Month: May 2011

I’d like to apologize for the crotch shot. Kevin took this video and he was trying to zoom in on Jazz’s feet, NOT the girl’s lady parts. He was trying to be artsy-fartsy and came off instead as a dirty old man. HA!

I think I’ll be taking over videographer duties next time.

Also. The last song. I got frustrated with Kevin because Jazz played a lot of saxophone parts and he wouldn’t zoom in. GRR. And. Jazz said the kids were nervous on this song for some reason so they played quieter than they were supposed to – hence the reason you see the band director gesturing for them to play louder.

And yes. The band director only has one arm. He lost it in a farming accident when he was eight. But he’s incredible and the kids love him.

And may I just rant for a second? (Tune out if you’re not in the mood).

Several of the girls at this concert came in wearing skirts so short that I was seriously (no, I mean SERIOUSLY) concerned that they would end up displaying their goods for the entire audience to view when they sat down.

I understand it seems like the height of fashion and that they think they’re sexy, but if you’re a parent of a young woman (high school age) that is allowing her daughter to show up at school wearing a skirt so short that all it would take was the lifting of one arm to cover a sneeze to flash the world a shot of her underwear, then shame on you.

That’s right! I said it! SHAME ON YOU! I hate to judge, but I’m going to judge for a moment. It’s inappropriate! And crass! And uncomfortable! And disturbing. Women balk and bitch about how men only see them as sex objects and say things like “why don’t they see me as a PERSON” only to see them advertising their wares in front of a group of hormonal young men … I mean, DUH. What are they supposed to think?

I asked my young men what they thought of young ladies that wore clothing like that.

“Sluts.” Was their immediate response.

Do you really want your daughters thought of in that way? Because I assure you, not only do other girls think this, but so do the guys.

I don’t care how much they groan, complain, whine, cry. “But MOM, it’s the FASHION. All my friends are wearing the same thing!” It’s called NO. It’s called putting your foot down and being the responsible adult in the situation. These girls wouldn’t be wearing these mini-skirts if parents weren’t buying them for them.

Sorry. I don’t mean to go off in left field, but this stuff really bothers me. Women have come such a long way throughout history – WHY must we insist on resorting to sex appeal in order be noticed? To me, that just screams INSECURE. A confident, well-rounded young lady doesn’t NEED to put her body on display for the world to see – the world automatically sees her because of the way she acts and holds herself.

Anyway. My two cents.

ADDED: Interesting. This very issue is being debated here. If women over 18 want to dress in a provocative manner – go for it. Just realize, that by doing so, dressing that way may be perceived, whether rightly, or wrongly, as loose, easy prey and wanting unwanted sexual advances. Once again, it all boils down to personal responsibility. And may I just ask, what happened to being perceived as classy?

But girls under 18? There’s never a good reason to dress provocatively. Ever. Let them be girls, please.

Jazz had his spring concert last week. (Blonde boy, blue shirt) I always look forward to … wait, scratch that. I always look forward to ANY kind of concert Jazz is in. It never ceases to amaze me that he can even play an instrument to begin with, let alone play it WELL. He’s so comfortable with his saxophone, he really enjoys playing it, and it honestly warms my heart to watch, and hear, him play.

The band was split into three groups – freshmen, intermediate and advance. Jazz is in the intermediate group. He’s hoping to make advance band next year.

We all thought the band sounded fantastic, but Jazz wasn’t happy with the performance. He was okay with how he played, but he was disappointed in his band mates. He said that after they finished the first song, they started getting nervous and playing a lot softer than they were supposed to, which in turn, made him nervous and playing softer than he wanted to.

I love that he wants to be a better player, but I wish he wasn’t so hard on himself.

He comes by that perfectionist attitude honestly – both me and Kevin are pretty hard on ourselves as well.

At any rate, Kevin showed me how to manipulate his video program and I was able to slice the first song off the disk. I’ll work on uploading the other two songs soon.

I love Jazz’s look of concentration in this picture.

Or maybe it’s irritation, they’re sort of one and the same, actually. HA!