It had to be perfect. There was very little room for mistakes or ambiguity. If I was going to nail this anniversary vacation, giving Amanda a truly memorable trip and thereby securing my status as "thoughtful," then every contingency must be considered. Our decennial anniversary deserved nothing less. Only the cream of the crop of leisurely activities would make the cut. This would take skill. This would take commitment. Most importantly, this would take the patience of digging through a myriad of mostly valueless results when the words "vacation Las Vegas" were typed in the google search bar.
No matter how many Yelp or Tripadvisor reviews you read, at some point you're going to have to make a decision. There's too much to see, too much to read, and far too many options. To stay on the strip or not stay on the strip. Which shows do we see? Where do we eat? What's worth spending our precious and limited time?
You can read all you want. You can make lists of pros and cons. Go ahead, build up your tower of pre-conceived notions. It doesn't matter. Once our plane landed, the real education on Las Vegas and our Anniversary vacation EXTRAVAGANZA began.
Here's what we learned:
1. Little League
It doesn't matter what you do, or how well you do it. In Las Vegas, everyone gets a trophy. From the moment your step off of the plane, you are bombarded with advertisements. The only thing remarkable about advertising in the Las Vegas is the massive amount of money spent on one basic concept. Be it a show, a restaurant, a resort, or a used underwear store, they're all #1. I'm not saying that they value their product, and it's many mentionable qualities. No. Those don't matter. The only thing that matters is that someone, somewhere, listed them as #1 at what they do.
Advertising executives in Las Vegas must be collectively stroked out by the desert sun, or too enamored with the potential of free drinks at the penny slots, to realize that at some point as potential customer may wonder what it is they're selling. But they can't be bothered with that. They show up Monday morning, splatter the heading that there product was listed #1 by some random blogger or daily rag, then head back to the golf course for the back nine. It's good work if you can get it.
2. Beware the Good Deal
We needed a car. Parts of our vacation would include trips out to Red Rock Canyon and the Grand Canyon. That's a bit of a haul on rollerskates, so a rental was needed. Now, I rent cars often. I usually rent from one of the bigger chains because they have offices near my house, but that simply wasn't an option in Vegas. My jaw draped perilously close to the floor when I saw the going rate for rental cars in Vegas. I think they confused rent with purchase.
However, in the long list of available rentals, two companies listed near the bottom certainly captured my attention with their commitment to competitive pricing. But, it made no sense. Why were two companies so much cheaper than the rest. Were they fly-by-night operations? Did "full-size" really mean "horse drawn carriage?" If so, I'd need new boots.
But still, I booked it.
As we approached the sales counter, my heart sank into my stomach. Every other rental company visible in the rental center zoomed customers through the check-in process and got them quickly on their way. All the while, "cheap company A" had a line a mile long, the head of which consisted of employees seemingly arguing with would be customers and trying to convince them to purchase their "guaranteed fuel program" like something out of a bad timeshare pitch.
I knew it. This would be painful.
When our turn arrived, I approached the counter, gave the employee my name and reservation number, and awaited my paperwork. The deal I agreed to, through a third party website, was for $77, not including insurance. The employee confirmed my selection, entered the info on my driver's license, and returned with a price of $207, and change. As soon as the price left her lips, I quickly snapped, "no." Apparently, that's the magic word because she immediately tried to renegotiate by stuttering, "uhh, how about $130?". I informed her that this too was an errant price and that I refused to pay it. I showed her the agreement on my handy dandy smart phone, which was listed as follows:
Base Rate - $47.85
Tax and Fees - $29.68
__________________
Total Price - $77.53
Upon seeing this, she informed me that I would need to add all three of those figures together to get the real price. This when the reigns on "snarky Jamey" could be held no longer. Right there at the counter, two lessons were given. First we discussed the meaning and usage of the word "Total" in the English language. Next, I made her add the base rate to the tax and fees rate, and even instructed her how to carry the one, a la first grade arithmetic.
This brazen act led to a silent solidarity among fellow screwed over customers, as smiles were shared and heads were collectively nodded in approval. No longer would we stand for this injustice. No longer would additional fees and fuel plans balloon our prices beyond budgetary constraints. This is America, damnit! We're not going to allow you to terrorize our vacations by stealing manna from our Vegas buffet mouths!
Just before we were able to don matching kilts, paint our faces, and start war chants, the manager arrived at the desk and confirmed my low, low price. Whew, that was close. He had no idea how close he was revolution. I had the mob on my side. Crisis averted. And even though the rental employee smiled at me through her teeth, I could tell she was still terribly confused by addition.
3. "Oh, it's just right there"
Here's a Vegas vacation Jamey pro tip: pack rollerblades. Even though they seem to be adjoining, everything in Vegas is extremely spread out. Distance is simply a mirage.
4. Jose Canseco in a push-up bra
I just think I'm savvy. In reality, my naivety is apparently limitless. I would never have thought that adult aged human being would consider the Vegas strip, at midnight (or any time for that matter), as an appropriate place to bring their children. Walking the sidewalk of the Vegas strip is like having an AOL email account in the late nineties. No matter why you're there, eventually you're going to get spammed by porn peddlers.
This usually comes in the form of people wearing shirts with the words "Girls, Girls, Girls"across the back, handing out flyers for free cover charge to the nearest strip establishment. These flyers resemble business cards seemingly designed by a ruthless hoard of 13 year old boys. They don't waste time with helpful information. It's just a picture of a nude, or at best scantily clad, twenty year old and an address. By the end of the night, the sidewalk is littered with these cards.
And there, as parents struggle to negotiate the crowded sidewalks and bright lights, they can't be bothered with checking on the actions of their cute little rugrats. This usually leads to the kids picking these cards up and trading them around like the world's most inappropriate baseball card. Amanda and I watched in horror as a young couple walked away from their four year old little boy, who stopped in the middle of a busy intersection to kneel down and pick up booby cards...in Vegas....at night.....in a crowd of hundreds. Sometimes you wish child services responded to some sort of bat signal.
5. Bambi
Time in Vegas isn't really measured in hours. That's far too complicated. Rather, it's measured in motif. The morning hours are dominated by hangover shuffles, heels-in-hand walks of shame, and bathing suits. The afternoon is dominated by those seeking to acquire show tickets in their comfy shoes and sunglasses. But nighttime. Oh nighttime. That's when the hair gel, hooker heels, teeny skirts, and shiny shirts come out to play. We enjoyed this time of day the most. That's when the people watching aspects of Vegas really kick it into high gear. On our final night in town, we decided to run out to a nearby restaurant for a nice meal before seeing Cirque Du Soleil. As our weary feet knowingly carried us through yet another stale and smokey casino, a bustling group of young twenty-somethings burst out in front of us. They couldn't be bothered with the fact that they'd nearly trampled us to death. No, no. They were far too important and well dressed for such a selfless notion.
The group dynamics were as follows: Two single girls, complete with skanky dresses and blown out hair. One single guy with shiny shoes, a shiny tan, and an even shinier shirt. Finally, the ring leaders. The power couple at the center of this obnoxious orbit were straight out of central casting for Jersey Shore. The guy was a brand of confident rarely seen in the human race, completely devoid of insecurities. His best girl was a sight to behold. She was about 5'5", 84 lbs, in a shiny leopard pattern dress like something out of that terrible toddlers and tiaras show. Her shoes were more stilts than heels. I began to wonder if she might be a Cirque performer.
Just as my disillusionment with the human race reached it's climax a cleansing and powerful wind of humility swept across the group. In the course of their young and invincible strut through the casino, stilt girl failed to consider that the equation of ridiculous shoes + marble floor would most likely result in tragedy. Time slowed as her ankles resembled those of a baby deer struggling to take it's first steps. It took her a GOOD second and a half to complete her fall. Captain slick hair, try as he might, was unable to rescue his toothpick with bangs from her descent. In the struggle, they ended up collectively collapsing in the middle of the crowded casino. For that moment, the glitz and fake glamour of Vegas revealed itself as lacking the stability and foundation of common sense. This was Vegas in a nutshell.
Don't let this blog fool you. It was an amazing vacation. We had a blast. We spent time together....alone. We made each other laugh. We pushed each other to hike the freaking Grand Canyon. And we even massaged each others calves the next day as the limitations of ibuprofen became all too obvious. It wasn't perfect, but we were. We committed ourselves to enjoying our time away. We committed to having long, in depth conversations about grown up topics. And mostly, we committed ourselves to go with the flow, even if it involved a math lesson or two.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Dress to Impress....Then Shut Up
I'm terrible at first impressions. To be honest, I'm not that great at second impressions either. I'm usually way too wrapped up in my own brain/psychosis, worried about how I will be perceived, to realize that I'm absolutely blowing it by running off at the mouth. Somehow my "please God, LIKE ME" insecurities usually just come off as snarky.
