Wedding at the Beach - Song on the Sand!

(Amy takes an artistic shot!)

So I have now lived in the New York City area for almost 20 years and in all that time I have never been to Coney Island.  Of course, the first thing I was confused about was the fact that it was not an island.  That was cleared up by this bit of information;
"Coney Island is the westernmost part of the barrier islands of Long Island, about 4 miles (6.4 km) long and 0.5 miles (0.80 km) wide. Formerly it was an island, separated from the main part of Brooklyn by Coney Island Creek, which was partially tidal mudflats, but it has since been developed into a peninsula. There were plans early in the 20th century to dredge and straighten the creek as a ship canal, but they were abandoned, and the center of the creek was filled in for construction of the Belt Parkway before World War II. The western and eastern ends are now peninsulas."

Okay, that settles that.  If you want to read more about how it got its name and all you can read here.  Of course, back in the day

Coney Island was one of THE places to go.  The beaches would look something like this;


(Has anyone seen my car keys?)

Although today it looked a little bit more like this;

(Oh, there they are, under this bucket!)

To say it is no longer the hippest place to go (although I did see quite a few hipsters) would be an understatement.  Or it could have just been the weather forcast that kept the attendance down.

However, we weren't really there for the beach anyway (although we would have packed for it if the forecast was better).  We were here for Pat and Stephen's Final (?) Wedding!!!!!!!

We were incredibly excited but I personally was a bit nervous since Stephen had planned a special surprise for Pat.  Certain of the wedding guests would create a verbal Flash Mob and begin singing a section of a song from La Cage Aux Folles called "Song on the Sand".   For those of you who don't know it, it sounds like this;



Once I realized it wasn't going to be all of the guests singing I was feeling very conflicting things.  On the one hand I was incredibly honored and humbled that I would be asked to do this (although Amy and I only three solo words), and scared to death since I would be doing it in front of people who were still in the business and making their living at it!  I mean I haven't done an equity show in how many years?  But I do think my voice is better now than it was when I was performing, simply because I have done some shows and I have been trying to sing and do open mics when I can;

(okay, I'm just grimacing musically at this point)

But we managed to work on it (just a bit) and be (somewhat) prepared for singing.  We all dressed in flowy white and tan clothing to sort of fit into the entire beach theme and we headed out for Coney Island!  Now I had never been although we pass it almost every time we travel back from visiting Angela and Per in Philajersia.  The kids were excited out of their minds and for one the traffic wasn't bad.

We made our way towards the boardwalk and as we got close we were greeted by the sites of The ORIGINAL Nathan's Hot Dog Stand;

(Uhhhh, I don't think I can eat 62!)

and the famous parachute drop;

(Geronimooooooooooooooooo!)

and the cyclone;

(Say what you like - I like wood!)

And the oh so intriguing Soaring Eagle;

(Oh yes, flipping upside down while riding on your belly - yeeehawwwww!)

Unfortunately the only thing we did get to visit of those attractions was Nathan's - but more on that later!

We finally made it to Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park;

(Ahhhhh, childlike Mecca awaits!)

And the kids were wild with anticipation.  Of course we had to explain to them that we couldn't go on all the roller coasters because we were: a) here for the wedding, and b) only able to go on what was in Deno's Amusement Park.  That's okay, fun was in the future!  Next we came to this incredible sight!





(Aunt Laura's Coulrophobia would definitely kick in here!)

You see, the kids have been viewing this icon for years as we pass by in the car and they were so close to actually being able to ride it that they were besides themselves.  (I guess in here I should mention that we couldn't find the sheet music for "Song on the Sand" although I had gone back to the car to get it so I was a bit nonplussed and beside myself because I thought for sure that everyone else would know their parts, be flawless and I would sound like a crow with a lymph node problem).
While on line for the Wonder Wheel we happened to see the gorgeous Pat Dwyer - one of the grooms for the day - who gave us each bracelets giving us unlimited access to the rides at Deno's Amusement Park - now the kids were in total heaven!  We made the FIRST of our forays on the Wonder Wheel to be greeted by this site;

(James: The people look like tiny ants!)

Although the "rocking car" was a little unsettling to some, no one lost their lunch and we headed to the bumper cars (Mama's favorite);
 

(Auntie Laurelle and James!)

(In only a few years she'll be driving for real - SCARY!!!!!)

