Geriatric Jazz

I was hanging tough with some friends tonight. They're all fantastic jazz musicians and invited a bunch of guys from their jazz combo to show up and play.

They did.

It was awesome.

There were a couple of high school kids who played bass, one was like 14, and they were awesome.

But, the stand out for the night was a man pushing 90 years old. A couple of years ago, several years into his retirement, he decided he wanted to learn how to play a clarinet.

He joined this community college jazz combo and started playing with a bunch of 20 somethings and high school students. It was quite the treat. They were grooving so hard tonight.

Except for the old man.

He sucked.

But, he played along with the combo as best he could. He stared at the music so hard that you would think he was trying to burn it up with his eyes. He'd set his clarinet down and let the young guys get real funky. Then, they'd look at him, nod him in, and he'd scramble with his old man hands to grab his clarinet and then he'd squeak and squawk along.

So, the combo would play something smooth and groovy. Getting into a real jam. They'd sound like real pros.

The leader would nod in the elder gentleman, don't forget he has been following the music like a mad man, and then you'd get the squeakiest and squawkiest solo you've ever heard.

---

I'm that old man.

Symbolically.

I feel like I live in this world of real pros, leading healthy life styles, working out daily, doing yoga, eating fruits and vegetables, drinking water, smiling big bright shiny smiles, and occasionally these pros have the grace to let me in to squeak and squawk a little bit.

They'll run and yoga, eat healthily, make wise decisions, have self control in the kitchen. Real pros.

Then, they nod me in.

I take walks and do crunches, think about eating healthily, make half-wise decisions, have some self control. Squeaking and squawking.

---

DIET:
BREAKFAST - banananananana and some of my trademark homemade trail-mix.
LUNCH - Half of a tuna sandwich, half of a ham and cheddar sandwich.
SNACK 1 - A whole roast beef sandwich, with cream cheese... YIKES!
DINNER - A mandarin chicken salad from Wendy's. I used very little dressing. I'm not one to chat about textures of food from fast food joints, but the texture was real bad. The taste wasn't horrible.
SNACK 2- Pretzels, and then some.
SNACK 3 - Two small Italian sandwiches on the sweetest bread you've ever tasted.

EXERCISE:
3 sets of pushups.
Set 1: 10 p.u.
Set 2: 5 p.u.
Set 3: 3 p.u.

DAYS-WITHOUT-SODA-POP-O-METER: 7 (ONE WHOLE WEEK BABY!)
WATER GAUGE: approx. 80 oz.

---

All The Love My Massive Heart Can Give,
tommy