Where's The Beef?

A friend of mine, who once wrote a very compelling blog himself, suggested to me that a good day doesn't do much to spur one's creativity. His feeling was, "Bad day, good blog." Those weren't his exact words, but they have been tempered over the years to make an easily digestible aphorism. Something that looks good on a bumper sticker. The events of the past week, specifically the lockdown of the elementary school at which I work, got me thinking about the way I choose my topics. It made me think about Jay Leno.
Okay, I haven't watched Mister Leno host the "Tonight Show" for longer than the few seconds it takes my tired brain to register that I am watching it, shriek, and change the channel. I'm not talking about the peevish pet of the National Broadcasting Corporation. I'm talking about the stand-up comic who appeared in "American Hot Wax," and "Americathon." I'm talking about the guy who used to show up on David Letterman's show back in the early 1980's. The guy who had an axe to grind. The guy who had a beef. He complained about TV Guide, about bad science fiction movies, about bad jobs: whatever was on his mind. And he was always pretty funny. Somewhere along the track, he sanded down most of those rough edges and became the very popular host of a late-night talk show that I will not watch.
It would seem I have a beef with Jay Leno. And that's the magic of having this bully pulpit. I'm not angling for anybody else's job. I don't expect that if I keep cranking on my particular bent that I will eventually get my own sit-com. I know that being myself can sometimes lead to unhappy readers. I can live with that. I know that the list of things that I like is probably longer than that that I don't, but I know that those topics don't lead to the same kind of catharsis. Still, those happy bits are sprinkled about amongst the complaints and sneers. Just don't get too used to them. Another bad day is just around the corner.