I Had a Mid-life Crisis and Brought the Kids!

Postby ToxtethOGradyZQT on 02 Sep 2008 16:31

This is excellent so far. I can't wait to read more! :D
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Postby smudge on 02 Sep 2008 21:24

[quote="luddite lady"][quote="smudge"]I'm slightly disappointed that we aren't getting this in French first.....:-)[/quote]

Hey! School doesn't start until tomorrow. My brain ain't doin' French today.[/quote]

Fair enough. It is magnificent in english. Oh. And school's started. So you can get some of those highly motivated kids to translate it into french, non?

Vive, le drapeau vert :-)
"You can't always do right, but you can always do what's left."
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Postby luddite lady on 03 Sep 2008 04:22

Part 3
The week before my trip was a blur of arrangements and rearrangements. The highlights include wrangling with my insurance company and car rental agency, looking up bus and Mass schedules for my dad, google mapping the hell out of up-state New York, Long Island and Manhattan. And, of course, I had to be checking into sc.net regularly for breaking news and travel info. I also spent a lot of time trying to convince my daughters that we didn't need to go shopping for clothes to wear while shopping for clothes in New York. "No Time This Time" kept running through my head as my personal theme song for the week. Often it felt like life was speeding along at the same tempo, too.
Meanwhile my dad was getting really pumped about his trip. It turned out that he had never visited the shrine before even though it's dedicated to some of his favourite saints. Yes, I have favourite bands and he has favourite saints. It was good, however, to see him so full of energy and purpose. When he doesn't have something like this to look forward to he starts acting his age--old and grumpy.
Meanwhile, the worry of the spare Saratoga ticket was always in the back of my mind. Even though it was only a general admission lawn ticket, I didn't want to see it go to waste. To me it would be like going to the store, buying a quite decent bottle of wine and then dumping the whole thing down the drain upon arriving home. Two or three days before our departure I had the idea to phone one of my sisters and see if she'd like to join us. She was game to take Sporterella's spot in the car ride to Saratoga and at the concert. She'd then accompany our dad back to Toronto after the shrine visit. Sis' even managed to talk my dad into staying an extra night in Schenectady and taking a bus home in the day. Daddy-o thought that replacing an overnight bus ride with a chintzy motel stay was quite extravagant, but he wanted to be sure that Sis' had an enjoyable trip and so he relented.
My sister and her musician/actor husband have no children of their own. They are, however, crazy about mine and, in return, my kids are nuts about their way cool uncle and aunt. Now that we'd have auntie in tow, we all agreed that this was going to be fun.
In Dallas, the only game that really mattered was in the word gamelan.
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Postby visions on 03 Sep 2008 05:34

Brilliant.....just brilliant

there is no way my kids would be that cool nor my dad

see you were meant to have a red light runner (not a nutter) for your dad to come along and sister.....family trip :D
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Postby luddite lady on 06 Sep 2008 05:04

Part 4
The evening before our trip, Sporterella had a soccer game on the other side of town. My two other kids, Dancerina and The Boy, came along to cheer her on. After the match we dropped by downtown to pick up my sister. She had agreed to stay over night at my house to facilitate our 6 a.m. departure. When I saw my sister and her husband embrace for their good bye, I was reminded again of the familial sacrifices our boys were making for the sake of this tour. I had not experienced many of these farewells myself since I almost always bring my whole freakin' family with me everywhere I go.
It was approaching 11 p.m. by the time we arrived home. I was barking orders at my kids about getting to bed and was being roundly ignored. Instead, they started designing their own tour T shirts (green, of course)in the living room. We had bought the supplies for this some days earlier, but my family loves to leave everything to the last minute. My sister said it looked like she had stumbled upon a sweat shop T shirt factory employing child labour.
"Get back to work! No break for you!" she kept yelling in various sinister accents.
My dad popped in the room on occasion to give what he thought was great travel and packing advice and to up-date my sister on the lives of the saints to whom the shrine is dedicated. Whenever I reminded my crew that we needed to rest up for the very full day just ahead, I was told, "We can sleep in the car tomorrow." Clearly, their "we" did not include me, the driver. I left the T shirt party under my sister's supervision, set my alarm for 4:30 and went to bed. Despite feeling really wound up, I fell asleep rather quickly.
In Dallas, the only game that really mattered was in the word gamelan.
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Postby Madgrad on 06 Sep 2008 12:01

The kids' shirts were kick-ass! 8)
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Postby smudge on 06 Sep 2008 17:24

LL, you are working on the screenplay, right? Or possibly a long running sitcom? It is laugh out loud funny, and warm. And I'm hoping that a review of the shrine visit will be included in due course.

