As noted before, I’m a little obsessed with Lenny Bruce. I just finished puzzle-nerding my life away while listening to his autobiography, How to Talk Dirty and Influence People, and discovered he was honorably discharged from the Navy by doing a comedy act while cross-dressing.

That rang a bell to me because the TV show M*A*S*H was always on in my house when I was growing up, and my favorite character, Corporal Klinger, attempted the same thing but failed.

Well I googled it, and Klinger is actually based on Bruce. He was only supposed to be in one episode of M*A*S*H but everyone liked him so much that he became a main character.

I totally understand why. The show was so blahhh, khaki green, and monotone; but then there was Klinger wearing a bright red beret, flowery dress, and beautiful earrings.

And although most of the jokes went over my head, Klinger was interesting and fun to look at.

When I was in 8th grade a new girl came to school. One night, she invited us to her old neighborhood to meet her friends. We walked around and smoked cigarettes like cool 13-year-olds do 😂 They wanted to knock over garbage cans and run away. I didn’t do it – probably because I was scared, but also because I hate running. Later I found out they called me boring.

To this day, it remains the biggest insult I’ve ever received (and I’ve been insulted a lot!) It really struck a nerve because I can’t think of a worse description that someone could give of a person.

Even now when my kids tell me they’re bored, my standard reply is, “Only the boring get bored. (Charles Bukowski) Go find something to do.”

And I ALWAYS tell them that different is better.

Now I’m not saying I’m the most interesting person in the world – homebodies usually aren’t – but I do believe the worst thing you could do is try to fall in line with everyone else.

If I knocked over those stupid garbage cans, they may have never said I was boring and spurred me in the direction where I actively tried to think differently than others.

If I just knocked over those stupid garbage cans, I would’ve learned that if I always did what others expected me to do, everyone would like me and life would be swell.

That sounds like a modern day tragedy to me. What I’m trying to say is – in a world full of khaki, be a Corporal Klinger! 💃