Musings on Chicago and elsewhere

Wow. I said in my letter in the Variety and my blog post that I hoped the Bishop would say something about that Taotao Tano protest. Today he did. I'm sure I'm not the reason, but this is great news and it is encouraging to see. Add the bishop to that long list of Taotao Tano protest critics I posted and continue to update here.

Rep. Ramon A. Tebuteb is also a new member on that list. It should be noted that an apology is now in order from Taotao Tano so they can get back to the good ideas they started out with and have some meaning as a civic group.
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I'm guessing there must be more vice principals than principals and that would explain this: "Of the 20 principals, seven are now considered highly qualified for passing Praxis 1 and 2. Among the vice principals, 15 have already passed both tests."
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I went to two concerts over the weekend: Rush and the Dave Matthews Band. This was the 11th time I saw Rush and the second for the DMB. The Rush concert was great. They played a lot of songs they seldom play. They showed great humor in their video clips, and the light/stage show was great. The playing, of course, brilliant, and the theater designed for such an event. It was fantastic in every way, and worth the relatively cheap these days ticket price of $100. I paid $20 less than face for a good seat. The Police are charging up to $300 in their reunion tour. Concerts are pricey as hell these days.

The Dave Matthews Concert was disappointing. Some of his song choices left something to be desired. He didn't have much of a stage show at all, and the Toyota Park Stadium in Illinois, a soccer stadium, wasn't designed for a concert and it was obvious. Naturally, they made it difficult to go to and from my seats, and being not all that tall, it was hard to see much much. It is also basically in a residential area, and the roads aren't designed for a stadium. Dave mumbles a lot to the crowd. Interaction is something I usually like in a concert, but I didn't know a word he said. It wasn't that loud, either.

The DMB gets a much hotter looking crowd than Rush, which is a total sausage fest of frustrated musicians and people who actually read the lyrics and generally know something about the instruments. The DMB are every bit the virtuosos Rush are, and that is saying something, but the DMB gets a crowd of college girls in full Bacchanalian mode. Normally, I would think this a positive since I thought I missed out in college because I was actually studying and being serious and stuff, and now I remember why I did what I did instead of getting drunk and laid more like everyone else. Yeah, maybe that's why I still have an edge. The obsession and fixation with drinking mass quantities of beer was and is such a juvenile turn off that I couldn't put up with it even then, even with the carrot of proximity to hot young coeds. Seeing that again yesterday for the first time in a while reminded me how vulgar it is.

I told my wife Cynthia recently I would be Carl's roommate, our ten year old, when he goes off to college, but he will have to get a real college roommate now. I'm sure he'll appreciate that. She starting crying at the mere idea that Carl would grow up one day, leave us and go off to college. My promise to go with him wasn't a factor in the tears.

There was this guy named Rusty who lived in the dorms with us then young folks at the University of South Carolina circa 1993. He was like 45 years old, grey hair, on like his fourth degree and putting off the real world like the plague. I remember distinctly him saying this to me of the girls in the dorm, "Man, these girls come up to me for advice like I'm Yoda or something, but I just want to get in their pants. They see me as their dad." Rusty seemed pretty cool back then, and he was a good ally for putting a good word in for you with the women, since he knew them all, but I won't be that guy.
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Out in Illinois bikers are not required to wear helmets. They seem to take this freedom to the limit, as no one wears a helmet. It would seem prudent to wear a helmet, you know, just in case, and now that you "don't' have to" and no one does, you don't have much to rebel against other than your own stupidity. Sure enough, I've seen tons of bikers and not one helmet. A brain trauma ward doesn't seem like such a fun place or a fair trade, but I guess I'm getting old.
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I drove my sister's car to the DMB concert and the front lights come on automatically. I thought this meant they all did. They didn't. The rear lights were off. I get pulled over by an Illinois cop, he asked for my license, said he was going to give me a ticket. The thought of taking off for a drive in a mall like Jake and Elwood was tempting, but not practical. He went back to his car, probably realized booking a ticket for a Saipan license was going to be a hassle, like we can't order stuff online because MP is missing half the time, so he let me off. Cheers for my Saipan license.