Rocking Out
I discovered yesterday, while visiting my family, that my parents are taking Erik and his buddy to see an Yngwie Malmsteen concert in Baltimore. They're not just dropping them off at the the place, they are going to go in and enjoy the concert as well. I started laughing as soon as I discovered that, since these were the people who after seeing Paul Simon in concert complained over how raucously loud it was. And now they're *voluntarily* going to see Yngwie Malmsteen. When I informed them that this concert would be sure to be on the loud side, my mom disbelievingly exclaimed: 'No!'

I was almost driven to offer to take Erik and his friend instead to save them their imminent misery, but I didn't because:
1. It's kind of funny.
2. I have taken Erik and his brood of friends to a concert before--Green Day a couple of years ago when they played at American University. Trying to keep track of three 12-year olds in a crowded venue was no fun--I was perhaps the most serious and stressed of the people in the room.

This reminds me of when my aunt was telling me about how she won tickets at work to a concert to a band that she had never heard of, and took my cousin (then 10 or something) and a neighbor and the neighbor's kid. When retelling it, she also exclaimed over the loudness of it all. I asked her what the concert was, and she informed me that they had gone to see KISS. Awesome.