And then we reconnected with old friends while we ate some lunch.  We then managed to get some more ride time in, including James and I going through the haunted house.  Right before the end of the ride he asks, "Is this supposed to be scary?"  You have to love the honesty of children.

We then had a quickly improvised vocal rehearsal after walking up and down the boardwalk to find a quiet place.  I was so relieved to find out that I wasn't the only one who needed the words and that we didn't sound bad at all - it was a very nice vocal arrangement skillfully directed by fellow Texan Ricky Pope!  We were ready for the surprise (and the eventual tears)!

Finally it was time to head to the beach for the ceremony!  We all walked out to the beach and surrounded the happy couple, the best people and the officiant.  It was beautiful!  I only have one picture from the actual ceremeony to share'

(Not the most flattering of photos but it'shows the bystanders in the background which was sort of humorous)

(however by following this link to a trailer for their documentary "Married and Counting" and if you look closely at :42 you can see William cavorting on the sand behind them!).  But despite the fact that we don't have any pictures of the actual ceremony it will be forever etched in the minds of everyone in attendance - including the bystanders who just happened upon us.  It reminded of my own wedding to Amy and that magical day when only she existed and all I could remember of the ceremony was her eyes.  The chance to actually participate in the wedding of these two beautiful souls was such a rejuvenation to our lives and do be able to sing the line from the song "something about sharing" made it even more poignant!  As Stephen says in the trailer, "How can anybody object to love?" and it was such an important lesson for us to share with our children - that love is love!  This is the second of their weddings that we had the honor to take part in and we were/are so very grateful!!!!!

After the ceremony everyone threw rose petals at the happy couple and then we were finally able to take some wonderful pictures of everyone enjoying the sands of Coney Island;

(Like Movie Stars, right?)

(Two childlike souls celebrating like - and with - children!)

(Its so amazing when they actually play together!)

(Almost there!!!!)



(The finished masterpiece!!!!)

And mama finally got the picture of the family dressed in our summer finery!

(Our happy family!!!!)

It was about htis time that received word from some of the locals that we shouldn't be out on the beach once the sun went down since that's when the gangs start coming out.  Now, of course the only thing I knew of gangs and Coney Island came from the movie Warriors so of course I was expecting something like this;

So I was on the lookout for any wildly painted hearses.  On a side note, the psycho leader of the Warriors' rival gang later played Feste in the Lincoln Center production of Twelfth Night starring Helen Hunt.  So to avoid any possible flight back to Long Island, we reentererd the sanctuary of Deno's where the kids once again had a field day;

(Sarah enjoying her Carousel)

By the time they had enjoyed the rides it started getting dark and we said our goodbyes to the newly married couple then we started to head out.  We had three very tired youngsters by this point - too tired to even fight with each other!



(Peace at last - for now)

But we had time for one last ride before we left - not the look of abject terror unadulterated joy on William's face;

(Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!)

We then headed to Nathan's Original Hot Dog stand for a late night snack because after all, how can we go to Coney Island and not have a hot dog?



Finally it was time to pack up our little wedding warriors and take them home in our non-customized Subaru!  And as we finally pulled into our driveway after a day of fun and love, this is the sight that greeted us in the back seat;

 

And that is what happens when love takes hold!

 

So I didn't talk about riding or Connor's Army this time but sometimes more important things take over, things like love and family and friends, and isn't that what life is all about?

Yin and Yang Keeps All in Harmony

I'm not sure if Buddha ever rode a bicycle (even though he could have built his own out of bamboo).  Of course to do that he might have to travel to the exotic land of Brook - lyn to do so which is a far trek from Shangri La.  And under no circumstances should this be confused with the group Sha Na Na which started as a group called "The Kingsmen" back in 1969.  They had their own television variety show for a while.  If you never saw them, this is what they look(ed?) like performing "Get A Job" in 1973 which they actually performed in 1969 at Woodstock - yes THE Woodstock;



And what does all of this have to do with anything you may ask?  Its all about the Yin and Yang of Life.  Let's take a little journey, shall we?

For many of you who know me,  I have spent most of my life growing up in a Korean-American household.  This means I've gotten some really different influences in my life that I'm very grateful for but at the same time probably contributed to the Gemini/bi-polar mess that I am.  For those of you who have followed this blog, you know that I spent my misspent high school years in Germany at Ansbach American High School.  While there I participated in a variety of activities including sports (football, wrestling, soccer, baseball), band (marching, concert, jazz) and drama/forensics.  I was a very busy boy and yet I still managed to keep my grades up enough to be in the National Honor Society.  I have no idea how that happened. 

