Toot, toot...

Whoo-weee! The creative juices are flowing tonight!

Ever just feel like your brain is racing a thousand miles an hour and your pancreas just can't keep up that kind of pace? Me neither, but I do feel excited at some of today's events. I even managed to pull myself away from a movie because I felt the urge to write a bit. (The Bucket List, for those who are curious.)

For those who do not know, I like to pretend that I can play the bass guitar. I am still pretty-much a beginner at the instrument, but I'm getting better. I play with the worship band at my church and have picked up some tips here or there. I suppose that I might someday even take a lesson.

I'm getting side-tracked, though...back to my point.

Tonight, I had an opportunity to get creative musically. A friend of mine wrote song and was playing it on his beautiful sounding twelve-string. As I was listening, I was singing along with the words on the page, trying to hear some harmonies in my head and think of a suitable bass line to accompany it. When he was done playing, he said, "You need to come up with a bass line for it, and we'll be good to go."

I hesistated not a second. I said, "Let's do it." I grabbed up a bass and we began to play. I didn't really know what I was doing, but I pulled out a few tricks from "Bass Guitar 101" and it worked! Not to toot my own horn, but I thought it sounded pretty good. It was all so very exciting.

When you hear "Let Us Not Forget" on the radio someday...that's Gary's song and I helped a bit.

I may not have done much, but it was more then I thought I was capable of doing. I guess you just never know until you try.

So give something a shot. You might suprise yourself.

In other news, 45 days until the Bears pre-season begins! I'll try to keep my naive, relentless, Bears-related optimism under control this year, but I can't make any promises. Let's just agree that they'll go undefeated and Mike Ditka will, in a suprise move, win the presidential election in a landslide.

Much luv,
Rob
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Song of the Day: "Diverse City" by TobyMac

Settle down there, buddy...

So I've had something on my mind a bit lately. A little over a week ago, I went to a baseball game. It was a local Schaumburg Flyers game. On the very first play of the game, a routine fly ball turned into an inside-the-park home run when the fielder turned his ankle trying to make the player. Later in the game, the Flyers tried to steal home plate.

Neither worked out too well for the home team, and neither had I ever seen in a ballgame before. How very exciting for me...(not so much for the Flyers.)

But that's not really what's been on my mind. I've been thinking about personal responsibility.

I can almost hear you now..."WHAT?"

Yeah, something pretty heavy.

Here's the rub (never realized that's Shakespere before):

There was a guy sitting in front of me who was behaving inappropriately for much of the game. He was sending out "creepy old dude" vibes that were off the charts. I think you know what I mean.

The thing is, he was otherwise very friendly. His leering and lewd remarks towards the young ladies in the stands, dancing on the field, and anywhere else he could see, however, was less so.

So where do you draw the line? I was conflicted between saying something to the guy and just minding my own business. I'd love to say that he wasn't hurting anyone, except that his young son seemed to look up to him and I worry about what type of values he's learning from the "role model."

Still is it any of my business? Do I have any right to get involved?

In the end, I did nothing, and it's bugged me a bit ever since. As a fellow blogger once put it:

"At what age does a person become immature? Who decides this? I really would like to know the difference between having a good time and making an ass out of yourself."

Was this guy just having a good time? In his mind, yes. To me? It was more the latter. But who is to decide?

I don't know where I'm going with this. Perhaps it's just that I'm getting older and noticing how behavior effects more than just the one acting out.

I guess the message is...

HEY! BEHAVE YOURSELF!

In lighter, happier news...the Lakers are down 2-0. GO CELTICS!!!

Much luv,
Rob
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Song of the Day: "Lakini's Juice" by Live

Hmm, I'll bet that burns...

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words...

First of all, who are "they," anyway? Are "they" the Men in Black? Tommy Lee or Will? Are "they" a coalition of worldwide fashion designers like in Zoolander? Or are "they" some conglomerate from some other group of movies?

Most likely, "they" are none of the above. (Although I'm watching you, Tommy Lee Jones...I know you're up to something.)

Regardless of who "they" are, it is my belief that they have seriously underestimated the word value of a picture. Behold!


Amazing, no? I found that picture over here.

I'd say that picture's worth about one hundred billion, zillion, gafillion, words.

Even made up ones.

To sum it up in just one word, though:

AWESOME!

Happy monday!

Much luv,
Rob
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Song of the Day: "The Silent Man" by Dream Theater