First things first – this here bloggy crossed the 10,000 visitor mark. And for that.. I thank you all.. especially you 10 or so who visit multiple times in a day to check on today’s conversations. I really enjoy those conversations… so again.. thank you everyone!
It’s been quite some time since I wrote a post after midnight, in the beginning of autumn I became a morning blogger, and I really don’t know how much it has changed my writing… but I do believe we are different people, in the morning vs. at night… right? I think up great schemes when I’m in the shower, most of my blog posts are developed while applying shampoo. (Kiss my Face imported from Trader Joes!)
Enough of the small talk. This morning.. bright and early at the break-a-break-a dawn, I’m hopping on the international train with the big B on its engine. Destination: Brussels. Objective: A down-home St. Nicholas weekend with my Portuguese-Belgian cousins and godson. I’ve been racking my brains all week trying to figure out what to buy the kids, ages 10 and 5. I stress about this because I’m determined to buy gifts with purpose, but I also try to listen to BitchPhD and her xmas strategy.
I’m the guy who spends hours in that tiny section they call “education toys.” What a nightmare, here in Amsterdam. The only thing I learned from seeing the educational toy section is that there isn’t much education to go around. Worse was when I ventured over to the “educational multimedia” section, where every title seemed to say DISNEY on it. I don’t necessarily have a problem with Disney, but don’t tell me that’s your educational software section!
The thing that haunts me is the roles we assign children early on. You hear the conversations all the time:
Cousin: What's little bm into
BM's Mom: Oh you know, he loves drawing
-Cut to BM receiving enough art supplies
to arm the entire American military.
And suddenly he's the artistic one in the family.
So I’m guilty of this as well… one cousin likes electricty and science, the other seems to like art and creative-do-it-yourself stuff. So sure enough, I get them stuff related. Poor kids… imagine the day where they wake up and just say… “you know what… from now on.. I like backgammon. Skrew this science stuff.”
You have no idea how often I looked at guitars today and thought “I’ll be him one.. and then get him lessons… and a gig.. and a band.. and a record deal.. ooooh man it’s gonna be a great life.”
What’s my point? I dunno.. poor kids… they have to deal with morons like me who start assigning them their careers based on a little interest.
Today’s Sounds: Joseph Arthur – (Something Indy.. I don’t remember.)