This is my father’s passport picture. He was issued one when he entered the Air Force.
Remember
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we
lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies
grow
In Flanders fields.
— Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 – 1918)
So today is father’s day. Like most daughters, my relationship with my father has gone through peaks and valleys. We’re alike and different in ways that lead to much angst and frustration on both sides.
Strangely enough it was my moving thousands of miles away that seemed to smooth over a lot of things. I’m guessing there is something about that sort of distance that puts many of the frustration and arguments in perspective. Or maybe he was just all kinds of jazzed that I was going to be a lawyer.
He taught me how to ride a bike. He still reminds me to check the oil in my car. Every time I stop by, he checks the tires. I got my musical ability from him. He has two guitars, a mandolin, a violin/fiddle (he likes bluegrass so he calls it a fiddle) and a banjo. Wait I think he has a dulcimer, too. I can’t keep up.
He used to make up these wild bedtime stories when I was wee enough for fathers to tell their daughters bedtime stories. He would put himself and me as the hero and heroine of the stories and use our pets and the animals in the woods as our villians. Yeah we got them every time.
He calls me hopalong or molasses. He has the most disgusting feet in the history of feet. That man needed a pedi about twenty years ago. Now I can’t bear the thought of some beauty parlor nail person enduring the havoc that is my father’s feet. I’m sure she would charge him triple. TRIPLE y’all.
He’s incredibly patient except when dealing with his tools. He’ll cuss out the screw driver and the stuck screw like it slept with his wife. He has a sense of humor. When he was in the hospital, the nurse told him that she was giving him half a pill. He asked if it was the right half or the left half. Yeah they got a kick out of him in the cardiac wing.
So today I say thank you for everything Dad. You’re the bestest.
I got someone else on the 101 in 1001 bandwagon. Welcome to the madness Beezelbubbles.
- Over at the Tumblr page I am doing this 30 days of songs meme. The list is under the Friday Five list if you want to play at home. I am thoroughly enjoying it. It’s been a while since I’ve written something non legal. I write on here but it’s been a while since I have had to thing about a topic and write about it. I love music so it has been so much fun going through songs. Searching for the right song to pick for each day has been far more fun than I, or you, would think it would be. It’s a downright HOOT!
- I miss my friend. She’s been dead over a month. I don’t cry. I am able to “go on” but occasionally, I forget. When Obama gave his speech regarding BP, I picked up the phone and pressed her number on autodial. I am handling it. I know she wouldn’t want me to spend my days not living my life while she is stuck in the ground. She might slap me at the pearly gates if she finds out I did.
- The local domestic violence shelter needs $6,357 by August 1, 2010 to buy their shelter. The building is owned by the Drew County Public Facilities Board and they have decided to sell the building because the rent is cheaper than the expense of the building. Well that is the official statement. I have no nice words. This domestic violence shelter is here and serves five counties. To just up and decide to sell it at pretty close to the last minute shows a lack of commitment to assist victims of domestic violence. To put it succinctly, “BLARGH”
- I finished Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within
. It brought back that urge to write. It reminded me that when I was younger I liked to write and that I took a creative writing class. Yes, yes indeed. It also reminded me that nothing comes out of the gate all nice. It’s all written in a notebook in a big hurry and then later it gets edited down into something nice and presentable. You have to be able to release the emotions as fast as they can come out of you. That is the most raw and the most real. Those concepts and themes then become the most relatable. So I got another Moleskine
and I’m ready to go. I think I’ll start small.
- Oh yeah it’s HOT! Crazy hot. Heat index in the 100s hot. blargh.
