Today was one of the longest days I can remember, but in both good and bad ways, and just about everything in between.
Good news: We moved into our new house.
Bad news: We moved into our new house.
There is nothing quite as exhausting, harrowing and soul wearying as moving, especially when it’s a big move involving a tractor-trailer worth of stuff.
Linda, Chris and I were up and out by 8 to meet the movers who, although they tried valiantly, were unable to get the semi closer than about 100 feet from our driveway. The street is just too narrow and they gave up after about 30 minutes of minute backing up and down the street (and getting yelled at by a neighbor…) So, a long day for a bunch of guys who earned their pay + tip + the big lunch I bought them. What a way to make a living…
So, by 9 the movers were bringing things in and we were shuttling them into place as best we could.
At 10:30, Kim came over with freshly baked banana muffins. Really? Yup. I’m a pretty lucky guy to have such a great relationship with my Ex, and as always she went above and beyond.
At 11, the Verizon FIOS guy game and went ABOVE AND BEYOND doing wiring all over my house of both coax AND Cat-5e for me, saving me a huge amount of time and trouble.
At 1 someone came to give us an estimate on central AC for this house. Let’s just say that following the discussion, I went out to home depot, rented a van, and bought 5 window units. $35,000 for AC is not in the cards anytime soon…
Lindsay slept until about 1 PM. Yay for active teenagers…
Back to drop off the van at Home Depot, grab the car and head to Costco for a stock up run.
Back home to find my kids actively bustling around the place putting things away with Chris and Lindsay and Linda.
Forward about 30 minutes later and Kim came by again, this time joining us for dinner. 7 people, all family, sitting around the dinner table in a chaos of boxes and half-unwrapped stuff. Except that all that was forgotten while the family–this big, crazy family–continued to bond and grow together in the best way imaginable.
It is with profoundly conflicted emotions that I wrap up what will be my last night living in the home I’ve helped create for at least the last 14 years. As many of you know, Kim and I have been on the road to divorce for what seems like forever, and which will actually be official on Friday. Ironically, that’s almost an afterthought compared to the fact that, after I wake up tomorrow and walk out of my door, I will never be coming back to live here. I’ll be boarding an Amtrak to VA after work, as I have done for more than 2 years at this point, but when I come back on Sunday, it will not be by train, but driving one of the cars in the final stage of moving Linda, Lindsay, Chris and myself to our new home a few blocks away.
Starting Monday (assuming all goes well), I’ll be helping set up a new life for myself, Linda, and her kids in West Orange. Of course, I’ll see Kim and my kids often, if not daily, at least every other day or so, but to know that I will not be living in what was my room, sleeping in what was my bed, is a hard truth.
Tonight was spent watching TV and movies with Kim and the kids. A Mythbusters with dinner, and then at least Ellen and I made it through one of my all-time favorite films, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Kim slept through part of it (and hey, it wouldn’t be Kim if she hadn’t…) and Katie slept through most of it, but it was so nice to snuggle on the couch with my girls.
So, first and foremost, thank you Kim for making the best of a weird situation, for never making me feel like a stranger or intruder here, and for always making me feel at home. Without the ease of our relationship, this would have been so much more difficult.
Next, I hope my girls know how much I love them, and will always love them. I hope they see that this is a transition, not a goodbye, and that, if anything, I’ll actually get to see them more in the upcoming days than I have with all the weekends away.
Lastly, and not least, part of me is starting to get excited at the prospect of all the years of effort and struggle to make this grandiose idea come true. This idea of not leaving one family for another, but of making one large family where everyone can be in town for all of the events in people’s lives, instead of having to try to plan a special trip when it’s feasible. The prospect of having two groups of parents and kids be able to intermingle like one big group, be able to spend time, come and go, and genuinely care about all the goings-on, both small and large in each other’s lives. The idea that Kim and my kids understand that they are more than invited to come spend time at our new home, but that they know they will be missed when they’re not around.
Here’s to the big plan, the grand idea, and a new, bright future surrounded by the people I love.
Anyone who knows me knows that I’ve love seeing live events. Concerts or sporting events, even if it’s not my favorite team or my favorite band, I just really love seeing them live. Thanks to StubHub it’s so easy to get seats for things I’d never have gotten to before. These days, one kick of mine is to go to see a bad team but with great seats. I went with Chris a few weeks ago to a Wizards game, and we sat in the all-you-can-eat-buffet Acela ledge seats, where they took care of us all evening, we watched some pathetic Wizards basketball, and ate and just had a great time:
Tonight, I convinced/cajoled Katie to come with me into Newark to see the even more lowly Nets (who, coincidentally, played, and got crushed by, the above mentioned lowly Wizards). We got a nice burger before the game and wandered in a bit late down down down to our center court, 3rd row seats that were mine for an absolute song. The obvious plus is that I’d never buy seats that were face value $250/seat. No way. The downside is that the Nets A, suck and B, suck. But, we still had a great time:
Today, Katie performed at the Livingston Mall with her school chorus. She had a wonderful solo during the song “Stand By Me”, by Ben E. King. Here’s the video of her – hopefully the sound is good as we’re in the middle of a mall!
