People surprise me. We were discussing streaming shows when the dessert server came. I asked the Guatemalan-born man if he had any Netflix recommendations. He replied that he did not watch television, but after a beat he added that he did listen to audiobooks. With only the slightest urging, he recommended Andre Agassi’s memoir. He was eager to tell us that for much of the tennis player’s career, his iconic long locks were fake. Andre was losing his hair but had a shampoo sponsor and extensions seemed necessary. Then the server recommended the audiobook about Nike’s Phil Knight and suggested that after listening to  it, we should watch the Michael Jordan movie about the shoes. When I sat down at the suburban Italian restaurant for a birthday celebration, I could not have predicted I would have a conversation about audiobooks with a server born in Guatemala. That server went on to describe dishes he liked from his native country, but he was also insistent that if (he said “when”) we visited his homeland that we visit a McDonald’s. When I said that I saw no point in getting a fast-food hamburger there, he said we had to experience the service in Guatemala. He maintained it was always wonderful, even at a Mickey D’s where someone opened the door for the customers and asked whether they would like to order there or at the table. He did not mention the quality of the food.

People amaze me. I took the crime novel Reykjavik off the library shelf. I had not read an Icelandic noir novel for a while. The book was co-written by Ragnar Jonasson and Katrín Jacobsdóttir. The jacket copy tells me that Ragnar has sold over three million copies of his books, is an investment banker, teaches copyright law, and has translated fourteen Agatha Christie books starting when he was seventeen. Katrín is the prime minister of Iceland (or at least she was when the book was published in 2022), has a master’s degree in Icelandic literature having written her thesis on Icelandic mystery writer Arnaldur Indrióason, and worked for media and publishing. She served as a minister in the government before becoming prime minister in 2017. She has a husband and three sons. (Ragnar is married with two daughters.) And I have trouble brushing after every meal.

The new billboard advertised a “wellness” place. When did “wellness” with its undertones of the new age, holistic stuff, and “proactivity” become a standard term? I always find the word at least slightly amusing. I would be happier if we could have more “goodness” products, places, and events.

We have indicted the aged Raúl Castro for his supposed part in shooting down planes that might have been in Cuban airspace thirty years ago. Have our authorities thought this through? We have killed two hundred citizens of foreign countries in international waters by bombing their boats. Will those nations indict Hegseth and Trump for murder?

Should I worry about my mental health? After the colonoscopy, I was told that everything was normal, and my first reaction was, “I went through all of that for nothing!”