Maniacally Mundane Musical Minutia

I had a couple of musical experiences the past couple of days that probably only mean anything to me, but sometimes I use my blog to remind myself of things.

You know how sometimes you will listen to a song for years and never really pay attention to the lyrics? I was driving around on Wednesday and getting my groove on to Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin", when I thought I heard him call somebody a vegetable.

This is the thought process that followed:
Why would you call anyone a vegetable? Haven't vegetables been proven to be good for you? Was he actually trying to compliment somebody by saying they were good for people? Maybe it was something that sounded like vegetable. Since it was an older song, maybe he was calling somebody a Huxtable. But, if that was the case, that wouldn't really be an insult either. Wednesday is our mutual night, so I decided to ask some of the young men what they thought might sound like vegetable. One of the young men suggested a male body part. I was pretty sure that wasn't what Michael said, and immediately regretted asking for the young mens' input.

I think I spent so many years focused on the whole, "ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa" part that I never paid much attention to the rest of the lyrics. So, when I got home I googled the lyrics and this is what I found:

"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"

[Chorus]
I Said You Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
You Got To Be Startin' Somethin'
I Said You Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
You Got To Be Startin' Somethin'
It's Too High To Get Over (Yeah, Yeah)
Too Low To Get Under (Yeah, Yeah)
You're Stuck In The Middle (Yeah, Yeah)
And The Pain Is Thunder (Yeah, Yeah)
It's Too High To Get Over (Yeah, Yeah)
Too Low To Get Under (Yeah, Yeah)
You're Stuck In The Middle (Yeah, Yeah)
And The Pain Is Thunder (Yeah, Yeah)

[1st Verse]
I Took My Baby To The Doctor
With A Fever, But Nothing He Found
By The Time This Hit The Street
They Said She Had A Breakdown
Someone's Always Tryin' To Start My Baby Cryin'
Talkin', Squealin', Lyin'
Sayin' You Just Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'

[Chorus]
I Said You Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
You Got To Be Startin' Somethin'
I Said You Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
You Got To Be Startin' Somethin'
It's Too High To Get Over (Yeah, Yeah)
Too Low To Get Under (Yeah, Yeah)
You're Stuck In The Middle (Yeah, Yeah)
And The Pain Is Thunder (Yeah, Yeah)
It's Too High To Get Over (Yeah, Yeah)
Too Low To Get Under (Yeah, Yeah)
You're Stuck In The Middle (Yeah, Yeah)
And The Pain Is Thunder (Yeah, Yeah)

[2nd Verse]
You Love To Pretend That You're Good
When You're Always Up To No Good
You Really Can't Make Him Hate Her
So Your Tongue Became A Razor
Someone's Always Tryin' To Keep My Baby Cryin'
Treacherous, Cunnin', Declinin'
You Got My Baby Cryin'

[Chorus]
I Said You Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
You Got To Be Startin' Somethin'
I Said You Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
You Got To Be Startin' Somethin'
It's Too High To Get Over (Yeah, Yeah)
Too Low To Get Under (Yeah, Yeah)
You're Stuck In The Middle (Yeah, Yeah)
And The Pain Is Thunder (Yeah, Yeah)
It's Too High To Get Over (Yeah, Yeah)
Too Low To Get Under (Yeah, Yeah)
You're Stuck In The Middle (Yeah, Yeah)
And The Pain Is Thunder (Yeah, Yeah)
You're A Vegetable, You're A Vegetable
Still They Hate You, You're A Vegetable
You're Just A Buffet, You're A Vegetable
They Eat Off Of You, You're A Vegetable

[3rd Verse]
Billie Jean Is Always Talkin'
When Nobody Else Is Talkin'
Tellin' Lies And Rubbin' Shoulders
So They Called Her Mouth A Motor
Someone's Always Tryin' To Start My Baby Cryin'
Talkin', Squealin', Spyin'
Sayin' You Just Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'

[Chorus]
I Said You Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
You Got To Be Startin' Somethin'
I Said You Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
You Got To Be Startin' Somethin'
It's Too High To Get Over (Yeah, Yeah)
Too Low To Get Under (Yeah, Yeah)
You're Stuck In The Middle (Yeah, Yeah)
And The Pain Is Thunder (Yeah, Yeah)
It's Too High To Get Over (Yeah, Yeah)
Too Low To Get Under (Yeah, Yeah)
You're Stuck In The Middle (Yeah, Yeah)
And The Pain Is Thunder (Yeah, Yeah)
You're A Vegetable, You're A Vegetable
Still They Hate You, You're A Vegetable
You're Just A Buffet, You're A Vegetable
They Eat Off Of You, You're A Vegetable

[Ad-Lib]
If You Cant Feed Your Baby (Yeah, Yeah)
Then Don't Have A Baby (Yeah, Yeah)
And Don't Think Maybe (Yeah, Yeah)
If You Can't Feed Your Baby (Yeah, Yeah)
You'll Be Always Tryin'
To Stop That Child From Cryin'
Hustlin', Stealin', Lyin'
Now Baby's Slowly Dyin'

