Be Excellent to Each Other: A Tribute to Rufus, Rock and Roll, and the Porcelain Fish of Time

Lauren Nixon-Matney • January 22, 2026
Be Excellent to Each Other: A Tribute to Rufus, Rock and Roll, and the Porcelain Fish of Time

Films: Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure / Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey

KISS: God Gave Rock 'N' Roll To You

Pixel art illustration of two smiling teenage boys holding hands in front of a glowing telephone booth in space, inspired by Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey, with stars, a

ACT I: SAN DIMAS, VHS, AND THE GOSPEL OF SO-CRATES


We were somewhere between the couch and the cosmos—probably a Friday night, definitely the early ’90s. The TV buzzed like it always did, casting soft static light on the living room walls like a time machine warming up.


I was around seven.

My dad and my brother were beside me, forming our original “Wyld Stallyns” trio—minus the band, plus popcorn.


Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure wasn’t just funny. It was freeing. A movie where two well-meaning goofballs could flunk their way into saving the entire future—just by being loyal, kind, and mildly competent with a phone booth. It felt like prophecy for weird kids with big hearts and zero plans.


We weren’t just watching history get hijacked we were witnessing destiny get dumbed down to divine levels. And it worked.

“So-crates.”

“Party on, dudes.”

“Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.”

All of it landed like scripture whispered through air guitar.


And then there was Rufus. 


Cool. Quiet. Dressed in black.

He didn’t yell.

He didn’t rush.

He just showed up exactly when he was needed.

The time-traveling mentor from the future, with George Carlin’s soul tucked behind his shades.


At that age, I didn’t know who Carlin really was. Not yet. I hadn’t heard the sacred rage, the Seven Dirty Words, the sermons disguised as stand-up. But I felt something. Like there was something bigger inside him. Something true.


That knowing came later on nights I couldn’t sleep, curled next to my mom, as she rubbed my back and laughed quietly at his specials on TV.

It’s funny how someone like Carlin becomes a bookmark in your childhood—not because of what he said, but because of how it felt when he was speaking. Like even the grownups were still trying to understand the world.

And laughing about it was okay.


Back then, though, I just knew Rufus mattered.

He wasn’t just helping Bill and Ted pass history.

He was helping them believe they mattered.

That music mattered.

That being excellent to each other could actually change the world.


ACT II: DEATH, DESTINY, AND THE PORCELAIN FISH


Bogus Journey came next.

Still Bill. Still Ted. But this time it got weird.


They died.

Played Twister with Death.

Went to Hell.

Met Evil Robot Versions of themselves.

Built their own Good Guy Robots to fight back.


If Excellent Adventure was a joyful trip through history class on caffeine, Bogus Journey was a fever dream dipped in existential dread.


I watched it younger than I probably should’ve, with my brother and some of his friends. I was little. The kind of little where nightmares still hang around the corners of your room after the credits roll.

And yeah—Death himself showed up in full cloak and scowl. But he wasn’t the part that haunted me.


It was those scenes where they had to face themselves.

The younger, scarred versions.

The shadowed corners of their own minds.


That part gets under your skin somehow.

It was silly, sure.

But it was also real in that quiet way movies sometimes are when you’re too young to explain what they awaken in you.

The real journey wasn’t saving the world it was facing yourself.

And choosing who you’re going to be.


But even then,even in death the movie never stopped being fun.

They jammed with Death.

They made friends with him.

They let the scariest thing imaginable become a bandmate.

Like grief… that dances.

Loss with rhythm.


Years later, in the middle of my own version of a bogus journey… a hospital, a surgery, the sharp and aching silence that comes after a life ends before it begins—I was deep in the dark. Resting. Reeling. I didn’t want to move.


And that’s when Rufus showed up again.

This time on four legs.


A stray dog.

Uninvited, unexplained, and somehow right on time.

My dad pulled me out of bed to see him.

“You gotta come see this dog.”


