la la la la la

First off, sorry for being off-line. It seems as though the past week has brought more than its fair share of unexpected issues with people I care about (my mom, church family, good friends), only to be capped off on Friday with my laptop tasting its last byte of life.

A couple updates:

• My mom will be coming home today. Your prayers have meant a lot, as the first few days were very rough. Once she turned the corner, though, it became a matter of time and tests to bring her back our way. Again, thanks for your support.


• We have had two dogs in our home during this time - our dog as well as my mom's. Um... not sure about doing that a whole lot more.

Now, what I really want to get to in this post is a bit of a rant.

It all started when I was at the hospital with my mom that first day and had to use the restroom. A gentleman whom I know only by his shoes came in and sat down to do his thing. Standard bathroom etiquette states in section 4 of sub paragraph D-6 that "One should always consider the climate. If a public restroom is quiet, you are to take part in quiet activities that utilize courtesy flushes when necessary." Perhaps this young man was unfamiliar with that text, which is why he decided to use his cell phone to play hard core rap music.

Allow me to highlight the experience a bit further... for when I say his cell phone I don't mean that he had downloaded some studio tracks that he was enjoying. Rather, I am referring to music he had recorded with his cell phone speakerphone and was now playing with the same speakerphone.

And when I say music he had recorded, I should more specifically qualify that it sounded like him singing to his own (or perhaps someone else's) background tracks that he recorded in "area microphone" fashion with his cell phone.

And when I say singing, what I am actually stating is that it was a combination of rap lyrics containing street language that encompassed how he felt about "the man" as well as several thoughts about female canines (that he seemed to have a love/hate relationship with)... which was an odd combination of thought, if you ask me.

Now, for reasons you don't need to know regarding how my body was handling lunch that day, I found myself unable to get away from this individual's unique musical stylings. This left me with a few options... do I listen in to the free concert? Or should I use some of my speciality ringtones on my own cell phone to audibly duke it out with him, stall to stall? Maybe I should just cover my ears and sing a song in my head that could help me combat it internally, doing my best to honor section 4, sub paragraph D-6.

I opted for the third option.

Now... you might think at this point that the rant of this post is everything I've just mentioned. Far from it... that is only the prelude to the rant.

Here's the rant.

The song that came to my mind as I covered my ears? Was it one of the fine pieces of music composition that has been deposited into my brain?

• Classical music I picked up over the years? From Mozart and Beethoven to amazing musical scores from John Williams and Bugs Bunny cartoons?


• Singer-songwriter stuff I've enjoyed? From Bob Segar and the Beatles to U2 and John Mellencamp?


• Period music of certain decades I've been alive? From the Bee Gees and Bryan Adams to Bon Jovi and Nirvana?


• Contemporary Christian artists? From old school Amy Grant and Michael W Smith to new school Switchfoot and Casting Crowns?


• Worship music tunes? From Rich Mullins and Keith Green to Chris Tomlin and David Crowder?
  

No.

None of that.

Nilch.

Nada.

Nay.

No.

This..

this is the exquisite piece of music that my brain drew upon.


Maybe you've seen these commercials featuring the slacker-esque guy dressed like a pirate and singing about how he should have gone to Freecreditreport.com. Or maybe you've seen the one where the same slacker-esque guy is singing about how his dream girl didn't have good credit and now he's living in her parents' basement.



He has a rap version like this, but I think I've only memorized the first one because it was the best representation for the company. I didn't think it was a very good idea for the guy in the second ad to essentially say, "If only we had checked credit reports first then I wouldn't have made the terrible mistake of getting married!" Bad move. If you had your own good credit, you wouldn't need her as a cosigner, would you? And how about some unconditional love, Romeo?

So back to my "stalling" situation... first I began humming the tune, only to realize that I knew the chorus. And once I started whispering it out loud, I recognized that I knew the verses, too.

Argh.

"Thankfully," the hospital had free wi-fi so I could afterward look up the information about who the catchy artist was (perhaps he had any other songs available, like something that took place in a mine shaft, for instance).

Many web sites have the guy in the commercials correctly listed as Eric Violette, but what they don't understand is that he isn't the actual voice on the commercials (he's a French-Canadian "comedian" who doesn't speak much English, so he lip-syncs that catchy tune with a slightly creepy/cheery/dazed-looking mouth). The songs were actually performed by a studio artist and written by David Muhlenfeld via "The Martin Agency" (who also did some pretty funny commercials for Geiko, too)

Surely this information has changed your life.

Ever get a song in your head you can’t get out?

Maybe those around you are experiencing this right now, from the thirty-somebody singing Phantom of the Opera songs at work to the teenagers performing High School Musical tunes out in the grocery store. There are obvious spiritual applications we can make about this, from the way sin can subliminally plant itself into our lives to how our thought life becomes influenced by the world (to the point where we say things like, "I know it's bad, but it doesn't affect me," which is a sign that it has, in fact, affected us).

I could go there... but I can't right now, because for some reason I have to go visit FreeCreditReport.com.

Thankfully the song hasn't affected me.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8)