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Age specific goings on?

I am very proud of everything I have accomplished up to now and everything I have waiting in the wings. But there are a lot of age specific things I seem to have missed. So many of my freinds my age and younger are having or have kids. I felt the phenomena back when they were all getting married, but it stands out more now. It's an odd kind of disconect when so many if my friends are constantly posting pictures of their kids, complaining about house work, and vans and the whole family thing, and I am posting pictures from gigs and shows and other band related things. Like i said, i am not unaware of everything I have accomplished in the last 10 years. 2 years in France, 2 undergraduate degrees and 1 masters degree in literature. 3years of The Gorgeous Hussies. The going legit of NARRL. Spent a considerable amount of time in Europe. I have done a lot. And i guess the result of setting your sites on the atypical is this sort of disconect.

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Stoic if you got it: Squishy Bannanas

So I got one of the first real indications that Mom hasn't been home in a few days this morning (sunday june 7). We are a family that dirnks our breakfast. Some slimfast blended with a bannana, sometimes some protein powder. In the summer we use different fruits, berries and such. And this morning I went to amke one and the bannanas were squishy and getting a lottle old. Mom is really good about keeping the produce in the house fresh, and finishing things off before they go bad. 

I returned to my parents home from my 9 day Bahamas cruise with Angie last night and will be living here for a week till Jordan gets home and I fully move into my room up in Clearfield. Mom went in for her bowel resection Thursday. The tumor was larger than they had thought, so the surgery took a lot longer since they had to resect more bowel than they had planned. but the surgery went well, and she is recovering surprisingly well. They did however find indications that the cancer had spread to her liver, so they biopsied that and we are currently awaiting the results. Yesterday (saturday june6) they took her off fluids and her pain drip and all the other things that had been attached to her arm. Thy had here on lortab and she had  graduated to thicker non solid foods. Jello. Pudding. Creamy soup. We talked for a while, and I gave hr some glowing moments from the trip, but Dad's foot was acting up so we left after like 30 minutes. She looked great, lucid, good. She did hold her hand next to her right side, apparently she had been having sideaches for a few weeks. It's probably the cancer. Dad went back this morning and watched some TV with her. They have her now on percacet for whatever reason and she had graduated up to pasta with a little chicken. She has more pain in her side, and they think that maybe some gas from the surgery has gotten blocked up by her liver. It might also be the biopsy, though. They are going to ultrasound to figure it out. 

So my dad was adjudicating a music conference in Vegas the other day and a man came up to him and asked, "Did your son used to play bass at the University of Northern Colorado?" "Yes." "I worked with him out there. The poor young man, they were mercilous with him." "Why was that." "Well, he was an 18 yr old freshman that beat out a grad student for lab band one, and was playing with mostly grad students. They rode him hard."

When I was in Colorado I was constantly lectured and critiqued for mor or less every aspect of my life. "What do you mean you saw a movie with your friends?! You shouldn't be doing anything but practising!" Seriously, I was taken aside by nearly every high-up in the jazz department and told that I was screwing up and letting everybody down. I was hating it. I developed my first ulcer, dealt with my first panic atttacks, and lost my love for music.

The man who talked to my father had seen his name listed as a judge, and decided that there can't be too many chatelains in the world, and decided to talk to him. He was the director of the #1 vocal jazz ensemble, behind which I played. He was delightful and supportive. When asked if I had gotten anything from my year there, my father was proud to announce that although I had decided NEVER to pursue music academically, that this was not keeping me from going on the road full time with my band as of this summer. 

This whole exchange has marked me profoundly. I cary some of the complexes I developed out there with me still today, and feel somewhat vindicated that if I was miserable it was not because I was immature, or just generally not good enough, but  that there were people who wanted me miserable. 

 

So, after tonight I will have played 11 hours of Irish Punk in 3 days. My poor voice.

Setting up at the white owl for the show. I have a reuben on the way.

And now a test from my phone.

just trying out ping.fm on a brief break

The Wailing O'Sheas @ Monks 3-6-08

See more pics from our show here!

Just a mobile test

Just a mobile test

This is a test

to see if I can't figure out how to get facebook to publish a blog for me.