So, the big day is here. In just a few hours, I’ll join all the other poor parents and their screaming daughters (and a few sons, I’m sure), for the One Direction concert. Remember the old days when you would listen to the music of the performers the whole way there and then sit in the parking lot before the concert blaring the music. Like you weren’t going to hear it live in just a little bit…Those were the days.

I like just about any live music so it should be fine. My idea of making a “Where’s Zahn?” sign was vetoed. Some people have no sense of fun.

Today from my IPod I’ve chosen a song whose title pretty much sums up why we are headed out tonight.

I know 8 people who have birthdays today – that’s a lot for one day! Late July and early August seems to host a lot of birthdays. Four people I know have had babies in the last month. So excited for the families. A special hello to Michael, formerly known at PopTart,  who joined us yesterday. Can’t wait to get to know you…if your parents let me near you. 😉

Things have changed since Kathryn was a baby. Seems like everything we had for her is now considered dangerous. When she outgrew her car seat, you couldn’t even donate that anywhere because the safety standards had changed. All the fun toys are now choking hazards. Strollers are fancier – all terrain vehicles.  Diapers practically change themselves. That last statement is probably a falsehood but it won’t be long until something like that is invented.  No play pens anymore. So many changes in the gear, in parenting philosophy and yet the most basic true remains the same, there’s nothing like a new baby.

So, welcome to the newest additions to this wild world. So much fun ahead

One of the other songs that Kathryn has discovered is Wham’s “Wake Me Up Before yo Go-Go.” This was actually one of the songs featured in the lip sync contest yesterday. One of the women in that group said she thought she was the only person alive when the song came out. She was quickly corrected when another coworker told her he was two when it came out. That did not make her feel better.

Most of the people in my department are pretty close in age so if we make cultural references from long ago, we all get them. We happened to be eating lunch one day with a younger coworker and we talking about musical groups. She made the comment that all the groups we were talking about are now on the oldies station. How did that happen? I told her we prefer to call it “Classic Rock.” She rolled her eyes and said “Nice Try.”

Earlier this week, I was asked to judge a lip sync contest that one of our departments at work was holding following a team building retreat. Of course, I accepted. Then yesterday I got a call from the SVP of that department asking if I will do a duet with him. Again, I happily accepted. He had picked out the version of “Bad Blood” by Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar.

I know that song but I didn’t KNOW it. Wow – they expect you to know all the words. I’ve been listening to it over and over since noon yesterday, trying to memorize the lyrics. He had an idea of how to perform it and given we practiced twice before hand, we weren’t that bad.

When I told Kathryn I was doing this, her immediate response was “Do they know how you act?” “Yes,” I replied, “I think that’s why they invited me.” She doesn’t appreciate my fun-loving spirit but others do.

I think we made a pretty good showing but the four other groups, who practiced or at least knew their songs since last week, were really fantastic. Apparently the prospect of making an ass of yourself in front of your coworkers brings out the best in people.

So today, I’m picking “Bad Blood” from my IPod. I know the words now so if anyone needs a karaoke partner, I’m your gal.

While we were at the beach, my nephew Max and niece Helen told Kathryn all about The X-Files and told her she would really like it. As Kathryn said tonight, after a day of marathon watching the show, “it combines all the things I love.”

I hate The X-Files.

We used to watch it when it was on TV. Wasn’t a “must-see” show, but we watched until the episode, “Home” where the mother is kept in a box under the bed. The story was creepy enough but when they pulled the box out from under the bed, I sort of blacked out. Not sure that’s the best way to describe it. I didn’t pass out but I went to a better place in my mind. When I resurfaced to reality, I just remember hearing a voice, which seemed very far away, asking “Can we turn the channel?” That was Mike.

I mentioned my experience to a coworker who was a huge fan. He told me the episode was so disturbing that it was never run again on TV until years later during an X-Files marathon. Max said he’d seen it 3 times and didn’t have an issue with it. Cripes.

Tonight while at the movies, I saw a trailer for a creepy movie called “The Visit.” I will not be visiting the theater to see it. Two kids go to visit their grandparents who appear normal enough but aren’t and the kids will be lucky to get home alive. It was super creepy. I’ll be lucky not to have nightmares tonight.

We saw “Paper Towns” tonight which is based on the book of the same name. I enjoyed it. Also enjoyed the soundtrack and was excited to hear the song “Lady in Red”, an old sappy 80’s song. So tonight, I’ve picked that from my IPod.

When I got my IPhone and it asked for my Apple ID, I did a stupid thing. I put in Mike’s thinking that we could easily share music. You can easily share music without sharing the ID I learned later. In the meantime, we ended up with all shared contacts, photos and music.

The thing is, at first I didn’t quite understand why the contacts had been loaded on my phone.  Annoyed, I spent a late night methodically deleting Mike’s contacts. Bored with deleting, and the occasional accidental dialing of those contacts,  I stopped around the letter M and decided to install Whatsapp. This app asked me if I wanted to sent notices to my contacts that also used Whatsapp. Thinking this would save me tons of time, I said yes, only to find out that since I had Mike’s contacts in there, those people, most of whom I didn’t know, got invites from me.

Mike was the first to notice the issue with the mass deletion I had done when he couldn’t find some of his friends on his phone. Luckily for him. I’m a lazy ass at heart and hadn’t ever gone back to delete the rest of the alphabet. We now have a no deletion rule.