Lesson 1: Know your audience!
I've never forgotten my first rodeo. I don't mean that as a figure of speech. I am literally referring to my first trip to a God's honest, pole-bending, bull-riding rodeo. The weird thing is that I grew up a stone's throw from the Purvis fairgrounds, where rodeos were held on quite the frequent occasion. But since I was not well versed in the way of the cow, or all that interested, I never attended one. That was until puberty hit and I realized that there might be girls there. One problem. I didn't have a scene. That is to say that I really didn't fit into one specific category. Even if I did, cowpoke would have been pretty damn far down the list. Like you'd need a pair of binoculars to see it, far. Things like ninja, or scuba diver, or neurologist would have been MUCH further up the list than cowpoke, if that helps to put it into perspective.
Still, when my friend suggested to me that we should go to the Friday night rodeo and that girls would surely be in attendance, I jumped at the opportunity to go. I didn't know what I was really going to, but I was sure I'd figure it out once I got there. Just before leaving school that Friday my friend warns, "hey man, don't forget, wear something nice. Don't come out there in a t-shirt and flip flops."
Now, this is possibly the ONLY, and I mean ONLY instance where I would have benefited from paying attention to the T.V. when one of those commercials for the local western wear store flashed by during my break from Star Trek TNG. Only then would I have seen that there is a certain "dress" attire that comes along with going to this type of event. One should wear a brightly colored and rigorously starched shirt. The kind of thing you'd find in your average Garth Brooks video. This shirt should be tucked into a pair of jeans so tight that one would imagine them shown on posters for what not to wear on the walls of urology school. Apparently, only the fastening strength of a comically sized belt buckle was appropriate to ensure that the aforementioned pants were adequately supported. However, most of these buckles usually contained some type of writing that would suggest that they were earned by merit of some previous cowpoke accomplishment. Since my CV was a tad light in the cowpoke accomplishment section, I would have to seek another route. Finally, a well worn pair of work/cowboy boots were needed to ensure that one could safely traverse the perils of your standard county fairgrounds.
However, since I'd lacked the attention to noticed the above clothing, I went with the following:
(1) Bright white pair of Nike running shoes
(1) Pair of fashionable ankle socks
(1) Pair of Duck Head brand vividly pastel plaid shorts (pleated for comfort)
(1) Bright yellow Duck Head brand polo shirt (tucked)
I pulled up to the fairgrounds and threw my truck in park. The excitement of tonight's festivities nearly overcame me as my senses were teased by the bright lights, sea of fellow rodeo-ites, and the curious smell of animal feces. This was surely a scene set for romance.
My feelings of excitement were quickly dashed as my compatriot's voice cut through the air, "What in the hell are you wearing?"
His words cut through my idiocy and I crashed back down to the reality that my motif of Easter-preppy might not fit this crowd. Blood rushed to my face. My stomach instantly began to ache. His words rang truer as I noticed my Nikes were beginning to slightly sink into the mud of the fairgrounds, their pearly white soles tainted by more and more brown stains. Surely, this would result in one heck of a lecture from my OCD father as he would make me use warm soapy water and a toothbrush to return them to their store bought condition.
Needless to say, many folks that evening had a fun, raucous time watching the harrowing events of the rodeo. I, however, was not one of those people. No, I was the preppy fruitcake sitting alone at the end of the bleachers as cowboy after cowboy stared, spit their chaw, shook their head in disgust, and muttered their visually guided perceptions of my sexuality.
I didn't know my crowd. I didn't take into account that I might be better suited to dress for the occasion. You would think I would've learned my lesson.
Lesson 2: Go easy on the smart mouth
My first instinct, especially when I'm nervous, has always been to crack a joke. You know, cut the tension. The problem is, if the people you're around just met you, then they might not see your comments as a joke.
My first time meeting Amanda's family was stressful, to say the least. There was no easing me into the family. After a few weeks of dating, she brought me home from college for the weekend. It was sure to be a fun time as not only would I be meeting her parents for the first time, but also both of her older brothers. No worries. I'm usually good with moms. I'd just be nice, courteous, and mind my table manners. Swallow before talking, try not to choke, and compliment the food. I can do this.
Memories of the rodeo came flashing through my head as we set down to dinner. For it was at this time where I learned that her dad was a prior dairy farmer with a PHD in Animal Science. Both brothers were raised on the farm, and the youngest held a Masters in Animal Science. I quickly looked down to make sure that I was plaid free. Whew, no worries there. Was khaki too preppy? Forget it. Just listen and be nice. If the sweet and unfairly attractive blonde across the table likes you, then surely there must be something you can do to make friends with her family.
That's when the conversation at the table shifted to someone the father and sons knew who had recently sold a horse for an exorbitant amount of money. Ribbons of thought shot through the inner recesses of the smarty pants portion of my brain. Before I knew it, a perfectly crafted witty retort exploded from my mouth.
"Did you say (insert insane dollar amount)? That's crazy. What would you say a horse does that would make it worth that amount of money? It would have to look REALLY handsome with that saddle on, right?"
*crickets*
*sternly blank stares*
*more crickets*
Blood once again rushed to my face. I wanted to crawl under the table as her father and siblings outlined to me the purpose of this type horse and it's very real value in very matter of fact tones. My joke BOMBED. Like a fart-in-church level bombing. That first impression was shot. They either didn't understand or didn't appreciate that I was simply trying to make an endearing joke.
Remember how I said earlier that I wasn't very good as second impressions either?
Fast forward a couple of months to my first trip to her family's cabin at the Neshoba County fairgrounds. I've written about the fair before. It's a week of baking in the hot Mississippi sun, watching horse races, eating food that isn't very good for you, and sharing a 300 square foot cabin with 25 other attendees.
At first, everything was going quite well. I seemed to be getting along with her extended family, as everyone settled in for some nice conversation, following dinner. I slyly slipped away to the upstairs bathroom to see a man about a horse.
As I flushed the toilet I failed to notice something. I never noticed that the water wasn't running. This reality came crashing down as the toggle switch to the toilet clunked down, without bringing forth one drop of water.
Blood rushed to my face. Here I am with my pants around my ankles, trapped in the bathroom, in no condition for family pleasantries, and only one way out; through a herd of my new girlfriend's family members. For what seemed like hours I just sat there listening to my own heartbeat as it became heavier and heavier. It seemed as if my entire body jolted with every pulse. Finally, I heard someone coming up the steps. "Dear Lord, please let it be Amanda!" I quietly call out:
Me: Umm...Amanda?
Voice: No, it's David (Amanda's brother)
Me: (inner-monologue) $#!%
David: You okay in there?
Me: Can you get Amanda?
David: I guess
Amanda soon joined David at the door
Amanda: What's wrong?
Me: It would seem that the water in the cabin is malfunctioning
Amanda: Uhh, ok. What's wrong?
Me: Well, I already went to the bathroom....
This is where David rejoins the conversation.
David: Is the toilet clogged?
Me: No, it flushed once
David: Okay, well what's the problem?
Me: Umm....how do I say this? You see, there are two parts to this job. I used up the one flush on the first part of the job.......I'm stuck.
David's voice is now pained as he struggles to hold back the laughter when he speaks.
David: (in his best, overly calm hostage negotiator voice) Well, what are our options?
Me: I have no idea. What are the chances that the water comes back on soon?
David: Not too good. There are a lot of people at the fairgrounds tonight and it puts a lot of stress on the system.
Me: The system is stressed, huh?
David: Do what you can and come downstairs. I'll get our cousin to take you to his house to, uhh.....finish the job?
Me: Kill me
As a gently came down the steps en route to the front door, EVERY eye quickly darted away as the mere thought of eye contact with Mr. dirty butt would be too much to bear. All's well that ends well though, as somehow once I returned all those snarky little jokes I'd use to diflect my embarrassment were somehow KILLING now. I don't care how nervous the laughter was; it was laughter. I would take it.
I guess lesson three is: When in doubt, be REALLY, REALLY human.
Lesson 1: Know your audience!
I've never forgotten my first rodeo. I don't mean that as a figure of speech. I am literally referring to my first trip to a God's honest, pole-bending, bull-riding rodeo. The weird thing is that I grew up a stone's throw from the Purvis fairgrounds, where rodeos were held on quite the frequent occasion. But since I was not well versed in the way of the cow, or all that interested, I never attended one. That was until puberty hit and I realized that there might be girls there. One problem. I didn't have a scene. That is to say that I really didn't fit into one specific category. Even if I did, cowpoke would have been pretty damn far down the list. Like you'd need a pair of binoculars to see it, far. Things like ninja, or scuba diver, or neurologist would have been MUCH further up the list than cowpoke, if that helps to put it into perspective.
