Best of the Fest

I love that you wrote the post about your favorite songs from each of the shows we've seen so far.  I was already planning something similar, though I didn't think of doing it as a blog post (sorry Kevin).  I've been keeping track with a new Spotify playlist of all my favorites (hence the note-taking at the Cake show).  I thought it would be fun for both of us to go back and listen to as we relax / detox after Summerfest ends.

The interesting part is that we don't seem to have ANY of the same favorites.

1.  Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros - 40 Day Dream.  My favorite song of theirs, Charlie's favorite, and the first song of Summerfest.  That seemed like a pretty good way to kick off 11 days of fun.

2.  Avett Brothers - Slight Figure of Speech.  I'll listen to this song when I have the album on, but I don't ever seek it out.  But I thought it rocked at the show.  I'm always partial to Laundry Room, since it builds for a couple minutes to a all-out jam at the end, but that doesn't have the same effect in a giant amphitheater that it does in a place like The Riverside.

3.  Fun. - One Foot.  If you're going to make an album of anthems, this is a pretty good start, with all fist pumps and audience participation. 

4.  Grouplove - Chloe.  Again, not one that I expected, but this was the point where I realized this was going to be a good show.  After feeling like ES & MZ and Avett Brothers didn't really translate to the bigger venue, it was fun to see Fun. and Grouplove, whose shows are tailor-made for an event like Summerfest.

5.  Cake - Sheep Go to Heaven, Goats Go to Hell.  I think this might have been the song during which you went to the bathroom.  I think I've only listened to this song a handful of times, two of which were at Cake concerts.  It's such a goofy song, but so fun.  Of course I liked the encore closers of Short Skirt/Long Jacket and The Distance, but only Cake could get an entire crowd singing along to "goats go to hell." 

6.  Dispatch - This was hard for me, since I don't know too many of the songs.  I liked the ones I was hoping to hear (Circles Around the Sun, The General), but I think my favorite was Bats in the Belfry.  I definitely need to listen to more Dispatch, and you can count on me to be ready to see them again next time they tour for 3 weeks or whatever it was.

7.  JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound.  Meh.  They were ok, but nothing stood out.  I'll just assume they played their Wilco cover (I am Trying to Break Your Heart) after we left.  Or they just got high(er).

8.  Silversun Pickups - Panic Switch.  One of the two songs I know from this band.  Listening to them after the fact, they sound much better on album versions.  Apparently, all the songs ARE in English.  Who knew?  The best part of this show was the genuine emotion from the substitute bass player.  I thought it was cool that they made a big deal our of something that the crowd would not have cared about had they not brought it up.  Clearly, she'll never forget Milwaukee. 

I can't believe we have four shows left, shows that have the potential to be epic!

And then there are the things that get saved as drafts...

So when I went to post about favorite concert songs (I should link it here like fancy bloggers do), this question was in my saved drafts from a couple of  months ago. Perhaps you remember the conversation...
I kinda like that it has sat for awhile.



How will I know when the things you do because you love me become a job for you?

Favorite songs

So while blogging is on my mind...
Happysigh.blogspot.com is not available by the way :(

These are my favorite concert songs from the past week. In order of wow:

1. Avett Brothers Paul Newman Vs. the Demons - which seriously is crazy because I ASSURE you I had NO idea what that song was called prior to looking it up for this post. Which means listening to it on the CD didn't ever compel me to tap that little home button in order to find out what the song was called. I don't even know what it's about. But it totally still sticks in my head as being a shocker-wow-powerful live performance. Can't get it out of my head. Want. it. again.

2. Dispatch, I think I HAVE to say Out Loud - even though it wasn't absolutely everything I imagined it would be live (and trust me, I've imagined it a lot), it was LIVE. Total dream come true. There were a couple of other REALLY great songs - my heart was so happy to be there.

3. Cake, I don't even know what song it was, but you sang, and that was my favorite.

4. My second favorite song at the Cake show (behind whichever one it was that you sang) was Never There. But I'm still sad they didn't do I Will Survive. So they can suck it because this list is about my favorites, not my second favorites.

5. Fun., Why am I the One. Which isn't a bad song by any means, but I never would have expected it to be my favorite in concert. I got the feeling others liked it too, which probably made it that much more good. 

6. ES and the MZ, Home. Because I was like, hey do you know this cool song that sounds a lot like these two, it's so cute. Oh wait, that IS these two! sweet!

7. Grouplove, I remember that it was fun to hear Tongue Tied, but honestly that show doesn't stand out as much as I would like it to. I must have still been under some sort of Fireworks + Avett Brothers spell.

What were your favorites?
 

Are You There, Kevin? It's me, Brian

Yeah, so Kev's probably getting a little lonely.

