Children: blessings from God, or de-- TIMMY, I TOLD YOU TO GET OFF THAT TABLE!! NOW!!

Whenever I am in a public place, I always get the impression that parents, contrary to being happy to be with their children, seem peeved and ill-tempered.

Aren't children supposed to be a gift from God? A blessing most sublime? I mean, how long does that honeymoon last? How long does it take to go from "She is the most beautiful baby in the whole world and I am the happiest person in the world!" to "OHMYGODWHYWON'TSHESTOPCRYING?!?!?! LORDPLEASETAKEMENOW!!!"?

Sure, you may say that we are more likely to notice someone in a bad mood than someone being loving, especially since a shouting parent is harder to miss than a quiet, loving embrace (and, if you were the one who said this to me, you can re-state it). :-) I agree that there may be some truth to this, but in today's society I'd be more likely to notice parents being loving and sweet to their children than parents being impatient and in a bad mood, simply because I see it so seldom (plus, emotional displays are something I am quite likely to appreciate, since I scored 29/30 in the "Feeling" scale of the Myers-Briggs psychological test -- which means I am always one forlorn violin solo away from bursting into tears).

So, which is it, folks? Are children, much like everything else in our lives, things we really want and when we get, the magic "wears off"? Or is there something special about children that even those parents who seem to be plotting murder are, underneath it all, actually happy to have their kids?

If I had wanted to listen to an instrumental solo, I would've gone to a Yanni concert

Well, the summer concert season has finally started (for me, at least), as I went to see Huey Lewis and the News and Chicago (yes, I am an old man: now shut up and get off my lawn, young whipper-snapper!).

Anyway, attending this concert reminded me of two of my concert pet peeves: the first one is that the band inevitably never plays the one song I want them to play (regardless of how famous said song is). For instance, Huey Lewis didn't play "If This Is It" and Chicago didn't play "Glory of Love." I swear to God, I could go to a Right Said Fred concert and they still wouldn't play "I'm Too Sexy" (not that I'd go to a Right Said Fred concert, even if they weren't currently employed, sadly, as Right Said Fred impersonators in the Hollywood Walk of Fame).

But on to my second concert pet peeve (and what prompted me to break my months-long absence from the blogosphere): long-winded instrumental solos in rock concerts. I mean, really: we get that you're all awesome musicians, and that only the vocalist gets all the glory and all the chicks (although my favorite bands are getting so long in the tooth that nowadays the vocalist probably just gets the juicier incontinence medicine endorsements). However, do we really need to hear a 10-minute drum solo? If you've heard one drum solo, you've pretty much heard them all (actually, after hearing one minute of a drum solo, you've heard them all!).

How about if the audience, when purchasing the concert tickets, signs an affidavit stating that every band member is as important as the next, and that each one rocks in his own right? If we do that, could we do without the boring, lengthy and unnecessary solos? For instance, in the Chicago concert we were "treated" to a flute solo. A f-l-u-t-e solo. In a r-o-c-k concert. I'd understand that if I had gone see a concert for Yzman, Master of the Ocarina... but a rock concert?

So, where do you, ficticious reader, stand on this whole concert solo business? Is it a part of the concert experience, or is it an evil that must be eradicated with bloodshed, if necessary?