A Single Child

 

In the last two weeks my older daughter was away on a school travel with her class leaving only one daughter at home.  I thought I would put my ideas down on how having one child around the house stacks up against two.  

Positives. 

A.  A lot easier to concentrate on "this project" 

Basically you can concentrate on this and only this "project".  Its like the opposite of multitasking.  To go off on a tangent, everyone is so arrogant these days about multitasking.  Doing two or three things at once.  On one gadget talking to one person and working on a report on another.  Or whatever.  Big deal.  People talk to me saying that honing the multitask skill is necessary.  I say, go to hell.  Concentrating on one thing at a time makes for a better product.  

That is what it was like with one child.  I could channel all my time and love into one child.  Doing and planning things is a lot easier.  Dinner: no conflicts. 

Dynamics: no conflicts. This is important because with two or more there is always dynamics, lets say a yin and yang of doing anything, which you have to be aware of and balance.  Two or more kids, you have to compromise and remember who got what last time and whose turn it is this time etc etc.  And not upset ANYONE.  

B.  A lot quieter 

Since my older daughter is the whirlwind of eye and sound entropy , it was a lot more peaceful in the house.  I hope I have this meaning correct.  

C.  Time easier to allocate

Along with A, time was easier to plan. Ping pong on Sunday or some outing on Sunday if my daugther was home.  If not, then my time was for me.  Simple.  She was satisfied with my pancakes. My other daughter never is.  

D.  More relaxed and less tension in the house

I mean, there wasnt much reason to yell or nag.  The wind was taken out of my sails if I said for the second time,  "time for bed", and she said, "ok".  Cant argue with that.  With two and more.  Its like logisitics.  "But she was in the bathroom (or toilet) the whole time and I couldnt get in."  "It wasnt my fault." "How come she gets to stay up later than I do?"   None of that.  

To sum, there is much more energy for creating ONE GREAT product and not be diverted or diversified.  Both are bad in this case.  

Negatives.

A. You just dont learn as much

Having just one of anything is like looking at ONE cell under the microscope.  Its great for looking at that one specimen, but it really doesnt tell you much.  How it interacts, what to do when it does interact? Is it violent or peaceful?  You can get no information on how you are doing with this product because you dont really know how it will interact when it comes to society.  Interacting is two or more and when you see how someone acts in the presence of others, then you get a much better idea of what needs to be done and what teaching is necessary.  One... is misleading to say the least.  

B. It is bad for the ONE

Granted this was only two weeks, but even so, an only child, I have always maintained, is unhealthy for that one child.  Maybe they dont learn how to interact either and since they get the full attention they think they always should.  Sometimes they demand it.  In other words they can get very spoiled.  I wonder how all the one child children grew up in China under the one child policy?  Do they have a nation of spoiled adults there now?   I would be afraid.   

C. No dynamics.  

And again, without "others" you dont learn how to balance and compromise and share.  You the parent dont realize that you are lacking on learning dynamics.  If I might go off on a pet peeve of mine and compare it with silicon valley.  None of those people really know how the rest of the world operates.  They only know what they make and assume that if the whole world adopted their products everyone would be better.  They dont realize that all over the world people move at different paces.  In fact they are a community of spoiled brats and they lord it over the rest of society in that "if you dont adopt our technology you will lose out and drop behind, and that is your fault, not ours".  

On a small level, dynamics in the household is important.  Things can break down when there is a dictator that doesnt understand that compromise and give and take is a full community action and reaction.  

Dynamics, even though they are frustrating and sometimes head scratching, are important to get your head around and adopt. Otherwise it just becomes "me over you".  

So I guess in conclusion, it was a nice time and somewhat of a breather, but to live with this situation the whole time might even be harmful and counterproductive.  I sometimes wonder how it would have been with three kids. What I am missing out on.  But I guess the major difference is between one and more and after that it is just a matter of making smaller portions to accommodate the whole family.  What would four have been like over three?  And on and on.  Enough to have the difference between one and more. That is the important thing. And I have that.  And I think it was important that my daughters had the dynamic they had between each other and they will grow up stronger because of it.  