Still, when my friend suggested to me that we should go to the Friday night rodeo and that girls would surely be in attendance, I jumped at the opportunity to go. I didn't know what I was really going to, but I was sure I'd figure it out once I got there. Just before leaving school that Friday my friend warns, "hey man, don't forget, wear something nice. Don't come out there in a t-shirt and flip flops."
Now, this is possibly the ONLY, and I mean ONLY instance where I would have benefited from paying attention to the T.V. when one of those commercials for the local western wear store flashed by during my break from Star Trek TNG. Only then would I have seen that there is a certain "dress" attire that comes along with going to this type of event. One should wear a brightly colored and rigorously starched shirt. The kind of thing you'd find in your average Garth Brooks video. This shirt should be tucked into a pair of jeans so tight that one would imagine them shown on posters for what not to wear on the walls of urology school. Apparently, only the fastening strength of a comically sized belt buckle was appropriate to ensure that the aforementioned pants were adequately supported. However, most of these buckles usually contained some type of writing that would suggest that they were earned by merit of some previous cowpoke accomplishment. Since my CV was a tad light in the cowpoke accomplishment section, I would have to seek another route. Finally, a well worn pair of work/cowboy boots were needed to ensure that one could safely traverse the perils of your standard county fairgrounds.
However, since I'd lacked the attention to noticed the above clothing, I went with the following:
(1) Bright white pair of Nike running shoes
(1) Pair of fashionable ankle socks
(1) Pair of Duck Head brand vividly pastel plaid shorts (pleated for comfort)
(1) Bright yellow Duck Head brand polo shirt (tucked)
I pulled up to the fairgrounds and threw my truck in park. The excitement of tonight's festivities nearly overcame me as my senses were teased by the bright lights, sea of fellow rodeo-ites, and the curious smell of animal feces. This was surely a scene set for romance.
My feelings of excitement were quickly dashed as my compatriot's voice cut through the air, "What in the hell are you wearing?"
His words cut through my idiocy and I crashed back down to the reality that my motif of Easter-preppy might not fit this crowd. Blood rushed to my face. My stomach instantly began to ache. His words rang truer as I noticed my Nikes were beginning to slightly sink into the mud of the fairgrounds, their pearly white soles tainted by more and more brown stains. Surely, this would result in one heck of a lecture from my OCD father as he would make me use warm soapy water and a toothbrush to return them to their store bought condition.
Needless to say, many folks that evening had a fun, raucous time watching the harrowing events of the rodeo. I, however, was not one of those people. No, I was the preppy fruitcake sitting alone at the end of the bleachers as cowboy after cowboy stared, spit their chaw, shook their head in disgust, and muttered their visually guided perceptions of my sexuality.
I didn't know my crowd. I didn't take into account that I might be better suited to dress for the occasion. You would think I would've learned my lesson.
Lesson 2: Go easy on the smart mouth
My first instinct, especially when I'm nervous, has always been to crack a joke. You know, cut the tension. The problem is, if the people you're around just met you, then they might not see your comments as a joke.
My first time meeting Amanda's family was stressful, to say the least. There was no easing me into the family. After a few weeks of dating, she brought me home from college for the weekend. It was sure to be a fun time as not only would I be meeting her parents for the first time, but also both of her older brothers. No worries. I'm usually good with moms. I'd just be nice, courteous, and mind my table manners. Swallow before talking, try not to choke, and compliment the food. I can do this.
Memories of the rodeo came flashing through my head as we set down to dinner. For it was at this time where I learned that her dad was a prior dairy farmer with a PHD in Animal Science. Both brothers were raised on the farm, and the youngest held a Masters in Animal Science. I quickly looked down to make sure that I was plaid free. Whew, no worries there. Was khaki too preppy? Forget it. Just listen and be nice. If the sweet and unfairly attractive blonde across the table likes you, then surely there must be something you can do to make friends with her family.
That's when the conversation at the table shifted to someone the father and sons knew who had recently sold a horse for an exorbitant amount of money. Ribbons of thought shot through the inner recesses of the smarty pants portion of my brain. Before I knew it, a perfectly crafted witty retort exploded from my mouth.
"Did you say (insert insane dollar amount)? That's crazy. What would you say a horse does that would make it worth that amount of money? It would have to look REALLY handsome with that saddle on, right?"
*crickets*
*sternly blank stares*
*more crickets*
Blood once again rushed to my face. I wanted to crawl under the table as her father and siblings outlined to me the purpose of this type horse and it's very real value in very matter of fact tones. My joke BOMBED. Like a fart-in-church level bombing. That first impression was shot. They either didn't understand or didn't appreciate that I was simply trying to make an endearing joke.
Remember how I said earlier that I wasn't very good as second impressions either?
Fast forward a couple of months to my first trip to her family's cabin at the Neshoba County fairgrounds. I've written about the fair before. It's a week of baking in the hot Mississippi sun, watching horse races, eating food that isn't very good for you, and sharing a 300 square foot cabin with 25 other attendees.
At first, everything was going quite well. I seemed to be getting along with her extended family, as everyone settled in for some nice conversation, following dinner. I slyly slipped away to the upstairs bathroom to see a man about a horse.
As I flushed the toilet I failed to notice something. I never noticed that the water wasn't running. This reality came crashing down as the toggle switch to the toilet clunked down, without bringing forth one drop of water.
Blood rushed to my face. Here I am with my pants around my ankles, trapped in the bathroom, in no condition for family pleasantries, and only one way out; through a herd of my new girlfriend's family members. For what seemed like hours I just sat there listening to my own heartbeat as it became heavier and heavier. It seemed as if my entire body jolted with every pulse. Finally, I heard someone coming up the steps. "Dear Lord, please let it be Amanda!" I quietly call out:
Me: Umm...Amanda?
Voice: No, it's David (Amanda's brother)
Me: (inner-monologue) $#!%
David: You okay in there?
Me: Can you get Amanda?
David: I guess
Amanda soon joined David at the door
Amanda: What's wrong?
Me: It would seem that the water in the cabin is malfunctioning
Amanda: Uhh, ok. What's wrong?
Me: Well, I already went to the bathroom....
This is where David rejoins the conversation.
David: Is the toilet clogged?
Me: No, it flushed once
David: Okay, well what's the problem?
Me: Umm....how do I say this? You see, there are two parts to this job. I used up the one flush on the first part of the job.......I'm stuck.
David's voice is now pained as he struggles to hold back the laughter when he speaks.
David: (in his best, overly calm hostage negotiator voice) Well, what are our options?
Me: I have no idea. What are the chances that the water comes back on soon?
David: Not too good. There are a lot of people at the fairgrounds tonight and it puts a lot of stress on the system.
Me: The system is stressed, huh?
David: Do what you can and come downstairs. I'll get our cousin to take you to his house to, uhh.....finish the job?
Me: Kill me
As a gently came down the steps en route to the front door, EVERY eye quickly darted away as the mere thought of eye contact with Mr. dirty butt would be too much to bear. All's well that ends well though, as somehow once I returned all those snarky little jokes I'd use to diflect my embarrassment were somehow KILLING now. I don't care how nervous the laughter was; it was laughter. I would take it.
I guess lesson three is: When in doubt, be REALLY, REALLY human.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
This is Uncomfortable (Don't Make Eye Contact)
I listened to a great interview this week. It was with an author who'd recently released a book on manliness, and his lack thereof. He'd written this book after finding out that his wife was pregnant with a little girl. He was immediately struck by the reality that he was not, in fact, a manly man. He didn't grow up doing manly things. He could barely throw a baseball, didn't know how to properly go camping, and had never been in a fight. Having a daughter meant that he would be her example of the kind of man she would one day seek, and feared that he would be found lacking.
This really made me think. What is "manliness?" My mind immediately flashed to flannel shirts, ultra-dark denim jeans, and a bottle of Brut cologne. The kind of guy that owned every tool, and organized them on some type of cork board in the garage. The kind of guy that owned lava hand soap. The kind of guy that has a legitimate need for steel toed boots. A woodworker. A scotch aficionado. A guy who would never use the word "aficionado." The kind of guy that would jog home from a vasectomy.
With this, I began to take an inventory of my own manliness. First up, showchoir, sequinie vest and all. Nope, anti-manly. Marching band: nope. Theater: lord no. This wasn't going well. I did play sports in high school.....but it was golf. Still, that's going in the manly column. Then my most manly achievement slapped me in the face. I was a deckhand on a buoy tender for my first year in the Coast Guard. It doesn't get more manly than that. Upon reporting to the unit you're issued a hard hat, life jacket, and chest hair. I was apart of a twelve man crew who worked 80 hours a week on a 60 year old boat to service buoys and lights marking the navigable channel of the Cape Fear River. Yep, chest hair. It was a work hard/play hard job where any visible cracks in your manhood would result in merciless taunting.