[Chorus]
I Said You Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
You Got To Be Startin' Somethin'
I Said You Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
You Got To Be Startin' Somethin'
It's Too High To Get Over (Yeah, Yeah)
Too Low To Get Under (Yeah, Yeah)
You're Stuck In The Middle (Yeah, Yeah)
And The Pain Is Thunder (Yeah, Yeah)
It's Too High To Get Over (Yeah, Yeah)
Too Low To Get Under (Yeah, Yeah)
You're Stuck In The Middle (Yeah, Yeah)
And The Pain Is Thunder (Yeah, Yeah)

[Ad-Lib]
Lift Your Head Up High
And Scream Out To The World
I Know I Am Someone
And Let The Truth Unfurl
No One Can Hurt You Now
Because You Know What's True
Yes, I Believe In Me
So You Believe In You
Help Me Sing It, Ma Ma Se,
Ma Ma Sa, Ma Ma Coo Sa
Ma Ma Se, Ma Ma Sa,
Ma Ma Coo Sa
[Repeat/Fade-Out]

Not only does he call somebody a vegetable, but he calls them a vegetable repeatedly. This song is a bunch of jibberish. How could I have gone so long not knowing what was being sung? I bet that ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa means, "you just got gaffled" in some foreign language.

Way back when I was in college I remember seeing a music video featuring a boy building and flying a glider. I remember that I really liked the song, but I could never remember who performed it. Thus, I could never acquire the song either. I have actually had numerous dreams featuring the music video. Imagine my pleasure when I came upon this while perusing YouTube:

The song is titled "Music Sounds Better With You" by Stardust. I still enjoy this song very much and now I know all I need to know about it. It doesn't surprise me that I like it now that I know that Thomas Bangalter was involved in it. For those of you who don't know, Thomas Bangalter later went on to form one of my all-time favorite musical groups. Well, that is all I have to say about that.

HumanitHAIRian

One of Skyler's best qualities is her concern for others. Her prayers often mention people who are sick or have other problems. She will sometimes ask Heavenly Father to bless himself and Jesus to be happy, to bless Satan so he will stop doing bad things, and to bless the earth. Her prayers serve as reminders to me of things to mention in my prayers.

She not only remembers others in her prayers, but also tries to do what she can to help. After learning about the 3 R's in school, she came home and started telling us about things we could do to help the earth. I agreed with her and she was pretty stoked when I played this song for her:

We went over a list of things we can do to help preserve the planet. Thanks to her we now use these to do our grocery shopping.
When we told her about the Locks of Love Organization, she was a little skeptical about growing her hair out. But, once she realized that she would be helping out another girl who had no hair she was o.k. with it. I recall that being back in February, and her hair looking like this:She finally got it cut yesterday. Here are some before, during, and after shots of the event.

If you feel like growing your hair out to help stay warm in the winter, I would encourage you to check out Locks of Love. You'd be doing a very nice thing. I'm very proud of Skyler. My only fear is that she will soon start trying to get me to stop eating animals. How dare she!

A Sad Day for Clipper Nation

The man that Jed patterned his game after has left us.

Clipper Nation will be pouring out some of their 40's (of I.B.C.) for "Duck".

We'll miss you big guy.

9 Years Ago

I was a little hesitant to post photos from our wedding for fear of them looking cheesy or embarrassing. Then I remembered seeing this photo and decided it would be O.K.It was 9 years ago that Sara and I tied the knot. Below are a lot of pictures from that great day. I will give a recap of what I remember from way back then. (If you don't like scrolling through a bunch of pictures, this probably is not the blog post for you.)

We got married on a Saturday morning down in San Diego. The Los Angeles Temple was our first choice, but it was closed at the time. It was a nice, overcast day. In fact, we were worried it would be a little too overcast. There were a few early morning sprinkles that had us hoping it wouldn't rain.

Sara, of course, looked beautiful. I looked like my hair got in an altercation with a lawnmower.

Although it wasn't our first choice, the San Diego Temple does look pretty awesome.

If you haven't been to a wedding before, you might not know that you have to pose for enough pictures to supply every citizen of China with their own photo.

This picture is a little deceiving. I was whispering in her ear and then our earrings got tangled.

A bunch of people travelled down the coast to share the day with us.

Can you find yourself? Where's Yoda?

Here is the wedding party. We call it a wedding party because everyone in it likes to party, especially me.

Here are the groomsmen.

And the bridesmaids.

Barb, the matron of honor.

A.J.
(This was my one bridesmaid pick. Sara got to choose her brother as a groomsman to even things out.)

Anna, Sara's sister (before her Bob Marley phase).

Carla, future sister-in-law

Charissa, one of Sara's BFF's

Eva, Sara's other sister

Krazin, another one of Sara's BFF's

And Catrina, our future niece.
She was nice enough to come to our wedding on her birthday.

