Dan's World

Book Review - Jack's Last Promise

Thursday, 15 October 2009 09:50 | Author: Administrator |

Jack's Last Promise by Richard W. Neumann, Jr.

This is a really enjoyable tale, filled with nostalgia and inspiration. It tells the story of Nick Adams, who has a nice life; he's happily married ,their first child is due at any time, and he's a fighter pilot for the Marines. As the story opens he's preparing to travel back to his hometown for a twenty-year reunion of his pony-league baseball team, which won the state championship. The majority of the novel consists of Nick's thinking back and retelling the summer when they won the championship and all that he and the rest of the team went through, both on and off the field. An underlying theme throughout is Nick's relationship with his uncle Jack, who he idolized, and who taught him his motto "Always do your best and always keep you promises."

I really enjoyed this book. There is a lot of good baseball action and the characters are really well developed. What Nick and his friends go through and how they deal with life's challenges is compelling and very inspirational.
Definitely recommended!

Book Review - Shining City

Wednesday, 07 October 2009 11:21 | Author: Administrator |

Shining City by Seth Greenland

Marcus Ripps is a middle-aged man who works for a toy company and is struggling to make ends meet. His son is almost ready for his bar mitzvah and is expecting a lavish one. His mother-in-law has moved in and needs eye surgery but has no insurance. She smokes pot for her eye condition AND she wants to bea pole dancer! His wife owns a small, not very profitable clothing store with a friend who seems interested in lots of thing OTHER than selling clothes.

With all of this going on he and his wife don't seem to have much in the way of intimate relations anymore.

As the story opens his boss announces he's moving the company to China and Marcus can either move to China or he's out of a job. Could things get any worse?

Marcus is really struggling over whether to move to China, his wife is definitely against it, but what will he do if he doesn't go?

Things liven up when his black sheep brother dies of a heart attack and leaves him his dry cleaning business. He begins to think this might not be so bad - dry cleaning could be a nice, steady business, but little does he know that it's actually a front for one of the most popular escort services in West Hollywood!

Life really gets interesting from there! The characters are well developed and the story moves right along at a nice pace. With the crazy cast of characters and the unexpected chain of events this makes for a really entertaining read.

this makes for a really entertaining read.

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 07 October 2009 11:24 )

Chronicles of a Comeback Trumpet Player

Friday, 25 September 2009 13:22 | Author: Dan |

These are the trials and tribulations of a comeback trumpet player, roughly forty years after
last playing in high school.

First a little background.
I started playing the cornet in 5th grade and played all through high school.
From 8th grade on I was first chair.
In junior high school our band director was JB "Chick" Rounds, probably my favorite
teacher of all my schooling. We not only had a really great, award-winning concert and
marching band, but also a great stage band, the Kerr Hot Shots. This was Mr. Rounds real specialty and my
personal favorite. He actually played saxophone with the Tommy Dorsey band in the '40s.
Man, I loved playing in that band!

Moving on the high school our director was Albert Buswell. At first I (and some others) felt disappointed.
It seemed that he didn't like or care about stage band, just the concert band. Now, let me say
right up front, he was really good with the concert band. I did figure out eventually that my impression
wasn't exactly right. We did have a stage band and it wasn't bad, but we suffered from missing any good
(actually ANY) players for certain parts. At various times we had a baritone and french horn playing the
trombone parts. They were good, especially the french horn player, Allison. She was one of the best in the
state, but it just didn't sound like it was supposed to.

After high school I though about going out for the OU band, but didn't figure I'd have time, as I was going
to be an engineer! Plus, I knew I wasn't going to be a professional musician and had no desire to be a
music teacher, so what good would taking band be in college. Boy! what a bad decision that was! Not only
did I discover I didn't really want to be an engineer, but I'm sure I missed out on a lot of enjoyment I would
have experienced in band. Attending and playing at the football games alone would have been worth it!

