Birthday Week

My birthday was earlier this week---er, last week. Time creeps along in a blur. Sunday, the day before the birthday itself, we headed down to the beach. It was hazy and mostly pleasant, but the following picture makes it look more clear than being there did:

We got to play and kick the ball in the low tide sand:

Nearly a week later, I had an event at Knott's Berry Farm, and I had Cass, and he got to make his first ever visit:

We tried the merry-go-round, but it broke down as we waited (bummer):

He wanted the kitty

And then on the seventh day after, Corrie and I got to go to the show she got tickets for for my birthday.

Corrie scooped up tickets for the Postmodern Jukebox, a musical project that interprets recent and/or pop music hits in an older style, somewhat like the nineteen-forties mixed with big-band-era (if there's a difference between them?). It was at the concert hall at the Segerstrom Performing Arts Center. I used to work across the street from this place and spent time there taking pictures before work a half-dozen years ago. Here's the iconic cube-looking deal on the right side:

It has that huge arc cut into that side and the odd pyramid looking like its stuck in some metallic spider web. On a different approach it looks downright cubic. The hedging pattern is also apparent on the left behind the fountain.

Our venue was across the quad and looked like a futuristic police precinct or office building. Inside the auditorium was voluminous while also being quaint and intimate:

Doesn't that organ look awesome?

 The band felt way closer than this makes it look, but whatever:

After a chat with dawamesk, I got to thinking about what we were watching.

It's a rare time for me right now to be the youngest person in a place, but it sure seemed that way as we milled about the lobby of this grand hall. This wasn't the same crowd as the show we went to on a school night a while back; it was older...but about the same level of white.

The band had taken pop hits and made them even more white, like it had sanitized the music and turned it into what could be expected if WWII hadn't happened like it did, or had the civil rights movement unfolded differently.

I definitely enjoyed the show and had a great time, but something about the whiteness will always fester in my thoughts about the event.

One amazing thing about the night was that our babysitter (thanks Lauren!) came over while Cassius was still awake. She was able to get him a bath and into bed without any fuss (!!!). Amazing.

Liquor straw cup time

"Nah, I like my gin so I can feel it."

---Me, feeling compelled to explain why I opt for the well gin to the bartender on site.