Divine Phishing

Happy New Year's all.  It's a couple of days late, but I'm glad to say that my family and I have made it through another hectic holiday and birthday season.  Birthday?  Yeah, in addition to the normal nuttiness between Thanksgiving and New Years, our family has no less than 7 birthdays that drop in the same time period, including mine.

But enough about that.  How was your New Year's?  Ours was awesome.  By some random stroke of luck, the lady-friend and I were able to secure tickets to Phish's NYE show at Madison Square Garden.  Wait a minute.  You're the dude who was hypercritical about Christmas excess, and now you're going to shit on New Year's Eve too?  Not exactly.  I'm here to apologize. 

I kind of get it. 

Phish made me get it. 

Huh?

I would like to make a generalization: most of us want to be part of something bigger.  It's what draws us to things like sports teams, musical groups, and, yes, religions and religious observances.  Since 2003, when Sara coaxed me to get to my first Phish show I've been a devoted fan.  Now, after 20-something shows, I consider myself able to "surrender to the flow" and be on the inside of something fantastically exciting and enjoyable.  Born again parallels drawn here.  Hypocrites to the left, devotees to the right.  We're all the same.

New Years shows are unlike any others during the year.  Typically before the 3rd set, and just before midnight, the band gets goofy and performs an intricate and well planned stunt based on one of their hundreds of songs they typically play.  Yeah, hundreds (http://www.ihoz.com/firstlast.html), which justifies seeing them as many times as you/we do.  You never know what's going to play next. 

But, I digress.  The thing is that I'm far from the most devoted, and even those young'ins who have seen less still get it.  It's not different than Springsteen fans, or Dead Heads.  The whole crowd gets it.  So, when, at the second set, they launch into a sequence of songs not heard since 1994, the place went nuts.  We all knew we were able to experience something special.  The energy was palpable.  And, for a minute, you couldn't hear the band over the roar of the audience.  No animosity.  No anger or angst.  Just pure joy.  Christmas morning as a 4 year old joy. 

And that's what I wish you.  Pure joy this new year.  Be part of something bigger than yourself and just enjoy whatever that is.  Take that moment, smile, and recognize how good that second in time is, and build on it this whole year with new awesome experiences.

Have a happy and healthy.

"The target that I shoot for seems to move with every breath.
I tighten all my arteries and make one last request.
Divine Creation hears me, and he squashes me with fear.
I think that this exact thing happened to me just last year.
You're silent in the morning,
You found your voice that brings me to my knees."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-fleet/listening-to-learn-the-me_b_4535740.html