All of the Kelley family was in attendance.

Look at the next two pictures of the McAlister Clan and see if you notice a difference between the two.

In the first picture everyone is all bunched up and close. In the second picture, you add me and nobody wants to get near me. I've learned later on in life, that Sam wasn't exactly a big fan of me. This photo kind of proves it. Just like moss, I eventually grew on him. (But it makes you wonder how anyone could not like me.)

Mike and Sam didn't get to have a forehead shining battle, due to the lack of sun. Had there been sun, somebody might have gone blind.

Sara and her mom.

This is probably my favorite picture of our wedding pictures. I don't know why, but I just really like it. (The one's of Sara and I are pretty good too.)

Sara and her parents. It's not widely known, but Sam and Bonnie go to so many weddings that they just wear these outfits around the house. That way they don't have to worry about finding them each weekend.

Both of my grandmas made the trip.

Here are the Kelley men. Can you believe that we used to look like this. More on that later....

Here is some of the Bishop Bunch. If you were there, you know.

After 3 million rolls of film we headed off to lunch at some mexican place (which is not a commentary on the ethnic make-up of the city of San Diego). If I remember right, it was El Torito.

Then we headed up to Altadena for the wedding reception, and a cool glass of milk. Ken was in training for the future Mr. Sasquatch competition. Years later that training would win him the title of The General. He also was the DJ that night, but I don't know what his DJ name is.

Kenny and Rachel had recently gotten married themselves.

The Original Mr. Mustachio family, before there was a Mr. Mustachio award. It is a shame that Neil has never competed, because that looks like an award winning mustache. Wyatt already looks like he is up to something. I think he had a hand in defacing our car that night, but could never prove it.

The Eva Knievel family. Our wedding must have created some sparks, because a lot of people who attended the reception eventually got married. I'm not saying that it is all because of our wedding. I'm just saying that it is something to consider.

Another future marriage influenced by our wedding, alledgedly.

Sam had serious aspirations of catching the bouquet, and was disappointed when told he was not eligible to participate.

Here is the Kelley family before adding Sara.

And now after adding Sara. She did increase our overall good looks exponentially. She also finally gave my mom somebody to help her in the battle against the male dominance (unless you count Kyle).

Here we are with our cake. I don't recall choosing this cake. In fact, I don't recall having a say in much of anything. That is not necessarily a bad thing. There is more about the cake to follow....

Krauser, a.k.a. The Nicest Guy In The World. If you've met him, you will agree.

Yes, Knick was actually this small at one time.

This is when George was trying to pull off black people hair dos. We later informed him that he is white.

George's brother Kato was sporting a much whiter look.

This is a funny picture, because Kato and A.J. had previously dated. You can tell by the look on Kato's face that he is thrilled to be sitting next to her.

Grandma Mac crashed the party.

Here us Kelley men are again. Have I mentioned Jed's hair yet? Apparently, Jed was very confused at this time. Why else would he do that to his hair?

In fact, his hair led him to try and do this. Luckily, I was able to pull myself away before he got too frisky.

I don't know who these people are. They must have wanted some free food. Toward the end of the night Jed and the guy in the front accidently touched heads and set off a small fire.

Here are some more wedding crashers. The food must have been good to get all these strangers to come.

And now the cake story. This picture marks a first in our marriage. Sara told me that if I smeared cake on her face, that I wouldn't be "getting some" later.

We laughed about it then, but that tactic has been used for 9 years now. I don't think there is any effective defense against it either.

Having spent 24 years waiting to "get some", I did not smear cake on her face. Had the threat not been made, this picture would have looked a lot different.

This photo captures a very rare moment. I am not much into the whole pda thing. You may not find another picture like this again.

Sara threw the bouquet. I've noticed that at weddings you will have a bunch of women involved in this. The little girls really don't stand a chance.

But when the guy throws the garter, the older guys stay at the back of the pack and really have no desire to catch it. So, it is usually a younger kid who gets it.

We informed Krazin that California state law would prohibit her from marrying David for quite a few years. They actually did end up getting married about a month ago, to other people. (Not to beat a dead horse, but just another example of our wedding's influence on other people to get married.)

We danced to our song, Antologia by Shakira.

Genie in a Bottle by Christina Aguilera was the top song at the time, but it didn't seem appropriate for the night.

Then we got to dance with our parents.

Then our parents got to dance with each other. This is another rare photo. You'll probably spot Bigfoot before you see Mike dancing again.

Sara looked gorgeous. I don't recall her wearing this dress again after that day. At the end of the reception we headed off to the hotel to play some board games. The next morning we were of to a bed and breakfast in Santa Barbara. And the rest is history. Were you there? Did I forget to mention anything? Feel free to add your insights in the comment section.

9 years have gone by. We have added 4 kids to the equation and I have no regrets. I'm very blessed to have Sara in my life and look forward to spending eternity with her.

Happy Anniversary, Sara! I love you.