"Nice Talking with Me"*

        I am a great talker to myself.  Probably because I miss so many opportunities in real life to say something worthwhile--I think of it LATER.  So I say it to myself.

       Or, I imagine what I will say to someone and REHEARSE it, but still may not say it when I'm with them!

       Garry Moore had a wonderful bit in radio days.  He would come up with the greatest lines "I Shoulda Said" (but didn't) in an embarrassing or confrontational situation.  He lived, a hero in his own ego...after the fact.

       I identify.  But talking to oneself is better than none.  And your repartee, and great put-down, and wonderful toast, and words of wisdom and clearheadedness and intellect and snide dismissal will be forever engraved in the annals of unspoken eloquence.

*Title of an op-ed piece by Charles Fernyhough in the L.A. Times of Dec. 5, 2016.  It inspired this post.