Random Updates

Something I Currently Love: the band Foster the People

Listening to this CD as I type this out... definitely my current favorite band! I was lucky enough to attend their sold-out show at the House of Blues with two work friends in July, and they put on an amazing show. Great energy, sound, fun, dance-y in a way, and apparently they're cute (so says Suzy, who was at the concert and was all about the bass player, haha)... speaking of - if I'm ever in a rock band, I call the bass. They're always just chillin, rocking out, doing their thing, and I already play that in the video game Rock Band. :P

And it's funny at work to hear Suzy's mom start to sing the chorus... "all the other kids with the pumped up kicks..."



Things to Not Say to a Lady: Never tell a lady that she smells like sushi. Either you know why or you don't... needless to say, I didn't know why at the time. So in my naiveté I told Suzy's mom that she smelled like sushi, and she was all "no, no I do not!" To which I made it worse and said "yeah you do", and other people who were overhearing this were trying not to crack up while I was oblivious as to what was going on... sigh. When the story was retold at work today (and this happened yesterday), it made for a good laugh (she does a good job at telling the story, embellishing it just enough and making me blush)... we'll see how long the teasing goes, haha.

My Celebrity Doppelgänger: Awhile ago, it was a thing on Facebook to temporarily change your profile pic to that of a celeb. I really don't think I have one, so I didn't participate in the shenanigans. But I was walking downtown this evening, and some guy (not sure if he was homeless or not) asked me for change. I was in a rush and had no change, so I curtly replied "sorry" and kept walking. But then he called out again and said "hey man, you know you look like Tiger Woods?" I didn't turn back around, but I did laugh to myself... this was the second time in 6 years that I was told I resemble the golfer, with the first time being when my buddy Pete pulled me up on stage at Lestat's to beat up a piñata. Good times. :)

Confessions of a Reverend

Two weekends ago, I had the honor of officiating at my cousin John's wedding to his longtime girlfriend Katrine. Here are five thoughts. (Confessions just sounded cooler in the title. What.) 

1. I still can't believe it. My little cousin is now married, and they already have a beautiful little daughter... and she is suuuuuuuch a cutie-pie. It's very rad seeing my cousin start his family. He was always like my little brother growing up. He gave me the name "Rara" (because he couldn't say my actual name), and I gave him the name "Sas-See" (say it like "sassy"). I have no clue why, considering I was older and could read/speak well enough. But luckily for him, as we got older, the nickname went away. I'm still Ra, of course. "Rev Ra", as they call me, as it was very cool that they asked me to perform the ceremony. 

2. I sooooooo wanted to drink before the ceremony. Seriously! This is the second straight wedding when all I wanted to do was a have a few drinks before the ceremony with all the other guys, but couldn't out of fear that I'd be sloppy in my speeches. But I wanted to be good and I took my officiant duties seriously, to give it the gravitas that it deserved. (But as soon as I no longer had to speechify? It. Was. On.)

3. I'm staunchly against doing the "first look" now. I didn't have much of an opinion beforehand, and knew very little about it. But J and K didn't want to do that... he spent the night at one of his groomsman's apartment, and she didn't even want any of the guys to see her at all until she marched down the aisle. But it was so.... I'll say "cute" to see him all nervous and jittery beforehand - not in the "cold feet" way, but in the "can't believe this is happening and can't wait to see her" way. And then... to see him as finally saw her in her dress as she walked down with her parents... to see the tears of joy and love in both their eyes as her parents brought them together... it was just surreal and so cool to witness. I had to make sure I kept my composure too, since I had to run the ceremony, but I was getting all verklempt. The ceremony went off without a hitch. But thinking about it as the evening went on, I decided that I want that moment too. 

4. How do you *not* get up to dance or at the very least start to shimmy when the opening drum beats to MJ's "Billie Jean" starts playing? That was the very first song the DJ played to get the dancing started. I stayed in my chair, sad to say, as I saw only couples getting up on the dance floor. But I did groove to it with my head and shoulders, until later on, Katrine's sister grabbed me from my chair and dragged me to the floor. It was a great time! I haven't been to many weddings, but the DJ and the music had everyone dancing - even my parents got up for a bit too! "I throw my hands up in the air sometimes..."

