What's this? Another Jeff Dunham DVD!

It's one hour after Christmas Day and this year was awesome. I was helping some families out with last holiday surprises while Chris was finishing up at work and we packed up my Yaris and headed to Jersey. The whole trunk and back seat of my car was packed to the roof with gifts. Between what was already there and what we brought, the tree was packed. You could hardly see carpet! There were lots of great gifts, ridiculous gifts and thoughtful gifts. Chris got me a Nike+ Amp wristband remote control/watch for my iPod for my jogging. Nick and Rita loaded me up with PS3 games, Heroes on DVD (in addition to my Heroes on HD DVD) and Ultimate Matrix Collection on HD DVD (in addition to my Matrix DVD collection) which is all collectively known as my entertaining distractions from finishing my album. But not to worry, the games and one of the boxed sets are all sitting still in their shrink wrap awaiting for me to finish the album and then celebrate with hundreds of hours of movies and video games. Nick got me two dozen mini packs of Play dough. I got Nick a quesadilla maker, a car emoticon display to send messages to cars behind his, a vacuum cleaner that is USB powered and an assortment of stocking stuffers. I got Chris a slew of gadgets, the highlight being the iCarta , which you have to see to believe (it's a toliet paper holder/iPod dock) and many stocking stuffers. I got mom #2 a tea set, a giant clothespin, many stocking stuffers and several copies of the Jeff Duham DVD she loves so much and the CD of the same show...each wrapped separately and comically sprinkled throughout the gift openings. There were many, many other random things and it was a great time. I've got the greatest East Coast family; two brothers and mom#2.

We were going to head to New York as usual, but between being tired and Chris being on duty Christmas afternoon, we postponed the trip to Thursday.

After getting back to Delaware, I did a little jogging and worked on the album a bit then went out to see National Treasure II. It was okay, but I didn't like it as much as the first one. A lot of the dialogue felt like it was meant for five-year-olds. Regardless, it was fun and we got some diner food afterward.

Anyway, it's late and I've got work in the AM, goodnight everyone and Merry Christmas.
-Rod

785 Smelly Hounds

Anyone that read the blog title and immediately responded with "Bumpus!" is cool in my book. For the rest of the world, it's another sign that it's a week before Christmas! First, rewind…

Yesterday was one of those days of work that starts off not too bad and then gradually things build up and before you know it, you're taking care of a handful of needy clients, a boss who wants tasks done he should have asked you to start weeks ago and an in-box that was already full. By the end of the day, my boss had been gone for about an hour but calling me every few minutes on the never-ending quest to keep me in the office on a non-show day beyond my salaried hours for as long as possible. About 3 hours after I was supposed to have left, I finally turned off my phone and escaped. Granted, it wasn't the worst day I've had, but it wasn't one I'll write about…which, I guess, is what I'm doing…hmm…but it turned out to be a great day anyway, and that's why I'm writing.

Back to the story.

I stop by the drug store to get some photos printed and then head home. I'm completely zapped and stumble into my apartment. When I get past the coat closet, my brother, Chris, hands me a nicely wrapped gift and says, "Merry Christmas". I commented about it being early but he insisted. I kicked off my shoes and tore open the gift to find two Blu-ray movies: "A Christmas Story" and "Happy Feet". Happy Feet is definitely a great movie to make you smile, but the winner for best Christmas gift of 2007 was awarded to "A Christmas Story". It was 8pm and it still wasn't too late for the day to turn around. Sure, I have several other copies of the movie on various incarnations of DVD, but I recently got a Blu-ray player and this was perfect…literally: lossless audio and 1080p resolution. After getting cleaned up from work and making dinner, we stuck the movie in and relived my childhood. I don't remember Christmas without that film, seriously, it was released a year after I was born, so my first Christmas was when this movie first screened! By the time the Ralphie and family was hacking the smile off their Chinese turkey, I had laughed so much and felt so good I'd forgotten about the previous 12 hours and the boss that didn't want me to have a life or go home.

It's amazing how, some days, life just works out. It was a certified crappy day and a random act of kindness during the holiday season turned it all around.

