I tend to meet most gestures of kindness toward me with resistance and insist that it's not a big deal. Though it is a big deal to the person expressing the gratitude who I have unfairly decided needs to have their feelings adjusted and am more than willing to do it for them. But that's my problem and I want to do something about.
Starting the last week of December last year I was surprised by my wife with a special trip to Pittsburgh, PA. I had never been to Pittsburgh and being a football fan or a fan Pennsylvania in general I never felt the need to go there. Now, I figured most of this trip out before it happened. I am really good at doing this and that's where I went wrong. Rather than express appreciation for what was to come I made huge deal out my ability to take the fun out of others plans to give me a good time. Serious mistake. I don't really need to go any further because as a perfectly functional human being with feelings you no doubt agree that's a douchey (spell check says that's not a word, by the way) thing to do.
A wicked cool hotel that used be a mansion and bunch of neat places 6 blocks away were waiting for us. The hotel was a 100 year old mansion and it had the most gorgeous architecture. It's history about the family that lived there was really interesting as well. The place was awesome but that wasn't all she had planned. Downtown-ish... I don't actually know exactly what part of Pittsburgh we were in... was a club, The Altar Bar. She had bought tickets to see a dj set by Feed Me.
For the first time in my life I was overstimulated. Lights. Sound. People. Bass. Dancing. Compression. Wow. Compared to others I didn't dance at all. It was one of the best times I ever had. His set went well past midnight and after a good bit of time the music stopped. He chatted with the audience. I got chills as I realized Feed Me was no longer then one talking to us. He confirmed this by saying, "'Cause I'm F%*&ing Spor." He had barely finished saying Spor and hit play on a deck. The place erupted. Myself included.
If my wife had known Feed Me was going to play a song under his other production alias, Spor, and we only went for those five and half minutes. That would have been fine. I still get waves of unbridled excitement thinking about that moment that I shared with her. But she didn't know that would happen. I didn't either. A superb surprise and amazing show increased by 100%. Quickly, let me explain why.
Drum and Bass music is an absolute thrill to listen to. Early on in my discovery of this genre I came across a tune people kept referencing, Konflict's Messiah. Only I ending up finding a remix by Spor. This is where things changed in my love of music. Spor's orchestration, musicality, and composition are top notch. (Spor just released his new album on bit torrent, BTW.)
Jess needs never to do anything for me again. I love that she spent her time and money to do something special for me that not even she knew just how amazing it was going to be. ( and trust me, she did know it was going to be amazing) Though I had to apologize for being a butt. There had to be change in me and being the killjoy all the time couldn't be something I embraced anymore.
Knowing what's coming doesn't really mean anything. An event could have a hundred ways it plays out and a hundred more ways it could feel during and after. For most who read this, you can't say 'duh' enough times, I know I'm the slow one to draw on this. And for the few who haven't arrived at this understand yet I encourage you to shift your focus to the relationship you have with people who do things for you. Spouse or friend or enemy, it's doesn't matter. To borrow from C.S. Lewis "Next to the blessed Sacrament, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses." My relationship is more important with my wife than what we experience or what level of service we provide to each other. And the relationship is the difference, the defining characteristic of she for me and I for her.
Starting the last week of December last year I was surprised by my wife with a special trip to Pittsburgh, PA. I had never been to Pittsburgh and being a football fan or a fan Pennsylvania in general I never felt the need to go there. Now, I figured most of this trip out before it happened. I am really good at doing this and that's where I went wrong. Rather than express appreciation for what was to come I made huge deal out my ability to take the fun out of others plans to give me a good time. Serious mistake. I don't really need to go any further because as a perfectly functional human being with feelings you no doubt agree that's a douchey (spell check says that's not a word, by the way) thing to do.
A wicked cool hotel that used be a mansion and bunch of neat places 6 blocks away were waiting for us. The hotel was a 100 year old mansion and it had the most gorgeous architecture. It's history about the family that lived there was really interesting as well. The place was awesome but that wasn't all she had planned. Downtown-ish... I don't actually know exactly what part of Pittsburgh we were in... was a club, The Altar Bar. She had bought tickets to see a dj set by Feed Me.
For the first time in my life I was overstimulated. Lights. Sound. People. Bass. Dancing. Compression. Wow. Compared to others I didn't dance at all. It was one of the best times I ever had. His set went well past midnight and after a good bit of time the music stopped. He chatted with the audience. I got chills as I realized Feed Me was no longer then one talking to us. He confirmed this by saying, "'Cause I'm F%*&ing Spor." He had barely finished saying Spor and hit play on a deck. The place erupted. Myself included.
If my wife had known Feed Me was going to play a song under his other production alias, Spor, and we only went for those five and half minutes. That would have been fine. I still get waves of unbridled excitement thinking about that moment that I shared with her. But she didn't know that would happen. I didn't either. A superb surprise and amazing show increased by 100%. Quickly, let me explain why.
Drum and Bass music is an absolute thrill to listen to. Early on in my discovery of this genre I came across a tune people kept referencing, Konflict's Messiah. Only I ending up finding a remix by Spor. This is where things changed in my love of music. Spor's orchestration, musicality, and composition are top notch. (Spor just released his new album on bit torrent, BTW.)
Jess needs never to do anything for me again. I love that she spent her time and money to do something special for me that not even she knew just how amazing it was going to be. ( and trust me, she did know it was going to be amazing) Though I had to apologize for being a butt. There had to be change in me and being the killjoy all the time couldn't be something I embraced anymore.
Knowing what's coming doesn't really mean anything. An event could have a hundred ways it plays out and a hundred more ways it could feel during and after. For most who read this, you can't say 'duh' enough times, I know I'm the slow one to draw on this. And for the few who haven't arrived at this understand yet I encourage you to shift your focus to the relationship you have with people who do things for you. Spouse or friend or enemy, it's doesn't matter. To borrow from C.S. Lewis "Next to the blessed Sacrament, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses." My relationship is more important with my wife than what we experience or what level of service we provide to each other. And the relationship is the difference, the defining characteristic of she for me and I for her.