Please leave a message for me if you would like to use any part of this or the whole or any other of my writings.  I will send you my email.  

Thanks for reading otherwise.  

I didnt listen to anything while writing this, but I was impressed to learn that James McBride went to my college and I have an album of his.  

Bonding with TV

 Two years ago I wrote this post.   I sort of bemoaned the fact that neither of my daughters were watching TV with me.  

Well since then, I have to say the situation has completely turned around 360 degrees.  

I guess it started shortly after I wrote that blog.  For some reason my younger daughter and I started watching the Mary Tyler Moore show together.  We watched it religiously and watched all 7 seasons.  

From there we watched the spin off "Rhoda".  I missed the first couple seasons with her because as I recall she was on Easter vacation and watched a couple seasons in a week and I wasnt along with her on her holiday.  But when she got back we started watching together.  Rhoda was kind of a B level of Mary Tyler Moore, but still good.  

I guess I was pushing my luck when I suggested we try the Dick Van Dyke show

(also with Mary Tyler Moore) which I had watched a couple seasons of.  We watched one show, but it didnt go over well. I think both the black and white episode and the extra "oldness" (from the 60s) of the show didnt pull her in.  

Anyway (I know that paragraph was kind of worthless blathering)  

The question is, how did we get on this track?  In the post I wrote two years ago she was in fact hostile to me watching with her.  What changed?  What I keep coming to is  either a) she read my post or b) two summers ago we started watching TV all together on vacation  and it continued into the regular year.  It was really nice watching TV together during that August.

So when we started the new school year, i guess my younger daughter and I contiinued to watch some serial together.  I am just lucky she took my suggestion of MTM, because that was a high quality ground breaking serial, but still very entertaining and watchable. Not preaching.  

Our current serial we watch religiously now has 80 episodes.  It is Star Trek.  How we got on this one is simple.  Her favorite serial was/is "the Big Bang Theory"  and she loves Sheldon.  And Sheldon is a fanatic for Star Trek and Mr. Spock. So naturally from Big Bang she had to see what Star Trek was all about.  

We started watching in April 2023 and we have seen 15 shows.  And as far as I can tell, she likes the show very much. It is in color, but it too is from the 60s.  But it is futuristic so it is not set in the 60s environment.  And we love Marvel movies so this is a little bit like a Marvel movie, a little.  Guardians of the Galaxy maybe.  

For me, it is wonderful as I watched a lot of the shows when I was her age.  But  I

dont remember many of them.  It is sad to think that things even from when I was ten were not cemented in my mind.  So now I can see them again like new.  They are very entertaining.  I dont know why the series was cancelled after just three years.  It became a pillar in American culture.  

The more pleasant result of watching TV together is a bonding.  That is strange, because you figure TV together is an individual thing and more of a separation than a bonding element.  But no, something about sitting there quietly watching together is very .... like meditation together.  I think even more than watching a sports game together, even though you might think a sports game would bring you closer. I think it is more superficial.  

Something about watching the intensity of the show together creates mental connections that one isnt always aware of.  And Star Trek is very entertaining. 

We also started a Saturday night Movie together.  We started with Back to the Future volumes. I had never seen the third installment nor remembered the second movie. My daughter really liked those.  Success. We watched the Oceans series.  All were good until we got to 8 which we stopped at the beginning after 10 minutes and didnt watch.  It seemed too formulaic after 11,12,13, just putting women in the roles.  Sorry to say.  

I guess we might do Mission Impossible series, though I am not so big on Tom Cruise, I ll have to bury my biases.   

Suffice to say, it is a very special nice time of bonding and being entertained..... by TV of all things. 

Eh, maybe TV has a bad rap.  Maybe it is/was good for something and wasnt just the "idiot box".    

o2 to get more of my money? Why?

