The marching in of all the different dignitaries is finished. The Presidency of Barrack Obama is about to begin.
I hope this is be the beginning of a better time for America, and for the rest of the world that has had to deal with us recently.
It feels like quite some time ago that the election actually happened and even longer since the campaign started.
Finally. Finally! Today is here!
Movin In - The Presidents Of The United States Of America
Day 931, Session 152:
When/Where: Tuesday January 13th - Basement, kitchen, living room. (aka laundry, dishes, pick-up)
First song: Into The Woods by My Morning Jacket
Last full song: Introitus by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Progress: 2686-2700 of 6741
Total Songs Heard: 1979
Mozart totally had it right, definitely suffering form "Intro"-itus today. 11 of the 15 tunes were either "Intro"s or "Introductions" and that's not counting Mozart's Introitus which probably is just Latin for Intro. What flashed through my head while listening to 11 different intros?
1. Dave Matthew's fans are insane. They screamed and cheered through the entire 6:25 Intro to their Listener Supported concert cd. I will admit that I am not intimately familiar with Dave Matthew's concerts (although I have been to a few) and it is possible that the band was actually playing a song during Intro, but to me, it just sounded like the band was warming up on stage, and the crowd was eating it up.
2. I still don't understand why rap cds feel the need to include "skits" in with all the music. De La Soul failed twice, on "3 Feet High and Rising" and "De La Soul Is Dead," by starting the cd with lame skits. In fact, if I hadn't recently changed iPods, I wouldn't even have heard the skits. I removed them all from tracks that went on the old iPod. The old iPod was completely full so many things had to be cut. The new iPod is 5 times bigger, so everything goes on.
3. There's no reason to have an Intro track, even for a live concert, last longer than 1 minute. I understand the desire to give us a full concert experience, but if you're taking over a minute between when you're brought to the stage and when you start your first song, you need to seriously examine your performance style.
4. When I was in 2nd grade, there was a new girl. She wasn't in my 2nd grade class, Ms. Sullivan's, but in Mrs. Kintzel's class at the other end of the hall. She was kind of cute. My intro to her went something like this:
[Setting: School Cafeteria]
Me: [Walking up to her in the drink line] Hi Brooke. Is that like Brooke Shields?
Her: [Immediately kicks me directly in the shins, then turns and walks away.]
Me: Ouch!
That's it. That's all I remember about the girl. The whole thing took less than a minute, just like any good intro should.
Day 919, Session 151:
When/Where: Thursday January 1st - 36,000 feet over somewhere (the return.)
First song: Inflatable Amy by The Argument
Last full song: Into The Mystic by Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová
Progress: 2113-2139 of 6078
Total Songs Heard: 1964
Vegas travels, part 2:
First things first (and this won't mean anything to you unless you fly Southwest Airlines) we checked into our flight at the very moment that check-in opened up, and we ended up with B11. That means in the 15 seconds (at most) between when check-in opened and when we checked in, 55 people checked in before us. I should have realized this was an omen.
Because we got on the plane much later than we usually do, The Wife and I took the 1st available pair of seats we can find. In row 7 we find our seats (did you know that rows 7 & 8 on planes without a first class section often have more leg room?) and after looking around to assure there are no kids near us we say hello to the nice older lady by the window and take our seats. Immediately upon sitting down the nice old lady proceeds to cough hard enough and long enough to make me absolutely certain she's a lunger. So this is going to be a pleasant 4 hours. AND THEN...
Just before take off, The Wife stands up to make some pre-flight adjustments and her face goes pale. "I don't believe it," she says. I follow her eyes and GODSDAMNIT! It's the kid! and his worthless mother! AGAIN! This time they are on the other side of the aisle and one row behind us. They must have gotten on the plane after we took our seats, because there's no way in hell we would have missed them on intial inspection. 30 seconds after the plane has left the ground, the screaming begins again. I CAN NOT believe it.
So again, I didn't get to do a whole lot of reflecting during this segment as the music was turned up really loud so as to drown out the coughing on the right and the screaming from the left.
I decided to stop after Into The Mystic even though we had 90 minutes left in the flight because if I can't enjoy Into The Mystic (and at this point I couldn't) then there was no point in going on.
Here is how Into The Mystic should be listened to: Get yourself a glass of something (I recommend bourbon on the rocks,) turn down the lights, turn up the music (but not blasting into your ears up,) and let your soul and spirit fly.
Into The Mystic - Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová
I also heartily recommend the original Van Morrison version of the song, but I don't have that one in my collection for some reason. Oh, all right, here it is:
After we got off the plane, we overheard the conversation from the people sitting directly in front of the kid. They couldn't believe no one would stop this kid from crying and kicking the chair for 4 consecutive hours. I told them it could have been worse. It could have been 5. We all laughed, but I don't think any of us felt any better.
According to my sister (who was seated across the aisle and behind the kid for the flight out) the bad mother did not sleep for the entire flight out (which is what we thought she was doing. The Wife and I assumed she was sick.) Nope, apparently she was awake long enough to have several drinks on the flight. Unbelievable.
As a public service, using my new camera phone, I took a picture of the woman as we waited at baggage claim. Please be aware that if you see this woman and her kid on a plane you are also on, you should immediately rebook your flight and possibly change your travel plans to go to an entirely different city. (I realize the picture isn't very clear, but it's not like I could go up to her and ask her to pose for it.)
