Tanner B, now appearing at your local Best Buy!

Ok, a funny story. It's at the expense of my son bless his heart, but he can laugh about it too. Yesterday, Erik took him out for lunch and then they went to Best Buy just to look around. Erik went off to see if he could find a cheap movie to bring home and Tanner went off to check out the games. After a while, Erik started moving over towards the game area when all of a sudden, he hears the following:

"Uhhnnggh" very loud, obviously being broadcast over speakers. His ears perk up because he knows this gutteral sound and he begins to make his way over towards its source. As he gets closer, he hears more "Ugnngh Eye of da tiger" in a very tone deaf alto. He realized that somewhere in Best Buy....Tanner had a microphone...and he was putting on a show for everyone. He went around to the area where they had a Rock Band display up and sure enough, there was Tanner on the mic with a few other college students on the drums and guitar while he sang his heart out. His "set" consisted of "Eye of the tiger" and "Give it away now" by the red hot chili peppers. I think I've mentioned before that our son is Deaf, so these were especially interesting interpretations of both songs...not just in words he used, but also in the overall "melody" changes.

Erik said he could NOT go up to Tanner at the time because he was too busy laughing his ass off and he didn't want to look like an awful dad. I was just grateful that I wasn't there because all it would have taken was one look between erik and I and we would have been laid out on the floor of Best Buy convulsing with laughter. It was such a "Tanner" moment! As the parent of a special needs kiddo, you have to find humor in some of this stuff.

As he walked up to Tanner towards the end of his second song, he said the people nearby were just watching with these looks on their faces that was part amusement, part pain. He motioned for him/signed to him to wrap it up they had to go and thus ended Tanner's American Idol moment courtesy of Best Buy and Rock Band. "Thank you very much..."

Tanner mentioned that there was a kid there who said "oh...kay" when he was finished and I think at first, Tanner's feelings were hurt, but by the time he got back home, we had him laughing about it with us as they retold the story to me.

After the laughter subsided, we talked about how everyone can't be good at everything, but that we are all usually good at something. I tried not to discourage him from singing when he wanted to, but tried to emphasize that he was probably much better on the guitar than on the mic and added that it would be the same for me (I'm not known for my vocal stylings either.) While Tanner and I have a blast in the car from time to time, singing and signing along to some song, he understands that mom doesn't have a future in the music industry either.

Anyway, since we were talking about music, my son reminded me that I still hadn't made his mix CD. He'd been asking for one for quite a while and, being the overworked, overwhelmed mom that I am, I've managed to put him off for about a week :( I don't feel good about that, I'm the world's worst procrastinator; definitely something I need to work on.

Thanks to Guitar Hero, he has been introduced to a lot of older rock so his list looks a little crazy (don't ask me how Beyonce made the cut):

I Want to Rock and Roll All Night-KISS
Rock and Roll Fantasy-Bad Company
Don't Let me Down-ELO
All the single Ladies-Beyonce (Again...no clue)
Come as you are-Nirvana
American Idiot-Green Day (the clean version if I can find one)
I want to get away-Lenny Kravitz
Walking on the Sun-Smashmouth
Eye of the Tiger-Survivor

I'm going to throw in a little Billy Squier too. I hear he's touring this year and I can't wait to see him live again. I used to be a big fan; even won his guitar and got to meet him when I was 15 :D I figure if I throw a few in there and he likes him, I can drag Tanner along with me to the concert. Yet another reason to slim down before summer.

I also want to get a mix together for when I work out. I have a few songs in mind, but thought I'd pick your brains as well. I think it's fun to see what other people listen to. So, what is on your workout mixes right now? What song makes you work 10 times harder when it comes on? I'm looking for high energy, fun songs or inspiring songs that keep you motivated. Are there websites that help you put a mix together or provide mixes other people have put together? I found this one and this has a pretty long list of possible songs. I'm going to be working on this later and I'll post my list tomorrow, but I'd love to see what motivates and inspires you as well!!

Yesterday's food log

Feel free to relate any cringe-worthy childhood stories. You know we all have them ;P