 Continuing from last post I am saddened that the responsibility  from my older daughter didnt last so long. 

What to do?  

As soon as I got better the good will of my daughter was gone.  

This is rather difficult when I am in the process of renewing her telephone number. What to do?  What would you do?  

So here is the short story. 

She did continue to make her bed, but as soon as her tests were done it was like she changed back to the devil.  As if, ok, no tests, no responsibilty.  She got lazy again.  I got to nagging again.  

Then I had a month of not being able to pay the rent on the apartment and kicking it down a month.  This happened because I had to pay for the much higher gas bill.  Look, I am just an ordinary mediocre guy who is lucky to make ends meet at the end of the month.  But if some things happen, maybe something breaks down or there are extra costs like higher gas bill, then ends dont meet.  

So, there was the higher gas bill, MY DAUGHTERS TUTORING CLASSES AND a down payment on her school trip at the end of May.  It was too much. Then her telephone. I got behind a month on that payment.  

Then May.  More gas payment, this time rent, I will still have to pay property taxes this month, the rest of my daughters payment for the school trip AND another phone payment.  And then, listen to this.  The phone company turned off the number because I was late.... by 1 day! So they were going to make me pay a higher fee, double, to get it turned back on.  I had a long discussion with the phone lady saying exactly that, "hey you know, sometimes you just cant make the ends meet at the end of the month and some things dont get paid on time before the next money comes in.  Have you ever had that?"  Well the computer wont change it.  But I knew the phone lady could change it in some manner.  They know how to over ride the computers if necessary.  Maybe. And I went on and said, well yes I know because your company has a reputation of not being very human. Even though we are humans

with human problems and sometimes it doesnt work out, the computer doesnt care.  Pay on time or before or lose it. I tried to say that I did pay, but it was a long weekend, the money was due on Sunday and the banks were still closed on Monday.  Why didnt you pay it earlier? Because I had too many payments.  In the end she DID become a human and said she could put some of the penalty to my next months payment.  Lets see if that happens really.  

Meanwhile, ON THE OTHER SIDE, get this.  My wife yelled at me, that MY DAUGHTER was getting worse again as she did nothing on Friday besides mess around on her phone for five hours in the afternoon.  I wasnt home, i cant say what went on. She did practice her guitar without me pushing her, on a FRIDAY too. That was something.   

This is in my head when I come home from work on Saturday and she is lying on the couch just with the telephone and i have to make sure dinner is going well.  My other daughter got it in the oven.  Then I had to work on the dinner more.  And my bad phone daughter comes over at dinner and says,  "this is a minus,

minus minus meal.  About the same as school lunch food."  This after I planned it, did the shopping and got it prepared in the morning before work and wrote out the instrucitons and even peeled 12 potatos for the meal too which I hardly ever get to.  This time I did even though I was late to work.  And then my bad phone daughter just complains about it and says it tastes hard, chewy, and everything bad. I thought it was better this time. Didnt cook as long, and was a bit juicier than last time and not as tough as last time.  But no such compliments from my daughter.  And its not the first time. Look, I can take criticism, but that is different from being mean. I dont like someone being mean and nasty in their comments.  Respect for the effort is better.  And then criticism.  

All the time this phone business was going through my head.  

I didnt pay it yet.  Maybe I should just say, "you know what?  Enough of this, forget it. I aint paying".  I mean, you get it, i am over my budget and when I pay for her phone, all I get is her watching tik tok for even longer.  And the usual stupid scenes from stupid shows.  "Hey mon, my buds fell out so now I will have to take the long way home."  huh?   

Or do I make a deal with her?   Look two hours a day on your phone for entertainment including chess games and every thing and that is it.  You dont agree, i dont pay.  

Or I can just say and do nothing.   And pay it.  

All of them seem bad to me for one reason or another.     Meanwhile that phone and tik tok STILL drive me crazy mad.  

