| Maybe, just maybe.... |
[Nov. 10th, 2008|10:48 pm] |
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....I'll get back to posting someday. Here's hoping this is a start, after 68 weeks of nothing. |
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| 1:24 AM |
[Jul. 22nd, 2007|01:43 am] |
That's what time the clock in my room read after I finished HP7.
Night, all. |
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| I think it was worth it |
[Jul. 11th, 2007|02:40 am] |
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Just saw the midnight showing of Order of the Phoenix at the Esquire. For the benefit of those who aren't crazy like me but do plan to see the movie, I'll save any review/critique/thoughts until after opening weekend. As it stands, the time is now 2:42 AM according to my computer's clock, and I am due at B&N at the ripe hour of 7AM. I think I need some sleep...FAST! |
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| Five Things I Think I Think |
[Jul. 2nd, 2007|05:29 pm] |
1. I think Edmund Burke was right when he said "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
On my way home from work today I decided to stop by a small Christian bookstore near my apartment. Didn't think I would buy anything (mainly went to take stock of their inventory), ended up buying something, and while I was waiting for a receipt, flipped through a "Christian Yellow Pages" they had near the checkout area. Inside there was a map of Christian bookstores in the St. Louis area. Lots outside the I-270 circle. None inside the St. Louis city limits.
While this doesn't surprise me, it did remind of the tendency we Christians have to run away from trouble rather than confronting it in hopes of seeing it redeemed. When the city gets to be a "rough" place to live, we flee to the suburbs - safe, clean, "nice". And if you know me at all, you know what I think about THAT! :-P (And you also know that I'm not equating Christians with "good men" or St. Louis with "evil").
2. I think I'm officially invited to the brother's wedding. Got the invite in the mail today. If anyone's interested, check out their website. As for me, I get to see a new (to me) state and meet new people. This might even beat working at a bookstore when the final Harry Potter book comes out as Best Thing of Summer '07.
3. I think there's a few people in Philly who could use prayers, good thoughts, and/or any spare cash you've got lying around your electronic (or actual) world. The Simple Way is a group of people trying to understand community, God, faith, and life (as if those things should even be separated in the first place) in northern Philadelphia, and nearly two weeks ago they were among many who lost homes and possessions in a 7-alarm fire that claimed much of the Kensington neighborhood they live in. If you go to their website, you'll find links to news articles, videos, pictures, and a place where you can send money to them as they rebuild their community and restore peace and goodness to their friends and neighbors. Show them some love.
4. I think I'm hungry, so I'm bout to go eat some dinner with 'Tine.
5. I think any who know where I'm stealing this format from deserves 50 cool points. |
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| A funny thing happened on the way to the breakroom |
[Jun. 22nd, 2007|06:13 pm] |
When you go to college 600 miles from home, your freshman year brings with it several new experiences and new personalities (some from other people, some from within yourself). And it's funny how some things stick with you from that year and other things don't. For instance, I remember being sexiled for the first time that year (which certainly doesn't happen when you're kind of an only child). I remember proving the existence of infinitely many prime numbers (several thousand years too late for any sort of royalties, but still an important discovery). I remember staying up late in the Liggett computer lab typing many a paper (and taking breaks to play pool when Internet Explorer wasn't enough of a procrastination tool).
But I distinctly remember having a conversation with a floor-mate (Jeff) one night about personal rights, and I was reminded of that conversation today at the bookstore. I can still hear Jeff saying (to me and the one or two other people who were listening to our discussion), "Your rights end at my nose." Basically, he was arguing that people are free to do whatever they choose as long as it doesn't have a tangible impact on another's life or person or space or or or. Swing your arms as violently and as often as you like, just so long as you don't punch me in the nose.
Here's my question from today - What happens when two people's noses occupy the same space while their rights and actions conflict in that space? Whose rights get to trump the other's?
