We're both victims of a weird experiment!

If I'm not thinking about Batman (which is rare), I'm thinking about the future. And you can't think about the future without thinking about the past.


I spoke on the phone with one of my oldest friends, JW, a couple of weeks ago. He was blowing through town on his way from Japan to Saskatoon, where another old friend was getting married. JW is set to be back in Vancouver any day now, and hopefully I'll get to meet his family. His new family. Not the people he grew up with, those familiar faces in memories of my adolescence, but the people he'll grow old with. Ol' JW has a wife and daughter. PH tied the knot about a week ago. WS just got engaged. RY's got a little tiny bundle of joy. Even newer friends like M has an infant. MO-L's expecting this fall. And, lord knows, I'm sure most of the people I haven't kept in touch with over the years have fashioned their own human beings and partnered up.

As weird as it is to think of the kids I was young and foolish with becoming responsible adults, taking out mortgages and raising young 'uns, I'm less freaked out by my own impending fatherhood. Which is not to say I'm not completely freaked out about it at moments, like when I read the "worst-case scenario" sections of books like What To Expect When You're Expecting, or Girlfriend's Guide to Being Preggers, or when I read about freak accidents in the paper, or when I dwell on the state of the planet or how much post-secondary education will cost by 2026. Mostly, though, I'm elated. This crazy little baby is going to have a great mother who is beautiful, smart, funny and sensible. It's going to have a dad who will make embarrassing jokes and try too hard to "hip with the kids". It's going to be born having already attended concerts by the Neins Circa, The Thing with Ken Vandermark and Jonathan Richman and whatever else I can convince My Baby Momma to come out to (though I think Nicole's pretty much had enough of crowded halls, uncomfortable seats, and wack hipsters for this trimester). It's going to be adored by an overwhelming extended family who will spoil it despite its parents concerns.

It's kinda wrong and hideous to keep my eventual baby it, but I don't wanna know what it's gender is until I meet it. The English language needs better words. Or maybe we just need to figure a unisex name (hey, shouldn't Jayden/Jaden count as ONE name??? Also, when did Quinn become a girl's name?) for this little creature. But that's a whole 'nother messy diaper.

mp3: "Old Friends" by Chuck Prophet
mp3: "When We Refuse to Suffer" by Jonathan Richman