So we kept up appearances. While underway, none of us shaved. We tore the sleeves off of our coveralls and were covered in the filth that results from spending 15 hours a day scraping barnacles off of buoys with a putty knife. Damn, that's manly. Upon returning to homeport we looked more like refugees than sailors. We grunted, cursed, spit, and yelled. This was light years from showchoir.
After visiting a nearby shore unit our Chief decided that a movie night for the crew would be a nice, safe way to blow off some steam. So we piled into a liberty van and headed down to our local movie theater to check out the latest blockbuster. I was a civil war flick, whose name was familiar. But the problem was that we'd been working way too much to check out the reviews. None of us knew what we were in for. We had no idea that our civil war, shoot 'em up movie, came with a swimming pool sized shot of estrogen. That's right, we purchased our tickets, piled into the theater, and watched Cold Mountain.
If you've never seen Cold Mountain, let me provide you with a review. It was like watched the cutest puppy you've ever seen get continuously run over by a lawn mower for two and a half hours. It turns out, the civil war was pretty sad. Not phone-company-commercial sad. More like, the-complete-and-utter-absence-of-any-redeeming-qualities-sad.
Needless to say, our jovial mood was quickly squashed. With every death of a lovable character, we slouched deeper and deeper into our chairs. There may have been a sniffle or two, but I can't swear to the less than manly culprit.
As we silently walked back to the van once the movie ended, our shoulders were collectively slumped in dismay. The manliest crew on the manliest boat on the East Coast just endured a two and a half hour depressive chick flick. Not to mention that Jude Law's attempt at a southern accent was further insult to injury. He spoke almost every line in that movie with shockingly little movement of his jaw. His mouth was agape, and the words somehow poured out in a mushy fashion.
I laughed on the inside. Our manly facade was scraped away. No one boasted. No one bragged. No good-natured ribbing occurred at all.
But I was quickly shocked back into reality when one of my shipmates broke the silence by stating, "that war movie really sucked. Who picked that anyway?" No one confessed. Manliness restored.
I think that as a father my view on manliness has shifted again. What should I expect of myself? Where do I draw the line between compassion and authority? It not always so easily visible. Am I being an example of strength for my boys to rely on in hard times? Would they gain more from my vulnerability? God knows, they need look no further than this blog to see all the vulnerability they'll ever need.
Screw it, I'm going to home depot. I need a cork board.
This really made me think. What is "manliness?" My mind immediately flashed to flannel shirts, ultra-dark denim jeans, and a bottle of Brut cologne. The kind of guy that owned every tool, and organized them on some type of cork board in the garage. The kind of guy that owned lava hand soap. The kind of guy that has a legitimate need for steel toed boots. A woodworker. A scotch aficionado. A guy who would never use the word "aficionado." The kind of guy that would jog home from a vasectomy.
With this, I began to take an inventory of my own manliness. First up, showchoir, sequinie vest and all. Nope, anti-manly. Marching band: nope. Theater: lord no. This wasn't going well. I did play sports in high school.....but it was golf. Still, that's going in the manly column. Then my most manly achievement slapped me in the face. I was a deckhand on a buoy tender for my first year in the Coast Guard. It doesn't get more manly than that. Upon reporting to the unit you're issued a hard hat, life jacket, and chest hair. I was apart of a twelve man crew who worked 80 hours a week on a 60 year old boat to service buoys and lights marking the navigable channel of the Cape Fear River. Yep, chest hair. It was a work hard/play hard job where any visible cracks in your manhood would result in merciless taunting.
So we kept up appearances. While underway, none of us shaved. We tore the sleeves off of our coveralls and were covered in the filth that results from spending 15 hours a day scraping barnacles off of buoys with a putty knife. Damn, that's manly. Upon returning to homeport we looked more like refugees than sailors. We grunted, cursed, spit, and yelled. This was light years from showchoir.
After visiting a nearby shore unit our Chief decided that a movie night for the crew would be a nice, safe way to blow off some steam. So we piled into a liberty van and headed down to our local movie theater to check out the latest blockbuster. I was a civil war flick, whose name was familiar. But the problem was that we'd been working way too much to check out the reviews. None of us knew what we were in for. We had no idea that our civil war, shoot 'em up movie, came with a swimming pool sized shot of estrogen. That's right, we purchased our tickets, piled into the theater, and watched Cold Mountain.
If you've never seen Cold Mountain, let me provide you with a review. It was like watched the cutest puppy you've ever seen get continuously run over by a lawn mower for two and a half hours. It turns out, the civil war was pretty sad. Not phone-company-commercial sad. More like, the-complete-and-utter-absence-of-any-redeeming-qualities-sad.
Needless to say, our jovial mood was quickly squashed. With every death of a lovable character, we slouched deeper and deeper into our chairs. There may have been a sniffle or two, but I can't swear to the less than manly culprit.
As we silently walked back to the van once the movie ended, our shoulders were collectively slumped in dismay. The manliest crew on the manliest boat on the East Coast just endured a two and a half hour depressive chick flick. Not to mention that Jude Law's attempt at a southern accent was further insult to injury. He spoke almost every line in that movie with shockingly little movement of his jaw. His mouth was agape, and the words somehow poured out in a mushy fashion.
I laughed on the inside. Our manly facade was scraped away. No one boasted. No one bragged. No good-natured ribbing occurred at all.
But I was quickly shocked back into reality when one of my shipmates broke the silence by stating, "that war movie really sucked. Who picked that anyway?" No one confessed. Manliness restored.
I think that as a father my view on manliness has shifted again. What should I expect of myself? Where do I draw the line between compassion and authority? It not always so easily visible. Am I being an example of strength for my boys to rely on in hard times? Would they gain more from my vulnerability? God knows, they need look no further than this blog to see all the vulnerability they'll ever need.
Screw it, I'm going to home depot. I need a cork board.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
A Notch in My Mental Armor
To be honest, as this blog pretty succinctly details, my mental armor is pretty notched up. That's how it happens. Little things. Tiny little occurrences that you pay very little attention to somehow seem to pile up in the recesses of your subconscious until you dump them. How do you dump them? Hell if I know. My advice is to save up the copay, hop on a couch, and let the crazy flow from you like a river. Some people actually claim that therapy helps. Me, I always seemed to stick to the "That's for other, weaker people; I can handle it myself" approach. After all, I'm a fairly bright guy with an over-inflated sense of self control. I should be fine. Scratch that. I AM fine. Just fine.
2003 was a very weird year for me. Lots of changes. I dropped out of my cushy little private college, got married, joined the military, and moved sixteen hours away from my home with my new wife. We settled into the nicest 650 square foot home that we could afford in our upscale town, that doubled as a vacation spot for the rich during the summer months. Nothing forces you to grow closer to a new spouse than literally being unable to avoid them at all times.
I adjusted to a military life of order and strict discipline. To long days on the river and increasingly shorter nights of sleep. But I could handle it. I was fine.
A few months into this new life we held a work life training session over the span of a couple of days. It consisted of the usual "how to manage your life" sessions on relationships, money, time, work, and stress. The session on stress contained a neat little handout. The handout was a one page list, front and back, of life situations that one could face. We were instructed to place a nice check mark next to any of the things that we'd experienced in the last twelve months. As I began marking off life experiences, I noticed that my sheet was pretty full. It seemed that I'd been subconsciously going through quite a few significant experiences, but had failed to sense their importance.
A few minutes after I turned my page in, I was asked to step outside by the instructors and my commanding officer. The head instructor approached me with a pathetic display of baby gloves as he asked me if I'd been experiencing any nagging health issues he needed to know about. He asked if I'd been to a doctor lately, or if I was seeking any professional counseling. I responded no to all of his inquiries. He looked very puzzled and informed me that my life had changed so drastically in the past year that he was concerned over my mental health. He was concerned that my stress levels would begin to affect my ability to work well with others, my marriage, and even my physical health.
I blew off his questions and returned to work. But I was puzzled. How was I supposed to feel? Why didn't I feel the "right" way? Was I broken? Was I a super hero? Ok, probably not a super hero.
Life churned on. Two kids, three hurricanes, a car accident, three jobs, the end of my twenties, and a stagnant feeling of overwhelming ordinariness. Flash to a few months back. Amanda and I took the kids to the Neshoba county fair. It's a family event for Amanda's family, but I don't always go. In fact, I rarely go. There are so many things to dislike about the fair. It's CRAZY freaking hot, dirty red clay, crammed accommodations, screaming kids, drunk rednecks, country music, bad food, and oppressive boredom. But I'd skipped out a few too many times, and I could tell that Amanda really wanted me to come along this year.
The day before the fair I began to experience some weird sensations. I began feeling some slight tinges of pain in my right side. The pain was fleeting and pretty tame, but it was there. Over the next few days, my symptoms increased. I won't say what all they consisted of, but there was gastrointestinal distress......for 5 days. While at the fair, someone mentioned that I might be experiencing a slight gallbladder attack. Once we left the fair, my condition greatly improved. Must've been the food.
