MadMup.com

Every morning on my way to work, I see the same kid walking in the direction I've just come from. He looks like a typical heavy metal-obsessed teenager, with jet-black stringy hair hanging down in front of his face. He's always walking at the same speed, kind of a shuffle with a side-to-side head bob. There seems to be a permanent scowl etched on his face, not necessarily an angry scowl - more of a disinterested scowl, really. It could be the stereotypical "I hate to go to school" scowl or the "I didn't get enough sleep" scowl or a different type of scowl altogether.

I don't think about him before I see him, but when I see him, I'm reminded that I see him every day. I can even get a general sense for how late I'm running by where I meet him on the trip. I've seen him as early as at the bridge and as late as up by the Walgreens. Today was a Walgreens day.

It was pouring down rain this morning, heavy enough that the windshield wipers at full speed were making it just barely able to see through the windshield. My mind was heavy with thoughts of the day already, and I hadn't even thought of The Kid. I pulled up to the light by Walgreens, and there he was. Same scowl, same shuffling walk, but soaking wet. His hair, strangely, didn't look any different than normal.

My first thought was, "There he is."
My second thought was, "Man, he is wet!"
My third thought was, "If I were headed his direction and he'd take me up on it, I'd give him a ride."
My fourth thought was, "Is that a violin case he's carrying?"

Sure enough, today he had an extra piece to his ensemble. He was carrying a violin case. It looked weatherproof - it was one of those hard plastic shell cases - so I'm guessing the instrument was okay. But he was carrying a violin case.

I don't want to look for life lessons where there aren't any, but it struck me that I had formed an opinion of this kid based on his appearance and his seeming demeanor. I figured he was the typical bad-attitude, heavy-metal listening, parent-hating teenager. I never once considered he might play the violin.

Of course, that shows that I have formed an opinion about those who play the violin, too.

Maybe this kid dresses and walks the way he does so he can fit in with a certain group, but he secretly longs to be the next Jascha Heifetz or Itzhak Perlman. Maybe he has written a beautiful song for his dying mother. Maybe he is just starting out and he's unsure of himself, but he knows that to give up on the violin is to give up a part of his life that he can never get back. Maybe he's using the violin as a way to test himself, to prove he can do anything he sets his mind to - today the violin, tomorrow the world!

As I mentioned, I don't want to create life lessons where there aren't any. It's possible that the violin wasn't even his. Maybe he found it and he's taking it back to school to put in the lost and found. Maybe he stole it and he's going to fence it so he can buy another Metallica CD or two. Maybe he beat up the music geek who owns it, and he's going to hold it for ransom until the music geek does his homework for him. Maybe he stole it from a girl he likes as an ungainly effort to win her heart.

It might be that there wasn't even a violin in the case. Maybe he saw the rain and decided to put his lunch in the first waterproof thing he could find.

Do you suppose I'll ever stop and ask The Kid what his name is and how he's doing on the violin? I doubt it. I don't talk to strangers much, even when I'm dying to know their story. Once, when I was in high school (a Senior, I think), I got out of my car at the bank and I noticed the motorcycle in the space next to me had a bumper sticker on it that said "Vietnam Vet." I was really "into" the Vietnam War at that point in my life. I had read several books about conditions there and the life of a military man both in Vietnam and back here in the US when he returned. It sickened me to think of how our troops were treated by so-called "peace lovers" when they returned from a horrific experience in the jungle. The most moving monument I've ever been to is the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. I walked slowly in front of The Wall, reading name after name of soldiers who died or went missing in the war, and it grieved me deeply. My girlfriend's father had been in Vietnam, and when the subject came up, he only vaguely hinted at some of the things he had been through - though he was not silent about his feelings on hippies! When I saw this bumper sticker on the motorcycle, all these thoughts came to me. I turned to walk into the bank, and couple was coming out and headed towards the bike. I don't remember what she looked like, but I can still see his face - it was the kind of face you'd expect to find on a Harley-ridin' Vietnam Vet. Something compelled me to stop and ask him, "Are you a Vietnam vet?" He looked at me with a look that told me he had heard that question before, and didn't like hearing it. "Yeah," he said, and the "wanna make something of it?" though unsaid, still hung their in the air between us. I remember the woman with him also got a strange look on her face. I said to him, "I want to thank you for serving your country. I want you to know that I appreciate it." His look changed as he said back to me, "I don't hear that much...thank you." And he stuck out his hand and I shook it. Then I went into the bank, and he went on his way.

