fate figure largely in our lives."
Now this is an interesting observation, don't you think? Coincidence, implies Coop, is far more than coincidence. We could discuss this for all of 2010 and I'm sure many of us wouldn't budge from our stumps in the Science v. Faith debate, and that's OK. But I guess I accept, reluctantly at times, the idea of fate. It sure makes it easier to deal with the world when things don't go your way, dear readers. At the same time, it implies that your decisions are not really decisions at all. You are a needle on a record player, and you didn't pick the album. And that's a bit depressing as well.
The best part about this line of reasoning is that I am and always will be a Packers fan. It was predetermined. It is a part of me as much as my beautiful wife Mooney or my love of the out-of-doors. You are what you are. Fate makes it easier to humble triumphs and accept faults. My brother-in-law Herb, for instance, can't help it that he is more a fan of Old Whats His Name and the Vikings than the Green and Gold. Maybe that was fate, but I guess it still makes me squirm.
It was fate, then, that put the Packers in the desert for two weeks straight, fate that brought Agent Cooper to Twin Peaks, and fate that led me to the next quote in this column: "Harry, I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange."
Agent Cooper was referring to his search for the Black Lodge, the presumed hide-out of sinister spirit and over-all creep, Bob. (Mooney covers her little eyes any-time Bob appears on screen). Taking this second quote in the context of the first, it can easily apply to the Packers and the playoff tournament ahead.
You can whirl your-self around the internet and find lots of ideas and predictions on what will happen, and I do find some of these interesting, but today I find myself both excited, optimistic and a bit uneasy about the wild-card matchup in Arizona. The playoffs are strange and wonderful, dear readers, and I intend to enjoy them to the fullest no matter the outcome.
As my friend The Warden says when ice-fishing, "Every tip-up is a gift."
The strange and wonderful things in life come along rarely and you never know how long it will be until another opportunity will arrive, so today I say, Smell the Desert Roses, if such a plant exists, and drink in the playoff run. Of course, I am pretty darned sure the Packers will stomp the Cardinals again on Sunday, so maybe that makes it easier to believe fate is in play (and that it is on our side).
So we are going back to the Red Room this Sunday. I like our matchups on both sides of the ball, and I am expecting a close game and hoping for a blow-out. I think Finley will rip it up and I also think the defense will rattle old man Warner early and often, en route to victory. Mark it, folks: Packers - 27, Cardinals, 14.
Your visiting MPU is, of course, predetermined (Thank you, Universe!), but until next time,
FG