Reese Roper, writing for the Five Iron Frenzy blog about “To Start a Fire”:
Scott and I used to be the greatest of friends. And do you know what ruined it? Me pushing Jesus on him when he needed me to just be his friend.
Things like this are why Five Iron continues to be my favorite band. I feel like I’ve grown up with them.
Weather forecast in terms of Star Wars locales. I approve.
When I arrive in my office each morning, I’m greeted by framed photos of Dr. King and Robert F. Kennedy. I don’t pretend that writing this puts me in their league. All it does is allow me to look at those pictures and know that I’m doing my part, however small, to help others. We pave the sunlit path toward justice together, brick by brick. This is my brick.
Ann Margaret and I went to see Penn & Teller last night. They were nice enough to hang out after and sign autographs and take pictures with folks. Class act those two…
Life is a whole lot more fun when you can keep other people just a little off-balance.
Gene Hackman
Three Saturdays ago, I tore my right ACL playing ultimate frisbee. The last week or so has been a combination of doctor visits, MRI, and physical therapy in preparation for surgery. But, I needed to figure out a way to get some work done in between rounds of physical therapy once I’m back among the ranks of the conscious. I have a beautiful retina MacBook Pro that I can use on my lap, but I can foresee that getting a bit tiring between heat on my lap and pressure on my leg. So, once I manage to hobble out to the couch, I’m going to be mirroring my MacBook Pro up to my Apple TV. (The display isn’t quite as nice as the retina, but it will suffice for a while.) Married to this I will be using my Bluetooth keyboard and Magic Trackpad, pinned together with a Magic Wand, manufactured by the indomitable 12 South.
How do I know this will be a functional setup? Well, you just finished reading my trial run.
“That sucked,” I said to myself as I walked out of the auditorium. For the first time in over nine years, I played in a symphony band, and I haven’t played tuba seriously in almost thirteen years. And I’ve never played a CC tuba with five valves. All my previous experience is with BB♭ tubas with three or four valves. Rusty doesn’t quite cover it. I’m out of my element and in over my head.
A lot of the people in that group are way better than I am. I’m scared I won’t be good enough, that I won’t learn the music fast enough, or that my fingers won’t be dexterous enough to make some of the precise changes. But this is a more interesting fear than being afraid of trying in the first place. And it’s certainly more interesting than comfortably watching American Idol.
So, today, I practiced. I wrote fingerings in under the notes I couldn’t readily recognize. I marked where I’d breathe and the D♭s I kept missing. I played the opening eight bars of this damned Sousa march over and over. I counted out complicated rhythms while beating my hand against my leg to keep time.
I did all of this because it is something I can do today. And rehearsal is Monday whether I’m ready or not. And that’s terrifying.
Best advice I’ve read in a long, long time.
I’ve deactivated my Facebook account. If you want to keep in touch or need to contact me, email, iMessage, or Jabber/Google Talk at my main email address.
Better yet, let’s grab coffee or lunch if it’s been too long since we had a real conversation.
Until we talk again, please remember: sharing isn’t a mouse click, friendship isn’t the vacant observation of timelines, and digital soapboxes only serve to drive us further apart.
Be excellent to each other.
Just a friendly heads up that my lovely wife @slb has won the Internet, so you can all go home early.