Anyway one of the other things I did while there to tap into my Korean heritage was to take Tae Kwon Do lessons.  Now I probably could have taken a form of Karate, or Kung Fu but my cousin was living with us at the time and he had some previous experience with Tae Kwon Do as well so I worked with him and with a teacher who was stationed at the base.  He was completely old school and we worked our butts off almost every day for two years.  We learned forms, we learned to use weapons and we learned to fight in a controlled environment.  I even went to a tournament once and I did okay but no trophy.  The point was he was old school and he treated us fairly but firmly and we respected him and really learned the material.  With my cousin's help I worked very hard and I advanced to second degree green belt in two years but that's as far as I got.  Now when I mean "old school" I don't necessarily mean this;



or even quite like this (sorry, this one is from Brazil so its in Portuguese - but if you've seen the movie you know what's going on);




So, no he didn't use anything to trick us into it rather he just made us work hard although I wouldn't have been adverse to this "old school" technique;



No, it was just hard work and lots of practice, drilling and sparring.  And we NEVER used pads.  We used mouthpieces most of the time but never EVER with pads.  I remember my cousin clocking me in the mouth with a spinning back roundhouse kick that knocked me off my feet.  That was cool to see coming at you but not so much when it hit.  My point is that "old school" training or even "back in the day" training (to see when that was just check below)

(you see it ranges from the front haunches to the mid spine - borrowed from Bikesnob NYC)

when you were really training to learn the art and the reason behind the technique and the traditions behind it you would never see five-year-old black belts trave;ing around and giving demonstrations or young Circassian boys getting their black belts in Tae Kwon Do;



Yes, they may have learned the "moves" but the maturity and understanding to use it correctly is not always there.  Nor the respect or the patience or the multitude of other things.  Now some may say, "well its not REAL, its only a junior black belt" but to the kids when they are bragging/telling others there is no distinction made.  They simply say "I'm a black belt".  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not jealous but let's be realistic here and see the real problem.  Everyone is after quick results and instant gratification.  A black belt in five years (that's assuming they started right out of the womb).  Where is the balance?  Where is the harmony?  How can there truly be any?

Why do you ask am I even talking about any of this at all?  Well today was a day of experience the true nature of Yin and Yang and the ebb and flow of balance.  Today was a day of sadness for me, much more than I thought I would have but it truly was difficult for me.  I had been preparing for it all week but  when it actually came it was a bit more than I excpected.  You see, today was my last day at Sunrise for the next two years.  Next summer I won't be at camp since at this time next year I should be somewhere in Western Virginia getting for the final push up the coast.   Yes, at long last it will REALLY happen, either solo or supported but next summer Connor's Army XC happens.

As exciting as that will be it was saddening to know that I won't be back, especially when so many of the campers told me how much they would miss me and drama.  This year I was the only drama teacher so I got to see every single kid in camp from the smallest Acorns to the oldes CIT's and all the counselors in between.  I saw some kids who couldn't be bothered to try drama become some of the first to volunteer or to come up to me during the day and say "what are we doing in drama today?"  Although I reall missed being able to teach dance as well, being the only drama teacher this summer really allowed me to make some connections - connections I hope will last me two years.

To counter act this Yin (blackness, negativity, sadness) was a good deal of Yang (whiteness, positivity, happiness) to even everything all out.

To begin with, after months of having pain in my lower back area and putting off going to the orthopedist, I finally went yesterday morning and found out I have sacralization of my L5 vertabrae.  Although I'll have to go to physical therapy (the Yin) I won't have to have surgery (the Yang) at least for now - Yay!

Secondly, we finally have our donation link up on the Sunrise Day Camp home page!  You can see it by going here - and if you happen to feel moved to make a donation - even better.  Go Yang!

Thirdly, I have been working with a camper who is a high school student (i.e., Leadership) and he came to camp with very little swimming experience.  He is an accomplished athlete and has great power but hasn't really swam much in the past.  I've been working with him to try to get him from level two (the small three foot pool with elementary/middle school kids) to the big pool (i.e., four to six foot).  We've had our ups and downs and he has gotten so close on so many occasions but the swim instructors were hesitant to put him up above.  Well today he made it!!!!!!   He was so incredibly happy and they let him stay there.  I was so proud of him and what he's accomplished!  Again, go Yang!