It’s time again for da carving to commence. This year, we did all our carving on sunday after I was away at the Sea Witch Festival, in Rehoboth Beach, DE. For the first time in years, I dressed up for halloween. When I get some of the good pictures from others, I’ll post a few.
However, this post is all about pumpkins! We sort of went into this year with vague ideas at best. Ellen and I planned a Portal pumpkin, which i envisioned as a 3D thing with cutout sides. She did almost all the actual work–I just designed it. I thought it came out pretty well, as you can see below (unlit and lit versions):
Katie did everything herself. She found a Yatsuba picture of the girl holding her hands over her head and yelling. Unfortunately, the hands are indistinct, so it’s hard to see them as hands, but I still liked it. She did do the entire thing herself, though, so she gets lots of credit for that (lit only):
Finally, I wasn’t actually sure I’d do a pumpkin this year, but discussing an idea with Katie made me want to try to do a completely carved out, bas-relief pumpkin. Essentially, letting the shape of the thing come out from the pumpkin. I’m not sure it really worked, but it came out reasonably well anyway (and didn’t take the 8-hours the Matrix one did last year…)
So, my entry this year, Katie had named “Identity Crisis”, which I loved (several angles of unlit, and one lit):
I facebooked these, but I should have blogged them and then had them post to facebook, but regardless, these two were too funny to not post on the blog for future reference.
Both of these were tonight at dinner.
Katie Conversation:
Katie: “what movie are you talking about?”
Me: “silence of the lambs”
Katie: “what’s it about?”
Me: “a serial killer.”
Katie: “poor lambs”
Ellen Conversation:
We were discussing a meat dish that was very tender (a slow-cooked mexican pork dish). She pronounced that “meat was the only thing that got better with entropy”, and ultimately therefore “slow cooking was chaos theory in action.”
We got Katie a new phone for her birthday, complete with texting ability. She has taken full advantage of it…
“Okay. On the bus. Better day today. people punching the back of my seat and screaming in my ear. Nicky’s hand groping, trying to recover her umbrella which i confiscated in an attempt to keep her from bopping me on the head. then, when i get home i have to go get two needles filled with germ injected into my arm to keep me immune from diseases not even native to this country. after that, i must come home, set the table, clear the table, get ready for school, and go to sleep finally, exhausted and an hour later than i had planned. Hmmmmmmm. no thanks, i think i’ll stay at school.”
This past weekend I had the change to see They Might Be Giants (for the 4th time!) with special guest Jonathan Coulton (first time!) at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ. I saw them here last year for the first time and have been totally taken with their offbeat, quirky and hugely fun songs ever since. Their live shows, though, are FAR better than their recordings (except for the NYC kids show, sadly). They bring energy and humor to their live shows that is such fun it should be illegal, or at least immoral. The group is basically comprised of John Flansburgh and John Linnell, and have been creating music since the late 80’s. Among my favorites are Birdhouse in Your Soul (the tale of a light switch!) and The Mesopotamians, a song featuring four long-dead kings from the original cradle of civilization. Brilliantly funny and catchy.
Happily, with the rise of Twitter, I’ve been able to have a few “conversations” with Mr. Flansburgh and I actually was able to ask if they minded being recorded during shows by their fans. He wrote back that they were fine with it, so I present here a couple of my own recordings from last night’s show of them (Istanbul not Constantinople, and, as sock puppets called “The Avatars of They”, What is a Shooting Star). Be sure to change them to 720P and go full screen if your bandwidth supports it. My iPhone records in full HD and the quality is pretty impressive for a phone.
Enjoy!
Istanbul Not Constantinople:
What is a Shooting Star:
This entry is a bit backwards, since I want to finish by talking about Jonathan Coulton, who opened for TMBG. I have to be honest, however, although I loved TMBG, it was Mr. Coulton that blew me away. I had heard two of his songs: Code Monkey (cute song) and the brilliant song from Portal, Still Alive. The set he played was one of the funniest performances I’ve ever seen. I managed to record one song really well, a song called Skullcrusher Mountain, that is absolutely genius. He also did Still Alive (the entire audience sang along with that one), and, among others, Re: Your Brains, a song about polite zombies.
I’ll embed my recording of Skullcrusher Mountain here, and post the lyrics because they’re just that funny:
Lyrics:
Welcome to my secret lair on Skullcrusher Mountain
I hope that you’ve enjoyed your stay so far
I see you’ve met my assistant Scarface
His appearance is quite disturbing
But I assure you he’s harmless enough
He’s a sweetheart, calls me master
And he has a way of finding pretty things and bringing them to me
I’m so into you
But I’m way too smart for you
Even my henchmen think I’m crazy
I’m not surprised that you agree
If you could find some way to be
A little bit less afraid of me
You’d see the voices that control me from inside my head
Say I shouldn’t kill you yet
I made this half-pony half-monkey monster to please you
But I get the feeling that you don’t like it
What’s with all the screaming?
You like monkeys, you like ponies
Maybe you don’t like monsters so much
Maybe I used too many monkeys
Isn’t it enough to know that I ruined a pony making a gift for you?
