Welcome to Random Thoughts: The A Through Z Blog of the Overactive Mind

 Hi there!  I'm SC Thompson - 50(ish) years old, 6'4" tall, and powered by caffeine, curiosity, and the constant hum of a brain that refuses to believe in shutting down; the lights are always on and everybody's home...even those who weren't invited.

We all have an inner sanctum of thought.  Some people have a peaceful inner monologue.  Mine is more like a 24-hour ice cream truck blaring MC Hammer in suburbia and claiming "Too Legit to Quit" status.  I've spent years listening to this mental chatter, wondering if there's any meaning to the madness or if I've just set up a free workshop for the neurotic inside my head.  Thoughts pop in, hang out, and refuse to leave. 

Here's the deal: the brain is a wonder.  Truly.  It controls everything - our thoughts, memories, fears, desires, bad karaoke decisions... But the one I have?  It wonders what it's thinking.  It questions the questions.  It loops back around, shops at the idea store for a while and then takes weird detours like "if ducks wore shoes, would they be wingtips?"

It's chaotic.  It's funny.  Sometimes it's deep, and at other times just deeply confusing.  And that's just on my side!

After decades of silently entertaining (and more than occasionally annoying) myself with this internal circus, I've finally decided: Why not set up three rings and the big tent.  Why not see if this mental madness resonates with someone else out there?  Maybe it makes you think.  Maybe it makes you feel less alone.  Or maybe - just maybe - it confirms that I need counseling.  Lots and lots of specific counseling.  

But hey, who couldn't benefit from that on occasion?  Either way, we all win!

This blog is my way of letting the thoughts out, one alphabetized theme at a time.  Not because I'm organized; if you asked my wife that would be the biggest laugh this blog ever scored.  However, giving structure to chaos is the only way we fool ourselves into believing we have control over anything, right?  Right?  Crickets...

So what can you expect?  Honestly, a little bit of everything.  Stories.  Rants.  Observations.  Hypotheticals.  Mental doodles.  By the time we're though you'll have some other categories to add.  Some of it may be brilliant and some of it may be nonsense.  All of it will be unapologetically me.

And if you're still reading this far into this first introductory post (ever!) welcome!  You just might be the kind of person who belongs here.

What's This All About, Really?

Glad you asked.  You see, that's the sort of question I ask myself constantly.  And, to be blatantly honest, the answer is often followed by a sarcastic internal voice that says something like, "A mid-life crisis with Wi-Fi."

That's the thing about my mind: it's not just overactive, but interactive as well.  I'll ask myself a perfectly normal question like "Is it too late to start a blog?" and immediately get slapped with, "Why don't you make a mix tape while you're at it, or put leg warmers on and do aerobics with Jane Fonda?"  That internal voice sounds a lot like Sam Elliott. 

The sarcasm is built-in, a cynical little roommate living in my noggin rent free and heckling my thoughts from the cheap seats.  But here's the twist: sometimes those sarcastic answers are surprisingly insightful.  Or at least amusing enough to make me snort while brushing my teeth (sorry, mirror.)  And if I can get a laugh out of that, maybe you can too.

Why A Through Z?

Glad I asked.  Because structure is comforting, especially when the content is anything but.  The A through Z format gives me a loose framework into which I can paint my word pictures, chaotic as they may come.  It's like alphabet soup, but the spoon is shaking in a philosophical broth of reflection and rebellious letters.

Each post will revolve around a theme or word starting with a different letter.  For example:

A might be for Anxiety - because who hasn't found themselves being stalked by this beasty these days?

B might be for Bananas - both the fruit and the band.  No wait... that's Bananarama.

C might be for Catacombs of Cyprus - but it won't.

There should be no expectations of textbook definitions.  This isn't that kind of apparatus.  This will be more like those two old guys in the balcony on The Muppet Show if they moved into a co-working space with coffee-fueled creatives, therapy dogs, and a conspiracy theorist in the corner yelling about avocado toast.