And lastly, we've been working on trying to get a sprinkler system and a patio put into our back yard.  The patio is not so important but I just don't want my grass to completely die while we're away next summer so we're putting in a system to keep it watered during the two months we're away.  We just found out that the company putting in the system might be interested in sponsoring us!  Woohoo!  Even if it's not much, every little bit helps and we'll be able to have the money we need to pay for gas!!!!!!

Now all this good news/bad news may not completely give me inner peace like our friend here;



but it really makes the sadness of not seeing my Sunrise family for two years (except for the occasional Sunrise Sunday) a little easier to bear (get it?).

Stay well and I'll see you on the road.

A Lead Sail is Not Always a Bad Thing

So for the last few days I had been very nervous.  You see, I had made a cycling "date" with a riding friend of mine, Michael Foresto, to go for a ride.  Of course, this was not without a small amount of "negotiation" with the family.  Weekends are family time and there is often a lot of things for us to do together.  However, my wife realized that it was a good thing for me to get out and try to ride with others, at least once in a while.

So Michael and I had been going back and forth for about a week trying to figure out when and where we would ride and we finally settled on yesterday and we still weren't sure exactly where we would go but we agreed we would try to tackle a bunch of moderate climbs. 

Now there were a couple of reasons that I was very nervous about this, not the least of which was the fact that I think I'm not in the best of shape right now.  The first is that Michael is an amazing athlete.  All you have to do is look at a listing of his accomplishments to know that he is a pretty damn intimidating cyclist.  Back when I rode somewhat semi-regularly with the AA group of the Huntington Bicycle Club he was always one of the ones that would be off the front leaving us all panting in his wake.  Okay, maybe not ALL of us, but almost always I would be huffing and puffing.

The second reason I was nervous about the ride was because he had invited a friend of his, Glen Corso who just happens to be a world class ice speed skater (although I didn't find out about this until a little bit into the ride).  As it was, Mike and I had been facebooking back and forth and bemoaning our lack of fitness.  Since we were planning to do some hills I thoroughly envisioned myself looking like this;

(Can you see them?  I think they're over the next hill! *puff, puff*)

So I did everything I could to prepare for the ride.  I laid out everything the night before (shoes, shorts, jersey, pump, etc.), I cleaned and lubed my bike, I hydrated like crazy, and I got a good night's sleep.  We were meeting at the Dunkin' Donuts in Greenlawn (which it turns out is only a really good baseball throw from Michael's house) so I left a bit early so I could get a hit of caffeine to give me energy on the ride.

Michael and Glen got there and we rolled out and I immediately knew I would be hurting - these guys are serious riders!  We even ran into a couple of other riders who had been following us and then as they passed us up the hill Glen took off saying, "I can't just let them pull away from us like this" or something to that effect.  I thought, "Crap, I'm going to be dropped next".  It was then that I realized Michael was suffering too.  He was showing pretty classic signs of dehydration even though he had been drinking a lot of fluids.  Now you have to understand, Mike has been through a hell of a lot physically.  He was a extremely serious body builder (and you can find the pictures online to prove it) when he was in a serious accident in 1993.  He lost his left arm above the elbow but he still managed to compete in body building competitions and even race his bicycle on the track.  He is also diabetic and has some other complications that have started to hit him lately.  Yet I am in awe of him as a cyclist and with what he has been able to accomplish both as an athlete and as an exercise physiologist.  However, he was hurting and he kept apologizing by saying, "sorry to be your lead sail and your paper anchor."

Now I was not really doing much better and I was happy with the fact that we were hitting some hills but not sprinting up them the way the Open guys of HBC would be doing..  I'm still trying to get my fitness base back (yes, I know its VERY late in the season) so I was happy to just spin up the hills.  But he kept apologizing and although I am a font of useless knowledge, I never did get the reference.  Well, now that I have done some research I find it is the title of a song by a band named ATREYU and here it is;

	ATREYU - Lead Sails Paper Anchor - Track 1 .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

It may not be to the tastes of some of you since it is what is considered "metalcore" but I like it and I think I'll put it (and a few more of their tracks) on my iPod in my cycling playlist.   It certainly makes me pedal faster.

