If Only I Could Do What I Loved

When I was a little boy, I wanted to be anything but what I was. I wanted to be taller, faster, attractive, like all the other boys I went to school with. I wanted the cutest girl in the whole first grade. I was the young Don Quixote of Wanamaker, Indiana at the age of five.

What was significant about that age? My mother was able to stay home with me and my three other siblings, including my brother who was faster, taller, more athletic, and better looking. He was all I ever wanted to be, and he was also all I knew. When I went to school, I was surrounded by kids that were just like him, and nothing like me.

Then I grew up.

When I was 10, my mother enrolled me in drum set lessons. It was then that I realized I was finally better at something than everyone else. from that moment on, I wanted to do nothing but drum. I won a world championship when I was 17, gigged all the way through high school, marched a Division I drum corps at 19, then stopped playing.

Having a child changes everything.

12 years and two marriages later, I decided to start playing again, and I will never stop again. If I could do anything for the rest of my life, one thing that would make me happy, it would be to drum.

The child who I gave it all up for? He plays now too, and he also has that love for my art. Coincidence? MayBe. But I doubt it. I was made for it, and I fully believe he was made for it too. Our relationship is stronger because of drumming.

It is where my heart lies. It is where my peace resides. It is where I fall in love every time I play. It is something I don't have to be bigger, faster, or more handsome to do. I am myself when i play, and it is the only time I love myself in my entirety.

Chris & Bob

This is just a glimpse of the fun I had imagining these two bobble heads interacting.  I noticed Chris Sabo sitting on my night stand, and thought to myself how traumatic his life had been so far (you can't see his broken leg in these photos; I also took some random stuff off of him for the pictures as well).  My son, James, thinks Chris is the coolest toy ever.

I don't think Chris likes James too much.

Thinking about Chris and James made me wonder what bobble heads would talk about if they were alive.  So, I grabbed a Bob Uecker bobble head, put them together, and watched them converse over coffee.

this is what they talked about, amongst other things:

The Egg and the Eye

When I think of an egg, I think of breaking it.  So, with my egg in mind, I wanted to find a different way to break it, and decided that I'd give it a shot with a creepy little monkey toy I found in my son's room.  As you may notice, I decided to color spots onto it first... :

Then, I smashed it with the monkey, which he looks very proud of...

First Class Recap!

Welcome, fellow N385'ers and whoever else may stumble upon this blog.  I'm happy to be taking this class, called "Seeing Sideways". I don't feel I see "sideways" enough, so this should be a very lucrative educational endeavor.  I especially believe this to be true after finding out I need to do something with an egg for my first project.  While I'm not too sure what I will be doing with "said egg", I'm sure that if I see sideways enough, something will jump out at me; though, I'd be lying if I didn't say that destroying the egg was the first thing that came to mind.  After all, you can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs, right?

Let the sideways-seeing begin.  I can't wait to see the cornucopia of omelets in class next week.

JP