There's always a post-holiday letdown following the 4th since it's such a big family holiday for us, kind of an mild aimless depression that comes with having to fall back into a routine. Today was really the first day of the summer I felt kind of bored. But it was a pretty busy weekend, so that's to be expected.
Album of the Day - "American Idiot" by Green Day. This was the album that made the band superstars when they were hard on the road to being a washed-out 90s has-been. It really is a strong album too, which I probably don't have to tell too many people because it sold millions of copies and it's probably the best-known Album of the Day I've written about. Yeah, it's got a couple of 9-minute songs on it, which most people would consider pretty epic in length, and it had quite a few hits on it. But this became a landmark album for me due to personal reasons.
American Idiot was released about two months before my sister died. In the time between when I bought the CD and when she died, and likely for months afterward, this was the CD that was in my car. And even though "Wake Me Up When September Ends" is about memorializing someone's death, that wasn't the draw. The album is a loose concept album that follows characters through the frustrations of living through George Bush's America in 2004; it came out just months before he was elected to his second term. Green Day, I think it's safe to say, are not and never were fans of President Bush; the album is fierce and angry without apology.
I remember the election was something we were aware of at the time, but it was way, way in the background as my sister's condition grew progressively worse in those weeks. I didn't relate to the political anger of "American Idiot" as much as I did just the pure anger of it. Listening to this album over and over and over and over and over in my car gave me a powerful outlet for the anger and frustration I was feeling about what my family was going through.
If I listen to it now, as I am while writing this, I can still hear echoes of my own anger and isolation coming out of these songs. But luckily they're just echoes and I can still appreciate it for being a pretty great album.
Didn't start the triathalon today. The blister I had as my souvenir from the amusement park was enough to keep me from even trying to do anything athletic. But tomorrow will be a different story. I am determined to finish this thing off, even with a one day late start.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Independence Day Ruminations
The 4th of July weekend has always been an unofficial summertime halfway mark for me. Big party at my parents’ in ER, lots of family in for the weekend. Usually hot, food, drink, good times. Not as usual this year since ER very controversially shut down their fireworks this year. But we had our party all the same, since my godsister usually throws her own summer bash each year, and this year stepped up to take over the 4th. It was a great time, even if we had an actively pinging weather radar for a good part of the afternoon. Nephew #1 drove the 30 or so mile trip to the party taking mostly freeway driving, and had to learn behind the wheel what it’s like to drive on the freeway through a whiteout downpour. I’ll give the kid points for doing something well at 15 that I sure wouldn’t have wanted to do myself at 41.
We stretched the weekend out a little more to include the 5th with a trip to Valleyfair. Pretty good day. I’ve never been one to shy away from rides, but after x number of trips to Valleyfair with the school patrol, the shine of the place has worn off for me in a definitive way. But being there with people you enjoy being with helps a lot, and here’s a tip that maybe I shouldn’t share -- it seems that EVERYONE in the Cities is up North on the weekend of the 4th, which means that on the day after? All the lines at Valleyfair are amazingly quick. Some of the empty queues that we just breezed through were vaguely reminiscent of an establishing scene from some kind of B-grade post-apocalyptic movie.
The older set, which now consists of my generation in the family, didn’t ride quite as much but still hit a few of the more famous coasters and a few other rides. We heard a lot of obscure 80s one-hit wonders played on the park soundtrack, discovered that the cherry-flavored Jolly Rancher frozen drinks taste remarkably like cherry Jolly Ranchers, spent time swimming and/or lounging at the water park, and of course I spanked down Nephew #1 pretty hard on the air hockey table. Considering some of us had been there together more than thirty years ago when our families took us as children and we are still together and doing things like this as adults all these years later, I think that makes a pretty strong statement about our family.
I had a nice surprise while enjoying my aforementioned Jolly Rancher cherry-flavored frozen drink. As we (me and one of the cousin wives, another teacher) were walking back to meet up with some people we were waiting for, who do we happen upon but SuperKyle himself, escorted around the park under a huge shade umbrella by his mother and some other family members. They were also there on a big outing. He told me about several of the rides he had gone and and still planned to -- he was taking on quite a bit more adventure than I was that day. It was great seeing him out and about like that. Very affirming that he’s still hanging in there.
