Word 40,000: "five"
#NaNoWriMo
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
However, I did come across this quote from Zhuangzi:
(Just found this in my drafts. I don't know why. But here it is for you.)
The purpose of a fish trap is to catch fish, and when the fish are caught the trap is forgotten.
The purpose of a rabbit snare is to catch rabbits. When the rabbits are caught, the snare is forgotten.
The purpose of the word is to convey ideas. When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten.
Where can I find a man who has forgotten words? He is the one I would like to talk to.
(Just found this in my drafts. I don't know why. But here it is for you.)
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Advice from another time
I had this dream a few weeks ago, this is my morning journal entry after having woken up and writing it all down.
I just woke from a dream that had my Granny & Granddaddy in it. We were in a school. I ran from one end of the school to the other to reach them. Through hallways and gymnasiums. I finally reached them in a room where they were standing with my Mom. Everyone was dressed up, like for church or something. Mom was the same age as she is now, and Granny & Granddaddy were the ages I remember them. He was wearing a fedora.
They were getting ready to cross a bridge of some sort and enter another room. We stepped aside to some folding chairs and they sat down. I got on my knees in front of him and folded my arms across his knees. I was in tears. He told me he was going to give me some advice. He told me to just sit. Through my tears, I told him I was listening. He said that was it, that his advice was to sit and enjoy life.
I just woke from a dream that had my Granny & Granddaddy in it. We were in a school. I ran from one end of the school to the other to reach them. Through hallways and gymnasiums. I finally reached them in a room where they were standing with my Mom. Everyone was dressed up, like for church or something. Mom was the same age as she is now, and Granny & Granddaddy were the ages I remember them. He was wearing a fedora.
They were getting ready to cross a bridge of some sort and enter another room. We stepped aside to some folding chairs and they sat down. I got on my knees in front of him and folded my arms across his knees. I was in tears. He told me he was going to give me some advice. He told me to just sit. Through my tears, I told him I was listening. He said that was it, that his advice was to sit and enjoy life.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
The Wrong Way.
So, alcohol.
I've had an interesting relationship with the world's favorite drug. I can't say it's always been a good relationship.
I think I've been kidding myself about it for a while though, that I either didn't have a problem or that I could handle it. Sunday July 10th clearly showed me that I do have a problem, and I can't handle it.
I've had an interesting relationship with the world's favorite drug. I can't say it's always been a good relationship.
I think I've been kidding myself about it for a while though, that I either didn't have a problem or that I could handle it. Sunday July 10th clearly showed me that I do have a problem, and I can't handle it.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
How to Shift a Paradigm
I've had video chats with friends before. They've been kind of a pain in the ass, mostly because you're either looking for people with the same kind of computer & software (to use iChat) or you're trying to find someone who's online & ready to chat.
Google has changed all that by changing the term.
I've been on Google+ for a week or so now and I've seen that they have something called a "hangout", which is just a video chat room. Someone's status will read "So-and-so is hanging out", and, if I'm in their circle, I can drop in and "hang out".
Last night, I was on an iPad 2 on Google+ and saw that a friend was "hanging out". I tried to hang out on my iPad, but it said it wasn't supported on my device. I posted as much and my friend said "go get on your iMac", so I went downstairs and, seeing that I had some muffins to make, decided to get on my MacBook Pro and see what my friend was up to.
I logged on and there were three people there who I have known online for years, and something interesting happened. As I made the muffins, I was able to just talk and get my stuff done, and it was like my friends were in my house with me. We were laughing and joking, one guy was playing guitar, and we were just - hanging out.
There's a main video window that seems to change so the person talking is in the big window. When there's a lot of sound and people this gets pretty crazy, but if you've got 5 or so people, it's ok. You can also click on a person and their window stays on the main window.
And it occurred to me that it's a pretty cool thing, and a large part of it is just the name. Would you rather hang out with friends, or "Skype" them? Or "Facebook video chat" them? Or iChat them?
Hanging out sounds right, and it feels right.
And that's how you shift a paradigm. People are going to start using this regularly, and it's all because of the name & implementation.
Google has changed all that by changing the term.
I've been on Google+ for a week or so now and I've seen that they have something called a "hangout", which is just a video chat room. Someone's status will read "So-and-so is hanging out", and, if I'm in their circle, I can drop in and "hang out".
