Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not
Nine Inch Floofs (floofinition) – Industrial floof rock (flock) band. Formed in Clevefloofland in 1988, the group’s name is frequently stylized as NIF, and their fans are known as NIFits. Nine Inch Floofs were inducted into the Floof and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020.
In use: “Nominated for thirteen Floofy Awards, Nine Inch Floofs won twice, including for their song, “Floofiness in Slavery” in 1996.”
Today is January 22, 2021. Sunrise is 7:33 AM and sunset is 5:13 PM in Ashland, Oregon, moving us closer to ten hours of sunlit. Our temperature is 37 F. Choppy layers of clouds, like pieces of clothing being sorted and stretched, are moving as the weather finds itself. A storm is shyly crowding in. We might have snow next week. We’ll definitely have colder weather.
Hammerin’ Hank Aaron passed away. Hammerin’ Hank broke Babe Ruth’s MLB home run record in 1974. I graduated high school and joined the military that year, so that’s childhood’s end for me.
When I think of my childhood, Hank Aaron and baseball were a large part of it, almost as big as music and politics. Music was defined by its growing presence on television and the increasing number of festivals and stadium shows. Other things from that era include the Doomsday Clock and the chance of the U.S. and U.S.S.R. using nukes, the Vietnam War and the peace talks, Watergate, student protests and riots in the 1960s, the oil embargo and gas shortages, and the explosive spread of cable television. Reasoner, Smith, Rather, Brinkley, and Hunt gave us the news at night. We were sending rockets with men in them to the moon and talking about the future of computers where everyone would have one in their home. The EPA had been created and the ERA was still a possibility, acronyms which were regularly discussed in school and on talk show panels.
It’s nice having President Biden in the White House. Nice not waking up to see what madness Biden’s predecessor was saying. Been a while since I read about a Karen employing privilege to insult and attack others. Coincidence? No.
Today’s song comes after another busy dream night. In one dream, I and others sometimes say, “There she goes,” in response to someone we’re looking for. In the course of thinking about that dream and phrase, the LA’s 1991 song, “There She Goes”, jumped into the thoughts. I guess my mind thought that would be helpful. It wasn’t.
Anyway, “There She Goes” is a strange song to me. It feels and sounds like something that should have been a hit in the early seventies or late sixties due its simple structure and sound. It’s also a brief song, under three minutes. Growing up with pop/rock, songs on the radio were typically three to four minutes long, so this song is ending just when you expect it to explode with something more. It doesn’t, leaving me asking, “Was that it?”
Here we go. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and get vaccinated. Cheers
Superfloof (floofinition) – A staple of the seventies and one of the biggest floof rock (flock) bands of the era, Superfloof was formed in London in 1970. Although they achieved commercial breakthrough with their third album, Floof of the Century in 1974, the group’s zenith came in 1979 with Breakfast in Floofmerica, which produced four top ten singles.
In use: “Superfloof’s 1979 release, “The Logical Floof”, was the group’s first number one hit in any country.”
Universal Floof Language (floofinition) Method of using non-verbal communication to convey messages, often employed by animals to deal with less evolved species, such as humans.
In use: “After trying in vain to reach the human via floofspeak and then floofepathy, the stray cat finally employed Universal Floof Language, putting his tail up, opening his big eyes, purring while saying, “Meow,” which finally gained him some food, although not the specific menu request he had in mind.”
My wife made us energy balls yesterday. You’re probably familiar with some variation. Her no-bake recipe is peanut butter, dark chocolate chips, and oatmeal rolled up in a ball about one and a quarter inches in diameter. They’re about a two bite for me, so they’re a perfect little treat to have with a banana in the middle of the morning. I mean, banana, peanut-butter, and chocolate? That’s an awesome flavor combo.
Ha, ha, I kid. I love it but I know many don’t. One thing you learn quickly in life that the foods you love and hate aren’t the foods that everyone loves and hates. Example: raisins. My wife can’t stand raisins. I love raisins. Give me a cinnamon oatmeal raisin cookie, and I’ll be wagging my tail day into night.
No, not my wife. They disgust her. (smh). Meanwhile, she eats prunes every day. We both do. Lot of benefits to prunes, and they have a great flavor. I tell her, “Prunes taste a lot like giant raisins,” just to watch her reaction. Lips tight, she shakes her head in horror and denial.
