NASCAR and Twilight

I've been trying to put together a post on NASCAR, but I'm not sure what to say about it. A couple of months ago, I started a journey of trying to figure out why it's so popular and have found that it's starting to grow on me.  Translating that into a post, however, is proving difficult.  There are sports like football or baseball that allow for underdogs to come from way behind and win it in the end. This makes for exciting, tear-inducing movies, but NASCAR is more like tennis. You win by avoiding disaster and making your move when it counts. You have to develop an appreciation by understanding the rules and learning the strategies. But I don't want to write a blog entry that makes NASCAR sound like it's a fine wine that you have to develop a palette for. I mean, come on, it's a bunch of guys driving around in circles. 

Maybe I just haven't been watching NASCAR long enough to get my head around exactly how I feel about it.  Right now, the only thing I can think of is how much NASCAR reminds me of Twilight.  That may seem far-fetched, but I think the comparison is sound.  For starters, there's the drama.  Of course NASCAR is dramatic.  There are cars going close to 200 miles an hour with mere inches between them.  There is the constant threat of contact and crashes, the pressure on pit crews to shave seconds off their time, and the grudges that can form between drivers over the course of the season.  As for Twilight, that story is just oozing with drama.  Not drama over anything that people seriously have to worry about though.  It's drama about things like whether a young girl should go to the prom with a vampire or how to keep her father from finding out that her best friend is a werewolf.  I don't remember having to worry about that stuff when I was in high school.  

Another reason NASCAR reminds me of Twilight is people's reactions.  While there are people who seem to hate each one, I’m thinking more of the fans.  Fans of Twilight, and I'm talking the hardcore fans here, feel very strongly about it.  They have picked a side and they root for Jacob or Edward, regardless of the fact that they already know who "wins" in the end.  Then there are NASCAR fans.  They have their favorite drivers, their least favorite drivers, and given the chance, they'll pack up an RV and spend the weekend camped out on the infield of the Bristol Motor Speedway.

NASCAR and Twilight also have crazy merchandising.  In NASCAR, this is obviously evidenced by the cars and drivers themselves, which look like are moving billboards.  Every inch is covered in a logo or slogan.  You can tell a car a mile away just by seeing the huge M&Ms characters or the Miller Lite logo.  And if you think the sponsors are all major corporations and beer companies, you might want to talk to this guy:

That’s Mike Bliss next to the Kim Kardashian car.  But NASCAR doesn’t stop there…they’ll sell you anything they can put a logo on.  Twilight is the same way.  Let's see how they stack up:

 

	NASCAR	Twilight
Lunch boxes
Figurines
Jewelry
Underwear

So there you have it.  I can’t really explain why I’m starting to like NASCAR except by comparing it to one of my other inexplicable likes.  I don’t have a favorite driver, and I certainly don’t plan on ordering any of the merchandise seen above, but I did add Days of Thunder and Talledega Nights to my Netflix queue, and come the weekend, I’ll tune in to see who takes the checkered flag.

My New Hobby

Last night, Daniel and I had the pleasure of going to Outback. Toward the end of dinner, I realized I had a small speck of steak stuck between my back molars. Being in a public place, without even the meager privacy of a booth, there was only so much I could do to dislodge the steak. I dug around with my tongue, swished around some water....but I didn't have a toothpick and I wasn't about to unhinge my jaw and dig around with my finger. I tried not to think about it while we waited for our check, but once I know there is food stuck in my teeth, and once I've tried unsuccessfully for a couple of minutes to free it, it's hard to just drop the matter and stop thinking about it. Thankfully, we weren't there much longer so I was able to grab a toothpick on the way out and dig around on the way to the car. Once that little bit of food was out, I felt so relieved and triumphant. You'd think I'd slain a dragon.

Sitting in the car, basking in the victory of clean teeth, I realized this might be the feeling people chase when they're biting at their fingernails or picking their noses. You get this idea in your head that there's something there that shouldn't be and soon there is an obsessive need to get it out. When you finally do, it's like coming alive again with shorter nails and a cleaner nasal passage. Realizing what a positive feeling people are chasing when they engage in these undesirable habits, I decided I would harness this same obsessive need to sluff off bodily dross and use it for good. I decided I would start flossing.

I've never been a habitual flosser, and because I do it so infrequently, it hurts when I finally get around to it. Besides, once I've brushed, my mouth feels clean and fresh enough that flossing just seems unnecessary. But if you want to find out how untrue this is, eat a big steak, brush your teeth, then floss. You'll be amazed at how much brushing left behind.

It would be nice if I could adopt flossing simply for the inheirent benefits of the activity, but in the 25 years I've been responsible for taking care of my teeth, I've never been a regular flosser. Now, however, I'm coming at it from a new angle. It's like a quest deep into uncharted caves where I need to excavate as much as possible. Perhaps I'll even come across some rare artifact that I can show off to Daniel before tossing aside. I haven't told him yet about my new hobby, but i'm sure he's going to LOVE it.