Last night, I was on an iPad 2 on Google+ and saw that a friend was "hanging out". I tried to hang out on my iPad, but it said it wasn't supported on my device. I posted as much and my friend said "go get on your iMac", so I went downstairs and, seeing that I had some muffins to make, decided to get on my MacBook Pro and see what my friend was up to.
I logged on and there were three people there who I have known online for years, and something interesting happened. As I made the muffins, I was able to just talk and get my stuff done, and it was like my friends were in my house with me. We were laughing and joking, one guy was playing guitar, and we were just - hanging out.
There's a main video window that seems to change so the person talking is in the big window. When there's a lot of sound and people this gets pretty crazy, but if you've got 5 or so people, it's ok. You can also click on a person and their window stays on the main window.
And it occurred to me that it's a pretty cool thing, and a large part of it is just the name. Would you rather hang out with friends, or "Skype" them? Or "Facebook video chat" them? Or iChat them?
Hanging out sounds right, and it feels right.
And that's how you shift a paradigm. People are going to start using this regularly, and it's all because of the name & implementation.
Friday, June 17, 2011
"What geeky pursuits did dad inspire you to discover?"
So asketh TechRepublic.
I can probably honestly say: All of them. I don't know why he wanted to buy us a computer back in the early 80's. I know that I used to go play Temple of Apshai on my friend Robert Dickert's Apple ][ in that same timeframe. We were friends in 4th/5th grade I think? So that would have been 1980 or so.
For some reason, my dad got interested in computers around that time. We had an Apple ][e (IIRC) with a floppy drive - maybe two - and a green monitor, if memory serves. My favorite game in 9th grade was Karateka. I remember playing that constantly. I also remember being online quite a bit with CompuServe. I'm sure our modem was 300 baud. My first "online friends" were made there. I recall chatting with screen names that reflected my interests of the day: "Sinful" from Pete Wylie's album of the same name and "Colossus", from the X-Men. Those two came later in high school, actually. And for some reason, I didn't recognise at the time the sexual connotations of the names. Or I did, but wasn't overly concerned with it.
I fondly recall going computer shopping with my dad and looking at the new Osborne "portable" computer and thinking how cool that was - a computer you could fold up and take with you!
I don't recall my father spending as much time on that computer as I did. I do recall that he paid the CompuServe bills when they would arrive. I learned to stay within the pre-paid time limits, however, a couple hundred dollars in charges later.
I wrote school reports in Bank Street Writer that I printed out on our dot matrix continuous-feed printer. I remember flipping up the paper guides so that I could align the holes on the perforated paper with the teeth on the drive wheel. Printing an assignment, then tearing off the sheet and folding it all up to easily tear the guides off the edges.
I remember playing other games, mostly Ultima ][. I loved the free-form gameplay, that you could talk to anyone, go anywhere in the world, and even to other worlds! I remember playing the Dr. J & Larry Bird basketball game where you could dunk and shatter the backboard. I remember playing Spy Hunter and pinball and some card games. I do not recall ever paying for a game. It took a long time to copy on those 5 1/4" floppies. :) I remember getting pissed at the computer when I would try to do something during the game and hitting the computer.
I remember the computer heating up and having to open the top and re-seat the chips.
I remember taking a programming class and learning BASIC.
10 print "Sam is cool"
20 goto 10
I remember trying to input a program from a Byte magazine, taking hours and hours and hours but it didn't run. I'm sure I was missing a step. But from that, I learned how to step through code. I recall breaking into programs back then and reading through the code and trying to change some things, like what characters would say, things like that.
I didn't use computers much in college, but my girlfriend had a Mac, the first Mac I had I ever used. My good friend Tony had an Amiga that he swore by. I preferred the Mac. I preferred that girlfriend, too - she's now my wife. :)
From all the computer work I did back in those days, it seems natural that I now work in IT. All the new devices don't faze me - it's just a computer at heart. They do what we tell them to do. Mostly.
I always would say, when I was getting ready to graduate from college, that I wish I knew a skill like my dad did - his father was a bricklayer, and my dad could (and still can, he just doesn't) lay brick. He built a brick wall between our house and our neighbor in the house I first lived in. He set the bricks in our steps at the house we moved to when I was 9. When we drive around Memphis, he points out all the houses that he built while working for his father.
