truly great thing

in july, our family went to see the sound of music at the hollywood bowl. other than the very drunk people behind us who kept making "general lee" and "luke duke" comments (john schneider played captain von trapp, and was "bo duke" anyhoo), it was a great time! under my daughter's strict orders, the sound of music soundtrack has pretty much been streaming 24/7 around here since. so in honor of (or submission to) tsom, here a few of my favorite things from the past couple of weeks...


this past sunday, our family went to the getty museum for a children's concert. charity and the jam band led a fun-filled hour of songs, complete with a "mushpot" (the kids' equivalent of a moshpit, they helpfully explained) of kids in the front, dancing the afternoon away. the band performed on a pretty steep hillside, so after about ten minutes, there was a puddle of kids smushed up in a grinning, dancing bunch to stage-left. though i couldn't have pictured it pre-fatherhood, i enjoy many of daughter's favorite bands. i find myself humming "we are the dinosaurs" or the theme from jack's big music show at the most random times.

while i couldn't play my way out of a paper bag in counterstrike (the first-person perspective makes me dizzy, leaving me an easy target for my students to pick off - with a little too much joy, i might add), i have found a different way to burn through hours on end. guitar hero, thou art my new donkey konga. although she is unfamiliar with such standards as "cowboys from hell" by pantera, or "unsung" by helmet, my wife torches me every time we play. and that's how i know it's true love.

though they haven't released an album since 1989, and even though i haven't been much for concerts these days, i went to see gorilla biscuits in anaheim a couple of weeks ago. it was like being in middle school again, learning to skate on that gigantic christian hosoi hammerhead deck. and apparently, plenty of other old fogies agreed. the sold old crowd relived the glory days of new york hardcore as we moshed, stage-dived and grinned the night away. see for yourself!



and i can't leave out one of my everyday favorites - talking with my daughter. we were driving the other day, talking about how God created the world and she said to me, "jesus is pretty cool, right?" one day, about ten years from now, when she asks me to drop her off at the corner so her friends don't see me, i will remind her of how much fun we had talking :)