My head has been in other places. I'm not very interested in writing right now. I'm planning a weekend vacation, so ... that's taking up my extra thinking time. And reading. I'm reading The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly.

But, not anything relevant to that, there is this fellow named Randy...I don't remember, but he is the professor who was dx'd with pancreatic cancer who everyone knew about for a few months. The professionals gave him just a few months to live. And I remember reading something about it, somewhere, but didn't take the bait to hone into the hype around him, and of, apparently, a video made of him giving a "last lecture."

Probably because he was on Oprah. Since... I have a thing about that. I won't even read books that Oprah reads. I don't dislike her or anything, it's just a silly principle I feel somewhat stubborn about, and... I don't even know what it is. The principle being: Don't read anything Oprah reads? It really makes no sense. But I think it has to do with having a hard time taking her very seriously with as seriously rich as she is. I think I'd admire a rich person more who touts doing good unto others if they do good by giving their obscene-amount-of-money-that-they-could-never-spend-in-this-lifetime, away.

Now, you know I'll examine this judgement I'm making more appropriately since god knows that mine is not the unexamined life. Yes, I can't help to examine it since my albatross is that I'm examining the hell out of every breath and heartbeat I take and make, to be fair. But I'm not going to do that today.

I wanted to write here to say that I heard that this man called Randy, died this week. So, out of curiosity... yeah, out of that... I googled him and found the popular lecture that he made at Carnegie-Mellon, where he was a professor, which actually is called "The Last Lecture." And also, (ugh) "Acheiving Your Childhood Dreams." (gulp)

With all due respect to the dead, ofcourse, the title made me squirm a little. I saw it and went, "...hrmmm..." since it turned, a little, the idea of all of it, whatever 'it' is..... but, even beyond Oprah, it made it a little more... kitsch-ier.

But, you know how on you tube the vid starts as soon as you click on the link... So, it started and there I was...well, watching it. Almost immediately, I found it and him to be pretty charming. Yes, I admit that he is/was very attractive so.. hey, I'm human. Aside from that (which, I know, is a little creepy to comment on a dead man's attraction. But I'm certain he would be flattered...), the lecture was entertaining and interesting, occasionally stirring and many times the advice quite precise and helpful. Overall, I offer it high praise, it was pretty impressive and I was sorry about the short time he had here, especially the days with his very young children. Yes, I even (snif) cried a little. It's just so sad, even as I know it's a numbers game, and we all have to face it sooner or later, it's still ...well, the brevity of it all.

But, if you feel like spending an hour (a little more) of your own precious life moments watching him, you'll find the lecture here:

RandyCarnegieMellonDude