Looking back now, I see that I do have a skill. That I had this skill back then, but I didn't know what it was. To me, I was just playing around with computers. I didn't realize that I was learning the skills that are needed to work with most every electronic device we use today - iPhones, TiVos, MacBooks, Windows, DirecTV, microwaves, Blackberrys, iPods, Androids, etc.
These devices aren't foreign to me, thanks to my father. How they work, what they do is as familiar to me as the back of my hand - a hand that, thanks also to my father, has never really seen a hard day's labor work in my life. He taught me that "you should get paid for what you know, not what you do."
Now that I'm standing up here, on top of this bed of knowledge, I see that he taught me all these things about technology - by putting a computer in front of me. And letting me explore, and encouraging that exploration.
Thanks, Dad.
I can probably honestly say: All of them. I don't know why he wanted to buy us a computer back in the early 80's. I know that I used to go play Temple of Apshai on my friend Robert Dickert's Apple ][ in that same timeframe. We were friends in 4th/5th grade I think? So that would have been 1980 or so.
For some reason, my dad got interested in computers around that time. We had an Apple ][e (IIRC) with a floppy drive - maybe two - and a green monitor, if memory serves. My favorite game in 9th grade was Karateka. I remember playing that constantly. I also remember being online quite a bit with CompuServe. I'm sure our modem was 300 baud. My first "online friends" were made there. I recall chatting with screen names that reflected my interests of the day: "Sinful" from Pete Wylie's album of the same name and "Colossus", from the X-Men. Those two came later in high school, actually. And for some reason, I didn't recognise at the time the sexual connotations of the names. Or I did, but wasn't overly concerned with it.
I fondly recall going computer shopping with my dad and looking at the new Osborne "portable" computer and thinking how cool that was - a computer you could fold up and take with you!
I don't recall my father spending as much time on that computer as I did. I do recall that he paid the CompuServe bills when they would arrive. I learned to stay within the pre-paid time limits, however, a couple hundred dollars in charges later.
I wrote school reports in Bank Street Writer that I printed out on our dot matrix continuous-feed printer. I remember flipping up the paper guides so that I could align the holes on the perforated paper with the teeth on the drive wheel. Printing an assignment, then tearing off the sheet and folding it all up to easily tear the guides off the edges.
I remember playing other games, mostly Ultima ][. I loved the free-form gameplay, that you could talk to anyone, go anywhere in the world, and even to other worlds! I remember playing the Dr. J & Larry Bird basketball game where you could dunk and shatter the backboard. I remember playing Spy Hunter and pinball and some card games. I do not recall ever paying for a game. It took a long time to copy on those 5 1/4" floppies. :) I remember getting pissed at the computer when I would try to do something during the game and hitting the computer.
I remember the computer heating up and having to open the top and re-seat the chips.
I remember taking a programming class and learning BASIC.
10 print "Sam is cool"
20 goto 10
I remember trying to input a program from a Byte magazine, taking hours and hours and hours but it didn't run. I'm sure I was missing a step. But from that, I learned how to step through code. I recall breaking into programs back then and reading through the code and trying to change some things, like what characters would say, things like that.
I didn't use computers much in college, but my girlfriend had a Mac, the first Mac I had I ever used. My good friend Tony had an Amiga that he swore by. I preferred the Mac. I preferred that girlfriend, too - she's now my wife. :)
From all the computer work I did back in those days, it seems natural that I now work in IT. All the new devices don't faze me - it's just a computer at heart. They do what we tell them to do. Mostly.
I always would say, when I was getting ready to graduate from college, that I wish I knew a skill like my dad did - his father was a bricklayer, and my dad could (and still can, he just doesn't) lay brick. He built a brick wall between our house and our neighbor in the house I first lived in. He set the bricks in our steps at the house we moved to when I was 9. When we drive around Memphis, he points out all the houses that he built while working for his father.
Looking back now, I see that I do have a skill. That I had this skill back then, but I didn't know what it was. To me, I was just playing around with computers. I didn't realize that I was learning the skills that are needed to work with most every electronic device we use today - iPhones, TiVos, MacBooks, Windows, DirecTV, microwaves, Blackberrys, iPods, Androids, etc.
