A Girl...

Simon Says - "Attaboy!"

Unlike many of you out there, I don't read very many blogs. I have about five that I check regularly, including this one. Now and again, I'll hit one of the links on the right side of this page, but those are all of Leah's, not mine.

The blog that I have been reading the longest is written by James Lileks. He is a columnist/journalist in Minnesota. I started reading right about the time his daughter was born in 2000, but he had been going for a while before that. Since 1997. That kind of makes him a pioneer. He was doing this blog thing when the rest of you were in grade school. Proverbially, anyway.

Lileks is an interesting fellow. And prolific. He is a professional writer, and writes about 10 columns a week for various publications, yet he still manages to have something original to say almost every single day in his blog. I don't always agree with his politics, which sometimes get a bit long-winded anyway. But I am sure fond of his kid, and I hope that I am able to have such time to devote to my children when they show up.

Lileks loves the past. He has a section of his website, The Institute of Official Cheer, "Where the past is brought back to life, and promptly beaten to death again." He manages to talk about the past in a manner that is nostalgic, reverant, and tongue-in-cheek, all at the same time. He will point out something about the 1950's that was "the way things should be," but temper it with a comment about all the sad and opressed housewives who yearned for lives of their own.

Anyway, Lileks has declared today National Attaboy Day. Today is a good day to tell someone that you think he or she is doing well. For all you kids out there, that means you should give someone props.

I feel lucky that I beat him to the punch. Yesterday I gave someone props. I saw a real live derby girl at the gym. I walked in, and there she was on the stairmaster, making herself faster and stronger and more able to send Jammers to the floor. I walked up to her, and she took her headphones off.

"You're a derby girl, aren't you?" I asked.

She seemed a bit dumbfounded. I think that this was possibly her first time being recognized as a celebrity. She is so distinctive, I couldn't have missed her if I tried. But she seemed very pleased to be recognized in public.

I told her that I love going to the bouts, and that I think the Derby Girls kick ass, and that I think she has a very distinctive style, and keep it up.

And that was it. Props to someone who didn't expect to be recognized in public. I think it made her day.

If you have the opportunity, I highly suggest that you take the opportunity to give someone an "attaboy" today. Turns out, people like that shit.