A few weeks later I flew to Texas to interview for a job. A big job. A job that would change our lives, significantly. A job that would alter my career path in a very positive way. I slapped on a coat and tie, jumped on a plane, and withstood almost four hours of interviews. It went well. The moment my left butt cheek touched the seat of the cab that was to return me to the airport, I got a strange feeling. I was dizzy. The pain returned. I couldn't make things slow down in my mind, but as I reported in to Amanda on the phone I sounded like I was nearly asleep. I missed my flight and the discomfort increased. The entire flight home was a blur of dizziness and worry. Was something wrong with me? Something really wrong?
It came and went over the next few weeks but I tried to ignore it. That's when a cute little tropical storm popped up in the gulf.
"I don't need this. I need to hear about this job. Why am I so stuck in this repeating cycle of plodding failure and shortcomings? Why don't they want me? Was I too eager? Too confident? Not confident enough? Gee, that storm slid right by Florida. Do I really want this job? Of course I do! Huh, that storm sure looks like it's headed this way. Maybe they'll call tomorrow. ok, not today, but maybe the next day. Damn, still no call. Hurricane Isaac. I don't like the sound of that. I've got too much to do this week."
This constant and incessant mental chatter was only compounded by that tinge of pain. It's getting worse. I couldn't make it stop or stretch it out. That's when the dizziness returned, only this time it came with a vengeance. Much more intense than it'd been before. This followed with bi-hourly trips to the bathroom for four hours and finally, vomiting. After I vomited, my energy level dropped and I fell asleep, hard. Monday morning, I woke up and began working from home. I had a great day and felt SO much better. Must've been a bug. After work, Amanda and I ran out to pick up a few things to hold us through until the storm passed. After supper, I sat in front of the computer and the feeling returned. This time was worse than ever. My hands trembled as I googled "gallbladder attack." The symptoms were dead on. I might be in trouble. Then, at the bottom of the page I was referred to other issues that it might be. These read like a horror story of death and woe. "Ok, I'm definitely in trouble. I can't get it under control. Why can't I just get control?"
As I walked, nervously, into the living room Amanda's face said it all. She knew I was worried. I don't worry. Ever. I'm the calm one. I'm the re-assuring one who calms everyone else down. But this time's different. I grab the keys and tell her that I've got to go to the emergency room and that I'm in trouble.
The triage nurse seems unconvinced of my imminent doom. She takes my blood pressure. 175/80. Uhh, that seems a tad on the high side. She tells me that I need to calm down or I'm going to cause myself some serious issues. She tells me that when people come in to the ER with the conditions I rattled off to her, they are in extreme pain and vomiting uncontrollably. She assures me I'm not dying, though I'm sure she's wrong. So I settle into my hospital bed, backless gown and all, and try to settle down. They take samples and give me an IV, should I need medication.
I freak out with every button pressed by the radiologist as she ultrasounds my entire abdomen. I try to read her expressions as she stares at the screen. Surely something will give away her poker face. Nothing. A little later a very bored doctor comes in and explains that the ultrasound showed nothing but perfectly healthy organs. The lab report from my samples showed likewise. Nothing. My nurse explained that he'd done the same thing a few years earlier. He told me not to worry. Gee, nice prescription.
But, it was something. I panicked. Not baby panic, or a little worry. I manifested symptoms that wrecked my body and my psyche. I've not dealt with the things in my mind. They caught up with me. I mostly use this blog to tell wacky stories from my past. Honestly, it's deflection. If I think about that stuff long enough, may I'll convince myself that I'm so much more stable now. That I'm headed in the right direction. That I know the way. The illusion of control is only an outward expression. You can only say "don't worry" for so long. Eventually, your mind will slam on the brakes.
So what's the resolution? There isn't one. At this point the only thing I'm convinced of is that our lives are a never ending daisy chain of inner-conflict. You don't always get to resolve everything. Those words you said, that insult you hurled, that job you missed, that money you wasted, those years you wasted, that life you wasted. You don't get do-overs. That's the real panic inducing thought. My fear was only compounded by the realization of finality. If I was dying, this was it. I'd had my chance. This is what I did with it. I worried about jobs, and money, and insults, and misused words. How incredibly small. That was my real fear. My primal fear. I wasted it.
Oh wait, I'm not dying. My story isn't finished. I still have a pen and plenty of blank pages. hmm. What to write? What to write?
2003 was a very weird year for me. Lots of changes. I dropped out of my cushy little private college, got married, joined the military, and moved sixteen hours away from my home with my new wife. We settled into the nicest 650 square foot home that we could afford in our upscale town, that doubled as a vacation spot for the rich during the summer months. Nothing forces you to grow closer to a new spouse than literally being unable to avoid them at all times.
I adjusted to a military life of order and strict discipline. To long days on the river and increasingly shorter nights of sleep. But I could handle it. I was fine.
A few months into this new life we held a work life training session over the span of a couple of days. It consisted of the usual "how to manage your life" sessions on relationships, money, time, work, and stress. The session on stress contained a neat little handout. The handout was a one page list, front and back, of life situations that one could face. We were instructed to place a nice check mark next to any of the things that we'd experienced in the last twelve months. As I began marking off life experiences, I noticed that my sheet was pretty full. It seemed that I'd been subconsciously going through quite a few significant experiences, but had failed to sense their importance.
A few minutes after I turned my page in, I was asked to step outside by the instructors and my commanding officer. The head instructor approached me with a pathetic display of baby gloves as he asked me if I'd been experiencing any nagging health issues he needed to know about. He asked if I'd been to a doctor lately, or if I was seeking any professional counseling. I responded no to all of his inquiries. He looked very puzzled and informed me that my life had changed so drastically in the past year that he was concerned over my mental health. He was concerned that my stress levels would begin to affect my ability to work well with others, my marriage, and even my physical health.
I blew off his questions and returned to work. But I was puzzled. How was I supposed to feel? Why didn't I feel the "right" way? Was I broken? Was I a super hero? Ok, probably not a super hero.
Life churned on. Two kids, three hurricanes, a car accident, three jobs, the end of my twenties, and a stagnant feeling of overwhelming ordinariness. Flash to a few months back. Amanda and I took the kids to the Neshoba county fair. It's a family event for Amanda's family, but I don't always go. In fact, I rarely go. There are so many things to dislike about the fair. It's CRAZY freaking hot, dirty red clay, crammed accommodations, screaming kids, drunk rednecks, country music, bad food, and oppressive boredom. But I'd skipped out a few too many times, and I could tell that Amanda really wanted me to come along this year.
The day before the fair I began to experience some weird sensations. I began feeling some slight tinges of pain in my right side. The pain was fleeting and pretty tame, but it was there. Over the next few days, my symptoms increased. I won't say what all they consisted of, but there was gastrointestinal distress......for 5 days. While at the fair, someone mentioned that I might be experiencing a slight gallbladder attack. Once we left the fair, my condition greatly improved. Must've been the food.
A few weeks later I flew to Texas to interview for a job. A big job. A job that would change our lives, significantly. A job that would alter my career path in a very positive way. I slapped on a coat and tie, jumped on a plane, and withstood almost four hours of interviews. It went well. The moment my left butt cheek touched the seat of the cab that was to return me to the airport, I got a strange feeling. I was dizzy. The pain returned. I couldn't make things slow down in my mind, but as I reported in to Amanda on the phone I sounded like I was nearly asleep. I missed my flight and the discomfort increased. The entire flight home was a blur of dizziness and worry. Was something wrong with me? Something really wrong?
It came and went over the next few weeks but I tried to ignore it. That's when a cute little tropical storm popped up in the gulf.
"I don't need this. I need to hear about this job. Why am I so stuck in this repeating cycle of plodding failure and shortcomings? Why don't they want me? Was I too eager? Too confident? Not confident enough? Gee, that storm slid right by Florida. Do I really want this job? Of course I do! Huh, that storm sure looks like it's headed this way. Maybe they'll call tomorrow. ok, not today, but maybe the next day. Damn, still no call. Hurricane Isaac. I don't like the sound of that. I've got too much to do this week."
This constant and incessant mental chatter was only compounded by that tinge of pain. It's getting worse. I couldn't make it stop or stretch it out. That's when the dizziness returned, only this time it came with a vengeance. Much more intense than it'd been before. This followed with bi-hourly trips to the bathroom for four hours and finally, vomiting. After I vomited, my energy level dropped and I fell asleep, hard. Monday morning, I woke up and began working from home. I had a great day and felt SO much better. Must've been a bug. After work, Amanda and I ran out to pick up a few things to hold us through until the storm passed. After supper, I sat in front of the computer and the feeling returned. This time was worse than ever. My hands trembled as I googled "gallbladder attack." The symptoms were dead on. I might be in trouble. Then, at the bottom of the page I was referred to other issues that it might be. These read like a horror story of death and woe. "Ok, I'm definitely in trouble. I can't get it under control. Why can't I just get control?"