These devices aren't foreign to me, thanks to my father. How they work, what they do is as familiar to me as the back of my hand - a hand that, thanks also to my father, has never really seen a hard day's labor work in my life. He taught me that "you should get paid for what you know, not what you do."
Now that I'm standing up here, on top of this bed of knowledge, I see that he taught me all these things about technology - by putting a computer in front of me. And letting me explore, and encouraging that exploration.
Thanks, Dad.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
2007 End Of Year Music Post
O:KMMS - January 10, 2008
I might just get this in before 2008. :) (nope. :)
Song I've neither heard nor heard of before Blender voted it Song of the Year: "Umbrella" by Rhianna (My reaction upon hearing it? "Meh....")
Album I was totally gay for this year: Life in Cartoon Motion by Mika. "Lollipop", "Grace Kelley", "Big Girls (You Are Beautiful)" - All tons of fun and gay, gay, gay. I loved it. :)
Most surprising album: Jesse Malin - Glitter in the Gutter - I was never a big D-Generation fan; their marketing sold them as NYC punk but the music reminded me of West Coast hair-metal more than anything and I never gave them a second thought.
Jesse released this album this year and I probably wouldn't have heard it at all, except that I had to put together the alt.country station for the web radio broadcaster Slacker.com. The album opens with the anthemic "Don't Let Them Take You Down (Beautiful Day)" and keeps up a good pace with solid songwriting, good flow, ballads and rockers, through the album-ending heartbreaker "Aftermath".
If you'd've said someone I'd never heard of would have released an album that contained a duet with Bruce Springsteen and a slow piano cover of "Bastards of Young" that I'd really, really like, I think I probably would have been wildly skeptical. Turns out, you'd've been right. :)
Best alcohol-soaked discovery: Lucero. Their last album Rebels, Rogues & Sworn Brothers was released in 2006, but it was another alt.country station discovery. First caught by the lyric "c'mon baby won't you dance/make good use out of these drunken feet" from "What Else Would You Have Me Be?", I soon found "San Francisco" and "She's Just That Kind Of Girl". The clincher for me, though, was hearing the opening riff from "I Don't Wanna Be The One" today in my car. It sounds more like a Knack riff than Lucero, but there's soon the boozy drawl and pounding rhythms, and it made me glad I discovered them. :)
Best pleasant surprise: Kevin Devine, Put Your Ghost To Rest First heard the song "Not Over You Yet" from the Make the Clocks Move album while doing research for building my Slacker.com station and really liked the opening lyric "You were always cute/But goddamn! you got hot/Hot enough to streak the streets white with sunspots when you walk" and was taken with his ability for a melody and a lyric. PYGTR was released in '06 as well, but this guy is so below-the-radar that I still consider it an '07 release. :) "Brooklyn Boy", the song opener, is a song about taking drugs, a very happy-sounding song about "Chopping lines, hey hey/It's my birthday". Great juxtaposition. I'm also very fond of "Less Yesterday, More Today". He's got a unique voice, but I've taken to it pretty quickly.
Best local band (Denver): Laylights. They remind me a lot of the Chameleons. I need to try to catch them live this year. "Sparrow" is my favorite, but they're all good. I'll post "Highwires", too, because it's really captured my musical sensibility of late.
Best Late Entry: Romantica. Thanks, funoka! :)
Best radio station: alt.country on Slacker.com. Hands down. :)
http://www.slacker.com/?sid=stations/1205463/571
Best single re-discovery: The Chameleons' "Swamp Thing". Heard on the freeway in L.A. in October while driving to my company's Santa Monica office. It was overcast and, well, industrial L.A. can be kind of depressing. The haunting guitar riff came on and had me. It sounded familiar, and I grooved a long for a bit. When Mark Burgess started singing, I realised it was the Chameleons, but I didn't know the name of the song, but I'm sure I'd heard it before, based on the refrain at the end, "The storm comes/Or is it just another shower?" But such a great song, the way the Chameleons make the music soar.
Best Asian-themed guitar riff to open a song on my radio station: "Hearts of Iron" - Handsome Furs. I 'm a sucker for an Asian-themed riff. "Turning Japanese" by the Vapors. "Over the Border" & "On The Shore" by Big Country. "Physical Climber" by aMiniature (well, the end part. I'll nominate the opening of "Zero In Trust" as well).