The music is shared not only with me but Kathryn’s music makes it on my list too. It certainly adds to variety when three people share music. Mike is a Blondie fan and while I know a few of their most famous songs, I don’t know much past that. We would listen to his IPod in the car and it got to be a joke that during a Blondie song, I would ask “Is this Blondie?” Today, as I was listening to One Direction preparing for the big concert, I found they covered a Blondie song – “One Way or Another.”  I like the Blondie version better but OD didn’t do a bad job.

This reminded me of the time my stepson Matthew wanted me to listen to a new song from the Lemonheads – “Mrs. Robinson.” I had to try and convince him that song was old when I was a kid. He didn’t believe me.  Funny how old music comes alive again with a new version.

No new versions here – here’s the Blondie classic.

So, I floated the idea of dressing like One Direction to Kathryn and the idea was given a very fast no. She said I would be a “carrot” doing that. I wasn’t sure what that meant but I did get the impression it wasn’t positive. Looking online, I found that being a carrot means “…when you’re new to the One Direction Fandom and you know none of their songs, albums, or about the boys.” Seems accurate but again, not positive. Of course, the one I do know is Zahn, the little jerk that caused a frenzy in my household when he quit the band. I can forget about him. Oh well, onto another idea to torture her.

We got a lot of back to school stuff in the mail while we were gone last week. Hard to believe the summer is almost over. I went into Staples today and did get a few things for Kathryn. I also bought myself a box of 64 crayons. I’ve been hearing that coloring for adults is relaxing so I’m going to try it out. As adults, we are supposed to color patterns and use colors that reflect our feelings at the moment. I read an article from Time that said “seems to be that coloring between the lines can be a therapeutic exercise.” I am going to keep that in mind but think I’ll buy myself a Scooby Doo coloring book. In between the lines and in a certain pattern is too confining for me. Always a rebel. At least a coloring rebel.  Anyone else getting into the adult coloring?

Listening to the right music is a great relaxer. James Taylor is one of those artists that always mellows me out. He just came out with a new album and I couldn’t believe it was his first album to hit #1. Haven’t heard anything from it yet though. As I relax savoring the last few hours of my vacation and think about the beautiful Outer Banks of North Carolina, I’ve chosen “Carolina on My Mind” from my IPod tonight.

A funny thing happened while we were on vacation, turns out when Kathryn says she wants to play “her music” she’s actually playing some of “our music.” Not sure where she heard some of it, but I’m going to guess Glee is to thank (or blame).  Kathryn asked to play her music in the car and we were surprised by some of the selections. Guess the music generation gap isn’t as wide as it seems.

One group which might not narrow the musical generation gap is One Direction. One week from today I will be in Baltimore seeing them with Kathryn and a friend of hers. This week will be devoted to listening to their music. I need to act like I know what’s going on. When Kathryn was little we went to see The Wiggles. She and I dressed like two of The Wiggles. I’m going to ask her if we should do something similar for One Direction. She’ll love that.

We had a great vacation at the Outer Banks. The weather was fantastic and the water was warm. We did have a slight scare yesterday when we got caught in a bit of a rip tide. We were out enjoying the water and boom, we were heading out to sea. While the whole experience was brief and everyone remembered what to do, it was a good reminder of the power of the sea. Despite the “near death” experience, as my nephew called it, we really couldn’t have asked for a better time.

One of the songs from Kathryn’s cross-over playlist was Rupert Holmes’ “Escape – The Pina Colada  Song.” Seems like a good song to end a great week at the beach. And a Pina Colada doesn’t sound so bad right now. After all, I’m technically still on vacation.

I can see why people don’t watch the news. It’s depressing. This morning’s story out of Louisiana, about the man shooting the people in the theater, was yet another smack in the face about the issues of gun control and the need for more and/or better mental health services in this country. We can debate both of these topics forever but we need to stop arguing and start working towards solutions.

The one bright note was the story of the woman who saved her friend in the theater by covering her and then the friend she protected pulled the fire alarm which cleared the theater helping to reduce the number of people shot. While this story was unfolding today, the internet was buzzing with live feed from traffic along a busy Georgia interstate where people paused along the highway, as the body of fallen Marine, Lance Corporal Skip Wells, arrived back in Atlanta.  I can imagine it meant a lot to his family to see the highway at a standstill honoring their loved one.

Tonight I picked “Lean on Me” from my IPod. It just seemed fitting especially after seeing strangers offering support and showing their respect for a fallen marine and after hearing of such a selfless act in the theater.

Tonight I was looking for a “Throwback Thursday” photo and came across this picture of Kathryn’s first picture on her Etch-A-Sketch. Such talent. It rivals Smokey’s artwork from doggie day care.

We have a huge amount of art projects and other school work that we saved for the kids. Seemed so brilliant and cute at the time but with some of it, you look back and are glad they made it out of the second grade. Someday they will appreciate all this archiving we’ve done for them. It is fun to pull out the Christmas ornaments they made as kids. Some have photos and some are beautiful creations of spray painted puzzle pieces or beautifully painted macaroni. They are all lovely in their own way.

There’s been a lull of savable schoolwork since Kathryn’s gotten out of elementary school. There’s just not the same kind of work to save. No one really wants an old geometry test. Now it’s programs from plays or concerts she’s in.

Tonight I’ve picked “Vincent” from my IPod. She may not be a van Gogh or, wait,  could she have been if we’d been more encouraging? Hmmm….,no.

, wait,