Background: I've been listening to a lot of Christian radio preaching lately (most of it bad, but that's what you get when you listening to Christian radio preaching - a lot of bad and a little that's less so). Sometimes at work I'll tune in, especially when Dawn's not there. (I like it because it gives Dean - magazine guy and seminary graduate - and me some fodder for discussion and because we like to gripe about bad preachers. But there's no need to subject Dawn to our sadistic pleasures for long stretches) :-)
When I went to lunch a little after 12, I didn't change the station because the guy at 12:30's great and I figured Dean would want to listen to him. Apparently while I was gone, though, one of the booksellers came back and turned off the radio because he felt it violated his religious freedom (I heard about it when Dean started his lunch break just before mine ended).
Again, my question is this - What happens when two people's noses (or in this case, ears) occupy the same space and have conflicting ways of "exerting their rights"? One person wants to listen to a program on the radio, another is against said program being played. Assuming that the best answer is that everyone participates to construct a solution to satisfy everyone, and that the best answer is not an option (because that would destroy the point of the thought experiment I'm conducting), how do we solve this problem?
OK, 'nuff talk from me. Anyone want to chime in? |
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| ?(flip)Que pasa en mi casa? |
[May. 6th, 2007|09:07 pm] |
Life has been moving along steadily as of late. Nothing incredibly crazy that I can remember, but lots of important things seem to be happening with a large amount of consistency. Here come the highlights:
1. The brother is engaged. This one seems to have been coming for a little while, and yet it seems so whirlwind-like at the same time. It amazes me that, when the wedding comes, he and Kira will have only known each other for almost a year; at the same time, given my limited interaction with the two of them together, that doesn't throw up the same sorts of red flags that it might for other couples. People say you know when it's right. Chalk one more example up for that argument, I guess.
2. Church choir's going well. The last three weeks have been quite the roller coaster. The first rehearsal in that span was incredible - probably the best rehearsal we've had together. We moved through lots of music, and they accomplished all my goals for the rehearsal. The next week, unfortunately, seemed to be as good as the previous week's was bad; half the choir was gone for various reasons (most of them on a service trip with Habitat), and it felt like the only thing we accomplished was making everyone in the room frustrated. This past week's rehearsal was back to good again - not quite as high as three weeks ago, but lots of good singing and 11 minutes, 9 seconds of figuring out a way to understand rhythm perfectly (I think it'll take about 45 minutes total to get it down). Things are moving along nicely. Here's hoping they stay that way. :-)
3. New "jobs". For the past several months, other opportunities at church have been pitched my way. Two of those have become official recently. Starting this fall, I'll be one of two coordinators for the tutoring program we've done for several years. Basically, the job seems to involve making sure we have kids to tutor and people to do the tutoring, with a little paperwork on the side. I got to check out a session a couple of weeks ago, and I'm pretty excited about working with the program. We've got a good track record of grade improvement; the stats for this past year aren't compiled, but for the 2005-06 year I think the program averaged a 20-30% increase in grades (however that was calculated).
The second opportunity is of a similar vein, but I'm even more excited about it! We're starting an after-school fine arts academy, and I'm coordinating those efforts as well. The eventual goal is to offer training in all sorts of art endeavors: music, drama, dance, visual arts. This year, since we're just starting out, we'll be focusing on music. The program will be open to any interested student, but we're trying to target kids from places like North City and County. By the way, if anyone knows of organizations that might be looking to give money to such a worthy cause.... :-P
Consider yourselves updated. much love. |
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| Requests from an angry Christian |
[Apr. 9th, 2007|10:13 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  angry | ] |
To Whom It May (or may not) Concern:
If you're going to teach the Bible to anyone, especially a large group of people, I have a few requests. I don't think they're too much to ask.
1) Think about what you're saying. I feel like that should go without saying, but I also feel it should be said anyway. Prepare what you'll say, then think about what it means. Is that really what you're hoping to get across? Is there some way to say it that will make it more clear/palatable/inflammatory/inspiring?
2) Get your facts straight. Especially when it has to do with Ancient Middle Eastern history if I'm in the room. I'm by no means an expert on Hellenistic culture, the Roman Republic, or First-Century Judaism, but - by golly - what you're saying needs to have been researched more deeply than "I heard somebody say this once from a pulpit."