And this dog wasn’t ordinary.

He came bearing offerings like some mythical postman of fate:

A kid’s shoe.

A broken sandal.

A somehow-still-unbroken porcelain fish.


I kept the fish. Cleaned it. Painted it blue.

It still sits on my shelf like a relic, my own Circuits of Time artifact.

Somehow unbroken.

Somehow still here.


The dog had faint shadows on his shoulders like light had tried to paint angel wings, but gave up halfway.

My dad named him Rufus, like it was obvious.

Because of course he did.


That’s what Rufus was.

The one who shows up when the light’s gone strange.

When the world feels broken, scary or dark.

When you’re stuck in Hell and can’t quite remember who you were supposed to be.


Bill and Ted didn’t just teach you how to pass history.

They taught you how to show up for the future.

How to believe in people.

How to stay in the band even after death.


The truth was always louder than the plot:

Music saves.


Not just the world, but the person.

The soul.

The moment.


The VHS kid with popcorn on her fingers.

The grown woman trying to stand back up.


I didn’t need a band that could shred

I just needed a reason to keep playing.


God Gave Rock and Roll to You wasn’t just a final act anthem.

It was a statement of faith, dressed in denim and distortion.

A holy thing passed down through speakers and scenes.


He gave it to everyone.

To the weirdos.

To the dropouts.

To the grievers.

To the garage-band prophets.

To the girls who write about ghosts and feel everything twice as hard.


The song wasn’t asking permission.

It was handing out purpose.



ACT III: THEY DO GET BETTER


We passed through San Dimas not long ago.


It was quick just a stretch of highway, a flicker in the memory grid, but something in me woke up.

I sat up straighter.

And suddenly, I was there.

And then.

All at once.


It wasn’t even where they filmed it just the place that inspired the name.

But it didn’t matter.

It felt like sacred ground.


I smiled. The kind of smile that’s been quietly loading in the background for decades…like a memory still syncing.


Because somewhere in me, a little girl with a VHS tape and a head full of time-travel logic was still believing.

Still carrying that message home:


“Be excellent to each other.

And party on, dudes.”


It sounds dumb if you say it fast.

But if you sit with it—if you really hear it—it’s enough to build a life on.


Because it’s not just about air guitars and slackers.

It’s about grace.

About letting people grow.

Letting yourself grow.


It’s about knowing the past is a mess,

the present is confusing,

and the future is… unwritten.


But still?


You matter.

Your friends matter.

Your music matters.

Even the dumb parts.

Especially the dumb parts.


Some dogs are angels.

Some things in life—like porcelain fish don’t break when they’re meant for you.

Rufus was never just a character.

Carlin was never just a comic.


The people we lose.

The pets we keep.

The tapes we rewind.

The lines we remember by heart.


They’re all part of the same massive mixtape.

Stitched together by memory, grief, joy, and the divine comedy of it all.


And when we hit play again—

when we roll through San Dimas

or sit beside our kids

or pass a blue-painted relic on a shelf


we remember:


They do get better.


And sometimes, the ones who save the world

are the ones nobody expected to.

Sometimes they’re just two kids in a garage band.

Or a dog on your porch.

Or a father pulling you back into the light.

Or a girl, now grown, still hearing George Carlin’s voice

like a whisper from the stars.


Not gone.

Just traveling through time.


God gave rock and roll to you—

and it lights the way.

A cassette tape on fire.

A torch that won’t go out.


You don’t need a time machine when you’ve got a great mixtape.

And if you’re gonna face yourself in Hell, bring your band.

Light it up. Play it loud. The future’s listening.