Album of the Day today is “Hints Allegations & Things Left Unsaid” by Collective Soul. Just because they’re a cool band and I felt like playing it. This was probably triggered by having a CS song not found on this album come on the radio in my cousin’s van on the way to the park today.
Tomorrow is Monday, and the Lazyman Triathalon begins. I have until August 9th to row 12.5 miles, bike 112 miles, and walk/run 26.2 miles during my workouts at the Y. How perfect that this will begin the day after walking around Valleyfair, as my knees are showing their age and I’m sporting a blister under my right big toe the approximate size of a Canadian dime. Wish me luck.
We stretched the weekend out a little more to include the 5th with a trip to Valleyfair. Pretty good day. I’ve never been one to shy away from rides, but after x number of trips to Valleyfair with the school patrol, the shine of the place has worn off for me in a definitive way. But being there with people you enjoy being with helps a lot, and here’s a tip that maybe I shouldn’t share -- it seems that EVERYONE in the Cities is up North on the weekend of the 4th, which means that on the day after? All the lines at Valleyfair are amazingly quick. Some of the empty queues that we just breezed through were vaguely reminiscent of an establishing scene from some kind of B-grade post-apocalyptic movie.
The older set, which now consists of my generation in the family, didn’t ride quite as much but still hit a few of the more famous coasters and a few other rides. We heard a lot of obscure 80s one-hit wonders played on the park soundtrack, discovered that the cherry-flavored Jolly Rancher frozen drinks taste remarkably like cherry Jolly Ranchers, spent time swimming and/or lounging at the water park, and of course I spanked down Nephew #1 pretty hard on the air hockey table. Considering some of us had been there together more than thirty years ago when our families took us as children and we are still together and doing things like this as adults all these years later, I think that makes a pretty strong statement about our family.
I had a nice surprise while enjoying my aforementioned Jolly Rancher cherry-flavored frozen drink. As we (me and one of the cousin wives, another teacher) were walking back to meet up with some people we were waiting for, who do we happen upon but SuperKyle himself, escorted around the park under a huge shade umbrella by his mother and some other family members. They were also there on a big outing. He told me about several of the rides he had gone and and still planned to -- he was taking on quite a bit more adventure than I was that day. It was great seeing him out and about like that. Very affirming that he’s still hanging in there.
Album of the Day today is “Hints Allegations & Things Left Unsaid” by Collective Soul. Just because they’re a cool band and I felt like playing it. This was probably triggered by having a CS song not found on this album come on the radio in my cousin’s van on the way to the park today.
Tomorrow is Monday, and the Lazyman Triathalon begins. I have until August 9th to row 12.5 miles, bike 112 miles, and walk/run 26.2 miles during my workouts at the Y. How perfect that this will begin the day after walking around Valleyfair, as my knees are showing their age and I’m sporting a blister under my right big toe the approximate size of a Canadian dime. Wish me luck.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
June Becomes July
I find myself introspectively wandering over my thoughts this evening.... yeah, I know: pretentious and sickening, but if this whole blog started out as a writing exercise to get me actually writing again, sometimes you gotta let the self-indulgent nonsense rear it's head.
What that all is supposed to mean is just that I have a lot of things on my mind these days.
(1) My Adopted Little Sister is staying put. Sort of. I still have to give her up in some ways, but in more important ways I won't have to. And I say more important because these ways have more to do with her than with me. In case I'm not being cryptic enough. But things are as good as they could be for the time being, so we're all happy for the resolution she wound up with.
(2) I saw online today that the mighty Dream Theater's new album, "Black Clouds and Silver Linings" -- you may have read a mention or two on here -- became something of a career landmark for the band. The album debuted on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart at #6, marking the first time the band has ever had an album in the top 10. I could not be happier about it. Nice going, America. Good to see you're starting to catch up to me.
