Slackjaw's Forum

Well the boy had his first T-ball practice last night. He and 15 other 4-to-6 year-olds took to the field at Jefferson Park to start what undoubtedly will become an every summer occurrence. It was a lot of fun watching the masses of kids chase down every ball hit from the T into the infield. The older boy got a chance to bat as well and did great. If there’s one thing he knows how to do, that’s hit. Out past the outfield a group of young men were playing Ultimate Frizbie in the grass. For a while I wrestled with contemplating which do I hate more, the sport or the people who play the sport, but decided against it. I can get far to easily distracted by my likes and dislikes, loosing focus on what brings me out there in the first place. Last night it was to witness another passing milestone: First hit in a uniform. On the way home he says from the back seat all excited. “The coach called me a natural.” Long pause. “…I don’t even know what that is!” You know, come to think of it, he does ...

Well the Prairie Dogs got themselves into the studio this past weekend and started working on their upcoming CD. All in all it went very smoothly and by 4pm Saturday we had the basic tracks to seven songs in the bag, so to speak. We’ll go in again on Wednesday and see if we can hammer out another four or so, leaving maybe one or two more songs to try and get somehow. Doug and I spend the better part of Friday night getting everything ready so’s all we’d have to do Saturday morning is just plug in and start recording. Quite surprisingly, that’s just about how easy it went. I spent a good part of Sunday putting in a new hard drive in my computer, because the old one’s all full, and being frustrated because nothing I ever do to my computer is an easy project. There is always that little twist that makes things take twice as long to do and twice as complicated as I though it would be. But the good news is I won, got the new hard drive in, and dumped the stuff we recorded on S...

I don’t understand Christianity. In fact, as I get older I find myself further and further away from unraveling the mystery of what people find so comforting in this belief system. After the funeral today, the second this week, I was left with the lingering question; “what do Christians think we’re doing here?” And when I say “here” I mean here on earth, here in the right now. Are we all just hanging around to see if we can get into heaven? Is this reality that we’re living in just some sort of cattle pen, a conveyor belt sorting system, designed to weed out those of us worthy of the great beyond? If God created this, us, and Heaven and everything then why this unnecessary step? Why would He put us in this unforgiving world? Is it that God is just a mass producer, where quantity is the goal, leaving the weeding out of the undesirable broken toys until a later time? Has He created some sort of quality control slaughterhouse where, when He’s seen enough, the souls get divid...

C_. died Monday. He had lived in the trailer park longer than anyone else, having moved here right after it opened in 1947. He was a kind old man who lived into his nineties and raised begonias in the little space he called his back yard. I told the older boy about it last night. He had grown kind of fond of C_. and enjoyed giving him hugs when he saw him. He didn't say much at first, then after a bit, asked if he had died because he was so old. Later on when we were reading books he told me he didn't really like it when people say someone died. I didn't take it personally in fact in a way I agreed with him. One of the stories we read used the phrase that someone "croaked" and after a slight pause the boy asked if C_. had croaked. I think I told him that you can use that word, but it seems a little crass to use slang to describe death, or something like that. I think the boy and I silently agreed that no death of a kind old man deserved that. It too...

Last year around this time I set out a small list of things that I wanted to accomplish in my 37th year. I thought I’d take a narcissistic moment to explore the results of that list and perhaps start a new one. My goals this year include there being less of me at next years birthday week. I simply must get my lazy fat ass under control. Success. I’ve lost 30 pounds since this time last year. VTo write more music and spend more time recording. Total failure on this one. To kiss my Sweetie more often, whether she wants me to or not. I did ok. To play with the boys more often. I did ok To eat better tasting food. Could do better To remember the mantra, though love and beauty are everywhere, they are found in the strangest of places. That I know is true. To get to bed earlier. Dismal To realize that watching the Styx “Behind the music” for the fifth time is probably enough even though it’s still just as funny as it was the first time. I didn’t watch it once. To ea...

We have a ghost. Sweeties been hearing little footsteps at night come down the hall, come into our room and stop at the side of our bed. I've never heard it until night before last. Ike, our littlest, was crying and I was half trying to wake up and half hoping he'd get himself back to sleep when I heard a little kids voice quietly say "Don't cry baby, it's ok". I sat up and went in expecting to find the older boy comforting his baby brother, but he was in his own bed sound asleep. It's a little kid. I don't know if it's a boy or girl, though if I had to guess I'd say a girl younger than six. My friend from Indy says we should set up the camcorder in the hallway to see if we can get it on film. I'm just not so sure I want to see evidence. Right now I can kind of convince myself that it's all in my head and that helps me get to sleep at night. Evidence...that might just be a little too freaky.