Jim's 40th Birthday Party

Jim's 40th birthday party theme was "Star Wars", which should be no surprise. What surprised me was the news that they were hiring people to dress up as Princess Leia and Darth Vader to attend the party. I swear I didn't know this was just a casual joke, I'm sure I heard it mentioned several times as earnest fact, and it creeped me out not a little. Strange are the Sweeneys and strange their humor.

Arrived late and most of the guests were watching the Triple Crown horse race on Jim's big, imposing TV. This horse race was explained to me but I still don't understand. It sounds like one horse won a third of the race, another horse won the second third, and the actual winner of the race was yet to be determined. Whatever, but a Triple Crown sounds pretty cool. Like all unfair things in life, though, they probably won't let the horse wear it, they'll probably give it to the friggin' jockey.

Tried getting some decent pictures of Jarod, young Tyler Keck (blond son of my blond pal and old school roommate Jason and his wife Tracey [whom I never roomed with]) and Lyla Joy, Jarod's pal since infancy. Kids weren't really into it, though. While I was trying to get the picture of Jarod and Lyla they were both on the verge of meltdown; I told them "We're just pretending to take a picture, there's no film in the camera. Look at the camera but don't smile, this is just pretend."

Nicolette and I may look sleepy but we'd just driven two and a half hours.

My old pal Bruce was wearing a bright yellow shirt, gotta get me one of those, one really stands out in photos. I've know Bruce since 1988, almost 20 years, met at a college bible of Mount Soledad Presbyterian church - it has since reincarnated into two separate churches. One of Bruce's most fascinating qualities is that his existence is such that he doesn't have to work, he just travels around most of the time, goes to see his friends, visits places. I'm going to try to get him to work chez John & Nicole into his rotation once we move out of the Blue House, ramble onto new territory.

You'll see Jason instructing son Tyler regarding the backyard sprinkler head. As I recall, the young guy was fully into sprinklers that day. When I was younger I might have chortled up my sleeve at the idea of a child taking a long-term serious interest in sprinklers. After taking such a long, harrowing time myself to discover something profitable to work at as an adult, you will not ever catch me thusly chortling.

I managed to catch Mom engaged in her hobby of taking out garbage whenever she can get hold of some, whether she's at her own house or anyone else's. If she can see it, it's up for grabs.

Things started winding down eventually somehow. Tracey and Nicole planted themselves on the couch for a while chitchatting. Found Pa out back snoozing.

When you open Jim's Mr. Spock birthday card, you can hear Mr. Spock saying the mystery word "Irritating."

Culture Shock: Southern Gospel Music

Last Saturday I took Nicole to her favorite yearly concert event - Bill Gaither and His Homecoming Friends Southern Gospel Music Explosion (I'm the only one who calls it an "Explosion"). It was at the Honda Center in Anaheim, formerly the Anaheim Pond.

Okay! I went with an opened mind, and my mind is still open. I can't say this event didn't boast a lot of energy. The crowd roared like a lion. And the music was LOUD.

The merchandising wasn't obnoxious, but the food prices were. I ordered two sodas and a pretzel for us and I thought the lady said it cost $4.50. I handed her a $5 and she gave me a funny look. I misheard, it was $12.50. Later I noticed that if I had wanted a Rubios chicken burrito it would have cost me $7.25. I don't go to a lot of arena events and I was surprised.

Nicole has about twenty or thirty Southern Gospel music DVDs and in addition she often finds Southern Gospel concerts on cable t.v. I thought I was pretty well prepared for this show. I know that I don't have a natural connection with Southern Gospel music, but this show was as alien to me as Arapaho folk dancing. However, it was equally American.

Besides the Gaither Vocal Band, the concert featured a blind pianist who cut up with the sighted performers and a family of Apalachian bluegrass musicians. In addition, there was a quartet of young male vocalists (lead singer, tenor singer, bass singer and baritone singer) called Signature Sound who are very popular with the young and vital among Southern Gospel music enthusiasts, none of which were in the audience at this concert besides Nicole.

Did I mention that it was four hours long? For the first hour I was interested. After two hours I was still patient. After three hours my eyes were drooping heavily and my bottom hurt. After four hours I was fried. During that fourth hour I was startled when Nicole made a comment to me about a performer and I realized that she was still totally into it. Indeed, the senior citizens surrounding us were all very much into the show even at that point.

Just after the intermission I got a good shot of some nearby spectators. My favorite is the guy in the top left corner with his head on the lady's shoulder.

After the concert I noticed that Nicole seemed a little sad. She said that she was concerned that I didn't have a good time. I told her that I didn't have a good time, but I didn't have a bad time either, I was just tired. It's good to expose oneself to alien environments. She said that she often goes to these things alone because she thinks no one would be willing to go with her. I know what it's like to have to go to unusual events by myself because I can't find anyone to go with me. I told her that I will go back with her next year and keep her company. And I will be prepared, I'm going to download a book onto my faux ipod.