A few weeks ago I was driving Kareena, my daughter, to kindergarten. It was a beautiful morning as we headed down Hwy 70. I don't remember what we were talking about exactly. There is a good chance that we actually weren't talking about anything. We tend to spend a lot of time during our daily 15-minute drive either singing loudly or just making odd noises in an attempt to make the other person laugh.Here is how the daily trip usually goes down. As soon as we turn on the car the radio is on (natch.) If the station isn't already set on 88.7fm (they play jazz on my drive home…usually honk n' skronk jazz, which I can't stand) then I get it there. I really love to listen to the morning shows on WXDU because each of the DJs in the morning play a mix of music that really lets their own personality shine through. May I respectfully add that these five are kooks, and even when they are playing music I don't like (which is rare) I still am thoroughly enjoying the experience.
One guy, Phil, is way into Japanese television and always seems to work it into his show. You'd think there isn't much Japanese television that you could work into a radio show - radio is, after all, about audio and television is generally about video - but you'd be wrong. Phil will intro a song by excitedly telling us that the next cut is the outro from a 1972 Japanese animated television show that was popular with 5-7 year old girls…especially on the tiny island of Shikoku. I'm making up the facts, but I'm not exaggerating the delivery. Really I'm not.
I'm not sure exactly why, but I find Phil to be a full-strength kick in the pants. I think it has something to do with the fact that he has odd tastes for a guy in Durham, North Carolina. I sit and think about the path that his life must have taken to even be exposed to that in the first place. I mean, Japanese pre-teen girly television shows, that have never been imported to the US, isn't exactly something that you just run into when you are flipping channels. And it is that search for happiness that he must have gone through that I find endearing; a search that goes against the grain of your average American life. I went on a similar search when I left the confines of Top 40 Rock back one summer as a kid when a friend played a Devo tape for me. That search has led me down a windy path, sometimes filled with dust and briars, and other times down a dank, dirty street in the middle of a big city.
Even though the subject matter has changed, perhaps Phil reminds me of myself? Or possibly, it reminds me of the journey? I guess the correct answer is "both" since you can't really separate the path from the traveler.
Speaking of journeys, where was I? Oh yes, in the car with Kareena on the way to kindergarten, listening to the radio…
So we are heading down Highway 70, she's singing nothing-in-particular loudly. I think I was making fart noises with my mouth. In between farts I glance to my left towards a small pasture when a guy keeps goats. And it was then that I perhaps saw one of the strangest things I've ever seen in my life. There was a goat, and he was in a tree. Yeah, in a tree! A goat! In a tree!
"Hey Kareena! Check out that goat in a tree!"
Of course she thought I was just goofin', but then she saw the goat right before we passed. After it was out of our sight she blinked hard a few times and then looked at me with an expression that I get a lot from her. Her eyes widen, the mouth tips open a bit, and the look says, "How did you do that?"
Have any of you other parents seen this look before? As the kids grow, that look slowly changes direction and assigns itself to the correct target, but for the first 5 years or so, it is you. All you.
I do a lot of weird stuff to make my kids laugh. Anything, really. I have no limits. If I can make her laugh with fart noises, I fart. If I can make her laugh by talking like James Henry Trotter, from the movie James and the Giant Peach (great movie, by the way), then I will. And if I could put a goat in a tree, by God, I'd do it.
As kids get older they eventually realize that dad cannot put goats in trees, while driving down Highway 70. This kind of makes me sad when I think about it. The good news, though, is that there are still many things I can do to make her happy. I still have all the capability to make all the fart noises, and most importantly I (hopefully) will always be able to be fun. Fun. I guess that is my ultimate goal in life.
And there, I suppose, is my connection with Phil, the Monday morning DJ on WXDU. He seems to be a person who likes to entertain others, even if it means trodding down a different path than your everyday, run-of-the-mill dude. I respect that.
Cheers.
SteveListen to WXDU online. The morning shows I speak of are on from 7-9am, Monday thru Friday.
posted by Steve Gardner 10/11/2000 10:24:47 PM
I hate the fact that this Wildoats thing records the dates of my entries. You can plainly see that I haven't done much since I added this section to my website. Ok, you can plainly see that I actually haven't done anything. Here's the reason: I just don't like showing anyone (including you, my dedicated and completely anonymous readers) something that I don't think is worthy. Worthy? Ok, good is what I mean.Personally, I don't think there is anything wrong with that, but in these days of constantly updating webpages coupled with an epidemic of short attention spans, it does seem like a problem. With that said, though, I will say that this section isn't supposed to be about perfection. It is just a place where I can write about whatever suits my fancy. Why I feel the need to show this to the whole world is a question I'll save for my shrink. When I get one, that is.
So, what have I been doing the past few months? Well, lemme tell ya. I've been thinking about what to write. While I was thinking I happened to run across an old journal of mine. My mother bought me this blank spiral bound notepad for one of our many summer trips that we use to take as kids out to see my aunt, uncle and cousins in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. On the cover of this notepad is a picture of a cheetah. I can't remember if this was luck, or if my mom actually remembered that the cheetah was my favorite animal at the time.
When I found this journal I thought it was something like a time capsule that had just been unearthed. The excitement of reading what was inside literally made a little flutter in my stomach. I cracked it open and read the contents, in its entirety. Here is what it said:
9:00AM 6/13/81
Today is the first day of vacation it is a clear day but really windy. We bought gas in Kettleman, CA for $1.49 a gallon. We left at 4:45AM. We are seeing army convoys going by on the other highway. Today is pretty boring. I'll write back if anything exciting happens.
That was my entire diary. I guess some things never change.
Yours in normalcy,
Steve
posted by Steve Gardner 10/8/2000 6:19:51 PM
I've always enjoyed writing. In fact, there are many times in life when I'd rather write what I'm trying to communicate than just speaking. My brain doesn't seem to do as well unless it has some advance planning. Email has really been a welcome addition to my life because I now communicate much more by writing and it gives me a chance to put my thoughts together. Unfortunately for some of my friends, though, they often receive emails from me that are more like diary entries or open letters. Some don't mind it, but I gotta assume that I'm boring a few of them stiff.I've been eyeing my friend Chuck's looka weblog for a few months now and have really enjoyed it. And then last week I found a great website of open letters called openletters.net and finally my mind was made up. I had to share my rants and raves with you, the gentle reader.
I decided to call my weblog Wild Oats. It seemed fitting since my website is called Topsoil. I can't promise you that anything will be grammatically correct. In fact, I can assure you it won't. Hopefully my ideas will come across as understandable, though. Welp, here goes nothing.... Steve
posted by Steve Gardner 7/24/2000 11:36:10 AM