Best lyric: (tie) Art Brut
From "Pump Up The Volume": "I know I shouldn't/Is it so wrong/To break from your kiss/To turn up a pop song"
From "St. Pauli": "Punk rock ist nicht tot!"
From "People In Love": "What becomes of the broken-hearted?/They're drunk for a few weeks,/Then back where they started/So pass me the wine/A cigarette too/We've about a week and a half to get through"
From "Sound of Summer": "Play and record/Held down together/Tabs pushed off/So you can't tape over it ever"
From "Jealous Guy": "I should be flattered that it's come to this/Where you're satisfied by just a goodnight kiss/I can't sleep because I've started to question/Whether your ex-boyfriends let you get this much resting/I'm not going to let you sleep/I'm pulling on blankets and tugging on sheets"
Funny thing, a friend of mine writes lyrics like this and they totally annoy me. But it's charming coming from a Brit. It's kind of like Nick Swardson's "British Kid":
..
Best show: You'd think it'd be easy, considering I only went to 3 this year. The three were, in chronological order: Morrissey; Bloc Party; Hannah Montana feat. the Jonas Brothers. They were all great for different reasons. Morrissey, because it'd been over 20 years since I'd seen him last, in that other band of his. He was great, his band was great, the sound was great...just a wonderful night. Having him close the show with "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" brought tears to my eyes - I never thought I'd hear him perform that song. Bloc Party was great because I was largely there by myself and was able to enjoy it unencumbered by any sort of inhibition. I closed my eyes and danced and rocked and swayed...it was a great experience. Hannah Montana, you ask? Well, I have two daughters and it was the first concert either had been to, and it was a complete surprise to them up until I handed them the tickets after we parked at the arena. They were very happy and thankful and they had a great time. It was a great time to be a dad.
Three-way tie. :)
Best album: Bloc Party. From my review when it came out:
"More dense than Silent Alarm, lots of textures moving around, or I should say under. The vocals are out front as usual, where they should be.
I love Bloc Party. Even more now. If I were a drunk 20 year old wanting these same things, I'd be singing this in the mirror to myself instead of the Cure.
It's bringing back memories that aren't mine, yet I wish were."
Best song to remind me of a deceased friend: "Pearl", by Maritime. It's in a previous playlist. Go find it, and go remember Crash.
Holy fucking crap, 2007 was an amazing musical year for me. Let's hope 2008 is half as incredible. :)
I might just get this in before 2008. :) (nope. :)
Song I've neither heard nor heard of before Blender voted it Song of the Year: "Umbrella" by Rhianna (My reaction upon hearing it? "Meh....")
Album I was totally gay for this year: Life in Cartoon Motion by Mika. "Lollipop", "Grace Kelley", "Big Girls (You Are Beautiful)" - All tons of fun and gay, gay, gay. I loved it. :)
Most surprising album: Jesse Malin - Glitter in the Gutter - I was never a big D-Generation fan; their marketing sold them as NYC punk but the music reminded me of West Coast hair-metal more than anything and I never gave them a second thought.
Jesse released this album this year and I probably wouldn't have heard it at all, except that I had to put together the alt.country station for the web radio broadcaster Slacker.com. The album opens with the anthemic "Don't Let Them Take You Down (Beautiful Day)" and keeps up a good pace with solid songwriting, good flow, ballads and rockers, through the album-ending heartbreaker "Aftermath".
If you'd've said someone I'd never heard of would have released an album that contained a duet with Bruce Springsteen and a slow piano cover of "Bastards of Young" that I'd really, really like, I think I probably would have been wildly skeptical. Turns out, you'd've been right. :)
Best alcohol-soaked discovery: Lucero. Their last album Rebels, Rogues & Sworn Brothers was released in 2006, but it was another alt.country station discovery. First caught by the lyric "c'mon baby won't you dance/make good use out of these drunken feet" from "What Else Would You Have Me Be?", I soon found "San Francisco" and "She's Just That Kind Of Girl". The clincher for me, though, was hearing the opening riff from "I Don't Wanna Be The One" today in my car. It sounds more like a Knack riff than Lucero, but there's soon the boozy drawl and pounding rhythms, and it made me glad I discovered them. :)
Best pleasant surprise: Kevin Devine, Put Your Ghost To Rest First heard the song "Not Over You Yet" from the Make the Clocks Move album while doing research for building my Slacker.com station and really liked the opening lyric "You were always cute/But goddamn! you got hot/Hot enough to streak the streets white with sunspots when you walk" and was taken with his ability for a melody and a lyric. PYGTR was released in '06 as well, but this guy is so below-the-radar that I still consider it an '07 release. :) "Brooklyn Boy", the song opener, is a song about taking drugs, a very happy-sounding song about "Chopping lines, hey hey/It's my birthday". Great juxtaposition. I'm also very fond of "Less Yesterday, More Today". He's got a unique voice, but I've taken to it pretty quickly.
