TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA 2005 TOUR

Here we are again, back at the Ol’ Blog to toss out some more of my life’s little documentaries. And I’m guessing you’re curious about the TSO concert, and about my Christmas holiday. As luck would have it, that’s exactly what I’m going to write about.

My excitement was growing as the hour approached for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert in Little Rock at Alltel Arena. On the evening of the concert, there was somewhat of a squabble between the two lovely ladies that were to be accompanying me to the concert. My wife’s best friend got the tickets and was at the house to ride with us in one vehicle. Well, it seems that both of them had been through a fairly rough day prior to getting ready for the event, and neither one of them was over the days’ events yet.

One mis-spoken word at the wrong time and in the wrong tone…turned into somewhat of a verbal cat-fight in no time flat. I did my best to keep out of the discussion, being that there were two females and only one male. Women tend to gang up on the opposite sex, especially when the man has no backup. Doubly so when the man throws in his “two cents” about the “female issues” on the discussion table. I just ducked and covered.

The squabbling back and forth continued as we got in the truck. I have a single cab Dodge Ram. Sound travels well in a single cab. Ask me how I know. At any rate, thing kept escillating to the point where I had finally endured enough. I voiced my observation of their combined stupidity when it came to consistently and repetitively aruging over meaningless bullshit. I said they should appreciate the fact that they have a friend to watch the concert with, and to stop having a piss-&-moan episode with me trapped in the middle.

After a short time of cooling down, things became tolerable. After 15 to 20 minutes inside the Arena, the excitement of the concert began to take their minds off the fight. The concert was spectacular!!! There were laser lights, strobes, pyrotechnics, spark-sprayers, fog machines, backup singers, soloists, guitar features, keyboard features, drum solo, drama and fantastic music!!!

At one point, “snow” fell from above the crowd and shimmered as the strobe lights danced off the twirling confetti. It was magical, to say the least. Of course, the two ladies swooned after…”him”…as TSO likes to refer to Angus Clark, one of their lead guitarists.

I would have preferred to explore the intimate details of one of their lovely female lead voice… Miss Jill Gioia. Wow, what a voice!! Christmas was a lot of work, but a lot of fun. The boys weren’t disappointed and that was my main goal. The wife was happy, I was happy, the boys were happy… and that’s what it’s all about. Being with family, bringing smiles to faces, and remembering that Jesus is the reason for the celebration. Our friends, Chris and Sheri came over and showered the kiddo’s with presents, too. No complaints were registered by either boy. ~lol~

It was a good time at both events. I’m not sure what the plans are for New Year’s Eve, just yet. But, I’m certain that my wife will have my evening ironed out way before the ball drops.

Well… I better get back to work. Christmas is over and whether I’m rested or not…it’s the work week. More later!

Howdy, boys n’ girls. I guess I can toss another entry or two into the old Journal before Christmas gets here. Old St. Nick is just about ready to take his yearly flight. If you have kids, I hope they get a ton of goodies. I know I’m gonna be having some fun on the 21st, because Trans-Siberian Orchestra is coming to Alltel Arena in North Little Rock. I’m gonna be there!!! This should be awesome!!! Many thanks to “Brat” for the amazingly cool Christmas gift.

Well…what else to write? Hrmm… it’s 1:50, I’m hitting my sleepy-stage of the day where I the the urge to nod off and yawn a lot. It never matters how much sleep I get or how early I get in bed. It happens every day. I guess this begins to happen around middle-age? Who knows.

I should be able to get my home internet back in working order on the 20th…which is this coming Tuesday. I’m looking forward to that. Oh, I won’t get to spend any more TIME in there on the net than I am right now…due to the nagging and griping I get each time I sit down to surf. But at least my service will be active.

I guess, being that this whole blog was started in order for me to just let out some random rants about things that annoy and confound the very sense of logic within me, I could throw out some issues that have come to mind.

1) What is it with all of the stupid disclaimers, microscopic print, 900mph scrolling text and speed talkers on television commercials these days?!?! Tell me, honestly. How many times do we have to see “Professional driver on closed course” and “Dramatization”? Ah yes, dramatization. Everything’s a stupid dramatization. A truck pulling a battleship…gee, I’m glad they said it was just…a dramatization. I would have tried to hook the USS Alabama to my new truck and take it home as a trophy!! ~rolling eyes~ I’m sorry, but I don’t think a sports car can outrun a jet!! I also don’t think that wet-condition tires will allow a car to drive ontop of a body of water. (Not unless Jesus is behind the wheel).
Hey, marketing people! Let me clue you into something that the general buying public is intelligent enough to realize… vehicles can’t drive off cliffs, under the ocean, or through boiling lava, without being destroyed!! We don’t need someone telling us that this is fake.
Anybody who needs that explained to them is too stupid to drive a vehicle in the first place! Any lawsuit from an injury received as a direct or indirect result of attempting to reenact a dramatization should be laughed out of court.

