Kid Tetris

The Wilderness of childhood is gone. In the neighborhood that I lived in until 2nd grade, there was a small, muddy drainage pond. The Swamp. There was a path around it - going around the path was a rite of passage. There was a small, disgusting clubhouse made from some boxes and a tarp where I'm sure the older kids looked at dirty magazines. Beyond the pond was a field, and a small lake, with real woods and real mysteries and real danger. In second grade, we moved a mile or two away to a new neighborhood, and that sense of wildness, that things weren't quite in our control, was gone. There were fewer possibilities in the park in our neighborhood - it was an open field, with a jungle gym and a basketball court. It felt sterile and itchy, almost like it was a section of a zoo.

The summer after 3rd grade, my best friend moved across the country. He moved back several years later. We visited him at his new house for New Year's Day and I remember visiting him there a few other times. He wound up moving back across the country. For some reason, I could never find his house again. I looked for it and looked for it, but my memory of where lived betrayed me. I finally looked up the property records to see where he lived. I was off by a mile or two, but the characteristics of the area were similar. It was the same distance and direction from an architecturally identical elementary school (there are about a dozen elementary schools that are all identical, and another half dozen that are of another style). Anyway, one time when I was over at his house we went over to a neighbor's house to play truth or dare or spin-the-bottle. My friend became pretty slutty, even for a male.

I was meeting a friend from work this afternoon - he was heading off on a trip, and wouldn't be around to say bye when I was leaving - he brought his 5 year old daughter along. She is adorable. I have never had any fatherly inclinations, but seeing her hold open the door at Starbucks and say "HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY" to people just about did it.

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More on country music. I am starting to taxonomize the popular country music universe. These aren't mutually exclusive, or exhaustive.
-Story songs (i.e. "Devil Went Down to Georgia", for instance)
--Sort of a sub-category: Parable songs ("A Love Without End, Amen" or "People Are Crazy")
-List songs - songs that mostly use a list of things to convey something
-Songs about Longing
-Songs for Crowds to Yell - Redneck Woman ("Hell yeah") and Ladies Love Country Boys ("Turn it up") (these songs are almost absurdly similar)
-Songs About Not Being Ashamed of Personal Failings