I wonder sometimes if he remembers that. I don't think I'm the World's Best Person because I did that, and I still to this day don't know what compelled me to do it, but I remember being glad I had the opportunity to thank a veteran. That's one of those moments I'll remember for a long time.

So whattya got in that case, kid? 0 comments

Hey, if you've got a beef with me, I direct you to this website. 0 comments

September 19th is a big day for two reasons.

1) It's Talk Like A Pirate Day!
2) It's Stephanie's birthday. Call her up and wish her a happy birthday. Extra points if you use pirate talk. 0 comments

Just ran across this on a website, liked it, and thought I'd put it here:

"To the world you're just one person but to one person you could mean the world." 0 comments

Apparently, yesterday was "Einstein Quote Day" and I blew it. Here's mine, a day late:

"I never think of the future. It comes soon enough."

I'm sorry for disappointing those of you who have come to expect great things of me. I'd like to think that, in the future, I might do a better job of meeting expectations.

I apologize unreservedly. 0 comments

What is it that I like so much about movies?

I get asked that question a lot. Well, actually, the question I get asked is, "What is it YOU like so much about movies?" If someone asked me that first one, I'd probably have a heyday making something up.

I like getting lost in the story of the movie. For two hours, I get to live somewhere else, doing something I wouldn't normally do. I can fight with a ninja, rescue POWs, train with Yoda, inspire students, hack government networks, overcome extreme odds, and battle super-foes. And, when I'm done, I get to go back to my own life without too much fuss. Some movies don't let you go as quickly as others - Bruce Lee movies are notoriously difficult for me to escape from.

I've discovered that theaters are the best place to experience movies, mostly because of sheer size. If you're going to get overwhelmed by a movie, get overwhelmed in style. No matter how good your personal surround sound is at home, you can't match the size of a movie screen. I have a friend named Mike who has a mini-theater in his basement, and it's the closest I've come outside of a theater to getting the full impact of a movie.

Before DVD, I used to buy certain videos in widescreen. It was mostly the sci-fi stuff: Star Wars, Star Trek, The Abyss, Terminator - anything with big, fancy effects and wide imaginative vistas. The widescreen tapes were more expensive, usually, but it was worth it to me on certain movies. Now, comedies generally weren't released this way, so I didn't worry about them.

Along came DVD and ruined me. Everything came in widescreen now. Movies I had seen several times before in Pan & Scan (where they chop the ends of the movie off to fit a rectangular picture in a mostly-square TV screen) I now ran out to find in widescreen DVD. True, most of the time it didn't make a difference, but you could tell. For instance, there's a scene in Ghostbusters that totally changed in P&S. It's right after they've captured their first ghost (referred to affectionately in the later cartoon series as "Slimer") and they're explaining the charges to the hotel guy. In the P&S version, Bill Murray seems to stumble over the prices as he glances off-camera while talking to the hotel fellow. In the widescreen (or, "good") version, we can see that he's looking at Harold Ramis who is giving him visual clues as to what he should be charging. A funny scene just got a whole lot funnier.

So I'm a firm believer in widescreen. In fact, if I get a DVD at the library (free is good!) only to find when I get home that it's a "Fullscreen" version of the movie, I won't watch it. I also don't generally watch movies on video anymore. Videos irritate me, as I can't fast-forward fast enough, and when I'm done, I have to rewind them. I've become what I like to call a "DVDlitist."
Don't ask me what my favorite movie is, because I can't tell you. I can tell you that some of my favorite movies are Batman, UHF, Unforgiven, As Good As It Gets, and Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Some of my favorite actors are John Cusack, Johnny Depp, Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Favorite actresses include Uma Thurman, Winona Ryder, Michelle Pfeiffer, and newly-discovered (for me) Meryl Streep. I like all kinds of movies, from sci-fi to dramatic to ridiculous to superhero to thought-provoking to scary.

