We live two lives. The second begins when we realize we have only one
Before we get into the music/family 2020 recap, (spoiler: my kids' songs are #1)......Whatever this year was, it was transformational. It reminded us to speak up. That life is short (see story later in this post about almost losing Zack). Annually, I create a plan to do 1-2 items from my ever-changing bucket list. Result? Amazing adventures + life direction changes, ie my voiceover business. I hope this inspires you to take a couple mins to type over example ideas in my* tool below to start yours * ok, I needed my 16-year-old-son Pete to code it for me, but still
It doesn't have to be perfect so when you have enough for now, click the "Copy everything" button and paste it in a place that you easily can access. You can also click to preview how it would look if you "Share Yours on Facebook"
Before I get to my Top 10 for Music, here are the Honorable Mentions
Ok, now on to the good stuff. First, I'll start with the
Top Music I Listened to This Year That Wasn't My Kids' songs.
10 Everything Sounds Like a Love Song (song) - X Ambassadors
9 Kyoto (song) + Scott Street (song) - Phoebe Bridgers
8 RTJ4 (album) - Run The Jewels
7 Jackson Pollack (song) - Andy Mineo
6 Honeymoon (album) - Beach Bunny
5 Runaway Dog (album) - Retirement Party
4 In Sickness & In Flames (album) - Front Bottoms
3 Notes on a Conditional Form (album) - The 1975
2 punk2 (album) - Brakence
1(ish) Marigold (album) - Pinegrove
You can listen to all the music from this page on Spotify here or below
The REAL #1
Can I keep making my kids' music #1? Yes, yes I can. I can't tell you how proud I am of what they have been able to do together. Becca writes and sings and Zack produces. Fall For You Twice, Sweet and Lights On were my top songs in my Spotify Unwrapped...no surprise :)
The one where Zack came close to death....and the world changes
March 8th, before the US really comes to grips with what COVID really is, Zack, comes home on break from JMU and complains about a sore throat. March 10th Wendy calls me at work and says 'Zack is acting very odd. Not sure if he is having a mental break or is on drugs but something is off'' and she is rushing him to the hospital (he was watching TV and out of nowhere said 'We have to jump' and started jumping. Then in the car to ER was mumbling things like 'fight, fight, fight.')
I arrive to the hospital minutes after Zack has been admitted to the ER. It turns out he has had a spiky fever that had shot up to 106. As they bring down his fever, they have an EKG going and a nurse is watching it closely. With what feels like the longest minutes of my lifetime, the nurse calls the doctor over and then there are approximately 10 people around him and staffers running through the ER to get certain equipment.
Wendy and I, in shock, helplessly watch and quietly grab each others' hand as the staff talk to an unresponsive Zack. "Stay with us. You're not going anywhere. Stay with us." Zack's blood pressure has dropped so low that they do an ultrasound on his bladder to ensure they can force a full IV bad through him...and then do - along with some treatment to get the BP up
Zack stabilizes, gets tests for SO.MANY.THINGS. Multiple blood tests for (including mono), a spinal tap to check for meningitis, an x-ray, MRI and CT scan (to check for brain issues). Every test except for COVID - in part because he doesn't have the symptoms, in part we suspect because they don't have the test.
Zack stays over in the hospital for 2 more days. He seems back to normal but the world now is not. Tom Hanks announces he has COVID. The NBA shuts down. The US panics. More and more people in the hospital start wearing masks and the visiting staff who previously weren't wearing masks now are.
PS Becca also broke her wrist roller skating and less excitingly Pete burned his lip somehow taking a cookie sheet out of the oven but neither of those are nearly as dramatic :)
Best (and only) concert - Marc Rebillet
Zack and I went to a drive in concert this summer and while this video was from a different show on this drive-in tour, our shows ad-libs went pretty much like this. PS Parts of the song are pretty NSFW (and odd...and awesome) :)
2 weeks after Zack left the hospital, we ended the the musical theater (MT) college audition roller coaster
After years of hard work, endless applications/auditions (20+), months of stress (my friend Chris wrote an article in the Chicago Tribune about part of the process here), we end the highs and lows of hearing back from multiple phases of yes-es and no-s on Becca's college auditions. On Wendy's birthday a package in the mail has the three of us hugging excitedly as Becca is accepted and given a sizable scholarship to a top 10 school for MT at a place we never would have thought of - Oklahoma City University. Becca is now a double major MT with music composition and is loving it.