What You Might Find Here

Glad we asked.  First, an honest disclaimer: this isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea.  It might not even be tea.  It might be that weird carbonated mushroom drink that popped up on social networks as an "if you dare" challenge.  You're not sure you like it, but you keep sipping hoping that you'll figure it out.

Here's what you can expect.  Random observations about life, aging, pets, gravity, sandwiches, and everything in between.  Unfiltered thought experiments with answers ranging in scope from insightful to ridiculous. Deep dives into shallow waters - and shallow dives into deep ones.  Humorous hypotheticals, off topic tangents, and conversations I have with myself when I, like my good friend Bob, should be sleeping.

Sometimes it might be heavy.  Sometimes light.  Sometimes just... weird.  But always honest, and always through the lens of a mind that just won't quit.  It's like doom-scrolling behind your eyeballs.

The Mission (or Something That Sounds Like One)

Glad they asked.  I call it my personal mission statement, but it might be more of a survival tactic:

"To know the unknowable; to think inside the box (because everyone tries the outside these days); and to engage the cerebral cortex (or at least a noble effort)."

No, I don't promise wisdom and I don't guarantee insight.  I sure don't offer answers - unless sarcasm counts.  Maybe together, as we peel back the layers of random thought, we'll stumble upon something that resonates with all of us.  Maybe you'll find a sentence that makes you think, "Same."  Or maybe you'll just read along, shake your head and mutter to your screen, "This guy needs help."  Either way, mission accomplished.

Who Am I?

Don't ask.  In my life I've worn many hats: student, construction worker, barn destroyer, worrier, ponderer, and the occasional human giraffe in group photos.  But also hopelessly in love with my beautiful wife of almost 30 years.  The happiness is real - and relentless.  That's a good thing.  Very good.  After spending five decades on this spinning rock, she has always tried to help me make sense of all the noise, internal and external.  

I'm also an observer.  I watch.  I listen.  Friends tell me I make unusual connections that nobody else would.  I narrate scenes in the real world that I'm not even part of.  Sometimes I worry about things most people ignore.

And now I have a blog.

So, if you like humor with a splash of reflection... If you like reading things that sound like a conversation with your extremely talkative and slightly eccentric uncle Stewart... If you appreciate sarcasm, honesty, and the jagged line that combination walks then maybe this blog will be a comfortable few minutes curled up by the fire (or favorite lamp) for you. 

What's the Posting Schedule?

Need we ask?  Let's address this elephant in the blog.  This will be a bi-weekly blog - or one post every other week for the layman like myself.  That gives me enough time to wrestle with my thoughts, edit out the truly crazy bits (not likely) and put together something worth taking the time to enjoy.

There may be special occasions where a post breaks that pattern.  What special occasions?  Well, those will be of the mind's choosing, so who could possibly know - certainly not this guy.  Could be a holiday.  Could be Tuesday.  Could be a there's a reason to celebrate, like my son and daughter-in-law coming to visit, a friend getting a much wanted promotion, or the pen I use for rough drafts running out of ink.  Perhaps a seagull offended me and I felt I had to write about it because the cops just wouldn't listen.  You see, that's the inherent beauty of a blog like this - unpredictability is part of it's charm.  Or the warning label.  You decide.

Final Thought (Before the Thoughts Start Rolling)

So here it is - Random Thoughts: The A Through Z Blog of the Overactive Mind. Overthinking means that as the thoughts speed up the fingers quicken their assault on the keyboard.  Things may not (and probably will not) always be perfect.  There may be grammatical errors and punctuation mishaps.  A post may contain spelling miskates or have quotation marks in rather odd pla"c"es.  This is where they belong:  A home for the curious and the confused to shake hands and enjoy a fizzy mushroom beverage.  A home where bizarre questions and a special brand of imagination come to play, simply because they don't fit anywhere else.

I hope you find something here that makes you smile, or think, or simply shake your head in disbelief.  My sincerest hope is that, if nothing else, it reminds you that you're not the only one whose thoughts go off-roading at the most inauspicious (and inconvenient) moments.

Let's take the scenic route through the alphabet together! 

Now... A is for...