I’m so into you
But I’m way too smart for you
Even my henchmen think I’m crazy
I’m not surprised that you agree
If you could find some way to be
A little bit less afraid of me
You’d see the voices that control me from inside my head
Say I shouldn’t kill you yet
Picture the two of us alone inside my golden submarine
While up above the waves my doomsday squad ignites the atmosphere
And all the fools who live their foolish lives may find it quite explosive
But it won’t mean half as much to me if I don’t have you here
You know it isn’t easy living here on Skullcrusher Mountain
Maybe you could cut me just a little slack
Would it kill you to be civil?
I’ve been patient, I’ve been gracious
And this mountain is covered with wolves
Hear them howling, my hungry children
Maybe you should stay and have another drink and think about me and you
I’m so into you
But I’m way too smart for you
Even my henchmen think I’m crazy
I’m not surprised that you agree
If you could find some way to be
A little bit less afraid of me
You’d see the voices that control me from inside my head
Say I shouldn’t kill you yet
I shouldn’t kill you yet
I shouldn’t kill you yet
And, if you’re still with me, check out the brilliant Re: Your Brains:
This blog has seen almost nothing posted by me about my girlfriend and her terrific kids over the past few years, for varying reasons, but this entry I think will be the first of many. Last Thursday night, 6/23/11, I asked Linda to marry me, and much to my delight, she accepted. At the same time, I got the OK from both Chris and Lindsay to move the whole family up to my area next spring. I’ve told this to a bunch of people, and posted it on Facebook when it happened, but haven’t actually blogged about it, or about what this whole experience has been like.
Long distance relationships are hard–really hard. Linda and I have some money, and that’s helped a great deal as we can see each other nearly every weekend, but it’s still not the same as living in the same house. There’s something to the idea of no matter how busy and chaotic the day is, when night time rolls around the other person there in bed waiting for you. Awake or asleep isn’t really the point–it’s the touch, the closeness. That’s not there over Skype, or via IMs when Linda’s 200 miles away, but seeing the homestretch closing in is something amazing to both of us.
When I popped the question, it was in front of Chris at a nice restaurant in Virginia. Linda was completely surprised and just stared at me, in shock. So was Chris. I thought how important it was to make sure Chris (and Lindsay) knew that they weren’t moving just so their mom could be closer to her boyfriend, but moving so that we could all become a family. Linda and I, Chris and Lindsay, Ellen and Katie, even Kim and Mike, all part of this new, extended family. Who knows what complexities lie ahead for this group, but ultimately, no matter what they turn out to be, I’m looking forward to sharing them day in, day out, instead of the snippets I get now. That’s how a real family grows into each other and I can’t wait.
Tonight I was fortunate enough to see the almost-ageless Paul Simon in a tiny venue in NYC (Webster Hall) with my friend Brandi.
(click on any of the pictures to make them REALLY big and mostly blurry! Yay!)
Wanting a decent spot in the room, I arrived about 2 hours before the doors were scheduled to open, figuring there would be a bunch of people already. In fact, I ended up maybe 10th in line, and then right against the rail in the front of the room:
The concert started an hour late, but all thoughts of having stood forever vanished as they came out and started with one song after another that I knew and loved. 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, Kodachrome, Slip Sliding Away, Hearts and Bones, and easily a dozen more before the first encore. Here are a few shots:
The set must have gone on for 90 minutes, without a break. Song after song, sounding great. After the first set, he came back for the first encore by himself, and I happened to decide to take the only video of the night. At first, I was going to just record audio in my pocket (hence the black 10 seconds or so with sound) but then I decided what the hell and put the camera on the rail to take the whole song. I didn’t realize I ended it so abruptly, but otherwise the video’s not bad. It’s a bit weird when it’s pretty obvious and you’re RIGHT THERE and he’s staring at you…but enjoy. (don’t know why there’s no controller, but just double-click on the box below and it should play…)
A blur of songs afterwards, including a great version of Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, he left and returned for a last encore. Before he did, though, they brought out a second mic. Of course, a buzz ran through the already very raucous crowd as to who was coming out with him. Turns out, for some bizarre reason, it was David Byrne from The Talking Heads.
Byrne is a really wacky guy. I’ve never seen him in person and know very little Talking Heads, but he’s got a great voice and they powered through Road to Nowhere and then an insanely goofy version of You Can Call Me Al, featuring Byrne dancing around the stage until he toppled over a floor-speaker into the bass player. Still, unabashed but laughing, he got up and continued (somewhat more safely) to prance around the stage, forgetting lyrics and having a good ole time. The crowd loved it.
We found out at the end of the show that they whole thing was being taped for a PBS/DVD special. I have a feeling Brandi and I will be splashed all over that DVD as the camera was pointed squarely at us for long periods of time. Hopefully, the cameras will capture what we really saw–a master performer running through 4+ decades of great songs, with great musicians in an amazing setting. The floors were literally bouncing up and down all night as people stomped, bounced and danced their way through one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to.
Here’s to you, Paul Simon. Still crazy after all these years.