RESUME THE RHYTHM:

DRIFT THROUGH A CONSTELLATION OF MEMORY

Searching For Stars

By Lauren Nixon-Matney July 5, 2026
Buddy Holly : Last Kiss Pearl Jam: Last Kiss Cover
By Lauren Nixon-Matney July 5, 2026
My favorite literary phrase of all time is spoken by Josephine March, written by Louisa May Alcott in Little Women. “I like good, strong words that mean something.” You, my dear, you say good, strong words that mean something. You put good, strong words that mean something into the world, and I thank you so very sincerely for that. You have made such an incredible impact on my life, and on my outlook on beauty and aging. ⸻ I stumbled across your incredible fashion sense on Instagram and was completely hooked on your vibe. I absolutely love fashion. I always have. I’ve definitely had my own kind of zany style over the years. So when I saw you, I was like, OK, yes, she is amazing. I love this energy. ⸻ The way you put things together, the confidence, the energy, it makes you wanna get up, go into your closet, and actually enjoy getting dressed again. And for a woman approaching 40, who’s had three children and has had many of her own struggles with who am I, what’s my fashion, what’s my energy, or what’s my style, You just felt so damn refreshing and inspiring. So I hung around, but what really hooked me wasn’t just the style, it was you, the essence of you. The way you talk, the honesty, the fact that you just say things straight, no fluff, no sugarcoating, no trying to be anything other than exactly who you are.. and somehow that makes everything you say sound even more profound. ⸻ The impact your message was having in my life became undeniable. It wasn’t just something I watched for enjoyment anymore, it was something I actually began feeling, and carrying with me. I grew up in a time where it felt like there was an expiration date on women. Like if you didn’t fit into a certain mold, or size, or type… your worth somehow became less. And then life happens. You grow up. You age. Maybe have kids. Your body changes. Your priorities change. Somewhere in the middle of all of that, you can kind of lose your sense of… who am I now? What’s my style? Who am I supposed to become? Am I too late for something? What even feels like me anymore? So for a while, I think I actually bought into that idea without even realizing it. The idiodic notion that maybe I had passed some invisible point where things were supposed to quiet down. Tone down. Fit into something more “acceptable.” Or the grand illusion that I was out of time to follow my passions! But watching you… that narrative just started to fall apart. The way you show up, the way you speak, the way you move through the world so fully as yourself… it made me realize that aging isn’t something to fear or shrink from. If anything, it’s where things start to get really good. It’s where you get bolder. More comfortable. More you. More beautiful. ⸻ What you’re doing matters so much. The way you show up, the way you speak, the way you fully own who you are, it doesn’t just stay on a screen. It carries through pixelated waves. It reaches people like me, in real life, in real moments, and shifts something quietly but powerfully within us. So I just wanted to say thank you. For your honesty, your energy, your style, your voice… all of it. You have inspired me, Searching for Stars, and undoubtedly countless women all over the world more than words can truly translate. Thank you, for being you!
By Lauren Nixon-Matney May 6, 2026
Okay, so I asked God for a sign this week… and I didn’t make it easy on Him. I had just seen this video about asking for a sign, about how God answers, about how He delights in it… and something in me just… recognized that. Like, oh. I’ve felt that before. Lindsey, it was your video. And the second I heard it, I remembered something. I remembered a time, years ago, back in that early, foggy, pinkless season of motherhood, when I had asked for a sign too. I had prayed, really specifically… really honestly… “God, just show me I’m okay. Show me I’m on the right path.” And I asked for a blue butterfly. I didn’t see it right away. I waited. I wondered if I had imagined the whole idea in the first place. And then, not long after, life moved us somewhere new. A new place, new energy… the kind of move that feels exciting and terrifying all at once. They handed us the keys… and right there on them… was a blue butterfly. And I remember feeling that same quiet recognition. Like… okay. And then, a couple months after that, with prayers inside us building for a second child, we went to a park. One of those ordinary days that turns into something you don’t forget. And there were butterflies everywhere. Hundreds of them. Yellow, filling the air, lifting all at once like something out of a dream. And right in the middle of it… one blue butterfly. I just