If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that I love McSweeney’s. A few days ago they had a feature called, “Lit 101 Class in Three Lines or Less.” Here’s my favorite one:
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
C.S. LEWIS: Finally, a utopia ruled by children and populated by talking animals.
THE WITCH: Hi, I’m a sexually mature woman of power and confidence.
C.S. LEWIS: Ah! Kill it, lion Jesus!
So as of today I have a year clean and sober. No illegal drugs or alcohol.
I debated with myself whether to even say anything about it. I always feel weird receiving praise for doing something that I should have done anyway. (Or not doing something I shouldn’t be doing, as the case may be.) But then I remembered back to when I used to go to NA meetings and people would celebrate their anniversaries and they would admit to the same misgivings but their sponsors would tell them that the celebration was not for them but for the person who only has a little or no clean time to show them that it can be done.
So here I am in your blogosphere, showing you it can be done.
Was it easy? Hell no. Is it worth it? Some days I wonder. But then I remember what I it was really like. And how much I hated myself. And hell yes it’s worth it.
Listen, I still struggle every single day. It’s an ongoing battle. But it’s a battle I’m still in.
I’ve been talking about The Flaming Lips a bunch this week. They have a song on their album The Soft Bulletin that runs through my head whenever I feel like giving up. It’s called “The Gash.”
Is that gash in your leg
Really why you have stopped?
‘Cause I’ve noticed all the others
Though they’re gashed, they’re still going
‘Cause I feel like the real reason
That you’re quitting, that you’re admitting
That you’ve lost all the will to battle on
Will the fight for our sanity
Be the fight of our lives?
Now that we’ve lost all the reasons
That we thought that we had
Still the battle that we’re in
Rages on till the end
With explosions, wounds are open
Sights and smells, eyes and noses
But the thought that went unspoken
Was understanding that you’re broken
Still the last volunteer battles on
I especially like that last verse.
Anyway, thanks to friends like Matt and Amanda and Coral and Maggie. But thanks especially to Mom. I couldn’t have done it without you.
Yeah that’s right, I’m still basking in the afterglow a week after the show. You wanna do something about it?
Here’s a pretty cool video of the Lips at City Stages edited together by our friends at the Tuscaloosa News:
If you go to youtube and type in “Flaming Lips City Stages” you’ll find quite a few more videos.
It was absolutely the best concert I’ve ever been to. Period.
Here are a couple more pics I took last night with my phone:
And here’s a link to a slideshow of Flaming Lips City Stages pics. Here’s a page with mini-reviews of some City Stages acts; the Flaming Lips’ review is way down at the bottom. Also, an article about how The Flaming Lips’ show were a big part of a rejuvenated City Stages. Finally, a link to an interview with Wayne Coyne from Black & White, Birmingham’s alternative bi-weekly.
The Flaming Lips played Birmingham’s City Stages last night. I’ve been waiting for 10 years to see them and it was worth the wait. Words do not do justice to the spectacle that is a Flips show; the word “fun” was invented for just such occasions. I’d like to say more about it but how do you describe what happened last night? It was damn near spiritual. Without a doubt it was the best experience I’ve ever had at a concert.
I managed to snap some pics with my camera. Most of them look like Jackson Pollack prints, but I like this one:
Thank you, Matt and Amanda for being there with me. There’s nobody I would rather experience Big Fun with.
Also, I’d like to thank Galactic with Chali 2na and The Roots for putting on one hell of a show on Friday night.