Immediate thoughts post-Disney:
--Hearing some of the more sarcastic (or less enthused) Disney workers end every conversation with a dead-pan "Have a magical day" never stops being funny.
--Parades are amazing to kids. I don't know if I've ever heard duke as excited as he was when Donald Duck pointed to him.
--Charlie cannot help but dance when there are characters and music around. He had the most fun dancing with Chip & Dale, which sounds much worse out of context.
--Whoa, looking out my airplane window,we just flew over a wildfire. Never seen that before.
--Was not sad at all about missing Opening Day, even after reading about the exciting game. However, looking at all of my friends Facebook pictures from the game was not easy this morning. Disney was much more fun, but we're definitely going to Opening Day next year.
--I can't wait for the upcoming Jacque (and baseball!) binge.
--My kids (Charlie in particular, might look at the Disney theme park maps for the entire rise home.

Infant blog Kevin suffers from neglect. Charges Pending.

Here are a few observations I'm going to throw out in an admittedly lame attempt to throw Kevin a bone. I wish I had something more substantial.
1. If I worked from home everyday, I would weigh 500 lbs.
2. Being home with kids with no work responsibilities would, at least temporarily, be awesome.
3. Being home with kids WITH work responsibilities (even with a sitter!) is awful. I'm not even sure I can do it one more day.
4. I used to think that my boys just had no interest in RC cars. But now I think I just bought them for them too early.
5. Racing RC cars with 8+ year olds is very fun.
6. If I worked from home every day and my cat continued to be obsessed with sleeping on my keyboard while I was typing, I would no longer have a cat.
7. Easter candy is the worst seasonal candy. Debate me? Exhibit A: Peeps. 

Back to work.
   

When I Grow Up

Interesting day here. New internal job postings appear on the main page of our intranet. Today, I noticed one for a Private Banking Relationship Manager in Brookfield. Of course, my first (over-reactionary) thought was "wait a minute, am I getting fired?". I spent some time trying to think of an excuse to call my boss, at which point I could casually mention the new job posting. Once I thought of a reason, we talked and she told me that they had an additional banker approved in the budget for 2013. Ok, great.

But that got me thinking. What would I do if I was forced to change jobs? I've gone through this thought process before, but the last time I did it, I was in a job that I hated and I was pretty seriously depressed, so it likely wasn't the most objective or effective practice.

So what do I want to do with my life? I’m not unhappy in my current job, but it’s not something that I want to do forever. I like having a job that doesn’t consume me when I’m away from the office, but sometimes I think it would be nice to have a career that I’m passionate about, even if it did make work-life balance a little more difficult. I think it’s time for me to do some level-headed, clear-headed thinking about what other options are out there. Not even for today. Maybe by the time I’m 40. Or 50.

I saw this video the other day on Facebook. I don’t usually pay attention to the people that post overly motivational BS, but this one stuck with me. Why can’t I just find something that I love to do? There has to be something, right?

Murder Mystery at the Horny Goat

In case there was any doubt, I think I proved today why anyone involved in law enforcement/crime investigation should not be allowed to drink on the job. Alcohol does not enhance my attention span.

So let me just tell you a bit about it, although its hardly worth telling.
So we had this Groupon for this Murder Mystery brunch thing at the Horny Goat today. They held it in a tent set up over the volleyball courts. So the ambiance was not good at all, but I was pleased that it was really nice and warm in the tent - although some felt it was too hot.

We were grouped into tables of 8 - so the four girls of us shared a table with two couples that knew each other. It was fine, the other folks were fun enough.

I just kept wanting the murder mystery part to take a break so I could talk with my girls!! So not interested at all in who fake killed the fake best man.

The buffet was not good by anyone's standards, not even mine. The bloody Mary's were fine - $15 for all you can drink, but humorously, our server had to tell us that our spear of accoutrements only came with our first beverage...so if we wanted some for our second or third, we had to munch slowly on that one. funny.

So our table got the murderer right in the end - much to Marcia's relief because she was very worried that we hadn't put enough thought into it. (yes, apparently people exist that are MORE tightly wrapped than I am). But we did not get the motive quite right. But we felt we did a fair job of making it funny at least.

So then we went into the actual bar structure to have one more drink. Derek and Lynn had told me they would have the boys home at 3:30 so I left at 3 and texted Derek to say I would be just arriving home at 3:30 - since he has a tendency to be early. He texted back. "Well, we are in your driveway, so we'll come back in 30 minutes." Sigh. Yes. Yes, you should come back in 30 minutes when you said you would be there. (eyeroll).

Fun enough time, but overall disappointed. I think I would do a dinner theater/mystery thing again, but I would need proof it would be a little more well put together. I would have MUCH rather just gotten together for brunch with my girlfriends sans the distraction of the show. But, if it hadn't have been for the Groupon and the "event" we probably never would have done that, so from that perspective it was a great day.

Now we're taking a break from practicing Drew's "L sound" Lisa wore a leotard...Lucy lurched forward... ha. He's doing great. He'll so be done with this in a matter of a few months.

I am looking forward to our drive to FW. Oh, and the time there of course. But especially the drive. I don't know - that's like "GOLDEN" time to just like chill and talk.

Signing off. Your fighter of justice, Jacque