3) Realize the importance of what you're doing and the impact it can have on the people present. We Christians, especially when you get us in large quantities, have a nasty habit of soaking up what you say without questioning it. That means that what you say will probably get repeated if you say it with any measure of effectiveness, albeit after having been twisted into what we thought we heard. Evidence - The tradition of "the Jews" as "Christ-killers". Also, you're teaching the Bible, for crying out loud!!! It's a book that many people in the world take so seriously they would kill and/or die for it. Many who might not do either of those still regard it very highly; some might even call it an authority. Your task is thus very important and very powerful. DON'T SCREW IT UP!!!!
Now, is that so hard? |
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| I've never seen London and I've never seen France, ... |
[Apr. 7th, 2007|12:48 pm] |
...but I just saw Chip without any underpants. :-P
Apparently he didn't take a towel into the bathroom while he was showering, since I was already out of the apartment when he went in. Course, I came back before he got out. Whoops!
hehehe. |
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| An eventful end to the week |
[Apr. 1st, 2007|08:52 pm] |
The last half of this week has been filled with moments that deserve to be blogged about. Here goes.
Wednesday morning, got to work and we were all a bit loopy. Between being short-handed most of the week due to the book signing on Friday (a quick blurb on that to come later) and anticipating said signing and the stress that mounts with both of those things, we were in need of some goofiness. Jennifer (Community Relations Manager) decided she was going to get some donuts for us that morning, and that was apparently enough to send us all into Nutso-Fun Land. People were back and forth on the intercom, first reading about the many uses of twinkie ingredients (apparently there's a connection between twinkies and lube. Go figure!), then talking about donuts. Carole Wantz (Head cashier) won the award for Best Intercom Performance by a Head Cashier with her perfectly delivered line, "Where are the donuts?!" We were still talking about it at the end of the day Friday!
Wednesday night, went to church for the regular schedule. I got to lead the bible study after dinner. We've been doing a series on the words of Jesus from the cross; my line was "I'm thirsty." I thought it went relatively well, though I need to work on taking contributions from the "audience" and weaving them into the points I want to make (it's either that or only present things in monologue-style, which isn't usually good for engaging the audience and having them actually care about what you're saying to the point that anything sticks). I figure not many who read this are interested in the actual points I made, but if you're curious let me know; I'm always happy to talk bible. :-)
After the study, we had choir rehearsal. I got in there late due to an extra-long prayer session, but they had already started the piece for today (which isn't one I was uber-excited about, so I was kinda glad they had finished it already). Only one thing of note happened the rest of the time - After running through one of the Holy Week pieces, one of the choir members noted that the final consonants of words were being under-emphasized. "Life" sounded like "Lie", etc. Well, there's a line in that piece that says something like "Jesus brings us hope." Running with the theme, someone said "Jesus brings us 'hope', not 'ho'." To which my reply was, "Yeah, and I'm still a little bitter about that." And if that weren't funny enough, the two people who laughed first, loudest, and longest were my pastor and his wife. I love that those two laugh at jokes like that instead of getting offended. :-P
Thursday at B&N was pretty standard, except for the continuation of the donut references. Probably about 150 of them total. After, WU choir rehearsal in which we ran most of Carmina Burana with Dan Presgrave conducting (he'll actually be conducting the performance). Interesting to work under him again; I remember being frustrated with his technique in orchestra/band rehearsals before, but he definitely has an idea of what he wants and isn't so bad at showing it.
Best part of Thursday - hanging out with Leslie from B&N. Quite the awesome time walking her dog and chatting about schtuff. Highlights - walking under a bridge and seeing her dog go nuts from the commotion as cars passed overhead; a 5-minute stretch where our conversation touched on God, local history, personal insecurities/frustrations, and calculus; looking at the pictures in a dessert cookbook, drooling over EVERYTHING. Yeah, good times.