Best local band (Denver): Laylights. They remind me a lot of the Chameleons. I need to try to catch them live this year. "Sparrow" is my favorite, but they're all good. I'll post "Highwires", too, because it's really captured my musical sensibility of late.
Best Late Entry: Romantica. Thanks, funoka! :)
Best radio station: alt.country on Slacker.com. Hands down. :)
http://www.slacker.com/?sid=stations/1205463/571
Best single re-discovery: The Chameleons' "Swamp Thing". Heard on the freeway in L.A. in October while driving to my company's Santa Monica office. It was overcast and, well, industrial L.A. can be kind of depressing. The haunting guitar riff came on and had me. It sounded familiar, and I grooved a long for a bit. When Mark Burgess started singing, I realised it was the Chameleons, but I didn't know the name of the song, but I'm sure I'd heard it before, based on the refrain at the end, "The storm comes/Or is it just another shower?" But such a great song, the way the Chameleons make the music soar.
Best Asian-themed guitar riff to open a song on my radio station: "Hearts of Iron" - Handsome Furs. I 'm a sucker for an Asian-themed riff. "Turning Japanese" by the Vapors. "Over the Border" & "On The Shore" by Big Country. "Physical Climber" by aMiniature (well, the end part. I'll nominate the opening of "Zero In Trust" as well).
Best lyric: (tie) Art Brut
From "Pump Up The Volume": "I know I shouldn't/Is it so wrong/To break from your kiss/To turn up a pop song"
From "St. Pauli": "Punk rock ist nicht tot!"
From "People In Love": "What becomes of the broken-hearted?/They're drunk for a few weeks,/Then back where they started/So pass me the wine/A cigarette too/We've about a week and a half to get through"
From "Sound of Summer": "Play and record/Held down together/Tabs pushed off/So you can't tape over it ever"
From "Jealous Guy": "I should be flattered that it's come to this/Where you're satisfied by just a goodnight kiss/I can't sleep because I've started to question/Whether your ex-boyfriends let you get this much resting/I'm not going to let you sleep/I'm pulling on blankets and tugging on sheets"
Funny thing, a friend of mine writes lyrics like this and they totally annoy me. But it's charming coming from a Brit. It's kind of like Nick Swardson's "British Kid":
..
Best show: You'd think it'd be easy, considering I only went to 3 this year. The three were, in chronological order: Morrissey; Bloc Party; Hannah Montana feat. the Jonas Brothers. They were all great for different reasons. Morrissey, because it'd been over 20 years since I'd seen him last, in that other band of his. He was great, his band was great, the sound was great...just a wonderful night. Having him close the show with "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" brought tears to my eyes - I never thought I'd hear him perform that song. Bloc Party was great because I was largely there by myself and was able to enjoy it unencumbered by any sort of inhibition. I closed my eyes and danced and rocked and swayed...it was a great experience. Hannah Montana, you ask? Well, I have two daughters and it was the first concert either had been to, and it was a complete surprise to them up until I handed them the tickets after we parked at the arena. They were very happy and thankful and they had a great time. It was a great time to be a dad.
Three-way tie. :)
Best album: Bloc Party. From my review when it came out:
"More dense than Silent Alarm, lots of textures moving around, or I should say under. The vocals are out front as usual, where they should be.
I love Bloc Party. Even more now. If I were a drunk 20 year old wanting these same things, I'd be singing this in the mirror to myself instead of the Cure.
It's bringing back memories that aren't mine, yet I wish were."
Best song to remind me of a deceased friend: "Pearl", by Maritime. It's in a previous playlist. Go find it, and go remember Crash.
