There's More to Life Than Knitting!

Join Suna as she stops knitting long enough to ponder her life, share her joys and concerns, and comment on the goings on in the world.
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Monday, February 23, 2009

A Weekend of Triskelion Excitement

Well, we sure had an eventful weekend!

One night Beccano had Parker and his girlfriend over. I have to say that listening to the sounds of their interaction were really nice. I love listening to kids having a nice time with each other, and the peals of girl laughter were really pleasant to hear. I could live without the deafening shrieks some girl children put out, but these two don’t seem to be shriekers. Besides, Parker and I enjoy our little banter, too.

Saturday was perhaps the busiest knitting shop day we’d had in ages, and at least three of us ended up helping teach various people, because there were so many customers. I helped mainly with a birthday party of an 11-year-old. If I’d known I’d be doing that, I’d have brought some props and been organize, but at least they all got going—some doing really well. I didn’t have much time to enjoy with friends, but I did get to teach my own students and it was much less stressful than last week!

Beccano spent all day Saturday at Russia Day on the UT campus, and he really liked it (I recall his intense fascination with Russia a few years back—he surprised his friends at being able to read the alphabet). Lee did a whole bunch of yard work, then he and I went to Costco, where we hadn’t been in a long time. We got a membership, but had hardly any time to shop because we arrived as they were closing (at 6 on a Saturday!). At least we got some nice shrimp pasta that we all enjoyed, even Tuba Boy on one of his brief visits home. He spent most of the weekend flitting from gathering to gathering, when not working. It’s great to see him enjoying his senior year so much. I always know what happens, since his friends post photos of every single event on their Facebook pages.

Sunday was our most adventure-packed day, though. It started with a really fun time in choir, where we sang “The Age of Aquarius” with only a bass (choir director’s amazing son) and a little piano backing us. We had so much fun rocking out that we wished it would not end. That’s us in photo #1. Plus the sermon was even good—all about social networking and how it isn’t ALL bad. After that, we rehearsed for next week’s Dixieland band performance, and it went much better once I knew when to sing the verses! Tuba Boy brought the tuba, and we had the trombone, too. Lots of fun, and since there are two songs I don’t sing on, lots of knitting time.

We dropped by Parker’s on the way home, to see if perhaps Beccano needed a ride from band practice, and Triskelion (currently him, Parker and Dean E.—see photo) ran out, quite excited at their heart-stopping band rehearsal adventures. They’d been rehearsing in the garage, and had decided to film themselves doing “Revolution” by the Beatles (of which they do a fairly calm version). In a fit of poor timing on his part, that was when Grumpy Neighbor of Parker (GNOP) decided to drop on by and let them know how he felt about their performance. As he proceeded to point his finger, F bomb a 16-year-old girl, insult her father, and rail about her effing dogs, the camera continued to roll. He told them to stop rehearsing or he’d call the police. Seeing that they had all this evidence of trespassing and verbal assault, the kids decided to call 911 themselves. I wish you could have seen the glee on all three kids’ faces as they shared how “cool” the police officer was. Apparently, they were playing nowhere near loudly enough to be a problem at mid-day in a location with no noise ordinance in the first place. But GNOP really shouldn’t have wandered over and been all nasty to the young folk. The officer headed on over and explained all that to poor ole GNOP. Anyway, if you are my Facebook friend, you can see a link to the little film clip and here it is on YouTube, which has received rave reviews from Parker’s dad’s friends (who are much more, shall we say, aggressive, than mine, heh heh) and my friends. It’s especially funny to everyone I know who’s in a death metal band. Kids getting yelled at for playing Beatles songs on tiny amps. Hilarious. It's a rite of passage for young rockers in a garage band, though!

To further Triskelion’s musical education, Lee and I later took them to the Artz Ribhouse benefit concert last night. We didn’t get them introduced to too many famous people (just Jeff, Stephen Taylor and Danny Santos, seen here with Parker). But, they got to enjoy the spectacle of me listening to Slaid Cleaves. I couldn’t go into a trance-like state, though, because people we so loud you really could not hear the bands. What do you expect, though, when most of the audience knew each other? It was a real gathering of every Americana and bluegrass musician and fan in the greater Austin area. We did see a bunch of friends there, and enjoyed all the cool stuff in the silent auction. But, we didn’t stay too long. It would have been more fun a) with seats and b) if you could have heard the music. It’s a good cause, though. Blatant ad: If you live here or ever visit, please go to Artz! The music is always good, and you may spot a famous person, or at least someone Suna knows. They have new ceiling tiles so it’s slightly less dive-like now, too.

Lee and I really enjoyed the three teens a lot, so it was worth bringing them. And tonight we see them again, as they are trying for their first open mic night at Nuno’s, which is apparently on the corner of MoPac and Parmer. I hope it goes well for them. From what I can see from looking on the Web, the place is something of a dive and not run by the nicest of folks, but hey, it could be just fine. And the review said it was kid friendly. Triskelion seem to know all their songs, so at least they are ready!

Well, it’s going to be a busy and perhaps rather emotional week, so think of us as we blast through it. I hope by tomorrow we have photos of the band from tonight!

PS: I did want to share this hilarious link to the best review of the Oscars that I have read so far. We didn't get to see the show, but this made me feel like I had been there. It's a humorous one, form the viewpoint of some ancient show-biz Queen.

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