or, alternate title: “i’ve become a rock band player.”
my husband and i have several interests and “likes” in common – many genres of tv shows and movies, dry/witty humor, pizza, sleeping in, road trips, reading, serving at church, kids, roller coasters, disneyland, starbucks…
and of course, we have several different interests – i like butter. he likes margarine. he likes liquor and mixed drinks. i don’t very much. i like small dogs. he likes big dogs. i like walking. he’s not so into walking.
we both like music. buuut our musical tastes could not be farther apart. actually that’s not entirely true. there are some bands that we both really enjoy – coldplay, owl city, west coast revival (wink)… i really enjoy broadway musicals, soundtracks, jazzy/folksy (jack johnson/colbie caillat/norah jones). he likes rock, classic rock, and more alternative stuff. and he’s listened to quite a variety and has a HUGE range of knowledge on all sorts of music. pretty impressive, actually.
when it comes to more culturally “cool” music, i’m terribly UNcool. (of course, there’s never really been any doubt that my husband is WAY “cooler” than i am!) i’ve generally heard of bands like The Killers, and Oasis, and The Who, and Jimmy Eat World, and probably heard some random songs here and there while out at the mall or in stores or watching movies. but i don’t really know the music. ::shrug::
my husband also enjoys playing some video games on our PS3. stuff like Modern Warfare 2 and Skate. i do not. i have tried. and while i don’t like the shoot-’em-up games to begin with, the controller alone drives me batty and i’ve all but thrown it across the room in frustration.
enter: Rock Band 2. 
i was first exposed to this game at a singles gathering maybe 2 1/2 years ago. i watched a bunch of people play around on it, rotating on the instruments and laughing together as various people tried it for the first time or the five hundredth time. it looked fun and i was particularly intrigued by the drumset. but i didn’t have the guts to actually give it a shot. fast forward a year and a half or so later and i find myself at a new year’s party in pasadena. someone brought Rock Band and there was a group playing. i was totally interested. this time i just HAD to try the drums. so i did. and i liked it! SO MUCH FUN!
but that was all. i knew that i liked it, but didn’t really have opportunity to play again. that is, until this past december. while visiting pasadena for new year’s, we were hanging out at Jenn & Mo’s (remember them from the disneyland trip a couple posts back?), and busted out the rock band set and started playing. i jumped on the drums and was totally hooked. what fun! and of course, i began to then think about how zach and i could maybe use christmas or birthday money (or a combination of both) to get RB2 for ourselves. turns out, i didn’t even need to – because Jenn and Mo surprised me and bought it for my birthday! woo-hoo!
several of my friends who are married have set wonderful examples of finding ways of getting more into their husband’s world and developing an interest in things he enjoys. like my friend Bethany who cultivated an interested in baseball – learning the game, the terms, some stats, even following her husbands favorite team and players. or my cousin Becky who frequently finds ways to surprise and bless her husband with things he loves, even though she may not be all that “into” it – like going skydiving for his birthday (she watched from the ground), or sending him to disneyland with his son and his dad for father’s day weekend. or my Mom who faithfully goes to nearly every one of the basketball games my dad coaches, sitting at the scoreboard table keeping the scorebook and intently watching the game.
one of my favorite things about playing RB2 is that it is a combination of 2 things my husband enjoys – music and video games – and it’s something i can engage and enjoy WITH him. it’s a great avenue into a part of who Zach is that i can enjoy too! not to mention the exposure to plenty of music i wouldn’t otherwise know about. i definitely feel a lot more rounded…
Oh, so our [rock]”band” is called “Parking For Dutch,” after the sign we bought on our honeymoon that currently hangs in our hallway:
and our hit single (translate: one of our favorite songs to play) is “That’s What You Get” by Paramore. 🙂 i’m totally citing that like i’m some knowledgeable Paramore fan or something, even though i had never heard of them until a couple weeks ago. ha! i’m such a poser…
so yes. RB2 is zach’s and my new favorite hobby/past time. and it’s my new favorite way to pursue my husband by taking an interest and engaging in a part of his world. 
(disclaimer – i’m not necessarily recommending this game across the board for all people, and especially not necessarily for families. many rock songs don’t have clean lyrics. zach and i just stay away from those songs – they’re not even fun to play anyway. and sometimes the computer generated band member “fill-ins” are dressed very scandalously. no bueno. so yeah, there are definitely negative elements of the “rock” culture and each person needs to discern what they are ok with. so please don’t take this as an endorsement of the game in general.)
Zach & Andrea 