Friday - Joel Osteen came to B&N. Let the record show, I'm not a fan. Too much self-help, not enough gospel. Too much prosperity-talk, not enough mention of Jesus's home address (non-existent in a literal sense, everywhere in a metaphorical one). Seeing a pastor being guarded (I use the term loosely; it's not like they were actually bodyguards, just his entourage that seems out of place for a pastor) by several people, talking covertly on a cell phone. Pastors should not be insulated from people, in my opinion. I'll concede that some personal space can be necessary, but "The Cult of the Pastor" is strong with this one. Grr. All in all, though, it was good for the store to get so many people inside, and it wasn't too difficult. I just expect more from pastors, I guess.
After all that (and more donut jokes), several of us went to Houlihan's after work for some happy hour fun times. I've been drinking Schlafly a lot recently; had their Pale Ale Friday afternoon. Hanging out with folks from B&N is turning out to be a blast almost every time; this one was helped along by a certain 2-year-old son of one of the Assistant Managers. Any time a kid enjoys something so much he keeps asking you to "Do it again," you know things are going well (though maybe only if you've read Orthodoxy by Chesterton, which almost everyone should do before they die). Gotta love those rare moments when you get to spend time with someone on your own maturity level!
After a few beers at the restaurant, I decided on my way home that I was going to try to keep this buzzing feeling the whole night. I did. A good decision. And that's all I have to say about that. :-)
Saturday - Nora's recital (I think I could listen to Nora sing for hours on end, which says a lot considering my attention span with most vocal music!), Amateurs concert (some good moments, a funny video, Chip has crabs), hanging out at Nora's. Not too many stories that I remember, but good times nonetheless.
Today - Church, laundry, Seder. Funny that I live for 3+ years with Jews who have family in St. Louis and get several invitations to seders, but my first one happens at a Baptist church. All in all, I think it was pretty well done (especially for a first effort and no good Hebrew speakers in the room). There's always a slight problem when Christians attempt to latch onto their Jewish heritage, but I think it's an area that's sorely under-examined and necessary for really "getting" what Christianity's about. Looking forward to next year's, fo shizz.
Now, off to bed, perhaps with some Red Dwarf to sleep by. "I'm going to get you, little pretty." "That's mine, this is mine, that one's mine too, it's all mine." The cat on that show is hilarious! |
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| It ain't late December... |
[Mar. 17th, 2007|01:09 am] |
...but Oh what a night!
Hit up the symphony tonight. Holy cow, what a performance! Mahler's Adagio from Symphony # 10 (the only movement from this symphony that he left when he died; it's not completed, but it's mostly together), Ravel's Sheherazade, and Adams's Harmonielehre. The Ravel was pretty good, but it was by far the low point of the show. Couldn't really hear the soloist over the orchestra, not as exciting or moving as the other two pieces. But that's like saying my basketball skills are sub-Scottie Pippen (sure, I suck at basketball, but Scottie Pippen is one of the best of all time. No matter how good I am, I'll never be a great basketball player!). Great pieces, the Adams and Mahler. HEAR THEM BEFORE YOU DIE!!!
after, went to Pin-Up Bowl for a bit, then to Cicero's. It wasn't the B&N love-fest I hoped for, but it was a lot of fun. Craziness ensued for part of the night, decent conversation for other parts, and chillin' wit' my work-homies. And it was fun to chug my beer when it was time to leave.
Tomorrow, it's laundry day (but probably no Jason Mraz accompaniment - sorry to any Whispers who might read this...all one of you who I'm friends with), catch up on BSF day (typical weekend task), and probably read a good bit day. No plans at this point for St. Patty's Day, but I'm ok with that. Maybe I'll buy some Bailey's and Guinness and make my own Irish Carbombs. Or maybe I'll do my usual one beer at home (since it's a day that ends in "-y".
Much love. |
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| Good times on this final pre-St. Patty's weekend |
[Mar. 11th, 2007|06:27 pm] |
Lots of stuff going on this weekend, which is funny since I didn't think it would be particlarly eventful.
