Gonna Steal Time from the Faulty Plan...Phish

After years out of the limelight and out of the studio Phish comes back with a set of songs that speak to a generation that is uncomfortable in our own skin as 30 somethings the same way they did when we were 20 somethings showing way too much of our skin...good stuff.  If you have the means to give the new CD "Joy" a listen...do it.  Here are the lyrics of one of the best songs on the disk, "Stealing time from the Faulty Plan."

Got a blank space where my mind should be

Got a Clif Bar and some cold green tea

Got clouds that seem to follow me

Got strange demands piled up on me

Got memories

Memories of being free

Gonna steal time from the faulty plan

Gonna act as though I’m still a man

Gonna give you one last chance to see

Gonna shrug demands off of me

Gonna dream

Dream of being free

Christmas...New Year's... and now for something completely different.

Ahh...Christmas was wonderful this year.  As always it went way too fast.  It always feels like a wedding.  SO much prep work and planning and spending and then finally it's here and POOF...gone.  New Years is always just an afterthought, like a badly planned honeymoon after a stellar wedding.  But it still makes me a little sad to know that yet another one has come and gone.  I already start missing it once the last of the giftwrap is obliterated.

But now...with all the "umpff" that comes with anything new and shiny here we are in a new decade.  The beginning of a new year.  New energy, new opportunity, new sweaters and if you were good, maybe a new toothbrush from your stocking.  I can't believe I never caught on to that one.  It should have been a dead giveaway during those suspicious years when I wasn't too sure about Santa.  Elves are in the toy business, not the oral hygiene business.  Well, except for the dentist elf that hung around with Rudolf and the misfit toys.  As much of a Christmas movie geek as I am I can't believe I can't rattle off the name...

I'd like to think though that the fresh feeling of the new year is more than just holiday trappings or a temporary high.  I hope that unlike the decorated tree and the perpetually disapproving deer that is still ablaze on my front lawn*  that 2010 and all the "new" it brings with it will stick beyond a season. I am optimistic that the coming year will be a start of something good.  I'm hopeful that unlike the years in the late 80's, 2010 will be a year remembered on its own, and for good reasons.  The start of a new decade seems like a great time to shake off the old habits, time to try a new view.  Time to throw out the proverbial underwear of the past decade and tear open a brand new pack.  Fitting to note that new underwear, apparently now only sold in bulk packs of 20 pairs, is the ONE thing that is not 70% off at the department stores right now...even they get it.  We want fresh. 

*My light-up deer whose head turns from side to side...I explain later that I am willing to help people catch up.

I for one have some things I am kicking off for this new year.  I wouldn't necessarily call them resolutions...but here they are.  Enjoy.


1. I will no longer let the few naysayers in my life control the volume of my voice or the level of my enthusiasm.



2. I will utilize my resources and not feel a damn bit guilty for it.

3. I will not dummy myself down for the benefit of those around me.  I will gladly catch up those who fall behind, that's different. 


4. I will drink more water, more wine and less of anything that has more than four ingredients.

5. I will respect the people around me and remind myself daily that even though some are challenging...God didn't really create them on an "off"day.  God has no "off" days.


6. I will get back down to the weight I was when I married my wife.  I'm not sure she will let me wear my old clothes once they fit again, but that is really not the point.  I guess.   Now that I am closer to 40 than 30 it is decreasingly pleasant to look 10 years older than I am.  In the words of the Mike Meyers SNL skit "Middle Aged Man"..."I'm working on it!"


7. I will start spending time alone.  With myself, with my thoughts, with God.  It isn't that God doesn't speak to us anymore, it's that we have forgotten how to listen.


8.  I will be a more focused and more intentional father.  Spontaneous drum sessions are fantastic, but so is teaching my 6 year old to catch a pop fly.


9.  I will be a better friend to those I am fortunate enough to have around me.  This will take some sacrifice I know...going golfing instead of cleaning the garage or sharing a couple of beers or a concert with someone instead of reorganizing the attic...it will be a challenge, but I think I can do it.


10.  I will write about my life.  I will sit down and write about the crazy things that happen in my life and the crazy thoughts that go through my head.  And if I am really lucky someday I will look at this and laugh.

Let's make this a great new decade!

Happy New Year!!!

Hip hip horray it's Christmas Vacation...

For the past several years my wife and I have hosted her family for a big, extended and usually exhausting good old fashioned family Christmas.  Air mattresses are inflated, beds are given up, and usually at some point feelings are hurt.  It is just part of the fun.  

I grew up in the same town that both sides of my family had occupied for at least 4 generations, so this was all a very new and frightening experience for me.  As much as the Griswold family is part of my Christmas tradition, the past few years have resembled the Christmas Vacation movie just a bit too closely, minus the SWAT team and kidnapping. 

We knew this year going in that this was sure to be an interesting one.  21 Days before Christmas Granny-in law fell and broke her hip.  2 days before the event Dad-inlaw has surgery on his wrist and shoulder.  Brother in-law and family leave Tennessee only to run headlong into an ice storm on the way to Ohio...my thoughts were that "hey, for these guys it can only get better from here on out."

As it would turn out, it got a whole lot better for us all.  This is the 4th Christmas we have hosted my entire in-law side for Christmas.  This is the 4th time we have had 10 extra people and a dog at our home for several nights.  This is the first time that I can actually say on record that everyone had a good time without fearing coal in my sock for telling a lie so close to Christmas.


It could be that I finally have the hang of hosting a big old-fashioned family Christmas.  It could be that I finally have learned to embrace that sacrifices it takes to turn your home into a full service all inclusive Christmas themed resort.  I actually enjoyed myself.  I loved it to be honest.  I even got the chance to try my hand at cooking the roast beast, turkey to be more specific.  And it was actually delicious.  My fear of the dried out shell of a bird that Clark cut into was replaced by the joy of receiving several compliments from the group, even though they are quick to remind me that they are "ham people."

The children actually played great together, there were no broken bones or stitches, just a few broken toys and some mysterious shards of glass.  Not bad considering there were 7 kids running through the house for 3 days.

 

Meals were all edible and most were even memorable.  New recipes attempted were all a hit.  Absent were the usual arguments about how much nutmeg is necessary here or who's recipe this really is or who spent more on their respective contribution to the feast.  It was all laid out before us like a well oiled catering service and was just as scrumptious.  The leftovers will surely carry us well into the coming week, one of the spoils of hosting. 

All in all it was a great weekend.  The house has now been all but put back together, the beds stripped and towels washed, and it actually seems a bit too quiet around here to be honest.  

Maybe next year we'll go for 4 nights...or maybe invite more of the extended family...we were sort of missing the "Cousin Eddie" aspect this year...

Then again, there is something to be said for tradition, and sanity.