So, if you know me you’d probably agree that for the most part I’m kind of a curious cynical skeptic with a dash of conspiracy theorist thrown in for good measure. Only my conspiracy theories usually involve companies and how everything is a marketing ploy and not so much nefarious deeds by the government. I mean, we all know that government is up to all kinds of nefarious deeds all the time, right? Have you seen Congress lately?

rimshot.

For the most part I let my logical cynical skeptical self run the show here. Sometimes I let my inner new age hippie doofus out, like when I’m convinced drinking more water will help everything from a stupid backache I had most of the week to a could-possibly-be-allergy-related headache. By the way, it totally worked. The new age hippie doofus believes in things like positive energy and karma and vibes and harshing buzzes and shit like that.

Above all else the new age hippie doofus believes in signs from the universe. She would say “God” but the inner cynical skeptic is all “there is no God, dumbass.” And the NAHD is all “what if. . . ” So if people ever ask me about things like that I claim devout agnosticism.

The universe gives me signs. A lot. Maybe because I am listening. For instance, one of its favorite signs to send me is playing The Replacements on the radio while I am tuned in. That’s the universe telling me everything’s going to be swell that day.

The other day the universe sent me a doozy via YouTube. Here, I’ll show it to you:

As you can see that’s one Ms. Neko Case singing with My Morning Jacket. The song they are singing is a cover of the Tom Petty & Stevie Nicks’ duet “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.”

You see where this is going, right? Probably not, because you are not the same kind of crazy that I am. I will spell out to you the myriad ways this is a sign from the universe and what it could possibly mean.

First, it ties into the whole Stevie Nicks thing I’ve got going on.

Second, I should tell you this video came into my life on the same day from two very different sources. One was a comment on a post I wrote about Liz Phair. And the other was from my pal Wolfdogg who is super pumped about the Bob Dylan, Wilco, My Morning Jacket show this summer (as am I, it’s been far too long since I’ve been to an actual concert. Like maybe 2009 when I lost my last real job and decided I was a total pauper and could not spend money on frivolous things like concerts, but dude, Wilco and Bob Dylan at Midway Stadium? That shit cannot be denied no matter how broke you think you are).

Third, and this is the most important one, a cover of this very song features quite prominently in the longish fiction piece I’ve been writing (140 pages – 40,000 words so far). AND Neko Case has a small cameo in the piece though it is unrelated to this song.

What could this all mean? It means, clearly, that writing this book is the exact thing I’m supposed to be doing now and that when I finish I will sell it and it will be published and the movie rights will make me a bajillion dollars and Stevie Nicks will sing a song on the soundtrack.

What else could it possibly mean?

In other assorted goochers. This is what my WordPress dashboard looked like before I made this post.