I guess observant readers will notice this post is from early in the AM. Well, it was about 10:30pm last night by the time the movie ended and I surfed a few special features. Normally I'm up until 1am and then up to get ready for work at 8am. Even though it ended on a good note, it was still a long day and I was tired. So, at 10:30, I went to bed. I got up at 5am to use the bathroom and then went back to bed until about 6am and just couldn't stay asleep, I guess those few hours of extra sleep didn't transfer and I was waking early as a result of going to bed at a normal time. I watched the morning news and had a bit of breakfast. Now, I'm sitting at Starbucks around the corner sipping on my overpriced, tall, sugar-free, skim milk, gingerbread latte and blogging. It's strange, rarely do I get up early enough to have time to wonder what the day will have in store. Now, I'm wondering, "Could today be better than yesterday?" It's fascinating to think about. I have another full day at work, but maybe when my boss is being belligerent I'll start speaking to him using only quotes from "A Christmas Story". At least I'll get the joke and get a smile.

Merry Christmas and Fa Ra Ra Ra Ra …

-Rod

Love Is Different Than You Think

That line was penned by Caedmon's Call years ago back in the days when Derek Webb was still lonely. This was a strange week; I did get a letter back from the girl with the world's brightest smile. What I had suspected was true, the feelings she had for me in the beginning were no longer there. I'm okay, it's not a tragic situation - we were just going to see where things would go, but the disappointment I did feel was in that I had already come to love so many things about her. I guess, if nothing else, it has helped me learn to find the good in others. So I guess I wasn't the prince to sweep her away, but I do hope the right one does find her someday when the time is right.

I'm in Baltimore right now for work and last night as I drifted to sleep in my hotel room, I had a slow montage of my friends and family. I realized again how much I love them and how much all of them (you?) have shaped me. I would not be where I am today without some part of all of them: new friends, old friends, family, loves and even enemies and heartbreaks. If you're reading this – thank you. I hope to be in touch enough to have told you personally, but for those I've missed or haven't spoken to in a while – thank you.

It took a mild heartbreak to see it all again, but I wouldn't trade the wonderful family and friends I have. So, for now, love is different than I thought; for my college buddies, high school buddies, east coast family, midwest family, brother, roommate and even the daily acquaintance of the kind. I have found my love for all of them. I discovered this about a year ago, but this last week has reminded me of this all over again…and just in time. There are two more songs left to track for the album I've been talking about making for half a decade, have been writing for three years and actively working on for the last year. Soon, my album of love, written with love and about love will see the light of day.

God bless you all my friends, without you, I would not be me.

-Rod

Let My Love Open The Door

Yes, Pete Townsend and The Who had the right idea. I've known this song since I was little, but not until I heard Sondre Lerche's acoustic/string quartet version of it did it really hit me. I'm just two and a half songs plus a string session away from having my album finished and I'm coming back to the lesson I learned while writing these songs. Those of you who will take the time to listen to it will see the big picture I see now, but in short, it's all about love. It sounds so overdone and common, but this is about love, expectations, moments of clarity and what bouncing between the extremes of love and sadness will do to a twenty-something. Funny, after a year of tracking these songs, a few days seemed to make me forget all of what I had learned. Then came Sondre with his update on a classic. That was the start, and then I began to notice more around me…like in the movies. Good people at their best just brings out the best in me and pushes me to find newer ways to love and be kind. The opposite is true as well, being around negative or deceptive people will tempt me to play their games to survive. I know the balance of dark and light is what sustains this world, but I think I'm at home in the light. There's a friend that I've recently been able to finally hang out with after the rampage of gig schedules with work. He's a good guy and what is encouraging is that he's a good guy that people recognize as so. Like Matt Parkman on "Heroes", most nice guys just get misunderstood and the world won't ever give them a break. Being around a good person has really brought out good in me as well and I really like becoming a better person. Not that I was a Grinch prior to this last week, but there's so much good in us that remains dormant and usually we wait for things like Christmas and birthdays or until tragedy or death to dust it off and let it shine.

This little moment of clarity also made me realize when I'm around people that embody negativity or just dishonesty, it really tempts me to play their game. Luckily, I grew up a good boy and don't inherently do wicked things, but even a generally good person that doesn't take responsibility for their actions have negative vibes all over them. There's someone else I'm around all the time that I'm not really friends with but for career reasons have to learn to cope with nearly on a daily basis. They smile, act nicely around people, but when the crap hits the fan, they'll hide their dirty hands behind their back and try to turn the situation around to the manufacturer of the fan instead of the person that threw the crap in the first place (himself). Imagine that on nearly an hourly basis and the people around him are almost forced to become the worst of themselves just to not get trampled on. I find a lot (or maybe ALL) of my stresses from work are due to this person…not just for me, for the majority of anyone around this person. I would stay up nights debating this in my head until I was at work doing a video shoot for a motivational speaker. This speaker had a lot of bunk to fill his time, but one thing hit me when it got to Q&A time. An audience member asked him what to do if a generally skilled and well-meaning person has negative attributes that bring down everyone within proximity. The speaker simply answered, "By definition, they are not a good person." That sounds harsh, but I get what he was saying. Unless the person is somehow mentally handicapped in such a way that they are unaware of their surroundings, there comes a time they realize their affect on others and chooses to remain the same disregarding how they affect others that haven't done anything to them.

