TSO

It was a toss-up this year:  go see Manheim  Steamroller or Trans Siberian Orchestra.  Several years ago, a video was emailed around to everybody on the planet (you probably saw it) of a house with lots of flashing Christmas lights synchronized to music.  A bit of googling quickly revealed the source of the electronics you can use to do the same thing as well as the identity of the music – by Trans Siberian Orchestra.  I’d never heard of them before so gave them a listen in iTunes.  Then some guys at work told me that the live show is full of lasers and fireworks. 

That sold me.

So I bought four tickets.  Mel and I went and took Erin and her boyfriend with us.  What follows will probably sound like I didn’t like it but I really did – a lot.  But it was a bit pretentious, with some guy coming out to recite bad poetry very badly (or at least with way too much of an attempt to sound like James Earl Jones) occasionally.  In any given musical event, I can always dispense with spoken word poetry. 

The show was like every rock show cliché from the 70’s and 80’s but with a string section:  smoke, animated lights, lasers, elevating platforms, belching flames (multicolored!), and fireworks.  All rolled into one glorious sensory overload.  Indeed, I think the band unapologetically elevated the show in importance above the band itself since most of the time, you couldn’t even see the band members.  There was the usual guitar wizardry as well.  Plus, it’s not often that you get to see a violinist who also head-bangs.  Erin’s boyfriend left the arena with a headache from all the flashing lights.  WIMP!

As I was enjoying the waves of heat on my face from the bursting balls of fire, I could not keep from my mind the imagined words of an old friend; one who never had any time for anything but the music and even then only music that sported some originality.  This sort of glitz would have definitely given rise to some snarky comments which I was on the verge of coming out with as well.  During the poetry readings, Erin looked at me and rolled her eyes so she was probably leaning the same way.  But the lasers made up for it.  Lots of lasers.  We’re talking room-filling laser beams of all colors. 

Another thing that I kept thinking about was Jack Black in “School of Rock”.  TSO followed all his lessons such as the “power stance” for a guitarist and the smoke and lasers during the show.  I kept smiling while thinking of the parallels.

I enjoyed the show a lot.  I’m old enough now that I question whether anything is worth what I pay for it but this would certainly come close.  Plus the BOK Center is a really nice place – somehow getting in and out was not a big deal unlike most venues.  The fact that it looks like a crushed pop-can can be overlooked because if this I think.

 

Music Weekend

Friday night:  Trans Siberian Orchestra at the BOK Center. 

Saturday night:  Singing Christmas tree at the local Baptist church.

Sunday morning:  Christmas musical thing at my church.

I love Christmas music.  The one thing I could change if I could would be to chain all pastors to their pews and stuff a gag in their mouths.  They should just shut up and let the people sing.  Nobody wants to listen to a “message” at that time – no matter how cleverly (or not) it is concealed.  In my opinion, there’s no more “turd-in-the-punchbowl” moment than when a pastor grinds the musical to a halt to say something.  Let it go pastors!

 

High Score

Erin found out that she made a 222 on her PSAT.  This has a good chance of putting her in contention for a National Merit Scholarship. 

Wow.

This is kind of like winning a lottery.  We have to manage the success as carefully as any other aspect of our lives.  Hope we can parlay this into a free ride or nearly free ride some fine university.

Most success in life comes from hard work but if your work hard AND are really smart her limits should be much higher than mine.  I hope we advise her well.

 

The Whirlwind of December Continues

I don’t even remember where Erin was Friday night.  She was definitely out with her BF but their plans changed so many times, I’m not sure of the details except that dinner and entertainment were involved.  I believe they went to a local restaurant that serves breakfast all the time because Erin likes bacon and then they went to a fellow dramanator’s party with a Hanukah theme.  I’m pretty sure that’s right.

Mel and I stayed home and watched the final episode of “Monk”.  Yes, we’re boring.  I think that’s well established and I don’t care anymore.

Mel came down with a head cold Saturday.  It came upon her pretty suddenly but it gave us a valid reason to ditch church Sunday and sleep in.  Erin spent the night with the girls in her small group and so ended up at church with them anyway.  Again – Erin is out socializing as often as she can.  I don’t see how she ever accomplishes anything.

Mel and I got started on wrapping some of the gifts and now our tree has stuff under it.  Nothing really spectacular yet but it looks better with goodies under it.

I think that maybe – just maybe – my back did not hurt quite as much yesterday.  Here’s hoping.  Of course the pain manifests itself in my butt and sometimes on down my leg but I get more understanding from saying my back hurts.

Erin is on pins and needles waiting for the PSAT scores to come out and at the same time waiting to find out what the spring musical is going to be.  It’s a toss-up as to which thing she’s most excited about.

 

Scene From Walmart

At the checkout.

Checkout girl: “Do you have kids?”

Me: “Yes”

She: “Here’s a tip.  If you want them to keep believing in Santa, wrap the gifts from Santa in different wrapping paper so they don’t look like the other gifts.”

Me: “That’s a good idea.”

