My mom is in town for Thanksgiving (as well as my sister and her boyfriend.) When she comes to Florida we always try to make some time to get together with some old family friends, Helene & Charlie. If I remember the story right, Helene and mom were old buddies in college and they’ve stayed in reasonably close touch ever since. Helene and Charlie live near Ft. Lauderdale (kind of) so we try to meet in Vero Beach, which is approximately halfway in between. We also took my grandmother, who knows Helene and Charlie and has been part of this new tradition in the past :)
Yesterday, for no apparent reason, I mentioned Five for Fighting. My sister’s boyfriend, Kevin picked-up on it somehow and mentioned the song “Superman.” It was important enough in our conversation that I went into my room to make my computer play the song for us. Today something strange and wonderful happened — I was reminded of what Superman used to mean to me before 2000.
Back when I was a kid, and I have no idea how this started, someone told me, my brother, and my sister, that Charlie was really Superman. It went so far that one time I remember going to see the “new” Superman movie with Helene & Charlie once and talking to Charlie about “his” movie. It was crazy — when we went to New Jersey to visit them mom used to say “we’re going to go visit Superman.”
Today in our walk, I was reminded of this once again, and the words of the Five for Fighting song came into my head from the night before. I was also remembering that it wasn’t so much the thought that Charlie really was Superman, I was probably too old for that. Instead it was more about liking the idea that he had a great secret and we (the kids) were included in it. I think we really liked that feeling. He may have been only a man, but he’s always been a super friend to my mom and her kids (as has his awesome wife!)
I can’t stand to fly, I’m not that naive
I’m just out to find the better part of me
I’m more than a bird, I’m more than a plane
I’m more than some pretty face beside a train
And it’s not easy to be me
I wish that I could cry, fall upon my knees
Find a way to lie about a home I’ll never see
It may sound absurd, but don’t be naive
Even heroes have the right to bleed
I may be disturbed but won’t you concede
Even heroes have the right to dream
It’s not easy to be me
Up, up and away, away from me
Well it’s alright
You can all sleep sound tonight
I’m not crazy or anything
I can’t stand to fly, I’m not that naive
Men weren’t meant to ride with clouds between their knees
I’m only a man in a silly red sheet
Digging for kryptonite on this one way street
Only a man in a funny red sheet
Looking for special things inside of me
And it’s not easy to be me.
“Superman”
Five for Fighting
America Town
©2000 Sony
My Life
11/29/2008 at 02:13 ET
Wow. I had about the coolest jog today, ’cause my roommate and best friend, Mike, came with me. He’s been in “the Iraq” for four months and just came home yesterday. I always wondered if jogging with a buddy would be difficult, especially ’cause I didn’t know if anyone would want to do my intervals with me…. We did 1.4 miles, 2-1, and made 15:55.
Exercise Journal
05/20/2008 at 07:01 ET
Forgive me, it’s been seven days since my last exercise…
Actually, I changed the name from “Jogging Journal” to “Exercise Journal” because I was going to write in all the different exercise-related things I was doing. Even when it’s just walking around Animal Kingdom with my grandmother. Yet, alas, I haven’t been doing that. It’s not actually that I haven’t done any exercise, but I haven’t gotten up or come home from work, put on my jogging shorts, and started my interval timer…
Today I did 1.6 miles (I decided to up it, even though it was hard) and did my 2-1 intervals in 15:55, which isn’t horrible, really. The other day I saw a commercial for New Balance that kind of summed-up my jogging “program.” Their new campaign is love/hate. The commercial is all about each time you set out to go jogging you have this love/hate feeling about it. I’m totally there. The beginning is mostly hate, the end is mostly love. Do you think the ends justify the means?
Exercise Journal
05/18/2008 at 09:41 ET
So yesterday Andrea called me and left me a message about going to the Daily Grind. This seems like an innocuous phone call, except the Daily Grind is the coffee house from college. I haven’t been there since 2001 and, as far as I knew, it’s almost 900 miles away…
So she called me later in the day to go out that night and I went over to her house. When I got there she was still talking about the Daily Grind. Trying not to sound like a complete ass, “there’s another coffee house called the Daily Grind and it’s in Orlando,” I said. “No,” replied Andrea, “it’s the Daily Grind from college.”
After a little more dialog (which I won’t make more awkward by trying to write it down in a blog post) I finally found out that the guys who started my favorite coffee house in Winchester, VA, had turned their business into a franchise and there was, indeed, one in sunny Orlando.
I recommend everyone go there. The coffee I’ve been drinking for the past seven years is so acidic and bitter. The coffee I had last night was delicious. Check out www.dailygrindunwind.com for more info! Or, just stop by 807 N. Orange Ave., Orlando, FL.
My Life
04/27/2008 at 11:12 ET
I first did it a few days ago, but tonight I beat Portal. Here’s a screenshot of my accomplishment…
Ya’ll know I’m a computer geek and a music kid, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that the part I’m going to absolutely rave about is the closing credits. WOW! For anyone who has a little intellect and a fair amount of patience (call me if you get stuck in one particular part or another), you should play and beat this game just to see the end credits. This kid Jonathan Coulton wrote an amazing song “Still Alive” for the game and I was just…wow. I bought it on iTunes. It was worth $0.99.
Computer Geek
04/10/2008 at 22:23 ET
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