5. Everyone's having babies. Well, maybe not everyone... but John and Katrine have little Saylor, and Cody and Emily have Everett... other friends are looking at adopting (which I've always wanted to do), and another couple just told me they're expecting, so it's a rad time. In the case of Saylor, I can just be the cool "uncle", and you betcha I will spoil her. I'll have no legit nieces and nephews of my own, since I'm an only child, so my cousin's kids will be getting lots of love. In talking with my cuz, I was tripping out about how when Saylor turns 13, I'll be 40. To quote Joey from Blossom, "WHOA!" Haha... Johnny did ask when I'd be giving Saylor a little cousin to play with, but that's a long time coming. Although, I did get the idea to name my first son "Cameron Joseph"... the reasons being threefold. First, I like the name "Cameron". Second, "Joseph" works in honor of my mom (Josephine). Third (and why I *really* like the combo), it gives my kid options in that it's a normal middle name (which I personally do not have) AND he can go by his initials (CJ). Haha. 

Choice

Random thoughts/reflections before heading to bed.

Every day we're confronted with choices. Some are simple, and some are complex. Sometimes you end up fighting your natural inclinations when confronted with a decision that you need to make. Do you take the easy path, the one where you know the outcome? Or do you take a risk and choose the less comfortable option, putting your faith to the test?

"If a moment is the gate through which your divine journey begins, then choice is the key that unlocks the adventure."

Random - Movies

A few days ago, I started thinking about the movies we used to watch as kids. I don't remember what triggered these memories in my head, but I started to reminisce. In my childhood, a staple for me and my cousins was to watch those Disney sing-a-long videos, where you'd follow the bouncing Mickey Mouse head to the lyrics, over scenes from Disney movies or the Disney parks (...land, ...world, ...which makes me wonder why there's no Disneyuniverse Park somewhere). And of course, the regular Disney movies, like "The Aristocats", "Beauty and the Beast", "Aladdin", and so on.

But what I was really reminiscing about was what I like to think are the top 3 movies of my youth - the ones I'd watch over and over with my cousins, and we'd have our favorite scenes, know the lines, etc. The short list may surprise you.

In no particular order --

1) Sister Act 2.

Not only did we have the movie (VHS y'all), we rocked the (cassette) soundtrack in my aunt's minivan all the time. It wasn't as successful as the original, but it was so much more fun! Now that I think about it, the high school setting of kids who could really sing and the teacher who tried to pull it all together totally reminds me of "Glee". The songs were hella catchy. I mean, "if you wanna be somebody, if you wanna go somewhere, you better wake up and pay attention"... yeah, I can still sing along. And the "Joyful, Joyful" medley that brought St. Francis Academy the state championship always had us singing and dancing along in the living room. Our favorite was the song over the closing credits, where the credits rolled over the cast singing and dancing to "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". Man, I wanna watch this movie again. Oh, and it's what introduced me to Lauryn Hill - whose music I still enjoy today. "Some girls/guys are only about that thing, that thing, that thiiiiiiiiing..."

2) Hocus Pocus

Yup, the Halloween movie with a young Thora Birch, Sarah Jessica Parker, and a talking cat named Binx. I never really celebrated Halloween (dang my parents and their overly conservatism), but my cousins and I watched this one alot no matter what season of the year. I don't remember too much of the story now - I know three witches came back from the dead because a virgin lit a special candle, and they needed to absorb the soul of a young girl before sunrise in order to remain alive again. Kinda ridiculous, but it worked. It wasn't scary, it was Disney-ish without being under their umbrella, and it had a fun musical number... that my cousins and I knew the moves. Moving on...

3) Ghost

I know, right? Why are a group of kids under the age of 12 enjoying this movie? Maybe we had a thing for Whoopi Goldberg because of "Sister Act"? Actually, that did have a lot to do with it. She was the comic relief in the movie (and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress that year), and her relationship with Patrick Swayze's character was very endearing. She was the fraud psychic who all of a sudden could communicate with this ghost trying to send a message of warning to his love, and while the movie wasn't a comedy, their interactions provided a deal of humor to the dark yet romantic yet suspenseful film. Our favorite scene that we watched over and over and over was Oda Mae (Whoopi) first starts hearing Sam's (Swayze) voice and she starts freaking out when she realizes she can actually hear a ghost during the fake seance she was conducting. We just found the scene incredibly hilarious ("Sam Wheat???") - what can I say, we were young.

And thus ends my random trip down memory lane. [bows]