I actually wrote two movie reviews for a website that my brother's brother-in-law ran for a while. The movies were Gladiator and Pay It Forward. I liked writing reviews, but I foresaw a problem: I'm hard-pressed to find movies I don't like. Most movies have something I like. As it turns out, I didn't need to worry: he sold the website to one of his co-founders, and I haven't written an official review since.

So there you go. So what do you like about movies? 0 comments

I have a long, deep-seated fear of horses. I can trace it back to one of two things.

First, we had a pony when I was a kid. His name was Sonny (Sunny?), and he was as mean as a snake. I remember that it wasn't too long after he threw my brother and ran away as far as the corner of County Road J that we put him up for sale. I don't think I'm too far off when I say this pony was eager to eat children my size.

Second, when I was in 6th grade I had a friend that lived on a farm. I stayed over at his house occasionally, and one time we were in the barn and he was showing me his sister's horse. By "horse" I mean "animal I assumed was a horse because it sort of looked like one, only larger, like an elephant tied to a Boeing 747" and by "showing me" I mean "laughing evilly while backing it up towards me while I was up against a stone wall."

Along with these are the standard warnings you always get with horses: "If you feed him a carrot/apple/sugar cube, make sure your hand is flat or he might eat your fingers." "Don't stand behind him." "Don't look a gift one in the mouth."

So I have a healthy fear of horses.

I bring this up because I just got back from seeing Seabiscuit. Lots of horses in that movie. Lots. But it was a very good movie in spite of all the horses. (In case you're wondering, Spider-Man does make a good jockey, even if he is a bit over-sized.) It was definitely a feel-good movie, and it's neat to think that it's based on a true story. I honestly don't understand the appeal of horse racing, but the movie was about so much more than horse racing. "Was it about the triumph of the human spirit?" you ask. Yes, it was. And the equine spirit as well. Good flick, and highly recommended by me.

On a side note, I had the entire theater to myself. It was great. I laughed out loud several times and made the occasional comment, and no one looked at me askance or told me to shut up or even rolled their eyes. Fun! However, I will say that coming out of the theater by myself was no fun. There was no one behind the counter, even, and though there were 3 other cars in the parking lot, I didn't see a single person. A little sad, really. Weird, too. But mostly kind of sad.

I'm off to bed. 0 comments

Here's a topic you won't see addressed here much: sports. Ready?

I have been a Dallas Cowboys fan for as long as I can remember. I think it had a little to do with their color scheme, a little to do with the fact that one of my pastor's sons liked them, and a little to do with the fact that the Packers weren't very good when I was a kid growing up in Wisconsin. Let's face it, I didn't know much about football when I was in first grade. Let's face a little bit more: I didn't know much about anything in first grade. Truth is, I never learned that much about football, even into high school when I played football. I remember being on the sidelines during one game (I spent a lot of time on the sidelines) when everyone on our side got really upset all at the same time. I missed what happened, so I asked, "What happened?" One of our coaches, Mr. Flaming (pronounced like "flamming"), yelled back at me, "If you'd quit playing video games and study football, maybe you'd know!" Point taken, but I still never figured out what happened.

Ironically, it was that same game where I caught the one and only pass that was thrown to me the whole season. Yes, I was 100% my high school career. Thank you, thank you. Problem was, I had never caught a pass in a game before, so I wasn't really sure what to do after I caught it. Luckily, the other team knew what to do, and I was tackled shortly thereafter.

Also ironically - and I think even more so - is that later on, when I really did start to understand the ins and outs of football, it was because I started playing some football video games. I've always wanted to tell Mr. Flaming that.

Anyway, back to the Cowboys. I've been a fan ever since I can remember, which is right around first grade. They've been really good and they've been really bad since then. Right now they're on the "really bad" side of things. Since Tom Landry coached them for 25 years, they've had, like, 4 coaches. Jimmy Johnson took them to a few Super Bowls that they won rather handily, and since him, they've done diddley. One of the regrets of my life is that I never got to see Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, and Emmitt Smith play a game in Texas Stadium. Of course, I've never been to Texas, much less Texas Stadium, but I still regret it.