Friday - After work, I came home and chilled, put away the laundry that had been hanging out in the living room for almost a week. Got a call from Leslie (B&N co-worker - for those of you scoring at home, or even if you're by yourself. PS - I love Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick.), went to play dodgeball with her and Lucas. Dodgeball is quite possibly one of the coolest sports ever, especially if your team wins a lot. Afterwards, went to Nick's Pub for some eatin' and Guinness-in'. Then the real fun started - hanging out in Overland with Anna's (the other receiver at B&N) crew and some more work folks. Sang some Nickel Creek karaoke (apparently they're coming to Columbus, GA - my old stomping grounds. Who knew there was a market in Columbus for great music?!). Had loads of fun. Props to Lucas for his awesome "Constant Sorrow" dance!
Saturday - American Baptist Churches from MO and IL annual meeting held at my church. I wasn't there for the kickoff, but I did get to see some of the goings-on. Hung out with some "young people", almost knocked over a table with some pastries on it (I can't bring myself to be a grown-up when there's a chance to wrestle with some kids. It's just not any fun!). Then, at the closing worship service, I got to see my mostly white-bread pastor preach to a room mostly full of black congregants. He was a little nervous about the gig (mostly because he was preaching to other preachers and not just regular congregants), but he did a pretty good job. To be honest, I was wondering how he'd pull off a style that seemed to be so different from his normal method of delivery. Most of the time, he preaches like he's in a seminary (which is mostly the land of the suburbanites, I think) more so than in a black church. It was great to see him fire up the crowd. I gotta say it - I really like my pastor (and considering the story behind my LJ name, that's saying something).
After that, nothing too exciting. Just sleep and daylight savings. But I was glad for the sleep.
*EDIT - Apparently, by "nothing too exciting" I must have meant "I'm going to unintentionally forget the last 5 waking hours of my Saturday." So here's that stuff, too.
After the meeting at church, several of us went over to Brent (our organist) and Carrie's (his girlfriend and an able flautist who plays when we ask) house. They're rehabbing a house in South City, and what they've done pretty much makes me want to become financially stable to the point where I can own a home some day. At the present rate, I'll probably be 85 before that happens, but maybe something will happen before then to move me toward that a bit faster (something like making a 5-digit income - before the decimal places). Anyway, they wanted to show off some of what they've been doing, and it was impressive. I think my favorite parts were the teal room with mustardy-colored furniture (never would have thought those two colors would work well together, but boy do they!) and Brent's studio (mostly just because of the music toys...:-)).
After about four hours of fun, conversation, and mints, I went home. On the way, I returned ole Staussy's call (she called as I was leaving the open house). Always fun to talk to her, even if she gives me crap for driving while cell-ing. Anyone who's on her way to a party where an accordion and a recording of "Rock Me Amadeus" get played knows how to kick it awesome-style.
Then I got home and went to sleep. Nothing too exciting at home.
*END EDIT
Sunday - Choir sounded pretty good this morning. The piece was pretty easy, but they pulled off an a cappella performance, which I don't think I've done since I've been there. I hope they can keep it up. I hope I can get them to keep it up. Also, four guys made public their decision to get baptized this Easter. That led to a strange feeling in me - excitement about people getting baptized. Most of you would be bored with my thoughts on the practice of baptism in the church, so I'll keep it short by just saying I've generally responded to an extreme emphasis placed on the act of baptizing people by going to the other extreme in which I don't really care if people get baptized. I was surprised when I actually felt some positive emotion concerning their decision.
Also, when I woke up this morning, I saw I had missed a phone call from a friend of mine from AL who's working at a church in Huntsville this year(Check out his church bio here.). We've kept in pretty good contact the last couple of months, and now he's telling me he might be making a trip up to STL soon. Awesome? I think SO!!! Haven't talked to him yet about it, but I'm pretty jazzed about the possibility.
