Drop the other shoe already

Things are going so well lately that it scares me. It's like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. So I started thinking about that phrase "Waiting for the other shoe to drop." Where did it come from?  Was there a time when people sat and dropped one shoe and then waited for the other one to fall?

Imagine walking into a room where two people are sitting. One shoe is on the floor and the other is being held by one person while both are staring at the shoe in hand. You ask, "What are you doing?"

And the answer is "Well, we let one shoe fall and now we're waiting for the other shoe to drop."

So many sarcastic retorts come to mind. Okay, don't let me stop you. Let me know how that turns out. And, Are you high or stupid? Or both? 

I did some checking and according to Wiktionary this phrase means: To wait for the inevitable next step. To await an inevitable event. To wait for something bad to happen.

Seems there's a lot of waiting involved in this saying. But I still didn't see what all this waiting had to do with shoes. I searched some more and found the origin on a couple of sites that put this saying to the late 19th/early 20th century in NYC when apartments were all built the same and you could hear your neighbors through the walls and floors.

The story goes that late one night a drunk man came home and while sitting on his bed he took off one shoe and dropped it on the floor. Realizing how noisy he was being he removed the other shoe and quietly placed it on the floor. Then he crawled into bed to sleep. A few minutes later the man in the apartment below him yelled, "Well, drop the other one! I can't sleep, waiting for you to drop the other shoe."

I imagine that if this saying were born in this day and age there would be some colorful language added. In fact I think the phrase would be entirely different because the neighbor would yell, "You better knock that shit off!" So with that in mind, things are going so well lately that it scares me. It's like I'm waiting to knock that shit off.

There's more to June than what we know

June. The sixth month of the year. A time to celebrate Dads. It's when school ends and summer begins. But that's not all. I was on a Pop Culture site and came across some facts about the month of June that I wasn't aware of. So, I thought I would share them because I'm thoughtful like that. Also, let it never be said that The Fearless Scribe is not educational. As always, my feature commentary is in blue.

The first weekend in June is National Doughnut Weekend: I did not know this, however, I unintentionally ate some doughnuts anyway. They were not from Dunkin' Donuts. They were delicious. 

Dairy Month: Ice-cold milk to wash down the doughnuts? Ice cream? Yes, please!

Candy Month: I knew I loved this month for more than the fact that days get longer.

Fight The Filthy Fly Month: Not sure why this needs to be recognized, but okay.

Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Month: Despite my love of all things sweet and bad for you I do like to eat fruits and veggies, especially during the summer.

Great Outdoors Month: Spending time by a pool counts, right? I mean, if the pool is located outside it should count.

Iced Tea Month: My favorite non-alcohol beverage of choice.

National Nude Day is on the Summer Solstice, the day with the longest daylight of the year, which is usually June 21st. There is actually a day that celebrates nudity? This is a frightening thought. For the first official day of Summer I plan to wear shorts and a t-shirt just like all the other typical hot days here. 

I'm not tired, I'm cooling off my brain

I'm yawning but I'm not tired. My brain is hot. No, seriously. When your brain is warm, you yawn. This is so the air you take in orally can go and cool off your brain.

I did not just make this up.

When Bill first told me this after I was yawning one day, I thought he was crazy. I told him so. Then I saw something about this on some such TV show and Whoa! He wasn't kidding. So now every time I yawn I say, "My brain is hot."

I know that yawning is a signal that your brain isn't getting enough oxygen. Sometimes I yawn a lot so I guess my brain is often quite oxygen-deprived, which explains so much.


According to Wikipedia:

There are a number of theories that attempt to explain why animals and people yawn. It is likely that there are a number of triggers for the behavior. However, there are a few theories that attempt to explain the primary evolutionary reason for the yawn....

One study states that yawning occurs when one's blood contains increased amounts of carbon dioxide and therefore becomes in need of the influx of oxygen (or expulsion of carbon dioxide) that a yawn can provide...

 Another notion states that yawning is the body's way of controlling brain temperature....



Now the next time someone accuses you of being tired when you yawn you can simply say, Au Contraire, I'm cooling off my brain. Unless you crawled in at 3:00 am after a wild night out, then you might just really be tired.