Annoyingly Boring?

As I mentioned in my last post, I had a lousy day yesterday. I fought with my oldest (second day in a row with a full blown battle), was generally cranky and mean spirited. Even the highlight of the day, the much anticipated taste test of the home made Mr. Root Beer kit root beer, was preceded and followed with kids crying and a dad shouting. Not my best day as a dad…

Off I went to work as usual at 5:30… It’s one of the good things about working evenings, I get a forced change of scenery every weeknight.

As I sat in the car I tried to deconstruct the day. One thing is for sure, I need sleep. I cheat myself on sleep and it effects all those around me. It’s not fair. Other than that, I don’t think there is anything particularly bothering me, weighing on me. I just need to find more happiness in my life, it’s there - I am just not seeing it as much as I should. Oh, and I need to get good nights sleep while finding that happiness. We’re not in crisis mode or anything, but there is room for improvement.

I listen to the radio when I am at work. When it’s not baseball season I am usually don’t miss NPR’s World Cafe, I have posted about it before. Wednesday’s guest was Jim White, only I didn’t get to hear Wednesday’s show since I was in training all night. Luckily my NPR station just started replying the previous night’s World Cafe immediately after the current one. So I got a second chance. Jim was on to talk about and play songs from his latest album called Transnormal Skiperoo. Quirky name. I’ll let Jim explain…

Transnormal Skiperoo is a name I invented to describe a strange new feeling I’ve been experiencing after years of feeling lost and alone and cursed. Now, when everything around me begins to shine, when I find myself dancing around in my back yard for no particular reason other than it feels good to be alive, when I get this deep sense of gratitude that I don’t need drugs or God or doomed romance to fuel myself through the gauntlet of a normal day, I call that feeling ‘Transnormal Skiperoo.’ -Jim White

Listening to him being interviewed and play it was so clear that Jim is up to his ears in Transnormal Skiperoo, bathing in it. This is a man at peace, a man who was visibly (yes, through the radio), happy. I was jealous, but also soothed.

I think we could all stand a heaping helping of some Transnormal Skiperoo.

Go listen to the World Cafe interview/live set from Wednesday’s show. And go grab a free (yes, and legal) song, Crash into the Sun, off the album. The album is not a perfect match for me musically, but pretty close and it hit me in a really good place at a time I needed hitting there. I thank Jim for making a piece that spoke to me.

Off I go to look for my own Transnormal Skiperoo.