Cosmic Questions

Which topics would you like to be more informed about?

The thing about this question today is that it implies I would like to stay informed about something. That’s what I’m getting from it. Sometimes I just have random things that pop into my head and I ponder them for a while. If I really wanted to, I could go down the Google rabbit hole and become “more informed” but for some of these questions, I just haven’t yet. Over the years, I have written down some of these things that I wonder. I put them in my “writer’s notebook”, something that I encouraged my students to keep and I, in turn, kept one sort of as an example of what you could put in it. Here’s what I have on my list…

1. Why does being emotional make you cry? Tear ducts are for producing tears to clear debris from your eye. What is the biological reason for tears when you’re sad or upset?
2. How did society transition from cheering gladiators who kill each other, to the “roaring 20s” to the 50s when “I Love Lucy” couldn’t say “pregnant”—instead “blessed event”? And now our society is back to enjoying violence and debauchery. How do society norms change? Why do they change?
3. Why are you freezing cold when you lay down to sleep, but hot and sweaty when you wake up? What is your body doing while you sleep?
4. What is Prince Harry’s last name? What does he write when he has to sign his name?
5. How do celebrities get paid? When Jim Carrey earned $20 million for a movie, did he get 1 big check? Do they use regular banks to deposit those checks? Do they use debit cards? Credit cards? Online? What kind of security do they have for their accounts? Is their money insured? Is that even possible, to insure money? (And no, I am not asking these questions because I plan to steal money from a celebrity. Let me just be clear about that for the FBI agent that’s assigned to track me).
6. Likewise, do athletes get their contract money in installments? When celebrities attend the Super Bowl and sit in the fancy boxes, how do they arrange that? Do they call the stadium? Do their agents/managers do that? (I feel like I’ve speculated about this in a different post at one point).
7. The people who work behind the scenes on movies…the costume people, set decorators, microphone holders…how do they train for that? How do they get jobs on different movies? Do they have agents too?
8. Is it, “I am in bed.” Or “I am in the bed?” (I have always said, “I’m in bed.”. But here in the south, my husband insists that it’s “I’m in the bed”. That’s probably grammatically correct, but it sounds so wrong! Using “the” makes it sound like I’m referring to one universal bed. Alternately, I wouldn’t say, “I’m in my bed” and have it mean the same thing. I will argue this until I die, I don’t think I’m right, but I also think I am.
9. Does the president make his own bed? Any president that it is, not just the one we have now who probably doesn’t. Or is there room service at the White House like in a hotel?
10. When actors read a script, does it have guidance words to help them know how to act? Like, “surprised”, “sarcastic”, “with eyes rolling”, etc. (Clearly I need to become good friends with a celebrity so I can get all my questions answered).
11. How do color printers print a picture that has white in it on a piece of colored paper? The only choices are black, yellow, magenta, and cyan. How does any of that mix together to make white? Or does the white section just not print? That would make sense if you were printing on white paper, but what about colored paper?
12. Can an ex-president be a senator again? Like Barack Obama? (Before we completely disregard the constitution in this country, I’d like to know more about the rules).
13. How do franchise businesses get their money? So many Walmarts and McDonald’s around the world, but how does a Walmart in Fayetteville get money to the headquarters Walmart? How does the headquarters McDonald’s earn money from a Fayetteville McDonald’s? Is there one big headquarters checking account? Do the franchise owners send a payment to them like how mafia people give their weekly cut to the bosses?

To quote Meg Ryan’s character in one of my favorite movies:

“I don’t really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So, goodnight dear void.”

(To be fair, those were a lot of questions, and if you happen to know the answers to any of them, please share).