Mingalarbar!!!

That is how you say "Hello" in Burmese. I'm going to begin one post a day with Hello in another language. Let's see how many people we can greet before I run out of Hello's!

I must say that Mingalarbar is an awfully long word for a polite greeting. But, the Burmese have spoken and this is how they chose to do it so, it shall be done this way.

OK then, I have to get back to living my normal life today. That's a scary thought, isn't it?

My father and I were talking about Marilyn Monroe the other day after we watched The Seven Year Itch. He said that there could never be such a sexy woman again nowadays because there's nothing left to the imagination so therefore, according to Dear Ol' Dad, that type of seduction doesn't exist anymore.

We discussed the days when the most risque thing that a kid could look at was the underwear section of the Sears catalogue. But you never would have seen a woman in a bra on television when I was a kid...not even on a bra commercial. Jane Russell used to do a commercial for the Cross Your Heart Bra and she stood next to a mannequin wearing a bra. The mannequin didn't have arms or legs or a head, but it did have a leotard on under the bra. They couldn't even show a naked piece of plastic with no legs, arms or head wearing nothing but bra. That leotard had to cover up the plastic torso before Jane Russell could take her hand across the chest of the plastic torso and "cross it's heart".

Now, remember that Jane Russell was famous for the size of her "girls". We could THINK about her boobs, but we couldn't actually see any part of them, real or formed out of some tree resin. By the way, she did a movie for Howard Hughes who designed a bra specifically for her so that it would show more cleavage. Yeah, today's actors can't pull off sexy like Monroe did.

OK then...what else? Oh, I've been up since 5 because I had to give 2 people rides to work this morning. I only knew about the early one when I woke up. Then I went home and someone else called to ask for a "small favor". That small favor was a ride to work and luckily neither the work nor my friend was very far away so I didn't mind at all.

You know, not too long ago if I had given a friend a ride and they offered me "gas money", I would have refused it. But I've been taking it lately. I just toss it in the glove box for the next time I get gas. I remember my dad asking the gas station guy to put in, "Two dollars regular, please." I mentioned that to my father the other day and he responded, "I remember putting in a quarter's worth of gas for the night." Can you imagine? A quarter took my dad around for the night back when cars sucked up about 2 miles per gallon. A quarter today would be impossible. Try it, you can't even pump it that slowly. By the time you've pushed the pump the slightest bit, you're up to 80 cents. I think you could do it but you'd need an eye dropper to put the gas in the tank and I don't have one of those.

My son finally brought me my riding lawn mower that I bought from his friend last summer. The bitch of it is there's some sort of small problem with it that wasn't there when I bought it. I think it's with the clutch or carburetor or something like that. It might as well be the engine for all the good I can do. You could tell me that the tyson gasket was blown and I would believe you. I'd probably trust you if you said that the mower needed freon. What the hell do I know?

OK...now you all need to say Mingalarbar back to me! Or, just say it to yourself 5 times fast and before you know it, you'll be able to say Mingalarbar if you should meet a Burma dude or chick! Or is it Myanmar? No matter, they all speak Burmese.