Thank you so much m'dear - this is just great.
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Postby E on 06 Sep 2008 19:31

More! More!
Music is what feelings sound like.
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Postby luddite lady on 07 Sep 2008 06:54

Thanks for your kind words, folks. I'm glad you're enjoying this.

Part 5
The morning arrived and proved to be a beautiful day for travelling. In keeping with my children's West Indian-Canadian heritage, we left a respectable hour and a quarter behind schedule. (<--Pronounce it however you want, people.) My apologies to Ska Man, Tamadude and any other Caribbean Nutters out there, but island folks do have a reputation for being extremely relaxed regarding time. (I'll digress briefly to illustrate my point. I once went to a West Indian Calypso New Year's Eve party featuring a number of Calypso greats, including The Mighty Sparrow. I was not too kool to kalypso. However, since I'm not West Indian myself, I was the only one in my group anal enough to wear a watch. Thus, I alone noticed and cared that the big count down to midnight took place at 12:18 a.m.)
The drive down was uneventful but lovely. The Thousand Islands region, where Lake Ontario narrows into the Saint Lawrence River is breathtaking. Although we were running late, I half wished there had been a slow down at the border so we could be stuck on the bridge for a while and soak in the scenery. Not to be outdone, up-state New York has a true pastoral beauty about it.
We arrived in Schenectady shortly after 4 p.m. As we pulled into the motel Nancyrose called me. A whole gang of us were to meet for dinner in Saratoga Springs before the gig. Nancy was already at the restaurant with her son but the rest of us were all behind schedule. (<--Enjoy again.) It didn't look like I'd be able to get my group over there on time either. I felt really bad about this. I was particularly disappointed that The Boy and Nancy's son, Trevor (who's brave enough to have a real name on the Internet) would not get to meet. We'll make it happen another time, Nancy my dear!
A few days prior to our departure I had tried to force my kids to watch Everyone Stares as a kind of primer for our trip, Dancerina would have none of it, although she kept finding reasons to walk into the room while we were watching and stayed there longer than necessary. Sporterella was pleasantly surprised by the film but kept asking me questions as if it were a video from one of her history classes. The Boy was mesmerized. Anyway, my point is that with images from the movie fresh in my mind, I frequently recalled different scenes throughout my trip. As we lugged our bags up the outdoor stairs of the rather run down motel in Schenectady, I was reminded of the shots of the boys doing the same thing all those years ago. Flash forward thirty years and now it's the fans living out of suitcases in a string of cheap motels in order to follow the band around and take in a bunch of shows. I wonder if Andy, Stewart and Sting ever imagined such an outcome as they performed the daily ritual of dragging their luggage from the van to the motel room and back.
In Dallas, the only game that really mattered was in the word gamelan.
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Postby shyvixen on 07 Sep 2008 15:02

Good stuff LL!

Showing your kids Everyone Stares was a great idea. I should try that on my nieces.
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Cheap motels? How about TENTS???

Postby JenX on 07 Sep 2008 16:36

Hey, LL!

I'm really enjoying your story thread, and the point about 'luggin luggage up the stairs at cheap motels' especially caught my eye. This is not only because those are also my favorite images in Stewie's DVD (Stingo with the big suitcase in one hand and guitar case in the other collapsin on some bed inside some roach motel that looks to be in the middle of nowhere), but also because it helps me reflect on the adventures of Mad and I, who went (more than) one step further in our quest to save some bucks while followin our favorite band to the same shows as your clan...

As many of you nutters already know, we stayed in a TENT!! THAT'S how much we really love our boys! And, as I recall, we actually joked at one point about how funny it'd be if the boys were doin' the same... Ya know, to avoid the crowds, paparazzi 'n all... No one would expect them to be campin out at Moreau Lake State Park (where we camped about 10 miles from Saratoge Aug. 1&2) --ya, I know... FAT CHANCE!! :lol:

Even so, not far from our campsite off of Long Beach (near Jones Beach, where we stayed Aug. 4-8--Thank God for the Long Island railroad runnin downtown 24-7!! 3 a.m. train ride Aug. 8 was a lifesaver, baby!! :wink: ), we did see a fancy-schmancy-lookin resort-type place in the distance while hangin out on the beach the afternoon prior to JB2 on Aug. 5, and while fantasizin that the boys might be stayin there, we even considered hikin across the sand to see if we could do the 'peasant-groupie' thing, tryin to get a glimpse of one of our boys peerin' out of some highly-perched veranda overlooking the ocean. In the end, we said 'Nah! Too long of a walk for that!' (Ya, our age is showin, eh? :wink: ...)

