Crash The Scene

Yummy. Finger Paints.

  Click on me for a close up.

Putiputiputipupup

My gawd. I have a lot of people looking at my blog on a daily basis. I guess I should start writing more often. I will often update my space, though: www.myspace.com/quinnpearl

I'm in Chicago this week and in Indy and St. Louis next week. Then we're leaving for Florida for a VACATION. First vacation since last July! Boy things change in one year.

Hadley is unbelievably cute. I'll call this the "mimic" stage (or rash from hell stage...she's been suffering from some sort of rash for the last 2 weeks and before that it was the "diarrhea" stage...for 3 weeks). She mimics every sound I say. She's beginning to know her colors, her shapes, her animal sounds, and her ABDs. She cant really say C yet. She will successfully complete a buluf sound, a badoing, a catchow, palump, ptptptpdow, brrrrrrrrrding pop, and a putiputiputipupup.

Kites

Hadley enjoyed flying her first kite on Sunday. It was so windy and the kites were so high  they started disappearing in the sky. People were losing their kites into the trees!

But not Hadley.

Hawks

I had an unusual night tonight. Synchronistic would be a better word. I am up here in the middle of nowhere, Grand Rapids. I’ve spent time talking to many local people, mainly about the weather and the “lake effect.” Everyone is willing to talk about the weather and they express pride when I tell them I’m from Kentucky and that we only had one inch of snow for the year. They double over when I tell them that we our schools would issue a two hour delay the night before a flake of snow would even float into view. I’ve also spent some time talking about northern Michigan, the UP, and the Lower Peninsula; about the Indian tribes, the beautiful hiking trails, and swampy land mosquitoes. People are different but very nice and interesting.

 So I am sitting at the bar and talking with these guys about all of these things and a guy sits down to my right and orders a whisky. This is unusual to me because no one (but me) is drinking whisky. He’s got an English driving hat on and ignores me. That’s ok and I keep talking to my new friends from the North. Eventually the guy to my right says a joke to the bartender and you know me, I push myself into the conversation by laughing. He looks over and laughs.

 Of course, here’s my chance to talk to another “Michigan stranger” (this one a bit ruder) so I can let sleeping dogs lie. I ask him about the whisky he’s drinking and the bartender interrupts while she delivers his drink and he say this guy is from Nashville, not far from Louisville. So that’s how the conversation started but we ended up talking for a while about our lives and it turns out he is a musician touring 13 states. This is my forte so we immediately hit it off by talking about British bands and local industry bands. Turns out he is a producer and band leader for a Christian rock band and throughout his career has opened for many large bands and was written up in a lot of music reviews. 

 To make a long story short, this guy had a lot in common with me. He shared the same music interests, was from the same general area, and I checked out his Myspace and he had Supergrass as one of his friends (which I randomly brought up in our conversations as one of my favorite.) It was kind of like being in the middle of nowhere and having some sort of sign or affirmation of being in the right place at the right time.

This synchronistic “affirmation like” feeling is interesting. My days have been filled with this recently. I actually was experiencing this feeling and in the moment I said a prayer which was kind of cool. Ashley and I share these kinds of feelings together sometimes on a more simplistic level when we drive around in the car together and see a hawk or other bird of prey. I’ve always believed that hawks symbolize “the right path.” I was driving from Indianapolis to St. Louis 2 weeks ago and while crossing the Indiana/Illinois flatlands I literally saw over 15 hawks along the sides of the road sitting on fence posts and tree limbs. They were all sitting facing the highway staring at the cars driving by. Maybe they were staring at me driving by and wee thinking good job Quinn, you’re on the right path.

Hello there. I am here in Michigan!   I'll tell you what, it snows like a bitch here.

I'm in Grand Rapids and hopefully I will meet Sufjan Stevens. Not a chance. For you that don't know, Sufjan is a musician and poet who was born in Detroit and lives in the west side of the state and recorded my favorite album ever, last year, named Illinois. This is a new anointment. It was up to this point XTC, Engish Settlment. Did you know this very important bit of trivia? My second job of my life was at Ear x-tacy in Louisville and during my initial interview John Timmons (owner and a guy that used to sell records out of his trunk to Dad and Raymond 30 years ago) asked me "what's your favorite band?" and I told him XTC and he stopped in his tracks and looked shocked. He said to me "your kidding, my favorite band is XTC!" and he said "I named this store, Ear x-tacy after the band XTC!" At that point alot of things were racing through my mind. I think I may have even had one of those infamous "acid" flashbacks (inherited in utero secondhand) and realized that I was channeling one of those concerts we hear about where our parents were trampled by crowds of hippies who break down retaining fences. I was 20 and was moved by his statement. 

So here we go, I'll give you a clue as to the sound of Sufjan Stevens at myspace where you can hear song and then go to Sufjan to learn more about his music and life.

I am reading 2 books right now, simultaneously, ... actually 3. The first is the Trouble with Physics in which the author raising the problems with unifying the theory of general relativity and quantum theory (... ok folks, wake up now). The second book I am reading is Decoding the Universe, focusing on the "information theory." This theory, potentially a spin off of the quantum theory, is interesting to me particularly because of the way we, as humans manipulate enormous amounts of information and act as creators everyday by tapping into some sort of omniscient pool (ok you ans, WAKE UP!). And then the third book I am reading is called Baby Proofing Your Marriage.

I guess I will present myself in this first blog as "the traveler." I will do this as long as I can because it pays me good money. Actually, I enjoy recruiting people across the country! Specifically 5 states (Indiana, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan). I am part of the "traveler club" slightly under the view of normal people, making sales, recruiting people and bellying up to bars and sharing thoughts about the new USA Today!

Hadley, as you can see in the slide show above is my 14 month old daughter. When I come home she  cries Dada and she rides on my shoulders. Ever so often, I realize that she has changed from the last time I saw her or that I have missed 4 days of her life and realize that I miscommunicate about things all the time. But my wife, Ashley, my most beloved friend on Earth, keeps me informed of the little things I'll never ever see and keeps me grounded.

Beneath our senses, beneath all of this information we encounter everyday, we are breaking the codes. We are staring at the face of infinity with the key in hand. Yes you, you are staring at eternity everyday and only realize on occasion that your close. But that's ok! Take a second now! Slow down and breath.