Any suggestions? 

I had to listen to atmospheric dub techno while writing this one and this is one of the best lables and compilations to listen to for that.  I had this compilation on vinyl but sold them all.  I have a different one on CD I have.  

 Well two weeks ago I was very sick.  During the Easter weekend.  

My wife had just left with my youngest daughter on an extended spring vacation to a big "tourist" city on that Saturday after good Friday.  

As soon as they left I got sick.  This was

Easter weekend.  My store was open but luckily I could get a helper to work two days and then we were closed Two days.   I was so out of it I just slept, but very badly for two days straight. I guess I had some sort of stomach flu even though I didnt throw up, I couldnt eat.  One roll and some bubbly water in two days.  

I kind of felt bad because my older daughter was studying hard for some important tests she had to take on Thursday and Friday and I couldnt do anything for her.  She isnt quite old enough that she can make meals, although she has made a couple of the noodle meals.  Otherwise I was upset that she had to order McDonalds and a noodle restaurant food and I couldnt make her healthy hot food for her studying and brain.  But I was useless.  

That is why it made me so happy when she took over a couple of my small worries.  Before I go to bed everynight I check the stove and oven to make sure they are turned off.  Then I make sure the front door is locked and maybe the chain is on it.  

So there I was so sick on Saturday night and I still had to check the oven and stove.  My daughter called from her room and said, "dad why are you up?".  Without me answering, she said, "Dad, I checked the burners and stove and they are off and I made sure the door was locked".   

I was already up so I checked anyway, but it made me so happy that she had taken the responsibility over from me when I couldnt do it and SHE HAD taken care of it.  That had to be a little epiphany for me and I said to myself, "Yes.  She can take responsibility.  And she can be kind and take my worry over for one day when I am very sick.".   That is/was so nice when I came to that conclusion.  Not a big thing, but big enough. It just made me happy.  Kind of as if she had finally started making her bed after I had been doing it since she was small.  You know, sometimes we parents feel we have to nag our kids to get anything and everything done, so you see, it was nice that it was taken care of, and she knew exactly what was my routine, what I was up about and she had taken care of it.  

I didnt get a good night sleep, that came the next night, but at least there was this small glimmer of happiness within me.  

Thanks daughter.  

Great ambient classic.  Good for relaxed listening...... sort of. 

A Single Parent

 For some reason or another I have taken over many more duties of being a parent.  In fact for the last several weeks I have almost felt like a single parent.  

I have always been negative on being a single parent.  A. It is definitely  not good for the kids and B.  it is tough on the single parent too.  

Kids need both parents.  At different times they may need one parent more than the other. But two is always better than one.  That has been my philosophy.  The weak points in one parent might be the strong in the other.   

Anyway, several weeks ago, my wife got sick and was in bed for a week.  I had to take care of pretty much everything all week. And the whole time I was still working.  It meant doing the shopping on my free mornings Monday and Thursday.  Then preparing the meals in the evening to put in the refrigerator for the preparation quickly when I came home at 7.30 pm.  Then getting people in bed by a decent hour (these days it is getting a bit later 10.30 pm) and then cleaning up in the kitchen or making more meals from that time after they went to bed till about mid night.  

Not me

It worked. It s just that I was too tired after that to do anything else like get on my computer and write, although it seems I still did as I have some posts here. 

Now as I write this, the end of March, I have been again single parenting.  

The workload is strenuous and stressful, but I have managed . In another post I talk about how many evening meals I needed to have in order to "survive" the summer.  This single parent time has helped me increase my repertoire to about ten meals.  Some of them dont work for my younger daughter as she doesnt like peas or curry, but all the same I think I have added three more meals and I have about ten meals I can do.  Unfortunately, if I did this single parenting for an extended period I would need twenty meals ... which I dont have.   

