Life and Individuality

Watch this movie before another minute of your life slips by. Harold and Maude in addition to Kurt Vonnegut is another major inspiration for the Bonnie-verse. We get so used to the extraordinary, and we perceive such a vast difference between happiness and sadness. To this I say: reevaluate.

Bird Watcher

Take your hobby and take it "too far." Look ridiculous.

Inundate yourself with things that bring you joy.

Yes, yes, I know it's cheesy and the clips of Joey are jarringly unrelated--but surely you get why this should be in the bonnie-verse. If running silly (or singing outloud with no music behind you, or burping) makes you feel so good, so free, and so graceful, (and you're not hurting anybody) do it! It doesn't matter if people are staring, whether you're gone in a second or not.

Old Grey Bonnet

"Fran & Marlo Cowan (married 62 years) playing impromptu recital together in theDe atrium of the Mayo Clinic. He turned 90 in February. The song is Old Grey Bonnet."

There is an interview with the couple on YouTube as well. They come from a religious perspective, and though the Bonnieverse believes in doing good for the sake of doing good, there is a key concept in their motivation that I think we can all agree on: "It’s pretty simple as far as we’re concerned. God gave us talents. The purpose of these talents is that we use them. We happen to have a talent in music and humor. So, you put ‘em together, and whatever we can do that will make life more enjoyable for others, why, we do it. "

Kindness on a Bus

Green Light and a Blind Woman..., originally uploaded by cmac66.

Lately I've been lamenting the lack of "real world" material to add to the Bonnieverse. I'm always on the lookout for unexpectedly kind, warm, or just polite behavior--someone going out of their way to make life just a little more personal. Either it hasn't happened a lot lately, or I just haven't been tuned in enough.

Finally I found myself in the middle of such a moment. I was on the shuttle at the LaGuardia airport in NY, and everyone had been quietly resenting the driver for taking so long to leave the terminal. He makes one last stop, opens the shuttle door, and tells everyone that our final passenger is blind and needs to sit in the back. This would have meant about four rows of climbing over people, seat belts, puffy winter clothing, luggage, etc. One woman in the front row assertively tells the driver, "If she's blind she needs to sit in the front," and gives up her front seat to move to the back. When the woman with the visual impairment approached the van, the previously rigid, unapproachable passengers near enough to reach her all held out their hands. They simultaneously pulled her into the van, covered her head so she wouldn't bump it on the door, guided her into the seat, and buckled her in.

For just the minute that it took to accomplish this, everyone in the van who had previously seemed to want nothing to do with each other were communicating verbally and physically, touching each other and touching this woman as if they had been working together on this sort of effort for years.

Maybe this doesn't seem so far fetched to any of you, but think about how easy it would have been to ignore the situation, stay in their seats, sit back, and quietly watch the new passenger fumble her way into the vehicle. Instead, these strangers unabashedly reached out to help her.

Hey Jude, Don't Make It Bad

Link to accompanying article on Salon

The video and the article attached are rather self-explanatory... The author of the article waxes poetic, Bonnie-verse style.

Samwise Gamgee

Samwise Gamgee, originally uploaded by heatherXXLL.

Watch Sam's Speech



This link and clip in the Lord of the Rings movies sums up the heroism of Samwise Gamgee's character. Sam is loyal, kind, and is content simple pleasures untill called upon to sacrifice for the greater good.

I Love You

This scene was such a heart-warming gem in the middle of a comedy. I think friends should say "I love you" to each other. Friends are the family you choose, and there is nothing shameful in becoming aware of that affection then sharing it with the people you feel it for. One day when I am old I will be able to explain why this is important, but I don't think I should wait until then to start.

Sheepy keen

Jobs kind of suck, but the Bonnieverse is pretty realistic. We have to have them. Here are some people (cleverly named the "Baaa-Studs") who add some fun to the fundamentals.

Do-ray-weeee!

I'm not entirely sure this needs any sort of justification for being in the bonnieverse. suffice to say i hope this is a reminder that the boundaries of routine we think inhibit our lives are not as strong as we think they are.