Afterwards we found ourselves back at Mike's house and we had some coffee and chatted a bit.  The more I learn about him (and Glen for that matter) the more I was humbled that I was riding with these guys.  They truly are inspirational.  Mike in particular has come through so much and still finds a way to keep pushing forward and finding better ways to do things.  We should all have his spirit and his fight.  And as for Glen, now knowing his palmares in the ice speed skating world, I'm glad I didn't challenge him to a sprint!

What does all this have to do with Connor's Army, the mission and how we can help Sunrise?  Well, basically, we can't stop fighting, we cant' stop pushing and we can't stop searching for the answer to the question, "how can I/We beat this?"  For it can be done.  It may not happen overnight and it may not happen in the time that we want it to but we can get it done if we keep pushing ahead.  We won't always feel on top of our game and we may even feel like we are holding others back, but you never know who you're going to inspire and who is going to want to push a little bit harder because they see what we are doing. 

We (and by that I mean I) can only hope that such will be the case as we go cross country next year.  There will be days when I will feel like I'm just on a treadmill and that I'm not getting anywhere but if I just tuck my head down and keep climbing/pushing/pedaling through it I can get through.  Its my hope that my example will not only raise some much needed funds for these kids but also raise some awareness to the battle these kids face every day and yet they go on and they fight through and they embrace life - so should we all!

Stay well and I'll see you on the road!

Happiness is......

"What is the meaning of life?  To be happy and useful."

                                                Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

So with all of this talk about recession and debt ceilings and the doings (or not doings as the case may be) of our government it makes me wonder what it takes to be happy in today's society.  One school of thought is that you need to have more stuff and have all the toy and luxery items you could ever possibly desire and once you attain them you'll have happiness.  Unfortunately, the pursuit of "stuff" can lead you to feel like a rat in a maze:

(And we keep on going....where's the cheese?)

But what happens when you do get all the money and the stuff?  What would you do with it?  Would you purchase the world's most expensive yacht?

(At least gold doesn't tarnish!)

However, as I have a tendency to get seasick - a fact that causes my wife (who grew up sailing) no end of chagrin - that probably wouldn't be so feasible for me.

Or possibly you could purchase the world's most expensive home?

(I always wanted a home where I could park my 160 bikes cars)

And I have to say it would be great to have all that space but as it is in Mumbai, India it would be a real pain to commute by bike.  I'll have to pass on the house.

Ahhhhh but what about the bike?  Despite Lance Armstrong's assertions in his book, sometimes it is about the bike! And this sweet little ride, priced at a mere $102,417.60, is a gold fixed-gear from Aurumania;

(Forget the teeth bling, ride this through the 'hood)

Now I have to say I was hoping Andy Schleck would be able to pull it off!  I was really rooting for him and his brother to pull off the 1-2 on the podium of the Tour but alas it looks like Cadel Evans (yes, of "touch my dog and I'll kill you" fame)



will be the winner.  Despite Andy's amazing ride on Thursday he and brother Frank will take the podium 2-3 instead.  So its clear that all their money and the backing of the new Leopard-Trek team did not bring them happiness.

Or, for those of you with the 160 bicycles to park in the house in Mumbai, would you prefer to have one of these little babies custom installed on your property?   Would that make you happy?

So its clear that money can buy you lots of stuff?  But will all the stuff make you happy?

(This guy is obviously in search of some minimalism)

Its' truly hard to tell which side of the fence George Carlin is on;

Now according to my wife, I fall into that category of having way too much stuff.  Of course, I don't quite fall into the "Mythbusters" category of happiness that can be summed up in this Marine Corps bumper sticker;

(Not practical but I sure would like to shoot one - at targets, of course)

No, I think I adhere more to the warm puppy and surrounding yourself with family school of happiness.  Its taken me a long time to get there and I really am trying to be more "content" with what God (or fate, or karma or the Great Spirit or Earth Mother) have given me.   Perhaps a trip back to our youth and the simplicity of "Peanuts" would be a helpful reminder;



14 Happiness (From _You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown_).m4a

Powered by mp3skull.com

Perhaps its as simple as that.  To have someone who you love to be with and not worry about all the stuff and the what, just the who!