I should mention that luckily both my girls are old enough so that they dont need a parent to go with them to appointments such as doctors or dentists and afernoon activities, so they can take care of themselves in that department. And we live in the city so everything is close enough so that they dont need a car to get someplace.   But I think that other single parents could not take the workload that I have.  It used to be six days, but now I have mostly gotten it to five days a week in retail.   Or single parents would need a relative like a grandmother or close friend to take care of the kids if it were much more, which I dont have here.  

While I have been getting through it, I wonder if I would go crazy after a while or just get used to the workload.  That said, I still maintain that two parents is much better and saner for everyone involved.  But maybe that was the problem that has caused this situation, that I wasnt keeping my end up in the parenting?  Maybe.  

Thank you for reading, send me your prayers.     

Could Life be so Simple?

 Hi... I wanted to write a post today about how much work my wife does. Not to belittle all the work she does, but I wanted to listen to a jazz album while I was writing. I dont like listening to singers while I write, they distract me.  I like jazz without vocals. 

I have been wanting to listen to more Avishai Cohen, an Isreali bass player who has been playing for some decades now and I have several of his albums in the store. He has played in my town a couple times, but I never saw him.  So I put on Arvoles LP, which I have.  And Arvoles, the title track, played.  It struck me.  It struck me as so simple, yet so beautiful.  It doesnt sound like jazz completely. It could be a simple Mozart composition without the improvving.  The melody.  I have read somewhere that it is a "neo baroque" melody. 

I have read several times that John Lennon used the nursery rhyme Three Blind

Mice in several of his songs.  Three blind mice, three blind mice, see how they run, see how they run.  A simple little ditty.  The melody of the Arvoles by Cohen is a simple little tune.  In some places it sounds like Happy Birthday to me.  Quarter notes in most of the melody.  It is happy throughout, but lightly, not overly.  Just happy like a stroll in the park.  

The cover of the album Arvoles is green and blues.  Trees.  That is what Arvoles means in the language (disappeared?) of Landino.   So it says.  Trees.  That is the cover.  And a couple walking by the trees... in the park.  Couples used to take strolls in the park.  It was common. It was a nice, easy thing to do which was enjoyable.   

The cover of Arvoles is simple and beautiful.  It is very beautiful.  Arvoles, the composition, is simple and beautiful. I dont normally care for Mozart, but if this was taken from Mozart, I would like to hear the original.  Then again it says it is an original composition from Mr. Cohen.  Then again, all of Lennon s compositions (most) were original, but he used Three Blind Mice a lot.  I like Three Blind mice if not so much the lyrics.  

I wonder what the world would be like if a great proportion of the people could live their lives like this picture and composition.  Rather simply, but enjoying the simplicity and not  getting more intricate, intimate or complicated.  I am talking about an even simpler version of John Lennons

"imagine".  Let there be Religions and countries and several of those things he wants you to imagine dont have to exist.  Let them exist, but let us be satisfied with the small things which are beautiful and be happy with those.  Happy Birthday is a nice song.  Trees are vey nice.  This melody of Arvoles is simple and nice.  That is enough.  If that is enough then the boundaries will naturally not exist.  Because no one will be bothered when and if you cross them.  After all we are just out for a stroll.  Nothing more, nothing less.  I am not going to throw a rock, I am not going to preach to you, I am not going to spy on you or your factories or your economy. I am not going to do anything if I cross the border into your country besides turn around when I have had enough and walk back to my abode where I am staying.  Then eat or sleep.  

Should I go on and connect it to being a Father?  

I often think I would have lived best in the 1800s when we could walk outside in the evening for a stroll and we didnt have to do grand things, like take huge trips, think about very deep intelligent, intellectual ideas.  Those were left for a few philosophers and scientists, a very few.  I could do my job, make enough money for my family, come home, eat dinner and take a stroll in the park.  Weekends were closed.  Shops were closed.   I think this would have been my time period. 