2) Why does every medication they come out with have some sort of horrible series of possible side effects? Shouldn’t these possible reactions be taken into consideration before someone says “sure! Give it to the public!!” ?
Exactly how safe is a medicine when the side effects could be “dry mouth, diarrhea, flatulence, incontinence, upset stomach, nausea, nervousness, drowsiness, and some sexual side effects”? Is that a fair trade-off?? I think I’d rather be sick than to possibly suffer the rest of that. Thank you.

3) Why is it that advertisers buy blocks of advertisement time…so that their commercial is not run once…or even twice in a short span of time. It’s run 4 or 5 times!!! People begin to loathe the product being shoved infront of their faces on TV while watching their favorite program. Once or twice is fine, marketers… not 4 and 5 times. You’re beginning to turn customers away. Just a clue there.

That’s all for now… more later.

I guess it’s about time to toss in the first entry for the “Holiday Season”, as everyone seems to be calling it now. In this little online journal entry, I’d like to address a few items that seem to irritate me about this time of year.

First off, the Holidays are supposed to convey a sense of brotherly love…tolerance…good will…cheer…kindness…courtesy…and a return to the values of home and family. Each year, it seems to become more and more about anger…intolerance…poor manners…rudeness…and an opportunity to ruin the whole experience for the person next to you. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure there are those who try very hard to ignore the general majority who seem to wander along with the social infrastructure on a daily basis, not unlike lemmings to a moral cliff. If you have any doubts to my words… just try to have a pleasant experience at the local mall on the day after Thanksgiving. You’ll be lucky to walk away without a bloody nose.

Bless these kind souls who try their best to maintain the cheer of Christmas in the midst of this animosity-filled religious multi-culturalism our country is drowning in. In a time of “tolerance” and “freedom of religious belief”, Where certain groups are exempt from penalty for all manner of religious holidays and observances. It seems to be blatantly absurd (and frightening, I might add) to witness the growing governmental oppression of Christianity, and the icons of it’s celebration…namely Jesus.

What has this country come to, and where are we headed? Here are some of my fundamental beliefs:

1) I believe all Americans should have the right to worship whatever deity they see fit to worship.
2) I believe that the freedom to attend organized worship services of these deities should be allowed without governmental influence.
3) I believe that the freedom to discuss one’s beliefs and the right to observe religious-holidays without penalty should be a basic right we all have.

I also believe that the people who file lawsuits over a baby Jesus in a nativity scene on a courthouse lawn ought to be laughed out of the courtroom! It’s true that this country was founded on religious freedom and freedom of expression. But that also applies to the religious beliefs of the founding fathers, themselves! Most, if not all, were Christian. Some were even ordained ministers! Yet our government, who operates in buildings adorned with Christian mottoes, figures, likenesses and references, upholds these absurd lawsuits by religious fanatics and atheists against Christian practices! Why? Don’t Christians have the same rights afforded to other denominations? I’m beginning to fear that the answer is “no”.

Get this… I work two jobs. At my main job, we freely and openly hold a “Christmas Dinner”. This, in no way, implies that we are forcing or mandating the religious observance of Christmas on any non-Christian or non-denominational employees. It merely means that we are holding a dinner in appreciation of our employees, in the spirit of the Christmas Season (which is a season of good will and kindness). It’s taken well, and there are no objections to it. And there shouldn’t be!

It is a dinner created in good will for the benefit of our employees. If there is nothing negative to it for anyone attending, I fail to see where any objection could be raised. If you’re not a Christian…so what? Enjoy the free food! Believe what you want! Enjoy the fact that others are happy and want YOU to be happy. Just because you believe something else doesn’t mean you have the right to oppress and demean the joy of others who do! Be tolerant!

At my second, part-time, job… we aren’t even permitted to advertise “Christmas Items” due to the fear of negative publicity surrounding the corporate name. Why would there be negative images drawn about the company, you ask? It’s because some idiot filed a lawsuit against the company in the past over a “religious reference” of Christmas. Now, the whole Christmas Season is muted and has become “politically correct” at that place of business. At least they haven’t taken away the Christmas Carols being played over the satellite radio.

Well… in the immortal words of Charlie Brown, “Well, I’m not going to let all of this commercialization ruin MY Christmas.” And that’s exactly what I intend to do. The government may regulate how Christmas is advertised or how it’s publicly observed, but the government can’t regulate how I celebrate it in my heart. As long as I have the joy of the Christmas Season in my heart and share it with my family…it’ll remain as it always has.

If I don’t get the opportunity to share another post with you before Christmas gets here… I’d like to take the opportunity to wish each and every one of my readers a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. Oh…and Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanza and Happy (Insert the holiday of your choosing).

JESUS is the reason for the season...