What is Demolition?

"Human beings are amazingly adaptable. The first time we sit down behind the wheel of a car, for example, we are overwhelmed by everything...But after a few months of driver's ed, even the most neurotic teens can cruise blankly along, navigating without a second though, at speeds that would have shocked any pre-1900 human, totally unaware of their surroundings unless something goes wrong."

-My brother is learning how to drive right now. Texas law says that an under-18 year old has to hold a learner's permit for six months before they can get their license, so he won't actually be able to drive until October since he got his permit late. But right now, he's sometimes driving us around town and it's an interesting experience. I don't mean to say that he's a bad driver (I think most people have trouble when they first learn), but it's serving to show another difference between him and me. I'm sure I'm biased, and I probably don't remember everything, but I think I took to driving pretty quickly. I think I was a lot less nervous about everything going on around me than my brother is, and that's what helps me when I'm on the highway or in traffic downtown or something. I try very hard in my life to not get stressed, and I think that it carries over to help with driving.

"The first astronauts to walk on the moon reveled in the almost religious experience, composing grandiose paeans to the diaphanous clockwork perfection of creation as seen from space. But just three moon missions later, astronauts were trudging around up there sniping crankily at each other about the endless rock samples NASA was forcing them to collect, and hoping they could knock off early and play a little golf. Even the most alien and demanding situations quickly become routine."

-I really hope that I never lose my found appreciation for life. I remember what it was like to just go through the motions of life and not ever have real feeling or love for the world around me. It's not a good state. Even though there is sometimes sadness and other bad feelings in this world, at least we have good feelings and the other happy things to make up for it. It's far better than having nothing at all.

"Back on my very first day of Jeopardy!, I had the spur-of-the-moment idea to write my name on my podium in a different style every game. Now that I've had to come up with over seventy ways to write the three letters in my name, I deeply regret this little whim."

-I'm not that creative, but I thought it was really cool when he did it.

"The Double Jeopardy round is better, with Nancy [Zerg, The Anti-Ken] answering only four questions during the entire round, but, as I should have learned from Anne Boyd's final game, Jeopardy! players who live by the Daily Doubles die by the Daily Doubles."

-Two things. First, I argued from Ken's downfall--after seeing the show--that Nancy didn't beat Ken, rather, he lost the match. This, from his own mouth, validates my theory. Also, I'm pretty sure I'm not the Daily Double wagering Jeopardy! strategist. My only chance is to really get the buzzer timing down.

"Now, at long last, I know the end of the story and can go home to my family. Maybe now I can stop being Ken Jennings, nerd folk icon, and just be Ken Jennings, nerd, like I was before. I have finally, as they say in drama classes and twelve-step programs, achieved closure."

-I know it's kind of weird for me to be so into Ken, but it's also a weird feeling for me to have a hero who's...well, alive.

"Even Alex wanders back onstage, with his tie loosened and in his shirtsleeves. I've been watching Alex Trebek since I was ten years old, and in two decades, I've never seen him out of a suit jacket. The effect is disconcerting and uncomfortable, a little like seeing your parents naked."

-I can't imagine that. I guess it would be similar if Bob Barker were in anything but a suit (though I think I have seen a photo of him playing golf before in a polo and khakis).