Responsibility Is A Heavy Responsibility

I had a weird moment recently. I was watching Cheech & Chong’s Next Movie and turned it off because it was stupid. It used to be one of my favorite movies along with Up in Smoke, but as I was watching it I was getting annoyed. None of it was funny. It was all stupid. All I could think was what a couple of morons. Maybe it was because I was sober or maybe it was because I’m thirty-seven, but I definitely don’t like not liking Cheech & Chong. What’s next? Is Dark Side of the Moon going to all of a sudden suck? I spend my days differently now than I did when I was twenty, but I always thought those were the best days. I look back and remember an almost constant intensity of fun that I don’t experience on a regular basis anymore. Maybe that’s just the way memory works. Maybe most of the crap of those days is pushed to the back. I remember it being quaint that I had no job and no money but I did have seventy-two ice cold cans of Bush beer in the fridge – and nothing else – and Gumby’s pizza on speed dial. I have fond memories of my buddy Dave, who was a jackass for the most part, but was always flush with botanical refreshment. I’m having another weird moment right now as I kind of “stream of consciousness” this post. I’m thinking that I should thank God, my personal guardian angel, luck, and/or fate for clouding at least part of MJ’s better judgment. Direct divine intervention is the only explanation for why MJ didn’t run for the hills at some point between my eighteenth and twenty-third birthdays. I was the best of a bad lot I guess. Oh well, c’est la vie. I don’t know what Tommy Chong is up to, but it seems Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez always find a spot for a more sophisticated Cheech Marin. And he’s great. It’s like we grew up together from his ridiculous stoner cholo to a shotgun wielding bar owner. I wonder if he looks back at his early eighties work and thinks what a couple of morons…while counting his residuals.