It’s always weird when there’s a major holiday in the middle of the week. It kind of throws everyone off, not knowing what day it actually is. It causes people to take off more days than they probably would. I imagine it causes at least 1, if not 2, very unproductive workdays. Wednesday people want a half day, then people are groggy on Friday. I think it should be more fluid. Sure, we celebrate July the 4th. But I’ve heard freedom was actually declared on July 2nd. And I don’t think it matters. We were already free in our minds long before a declaration was made. And, we weren’t actually free for a long time after that. I’m sure we could be just as proud of our freedom if we celebrated the first weekend of July. You’d still get an extra day off, but it’d be planned in. Happy Independence Weekend! I think people would get used to it. Doesn’t independence deserve more than just 1 day!? I don’t know if you consider Halloween a major holiday, but I have a similar feeling about it. Does the 31st really matter?! Most of us don’t do the All-Saints Day anyway, so does it really matter what day it happens? The last Saturday in October seems fine to me. I think it would to a lot of other people too. Most people are waiting until “Halloween Weekend” anyway, why not just make it that? We live in this country that has at its core, one of the most fundamental and amazing values, the ability to change it. Sometimes it feels like we’re trying to keep things “as they were,” while at the same time, a lot of other people are trying to shake things up. It’s a very interesting time to be alive. And I feel, that while we’re trying to shake things up, lets change a few things that might make a difference to all of our lives. I think doing so would put the emphasis back on the idea of independence, not what the date happens to be.
Oh well, having
said all of that, my 4th was good. Although it is a little weird,
because I am not that patriotic. Sorry if you didn’t know that until now. I
appreciate the idea that we’re trying to work with, I’m happy to live in a
place that is trying to fuse things, I’m glad to be in a country that affords
me the freedoms we do have, but there’s still a lot of work to do. And sometimes,
looking around, it doesn’t seem like we’re all in this together. Those feelings
make it hard to feel this unity idea that I think some of us are looking for.
People seem very glad to have an extra day off, but it all felt much more about
that extra day off than it did celebrating independence. Which is fine with me.
I’m sure we’re all glad to be “free.” And I’m sure most of us at least took a
little bit of time to think about what the whole thing means, even if we didn’t
really talk about it with anyone. To me it’s also a little funny hanging out
with people who are “extra day off happy.” It reminds me of a line from one of
my favorite songs: “Funny thing about weekends when you’re unemployed, they don’t
mean quite so much, except you get to hang out with your working friends.” That’s
kind of how I felt. But, at the same time, I kind of feel that I did have to
work because… I had band practice! The new cow punk band decided they wanted to
practice! We’ve got a pretty big show coming up on the 20th. We are
kind of almost ready. We decided to double up on practices, and since everyone was
available yesterday it became a good day to practice, and have people over for
a barbeque so they could hear what we’ve been up to. So, I had a pool party at
1 with the Bessone Group, and then practice/party with the Hustler Group at 6!
I must say, I
paced myself very well. I’ve still got 7 beers left of an 18 pack. And that was
for both of us! I didn’t want to practice sloppy, and I was scared of driving
UI, so I was just good:) Well I’m sure some wouldn’t call it “good,” but I was
not UI. The pool felt great! It’s been 90 here all week. The next 2 days might
get close to 100! Yikes. Oh well, at least it only lasts for a month or two. We’re
going to another pool party on Sunday, so that’ll be nice. Except I have band
practice! From 2-5! That’s prime swimming time! I’m not even sure if I’ll get
to go. I tried to have practice early, so I can go swim, but it didn’t work out
for everybody. Dang it! I can’t imagine people still swimming at 5:30, on a
Sunday. Maybe I’ll just jump in. I’ll have to go pick Susan up anyway. Oh well,
the pressure of being in multiple bands. We played pretty well yesterday. This
was most people’s first chance to hear us. They seemed genuinely excited. I
hope we have the same effect in front of people we don’t know. Speaking of
people we don’t know: The show on Sunday kicked ass! Holy crap! We tore it up! The
venue was packed, and I don’t know if that lit a spark or what, but we killed
it. I’ve watched the videos, and our front man was on fire. We all were. In our
own way. There were so many people there to see us, it was insane! People we
don’t know! Full house! Sold out! Unbelievable! The headliner’s bass broke
halfway through their set, and asked to borrow mine. I had to run to the car to
get it. It was so weird seeing some other dude up on stage playing my bass. I
had never seen it in anyone else’s hand before, it was a little weird. But, at
the same time, it was awesome getting to hear it from the audience perspective.
I was almost like a proud dad, my boy was up there, and he sounded great!
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