Havin said that, we did have a 'roach motel' experience outside of Holmdel, NJ (like you, our 2nd venue of the final 5-show leg)... this was complete with a couple of hikes up steps with bags (and our wet tent), followed by checkin into an empty-beer-bottle-n-dirty-ashtray-laden-room (which we did get changed to a properly-cleaned non-smokin' one, thankfully). Ya, this place coulda been one the boys visited back in the day... Their spirits (in the not-so-material world) were definitely with us then... :)

Anyway, great stuff! Thanks for the memories! And ya, I'm with Mad in sayin the kids had awesome shirts! Oh, and thanks again for not makin fun of my true-to-form 'nutter' outfit that night in Saratoga, sista'! I was glad to hear my 'short bus' get-up made your kids feel better about the somewhat-forced-krypton-green-T-Shirt-child-labor-decoratin-at-last-minute-sweatshop-party... Good times, good times... :P

Keep the stories comin, girl!

ROCK ON! --JenX 8)
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Postby policerule on 07 Sep 2008 19:36

Loving it, LL!
READY THE BLADE!
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Re: Cheap motels? How about TENTS???

Postby luddite lady on 08 Sep 2008 03:23

Thanks for sharing a little of your adventure with us JenX!

[quote="JenX"]
As many of you nutters already know, we stayed in a TENT!! THAT'S how much we really love our boys!

^
Whenever my kids complained about our less than luxurious accommodations, I'd say, "This is nothing. Mad and her friend are out in the woods somewhere in a tent right now. No cable for them, darlings!"


And, as I recall, we actually joked at one point about how funny it'd be if the boys were doin' the same... Ya know, to avoid the crowds, paparazzi 'n all... No one would expect them to be campin out at Moreau Lake State Park (where we camped about 10 miles from Saratoge Aug. 1&2) --ya, I know... FAT CHANCE!! :lol:

^
Did any of the tents by the lake ressemble a Morrocan brothel?


Havin said that, we did have a 'roach motel' experience outside of Holmdel, NJ (like you, our 2nd venue of the final 5-show leg)

^
I didn't go to Holmdel. That was the only concert I didn't have tickets to that week. My second venue was the shrine.



... this was complete with a couple of hikes up steps with bags (and our wet tent), followed by checkin into an empty-beer-bottle-n-dirty-ashtray-laden-room (which we did get changed to a properly-cleaned non-smokin' one, thankfully).

^
It has always astounded me that the simple act of emptying an ashtray converts a smoking room into a non-smoking room. They really should have changed the carpeting, curtains and wall paper too.


Oh, and thanks again for not makin fun of my true-to-form 'nutter' outfit that night in Saratoga, sista'!

^
Well, ummm...not right in front of you, anyway. I'm just kidding. You too looked awesome. However, my kids did live in fear all week at the thought that I might have hidden some green shortie shorts of my own deep in my luggage.
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Re: Cheap motels? How about TENTS???

Postby JenX on 08 Sep 2008 15:04

Thanks for your replies, LL!!
^
Whenever my kids complained about our less than luxurious accommodations, I'd say, "This is nothing. Mad and her friend are out in the woods somewhere in a tent right now. No cable for them, darlings!"

--Who needs cable! He he, we had our old journals from college to entertain us! Good times, good times...:wink:


^
Did any of the tents by the lake ressemble a Morrocan brothel?

--Hmmm... now that u mention it... there was that belly-dancer with bells on her ankles runnin around the woods... Thought that was a bit odd...

^
I didn't go to Holmdel. That was the only concert I didn't have tickets to that week. My second venue was the shrine.

--Oops, sorry... Thought I remembered seein ya after that show... guess it all kinda 'runs together' after awhile, eh? :wink:


(which we did get changed to a properly-cleaned non-smokin' one, thankfully).

^
It has always astounded me that the simple act of emptying an ashtray converts a smoking room into a non-smoking room. They really should have changed the carpeting, curtains and wall paper too.

--By we got it changed, I meant to a completely different room, which had no evidence of prior smoking activity, thankfully!! :D


You too looked awesome. However, my kids did live in fear all week at the thought that I might have hidden some green shortie shorts of my own deep in my luggage.[/quote]

--You mean you didn't??? :o Those girls would've pulled that outfit off MUCH better than I did! Glad to do my part to properly instill fear and dread into the psyche of our youth... :twisted:

Keep on writin'!

ROCK ON! --JenX
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Postby Tamadude on 08 Sep 2008 17:23

LLady, I don't know how you pulled all this off. I'm amazed. Just getting me myself and I to NY and back took full amounts of exertion and effort. You are a multi-tasker extrodinaire. And a good raconteur, as well.

Continuer, si'l vous plais. 8)

8)
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