(3) I've seen my nephews quite a bit in the past week, with even more time promised with the upcoming holiday weekend. This is a good thing. Nephew #1 and his pal from down the street are fun to spend time or have dinner with -- friend from down the street seems to be a frequent dinner guest at my sister's, which makes me happy to see. Nephew #2 loves his pool so much he spent an hour swimming in it by himself while I sat nearby reading a book, and has his own good pal from a couple neighborhoods over, who lives within biking distance. He also had quite a ball game not long ago, making a good out, pitching a decent inning, and almost knocking one hard into the outfield... if only that kid on the black team hadn't been lucky and caught him out. Nephew #3 really seems to be outgrowing his grouchy years, mostly, and has his own NBF (Neighborhood Best Friend) from right across the street. With my sister engaged and happy, and all of the boys doing well, it just gives me some peace. At times I honestly feel like their collective happiness is more important to me than my own would be.
(4) I feel kind of cut off from SuperKyle, but I know from experience on the other side not to try and wedge myself in to what's going on any more than what I'm asked. It's about him and his family now. Not me.
(5) I'm enjoying the relaxation and peace and openness of the summer so far much more than I usually do, and it's making me lackadaisical about my days, which is a nice change. I haven't done much real writing since it's so easy to just let the summertime soak in, but I think I have finally found the project that I feel strongly enough about to work out. Today being July 1, I'm going to try hard to have some real progress behind it before August.
(6) I signed up for this year's Lazy Man Triathalon at the Y yesterday. It's a real triathalon in terms of activity and distance, the difference being that you get five weeks to complete everything. And I plan to!
(7) That summertime to-do list that always creates itself? It's starting to nudge at my peace...
Album of the Day, and this is kind of out of nowhere but also completely appropriate: the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." Out of nowhere because it's orchestrated music compared to my usual rocking out. Appropriate because it just really fit the calm I'm living inside of today.
What that all is supposed to mean is just that I have a lot of things on my mind these days.
(1) My Adopted Little Sister is staying put. Sort of. I still have to give her up in some ways, but in more important ways I won't have to. And I say more important because these ways have more to do with her than with me. In case I'm not being cryptic enough. But things are as good as they could be for the time being, so we're all happy for the resolution she wound up with.
(2) I saw online today that the mighty Dream Theater's new album, "Black Clouds and Silver Linings" -- you may have read a mention or two on here -- became something of a career landmark for the band. The album debuted on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart at #6, marking the first time the band has ever had an album in the top 10. I could not be happier about it. Nice going, America. Good to see you're starting to catch up to me.
(3) I've seen my nephews quite a bit in the past week, with even more time promised with the upcoming holiday weekend. This is a good thing. Nephew #1 and his pal from down the street are fun to spend time or have dinner with -- friend from down the street seems to be a frequent dinner guest at my sister's, which makes me happy to see. Nephew #2 loves his pool so much he spent an hour swimming in it by himself while I sat nearby reading a book, and has his own good pal from a couple neighborhoods over, who lives within biking distance. He also had quite a ball game not long ago, making a good out, pitching a decent inning, and almost knocking one hard into the outfield... if only that kid on the black team hadn't been lucky and caught him out. Nephew #3 really seems to be outgrowing his grouchy years, mostly, and has his own NBF (Neighborhood Best Friend) from right across the street. With my sister engaged and happy, and all of the boys doing well, it just gives me some peace. At times I honestly feel like their collective happiness is more important to me than my own would be.
(4) I feel kind of cut off from SuperKyle, but I know from experience on the other side not to try and wedge myself in to what's going on any more than what I'm asked. It's about him and his family now. Not me.
(5) I'm enjoying the relaxation and peace and openness of the summer so far much more than I usually do, and it's making me lackadaisical about my days, which is a nice change. I haven't done much real writing since it's so easy to just let the summertime soak in, but I think I have finally found the project that I feel strongly enough about to work out. Today being July 1, I'm going to try hard to have some real progress behind it before August.
(6) I signed up for this year's Lazy Man Triathalon at the Y yesterday. It's a real triathalon in terms of activity and distance, the difference being that you get five weeks to complete everything. And I plan to!
(7) That summertime to-do list that always creates itself? It's starting to nudge at my peace...
Album of the Day, and this is kind of out of nowhere but also completely appropriate: the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." Out of nowhere because it's orchestrated music compared to my usual rocking out. Appropriate because it just really fit the calm I'm living inside of today.
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