A dozen or so moons ago, Banana Man introduced His amazing journey of self-discovery. Well, maybe He never promised it would be amazing. But, hopefully, it would be a journey where He would set about experiencing life and the world with a renewed sense of wonder. And, for the most part, it was everything He had expected it to be.

There were, however, no unsavory brushes with the law. (Not that any were sought, mind you.) There were no mountaintop epiphanies conjuring up life-altering realizations. (Still desperately seeking that, of course.) And save for a few drama-laden moments, there really wasn’t any single event worth writing home about. (Too bad, so sad.)

There was, however, an inordinate number of small and seemingly insignificant “happenings” that, all by their lonesome, would be hard-pressed to have any real influence on any part of anyone’s life, let alone Mine. Yet, what is that saying about the sum being greater than the parts? That little unimportant things, by themselves, are inconsequential until they merge with a whole bunch of similarly trivial little things. Then, combined, they become something of note, even, perhaps, awe-inspiring. That’s how things worked out this past year on Banana Man’s journey of self-discovery.

These happenings, as Banana Man calls them, occurred on a frequent basis. And in actuality, they occur all the time. All around us. Not just around Banana Man. But you. And him. And her. And them.

The issue at hand is not whether they happen or not. The issue is if they are consciously noted and absorbed. The answer to that is not that easy to come by.

More often than not, these little occurrences go unnoticed by your conscious waking self, yet they are invariably inhaled and digested rather voraciously by your subconscious persona and forever ingrained within you. It is what makes us unique and the same all at once.

Like the delicate combination of genetic markers that determines our propensity to be fast, slow, big, small, short or tall, these little subconsciously received stimuli all contribute to creating us and how we act, think and treat others. That you don’t normally, consciously, comprehend them when they occur is quite a shame. For you are missing out on truly understanding what makes us tick as human beings. But all is not lost. With a little practice, you too can experience what Banana Man has during this journey of all journeys.

Banana Man’s powers of observation have always been rather keen. (If He does say so Himself. Ahem.) What heightened them, in retrospect, is this column. Having set about to chronicling His adventures, Banana Man became more aware. Not a journalist by any stretch of the imagination (Notes? You want Me to take notes?!), Banana Man had to rely on His powers of observation and His spotty memory to write this column. And while the memory never really improved, the observational prowess sure did.
Almost Sherlock Holmesian in magnitude now, Banana Man sees and notes everything. As if in slow motion, every nuance of body language, tonal inflection or semantic selection is observed and logged. It’s not that Banana Man needed such in-depth material for His column. No. The simple answer is that He was always looking for something to write about.