So what to do now? My first strategy is to be around the good people as much as possible and nurture that side of me that wants to better myself and love deeper. When I do have to be around others that challenge that goodness, well, that's my time to exercise the muscles of positivity; not just smile or ignore the negativity, but work on genuinely feeling good inside and making sure as many people around me feel the same love despite the dark around us.

I know that was a very ambiguous post, but it's a long way of saying that I went into this last weekend expecting a bad work week and some emotionally challenging situations in my personal life, but surprisingly, have spent the last 5 days smiling bigger and brighter than before. So, as Pete and Sondre have told me and my friends have encouraged me to do…Let My Love Open The Door…

G'night friends,

-Rod

It’s The Greatest Time Of Year

We'll do this Tarantino style and start at the near end and skip back to the beginning. Right now, I'm listening to Disney pop stars Aly & AJ and their holiday single, "The Greatest Time Of Year" and their holiday album "Acoustic Hearts Of Winter". And though it won't garner critical acclaim for originality or musical genius, it's the happiest song I've heard all year.

Today was the first full weekend I've had off in a long time and will be the last for a while as far as I can tell. I'm not used to free time, and on top of that I've been getting a sense that the latest femme in my eyes is not impressed with me very much. There was nothing concrete anyway, but this particular sweetheart was the first to catch my eye since about 5 years ago. I won't disclose names, this is between us, but I'll say this much, she's got the sweetest smile history has seen. I asked some direct questions from her today and have been awaiting what responses there may be. That essentially made today one long distraction. Fortunately for myself, I have a great friend and roomie whom also had the day off work and helped in the distraction. Chris and I hit up Potstickers Bistro for, what else, Potstickers and some noodles, then the mall to check out what new gizmos Apple had, Verizon to play with the new line of phones and I grabbed a new ball cap (first one in 2 years!). After that we got back to the apartment and watched "Just Friends" which seemed (to me) appropriate and made me chuckle about my current state of mind a little. There were still hours in the day so I ran out and rented Transformers: The Game and The Simpsons Game for Xbox 360. I haven't really played video games since high school, but I LOVE Transformers and really wanted to try the new game. I got the Simpsons just in case Transformers was too hard for me. I played Transformers for a while and it was awesome, however, after an hour of trying to make it past the second level, I moved on. The Simpsons was a two player game and so Chris joined me as we saved Springfield from the aliens. It was probably the most fun I've had in video games in nearly a decade!

And now, I'm exhausted. I had to blog about the day because, for a day, I felt as carefree as I was in early high school. The distraction worked. Sure, I'm still hoping she will get back to me to tell me I'm her knight in shining armor, but because of great food, gadgets, Xbox and a really great roomie, I had one of the most memorable and enjoyable days in a very long time. While I was out renting games, I stopped by Best Buy to get a CD. I remembered a song I heard at the end credits of "The Santa Clause 3" and thought that it was the happiest song I'd heard all year. So I got the album to reinforce the happy day. Now, going to sleep with such a sugary sweet song is capping an overall great day.

While I'm here talking about Chris and I guiding Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa through adventures in Springfield, I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned how great of an East Coast family I have out here. Nick has been one of the greatest friends I've had since our college days and is like a brother to me. His mother, Rita, was gracious enough to open her home to me when I moved out here and still treats me as one of her own. Chris, Nick's brother for those not keeping track, is a relatively new friend, he was looking for a roommate the same time my last lease went up and we got a nice new apartment from the cooperation, but since moving in at the beginning of this year, Chris has become a brother to me as well. I don't know if I can acknowledge enough how appreciative I am to this family for everything since jumping from the Midwest to East Coast nearly 3 years ago. Even if the situation with a significant other is vacant right now, I can't be more thankful for these three and their love and hospitality. The photo here is from Christmas in NYC last year...I love being part of this tradition.

So now I am really exhausted. Tomorrow's another day off (!) and I may just sleep as long as I can and possibly try to finish saving Springfield, but we'll see. Then Monday ushers in the flood of workdays. Happy Holidays everyone, and if you're looking for a little pick-me-up, Aly & AJ's holiday album is a touch of musical sugar to brighten your spirits.

-Rod