Monday, May 21, 2007

Kansas Coincidences

I've mentioned this to a few people, but since I've been here in Kansas, I've experienced some interesting coincidences, which I will share with you now.

The second week I was here, I went to my apartment complex's office, as I was told you can sign out DVD movies for free. They have a whiteboard showing the latest arrivals and this week, the movie "Capote" starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman was featured. I had always wanted to see that movie, but to be honest, I really didn't know what Truman Capote did. So I thought now was a good time to do so.

Unbeknowest to me, "Capote" is the true story of how Truman Capote the author, began the 'true-crime' book craze with his release of "In Cold Blood", which is about a brutal senseless murder at a farm homestead in rural Kansas, which happened about a two hour drive southwest from Topeka! The murderers were then caught and brought to Leavenworth Prison, which is only about 45 minutes from Topeka. I could help but feel I was MEANT to watch this movie at this particular time.

Another coincidence happened when I drove down to the Wichita Mid-Continent Airport to fly out to Las Vegas. Upon my return, the next week, I happened to be watching "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" starring John Candy and Steve Martin where their plane to Chicago gets diverted all the way to the same airport and their adventure takes them through Kansas and the rest of the Midwest.

Not really a coincidence, but notable was watching "National Lampoon's Vacation" with Chevy Chase a few weeks ago, that takes the family through Kansas and Dodge City, famous for the Wyatt Earp history. The scene that showed Christie Brinkley driving her red Ferrari on the highway made me think why I haven't yet seen anything like this yet.

And would you consider it a coincidence that a Masonic brother from here was from San Diego, where I was just at a couple times last year, and his girlfriend resembles two of my ex-girlfriends and has the same name as another ex of mine (yes, I have a few ex's, but that's not the point here..lol.)

Speaking of Masons, I'll mention again about the evening at the Scottish Rite Temple in Guthrie when asking Jim Tresner about what his favourite degree of the Scottish Rite is and which working tool he likes the most, he happened to pick what I would say: "The 18th degree and the level."

And I almost forgot to mention how Rich Stevenson "The Irish Rebel" told me over a late night breakfast at IHOP that he is a huge fan of Rush. As well, although he plays guitar at the pub, he actually happens to be a drummer. Being that I'm a bass player and also a huge Rush fan, I think I'll chalk that up as a coincidence. Especially when one night he was taking requests and I blurted out "Rush!" as a lark, he actually started playing "Sweet Memories" from the album "2112" (1976).

These are sweet memories indeed and why I have to blog them.

2 comments:

MUD said...

I am a Kansas native and other than my time in the Military lived here for almost 60 years. I agree that the north-eastern part of the state is beautiful. The rolling hills, the farms and the simple pleasure of walking the trails at Lake Shawnee are great. However, when you take the drive to Denver, the part of the state west of Hays and east of Denver is the pits. Enjoy your stay here and do meet as many of the people as you can. Please try the Mexican restaurants in east Topeka. Taco el Sol makes a terrific Flautas. But I am also impressed by Taco Tuesday at Taco John so what do I know. Try the Topeka Steak House on east 6th for any of their specials and you will not go away hungry. MUD

Holy said...

Nothing is a coincidence - it's all a reality you create and notice once you start realizing you're the programmer of your own computer. Not to say their ain't a master programmer out there but you're the guy who gets to hack in and run it for awhile.

Or however you computer geeks would word it....what do I know about computers - I just use one.