Oddly enough I did actually continue my trumpet after high school to some degree. I took some private lessons
from Jim Baker, the director of the Blue Angels Stage Band at Western Heights High School. And I sold my cornet
and bought a trumpet. I had always wanted a trumpet but my high school director had a STRONG preference
for cornets.

Eventually I did give it up, for the most part. Now, something inside was telling me I never really believed
I would never play again. I've tossed out lots of stuff over the years, but have never let go of my trumpet, mutes,
or any of the huge stack of music and instructional material. I actually kept my trumpet out in the living room,
on a trumpet stand up until my son came along. At that point I decided I'd better not leave it out where little hands
could get ahold of it! Once he got old enough to not worry about that, back out it came.

Every so often I would pick it up and amaze myself how well I could still play my last hs solo.
Well, at least for the 5-10 minutes that my chops would last! lol.

Once in a while I would see some note about a community orchestra and think "gee, that would be fun," but if
I actually looked into it the practices were at a time I couldn't do, so nothing ever came of it. That is until
about a month ago.

I happened to see a tweet about the local community orchestra having auditions. I checked the website and
found out they practice in the evening. "I can do that!", I thought. So I picked up the ole trumpet and
tested it out. Sure enough, I was still amazing on the old solo (ha ha)... for about 5 minutes! But that
was enough to spark the fire. I started practicing a little each day and my endurance got a little better.
I announced to my son that I was going to audition. That received a semi-sarcastic "ok, dad" from him and
when his mom heard about it, a good laugh from her. But I pressed on...except I wasn't totally committed yet.
I held off signing up for an audition spot until the very afternoon of the auditions and managed to get
the last avaiable spot! But I did go.

So what happened next? How was the audition? Did I make it?

--Next up: The Audition!--

Last Updated ( Friday, 25 September 2009 17:59 )

Chronicles of a Comeback Trumpet Player, Part 2

Tuesday, 29 September 2009 11:19 | Author: Dan |

Wow, weird high school flash back!

I did indeed go to the audition.

I was the last person to audition. I felt just like I did back in junior

high and high school - standing out in the hall, listening to the person

in front of me auditioning, thinking "what am I doing here?"

Finally, my turn came, so there I was, standing in front of two ladies,

ready to play (part of) my old high school solo. At least I didn't have to

have it memorized!

It went ok. They said they could tell I was rusty but definitely had the range

and technical skills and would get back up to speed quickly.

They said I could be the lead/only trumpet in the Prepatory Orchestra if I wanted

to start slowly or join the Progressive Orchestra. I decided to join the Progressive,

so here I am! There are 3 of us (trumpets) a lady who I think said she joined last season,

after not playing for about 10 years, a high school kid, and myself.

We practice every Tuesday evening and I've started practicing almost every day, doing

drills in addition to actually practicing the music we're working on. I'm also looking

for a trumpet teacher to take a few lessons to at least evaluate where I really am and

get a plan for what I should work on.

Our first concert is coming up next month, so stay tuned and I'll update about the concert

and my search for a teacher.

--Next up: The First Concert--

Divorce, Fatherhood & Life(spring)

Friday, 18 September 2009 00:00 | Author: Dan |

This story begins with me. My dad left when I was 3, I really don't remember him at all.
Growing up I really didn't think that was any big deal. Of course, looking back, there
are clearly numerous ways this affected me, but that's a story for another time.

Jump to 1986, at a friend's funeral I ran into my high school sweetheart, who I really hadn't
seen since high school. Sparks are still there and we end up getting married in 1988. Jump to
late 1989, the marriage is crumbling and she turns up pregnant. Unfortunately it wasn't enough
to save the marriage and I finally decided to move out in January, she had two kids from a
previous marriage and it seemed like the best thing I could do for everyone. I preceded to
go into a deep depression and before my son was even born had taken medical LOA and admitted
myself to the hospital with clinical depression. I honestly didn't believe I could live having
to deal with her for the next 18 years, but knew I couldn't live with myself if I abandoned my son.

