The Flip Medley

So my friend Kym (who now has pink hair) invited me to check out the midnight mass at St. Francis of Assisi Church, where her best friend Verena Lucia Anders is the Director of Music Ministries. I was fortunate enough to be intrigued, as well as entertained, by listening to Kym and Verena mix it up a bit about worship, music, and what works and what doesn’t during my last trip to New York (Labor Day Weekend). Verena is extremely passionate about her music and its role in worship. Kym is a free-thinking free-spirit who apparently is not a big fan of rigid protocol and old school thinking. The fact that they are best friends and can have heated discussions like this reminded me of another pair of best friends…

In any event, I showed up a bit later than the Perfetto clan (that would be her parents (very cool people), her brother John (who thinks I need an even longer nickname), her friend Jonathan. As a result I sat in the “overflow” area (the lobby) and had a chance to just worship on my own in a strange and new environment.

The service was beautiful, and yet I found myself enjoying something I did not expect: the crush of people around me. It was cute to see a little boy making farting noises with his mouth. Another kid walked up to his sister and started working the zipper on his coat, saying “I’m D.J. Q-Bert!”. A little girl was trying to walk away from an older sibling who tugged on her coat hard enough to make her hiccup.

These were little things that made me realize that the masses of humanity that seem to crush the solitary soul during the holidays weren’t necessarily a bad thing… On the contrary, it felt kind of nice to just see a wide variety of people in a peaceful setting just being themselves. It got me out of a Scrooge-y mood where, instead of feeling like the holidays could be a nuisance (which is why I usually avoid church on the big holidays), I found myself in a very mellow place enjoying the scenes around me. People-watching.

After the service, I met up with Clan Perfetto. I always feel a bit weird meeting people’s parents because I always wonder — what stories have they been told about me? It’s also weird when you’re meeting a woman’s parents because it always makes me wonder if they are thinking, “Who is this guy, and is he trying to hit on my daughter?”. John began trying to give me new nicknames, like “Flip to my lou” or “Flip the Dip”. I’m sure he was overwhelmed by the large amount of incense they had in the church, and was probably one step from launching into a mad freestyle rap, rhyming everything he could with “-ip”. All I needed was my trusty MC-505, and we’d have had something to work with…

I didn’t get a chance to say hello to Verena and her secret agent (shhhh!) boyfriend… and I waved to Jonathan but it was chaos, and Clan Perfetto was in a hurry to exit. I hooked up Kym with her re-gifted Christmas gifts, netting me a kiss and a hug. This goes to prove that re-gifting inexpensive items nets a greater return on investment than expensive gifts (like gym memberships). That said, I really don’t want Barry to put out. Really. Seriously. I thank God he doesn’t try to!

So anyways, after engaging in worship and indulging in the spirit of Christmas with gift-giving, I had my own special automotive Christmas moment…

Driving south on Georgia Avenue, a Subaru WRX sporting a very loud blow-off valve on his turbo began revving at me. On paper, these cars are quite fast, and with some mods, they can be quite formidable. However, it’s Christmas Eve, and I am not going to curl up the fetal position because some boy-racer wants to make his car whine at me.

It wasn’t even close.

I walked him. I walked him like a dog. I have to respect the Subie because it wasn’t waaaaaaaaaay behind me, but I was easily pulling away, and when we let up, it was quite clear who won that little match. I had to give him a thumbs up for having the nerve to try to run someone (especially someone in a bright yellow ‘vette) on Christmas Eve of all days, but… it was a nice gift. I got a nice adrenaline rush and enjoyed giving a friendly smackdown to a respectable foe.

Now I’m just wondering… how can life get any better?