Ten things my father taught me

[Doreen Peri]

In honor of all the fathers out there, even though it's only a Hallmark American Holiday, happy Fathers Day! For all you do for your children, here's to you! I thought it would be a good tribute to fathers to write ten things our fathers taught us, so if you want to add yours, please do!

Here are ten things my father taught me.

1- 90% of life is about showing up.

2- Even if you hate it, don't quit. Never quit until you finish it. Finish it then move on.

3- Lighten up.

4- "You think they're all nice guys," he told me. "Believe me, they're not all nice guys."

5- Arguing isn't worth it. Nobody wins. Forget about it. Just don't do it.

6- What makes good music is the space in between the notes. Rhythm is everything.

7-You can do anything you want to do. You can be anybody you want to be. Don't settle for less. Just do it. (Nike stole that slogan from my dad.) Go with your passions. Find something you love to do and make a living doing it.

8- Family matters. Family comes first. And no, those other people you think are part of your family aren't part of your family. Think again. They don't care about you.

9- Question authority. You have that right and if you don't authorities can overstep their bounds.

10- You don't always have to do things which you can't handle. If you know it's something you can't handle, you don't have to do it.

Here's to my dad who left us in 1996. Donlad G. Simons, nuclear physicist, humorist, photographer, father, brother, and son. I miss him.

Here are some links to some information about topics of research papers my father authored, along with his colleagues. There were MANY more.

http://prola.aps.org/abstract/PR/v155/i4/p1132_1

http://en.scientificcommons.org/19839950

http://de.scientificcommons.org/17172302

[Lightning Rod]

when I was about seventeen, my father asked me:
"What do you want to do with your life?"
I said, "I want to be an artist."

He said, "Fine. But you will be lonely miserable and poor."

Of course he was right. He was speaking from experience.

[judih]

Yeah, my dad taught me things.

1. How to get up early
2. How to start my day with morning exercise
3. How to pick up pastels and draw simply for the fun of it
4. How to enjoy a good story
5. How to recognize a good bagel
6. How to surprise people with unexpected gifts (and how not to surprise them at inappropriate times)
7. How helping others is the least I can do.
8. How to fall asleep watching television.
9. How to do my best no matter what
10. How to love someone for a good long time.

and there's more.
there's lots more.
lucky kid, i am.
(guess i better call that amazing dude. Even though we don't do this particular Hallmark holiday over here, for sure, he's doing it)

[stilltrucking]

My father taught me to play chess and to fear the darkness.

I have learned more from your fathers.

I think about jimboloco's father on father's day. I think about when he met those friends of his father. This was when jimbo was a young air force pilot. It reminds me it is never to late to feel a father's love. As if his father was still with him guiding him. Sorry jim, I don't know you,
you are just another voice in my head. Another sock puppet I play with.

I wish all you studio eight father's a happy day.

[bennie2]

my dad taught me that i was too clumsy to cast properly and that i'd be best to just sit at the side and watch - something i've been doing ever since.

he's a good guy though. honest, straight, quiet, deep... he'll paint your house better than any trained decorator ever could and he won't drop a spot of paint... but he doesn't have a creative bone in his body, doesn't understand that whole thing... doesn't understand me really, even though we're more alike than i like to admit to. typical working class guy. works hard, drinks hard and pushes everything down into the pit of his stomach because men. don't. cry.

Philip Larkin - This be the Verse
They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another's throats.

Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself.

[eugeneherman]

I really feel AND think that the dynamic aspect of good music are the NOTES between the SPACES, Bach, Rimsky-Korsakov, Jaco, Bird,etc. Those spaces are very important for drama and comedy and such.But as Patrick Swaze sain the film 'Roadhouse' opinions vary!

[Doreen Peri]

It's both. The notes. And the spaces. Yes.

[bennie2]

so... thoughts on john cage - four minutes and 33 seconds?

I have my own theory on this.. the audience, the room, the air becomes the sounds... the music, in this case, presents the silence.

notes and spaces. cage provides the silences here... and life, you, the listener, your cough or fart or movement in your creaky fucking chair.... provide the sounds, the notes...

I just thought of this while I was in the bathroom and that's where I do most of my best thinking.

[eugeneherman]

Recently wrote lyrics for the Cage Silent Concerto, (........................)!

[Arcadia]

. to have paciencia (with éxito)
. to have an unconditional will to work (without éxito)
. to be puntual (without éxito)
. to be in visible order (without éxito)
. math and contabilidad (without éxito)
. to wonder about education (with éxito)
. to appreciate people that don´t need to shout while talking (with éxito)
. that there are different ways to live a life (with éxito)
( mmm... I´ll think about the last two later)

[Arcadia]

(part II)

. that politics is a dirty job (mmm..)
. to be sincere and honest bordering exasperation (I guess I´m a moderate version).
. to love jazz (with éxito)
. to love circus (mmm...)
. to love to take care of dogs, cats and palomas (mmm...)
. to love old family-neighborhood-city stories (with éxito)
. a mix between acceptance and resignation (mmm...)
. to re-narrate films and books (with éxito: he rarely passed the first half and hour seeing a film or the first chapter of a book)
. to insult, lunfardo (with éxito but used with moderation)
. to like tall men (with éxito)
. to not to be afraid of cucarachas (with éxito)

mmm... I guess is all for today