As I walked, nervously, into the living room Amanda's face said it all. She knew I was worried. I don't worry. Ever. I'm the calm one. I'm the re-assuring one who calms everyone else down. But this time's different. I grab the keys and tell her that I've got to go to the emergency room and that I'm in trouble.
The triage nurse seems unconvinced of my imminent doom. She takes my blood pressure. 175/80. Uhh, that seems a tad on the high side. She tells me that I need to calm down or I'm going to cause myself some serious issues. She tells me that when people come in to the ER with the conditions I rattled off to her, they are in extreme pain and vomiting uncontrollably. She assures me I'm not dying, though I'm sure she's wrong. So I settle into my hospital bed, backless gown and all, and try to settle down. They take samples and give me an IV, should I need medication.
I freak out with every button pressed by the radiologist as she ultrasounds my entire abdomen. I try to read her expressions as she stares at the screen. Surely something will give away her poker face. Nothing. A little later a very bored doctor comes in and explains that the ultrasound showed nothing but perfectly healthy organs. The lab report from my samples showed likewise. Nothing. My nurse explained that he'd done the same thing a few years earlier. He told me not to worry. Gee, nice prescription.
But, it was something. I panicked. Not baby panic, or a little worry. I manifested symptoms that wrecked my body and my psyche. I've not dealt with the things in my mind. They caught up with me. I mostly use this blog to tell wacky stories from my past. Honestly, it's deflection. If I think about that stuff long enough, may I'll convince myself that I'm so much more stable now. That I'm headed in the right direction. That I know the way. The illusion of control is only an outward expression. You can only say "don't worry" for so long. Eventually, your mind will slam on the brakes.
So what's the resolution? There isn't one. At this point the only thing I'm convinced of is that our lives are a never ending daisy chain of inner-conflict. You don't always get to resolve everything. Those words you said, that insult you hurled, that job you missed, that money you wasted, those years you wasted, that life you wasted. You don't get do-overs. That's the real panic inducing thought. My fear was only compounded by the realization of finality. If I was dying, this was it. I'd had my chance. This is what I did with it. I worried about jobs, and money, and insults, and misused words. How incredibly small. That was my real fear. My primal fear. I wasted it.
Oh wait, I'm not dying. My story isn't finished. I still have a pen and plenty of blank pages. hmm. What to write? What to write?
Thursday, August 23, 2012
I Did It and You Will Too
Boys, I saw something funny earlier this week. It was this meme:
I can't begin to tell you how true this will prove to be in your life. Sadly though, for me, it's not entirely accurate. If this was a true representation of my life and search for adolescent interestingness (yes, I know that's not a word), it would state the following:
"I used to strain and yearn to figure out how to be 'with it'. Most of the time I looked like so many pubescent fools before me. Now that I don't care anymore, I can truly see how there really was no 'it,' other than tucked away in the unreachable recesses of 'coolness.'"
A little wordy, for sure, but all too accurate. The information flows at mind-blowing speeds these days. I'm going to tell you something that will probably freak you out a little, but when I was a teenager, the internet was a brand new, sparsely inhabited wasteland of slow dial-up (look it up) speeds and AOL chat rooms. It certainly could not be relied upon to keep one up to date with the current status of hip, when one was trapped in a small backwards Southern town.
So, I searched. I tried things out. Surely at some point I'd strike it hipness rich by donning the appropriate look, attitude, or music scene. What I'd never considered was the fact that those in my peer groups were just as hip ignorant as me. Here are some of the highlights of my unrealized quest:
In the sixth grade we took a field trip to the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum. It's ok, take a breath. I know that sounds a little too exciting to imagine. In reality, it was INCREDIBLY boring. *Funny side note: While wondering through the museum I would've never guessed that among the exhibits and photos on the walls was the cutest picture of my future wife, and your mother. She's going to kill me for this, but here's the photo)
Your Pop used to run a dairy farm when your mother was a child, and to think that I probably saw this photo that day, thinking nothing of it, is still a pretty neat thought.
Anyway, the one hope to salvage any fun out of this incredibly boring day was left up to the ability to use the little spending money I was given by mom and dad to purchase just the right item from the General Store. Now, like you're probably imagining, the General Store at the Ag museum was not filled to the brim with the coolest of items. There was pralines, beef jerky, polished stones, fake arrowheads, etc. Just your usual crap. Certainly nothing worth spending, nay investing, my precious $10.
That's when I saw it. It was if a light from God, himself, shone through the window at the preordained time and angle to reveal to me his wish for my investment. There, gently hanging from a swiveling rack near the register hung a simple, yet elegant cross. But, this was no ordinary cross like those the wealthier kids would wear gaudily strung up by a blasphemous gold nugget necklace. No, this cross was classy and subtle. It was a beautiful statement of commitment to God and fashion. It spoke to me. Hell, it spoke WITH me.
Oh, it seems that I may have forgotten to mention that the cross was to be worn in the form of a magnetic earring.
Give that a moment to sink in. I'll wait.
Surely by now you understand why I was unable live without that cross delicately clinging, with what little magnetism it held, to my ear. I was able to ensure it's stability if I held my head at just the right angle. Sure, my neck got a little sore at first, but it was a small price to pay for individuality and religious freedom. My mom said very little about it when she picked me up from the bus. It was as if she knew what was coming next.
I remember, in stark detail, the look of surprise on my dad's face as his 12 year old son be-bopped through the front door, with an apparent neck injury, and a shining beacon for Christ dangling from his ear. While I'm sure his inner emotions consisted wholly of glad tiding of great joy, his outward expression of that joy consisted of instantaneous rage as he leaped from his chair and was across the living room in a split second. Before I could even mutter the word "magnet," he'd ripped it from my ear in one swift motion. I'm lucky, really. He was so overcome with jealous envy of my new prize, that had it been a real earring, I could've been really quite injured.
It didn't take long for it to sink in that mine and my dad's ideas on individuality were quite different.
This was only one of a handful of missteps towards cool. Here are some bullet points of the highlights from the next few years:
Bell-bottoms were not designed for 5'3" teenage boys
My hair was far too doo-doo brown for the red hair dye to really set up
Platform combat boots look awfully similar to high heels
A boy flipping his long hair out his eyes really does look like he has a tick in his ear (who knew)
No matter what Eddie Vedder says, flannel just makes you look like a bum
I did it. You'll do it too. It's just part of the journey. For goodness' sake, it's the only thing that can explain leisure suits, big 80's hair, and emo culture.
You'll do it. But, it damn well better be a magnet too.
I can't begin to tell you how true this will prove to be in your life. Sadly though, for me, it's not entirely accurate. If this was a true representation of my life and search for adolescent interestingness (yes, I know that's not a word), it would state the following:
"I used to strain and yearn to figure out how to be 'with it'. Most of the time I looked like so many pubescent fools before me. Now that I don't care anymore, I can truly see how there really was no 'it,' other than tucked away in the unreachable recesses of 'coolness.'"
A little wordy, for sure, but all too accurate. The information flows at mind-blowing speeds these days. I'm going to tell you something that will probably freak you out a little, but when I was a teenager, the internet was a brand new, sparsely inhabited wasteland of slow dial-up (look it up) speeds and AOL chat rooms. It certainly could not be relied upon to keep one up to date with the current status of hip, when one was trapped in a small backwards Southern town.
So, I searched. I tried things out. Surely at some point I'd strike it hipness rich by donning the appropriate look, attitude, or music scene. What I'd never considered was the fact that those in my peer groups were just as hip ignorant as me. Here are some of the highlights of my unrealized quest:
In the sixth grade we took a field trip to the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum. It's ok, take a breath. I know that sounds a little too exciting to imagine. In reality, it was INCREDIBLY boring. *Funny side note: While wondering through the museum I would've never guessed that among the exhibits and photos on the walls was the cutest picture of my future wife, and your mother. She's going to kill me for this, but here's the photo)
Your Pop used to run a dairy farm when your mother was a child, and to think that I probably saw this photo that day, thinking nothing of it, is still a pretty neat thought.
Anyway, the one hope to salvage any fun out of this incredibly boring day was left up to the ability to use the little spending money I was given by mom and dad to purchase just the right item from the General Store. Now, like you're probably imagining, the General Store at the Ag museum was not filled to the brim with the coolest of items. There was pralines, beef jerky, polished stones, fake arrowheads, etc. Just your usual crap. Certainly nothing worth spending, nay investing, my precious $10.