I'm reminded of this every day this summer at Sunrise as I go into the building we call "The Cooler".  There is a sign posted outside the trooper room (which are the kindergarten aged campers) that says, "Happiness is not something you experience, its something you remember".  And maybe its as simple as that, its about making memories of happy times that can last you when all the stuff loses its charm (or gets lost, broken, sold, worn out, boring).

For instance one of my all time favorite riding moments happened just this morning as I was riding back home.  I was about 18 miles into a 30 mile ride when a rabbit that was on the side of the road got startled by my presence.  I was cooking along at 25 miles an hour so I thought he (she?) would just hop into the bushes and that would be the end of it.  However, my bunny friend ran along side me only three feet from my bike for a good 50 feet.  Ultimately, in our impromptu drag race I think the bunny one, but only becuase it jumped into the bushes.  I've had lots of great bike memories and many of them are chronicled in the pages of this blog (including gorgeous sunrises, climbing mountain passes and finishing my first century) but of the memories that will cause me to smile for a long time this has got to be up on the list.

I'm hoping that next summer we'll have a lot more of them to show as I replay the greatest hits in my mind.  We are getting closer every day to our departure date from San Diego.  Right now I'm in the process of starting to use all the gift cards I've been given over the years to outfit Pearl for the journey.  I'm still hoping for an angel or two to come forward and help us with our sponsorships but I know we'll be able to get Pearl ready for her journey.

In my many eclectic readings I have come across another quote that I think describes the missions of Connor's Army perfectly.  It is by the writer Leo C. Rosten and he writes, "I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be "happy." I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all, to matter and to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all."

My fellow counselors and specialists at Sunrise do this every day during the summer.  I'm hoping to take it one step further next summer and make just a bit more of a difference that I have lived.  If I can do that and make some memories with my family on the journey, then that will be happiness.

Well that's all for now.

Stay well and I'll see you on the road!

Far Too Long - The Long and Winding Road

So all I can say is I'm sorry!  Looking at my blog I see that June 8th was the last time I wrote anything.  Tha'ts not to say that so much hasn't been swirling in my head, its just finding the time to sit down and put it down on paper, er, cyberspace.  I think part of my issue is that I feel like EVERYTHING I write has to be meaningful when in reality the purpose of this blog is not to provide enlightenment but rather information.  This blog was really conceived as a way to keep those of you who support Connor's Army updated on how things are going with our various fundraising efforts in fighting cancer.  Somewhere along the journey I got it into my head that if I wasn't scintillating or incredibly entertaining people would read my blog.  I think in the last few days I've realized that although we only have 52 OFFICIAL followers (and you incredibly special people know who you are), chances are there are many more people who do follow our blog (or at least did) and just didn't sign up.  Maybe some of you check periodically but have seen that nothing much has been going on.
Well, that is all going to change today.  First of all, A LOT has been going on in the last six weeks.  Too much to put all into one large blog entry so I'll break it up in installments as the days/weeks go on.  If you are new to our reading this blog, you can catch up on where we are by reading some of the older postings.  There are a lot (though not as many for 2011 as I really should have) and they can really tell you a lot about who we are and where we've come from.

Secondly, you can now sign up to be notified by e-mail whenever a new entry goes up so you don't have to keep wasting your time checking back to see if there is a new update - but of course, if that has been your personal cure for insomnia, I don't want to deprive you of that simply joy.  Speaking of which, here is a nice recording of it for those of you who missed it when I posted it before;

	Beautiful Small Machines - Simple Joys - MASTERED .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

A little electronica remix by the group Beautiful Small Machines - check them out if you've never heard of them at their website.  They describe themselves thusly on their myspace.com profile;

Beautiful Small Machines may be synthetic, but they’re not stupid. Caught somewhere between the 70’s, 80’s and deep space, this electro-pop duo (Bree Sharp, Don DiLego) learned about comedy from adult swim and heartache from Philip K. Dick and they’re spewing it all back out at you like a bunch of mandroids on whiskey and psycho-pharmaceuticals. Fun, Sad, Creepy and Clever – Beautiful Small Machines is the retro-future.

But I digress - which, if you've followed my blog is not that uncommon - my friend Danielle and I (actually she's a former student whose become a family friend now) usually go into these long rambling stream-of-consciousness correspondences so I think I've discovered that my brain just works that way - I make connections and my mind follows.  It might be a Gemini thing, I'm not sure.

