Sometimes, We Just Need To Giggle

So Sydney and I have decided to go to Florida this coming September. We will be taking our 4 year old son and doing the whole Disney thing plus taking in a couple of beaches to round out our trip. Again my mind goes go back to when I was eight years old and my parents took me to Florida for the first time. The year was 1978. Disney World was just six years old. Mom and Dad took me out of school for two weeks and I remember I had to take some of my school work with me. My teacher assigned what work I would be missing while on vacation. I remember that I did only a couple of days work of schooling and my parents said enough of this. We are on vacation and so are you. If your teacher doesn't like it I guess she will have to just get over it. Or something to that effect.
Well, most of the trip is kind of foggy, but there are many things that do stand out. Of course I remember many things about Disney World. This was before Epcot, MGM, and of course Animal Kingdom. I remember The Swiss Family Robinson Tree The Haunted Mansion, Tom Sawyers Island, and Space Mountain. I was to scared to ride Space Mountain. My love affair with roller coasters wouldn't begin for a couple of years yet.

There are also little things I remember. I remember going to a luau at some Polynesian resort. Since then I have always been fond of the Polynesian thing. The TIKI masques, Hawaiian shirts, shell rings and coral necklaces. I also remember going to a shell factory. I remember going to Sea World but the only thing about it is this girl that dove to the bottom of a lagoon and brought up an oyster and open it up and there was a pearl inside. Later my dad and I got it set in a ring for my mom.
I also remember the beach. It was cold that day and I have seen pictures of me on the beach in blue jeans and a little red windbraker. Oh the seventies were good to me.
I wasn't until 1987 that I returned to Florida over Spring Break. I went with my church youth group. I had a blast, but it just wasn't the same. The magic wasn't there. We even went to Disney, but I had more fun looking for girls than the rodent with the ears. I went back the next year as well.
I haven't been back since. I hope this time I can return to some of the magic. I need some of that old childhood magic back in my life.
There seems to be a concurrent theme to this blog. Maybe I should have titled it Longing For My Lost Childhood. But that isn't quite right either. I don't think my childhood is lost at all. Maybe just misplaced. It is inside of me. Begging to be let out and to revel in the things that all little boys enjoy. My own son has begun to bring that out. It's funny because as of late we have developed this unspoken communication of sorts where we just look at each other at the same time and begin to giggle. We giggle like two little boys who are up past bedtime and are suppose to be asleep. I am still the parent. I still lay down the law. But sometimes I just have to giggle. Sometimes, I just NEED to giggle.
I can't wait for September.

Kites Are Skittish Things

While at home today with my son, he put in a DVD to watch. He chose to watch Mary Poppins. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I love Mary Poppins. There are so many magical things about it and many lessons to be learned. Like finding the good things in a bad situation. Like taking a spoon full of sugar with our medicine, or finding enjoyment in each task we undertake. But the thing that stood out to me on today's viewing, was when Jane and Michael Banks return home without their nanny with them. They had been chasing their kite that they had made themselves. When escorted home by a local constable, their father is quick to admonish his children without listening to the reason they are late. The constable tries to communicate with the children's father and suggests that he construct a new kite with his children.
I got a mental image of me sitting down with my son and building kites of our own. My own father was much too busy to ever fly a kite with me let alone build one.
I do remember however having several kites during my childhood. All store bought kites, still I loved to fly them. I do remember one occasion that wasn't so nice however. I had one of those bat kites that are all black and have the bloodshot eye decals that you place on the kite yourself and it had a single rod that went across the back of the kite. It resembled a child's version of a stealth fighter. Well, I was up at the local schoolyard flying my kite when this old guy came by in a motorized wheelchair. We talked for a bit about flying kites and he encouraged me to let some more line out. I was always afraid of loosing my kites or having the string break, but he insisted my kite would be just fine. I had gotten one of those kite spools that you can just push a trigger to let line our and it had a crank to bring the line back in. And I think it had like 750 feet of line on it or something like that. So, I let the line out. And out, and out and out. My black bat kite was nearly a speck high in the sky. And while the thrill of having my kite so far up in the sky, somehow I knew that I would never bring it back in. Then the man left. Just wheeled. I then realized it was a mean, horrible trick. As I started to crank back in the line, my kite seemed like it refused to come back down. It had experienced a new freedom and would not be an Earthbound creature ever again. I strained against the tension on my line. Little by little I would crank the line back into my spool. After a few minutes or so it happened. SNAP! My line broke and the kite disappeared forever. Almost as if flying away by a will of it's own. I started yelling and screaming at the man who was just now about to turn the corner and head down the sidewalk to go play more pranks on unwilling children. And as I stood there and cried about my lost bat kite, I think he was snickering to himself as he wheeled away. Wretched man.
Those days are gone, but memories are a wonderful thing. They allow us to revisit anywhere in our lives. I want to give my son some great memories. And I believe one of them will be this spring, when we build a kite together and go fly it together. But, if I only let him take it say 50 feet or so in the air, I wonder if he will understand. Kites are skittish things.
Let's go fly a kite.