Some Other Music Stuff
Best Covers
- All Star - Future Teens
- Friday I'm in Love - Phoebe Bridgers
Annual Mmmbop Guilty Pleasure (tie)
- Look at her Now - Selena Gomez
- Illicit Affairs + The Last Great American Dynasty - Taylor Swift
Old songs I listened to....a lot
- In a Large Room with No Light + Little Red Corvette (live) - Prince
- Problems - Pinegrove
Uses of music on screen that I keep rewatching (although one is from 2016)
- Bojack Horseman's use of "Mr Blue" by Catherine Feeny. No spoilers but it couldn't have been more fitting
- Swiss Army Man's enchanting and odd Manchester Orchestra Soundtrack. Wendy says I have a problem because I keep singing parts of it over and over
- Apple TV's Central Park is a hilarious animated musical series. "Too Close" is the pinnacle
Ok, one more thing before I close....here is what is on my bucket list.
Note: I'll post mine on social media too soon. I'm pretty public about the list both to hold myself accountable as well as to get outside ideas on things to add. I definitely would love to hear your ideas for more to add. Go back up to the tool in this blog, and do your list (and lemme know what's on it).
- Travel - India, SE Asia, Abu Dhabi, Tokyo (incl. Shibuya crossing), African Safari, See the Northern Lights, Australia including Tasmania, New Zealand, See all the continents, Finish the 50 states (Iowa, Maine, Indiana)
- Experiences - Astral Projection (yes, really), Be on a board, Live overseas, Drive Cross Country, See SNL in person, Do another play, See the Calgary Stampede, See Congress in session, Go to the Super Bowl with the Steelers in it (and watch them win or it doesn't count), See the Indy 500 (I don't even like racing but sounds cool), Go on trip without itinerary or plan of where, Get in and see that funky Mormon Temple off the DC beltway, Attend a Indian wedding
- Learn - My Cahoun (percussion box) and/or get djembe lessons; Become fluent in Spanish; Improve my soccer shooting skills; Become a better audio producer
- Impact - Past current mentoring, find a way to have a larger impact for those with less opportunity; Help my kids get to where they want to be and the life they want to have
- Relationships - Mend some fences with folks (sorry this one isn't public); make some apologies; Record interviews from my Mom, Dad, Dar
- Work - Create a soundtrack for a movie; Voice an animated movie, short or series
- Financial - Make sure kids are in good financial shape
- Placeholders - Find more stuff for this list!
In closing, the kind of thing you find on Facebook that I generally leave out of this blog
I often have felt like I missed out not living through the 60s. I've also wondered how things got to where they did in Europe pre-WWII. Not anymore. 2020 gave us the 30s/40s and 60s all in one.
There has and will be so much written about 2020 - COVID, the awakening and Trump. Most of you know I am pretty left-leaning and felt the anguish, heartbreak and fear that has permeated the US. With the awakening, I have redoubled myself to question both my views of who I am, what have done and what I can do to make sure my actions mirror my heart. As for Trump - 4 years ago, I wrote that I could imagine a lot of weird shit from him which I hoped was just my crazy imagination....and said my dream was for 'double impeachment' to stop it. What's likely to happen next week wasn't exactly what I meant but I guess one could say I was prophetic.
After Jan 20th....well Biden was not my preferred Dem (Warren!), and although I am relieved he won I don't kid myself. There are some places where everyone shares the same goals, places where we reasonably disagree, some priorities/views others have that I just don't understand....and then there are those that need to be de-programmed.
This year has felt like a lifetime but we now have a lifetime of hard work ahead of us.
2021, let's do this
