Saturday’s Theme Music

It’s 70 F at the moment. A high of 100 is expected. Little warm, yeah, with the usual declarations about furnaces, staying protected, and cooking things on cement.

Today is Saturday, Jun 25, 2022. Sunrise was at 5:36 AM and sunset is at 8:51 PM.

The cats called me away while I was posting this. I return 30 minutes later. It’s eight degrees warmer outside. The temperature leap has an entourage of strong, gusty winds. The cats aren’t pleased and are pestering me to turn the damn winds off. They give me credit for way more power than I possess.

I was washing the car yesterday when The Neurons began playing Cat Stevens, “If You Want to Sing Out Sing Out” which was in the movie, Harold and Maude, 1971. I found that movie so entertaining as a youth, and of course the song stayed with me. I had to think about what movie it was from and the year, and finally looked it all up for confirmation. BTW, I think there’s a specific group of neurons responsible for calling up the music and placing it in the mental music stream. I’ve decided they will be known as The Neurons to differentiate them from the normal, regular neurons.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask if or as needed, etc. Enjoy your Saturday. The cats are telling me that it’s coffee time. Cheers

June 25, 2022 2

The Movie Dream

I dreamed I was in a movie. Then I realized it was a movie and not life, so I stepped out of it. But then, remembering that I’d seen the movie, I tried recalling how it went. It seemed different, so I stepped back in to follow.

The dream was about a man protecting the Pope. Dressed in a black leather trench coat, with a black hat pulled low over his head, he was in a big white Lincoln Town Car. After some changes in camera perspective and mild action, it emerged that he’d been shot. People were after him and he was after them, trying to be proactive by getting them before they got him. I was very young, maybe thirteen or fourteen, with shaggy brown hair. At one point, I was accused of being the one who’d shot him. I was ready to proclaim my innocence, but the Pope’s bodyguard identified me and said, “He’s one of the good guys.” I was flattered to be cited as a good guy.

Now, though, I felt like I had to live up to that billing. I kept my eye on the Pope’s bodyguard, and spied others trying to sneak up on him. I went to give him warning, but he’d noticed them and was on it. It was at this point in my dream when I thought, wasn’t this a movie? Stepping out, I watched on a big screen as a fine silver thread was spooled out along a winding path through a business area. The silver thread was lit.

A fuse, I realized. But isn’t that different from the movie? That’s not how I remembered it happening.

I stepped back into it. Something was going to explode. I raced forward and scuffed out the silver thread. That ignited all manner of chaos as bad guys — in white clothing, or light clothing, male and female — rushing out to re-light the fuse and the Pope’s bodyguard fighting them off.

Which is where it ended, or was interrupted, by an unnamed cat called Tucker.

March 10, 2022 0

Finished

Finished editing and revising The Constant. Final results: 391 pages, 106,291 words. Speculative science fiction mash up. I’ve worked on it throughout the coronavirus pandemic, beginning it around the time in March of 2020 when wearing masks, social distancing, isolation, and watching the daily case numbers became the new norms of the age. I’d been forced into a change of my writing practices. I liked walking to get into the writing rhythm, writing in my head as I did, then settling into a coffee shop, comforted and buffeted by the business activities around me, lowering my head and writing for a few hours. That was all forced aside under COVID-19 rules. Staying at home, shifting into the writing rhythm without the associated rituals was an exhausting, frustrating shift.

Satisfying feeling to finish the novel. I often think of James Caan as author Paul Sheldon in the movie version of the Stephen King version, Misery, when I finish a novel. He had a ritual for when he finished his. He writes ‘The End’ on the final page in pencil. Stacks and tidies the manuscript. Puts it into an attaché. Pours a glass of champagne. Regards a cigarette. Puts it in his mouth, lights the match and then the cigarette. Takes a drag. We learn later, when he’s under Annie Wilke’s care (the nurse and fan played by Kathy Bates) that this was his ritual created when he finished his first successful novel. It’s an engaging film. Was released in 1990. Wow, thirty-two years ago. You should watch it if you haven’t seen it. Also a good book to read. Misery, by Stephen King.

I don’t have any rituals. As others noted after I posted about wrestling with a chapter called Thelma & Louise, it feels good to finish a challenging task. Writing a novel is a challenging task. Finishing it is rewarding. Too, I feel the loss of being done, something felt when I changed duty stations in the military or advanced from one grade to another in school as a child. You’ve done something, and you’re moving forward; yet, to do that, some things must be left behind. What is left behind is part of my fabric of daily activities and focus. Finishing the writing of a novel is about change that I’ve forced on myself.

It’s a change I accept. I’ve done it before. I’ll do it again. The process and finishing are a comforting buffer against the war videos emerging coming out of Europe as Russia attacks Ukraine.

February 24, 2022 5

Saturday’s Theme Music

Excitement is building. They’re forecasting some snow for our state and area next week. Maybe a few inches. Oh, heaven! Snow on the banks. We need it. We’re all worried about the heat, drought, fire, and smoke endured for the last several years. We’d like to avoid more of the same. Some say that last year was the worst because the COVID-19, wildfire, and smoke sucked enjoyment out of going anywhere or doing anything. But the year before, fire struck our town and heavily gutted two neighboring towns. Toss up, to me.

This is Saturday, 2/29/2022. Sunrise kicked in at 7:02 AM. And what a sun. Let’s give the sun a hand. Heat, light, very impressive display. The sky is blue forever and on. Whatever storms and clouds are lurking out there are doing so beyond the mountains that hem our valley. It’s presently 46 degrees F and we will see something in the upper fifties for a high today before the sun downs itself beyond the world’s curvature at 5:48 PM.