See, those three were called "The Triplets." Real original name, eh? Troy was a dead-on quarterback, Michael was an incredible receiver (if an arrogant loudmouth), and Emmitt was the best running back in the league (and a nice guy, to boot). These are the three core guys that took the team to 3 Super Bowls in the early 90's.

Well, one by one they fell. Michael was the first to go, with a career-ending back injury that could have killed him. Troy ended up getting so many concussions (13 or so) that it became unsafe for him to play. And Emmitt? Well, he's slowed down a bit, but last year he broke Walter Payton's all-time rushing yardage record. Pretty cool!

So you might expect that he'd get a big pay raise and a hearty slap on the back, right?

Um, no.

He was cut from the Cowboys. Cut! "Not worth the money," they said. !!! Emmitt played for the Cowboys his whole career. Every yard of that record was earned as a Cowboy. I think maybe, just maybe, he earned the right to stay on the team the rest of his career, however long he decided that would be.

But Jerry Jones wanted to win, and he felt Emmitt was too old to bank on anymore, so Emmitt was cut. And Emmitt was subsequently hired by the Arizona Cardinals.

Mixed feelings I have. Emmitt really wanted to keep playing. And he proved in last year's Thanksgiving game that he still had what it took (He had one of the best games of his career). Part of me says, "Go get 'em, Emmitt!" But the other part of me says, "Man, I really hate seeing him in a Cards uniform." And there's even a part of me that says, "Hey, you broke the record! You don't need to play anymore!"

See, Jerry Seinfeld said it best when he said "you're rooting for laundry." A guy's on your team, you love him. He gets traded to a different team, you hate him. I guy you hate comes to your team, you love him. You're rooting for laundry! But not with Emmitt. He's always impressed me a lot, as a player and as a guy, so I plan to keep following his career. If that means I have to check the Arizona Cardinal's page, too, then so be it, I guess.

Play safe, Emmitt!

And Cowboys? Please get better. Please?

Labels: Seinfeld

0 comments

You know that "5-second rule" you grew up hearing about? The one that says if you drop food on the floor but pick it back up within 5 seconds it's okay? Well, it turns out that rule is pure bunk.

Looks like my habit of not eating anything that's been dropped on the floor was a good choice after all. 0 comments

I believe the archives work now. So if you're new to the place, and you think you want to catch up with, say, "The Watch Saga," you can now.

There's a lunch hour well-spent, eh? 0 comments

I ran across this Beloit College Mindset List and thought I would share it with you. I hope you find it as interesting as I did. 0 comments

Let's try this for a while and see how it goes. I apologize that the Archive links don't take you to any actual archives - I will continue to work on that. I've added some links for your viewing pleasure (as always, MadMup.com is not responsible for anything on any of those sites ever), and I've even added an e-mail link so you can write to me if you so desire. Comments are always welcome, even if they are snide.

Labels: meta

0 comments

So this is a strange change, eh? Weird colors and the whole bit. I gotta tell you, I did it so I could get two things working: the titles for the entries and the archives. So far only the title are working. The archives worked for two seconds, but then disappeared. The links, as you can see, are still there, but they don't go anywhere. I'm working on it.

I'm not so sold on these colors, either. Bear with me as I get it figured out, okay? 0 comments

If you only see one movie twice this summer, make it Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

I would also like to recommend Open Range, if you're a) A fan of Westerns, or b) A fan of Kevin Costner. I'm a little bit of both, so I enjoyed it.

I was planning to put up a "Things That Bother Me" list, but it turns out I'm mostly only bothered with things while they're actually going on. I guess I don't have as much energy as I used to, since I used to be able to be bothered by things for days at a time. I must be getting old. Maybe if I started taking vitamins I'd have more stamina. My natural reaction to things that bother me these days is to go get some sleep. I'm only 31! What'll I be like at 40? 0 comments