5 Things I'm Excited to Share With My Kids

Friday night, Kristen and I went to see They Might Be Giants. In addition to the massive library of albums they've put out for general consumption, they've also put out 3 children's albums. They're grown up shows are not geared towards children, but they also do a lot of gigs that are all ages where they play the children's material and some more kid friendly stuff from their regular albums (Dr. Worm, Particle Man, etc.) I saw a few people who had brought little kids to the show, which is fine but I didn't think the venue was a great place for kids and the f-bomb was dropped a few times. Anyhow, I got to thinking about when I become a father.

 I'm not in any hurry to have kids, but a family is something I've always wanted to have. I think I'm really excited to be a dad and I think being a nerd has a lot to do with that. Most nerds are essentially big kids. We love video games, superheroes, cartoons, etc and I think this makes nerds really great parents. Patton Oswalt said that if you want to have a cool kid, you need to keep them away from everything you like. If I play my kids The Smiths and tell them how amazing The Blues Brothers is their rebellious attitude will kick in and they'll hate everything good. However, there are things I can't wait to introduce to my children. And with that, I present to you...

5 Things I'm Excited to Share With My Kids

1. They Might Be Giants

I think my kid's will really enjoy this song. Not as much as me I'm sure, but still.

2. The Muppets

Ever since I've been a little kid, I've loved the Muppets. They are timeless (puppets never age) and, like They Might Be Giants, just as entertain for children as they are for adults. I can't wait to sit my kids down and watch Muppet Show DVD's for hours on end. I've always loved this sketch (and I don't think I've posted it in any of my other blogs which mention the Muppets thus far.)

3. Airplane! and Airplane 2

I have such great memories of sitting around as a family watching classic comedies at my dad's suggestion. Granted, I'll wait until my kids are around 10 before we watch this movie, but I think the vulgarities are relatively tame by today's standards. I'm also of the belief that if you don't teach kids that curse words are bad, they will be less likely to use them. And now, in keeping with the style of this post, a video from Airplane 2.

4. Star Wars

My parents weren't nerds, no matter how many times I may have called them that in my moody preteen years. As far as I know (I never really asked) they never even saw Star Wars. However, all of my friends in high school were nerds, so I still got my exposure and I fell in love. My kids won't have the same experience. My kids are going to learn about a father's love for his children and the fact that it knows no boundry when they watch Darth Vader pitch the Emperor down the...uhm....what would you call it? Let's go with "space well", rather than watch his son, who has become his enemy, suffer. I can't decide if I'll ever tell them that the Prequels exist. They are already going to be my kids, they'll have enough disappointment to deal with as it is.

5. Batman

Do I really need a reason for this? Batman is awesome. End of story.

Top 5 Things I Just Couldn’t Stick With

I’ve started a lot of things. Some I enjoy. Some I just know I should do. For some reason, I just can’t seem to stick with things. I was really enjoying writing this blog and I was getting some great feedback on it, but for some reason, the allure of playing Dr. Mario on my computer while watching TV was enough to take me away from the 30 minutes that it would take me to write a daily list. Anyway, I’m really going to try to get back to it and stick with it. I may not go daily, but I’m going to make my best effort. I hope all 5 of you will keep me on task. Anyway, let’s get reflective today. I present to you my…..

Top 5 Things I Just Couldn’t Stick With

Writing/Blogging

I like to write. I don’t think I’m exceptionally good at it and I get frustrated by constant writer’s block, but I still enjoy doing it when I do. I’ve tried to set goals for myself to write something every single day, hence the blogs. For some reason, I just don’t feel like I have anything to say most days, but then I remember that it’s all an exercise. I’m not getting paid to do this, but still, I strive for quality. I think it’s an ego thing that often prevents me from writing and that’s my cross to bear.

Photography

When I started college, I was good friends with a guy named Chris. He was the (at the time) sole employee of the comic book store that I shopped at. He was really interested in photography and got me interested enough that I took it as a college course. I got a nice camera as a graduation gift, learned to develop film and everything. After that class was over and I had no access to a darkroom, I just kind of quit. I got interested again, but the cost of a pro digital camera are such that I just haven’t been willing to make the investment. One day maybe.

Magic the Gathering

There was a time where it was cool to play Magic. At this time, I was in 6^th grade and I got into it because all of my friends were into it. My freshman year of high school, it was not cool to play Magic anymore. My friends, however, were not “cool”. They still played regularly. I remember stopping by the locker of a guy I was friends with in grade school who had outcooled me when we got to high school and saying “Hey man, do you still have your Magic cards?” He kind of sneered at me and then said “Yeah, probably in my basement or something?” “Do you still want them?” I asked. Disgusted, he said “Christ no. I’ll bring them tomorrow.” The next day he brought me two giant boxes of random cards and I was able to join my new nerd friends. I drop and pick up Magic constantly. I haven’t played in about 6-7 months, but I imagine when I move back home Dale (one of the aforementioned nerd friends) and I will start going to Friday Night Magic again.

Magic

As in magic tricks. Can you guys believe a human female is actually going to marry me? I’ve been into magic since I was 7 or 8 and my parents took me to see David Copperfield as a 1^st Communion gift. In 3^rd grade, I did a magic show for the talent show. I repeated it in 4^th grade, completely with magic dancing cane routine to the “Moondance” by Van Morrison. It’s an expensive hobby though and one I would pick up and drop based on finances. I love to go to a magic shop and pick up a new trick once and awhile, but it’s been about 3 years since I’ve popped in. The girl does love going though because the sales demonstrations basically amount to a free magic show. I never choose which trick to buy until I’ve seen at least 10-12.

Comic Books

Let me tell you guys something. When 2 of your best friends and 1 of your good friends comprise 75% of the staff of a comic book store, you spend a lot of your free time there. When you spend at least 2 hours a day at a comic book store, you keep picking up new books and checking them out. Now me, I’m a collector by nature. I wasn’t satisfied to just read the books and keep up with the stories. I would read the new Captain Marvel while hanging out and then after I had finished it, I’d buy it. It got to a point where I was spending 60-70 bucks a week on comics. I just had to stop. Now, I’m a responsible adult and DC Comics has set the clock back to zero on all of there story lines which allows me to jump in to some stories. I’ve been responsible though, setting a limit of 10 books to have pulled for me. That way, I ever go over 30-40 bucks a month. It’s satisfying to go to the same store every week (Alley Cats Comics on Clark for me), have the cashier know your name, know the cashier’s name, make a little small talk and then have him hand you your reserve books. Let’s see how long I stick with comics before things get out of hand and I have to stop again.

So we’re back kids. Here’s hoping I can keep it going. Let me hear you Internet! What have hobbies have you failed to keep up with?