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Into our family life.

Elijah will often come home and say this same phrase: “I was the only one in my English class today who knew what (fill in the blank) meant.”

Most recently, it was a Napoleon complex.

Before that, it was propaganda.

And if you ask him how he knows about these things, he gets insulted. “I read things!” And he does. Always reading stuff online, looking up information on all kinds of stuff. What’s weird is he retains. Everything.

Nathaniel had what I’ve come to think of as an Elijah-moment the other day. Daniel doesn’t really like peas, so I never make them. Like, ever. But the other day we were having mashed potatoes and I like peas in mine so I made some. Nathaniel was busy so he ate later than us. He went into the kitchen, saw the peas, and asked, “Is there something wrong with the corn?”

I didn’t know what he was talking about. He said, “Why is the corn green?”

Today at church, our stake president spoke. He’s the leader over several congregations in our area. And he always likes to speak in these extended metaphors. Daniel describes his talks like this: “There was a bicycle and a rabbit, and they did some stuff…So don’t be a pancake!”

This morning his talk was all about being goalies (Olympics-inspired). I leaned over to Catherine and said, “So don’t be a mailbox!” just as Daniel leaned over to me and said, “So don’t be a palm tree!”

There’s a story behind this picture.

The other day we were in downtown L.A. My son Nathaniel and I were walking on the sidewalk under these windows when someone threw a glass bottle out a window and it crashed into pieces just ahead of where we were. A woman across the street (where this pic was taken from) started yelling "Hey man don’t be throwing stuff out the window! There are people down here!" etc. Nathaniel and I considered inching along close to the building to get past the spot where more bottles might come crashing down but instead just jaywalked across the street.

The woman was still yelling at the guy and he poked his head out the window. I tried to snap a picture of him but when he saw my camera he ducked back inside.

Sometimes I want to tell people, "Don’t worry, the picture will be all blurry."

The woman kept talking. She said, "You could kill someone doing that! I seen it happen before. Right on this street a couple weeks ago!"

Isn’t that a great name for a band?

For Christmas just about all Nathaniel wanted was cash so he could go to shows, so that’s what he got. Problem is I don’t want to be spending money for me to go to shows now that Daniel’s unemployed, and he doesn’t have a driver’s license. Since Dillon wouldn’t go with him to see this band he wanted to see, Animals As Leaders, Nathaniel sprang for my ticket and I took him.

The show was at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go. Famous venue (the Doors played there!) but totally lame. Any venue on the Sunset Strip is lame…but the Whiskey packs like 8 bands on a bill and lets them all play about 4 songs. And some of the bands actually pay the venue to be able to play there.

Some thoughts during the opening bands.

First band (that we saw): Will someone just stick a fork in my eyeball already?

Second band: Bubblegum metal…How much more cookie cutter can you get?…Can I stick a fork in his eyeball?

Third band: Closed my eyes and almost went to sleep.

Animals As Leaders were awesome. I wasn’t sure what to expect since I didn’t know anything about them, but they’re doing stuff I’ve never seen anyone else do. Two guitarists on 8-string guitars, with a drummer, and no vocals. Their songs are proggy/mathy. They have heavy moments and they have soft moments. There were a couple laptops in use too, for samples I think. Or drum loops or something.

It’s always awesome to see a black guy in a metal band. And he rips on guitar.

The crowd loved them, which I was a little surprised by, since they’d also loved some of the previous bands that were like torture to me. There was even a big pit going, which was interesting—I don’t really see their music as something to mosh to.

Sad part—one of the guitarists had intrument/equipment problems, and it took awhile for him to get it fixed. They only played five songs!

Here’s what they sound like:

…about Daniel.

1. When you turn on a video camera, he turns into a goofball:

2. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, he’ll jump up for no reason and start moving around in a funny way. I suppose you could call it “dancing.”

3. He’s super smart. In all the areas that I’m not.

4. He loves both Fergie and Exodus.

5. His favorite radio stations are KDAY, which plays old school hip hop, and Christian talk radio. He generally laughs at one of them. I’ll let you figure out which.

6. He has recently taken up knitting and makes really cool beanies. I’d post a picture but I don’t have any…I’ll work on that.

7. He makes me laugh.

8. He never does anything halfway.

9. He makes me a better person. As irritating as that can be sometimes.

10. He tries to build up the people around him. Consciously tries. And does.

11. He understands me. He knows that when I need time alone it’s not in any way a reflection on my feelings for him.

12. He’s a good dad. And he tries to be. The other day he was asking the kids what he can do to make them feel loved. The answers were things he already does regularly: hug them and tell them he loves them.

13. He shares my taste for bad TV. Tonight we’re watching Criminal Minds. And we’re excited about it.

14. He’s fearless.

15. He actually likes my cooking. And no, there’s no particular reason this comes after #14.

16. He will occasionally admit to liking a chick flick. But only if it in some way is relatable to us. Isn’t that sweet?

17. He’s got amazing hair. And he’ll do unexpected thing with it, like this:

Get a perm

Bleach it white

Get a mullet

18. Need I say more?

19. He once dressed up as a priest for Halloween, and suggested I dress up as a pregnant nun.

(Actually the pregnant part may have been my idea. But note the black hair–we can’t remember him dying it black, but apparently he did!)

20. He’s my favorite person in the whole world.

21. After 21 years of being married, our favorite thing is still to spend time together. Happy anniversary!

Daniel in high school:

Daniel now:

I’ve only heard it about three times though.

Go Alison!

Last night Daniel and I were watching TV and a commercial for the new movie, Valentine’s Day, came on.

Daniel: “That movie has so many big stars in it and it looks so stupid.”

Me, all disgusted: “That’s cuz it’s about Valentine’s Day. Who cares about Valentine’s Day?”

Pause.

Me: “Am I like the most unromantic spouse ever?”

Daniel: “Yes. And it rules.”

Do you know who this song is about?

It’s about the serial killer John Wayne Gacy, Jr. I tend to embrace the grisly, so I love this song. Another good song about a killer is “Diane” by Husker Du. It’s creepy because it’s told from the point of view of the killer. But Sufjan takes it a step further—he asks what we have in common with a killer. It’s disturbing.

And brilliant.

Here is the restaurant I mentioned eating at during my photo walk around the eastside of Long Beach, a little taco place, where the kitchen/cashier area was barred off from the seating area:

I think that’s all I’ve uploaded so far from Long Beach. That window you see in the back is the walk-up window, you can order from the sidewalk.

We’ve had rain here so it’s been hard to get out much. I went to the park one day with Cat and her boyfriend when it was raining. Here they are reflected in a mud puddle:

It’s rare that we get rain around here. But all last week we were soaked.

I took this picture of a tree and bushes next to a wall that surrounds a gated housing development before we headed home:

I almost didn’t get it because I had to cross the street to get over to it and by this time we were really cold. But it was calling to me. I’m glad I took it. You can see the same wall on the left in this photo:

The park we went to overlooks the Bolsa Chica Wetlands, but you have to climb through bushes to see it.

I managed to catch some graffiti being removed the other day also, when I was on my bike:

That was taken with a fisheye camera.

Here’s a picture Cat took of me driving the truck awhile ago:

Wish I had more to say…I’m pretty braindead today!

In case you missed his farewell on the Tonight Show last night. Very classy. And what he says at the end is very powerful.