Today’s theme song comes from the film, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. I’ve used “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)” (1985) by Tina Turner before. It came to me today because I looked at my poor sick black cat and said, “Aren’t you a sight, raggedy cat.” Which reminded me of a line that Aunt Entity said to Mad Max. That lined up the neurons to begin playing the song. So here it is, friends and neighbors. Give it all or nothing.

Stay positive, test negative, wear masks as the situation warrants, and get vaxes and boosts when you can. I’m off to meet my maker and pour a cuppa, right? Cheers

February 19, 2022 4

Tuesday’s Theme Music

Blades of sunshine broke over the mountain a while before the sun broke cover at 7:07 AM. We had rain last night — hurray! Not heavy stuff in our area. With the temperature sitting at 37 F, I checked the surrounding mountains for snow. They said we’d get three to six inches about 5000 feet of elevation. And there it was, a creamy white layer topping the northern mountain ridge. Not much but nice to have it, as it’s been too dry this year. Fingers crossed that more will arrive, especially after reading an article that posits the idea that the U.S. West is in a megadrought. Joy.

Feathered clouds streak the sky with cotton candy pink and blue. We expect a high of 47 today, and no more rain around us, alas. Sunset is expected at 5:43 PM on this Tuesday, February 15, 2022. Note to self: February is over half gone.

Today’s song comes out of walking and eyeing the clouds through a cold rain as I took a walk yesterday and from watching the movie CODA the other night. One featured song in the film was “Both Sides Now” by Joni Mitchell. Released back in 1969, it didn’t make a great impression on this thirteen-year-old American male. It wasn’t until later that I appreciated the song’s nuances and insights about change and perspective.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax and boosters when you’re able. Here’s the music. Guess what I’m doing now? If you guessed I’m going for coffee, you’re wrong. I already have it. I’m drinking my coffee. Cheers

February 15, 2022 3

“CODA”

We watched the movie, “CODA” last night. CODA is ‘child of deaf adults’. In this remake of a French movie from a few years ago, the setting has been moved to Gloucester, MA, in the U.S., where the family earns their living from fishing. Ruby Rossi is the only hearing person in a family of four, so she serves as the family’s interpreter. But a teenager on the verge of finishing high school, she makes a choice to take up choir as her elective. She does love singing but the true catalyst for this pursuit is the interest in a boy in her class, who signed up for choir.

It causes conflict, of course. That’s why they tell the story. Well-acted, humorous, with a solid plot, the film was recommended to us because it was uplifting. I agree with that assessment and recommend it as entertaining, light fare.

February 11, 2022 1

“Train to Busan”

“Train to Busan” is a Korean movie with English subtitles. It’s all about zombies but it’s the best zombie movies which I’ve seen in years. Taut, well-paced, human, with heroes to root for and villains to root against, we completely enjoyed it. The one problem was that it was on the Roku Channel. Sure, it’s free with your Roku account, but the movie had subtitles built in. The Roku system’s subtitles would come in over the movie subtitles about half a second later. Although the system’s subtitles were more legible, we needed to turn them off because the dynamic distracted and annoyed some viewers.

Part of watching such foreign movies is playing the ‘what if it’s made in America’ game. Who would play the villain and various heroes? Hope you can see it and make recommendations. It’s a movie I wholeheartedly endorse.

January 30, 2022 4

Sunday’s Theme Music

We have sunshine, getjer sunshine here.

Awakening on a sunny Sunday morning — which is what this January 23, 2022, is — always triggers happiness in my soul and childhood memories in my mind. Sunday was a day of rest and play. Yes, sorry, we weren’t churchgoers, except for Easter and Christmas. But I still worshipped the spirit of the outdoors and childhood, dressing fast, downing a bowl of cereal — my favorites were Wheaties, Raisin Bran, and Grape Nuts — and then spilling outside. Sometimes you’d wander outside and discover a neighboring friend doing the same. So you’d join up and ask the questions: “What do you want to do?” “I don’t know, what do you want to do?” We’d usually find something by heading down into the woods where the creek flowed, pulling out sports equipment, or jumping on our bikes. If not, I’d retreat to the house to read and draw.

Today’s sun invasion commenced at 0732 Local. The sun will retreat at 1714L. Temperatures stayed balmy yesterday and last night, which pleased the royal clowder. They went outside and the youngest stayed out. This morning’s temp at sunrise was 39 F. It’s since perked up to 53 and we expect to hit 61. Of course, the dry conditions keep us worried: please snow in the mountains, we tell the weather. We need that snowpack increased.

Today’s song is “I Think I Love You Too Much” covered by The Jeff Healey Band (1990). The song hit the morning mental music stream after I’d clicked through movie offerings the night before. I was interested in seeing all the great new movies the streaming service was offering. One of these was Roadhouse from 1989. Wasn’t real fond of Roadhouse but I liked Jeff Healey’s Band and their playing. I’d bought his album, Hell to Pay in 1990, and played it often, enjoying the bluesy rock sound. But this specific song then came after a floofnag kept pestering me for more — more food, more attention, more of everything — last night. My wife said something like, “He just loves you.” Flippant and exasperated, I replied, “I think he might love me too much.” The mental Alexa then announced that she was playing, “I Think I Love You Too Much”. And here we are.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vaccine and boosters when you can. Here’s the music, there’s my coffee, and here we go. Cheers