Day 01 – Your favorite song
Day 02 – Your least favorite song
Day 03 – A song that makes you happy
Day 04 – A song that makes you sad
Day 05 – A song that reminds you of someone
Day 06 – A song that reminds of you of somewhere
Day 07 – A song that reminds you of a certain event
Day 08 – A song that you know all the words to
Day 09 – A song that you can dance to
Day 10 – A song that makes you fall asleep
Day 11 – A song from your favorite band
Day 12 – A song from a band you hate
Day 13 – A song that is a guilty pleasure
Day 14 – A song that no one would expect you to love
Day 15 – A song that describes you
Day 16 – A song that you used to love but now hate
Day 17 – A song that you hear often on the radio
Day 18 – A song that you wish you heard on the radio
Day 19 – A song from your favorite album
Day 20 – A song that you listen to when you’re angry
Day 21 – A song that you listen to when you’re happy
Day 22 – A song that you listen to when you’re sad
Day 23 – A song that you want to play at your wedding
Day 24 – A song that you want to play at your funeral
Day 25 – A song that makes you laugh
Day 26 – A song that you can play on an instrument
Day 27 – A song that you wish you could play
Day 28 – A song that makes you feel guilty
Day 29 – A song from your childhood
Day 30 – Your favorite song at this time last year
Fiona Apple released a new song. A NEW SONG!
*sniff*
"Come Have a Ball at Mike’s"
Originally uploaded by the magnificient purple and mystical goat of love
It’s the 11th Annual Testicle Festival in Foreman, Arkansas.
I think that speaks for itself.
After what can only be described as two crazy weeks, I had almost forgotten that I was had a ticket to see Conan O’Brien. I know, I almost forgot about Conan O’Brien. But really it was crazy.
- CLE in Memphis (CLE stands for Continuing Legal Education. It’s a fancy way to say I went back to school for two days)
- Memphis in May was also around that time so i saw the B-52s again. Also, other bands until during the Middle of Hall and Oates (don’t judge me), there was a tornado warning and we all had to leave.
- Fortunately, i did not die but it was scary
- I also found out that day that one of my really good friends was in a coma
- Two days later, she died
- Tons of crying and a funeral
See I told you it was a lot going on and in the midst of all that mourning, I didn’t realize that Conan was on Saturday until my friend Tiffany sent me a message about three days before the event. See, she lives in Muskogee and was going to let me crash at her place after the show. Aren’t friends great?
Someone asked me “what was the appeal of Conan O’Brien” and I had to pause because while I know theoretically there are people who don’t like him, I couldn’t conceive of why. I guess I just assumed they had brain damage. For me, I guess I relate to his willingness to be silly and his intelligence. He is that smart, dorky guy in school who grew up to be one of the “cool kids” and yet he still sees himself as that dorky guy in school. Maybe I relate to that a little too well. (shut up, I am awesome!) ahem… Triumph the Insult Comic dog. Crap. That mutt is funny.
I make no claims to be “objective” in my fandom of that show. It’s on the short list with Veronica Mars and Dexter. Sorry love it. Due to being so busy I didn’t read any of the reviews or hype regarding the show. The only thing I had even heard was at some point, Conan uses the word “douchebag.” So I went into it with about as open of a mind as I possibly could.
They had me at LaBamba. See when Conan said he was taking his show on the road, he meant “his show” so as much of it as he could take without violating NBC intellectual property laws. Hence the “not legally allowed to be funny on TV” being the title.
See, its’ the Band. See its’ LaBamba. The band came out and sang a song before Conan ever took the stage. LaBamba and ran through the aisles. Since I had an aisle seat really close to the stage, I got in on that running action.
Unfortunately, my camera was slow and I got his back but it’s LABAMBA!!! LABAMBA!!!
I was a jumping up and down giggly as a school girl fool. And I had a giggly school girl grin throughout the entire show.
There’s a lot of overlap between the TV show and this show. One of the biggest differences is that Conan does a lot of singing and playing his guitar in this show. Many of you might remember he got a whole bunch of musician friends and Will Ferrell to do Freebird as a final song on his show.
Apparently, each spot has a special guest that has some tie to the location. Our special guest was Hanson. Here they are singing “Never Been to Spain”
and at the end, Conan sang a song and ran through the aisles. I touched his arm. *sniff* *silly schoolgirl gush*
I think it’s always a good thing to meet your heroes for the simple reason to remind yourself that they are just as human as you are.