Heard a performance of Brahms's Requiem today. For those not in the know, this piece was one of the first (if not the first) requiems to use a vernacular rather than a Latin text. Instead of the standard lyrics, Brahms used passages from Luther's translation of the Bible to emphasize comfort in death and life (he wrote it after the deaths of his musical friend Robert Schumann and his mother). The performance was at Central Presbyterian with their choir. They did it in English, which I'm a bit ambivalent about. I think singing foreign works in English makes the piece more approachable but less powerful. Translations ALWAYS leave something to be desired, both in meaning and in relation to the music, but it makes it easier for the audience to follow. I think my short thought is that singing it in English made it more likely to be decent, but singing it in German would have opened up a possibility for it to be good or even great. I guess it's all in what you think you can shoot for. (By the by, the performance was decent. Sopranos were a bit screechy when the notes were high, the soprano soloist scooped into her notes more often than not, and it was by no means a professional-quality performance. But for a "regular" church choir, a very respectable job.) Props to Phil Rowland, who probably 6 months ago had a horrible biking accident and was directing the choir today. He's always been good at what he does there.
Oh, and then I went to Trader Joe's and Schnucks. And that's been my weekend. |
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| babies everywhere!!!! |
[Mar. 7th, 2007|10:03 pm] |
well, really just one baby.
The receiving manager (the link immediately higher than me on the corporate food chain) at B&N went into labor today. When I left (around 2:30), the prediction was that the new Wattler would be born around 5 PM today. Don't know if that happened, but I figured Dawn's baby deserved a post!
Here's to the continuation of the human species and to some form of hope that having a family isn't the whacked-out idea I sometimes fear it to be! |
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| Because tonight deserves a post |
[Feb. 20th, 2007|09:48 pm] |
Just getting back from a "Current Events" book group held at B&N. It was the first meeting of what Braden (assistant manager at the store) probably hopes will be a long line of good discussions. The problem is that this one really wasn't.
Maybe that goes with the territory that these books covered. Sam Harris's "Letter to a Christian Nation" and "The End of Faith" and Richard Dawkins's "The God Delusion" aren't books that people have polite, open-minded opinions about for the most part. Either you think Harris and Dawkins are badly-needed "secular prophets" or are in great need of spiritual profit (OK, not my best linguistic spin, but will you let it slide this once?). Braden's probably the only person on Earth who thinks they're a disservice to a noble or proper cause.
The "discussion" tonight, if you can call 10-12 people not listening to one another and trying their best to make sure their points alone were heard a discussion, was hardly based on the books we were supposed to have read. In all fairness, I only read one of the books; though also in fairness, I don't think I spoke very much. There was no "sticking to the text," as Dr. Brueggemann might say. There were, for all practical purposes, no texts to be evaluated. Most of the night centered on criticizing "religious faiths" while ignoring the question Braden posed early on about "secular dogmatic philosophies" possibly being the same wolf in a different costume.
So, yeah, I'm not excited about how things went tonight (though neither am I surprised). For the supposed weight we claim to place on open-mindedness, I think there's not really much of it practiced. Not that closed-mindedness is necessarily a bad thing, but methinks hypocrisy and self-delusion are. I'm gonna hit up the next one (which will be about War - can't wait to deal with that issue), but I'll probably try to go in with more of an agenda; seems to be the method of choice.
On the plus side, I got to hang out with Dean and Braden a bit more, and I got to know something about Daniel (other than that he's old and sometimes leaves his teeth around). And I saw this really gorgeous redhead in the magazine section just after we ended the discussion, though she had left before I had a chance to chicken out of saying anything to her. So overall I guess the night wasn't a total loss. :-) |
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| I read this passage early in the week |
[Feb. 17th, 2007|04:58 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  contemplative | ] |
"I began to cry and left before the benediction, and I raced home and felt the little cat running along at my heels, and I walked down the dock past dozens of potted flowers, under a sky as blue as one of God's own dreams, and I opened the door to my houseboat, and I stood there a minute, and then I hung my head and said, 'Fuck it: I quit.' I took a long deep breath and said out loud, 'All right. You can come in.'