Anyway, back to the point.  An incredible amount of exciting things have happened in the Connor household since my last blog entry.  The first is that (as it is for most everyone) it is summer vacation!!!!!!!  Now I love my job and I think I'm one of the luckiest people in the world to be able to do what I do with students who are so passionate about creating art and to be able to raise a family doing it.  But I do enjoy the (only slightly) more laid back pace of summer.  I don't have to worry about attendance or schedules or grades - I can just enjoy the days.

Now, my enjoying the days is different than someone elses.  Of course, given my own devices I would be either riding my bike all day or reading (right now I'm rereading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in preparation to see the last movie and in case you - like me - are wondering why Tobuscus hasn't done a parody of the trailer yet, here is a fairly good substitute).  Or watching movies like this one;




But I am fortunate in that I do have a great job for the summer as well - one that rejuvenates me and reminds me what life is all about - working at Sunrise Day Camp!  To see the difference this camp makes in the lives of these campers is truly a humbling experience.  This year is a little different in that I'm only teaching drama instead of dance and drama but in doing so, I work with EVERY single camper in the entire camp from ages 3 1/2 (the Acorns) to 16 (the CIT group) and to see these kids have fun with drama and see them create and play really reminds me of why I do what I do during the year!  It makes next summer even more important.

And the second reason for the title of this blog now becomes clear - it is going to be far too long before we get on the road!  It will be a long and winding road to get to where we need to go and I appreciate all of you that have supported us.

For those of you new to reading this blog, we have had a few "missions" over the years since Connor's Army was created.  We've raised $13,000 for The American Cancer Society, we've held a few Victory Rides (the most recent one to benefit Sunrise Day Camp) and we've even enlisted Sarah to help in our efforts.

Our latest mission is our most important one yet - we are going to raise $50,000 for Sunrise!  It won't be easy and we still have a lot of underwriting sponsorship we need to procure to make it completely happen but we're well on our way.  We have some supportive sponsors already, we have 780 followers on our facebook page (yes, you can click on the blue to add us to your likes or just click on the button in the upper right of the page), and today we just had our first article in a national bicycling magazine - Bicycle Times.  They are now one of our sponsors and we're hoping to reach even more sponsors now.

Why "far too long"?  Because as of right now we are not scheduled to leave San Diego until June 23rd, 2012.  Its a long way off and there is lots of work to be done but part of me can't wait to get started with the riding.  This past year we lost three of our Sunrise campers to this damnable disease.  I've lost another couple of friends to the disease and one of my colleagues, Jeff Rozran, is now fighting his own battle with lung cancer.  This journey cannot begin soon enough for with every pedal stroke I'll be fighting this disease for my family, my friends, my colleagues and my campers.

We have a little less than a year now and we still need sponsors.  We keep hoping that a few more "angels" will step forward and offer to help us.  Its become very frustrating becasue we keep reaching out to various businesses but we never receive an answer.  Not even a "no" just silence.  And although the sound of silence can sometimes be a wonderful thing and can help you reach that state of inner peace;



(Everybody say Ommmm)

or maybe yours looks more like this;

(Everybody say Kung Fu Panda)

However, the sound of silence has not brought any inner peace to us.  It has really perplexed us and left us wondering what we have to do to find the truth of the matter is that we need help to be able to make this happen.  If any of you reading this have any ideas, let us know as we are willing to try any angle to help us raise the funds we need to make this happen.  We know that now we are starting to make the PR connections the donations to the camp can start to flow into the camp.  Our hope is that people will see what we are trying to do and will open their hearts and their purses to these children.  I mean, if we could raise $12,000 with me just commuting 2,000 miles in an entire year, we should be able to generate $50,000 for me doing the same thing in just 70 days.  But we need to find an angel (or two).

	Thrice - Send Me An Angel .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

And that is part of why this is far too long.  The mileage doesn't bother me - I know we can do it.  I just want us to get started, to get started in fight and to get these campers the funds that will make an incredible summer possible for them.

And now one last song to get us all in the mood.  Every day as they cross the camp, a group of campers called the Timon Boys sing their own version of a classic Queen song, "We Will Rock You".  Instead of "We will" they sing "Timon Boys" will rock you!  So bear that in mind as you listen to an oldie but goodie;

	Queen - We Will Rock You .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Stay well and I'll see you on the road (and in this blog MUCH more often)!