(Still no connection with being a father, wait for it)

But even with the simple answer, "NO", that time period doesnt exist. We live in a smaller world and we do fly around and we are more curious and so many of us are thinking and acting deeply and we have to be even more careful, dilligent about our neighbors, and our neighbors are now neighboring countries because we can kill everyone if someone or something gets out of hand.  Constant vigilance and diplomacy.  That is the simple answer, that it is impossible now these days. 

But if I think about it even more, the subtle answer is "no" also.  In fact "no, I dont want to".  Why? Well, you see, even in that time period children went through this trying time called puberty.  While perhaps back then unfortunately they were kept in line through the whip (yes, they were) or even worse, abuse, they still went through this time when their brain is a mess while it is developing and putting on its biggest growth spurt.   Maybe they were quickly married off at this time, or were ushered into a job or apprenticeship and their "mess" was muted, depressed.  

Pictures of a teen brain

Today, I dont want that to happen to my teenagers.  In fact I want them to join the thinking community, not just get a job and join the working masses. I want them to be a mess and think and scorn and be curious about this and that.  BUT to understand also that there are still parameters and boundaries and how they can push them and bend but not break them.   Maybe change them.  In a sense I want them not to just see greens and soft blues but violent blues and every shade of red and there are many of them, and to experience many shades of black.  And to believe that although blues and greens with trees are nice, underneath there may be a plethora of "others".   And ultimately to put in order this vast array of "others" away from chaos, while still showing great respect and responsibility for the "others".   Respect and responsibility for all, not just the light blues and greens.  

So, I have trouble with this.  This nice melody and album cover, is well, nice.  But even though I like it, in a way I have to reject it and tell my teenagers, "wait a sec, look under the trees, look under the rocks, there is so much more to discover. And so much more which is a mess, but you have to learn about and put it in an order.  Woe and sorrow to those who shy away and only want the stroll among the trees among the blues and greens.  Now, you must discover the whole palette and make peace with AND UNDERSTAND ALL OF IT. 

You understand what I am saying?   

If John Lennon had only written melodies based on three blind mice, well, we would certainly have a much different musical landscape today than we do.  My job as a father and yours too, is to tell your teenagers, "hey it is a big big mess and there is so much of it, BUT, do not be scared of it. In fact embrace it, make it yours and be friends with it. Order, but respect too."  Then, your kids will really progress.  Otherwise, they wont know much more than Three Blind mice, and will be kind of bland, ornery... dumb people (of which, unfortunately, there are many).

The picture is nice.  The melody is nice in its simplicity, but Avishai Cohen has several several albums out with many tunes and colors.  He didnt stick to Arvoles, John Lennon did not stick to Three Blind Mice and you have to stick your teen agers nose in so many directions.  In other words, encourage them to find out more.  

I hope, in not too preachy a manner I have MADE MY POINT CLEAR!

Have a nice day.    

Slave to no one..... except my kids...... happily

 As I get older I become more aware of and more angry of being the chump to someone.  I find myself telling people, "I dont want to be your bagholder anymore".  Namely the one who is left holding the crap after everyone else has taken the good stuff.  And losing.

Being in the music industry, specifically,I am the one who is doing the buying of artists and TRYING to sell them.  We purchasers are prone to that disease called "FOMO" Fear of Missing Out.  I always wanted to try different artists and stock up on stuff.  I was supportive of artists and I am a person who wants to check out new scenes and go out on a limb.  

Unitil recently.

Well, not exactly true, I still listen to a lot of really interesting, new artists and bands

Caribou Interesting band

doing interesting things.  It is a challenge I like.   But monetarily,  THE BOTTOM LINE is sinking lower and lower.   

I tell my distributor these days, "I cant be the bag holder. You give me this stuff on consignment.  Let someone else go out on a limb. I am not going to lose  anymore."  Besides he is making a decent paycheck. I.... am not.  So why should I support him living in London?  And did any of these artists go down to any of their records stores and say, "Hey, thanks for buying, thanks for supporting". In thirty years in the business I have never gotten a letter of thanks. "Hey man, thanks for going out on a limb and believing in what I was doing".  Nope.  