Holy fucking crap, 2007 was an amazing musical year for me. Let's hope 2008 is half as incredible. :)
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Mother’s Day 2011
I’ve written about my father a lot, but I don’t seem to write about my mother much. I’m not sure why my relationship with my dad is on my mind so much more than her. Maybe I’ll go into that another time.
I’d say that the reason I don’t write about my mom much is that there’s not any conflict, really.
She rarely has reason to get mad at me anymore. Not like she used to when I was a stupid teenager who knew it all. Like the time my parents were having a party. It had snowed and she asked “Do you want to shovel the steps?” Now, most of us know this statement as “Go shovel the steps.” Smartass kid me answered her question directly - No. No, I did not want to go shovel the steps. Well, naturally, she got mad. Pissed. Which was the proper response to a know-it-all teenager. She went out to shovel. I tried to tell her that I meant that I didn’t want to shovel the steps, but that I would. That was a tough lesson learned that I obviously still remember all these years later.
She worked at a small tchotchke shop in our high school years to have a little extra money around for things. She drove us to practices and games. She was interested in the things that I was interested in - (although she may just have been humoring me, but I’ll never know).
She has stories she likes to tell about me. Like when I was a little boy, I walked up to her and a friend and said “Wanna see an amazing trick?” She’ll tell you she doesn’t remember the trick, just that this smart little kid popped out with that sentence. Another is of a teacher’s comment on my report card: “Sammy is uniquely himself.”
Yet another story is the year she asked me what I wanted for Christmas. “Same thing I wanted last year” was my exasperated reply. “What was that?” she asked in return. “A piANO” came the teenage response. Perhaps as a way of testing my resolve, the terms of the deal were laid out. “Only if you take lessons” she said. I agreed quickly. We obtained a piano. I took lessons for the remainder of my high school years.
She likes it when I rub her shoulders, something she used to ask me to do to help her relax. She laughs hysterically at my Kevin Meany impression: “Walkin’ around with your tight pants on…we’re big pants people!” She rolls her eyes when I make dumb jokes but still smiles.
She has merely been the most supportive, consistent, available, constant, gentle, strong, kind, patient, giving person in my whole life. My mom has been everything you ever want in a mother.
Have you ever heard someone say “You have the coolest mom!”?
I have. A lot.
Happy Mother’s Day to one of my best friends. Thank you. For literally everything.
Love,
Your Son
I’d say that the reason I don’t write about my mom much is that there’s not any conflict, really.
She rarely has reason to get mad at me anymore. Not like she used to when I was a stupid teenager who knew it all. Like the time my parents were having a party. It had snowed and she asked “Do you want to shovel the steps?” Now, most of us know this statement as “Go shovel the steps.” Smartass kid me answered her question directly - No. No, I did not want to go shovel the steps. Well, naturally, she got mad. Pissed. Which was the proper response to a know-it-all teenager. She went out to shovel. I tried to tell her that I meant that I didn’t want to shovel the steps, but that I would. That was a tough lesson learned that I obviously still remember all these years later.
She worked at a small tchotchke shop in our high school years to have a little extra money around for things. She drove us to practices and games. She was interested in the things that I was interested in - (although she may just have been humoring me, but I’ll never know).
She has stories she likes to tell about me. Like when I was a little boy, I walked up to her and a friend and said “Wanna see an amazing trick?” She’ll tell you she doesn’t remember the trick, just that this smart little kid popped out with that sentence. Another is of a teacher’s comment on my report card: “Sammy is uniquely himself.”
Yet another story is the year she asked me what I wanted for Christmas. “Same thing I wanted last year” was my exasperated reply. “What was that?” she asked in return. “A piANO” came the teenage response. Perhaps as a way of testing my resolve, the terms of the deal were laid out. “Only if you take lessons” she said. I agreed quickly. We obtained a piano. I took lessons for the remainder of my high school years.
She likes it when I rub her shoulders, something she used to ask me to do to help her relax. She laughs hysterically at my Kevin Meany impression: “Walkin’ around with your tight pants on…we’re big pants people!” She rolls her eyes when I make dumb jokes but still smiles.
She has merely been the most supportive, consistent, available, constant, gentle, strong, kind, patient, giving person in my whole life. My mom has been everything you ever want in a mother.
Have you ever heard someone say “You have the coolest mom!”?
I have. A lot.
Happy Mother’s Day to one of my best friends. Thank you. For literally everything.
Love,
Your Son
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