"So this was my beautiful moment of conversion." |
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| I'm fickle :-) |
[Feb. 17th, 2007|10:33 am] |
In response to my last post, I do have to say that it's difficult to hate snow when you look outside your window and see everything covered in a beautiful sheet of white powder.
So, yeah, snow's OK again (though maybe because I've been inside all morning so far). |
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| the alabama boy is rethinking his opinion of snow, methinks |
[Feb. 13th, 2007|05:13 pm] |
It's a pretty standard fact that those who live in warmer climates tend to be fascinated with snow. "New" is the new black, and the old black, and probably pre-dates black, but for us Southerners snow is always new.
Until we move to St. Louis and get it a lot.
Now, keep in mind I'm only rethinking my opinion of snow; I'm not changing it. I think I still like it. It's just that after almost missing Christmas because of it two years ago and seeing it a lot this winter, it's not so "new", and thus not so pleasing.
So after nearly giving myself frostbite trying to scrape the ice and snow off my car after work today, I decided to enjoy the warmth of my apartment (well, it will be warm as soon as the heat cranks up a bit) - even though that means I'm not at the last 50 minutes of concert choir rehearsal. :-\
Time for a bit of coffee, methinks. Warm, tasty liquids always make the insides feel better. Decaf, though. Gotta make sure I can sleep tonight. |
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| A tribute |
[Feb. 10th, 2007|06:28 pm] |
And while I'm in a posting mood, I gotta offer a tribute to Clifford Farrar, who died yesterday (I think). Mr. Farrar was a member of my church back in Phenix City, so I knew him pretty well from there. But he was a fantastic presence at the Idle Hour Tennis Center for years, a place that is now called the Cliff Farrar Tennis Center.
I don't remember picking up a tennis racket before I was 6 years old. I went with the family who baby-sat me after school in Kindergarten and the summer after to the Summer Tennis Clinic Mr. Farrar ran. I ended up getting my first paying job there, probably when I was 14 (I think you had to be 14 to get a work permit), after being used as a volunteer teacher for a year or two before then.
I've got lots of memories of Mr. Farrar. The most important part of your body when playing tennis? "Eyeballs!" (Then he'd point to his eyes with two fingers.) When you hit a ball, how does the racket move? "From low...to high!" (With accompanying racket motion) And when some friends of mine at the courts gave me the euphemism "Rod Jammit!" when I Was frustrated, Mr. Farrar made certain he knew what I had said and what he knew I meant and that he wasn't OK with that, though he didn't push it.
He was a great man who cared about tennis and kids, letting us play for free for years and giving several of us "latch-keys" a place to hang out and something to do until 9PM.
Sometime not too long from now, I think I'm going to have to find a brown wooden wall with a green sidewalk in front and practice my "touch". Just need to make sure there's no office on the other side. Oh, and maybe I'll smoke a cigar, too. |
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| That hit the proverbial spot |
[Feb. 10th, 2007|06:19 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  relieved | ] |
For some reason, I've been a bit down the last couple of days. Not really sure why, just had an overall "down" attitude about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (well, life and the pursuit of happiness anyway; liberty's not really something I put too much credence in most of the time). Went to Blockbuster, using a Christmas present to rent $5 worth of movies (and my debit card for the other $2.98, but that's just a technicality, and another excuse for parenthetical commentary). Got "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Proof", the first on the recommendations from Dean and Anna that I'm becoming fond of and the second on my "I'm a math nerd" whim.
Just finished watching LMS. It so hit the spot. Starts off very quiet and dysfunctional, ends with the whole family dancing on a beauty contest stage to Rick James's "Superfreak". The laughter seemed to increase as the movie went on. Again, just a great movie-watching experience, and one that I think I kinda needed. |
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| I'm a techno-Lemming! AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!! |
[Feb. 3rd, 2007|03:18 pm] |
Joined MySpace. Guess I had nothing better to do at 2AM last night. See my cliff-tumbling acrobatics here.
But no worries, LJ purists; I'll still be blogging here. |
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toymonkeys's journal
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