*snark alert* If this true, I’m a brilliant freakin’ writer.
(“Notice the ‘tend’,” he reminded himself.)
Charles Said
Monday’s Theme Music
I remember hearing this song for the first time. I’d been retired from the military for a few years and was living in Mountain View, California, and working at a medical device start-up, PAS. We were renting a place but we always treated the places that we rented (or provided to us by the military) as if we owned it. In the case of this duplex that meant a lot of yard work to make the place look better.
So I was out there on a Saturday morning in 1998, doing yard work, when “Closing Time” came on the radio. I wasn’t familiar with the group, Semisonic. Although I bought the album with “Closing Time” on it, I never listened to Semisonic on a regular basis and they faded away from my awareness. I still hear the song, though, and it reminds me of that morning when I was working on the yard.
Floofsayer
Floofsayer (floofinition) – someone who can predict a cat or dog’s behavior.
In use: “I met a man who claimed he was a floofsayer. He gave me a kitten and said, “This cat will love you more than any person or animal has ever loved you. She will follow you everywhere, including the bathroom, and sleep on your pillow against your head.” He was right in all regards. That kitten is now ten years old, weighs twenty pounds, and still sleeps on my pillow against my head.”
Heartbreak
I knew heartbreak yesterday when, like many people, I was afflicted by shopping cart envy.
Oh, don’t deny that you haven’t experienced it in one form or another. You know what I’m talking about. Some of you have felt it when you’ve seen a cart filled with riches that you don’t have the money to buy. Others experience it when, like me, they look into another’s carts and see the stuff that you don’t eat because it’s not healthy for you, but you want to eat it.
I am a chronic sufferer of shopping cart envy these days. When I was younger, I could eat anything. Eating anything caught up with me as my activities and metabolism slowed and the speed of my waist line’s expansion increased. Ice cream, pizzas, burgers, milk shakes, sandwiches, steaks, cake, pie, doughnuts? Pass them over. Anyone want that last cruller? I’ll eat it.
Yes, I went through that period when I said, “I’m an adult. If I want to eat ice cream for breakfast, I will.”
Then I became, “I am an adult. What responsible adult eats ice cream for breakfast?”
Waistlines change. Diets change. Attitudes change. Yesterday, in Costco, I saw another man’s cart. He had a case of beer, cheesecake, a large pizza, and other treasures. I can’t describe more, as my mind went blank at the dazzling sight. I think I wandered, for the next thing I know, I was standing in a pool of my own saliva in the bakery section with a box of cookies in my hands.
I wasn’t alone.
Sunday’s Theme Music
Everyone sing.
I took her home to my place, watching every move on her face
She said, “Look, what’s your game, baby?
Are you tryin’ to put me in shame? ”
I said, “Slow, don’t go so fast
Don’t you think that love can last? ”
She said, “Love, lord above, now you’re gonna trick me in love”
All right now baby, it’s all right now
All right now baby, it’s all right now
ht to lyricsfreak.com
I’m always surprised when people do and don’t know the words to popular music, but then again, we’re not all in the same vacuum. A friend of mine insists he only really knows and likes one song. That song is “Battle of New Orleans” by Johnny Horton. That I knew it and could sing it to him impressed him.
His wife is like me. I guess we listened to a lot of music on the radio. Her husband’s excuse is that he was doing tours in Vietnam during that time. (Cue, “Country Joe and the Fish” and the “I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ To Die” rag. No, he doesn’t know that one, either.) He’s older than us.
I’m surprised, too, by the young people who know the classic rock songs. Many know them via their parents and older siblings’ listening habits, while others learn the music through movies or video games like “Guitar Hero”.
Here’s Free from 1970 with one you may or may not know, “All Right Now”.
Exfloofgent
Exfloofgent (floofinition) – a pet’s urgent or pressing request(s).
In use: “Although it was dark, as is usually the case at four in the morning during Pennsylvania’s winter, the cat began nudging her cheek and nibbling her nose in an exfloofgent to be fed.”
Don Said
What do you think? Do you agree with this quote?
Saturday’s Theme Music
I was streaming this song as I walked today. It’s a favorite song. A number of performers have covered it. I think my two preferred versions are by Creedence Clearwater Revival and Marvin Gaye. CCR did a long version of it that has a little more rock ingrained, while Gaye’s version had more blues and soul to it. Gaye’s version was released in 1968 and was a huge hit. CCR came out with their version in 1970.
Here’s both versions. Hope you enjoy them.
Friday’s Theme Music
This song streamed to me this morning as I slopped about the house before cleaning up and dressing to go out. I like the lyric’s enigmatic meanings, how we think, make decisions, and decide to act, and then lose the will or the courage, and turn away. It often feels like we’re almost to our goals when they slip away, forcing us into decisions about whether to give up or go on.
Here’s Paul Simon with “Slip Slidin’ Away” from 1977.
Floofversary
Floofversary (floofinition) – a feline or canine opponent, or a feline or canine that opposes, attacks, or resists.
In use: “The black and white cat that lived next door remained the gray tabby’s mortal floofversary. Seeing the tuxedo boy through the window always triggered warning growls, hisses, and baleful jade stares.”
