I'm not sure that's even the best word, since there are negative connotations to "sentimental" I've never had any truck with.†
But last night, watching the slideshow presentation on 100 years of St. Mary Land & Exploration, I was taken by surprise at the depth of feeling I have for this industry.
While I know when I tell people I'm in the oil & gas business, I frequently fall to someplace between tapeworm and lawyer‡ on the acceptability scale, I will hold out to the end that not every company runs an oil tanker onto a reef in Prince William Sound and not every oil company cheats its employees and the world in general out of stock benefits.
Not every oil company rapes the earth and bilks little old ladies out of their rightful royalties.
In fact, most don't.
And there are companies like St. Mary that are so conscious, so smart and so close to their family-owned roots§ that I take pride in my long association with them.
Part of what I love about my career¶ is most of what I love about this industry: history. No matter what your overall temperature on drilling and mining, you can't deny the enormous impact they've had on our history. The interstate highway system, fast food and California can all be argued to be inextricably linked to landman activity.%
I like being a part of history. I like that I helped put in the largest pipeline system in Wyoming. I like that my dad did landwork on the Alaska pipeline. I like that St. Mary had Russian drilling permit number 001 after the fall of the Soviet Union.
We're all a part of history, of course, but there are days I feel exactly *where* my place in history might be.
[SUMMARY: Why say in ten words what you can say in ten hundred words?]
Anyway, I'm kinda sentimental today.
So when I was puttering through my blogreading and found Yvette's Excellent Kissing Adventure, I thought to myself, "Self, everybody should take a moment and inventory the truly amazing kisses in their lives.
Seriously.
Go do it.
You might be surprised at the number and/or quality of kisses you remember. You may be astonished at the details you can dredge up surrounding that one perfect liplock.
However it hits you, you can't help having a happy, dopey little moment.
It's good blogfodder, too, if you're inclined to share. Now, I'm not meme-ing you# or tasking you,†† I'm just sayin'... in a totally Blogging Without Obligation‡‡ frame of mind, it could make a cool post, and one that might make you grin in that goofy way you do.§§
[SUMMARY: I love blogs for sentimental reasons...]
I also got an email from one¶¶ of my oldest friends## today. It goes like this:
I knew only you would appreciate this. I generally like the format on Jack 105FM, play anything and everything. However, this week they have had 2 of the worst segues ever.
1. Ironman by Black Sabbath to Summer of 69 Bryan Adams - actually stopped me cold
2. Cherry Pie by Warant to Vacation by the GoGos - from Hair Metal to what ever the hell the GoGo's were.
Do you think they off shored their programming and somebody in India is picking song that they they think go together?
Apu - "Cherry Pie is something you eat on Vacation, so this is wonderful telephonic conversion"
The sentimental connection?
As I was reading the two examples, my immediate thought was, "They've outsourced our radio to India."
Some people, I don't know why I even consider them friends. Others? There's no way we wouldn't be friends.
[SUMMARY: It's a day of absolutes.]
That's my rose-coloured sentimental journey.
I may have to beat a small child to balance my chi after all that.
†FOOTNOTE (crossed): I'm not a sap. Am *not*!
‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): You will note I'm not saying which is more acceptable, tapeworm or lawyer, just that I may fall between.
§FOOTNOTE (swerved): Philosophically. Literally, St. Mary went public in 1966 or so.
¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): Not job. Career.
%FOOTNOTE (percented): Of course, hairy palms and going blind might also be linked to landman activity, but that's not our focus of study.
#FOOTNOTE (pounded): Stacey.
††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): All grammar issues aside, if you do blog it, would you please let me know?
‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): Thus:
§§FOOTNOTE (twisting like the perfect kiss): Oh, I may not *know* you know you, but I know you have a goofy grin you trot out for special occasions.
¶¶FOOTNOTE (March of the penguins. April of the penguins, maybe -- oh, yes it is. It's snowing outside again. 80 yesterday, snow today.): Actually, two. Marky B wrote me from London to say absolutely nothing noteworthy has happened since the last time we corresponded, though he will be in Florida soon and I should drop by if I get a chance.
##FOOTNOTE (pounded like the heavy hand of a bad joke): Well, not old, per se, but I have been bestest friends with him since high school. For a kid who attended five elementary schools, it's pretty awe-inspiring to have a friend for 26 years.
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