Okay, Maybe I Am A Little Bit Weird

Am I a little bit weird?

I know, it's not exactly the kind of question that's easily answered. But I'm definitely something. Offbeat? Quirky?

Here's one example of the kinds of things I do. Several years ago, my late wife would watch a live telecast of the Grand Ole Opry on the now long defunct Nashville Network. Most weeks, I'd watch it with her.

But one Saturday night, when she asked me to come out into the living room to watch it, I said I didn't need to. I was, I explained, listening to it on the radio.

Now, that got Michelle's attention, for sure. She asked me how I could possibly be doing that?

Which is when I had to give a short explanation of how AM radio signals can bounce around at night time, like crazy. Listening to radio stations, in hopes of picking up signals from far away, is called "DX-ing".

It's something I discovered purely by accident one night. I began doing it every time I had the chance to do so. I kept very detailed logs of what stations I listened to, where they were located, what time I heard them, and how long I was able to listen to them.

I really wish I still had those logs. But all that is decades in the past.

Anyhow, once I explained how I was doing it, Michelle asked why I was doing it. To which I replied, "Because it's authentic."

I don't for one minute think she understood. But to me, sitting at the kitchen table with a radio, listening to the broadcast on radio, as countless listeners had been doing for decades, just seemed authentic to me. Watching it on television just wasn't the same.

Michelle accepted what I had said and was fine with it.