Tonight we had a good old fashioned jam session at the Kaes house.  It was an all request night by which I mean anyone could pick a song (I didn’t really pick a song, but I did try out a new guitar/melody/song piece accompanied by hand percussion and it was quite cool).  It was in honor of a friend, Eliska, who is from the Czech Republic, but was visiting for a number of weeks over the summer but has to fly home Tuesday.  She plays quite a few instruments so it was good fun.  We also had “Funkle Doug” on the piano (for some of the time), who is a great jazz pianist.  Eventually we worked our way to the song La Bamba.

I’m not sure how it came about that we played La Bamba, but we did.  There was dancing.  Young and old were either playing or dancing.  It was good.  There was life, there was fun, there was family, friends, and fellowship.  There was love.  All from a silly 3 chord song with a catchy hook.  I hope your weekend had a La Bamba  in it.

WordPress is telling me this is my 2000th post.  Not a lot of content here, but just for grins:

1) The surprise non-geek post: Ligers

2) I’ve been blogging (mostly at this site, but when I started on a site that no longer exists) for over 10 years

3) Doing the math on that, I’m not a very consistent blogger

4) Before switching to WordPress I wrote my own blogging platform

5) Most people really want pictures of my daughters on this site, but I’m a bit short on photographs

6) After all this time I think my Sister-in-Law, Shari, still thinks I’m a dork

7) I have probably gotten the most comments on this blog from my mom, who used to regularly correct my spelling and grammar

8) This list isn’t very interesting

9) The blog I used to link to, but that is defunct, but that I miss the most is “Apropos of Nothing”

10) Before Facebook and Twitter I used to spend a LOT more time on this site

When I used to work at the Christian book store in college I was a new hire and the owner was showing another new hire how he expected a display rack cleaned. He called it the “auto center.” I laughed because I thought it was a clever name. It was a name that sounded more grand than the plastic display actually was.

I got called into the owner’s office and was scolded for making fun of the name by laughing. I would like to take this time to point out that you’re welcome to laugh at all my posts – whether they’re intended to be funny or not – and I will not call you into my disorganized office (which I will be cleaning this week). I will, however, show you my guitar center.

I have a problem: every time I run into a foreign name that is spelled out that is unfamiliar to me I read it backwards just to make sure someone isn’t playing a joke on me.  I’ve read too many books, watched too many movies or something that causes me to do this.  So far I have found zero actual cases of foreign names that are funny backwards… but I’m watching… waiting… I will not be fooled!

Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say “infinitely” when you mean “very”; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.

C. S. Lewis

I enjoy exaggeration.  There is something that feels compelling, exciting and at the very least mischievous about pushing things to a limit.  So when I read this quote I wanted to stop and meditate on it because I have had moments where this principle came home to roost.  In arguments.  In attempting to let my children know that they were not to do something again (or I’ll rip your lips off and paste them to your forehead).  In despising a food or circumstance.  The truth of the matter is that I will probably exaggerate until I reach death or an old age or becoming mute.  Even then this blog may live on for a time as a monument to my folly.  So  I shall be very grateful to Mr. Lewis for sharing this bit of wisdom, but I shall be infinitely grateful to him for other principles such as the principle of the safety of Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia:

“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

Think about that for a few moments.