I eventually pulled myself together enough to leave. Actually the insurance decided I was well
enough to leave! Anyway, we eventually went through with the divorce and of course she got custody.
For about the first 4 months of visitation things were very tense and bad. She wouldn't even meet
me at the door when I'd pick him up or return him, her partner would. I didn't trust anything she
said or did, if it was something "nice" there had to be an ulterior motive! And I'm sure she felt
the same way.
Well along towards the end of that year I got caught in a massive layoff at work. Of course my LOA
and performance, or lack thereof, leading up to and shortly after didn't help, but I probably would've
been included anyway. This actually turned out to be life changing, although I didn't know that for
a while.
-Brief interlude-
Shortly before the layoff a couple of coworkers had come in raving about a workshop they had
been to. It really seemed to have done remarkable things for them. I was persuaded to go to a "guest
event" and thought it sounded ok, but really thought my benefit might be just to be a little more
outgoing with people. And I didn't have the money to do it anyway. Well, lo and behold, the layoff
hits and one of the severance benefits is educational expense. There were no restrictions on what
kind of classes and everything just seemed to have fallen into place and I had the money, so to
speak - NOT out of my own pocket, I certainly had the time, so I though "why not?"
Well, I could talk about this for a loooong time, but let me just say it was truly life-changing!
This is truly a story for another time, but it enabled me to shift my perspective on life and in particular
my ex to a degree that literally sucked her in. She and her partner both followed me through the
workshops and we became truly best friends, much better than we had ever been before.

This required basically deciding to not look for ulterior motives, etc. If she offered me extra time
with my son, just look at it as if she knew it was a good thing, not look at it that she must have
something else she wants to do. things like that. Was this possibly opening me up for the proverbial
knife in the back? absolutely, but the alternative was bad "stuff" all the time, when maybe, just
maybe, it didn't need to be. The risk is worth it. It makes life so much better!
We bacame such good friends that it actually seemed to bother some people! they didn't understand how
two divorced people could be that way! "That's not normal!"
Now, from my perspective things aren't quite as good as they once were, which again, is a story for another time,
but we've continued to get along. We do things together with my son, going to his activities and things.
A lot of people, like the other baseball parents, don't even seem to realize that we're divorced.

Don't misunderstand me, divorce SUCKS! It is NOT a good thing, but if handled the right way it doesn't have to
destroy the kids. In hindsight there are actually some silver linings in my case.
For one, the fact that we split up before he was born saved him from experiencing the break-up.
For a time he didn't even realize he was from a 'broken home'.

I think it actually made me a better father, too.
Had we stayed together, with her having been through it twice, and with a 12-year-old daughter, it would have
been very easy for me to kind of let them handle the "mothering" duties. As it was, when he was with me,
it was all me, no one to help! I'd not hesitate to say I made one hell of a mom, in addition to a dad!
Did I sacrifice a lot for him, absolutely, and all fathers may not make the same choice. I guess it
depends on where you've come from and things. For me, I was not willing to give up any time with my
son. There were several times when his mom moved, not out of state, but Carrollton to Irving to Flower Mound,
that kind of move. I moved right along with them. When I was out of work for almost 2 years after 9/11,
I might have had some opportunities in other places, like Cleveland, Toronto, etc. but I was not
willing to leave the area. It made it really tough, but on the other hand I got to spend a LOT of time
with him during that period.

To this day, his mom and I help each other out a lot, go to his activities together, etc., and we
only live a couple of blocks apart. Would this work for everyone? Of course not, but let me tell you -
it has worked beautifully for us. Are there things I'd like to be different? Sure, but looking back
there is nothing I would change about the decisions I've made.

My son is a great-looking, fine young man. He's polite, kind, smart, and has good values.
All of which he got from me obviously! (ha ha)

Last Updated ( Friday, 25 September 2009 18:00 )

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