So, now, you take the chance buddy.  You put your money on the line.  You send me the music and I will pay you when I sell.  I dont want to be your slave anymore!!!!

OK, what the hell am I  ranting about and what the hell does it have to do with a post "Dad 40per cent or more at home" ?  

Here now I will make the connection. 

I dont want to be your bagholder anymore. Not to you mister artist. Not to you mister distributor. Not to you mister renter.  I want even dues. I want payback. Dont offer me the cigar.  I wont smoke it.   

But ON THE OTHER HAND. ....

Last week my wife was sick and I had to cook dinner every night. I did it.  Hah, I have progressed since the last time she was sick in 2014 and I couldnt even do 4 days.  I did it. I cleaned, and bought and cooked and still did my day job 6 days that week.  I helped my daughters with their homework and flute and did it all.  I was more than, as Grace Jones says, Slave to the rhythm, I was slave to my kids.  

And you know what?   

I would do it all again

I really dont mind being a slave for my kids. I really am. I dont get paid. That is slavery, innit?  I dont care. I dont mind.  

I ve got to work 6 days a week and still have another job and still it doesnt pay all the bills, but I want to do it for my kids. So we have food in the fridge and heat in the heater to keep us warm.   I dont mind. 

I guess maybe I do take it a bit far when I clean up too much after them. I spoil them.  My wife says, "dont put away the dishes, that is one of the girls jobs."  But I do it anyway because a) I enjoy cleaning up and b) they have enough to do before bed and then in the morning before school.  They have to get to sleep and get to school and then it would be sitting there.  But... I do really clean up after them too much.  I guess I love my overlords, that victim loving his captors theory if you know what I am talking about. I am the slave.  

Not only that , but my kids are not always nice to me.  Geez, the things they say to me, I could never think of saying to my father.  That would have been unheard of.  They make fun of my music. I would never make fun of my parents music.  To top it off my daughter practically said I was boring tonight. I dont go parachuting or do anything "way out". In other words I am not very exciting.  It hurt, but it is from my daughter, so as a slave, I have to grin and bear it.  Happily in fact.  And for the most part, I do (although this comment from my daughter did really hurt).  

The point being DADS, is that we have to be the tough Trump bullies and deal makers at work.  We have to put our foot down and say, "no,  I wont do that".  No, I am not going to do that anymore.  I will not subsidize you when I dont get a good deal on it. 

But when we come home, we have to play Metal monsters tag for our kids (toddlers) and when they ask you to read that book that you have read 83 times already, YES, you have to read it the 84 th time.  And then drive your older son over to hockey practice or pick him up from his bass lesson.  You have to be the slave and enjoy it too.  In fact when you are 70, 80, 90, passed on, you will still be remembering with fondness how you used to play football catch in the lake, run to your kids school to give them money you forgot to give in the morning for some book they had to buy that day, or how you caught their throwup in the car or public transport, in your hand and got them out before they threw up all over in the public.  Yes, those were great times. I remember being a slave with fondness.  

I Was watching the Cream farewell concert on Youtube.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_gC2V_nbK8&ab_channel=MikeLefton

From 1968

It made me think how Cream were the predecessors of Led Zeppelin.  Cream was great and they were huge in the short time they existed, but Zeppelin ... Robert Plant was a better singer, Jimmy Page was a better guitarist and John Bonham.. well was just as good as Ginger Baker, but pulled it off better.  Led Zeppelin took the baton from Cream and ran ran ran with it a long long time.  From the ashes of Cream, rose Led Zeppelin.   Though as the white boys blues thing, Cream probably put out more albums.  LZ put out I and II and then after that they re invented themselves and were something else.   Anyway.... My Impressions.  And I have been listening to both of them on and off for more than a couple decades.