Not the Story I Expected

Sometimes the best laid plans just don’t come to fruition. See, last week I was really proud of myself because I knew that for at least three days this week, my blog topic had already been determined and today was one of those days. I was all set to write about my high school reunion from last night, figuring that I would have a load of stories to tell from the night. Slight problem though, no one showed up for it.

Well, that is not entirely true, it’s just that we were in the single digits and that doesn’t make for an exceptionally fun time. It was still cool and I got to tour my old school (which had been undergoing some major renovations) but there was sadly very little in the way of drama. It was almost the definition of a non-event. So, my hopes of spending a page discussing how I feel old and how everyone else is successful and all of my usual whining will have to be postponed for a little bit.

It’s not like the trip was a waste of time, either. Got to spend some more time with my family and I always enjoy that. Having moved away from the homestead just makes me appreciate the times when I go home all that much more. Plus, I got to watch my niece play soccer and she did rather well in goal. Had a goal kick that was probably better than what I could do, anyway. Her team lost and that wasn’t much of a surprise as they were outmanned and the other team had a girl who has apparently been trained since birth to be the next Mia Hamm. Seriously, she had on an Under Armour shirt, which shows a great degree of dedication and brand awareness for someone playing youth soccer.

Otherwise, I spent more times on planes and in airports, which meant that I was able to catch up on some of my reading. I know I’ve mentioned him a couple of times but you really should be reading Mike Gayle. Sure, it’s British and references pubs instead of bars but it might be the closest thing to my novel that you could possibly get. I finished “Brand New Friend”, which is about whether a guy and a girl could be great friends without romance getting in the way (along with how in the hell does a thirty year old guy make new friends when he moves to a new city). I don’t think it has been printed in the States yet (I grabbed it while I was in Heathrow) but it had two moments that made me smile as they both relate to music that I’ve included on my mix CDs.

First, he has two characters bond over The Sundays “Reading, Writing and Arithmetic”. That’s just cool on general principle and it’s realistic to boot. It’s one of those albums that I use to test someone’s relative awesomeness. The other exchange I’m going to paraphrase here

“Who’s this guy we’re seeing tonight?” asked Jo, looking at the empty stage in front of her.
“Josh Rouse”
“So what does he sound like?”
Rob shrugged. He hated putting labels on music but he knew he’d have to for Jo or she’d stand there perplexed for the next few hours. “It’s sort of an alt-country – grown-up pop sort of thing.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Jo. “What’s alt-country?”
“Alt-country is…” He didn’t finish the sentence. Instead he laughed and said, “Trust me, you’ll like him.”

I have that conversation all the time. I’m just pleased to know that professional writers can’t define alt-country either.

The five random CDs of the week (of which one is alt-country and another one might be. Hence, the difficulty of definitions)
1) Jeff Buckley “Mystery White Boy”
2) Bettie Serveert “Dust Bunnies”
3) Beth Orton “Comfort of Strangers”
4) Uncle Tupelo “Still Feel Gone”
5) R.E.M. “Up”