She:  “So, how old are your kids?”

Me: “16 and 19.”

She: “OK…  I feel like an idiot.”

 

Back Pain

After the lumbar X-ray I had a couple months ago, my doctor thought it would be informative to have an MRI done on the same region.  It was certainly interesting.  I can remember when those devices were first invented and one of my job searches focused on getting into that industry so I was quite interested in the process itself.  The operator sensed my enthusiasm and gave me the tour while I was putting my pants back on. 

The MRI did little more than provide more of the same sort of information.  A disc is touching my sciatic nerve which I already knew.  I suppose the doctor now knows that there is nothing more serious going on but I was told that these things usually clear themselves up in time and I should take it easy.  I was hoping for something more useful – something I could actually take action on.  I have been told by several average, uninformed people that I should find a “good chiropractor” but some important details are left out of that advice.   That’s like saying that in order to improve your standard of living, you should get yourself a million dollars.  There are some intermediate steps left out.  The fact that chiropractors are sort of in the “quack” end of the medical professional community doesn’t help although the fact that this is a spinal issue and they focus on the spine may make it the right thing to do.  I guess I will have to look around and try to make a decision somehow.

 

A Memorable Holiday

It was memorable for two reasons at opposite ends of the emotional scale.  After Mel’s mother’s funeral, it was deemed imperative (which I agreed with) that the family carry on and have a Thanksgiving feast.  So we did.  After driving home with a trunk full of dirty laundry, Evan found himself having to spend one night and get back into a car and drive right back to Fayetteville for the feast but since he wasn’t driving or living in a dorm, he was fine with it.

We certainly crammed a lot into the past week or so – not something I recommend.  Since we find ourselves short by one car, we decided to petition to purchase grandma’s old car from the estate.  So the car situation has worked itself out although Erin would most certainly rather have grandma back than her car.  Mel brought home a huge grocery sack full of old cards and letters that had been saved and spent a good bit of time going through those.  A great deal of this sort of thing remains to be done and will be done in the coming months in getting the old house ready for sale.

On the positive side, we had the aforementioned feast at Mel’s brother’s place in the woods.  I love going to that place and always look forward to such occasions.  I made a short video of the day and posted it to youtube so that the rest of Mel’s family could watch and hopefully feel like they were there.  Evan spent lots of time doing homework.  He’s taking C++ and since I’ve been dabbling with software for about 30 years, I was pressed into service as tutor.  Strange how one can learn the concepts but still make the same dumb mistakes over and over as I was doing during tutoring.  This points to some basic flaw in the structure of the language but I don’t see enough of the big picture to know what that is.  We got our Christmas tree up and decorated the house with the kids’ help.  Evan and I raked up the yard and produced about 20 bags of leaves even after mulching.

All in all, we crammed in a lot of activity.  It helped that I had taken the three days before Thanksgiving as vacation.  I also managed to create another floor tile but this time it was made of oak to see how I liked that look.  Oak is a lot easier to get your hands on than walnut.

And through it all, I endured shooting pains from my back and down my leg. 

I guess the word for this year’s holiday is “bittersweet”.

 

The Way She Would Have Wanted It

I hope it’s not wrong to say that it was nice to see all of Mel’s family after her mom’s funeral.  We certainly finished out the day in the manner her mom would have had it:  with the house crammed with as many extended family as would fit in the door and with tons of high-carb home-made foods.  There may have been a salad somewhere but I did not see it.

All families really should get together like this at some time other than funerals.

Thankfully, the service had the desired effect on Erin.  She had been holding everything in; probably because of the performances in the play that she was responsible for but she finally let it all out at the service and seems to be getting back to normal.

 

 

Romeo and Juliet

Erin is doing Shakespeare this fall and it’s pretty fun.  I’ve always thought of attending Shakespeare plays as something of an affectation; something to get your dose of culture and get that over with or to be seen by others as cultured.  That’s why I don’t really go any more; I don’t enjoy it too much.

It’s different when your daughter is in the cast though.  This time it’s much more interesting to me.  The drama teacher has put some modern twists in it also to make it a bit more palatable to the expected audiences.  Michael Jackson music is a constant background to the production.  During the party scene where Romeo and Juliet meet the partygoers do the thriller dance which is quite fun to watch.

 

Capitalism

I’m amazed at how many people are interested in buying a wrecked car.  I had been worried about disposing of Erin’s car after the accident but should have known that this is America.  Put anything at all on craigslist and somebody out there will take it.  So, rather than pay some auto salvage yard to come tow it away, I got a small bit of money for it yesterday. 

All callers told me that they had a car like it with a bad engine and they intended to pull the engine out of mine and install it in their old one.  I admire people that can do that.  I admire all such forms of self-sufficiency and this is a pretty extreme one.  I would like to think that if I had the knowledge and skills to replace an engine in a car that I would shoot a bit higher than a ’96 Ford Escort but that’s just me.  I’d be building myself a Jaguar or Lexus or something.  Still, the principle is the same:  self-sufficiency is admirable and you can sell anything.