stood there, overwhelmed, because I knew. I knew I had been heard. Nearly one year to the day later, our second child was born. And then… life kept moving. Time passed. Things got busy. Full. Loud. Beautiful… but a little hazy, too. Somewhere along the way, I think I stopped asking like that. Fast forward. I’m sitting with my kids on New Year’s Eve, going into 2025, talking about goals and dreams. The kind of things you say out loud but don’t always fully claim. “I’ve always wanted to write.” And my daughter, so sure, so certain, just looked at me and said, “Then make it your New Year’s resolution.” And something about the way she said it… she didn’t question it. she didn’t overthink it. She just… believed it was possible. So I did. I started building something I’ve carried in pieces since I was in high school. Old notebooks, scattered thoughts, songs, memories… things I’ve never really known how to explain out loud. And for the first time, it felt like someone actually got it. So I got to work. Writing with a baby asleep on my chest… voice notes, typed drafts, music playing in the background… piecing together old memories with new ones. And I love it. I really do. But if I’m being honest… I started to wonder. Is this meaningful? Is this worth the time? Is this something good… or just something I want? And more than anything… I wanted to know if it was something God saw as good. Not just something that looked meaningful… but something that was. So I sat down, quietly, and I prayed. And I said, “God, if this is something I’m supposed to keep building… if I’m on the right path… if this is your will for me… please just show me. Give me a sign.” And I paused… because I knew I couldn’t ask for something easy. I had asked for butterflies before and blue jays have been unusually common in our backyard lately. I needed something specific. Something I wouldn’t just brush off. I looked over… and saw this little pink and white poodle sitting on my daughter’s shelf. And I laughed a little and said, “Okay God… show me a poodle.” almost sarcastically thinking… well, this one’s going to take a little more effort. But of course… Not even 48 hours later, we ran into Burlington. We were just there to grab socks and shoes for my toddler, her sandals were bothering her. Quick in, quick out. We ended up wandering a little. We’re headed to checkout… and my husband steps down an aisle, picks something up, and goes, “Okay, I know this is ridiculous… but we need this for the office.” And he had no idea. Nothing about my prayer. Nothing about the poodle. I’m barely paying attention yet. And then he turns it around. It’s a painting. Of a poodle. Not just a poodle… a poodle in a full business suit… sitting at a desk… reading a newspaper. I just… stopped. A business professional poodle, for the office we’re building together, a space where I can write. Like everything in me went quiet for a second. Because of all the things in the world I could have asked for… of all the ways that prayer could have been answered… it was that. I remember thinking, smiling, fighting back tears of joy… of course it is. Because I had asked for something specific. And apparently… He has a sense of humor. Also, just to make sure I didn’t miss it… because let’s be real, God definitely knows how to show out… the very next place we went… was Petco. And there was this real poodle. Then again. And again. Every aisle I turned… I kept running into it. And that feeling came back. The same one from before. Quiet. Certain. seen. beloved. Lindsey… Thank you so much, you reminded me to ask. You reminded me that God doesn’t just hear us… He answers. Not always in big, overwhelming ways… but in ways we’ll recognize. In ways that feel personal. Specific. Sometimes even funny… like they were meant just for us. And Lindsey… I just want you to know how much I appreciate all of what you’re doing. Your energy, your humor, the way you show up so fully as yourself… it matters more than you probably realize. You make people laugh, you make motherhood feel seen, and you bring light into spaces that can feel heavy sometimes. But there is also so much more than that… God really radiates through you. In the way you speak, in the way you encourage, in the way you remind people to keep going and to keep believing. It’s powerful. And it’s beautiful to witness. What you’ve created with “get your pink back”… that message, that reminder… it’s reaching people. It’s lifting people. It’s giving something back to women who feel like they’ve poured everything out. And that matters. It really does. I’m so grateful I came across your video when I did. And I’m really looking forward to everything you create next… especially your writing. You’re doing something good here. Keep going. Please never stop casting your light into the world… it really does break through the darkness.
Show More