New Year's Eve Was As Boring As Heaven

If there is one thing everyone knows it's that I enjoy getting together with friends and drinking beer. We are not talking about a few beers. We're talking about the usage of that cruel mistress, Das Boot. I always looked forward to a Friday and Saturday night having a grand ol' time with my friends. Whether we went out to the bars or we stayed home to play drunken Rock Band.

Over time the bar scene got old. When you aren't single a bar feels like a meat market. Besides who wants to pay $6 for a beer. For the price of 2 beers i can get a 12 pack. Hardly worth it. We all found it to be more enjoyable hanging out at someone's house drinking. That would inevitable lead to some games of beer pong. Which in turn would be followed by Rock Band.

Fatherhood is now a few short months away. I am very much looking forward to it. I find myself wanting to buy baby clothes instead of a CD or a 6 pack of good beer. My Friday and Saturday nights are a far cry different from a few years back. I'm no longer up late drinking beer and singing horribly off key. I'm no longer getting ready for a late night Del Taco run. Instead i'm prepping the baby's room or watching an episode of SG-1.

I still find the time to drink a beer or two. However it's not with the same need to pound 6 or 7 beers. It's more of a want to relax and enjoy one filling of Das Boot. I don't even miss the heavy drinking. I enjoy those low key nights at home playing around with the dog.

I thought I would miss the heavy drinking. I really don't. I'd rather have this opportunity to raise a child than go out and get drunk night after night. This doesn't mean I've gone straight edge. I'm not going to raise my little girl to think alcohol is bad. I don't think that attitude works. Send her off to college thinking that and she'll turn into a party animal/alcoholic. I'm going to raise her with a healthy attitude towards alcohol. If you want to drink that's fine. Do it in moderation and be damn careful about it.

Hey it's Friday night. A marathon of SG-1 with a beer or two sounds awfully nice.

Dog Eat Dog

I'd first like to thank Mr. Reyes for inviting me to contribute to this blog. In not too long of a time frame i too will be a father. But I will be new to the world of parenting as this will be my first child. Needless to say I'm very much looking forward to it.

So punk rock? I loved listening to bands whose lyrics were full of meaning. Here were bands singing about something important. Not about some lost love or something stupid like half the songs on KIIS FM. "you hot, whats yo numba," yes those are some strong and powerful lyrics. Those make me want to go out and correct all the wrongs in the world. Punk rock offered me bands railing against society and all it's ills. I could relate to that. I felt the same way.

Then there was the music itself. Loud, fast, quick. I'll take a good loud Pennywise song over some lame ass hip-hop/rap song anyday. In fact to this day I prefer a band that uses a guitar, bass and drums. I'm not too keen on it otherwise. But I digress. I loved the intensity of the music combined with the intensity of the lyrics. I found myself influenced enough to write quite a few songs. I must have a few albums worth of song lyrics. Unfortunately I never started or joined a band to put those lyrics to music.

Now I find myself 10 years down the road. I don't listen to punk rock all that much anymore. That's not to say I don't believe in the ideals. Believe me I still do. There is still a lot wrong with society and the system. Thank you George W. Bush. Heck I'd prefer The Daily Show over the fake news known as Fox News Channel. I just grew up, I changed. It happens to all of us. It would be hard to take seriously a 30 year old with a child railing against the world. All from the basement of their parent's house.

I want my little girl to question things. I want her to challenge ideas and accepted notions. I want her to never blindly accept anything.

I think it's about time I dust off those punk rock classics that influenced me.

Beat on the Brat (or the pinata)

There are some things that just make a father proud, one is when his 20 month old son outsmarts kids ages 4-7.  My son never ceases to amaze me at how clever a problem solver he is. 

Last weekend we attended a fourth birthday party for my niece.  My brother and sister in law were kind enough to get a pinata for all the kids.  Well, there were about 7 kids there that were going to take a shot at the pinata, my son being one of them.

Now this was one of the toughest pinatas I have ever seen, after all the kids took shots at it, the birthday girl started round two.  After a serious beating, grandpa finally weakened the pinata with his bare hands and caused candy to flow.

All the kids came charging in and I witnessed one of the most awkward and amusing candy grabs ever.  All the children of course encircled the pinata and began being choosy about what they were grabbing, specific candy and flavors.  My son, the youngest of the candy grabbers instead of crowding the center walked in a circle around the other collecting items like a scavenger.  He showed no discrimination as he picked up items that were behind the other kids' backs.  Watching this display made me laugh like crazy and I'm pretty sure he scored the most candy of any of the kids.

Just goes to show how a little smart think, even by someone still under the age of two, can prove to be a great method at getting candy.  I think we are going to remember that method.

I am a punk rock dad

Once upon a time, I went to punk rock shows almost weekly.  I lived ten minuted away from one of the most popular underground venues of the 1990s and 2000s.  I started several failed attempts at bands, wrote angry punk rock songs and questioned authority.

Seventeen years later I am the authority.

I am now a teacher and a father of two. I live for my newborn daughter and my nearly two year old son. I haven't been to a show in as long as I can remember, but that doesn't mean I still don''t love underground rock. I just understand right now my kids need me.  I'm not a kid, I'm a man.

I teach the kids in my classroom and in my home to question what they are told, not taking everything at face value understand WHY something is so.  I promote learning because without it, people don't stop to think.

Punk Rock is not a style, it is a state of mind, an attitude, a thought process and a lifestyle, with or without the bondage pants. I am a punk rock dad.  These are my stories.