Theme Thursday: I Wanna Rock (But Sadly Have Had Few Opportunities To)

Theme Thursday is a rockin’ good time!  Want to be a rock star?  Read my post here and then be sure to read the other posts in the link up by clicking on the Theme Thursday button above.  I even fixed it so it will work this week!

And in case you didn’t figure it out by the title, this week’s theme is concerts.

When I was a kid, I went to a lot of concerts because I was really cool.  I was in a lot of them too, because I was a music sensation! I was a ROCK STAR!

That’s right-I was in concert band, symphonic band, marching band, orchestra…. you get the picture.  Yeah I was the coolest!  Now that I’m older and slowing down because of my advanced age, I don’t do that so much anymore…  Which is too bad because I think I could totally pull off the Ron Burgundy flaming flute solo.

I went a good portion of my life never having gone to a real rock concert.  It’s not like I didn’t WANT to go, I just never really got the opportunity.  Concerts are expensive, yo!  I have wistfully watched many acts come and go over the years.  I really do envy people that get to go to such things on a regular basis!

I went to my first “real” concert at the ripe old age of 24.  When I started dating my husband, we went to the Iowa State Fair to see a hair band concert.  It was Quiet Riot, Slaughter, Warrant, and Firehouse, I think.  Yes I lose points for not remembering.  Just remember that I was with my new boyfriend and I was in love, k?  However the door prizes for this concert sucked.  Just for going my then boyfriend got a complimentary case of strep throat.  Not just a mild case, I’m talking strep throat so bad that he walked into the ER and breathed and the doctor handed him a prescription.  She could smell the strep on his breath.  I know, ew.

A couple of years ago my parents and one of my very good friends secretly orchestrated a trip for me and my husband to see my friend Marcus and his singing group, The Texas Tenors.  Remember these guys on America’s Got Talent? They made the finals.  I would like everyone to note for the record that is the only year I ever watched a show of that type and probably ever will.  They are a very unique act-think opera meets country.  They’re also extremely nice guys in addition to the fact that they’re extremely talented.

I’d like to think that I was their inspiration, having spent more time than I should have in college making up opera versions of popular songs.  My opera version of “Never Gonna Get It” could have made millions!!!

Yeah, I know him… one of the best voices on the planet.  All the great ones had humble beginnings.

For my wedding anniversary soon after that we went to see Def Leppard and Heart in concert, once again at the Iowa State Fair.  There was no strep involved this time, but we did lose our voices from singing along at the top of our lungs.  If you are a fan, I highly recommend seeing them live.  It definitely ranks up there in my top life experiences.  They really know how to put on a concert!

There aren’t a lot of groups that I really have that much desire to shell out the money to see live.  Most of the ones I do want to see are iconic and therefore horribly expensive to see live.  Not to mention they’re getting pretty old and who knows how much longer they will be around.  However, if Evanescence or Linkin Park ever come around these parts, I really hope my husband would consider selling an organ or two so maybe I can see them perform, because that really would be the bomb…

Wait!  Where are you going???  Make sure that you’re going over to Something Clever 2.0 to see posts that are probably much more interesting than mine about concerts!

Theme Thursday: What I Did Not Do On My Summer Vacation

Theme Thursday is a weekly party where women get together and write their takes on a particular topic.  It is non fattening, good for your heart, and may actually reduce your bad cholesterol, kind of like Honey Nut Cheerios.

Today’s theme is summer vacation.

*Ahem*  This is my report on what I did on my summer vacation… nothing.

I remember when I was a kid-we always seemed to do something cool when we were on vacation.  Now that I am an adult, I am the queen of the Nonvacation Summer Vacation.  I long to go somewhere and do something without us getting seriously behind on our bills and then having to play catch up for the next year.  When you’re living on the edge, and not in the fun Aerosmith song way, then taking a vacation isn’t always an option.  Evil Genius and I have been married thirteen years and together almost fifteen.  We’ve never really taken a REAL vacation, though we both would like to very much.  I see different places that people go, and just wondering how the heck they can do it.  And EVERY year, even!  A little of it’s Facebook envy, a lot of it is just wanting to go somewhere, anywhere.

For example, where did I go for my honeymoon?  Nowhere.  I was teaching school at the time.  A job that I got after we planned our wedding, booked the church and so forth.  I got to have one day off, the day of my wedding rehearsal.  I had to be back the following Monday.  I believe I called in sick.  I remember one of my coworkers remarking “What kind of teacher gets married in September?”  Me.  Because our church was booked every weekend clear through midsummer, and we didn’t want to get married in 100 degree Iowa heat.  So there.  I WOULD have got married over my summer vacation, but I couldn’t.

As close as we have come to an actual vacation in the summer was the year we went to the zoo.  We took my adorable two year old son to the Omaha Zoo.  We had to drive over and back because we didn’t think we’d be able to foot the bill to stay over.  It was fun, but upon planning it I overlooked one very important detail: The Collegiate World Series happened to be that very day, and it was right across the street from the zoo.  We spent a lot of time waiting in traffic.  We did have a good time, though a good piece of advice for anyone thinking about doing this is to BRING YOUR OWN FOOD.  You are allowed to bring you own stuff in, which is pretty much a must considering a sandwich costs eight dollars.

He was so little in this picture! So was I.

Speaking of expensive sandwiches, two years ago my husband took me to the Iowa State Fair so we could see Def Leppard and Heart live.  We camped overnight and my sister in law watched the kids so that we could make that happen (and even get some grown-up time together).  It was awesome-one of only two rock concerts I have ever attended.  What’s the expensive part?  If you have ever been to a State Fair, it is one gigantic money suck.  A corn dog is at least four dollars.  And it gets worse-often they jack the prices of stuff up later a night:  a beer after the concert cost eleven dollars.  I’m not kidding.  That beer my husband had afterwards will live in infamy, at least as long as I’m alive and can bring it up.

Proof I was there, double chin and all.

This was also the famous weekend that my husband’s sister swore she’d never watch our children overnight again.  They weren’t bad, just needy.  They also needed to pee 50,000 times.

Our one and only time where we have really gone anywhere and stayed overnight as a family wasn’t technically over the summer.  A year ago this weekend we went to Kansas and attended the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at the Kansas Speedway.  It was fun but COLD.

The world’s coldest NASCAR race. Except for maybe the one where Kurt Busch did a snow angel.

I worried a little about writing this post because I didn’t want to come off as whiny.  I’m not complaining.  I love my children and my husband, and I wouldn’t trade them for any old vacation.  I’m just talking as well as dreaming. Summer vacation the last few years has consisted of two kids resisting the outdoors and very hot weather.

So what do I WANT to do?  Drive somewhere.  I’d love to go to Chicago or Minneapolis or St Louis for a couple of days.  See mountains.  Go to the Grand Canyon.  See some ocean again.  Go to Seattle.  Go back to Maine. I’d go with my whole family, or even just a couple of days with Evil Genius (he won’t have his laptop, he’ll HAVE to pay attention to me).

Nothing expensive, nothing fancy, just something that isn’t the same old surroundings.  Are you one of the lucky ones that actually gets to travel over summer vacation or do you have to stick close to home?

This post has been brought to you courtesy of a cold cold Spring and cabin fever.

If you went on an a three month tour of Europe, took a long cruise through exotic locales, or bathed topless along the Riviera, just shut up already and DON’T comment.  Post your pictures on Facebook and then I can be plenty jealous. 

Be sure to check out all of the other Theme Thursday posts by clicking on the Theme Thursday icon at the top of this post.  Thanks for playing.