2 Things I Learned Today

So two things became very clear to me today:

1) The rain obviously contains some sort of chemical that when breathed into 99% of people's lungs causes their brains to turn off while driving a car, truck, minivan, bus, SUV, Hybrid, or any other motorized vehicle allowed on the road. Luckily, or possibly unluckily, I belong to the other 1% that seem to be immune to the effect of the rain, and in turn have to suffer at the hands of these people. I am sorry, but just because there is a little bit of water dropping from the sky, does that mean you can not go the speed limit and need to constantly hit your breaks for miles on end???

2) It doesn't really matter what type of car you drive, it means nothing towards the type of person or driver you are. You could be an old man in a convertible sports car, you still drive like an old man. You could be a rich middle-aged woman in a BMW you are still parked in the left lane going 5 miles under the speed limit talking on your cell phone. And you may be a 20-something guy driving a Mustang/Lexus/Camaro/Civic, you are still a meat head who will try and race off the line at a red light only to have to wear out your brakes to stop at the red light at the next intersection.

So yes, even though it was a rather uneventful day, I was still able to observe and learn a few things...

The Music in Her

My daughter has become my pseudo DJ whenever we are in the car. She requests...let me rephrase that, she TELLS me what she wants to listen to whenever we are driving. It has become quite comical, as well as a bit frustrating at time, but I must say that I adore the love that she is showing to have for music.

Her musical taste is mighty eclectic, as is a direct reflection of my wife and I. Her favorite musicians include 3 Doors Down, Metallica, Staind, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, and Billy Joel, just to name a few. She will, at any moment, tell out that she wants to hear one of the above mentioned artists, but not just by name but also certain songs (eg. "Piano Man", "Kryptonite") and sometimes by which track number ("The beginning song Daddy!"). But what I find most intriguing is how she will sit stone-faced the first time she hears a song/CD and then ask for it to be repeated over and over again. I finally realized she was doing this because she was trying to listen to the lyrics and memorize them (thus one Saturday afternoon several weeks ago when we had to listen to "On the Floor" by Jennifer Lopez about 25 times).

In addition to loving to listen to and memorizing songs, I have noticed that she will also at times start tapping her hands on her lap as if playing with the drum beat, or strum her hand as if playing the guitar, things no doubt she learned by watching me as I am driving. She truly does have the music in her, and it makes me a very proud Daddy...

All HOPE

While driving to work yesterday I came to a stop light, and on the back of the Mini Cooper in front of me was the bumper sticker shown here on the right. As I sat there waiting for the green light (pretty ironic given the current state of our country and economy), something occurred to me. This picture and the word below it are very telling, and kind of sum up where we are at. HOPE.

You see, no one can complain that Obama isn't doing what he had promised to in his campaign, nor can they say it was false advertising. You see, the bumper sticker slogan says it all, HOPE. When I look at this picture, I see the mindset that is taking us down. What most people who ended up voting for him say in this picture was "I will give you hope for a better future". But what I see, and I think it is becoming the reality as the days go by, is that it means "Let's hope that I can do a better job than the last guy". Unfortunately, not only is he not doing a better job and getting us out of a very troubling situation, but he is actually doing the opposite.

Think back to when you were a child, whether it be at home or school or any organization you were part of, and the meaning of words. When you are in athletics or any competitive activity, do they teach you to "hope" you go out and do well? No, they tell you to believe in yourself and think positively that you can get it done. No one goes out and says "I hope I can win today", or "I hope I can do my job". It is almost as if this slogan gives a built-in excuse, the ability to say "hey, I told you to HOPE I could do it".

The future of this country should not be built on HOPE, it should be built on knowledge and confidence. Hoping that we can get out of the troubles that our country is in is not going to do it. Hoping we can put people back to work and get our of the Middle East and stabilize the economy isn't going to make it happen. The country was convinced by the media and ad campaigns that by voting for Obama this gave you HOPE of a brighter future, but in the end shouldn't we trust our country in the hands of knowledge and confidence instead of HOPE??? so maybe this next election we can vote for someone who isn't HOPING to do a good job...

How Old is Too Old?

Today I began to think about where my life is compared to what I wanted out of life when I was younger. You know, how when you are a kid and the whole "When I grow up I want to be a ____" thing. We all usually have these grandiose ideas of what we want to be, like a pro athlete, an actor, a doctor, the president, etc. So it got me to thinking, at what point are we "grown up", and how old is too old to continue chasing a childhood dream?

For me, I had always wanted to be a baseball player, or at least into my early teenage years. After that, I began to play music and learned to play guitar and it became wanting to be a rock star and play music for a living. As much of a passion as I have always had for music and playing guitar, it is something that I never seriously pursued. I played in a few makeshift groups when I was in my teens and early 20's, but nothing that panned out. Then I began working "real" jobs when it came to the point of needing to make a living. and now here I am 35 years old with a wife, child, mortgage and a "real job", which has nothing to do with music or any other childhood aspirations. Not that I ever really gave up on my dream and passion for music, but life just kind of happened and it wasn't a priority. I am sure this is something that many people, probably most, have gone through, but maybe I just obsess over it more than most.

And so now I sit and think, as I have many times before, if it is something I could ever fall back into if I tried to follow that distant dream? When do we come to the realization that this is what our life is going to be, that this is our reality? At what point do we give up the idea of chasing childhood dreams? Or is it a healthy thing to always have an eye on something more??

Is it selfish to want something more for yourself, when you have a life that is set and complete? Sure, some things you can go to school for as an adult and change courses, but others age gets in the way. At 35 you can't start up as a pro athlete (unless you are looking to join the Pro Bowling Association maybe), nor do you see many musicians who got their start that late in life. And when you have a job and a family and bills, it isn't as easy as saying "let me start over and try this instead".

So when is it time to look ahead and not behind? How old is too old to want to try and catch a taste of the sweetness of dreams you had in your youth? This is a question I ask myself all the time...