Mae/The Everglow - A Review

Seldom does a record come along that re-ignights my passion for modern music. Just when I think I am getting burned out on the post modern, punk rock, emo, music scene, Mae releases the quintesential record. The Everglow. Not necessary Emo, but not Pop or Rock either, Mae falls somewhere in between the sub genres and manipulates their own sound. Their name actually stands for Multi-sensory Aesthetic Experience.
The Everglow is a journey. A journey of faith. And while the members of Mae are decidedly Christians, their music transcends the realm of Contemporary Christian Music and has landed them a following in the indie and club scenes. Lighter that The Julianna Theory, more substance than Sanctus Real.
This is one occasion that I have regretted buying music from the iTunes Music Store, because from what I understand the liner notes are just as beautiful as the music is. Having a storybook quality to them, they are reminiscent of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. Done in stunning watercolors, they lend a finishing touch to the whole experience of The Everglow.
But let's move on the music. The record opens with a strange intro with a female voice telling us to sit back, and relax. She explains to us to open up the booklet that accompanies the compact disk, and even gives us a little clue as when it's time to turn the page.
"We're So Far Away" is a passionate ballad that starts the project off perfectly. "Someone Else's Arms" follows, picking up the tempo and reintroducing the theme of the project. "Painless," "The Ocean," and "Breakdown" are the standouts of the next few tracks, until an appropriate climax is reached with the album's title track. Here, the album's lyrics are never more heartfelt, stating, "There's a neon light inside that shines/ and tearing down the walls in the way/ I think that we've got what it takes/ to get this heart start beating again/ So take it all the way." "The Sun and the Moon" is a splendid and chilling resolution to the story.
No matter what this music is doing, or where the lyrics are taking one's mind, the wonder of The Everglow remains that childlike magic that the songs inspire inside one's heart. . I don't know where this band came from, but I don't ever want to be without this amazing happy feeling ever again. If there were more modern rock that could evoke feelings like this, the world would be a much more reasonable place, and filled with much more love.
I know that this record came out almost one year ago but it is definitely still worth purchasing.

King's Island Nostalgia Waxes Strong

With the impeding sale of Paramount's Kings Island this year, my mind goes back to a time when Paramount's Kings Island was just Kings Island. It also brings a question to mind. Has a large Corporation like VIACOM, which owns Paramount Pictures and CBS really been a benefit to one of my favorite places on the planet? The answer is yes AND no. First the yes reasons. By tapping in to a large resource of finances, the park was able to put in place some amazing attractions. The roller coasters, for the most part, where all named and themed after blockbuster movies. For instance, Top Gun, Face Off, The Outer Limits-Flight of Fear (even though Paramount lost the rights to The Outer Limits, then it became just Flight of Fear). Plus you have all the characters from Nickelodeon that help with the kids area. And for the 2006 season, Hanna-Barberra land is becoming Nick Universe. These attractions where themed to the various movies they were named after. Flight of Fear took you into a large aircraft hanger, then inside a large UFO before boarding the coaster, which was totally enclosed in the dark. Top Gun was themed to an aircraft carrier out on the ocean. However, this theming, in time, largely vanished, with Flight of Fear being the only theming intact.
Paramount also seemed to make several aspects of the park disappear. I can't place my finger on it, but back in the day it seemed to be a much more wholesome place. Without the presence of the large corporate stronghold. And, it seemed to be a much more imaginative park. I can't really put my finger on it. But there was definitely something missing. I have tried to figure it out but just can't seem too. Is it my own lost youth that I am pining for? Is it the strong memories of a child that seem less significant now that I am an adult? Or is there something that has been missing at Kings Island?
Maybe the sale will bring about a return to the glory days of Kings Island. The days when The Racer's white paint glimmered in the sunlight, instead of being cracked and chipping. Maybe the magic will return. Maybe the park will seem more alive again. Of course, maybe it still does, and it is my inner child that is slipping away. Cynicism, Bills, Responsibilities, they all can take their toll on that child we have in us. We all should to our best to nurture that child when ever we can.
Well, all I can say is save a place in line for The Beast for me!

iPod Shuffle Syndrome

So, this is my first attempt at doing this blog thing. You would think with the whole Post Modern thing, I would have been up on this years ago. However, I do admit that I sometimes lack when it comes to internet savvy. But I do have an iPod. Love my iPod. My iPod is one of the greatest things I have ever purchased. All of you know how they work so I don't need to explain any of that. But choices have never been easy for me and when I started filling my iPod with great music I found that it actually became difficult for me to manage. Oh, it is easy to buy songs from the iTunes Music Store, and it is easy to put them on my iPod. But the shuffle option that mixes up all your songs which I use a lot, turns out to be not enjoyable for me. I don't really use the playlists function because I never know what I really want to listen to. Maybe it is a case of some weird Adult Attention deficit Disorder because I find myself only listening to about 20-30 seconds of a song and I click forward on my click wheel. Why can't I ever listen to a whole song? Even on the VERY RARE occasion that I do listen to a entire song, I still click forward during the last 5 seconds or so. My apologies to all the artists that have music on my iPod, because you are all great, so it's not you. It's me. There is something wrong with me. I am open for suggestions. Until I discover a reason for my iPod surfing, I will try in earnest to listen to entire songs. Listening to whole albums...Let's not push it people.