Miscellaneous Baby Update

A lot of emotional ups and downs on the Wangsters front. Samuel Abrahm Wang's birth and first week have been quite eventful. His NICU course has left his parents exhausted, but Megan and I managed to steal a some time from them for a short phone call tonight. All children do worry their parents and I guess Samuel gets to start earlier.

It's amazing that Sioux and Hue have time for anything else, and they managed to send us some gifts: the bedding set and mobile for Paige. They were meant for Megan's upcoming baby shower, but we got the packages before the card, and we unintentionally opened them early. On the plus side, I do get to add some pictures.



Some songs take on new meaning as you gain new experiences. It's now impossible for me to listen to "Sympathy" by Sleater-Kinney without thinking of Hue, Sioux, and Samuel. I think the songs captures many of the mixed emotions, a parent goes through as she worries for her sick child (lyrics here). I'll tell you for sure how accurate it is when I have to worry about Paige.

My Smiths Soapbox

If you've been to my home, you may have noticed the displayed guitar with the broken string on it. You may have called me out as a poseur and you would have been right. I haven't played that thing in over a year. Well, I just replaced the string today and boy, do I have to rebuild those calluses on my fingertips. I'm going to vow to play the guitar more, and with a child coming, I'll have a captive audience.

This rediscovery of guitar-playing inspired me to seek out this old interview with Johnny Marr. When I was 15 years old, I hung out with these brothers, Rob and Alan Price. Rob played the drums and Alan played guitar, and their home was cluttered with rock and musician magazines. I always felt these publications ridiculously over-celebrated the showy, stunty guitar heroes. They would have pictures of Eddia Van Halen posing with double-necked guitars. Then one day, I saw the Johnny Marr article, and in it he articulated everything I always believed about good musicianship. The article led me to recordings of his old band, which led me to the song "Still Ill," which contained the riff that compelled me to play the guitar.

So, now I'm going to get up on my "Smiths Soapbox." It appears to me that those who don't know their music tend to lump them in with bands from 1980s genres like synth pop and doom-and-gloom rock. However, this could not be further from the truth. The Smiths were rebelling against those trends and making music inspired by rockability, motown, punk and simple guitar-driven pop. Unfortunately, non-fans have more incorrect preconceived notions about The Smiths than about any other band I know of.

This was all fine and good when I was in college. Non-fans were simply missing out. However, in recent tiimes, I no longer have anyone to celebrate The Smiths with. To rectify this, I'm posting "This Night Has Opened My Eyes." It starts out sultry, an adjective few would associate with the band. Usually known for their singer and guitarist, this song highlights the band's rhythm section, especially Andy Rourke the bass player. Listening to the Smiths now, I find that they don't sound dated. Their music was so outside of their time. This song could have been released anytime from the 1960s to the present day.

Oh, and I love my beautiful wife.

Nursery Update

Charlie installed the chair rail.
I painted it.
Megan put up the border

Megan Wanted Me To Post These Pictures

Really! She wanted to show these pictures of her belly. Looks like our Paige is getting quite a large home for herself.

Most of my coworkers find it endearing that Megan considers this size to be large. I guess we ain't seen nothing yet. In two weeks, we'll hit the third trimester and then the growth will really accelerate.

Anyway, it's been a while since I posted a song. This week it's "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor" by Britain's hottest hard rock act the Arctic Monkeys. I really didn't think I would like these guys, considering they sounded a little unoriginal to me on first listen. However, just when I thought I'd get bored with them, they'll burst into a great rock moment that'll inspire me to break out the devil horns. In spite of myself, I'm listening to their album more than any other right now.