Maybe These ARE The Droids You're Looking For

Every year when it gets close to Halloween I start asking my son the same questions and I always get the same answers. Do you want to be a Jedi? No. What about Darth Vader? No. How about a Stormtrooper? No. Why don't you try Boba Fett? No. The answer has always been no. Until this year that is. This year he announced that he wanted to be Darth Vader. The thing that helped to bring him around was that he spent almost two months in Peru this summer and his uncle Gary got him hooked on playing The Force Unleashed video game. Gary is probably a bigger fan of Star Wars than I am, well, maybe he's equal with me.

 

Now, it wasn't as if I was derelict in my fatherly Star Wars duties before he went. I showed him the movies as well as The Clone Wars animated series (whenever we could catch it) and he enjoyed them all very much. But it wasn't until all of that was tied in to his love of video games that it became more of an obsession for him. He's already accumulated three lightsabers of varying styles and is wanting more. To that end my wife is making his Darth Vader costume (she's pretty good at that kind of thing) and he couldn't be happier. He's already wearing his cape around the house.

 

After I commented about his choice of costume on Facebook my brother from other parents Tommy asked me if I wanted any of the Star Wars books that he had. You see, about a decade ago I had given a box full of Star Wars books to his sons. I had read them all and they were only taking up space so I thought why not pay it forward and give them to someone who might be interested in them? At that time in my life I was positive that I'd never marry again and that I would never have a child to share these kinds of things with. How wrong I was. 

 

 

Fast forward to the present and now these books that were a part of my past will now become part of his future. Sure, he's only six years old and not quite at the reading level to start on these books yet but give him a few years and he'll be ready to start tearing through them. I've always been a voracious reader so hopefully he'll take after me in this area. I may even read them all again just to familiarize myself with the story lines and then maybe I can finally get caught up with all of the more recent ones. I've only read a few that weren't associated with the story lines from these books in the past several years so I know I've got some catching up to do.

 

Another thing that I also gave away were my old concert t-shirts from the 80s. Those went to my nephew because they no longer fit me and were also taking up space in a box. I've got that one covered though. You see I haven't stopped going to concerts (my wife is still waiting for me to grow up but I refuse) and I'm making sure I'll have some for his future use. Mine too, I still wear them all the time. Plus it won't be much longer before I start taking him with me and then he can get his own shirt. Of course at the rate he's growing he may have to wear mine sooner rather than later. He's already standing over four feet four inches tall and doesn't show any signs of stopping anytime soon. I can't wait.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

New Orleans Road Trip Day 2

Day two of the road trip started and after getting cleaned up we went to the French Quarter and had lunch at Johnny's Po-Boys where I had the Alligator Sausage Po-Boy that you see below. It basically tasted like sausage, nothing more nothing less. I could only finish half of it so I had the other half wrapped up and ended up giving it to a street musician.



Next we went around the Quarter looking for souvenirs which took a little while. While we were doing this we also went to Cafe du Monde where we had beignets and then went on to the riverwalk. While there I bought some alligator jerky that turned out to be extremely spicy and it set all of our mouths on fire. It was so hot it made me glad I didn't try the alligator on a stick (seriously, they had it). Afterwards we continued to look for souvenirs and to see what the Quarter looked like.



I asked in one shop about the location of vinyl record stores and was told that there were no longer any to be found in the French Quarter. Half a block away I found a small book/record store where I happily purchased two 45s. Did I go back to correct the lady in the shop? No, it would more than likely have proven to be a useless gesture.

We'd been out for several hours so we decided to head back to the hotel even though it meant that we needed to walk the mile and a half or so distance in order to get some exercise (and not pay for another cab ride). Once there Tommy and I went to the pool for a nice cool swim because it was pretty muggy and we had gotten hot during our walk. Chris however elected to stay in the room and watch tv. Maybe they had different shows on than what we have in Tulsa. After getting ready we headed back to the French Quarter for dinner where we decided on Felix's so that Tommy could get oysters on the half shell which he desperately wanted and I could get the blackened alligator I had been looking for. I also had a cheeseburger po-boy but decided not to take a picture of it. The alligator that you see below was excellent and I highly recommend it.




The appointed hour had come to head to the New Orleans Arena and see Rush. This was the seventh concert by them that I had seen (should have been 3 or 4 more) and they never fail to impress. Age is of little consequence for how masterful they are musically and if you get the chance, go see them while you can. It's worth it. Great songs, great between song banter, great light show and some very great music all add up to a good time in my book. The only negative thing was the people around us who waited until after the show started and then decided to go get food and drinks. Seriously, if you pay that much money shouldn't you actually watch the band instead of constantly getting up and down going back and forth from the concessions stand?


Anyway, a cabbie tried to rip us off and charge $10 each to go back to the hotel so we ignored him and found another. Here's a hint, there's always another, you just may have to wait a bit to find a good one at a decent price. Upon our inquiry the lady at the front desk told us that there was a local burger place about a block over so away we went and there found the bar and grill that it actually was, where I grabbed some mozzarella sticks. Afterwards the moment had come to hit the sack and get ready to see some more sights tomorrow before starting our journey home. More to come.

Published by Don Leach

101 T-Shirts To Help You Relive The 1980’s

http://www.cotygonzales.com/2010/09/14/101-t-shirts-to-help-you-relive-the-1980s/

I came across this website article about 80s t-shirts so I thought I'd post the link to it here. I mean, why not? I'm obviously lazy, and eternally stuck in the 80s so what's the harm in getting an easy post in? Plus if it helps at least one person find their way to buying one of these shirts then it's been time well spent. My favorites are in numerical order: 9, 16, 26, 33, 43, 51, 59, 62, 97, 98. Now if only my mother would get serious and win the lottery so that she could give me some cash, then I'd actually be able to buy them. We can dream, can't we?