everybody plays the fool

i am a sucker for my kids. sometimes they do things that make me wonder what we were thinking for wanting children, but 99% of the time they make me appreciate my life more than i ever thought possible.

as i'm typing this, my daughter is putting diaper rash cream on her face. the party never ends, it seems.

back to my original point...

i never thought i could feel so vulnerable as i do when something bad happens to my kids - sickness, cuts and bruises, etc. i am fiercely protective of them, probably more than i should be. but i can't help it.

thursday was my daughter's 2nd birthday. i melt when she smiles or when she says "i love you, daddy". my son is almost 6 and is entering the stage where it's not cool to give his dad a kiss anymore. it makes me sad, but i was there once so i understand. he's playing soccer, baseball and is in swimming.

every day i have with them is a gift from God. there's nothing i wouldn't do to protect them.

i wish my friends without children knew what they were missing.

the day i tried to live

i don't know why, but there are some days when i just don't "get it". as good as it should be, i can find a way to ruin it.

this week has been awesome. i've been to an astros game and the mls all-star game, both with my son and some good friends. i went to texans training camp today with another good friend. but something is still off.

i think sometimes i go into self-destruct mode. not sure what happens, but it's not cool and it feels like i suck the energy out of everyone. it also seems like i tend to start fights. i label this disease as "a**hole mike syndrome".

what do you do to break out of a funk? and more importantly, what can i do to avoid this behavior?

don't panic

as any loyal follower of the various incarnations of my blogs (if there are any) can attest, i am pretty much obsessed with music. most, if not all, of my entry titles are song titles.

the one above comes from one of my favorite soundtracks, garden state. i have, in the past, been completely anti-soundtrack because i feel like they're sometimes stale, forced, and don't inform the tone of the movie they're representing. garden state changed that attitude for me, and now i have reigned in my hatred of soundtracks to something more closely resembling apathy.

getting back to me being a freak over music, i can pretty much relate any era in my life this far to a song. for instance, when i hear "meet me halfway" by kenny loggins, i think of "over the top" (the greatest movie about arm wrestling ever made). which makes me remember that i saw it at willowbrook mall with my friend phillip anderson. which leads me to remember that we drove past a fuddruckers, at which point phillip said something completely inappropriate for a 9 year old to say in front of my mom.

so i'm curious, what soundtracks mean something to you? and what memories do particular songs evoke from your past?

on to the next one

unlike my last blog, i hope to update this at least 4-5 times a week. it all starts today as this is post #2.

as a reminder, this is my forum to talk about what ever is on my mind at the time. you can expect to see random musings, (hopefully) philosophical discussions/ruminations, new recipes i'm trying out, music/movie/restaurant reviews, and whatever else i deem worthy.

so, you tell me - what do you want to see on here?

the song remains the same

i lost my job a few months ago. since then, the days seem like they run together. i get really bored - there are only so many times i can mow the yard, wash the dishes, watch my dvr, etc.

but thankfully, kathleen and i have taken on something new and ambitious. we are part of a team that is planting a new church in sugarland. things are picking up and we are starting to really move forward. i know some of my friends think i have changed since we started participating in this. and i guess maybe i have a little.

but it's sad to me that some people view this as a bad thing, or don't know how to approach me. i'm still the same person, just with some different views and a slightly altered outlook on things.

have any of you ever been in a situation where you lost friends or had strained relationships as a result of something you changed in your life?