That's when I saw it. It was if a light from God, himself, shone through the window at the preordained time and angle to reveal to me his wish for my investment. There, gently hanging from a swiveling rack near the register hung a simple, yet elegant cross. But, this was no ordinary cross like those the wealthier kids would wear gaudily strung up by a blasphemous gold nugget necklace. No, this cross was classy and subtle. It was a beautiful statement of commitment to God and fashion. It spoke to me. Hell, it spoke WITH me.
Oh, it seems that I may have forgotten to mention that the cross was to be worn in the form of a magnetic earring.
Give that a moment to sink in. I'll wait.
Surely by now you understand why I was unable live without that cross delicately clinging, with what little magnetism it held, to my ear. I was able to ensure it's stability if I held my head at just the right angle. Sure, my neck got a little sore at first, but it was a small price to pay for individuality and religious freedom. My mom said very little about it when she picked me up from the bus. It was as if she knew what was coming next.
I remember, in stark detail, the look of surprise on my dad's face as his 12 year old son be-bopped through the front door, with an apparent neck injury, and a shining beacon for Christ dangling from his ear. While I'm sure his inner emotions consisted wholly of glad tiding of great joy, his outward expression of that joy consisted of instantaneous rage as he leaped from his chair and was across the living room in a split second. Before I could even mutter the word "magnet," he'd ripped it from my ear in one swift motion. I'm lucky, really. He was so overcome with jealous envy of my new prize, that had it been a real earring, I could've been really quite injured.
It didn't take long for it to sink in that mine and my dad's ideas on individuality were quite different.
This was only one of a handful of missteps towards cool. Here are some bullet points of the highlights from the next few years:
Bell-bottoms were not designed for 5'3" teenage boys
My hair was far too doo-doo brown for the red hair dye to really set up
Platform combat boots look awfully similar to high heels
A boy flipping his long hair out his eyes really does look like he has a tick in his ear (who knew)
No matter what Eddie Vedder says, flannel just makes you look like a bum
I did it. You'll do it too. It's just part of the journey. For goodness' sake, it's the only thing that can explain leisure suits, big 80's hair, and emo culture.
You'll do it. But, it damn well better be a magnet too.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
The Ever-Ending Joy of a Know-it-all
Boys, times will come around in this life where you'll have the right answer. They're usually outweighed by a plethora of times where the right answer is inexplicably absent. Nevertheless, it's exciting to have the answer. Maybe that's why I love trivial factoids so much. I've always loved to memorize the tiniest, most unimportant little facts. You never know; maybe someone, someday will fancy you their hero because you happened to know the top speed and type of transmission of the 1955 Chevy Bel-air two door hard top. That info would surely come in handy, someday. There you'd sit, beaming with pride, as onlookers gasped at the randomness of your knowledge. Surely they would be so taken with it that they would COMPLETELY gloss over your social ineptitude and the curiously symmetrical bowl-shaped haircut that your mom swears is stylish.
But, sadly, you'll probably just come off looking like a know-it-all little vat of who-gives-a-crap facts with a borderline autistic ability to find meaning in the meaningless.
So, you have to stop yourself. Stop yearning to contribute to every single problem that anyone has ever had. Form a complete opinion, not just the hot topic words du jour. Nothing in the world continuously reminds of this than election season. Boys, God only knows what the political world will look like by the time you are grown, especially considering the exponential dumbing down of the U.S. voting populace in 2012. Knowledge takes time. It takes living. But mostly it takes exposure. These days, politics feel more like a dangerous game of three card monte. You only see the blur of hands gingerly moving about in a carefully orchestrated dance built on misdirection, leaving you begging for any hint, albeit slight, of which one to choose.
People are busy. Forty hours are usually unable sustain a growing family alone. So we're pulled. We are pulled to our kids, to our jobs, and to our ever declining hobbies. We are stretched, like too little butter and too much bread. I always loved that phrase. It's so descriptive that I actually gulp at the thought of trying to swallow dry bread. I digress. Once we are stretched to the point of breaking, the last thing on your mind is trying to research who to vote for, or their political history. So you make a terribly easy choice. You vote on religion, or party, or style, or a snazzy speech or two. What you're miss are the details.
You miss the curiousness of a junior Senator, with very little political background suddenly becoming the next great hope. You miss the son of a former president and head of the CIA whose cabinet is immediately filled with the same power players who've been in and out of every administration in the last 40 years. You miss an orchestrated power couple built for speed and selling power. You miss an extremely aggressive manipulation of religious pandering to buy votes, with very little return other than a growing divide.
A divide of the populace. The deeper the divide, the easier for thinly stretched, well meaning people to pick the obvious good rather than the obvious evil. The republicans are obviously greed infatuated corporate monkeys who love nothing more than to use the Good Book (giant print edition) to crush in the skulls of anyone who ever thought Nancy Pelosi had a good idea and the democrats are obviously evil God-hating satanists hell bent on couch surfing the day away and goosestepping all the way to food stamp line.
That's what we're told. That's what we're sold. Carnies and rubes. And it works.
It breaks my heart and confuses my mind to see two groups of generally good people, so connected by their humanity, their struggles, their nation, and their God attack each other so viciously solely based on simply picking the wrong card. "But Jamey, we ain't connected by our God. I'm a baptist and that crazy liberal ain't even read Leviticus." I believe we are connected because we are created. We are created by a God that loves us. You're not loved more than another.
Kids always ask their parents which child they love the most. I did. I'm sure you will. I never understood what was so hard about picking a favorite when I was a child. I was sure it had to do with not wanting to hurt the lesser child's feelings. I was ignorant of a parents' love. You're not loved a little, a medium amount, or a lot. You're loved. It's a definite, complete state of being that is so powerful that it is only insulted by assuming that a lesser love could ever exist. I feel the same way when I ponder the Love of a Creator for all of His created. We are loved. It's that simple.
But we look for wars. We look for battles. Every since little boys imagined their first tree limb to be a tommy gun, or every little girl longed for whatever it is little girls long for, we've all searched for conflict. It's exciting to have a cause. It's exciting to have an answer. Today it's called the war on religion, or the war against the constitution, or the war on human rights. I've seen no declaration. I've seen no attacks. It's not war. It's a discussion, and discussions benefit from input, and from collaboration.
Quick question for you. Who's winning? Who are the great victors raising their flag high atop the battlefield. Republicans? Democrats? I doubt either group feels like they are winning. I would imagine that they mostly just feel opposed. Opposed to the rhetoric. Opposed to the speeches. Opposed to the ignorance from both sides. Opposed to the lack of peace. All the while, the divide grows. It grows until we feel like strangers with no bond. It grows until we tire, but are ever stoked to action by those that actually benefit.
So boys, I challenge you to dig deeper. To ignore the noise. To seek no wars. To seek only those things that bind us together. And if you haven't figured it out, this isn't simply about politics. It's about how you live every day. If you constantly tout your own answers, you'll undoubtedly miss the truth. If you constantly seek conflict, how can you ever be expected to find peace?
But, sadly, you'll probably just come off looking like a know-it-all little vat of who-gives-a-crap facts with a borderline autistic ability to find meaning in the meaningless.
So, you have to stop yourself. Stop yearning to contribute to every single problem that anyone has ever had. Form a complete opinion, not just the hot topic words du jour. Nothing in the world continuously reminds of this than election season. Boys, God only knows what the political world will look like by the time you are grown, especially considering the exponential dumbing down of the U.S. voting populace in 2012. Knowledge takes time. It takes living. But mostly it takes exposure. These days, politics feel more like a dangerous game of three card monte. You only see the blur of hands gingerly moving about in a carefully orchestrated dance built on misdirection, leaving you begging for any hint, albeit slight, of which one to choose.
People are busy. Forty hours are usually unable sustain a growing family alone. So we're pulled. We are pulled to our kids, to our jobs, and to our ever declining hobbies. We are stretched, like too little butter and too much bread. I always loved that phrase. It's so descriptive that I actually gulp at the thought of trying to swallow dry bread. I digress. Once we are stretched to the point of breaking, the last thing on your mind is trying to research who to vote for, or their political history. So you make a terribly easy choice. You vote on religion, or party, or style, or a snazzy speech or two. What you're miss are the details.
You miss the curiousness of a junior Senator, with very little political background suddenly becoming the next great hope. You miss the son of a former president and head of the CIA whose cabinet is immediately filled with the same power players who've been in and out of every administration in the last 40 years. You miss an orchestrated power couple built for speed and selling power. You miss an extremely aggressive manipulation of religious pandering to buy votes, with very little return other than a growing divide.
A divide of the populace. The deeper the divide, the easier for thinly stretched, well meaning people to pick the obvious good rather than the obvious evil. The republicans are obviously greed infatuated corporate monkeys who love nothing more than to use the Good Book (giant print edition) to crush in the skulls of anyone who ever thought Nancy Pelosi had a good idea and the democrats are obviously evil God-hating satanists hell bent on couch surfing the day away and goosestepping all the way to food stamp line.
