Holiday Cheer

While we were on vacation last weekend, I met a woman who worked as a cashier at a little candy shop in Lacon, IL. She asked me something I am rarely asked so casually, "Do you find it easy to get in to the Christmas spirit?"

I didn't have to think very long before responding. "No, I don't really," I replied. She looked a little taken aback, like she had honestly expected the other answer or perhaps even something more indifferent. I went on to explain that, for whatever reason, I don't feel incredibly festive until I'm absolutely ready to start thinking about the holiday. Stores might start selling trees and lights after Halloween but their practices probably delay my anticipation even more because I'm so busy actively ignoring them.

Honestly, I think that's it. Selfish consumerism really isn't an attractive proposition and I feel as though I've been trying to increasingly avoid it as of late. But, I am enjoying my imagination of future holidays with my son and that makes me excited to celebrate the holiday with him in the future. I wonder if I'll truly be able to see through another's eyes, not in sadness but in the joy of innocent anticipation.

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Now playing: Soundgarden - Mind Riot
via FoxyTunes

Mission Oak Inn

We made it to our destination. It's a relatively new bed and breakfast called Mission Oaks Inn outside of Henry, Illinois. It is surrounded by nothing but farmland and it is connected to larger roadways by a dirt road. It was wonderful to only hear wind and birds when we got out of the car. The picture is the view from our room. The lake is man made with water diverted from a nearby creek. All of the land visible in the picture is owned by the proprietors so I expect that we'll be taking some walks, weather permitting.

A Happy Pre-Thanksgiving

Finally I'm on vacation. They let us go a couple hours early from work today but while I was there we had some fun. Curtis was scoring audio for a new product demo video, so I was able to sit in and play the bass track for it. If it ever shows up on the web somewhere, I'll link it. I know that it's just a small potatoes demo but I'm proud of it anyway. Despite the fact that I'm not much of a bass player, I can hold my own on simpler tracks.

Last weekend, we hosted a pre-Thanksgiving dinner for two couples, Autumn and Claudiu and Todd and Andi, with which we are friends. Amy and I spent most of last weekend either shopping for the food and cleaning the house or preparing the meal. When it comes to the meal, I like to help, but I like it better when Amy is in charge. I don't mind following orders in the kitchen, just don't leave it to me to decide what to do!

As for the meal, we made a pretty traditional feast with the standard foods like turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and some home cooked bread. The stuffing is my new favorite and has been since our first Thanksgiving in Chicago. Amy found the recipe which includes the standard ingredients plus carrots and apples and some other stuff that I'm probably forgetting. The salty/sweet combination of the spices and the apples is delicious and I look forward to it every year now.

After dinner, we forced Todd and Andi into a game of Bang!. From previous conversations with Todd, I know that they're not much for games because that's what I've been told, but I think they had a fun time anyway. As a reward for their graciousness in allowing me to subject them to a game like Bang!, we played a few rounds of Catch Phrase, too. I'm just that kind of guy!

To all that stop by here, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

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Now playing: Bob Dylan - It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
via FoxyTunes

It's a Boy!

There's really not much else to say in that department. As the sonogram tech put it, "There's the little penis, er, big penis," correcting herself for my benefit. In other news, Amy cried when a second episode of America's Funniest Videos came right after the first one tonight. She loves that show. Three cheers for pregnancy!

Evan and Sandy visited for the weekend. We made another visit to Chinatown and had some dim sum at Phoenix on Saturday saving the meat coma of Red Apple, a local buffet that serves authentic Polish food, for Sunday. In between gigantic meals, we played a bunch of board and card games including Settlers of Catan, Bang!, and Munchkin. As a gift for the baby, they also brought a really cute unitard with Mr. Pokeylope on it. Oh, Mr. Pokeylope!

What I Am Like

It's been a long time since I've seen the movie High Fidelity, but I've seen a quote from the movie pop up on the web from time to time which I'll paraphrase here: It's what you like that matters, not what you are like.

I couldn't disagree more. To me, this quote epitomizes the civilized world's media obsession. If you're currently thinking, "But Chuck, aren't a good number of posts at EG about games, music, and movies?" then I would respond that yes, you're absolutely correct. But, in the last defense of myself that I will make in this post, I try as hard as I can not to let my stuff define who I am. If my self is truly defined by a pile of books or a few songs written by other people or what games I play, then it is my opinion that I have lived a trite and meaningless life.

The catch is that those things can say something about who I am to someone else. They're an easy means for others to classify who I am quickly without really getting to know me. For instance, imagine that you didn't know that I am a musician by trade. If you happened to spot a death metal album by Lamb of God in my music collection, what assumptions would you make about me in that instant? Answer truthfully. Now pretend that you continued to scan my collection and spotted a bluegrass album by Flatt and Scruggs. What would you think of me then? Also, how would your reaction have changed if the order of those artists had been reversed? Those questions are only partly rhetorical and I ask them not out of antagonism but true curiosity.

When I die, I truly hope that nobody says of me, "Remember that time when Chuck was totally into video games? That was awesome!" I would rather people remember me for the love I have for my family or how I tried to make some sort of positive impact on the world around me no matter how small or insignificant. I argue that the only way for those hopes to come true is through my willingness to act accordingly between now and my own day of reckoning. So to that end, my actions, those little things that speak much louder than words according to the idiom, what I am like becomes infinitely more important than the media I consume.

Composer/Sound Designer

I can't wait for Thanksgiving. Amy and I are going away that weekend and it will be the first vacation I've had since March. I've had a good amount of time off from work since then, but I wouldn't call any of it vacation proper or even fun for that matter. We're using this built-in paid vacation time to have our last trip alone together for awhile.

Speaking of work, I finally got the title change I've been asking for over the past couple of years so I can officially call myself Composer/Sound Designer on my résumé. Fortunately for me, the title change probably padded the raise that I received above the currently skim offerings that seem to have persisted a bit longer than what I'd heard previously predicted. All things being what they are, though, I'm mostly satisfied where I am despite some of aspects of the place that I don't care for much.