Next Blog

Just so you know, this is what I got when I used the "Next Blog" function at the top of the page, and I wanted to share it with you. ITP, no doubt!

watch a weigh my sense

This morning at church a young lady I hardly know was baptized. I’d been upstairs helping out with the kids’ class, but we all headed back to the auditorium to watch. We crowded in at the front of the auditorium, and I had one kid on my lap and more all around me.

Just as the Chloe’s father was about to immerse her in the water, usually a quietly profound and moving moment for the congregation, the eight-year-old boy next to me leaned in and whispered, “Did you know she plays the bagpipes and she’s only in the second grade?”

“Really? That’s cool,” I said admiringly. Then she went under and then she came up clean. We all clapped and rejoiced.

After service, I ran into her as she and her mom were leaving. Her hair was still wet when I hugged her and congratulated her on becoming a Christian.

Then I said, “I hear you play the bagpipes.”

She looked at me the way most kids would look at me if I handed them a set of bagpipes.

Then her mother, who I’d also never spoken to before, caught wind of our conversation and said, “What?”

“Bagpipes,” I repeated, looking back and forth between Chloe and her mother. “Don’t you play the bagpipes? Jack Henderson told me you play the bagpipes…”

She shook her head and her mother laughed. “Oh, Jack. He just made that up.”

I babysit Jack a lot. He’s one of my favorites, so somehow I found myself defending him even in this preposterous situation. “He doesn’t usually lie,” I said, as if I believed there must have been some occasion when Chloe had at least pretended to play the bagpipes and Jack remembered it. I pictured her playing a Scot in a school play, kilted and winded. "You know, Jack Henderson, age eight, reliable source."

They both laughed. I blushed for having believed that a little girl could play pipes that take the air out of full-grown men, and for this being my very first conversation with Chloe or her mother. I suppose it was a good ice breaker.

I told her that next time I see Jack, I will tell him all about how much I enjoyed her recent bagpipe recital.

Surprise!

Have you ever walked into something wonderful, completely unaware of where you were going and without expectation? Have you seen a performance of some sort with no previous knowledge, and walked away wishing for more? Have you seen a concert in an unlikely place or at an unlikely time, and came away whistling the tunes of the band or artist?

If you have, then you have experienced the top rung of the evolutionary ladder of the genus Pleasantus surprisus. I've been fortunate to experience a few of these instances.

Tonight, I received an email from the University of Arkansas. It said I should go to a concert in the Union Theater. For a week now I've been planning to write the literature review for my research project, and I had just settled into the idea of buckling down and getting it done tonight, so of course I accepted the invitation to do something else. The electronic flier attached in the email looked cool, and the band's myspace sounded alright, so there was no way I was going to let my responsible nature get in the way this time.

Bowerbirds is truly delightful. The band played against a backdrop of black and burgundy velvet curtains and to an audience in theater seats, and I really felt like I was at a play or the premiere of some new indie flick that only the elite knew about and I somehow stumbled into. The music was as simple and complex as many Andrew Bird songs, but there was a definite originality to the three-piece from North Carolina. After the set, the band played an encore performance in the stairwell down the hall; the audience just followed and filed in, lining the railing up three flights of stairs. Needless to say, I was impressed. I bought two albums.

Missed Connections

You know the feeling; you see a stranger, and without even talking to him or her, you know that they could be the love of your life. But you walk away, never knowing what might have been.

Of course, you could always get on your local Craigslist site and create a missed connections post. I mean, I've never done that. But I wouldn't judge if you did. If you don't know what these are, I suggest you do your research. They are entertaining, engrossing, and though I hate to admit it, I've gotten that warm, fuzzy feeling from reading them.

But with this website, they're just too much. I mean, they were already great, just oozing with averted love and pathos. But now, set to paint and paper, I can't not smile. I think you'll agree.

This is one of my favorites:

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes

I'm sure many of you have seen this already, and I know I've shared this with some of you individually, but this group gives me the good kind of chills and this performance of their single, "Home," is wonderful.

A dear friend shared this song with me while driving around on a day that neither of us particularly enjoyed, and I can honestly say that hearing this for the first time made it much better. Look for the recording of this song; it's marvelous.

Falcon, the Balloon Boy

Honestly, I don't know what could be nicer than this little incident that seemed to own the airwaves on Thursday, Oct. 15. After receiving a comuniqúe (cooler than text) asking if I had heard of Falcon, the Balloon Boy, I immediately set out on a digital quest to find all I could about him. After reading many news transcripts, watching many videos, and scanning the comments of those following the story from magical beginning to safe, but disappointing, end, I knew that I wanted to name something in my life Falcon.

I also learned that I wanted to invest in some sort of flying contraption that required little-to-no skills in aviation, and was metallic and shiny so as to attract a lot of media attention.

Check back soon for some Falcon, the Balloon Boy fan fiction.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, I suggest you do a quick Web search with your browser and search engine of choice. Simply use the search cues, "Falcon, the Balloon Boy."

I wrestled with the idea of just posting some videos and transcripts here, but I decided that the journey is half the fun.

Tron McKnight

I know this may be a cop-out, but I just wanted to use this forum to refer the readership to another nice blog written by a nice guy (my roommate). There are lots of nice things in this blog, and I'm certain you'll have a lot of nice chuckles whilst reading.

Enjoy the nicety that is Tron McKnight.