She’s a big fig fan. Paul Newman Fig Newmans are our go-to grocery store cookie buy, but the wife loves fresh figs. Her eyes light up when we encounter them at the store. The price conversation then follows. “They’re so expensive.”
I shrug. “It’s just money. We have that money. Buy them.”
“Will you eat them, too?”
“Yes.” I do enjoy fresh figs as well.
“Okay, if you’ll eat them, too. Promise me you will.”
“I promise.”
I will eat one or two, to live up to my promise. She gets the rest.
Anyway, off to enjoy my treat (banana, peanut butter, and dark chocolate, remember?). Then I’ll wash it down with coffee.
Yeah, go ahead. Judge me.
Sunrise came at 7:34 in Ashland on this twenty-first day of 2021, 01/21/21, and sunset, if the machinery works right will come at 5:11 PM. While it’s 37 F now, a high of 53 is expected. It’s a cloudy sky, which usually accompanies warmer temperatures at this time of year. It’s when the sky is clearest that it becomes coldest.
I enjoyed the musical entertainment provided the nation during President Biden’s inauguration celebrations. Several stood out for me, but I especially soaked in John Legend singing “Feeling Good”. Pow. Knocked me into the next year.
Demi Lovato covering Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day” was another performance that touched me. Bill Withers was from my area. I lived outside of Beckley, WV, for three years, graduating there, and Bill was raised there, so he’s our native son. Covers of his songs always stirs memories of him and that area and time.
What of you? Any particular song or performance touch you in a way?
The inauguration day’s celebration theme was pretty much new day, new times, right? That’s what I took. Maybe I missed the mark. I’m thinking, how do you top any of those songs as theme music.
Well, today, I don’t. I’m just listening to John Legend “Feeling Good”. I’m familiar with the Nina Simone 1965 cover, but I’m staying with John Legend’s powerful rendition.
It’s a new dawn
It’s a new day
It’s a new life for me, yeah
It’s a new dawn
It’s a new day
It’s a new life for me, ooh
And I’m feeling good
h/t to Genius lyrics.com
Hey, stay positive. Test negative. Wear a mask and get the vaccine. A new day is coming. A new day has arrived. Feel it?
I’d arrived at an airport wearing a blue Oxford shirt and carrying a briefcase. I was pleased with that shirt; I liked it. I thought the color suited me and I liked my image.
The airport was just a counter and a waiting room with a few chairs. Timing was good as the flight was due to depart shortly. I checked in and sat down to wait. Friends came by, looking for car parts. I tried helping them by telling them where they could find parts. Some part of the conversation prompted me to warn them not to steal my car parts while I was gone. I was only going for one night and would be returning the next day so that little worried me, just an up and back, but I was pleased to be going, looking forward to it.
Then I thought, wait, what am I going to wear tomorrow? I can wear the same jeans and shoes, but I want fresh underwear, a shirt, and socks. Yes, I decided with some further thought, I do. It was twenty minutes until the flight was departing. Fortunately, I lived next door. I hurried over to find the needed clothes. Underwear and socks were immediately found and stuck in the briefcase, but I couldn’t find a shirt. Where were my shirts? They weren’t in the closet, nor my drawers. No shirts were there.
I went to find my wife. “Where are all my shirts?”
She was disinterested. “Did you look in your closet?”
“Yes. Here.” I took her to my closet and showed her. There was clothing but not my shirts.
She looked. “What am I looking at?”
“None of my shirts are in there.” I showed her my drawers. Clothing was in there but not my shirts. “Where are my shirts? Do you put them somewhere else?”
“What shirts do you mean?”
“Any shirt. Do you see any shirts? Where are my dress shirts? Where are my polo shirts? I don’t even have any tee shirts.”
“Why do you want one? What’s wrong with the shirt you have on?”
“I’m flying out. I need a new shirt for tomorrow.” I checked my watch; it was departure time.
I rushed back to the airport next door. The clock on the wall said 9:15. I thought, that can’t be right. If that’s right, the flight hasn’t left. Would they have left without me?
That’s where the dream ended.
I came away from it thinking, don’t get lost worrying about little details. Keep the important issues in mind.
Flooftherapy (floofinition) – Using an animal presence, sound, or image to achieve calm and peace, or to ease feelings of loneliness and isolation.
In use: “During the strains brought on in 2020, many people turned to flooftherapy, adopting animals from shelters, rescuing strays from streets, welcoming animals into their homes as friends and companions.”
Michael Seidel, writer 