YONDER BREAKS

The other day my Dad sent me a picture of my future step-brother-in-law's college graduation. We went to the same school , but I missed my ceremony because I was driving back from my last semester at the Los Angeles Film Studies Center . I didn't really get too involved in my college, having gone to another one my freshman year and also being a commuter, so I didn't feel terribly connected to the school. However, seeing the picture made me ask myself, Did I regret anything about my college experience? Would I have done something differently? I think regret can be a dangerous thing. I remember having a friend in high school tell me he never regretted a single decision he made. How he could go through life not wanting to do  anything  differently? Even at this young age, I felt I would have liked to have done some things over again. It has taken several years, but I am only recently understanding the wisdom in his statement. Still, I reflected for a moment, and couldn...

I used to say that often -- "You can sleep when you're dead." It was my "carpe diem" of sorts. I had just graduated college and came through a pretty rough summer with no job and only a couple friends in town. Towards the end I made some new ones and got a job (Blockbuster Video, every 2008 graduate's dream job), and as late night freedom came about, I adopted the saying as my own. Now, ten years later with two kids in my life, "You can sleep when you're dead" has taken on new meaning. Lately, I'm thinking I won't be able to sleep until  I'm dead... If you read this blog, you know I've written often about the struggles of maintaining any  kind of sleep schedule with young children. Of course the hope is that, as they get older, they'll sleep more. I'm finding this is only partly true. They sleep pretty well most nights, but I sure don't. In fact, I think I'm only averaging about one night a week of uninterru...

Growing up, my favorite band was Five Iron Frenzy . Their EP, Quantity is Job 1 was one of the first albums I ever bought, and still is one of my favorites, especially from FIF. Never heard of them, you say? Congratulations -- you're normal! Five Iron Frenzy, along with the O.C. Supertones , the Insyderz , Bunch of Believers (B.O.B.), The Dingees and a few others were part of the 90s ska movement, but on the Christian record labels. Back then, Christian music is all I listened to, and so these guys were some of my favorites. Later on, my good friend Korey introduced me to all the secular punk and ska I had missed during that time period -- Goldfinger, Lagwagon, Save Ferris , Rancid, and others -- and though I was a late-bloomer, it's all good stuff. Well, a couple weekends ago, Korey and I were lucky enough to attend the Back to the Beach Festival, which featured so many of the bands from that era, a modest $65 ticket felt a little like stealing. I love music festival...