That's what we're told. That's what we're sold. Carnies and rubes. And it works.
It breaks my heart and confuses my mind to see two groups of generally good people, so connected by their humanity, their struggles, their nation, and their God attack each other so viciously solely based on simply picking the wrong card. "But Jamey, we ain't connected by our God. I'm a baptist and that crazy liberal ain't even read Leviticus." I believe we are connected because we are created. We are created by a God that loves us. You're not loved more than another.
Kids always ask their parents which child they love the most. I did. I'm sure you will. I never understood what was so hard about picking a favorite when I was a child. I was sure it had to do with not wanting to hurt the lesser child's feelings. I was ignorant of a parents' love. You're not loved a little, a medium amount, or a lot. You're loved. It's a definite, complete state of being that is so powerful that it is only insulted by assuming that a lesser love could ever exist. I feel the same way when I ponder the Love of a Creator for all of His created. We are loved. It's that simple.
But we look for wars. We look for battles. Every since little boys imagined their first tree limb to be a tommy gun, or every little girl longed for whatever it is little girls long for, we've all searched for conflict. It's exciting to have a cause. It's exciting to have an answer. Today it's called the war on religion, or the war against the constitution, or the war on human rights. I've seen no declaration. I've seen no attacks. It's not war. It's a discussion, and discussions benefit from input, and from collaboration.
Quick question for you. Who's winning? Who are the great victors raising their flag high atop the battlefield. Republicans? Democrats? I doubt either group feels like they are winning. I would imagine that they mostly just feel opposed. Opposed to the rhetoric. Opposed to the speeches. Opposed to the ignorance from both sides. Opposed to the lack of peace. All the while, the divide grows. It grows until we feel like strangers with no bond. It grows until we tire, but are ever stoked to action by those that actually benefit.
So boys, I challenge you to dig deeper. To ignore the noise. To seek no wars. To seek only those things that bind us together. And if you haven't figured it out, this isn't simply about politics. It's about how you live every day. If you constantly tout your own answers, you'll undoubtedly miss the truth. If you constantly seek conflict, how can you ever be expected to find peace?
Monday, July 2, 2012
Changing Spots (This Might Hurt a Little)
Boys, there will come a time in your lives, hopefully many of them, where you count the till. That is to say, the till that is your life. It rarely happens in youth, but seems to be an almost daily occurrence as the years pass and the calendar begins to work against you. The till, in this case, is an assessment of where you came from (the influences and inspirations), where you are (as honest and brutal as necessary), and where you want to go (pipe dreams and all). Sometimes the answers revolve around you as person, or you as a father, or you as a spouse. Sometimes they may not include much of you at all, as you take account of those around you and those with whom you've chosen to associate. Either way, I hope one thing for you; that you would be honest with yourself. No matter the cost or the repercussions. That honesty will serve as your true North and will hopefully clear your path of the distractions that keep us from who we're truly meant to be. That said, I can only pray that my own decisions in this, and yours, will prevent or lessen the inevitable "what could've beens" that mortality tricks all of us into believing.
From my earliest years, that I can remember, I was always a musician. Be it the piano, the trumpet, or singing, I was always involved in music. The curse of it was that it came easy. That's not meant to be boastful or braggadocios, but rather, it's meant to be telling. That statement, being fact, points toward what held me back from counting my till for many years. In school, other subjects didn't matter, I had music. When the time came to choose a college, it didn't matter. Wherever I went, I knew I'd make music, and would more than likely be successful at it.
But you see, something happened along the way. I lost my true North. While I gained great enlightenment and enjoyment from my musical career, I saw no future. There was no path. In fact, most of my years of performing had only brought seclusion and loneliness. It wasn't necessarily the cat's meow to be a great baritone in small town South Mississippi. And the competitive nature of the college environment only seemed to further separate me from having relationships with my peers. It was dog eat dog, but I didn't have an appetite. That's not to say that I wasn't competitive. I was. Voraciously so. The problem was that winning never gave me what I wanted, and losing never hurt as bad as it should. This was never more greatly emphasized then when I decided it would be a good idea to go out drinking tequila the night before the finals of a regional singing competition, where I felt I was favored, and ended up being so hungover when it was my turn to sing that I forgot the name of my piece and who composed it. I sang well enough to win, but it was so obvious that I wasn't IN the competition, that I ended up finishing second.
This was the first sign.
If I'm going to be honest, the second sign was my general mental condition at the time. I wasn't living for a future. I was selfish. Your mother seemed to be the only person in my corner, as she always has been. Maybe to a fault. Maybe she should've ditched the head case, or maybe I'd disguised just how deep my despair ran even to her. Either way, she was on board, and we began to plan for the future.
Somewhere along the way, 9/11 happened. The world seemed bigger, and scarier. In truth, maybe the sensationalism of it all worked a little too well on an early 20's know-it-all. Either way, I began to wonder a scary thought. "Was music my only skill?" Had I spent so many years taking the easy road of expectations, that I'd forgot that life was about the challenges we don't see, or the fears we've yet to dash? Either way, I knew that it was time to make a move. This was further reinforced by one of my professors who gently suggested that there was no way I would ever be a successful music teacher. I think her heart was in the right place, but she had all the tact of a bulldozer.
It was clear. My spots were destined to change. The time had now come to be uncomfortable. To be unsure. Nothing makes you more unsure than boot camp.
That's right, I unceremoniously dropped out of college, with one semester to go, and enlisted in the Coast Guard.
It seemed like another crazy and half thought out move to most, but to me, it was just what I needed. I needed to be in the pack. To struggle. To fight. To fail. I needed to see that I could prove myself wrong; that I could move the mountains of doubt in my mind, no matter how small the rewards. What happened next is a story for another time. But the winning wasn't in the result; it was in the trying. That's what changing your spots is. It's real, unadulterated trying. Yearning. And those who come with you? Those are the ones that are worth it.
From my earliest years, that I can remember, I was always a musician. Be it the piano, the trumpet, or singing, I was always involved in music. The curse of it was that it came easy. That's not meant to be boastful or braggadocios, but rather, it's meant to be telling. That statement, being fact, points toward what held me back from counting my till for many years. In school, other subjects didn't matter, I had music. When the time came to choose a college, it didn't matter. Wherever I went, I knew I'd make music, and would more than likely be successful at it.
But you see, something happened along the way. I lost my true North. While I gained great enlightenment and enjoyment from my musical career, I saw no future. There was no path. In fact, most of my years of performing had only brought seclusion and loneliness. It wasn't necessarily the cat's meow to be a great baritone in small town South Mississippi. And the competitive nature of the college environment only seemed to further separate me from having relationships with my peers. It was dog eat dog, but I didn't have an appetite. That's not to say that I wasn't competitive. I was. Voraciously so. The problem was that winning never gave me what I wanted, and losing never hurt as bad as it should. This was never more greatly emphasized then when I decided it would be a good idea to go out drinking tequila the night before the finals of a regional singing competition, where I felt I was favored, and ended up being so hungover when it was my turn to sing that I forgot the name of my piece and who composed it. I sang well enough to win, but it was so obvious that I wasn't IN the competition, that I ended up finishing second.
This was the first sign.
If I'm going to be honest, the second sign was my general mental condition at the time. I wasn't living for a future. I was selfish. Your mother seemed to be the only person in my corner, as she always has been. Maybe to a fault. Maybe she should've ditched the head case, or maybe I'd disguised just how deep my despair ran even to her. Either way, she was on board, and we began to plan for the future.
Somewhere along the way, 9/11 happened. The world seemed bigger, and scarier. In truth, maybe the sensationalism of it all worked a little too well on an early 20's know-it-all. Either way, I began to wonder a scary thought. "Was music my only skill?" Had I spent so many years taking the easy road of expectations, that I'd forgot that life was about the challenges we don't see, or the fears we've yet to dash? Either way, I knew that it was time to make a move. This was further reinforced by one of my professors who gently suggested that there was no way I would ever be a successful music teacher. I think her heart was in the right place, but she had all the tact of a bulldozer.
It was clear. My spots were destined to change. The time had now come to be uncomfortable. To be unsure. Nothing makes you more unsure than boot camp.
That's right, I unceremoniously dropped out of college, with one semester to go, and enlisted in the Coast Guard.
It seemed like another crazy and half thought out move to most, but to me, it was just what I needed. I needed to be in the pack. To struggle. To fight. To fail. I needed to see that I could prove myself wrong; that I could move the mountains of doubt in my mind, no matter how small the rewards. What happened next is a story for another time. But the winning wasn't in the result; it was in the trying. That's what changing your spots is. It's real, unadulterated trying. Yearning. And those who come with you? Those are the ones that are worth it.
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