Tag: 1981

Monday’s Theme Music

“Sunshine,” the cat shouted. “Letmeout letmeout letmeout letmeout.”

This was the young one, Papi, the ginger wonder. Old Tucker, the black and white long-furred enigma, scoffed at the young one. Tucker thinks seasonally. He understands winter.

Half an hour later, Papi was at the door, shouting, “Cold. Letmein letmein letmein letmein letmein.” Tucker smirked.

My Ashlandia zone awoke to frost and fog when the sun came on stage at 7:32. The temperature was squatting at 25 degrees F. “Hold my coffee,” the sun said. Zap. Fog gone. Frost vaporized into mist, the temperature jumped up to 27 F. The sun dismissed the criticism finding him. “Earth wasn’t created in a day, you know.”

The sun is expected to take us to 52 F. We never saw the anticipated highs yesterday. Winds and humidity leaned us toward a colder side. Sunset continues its slide toward a later time, and now won’t take place until 5:14 PM.

It’s Monday, 1/23/23. We’re hurtling off of a fresh Lunar New Year to the end of 2023’s first month. Just over eleven months until the new year arrives is left.

I’m feeling good today, meaning a good mood and good energy. Hope that survives meeting reality. A hypertension individual, I track my blood pressure. This morning finds it at 127/73, fairly low for me, even on the meds. Pulse is currently 60. O2 is 98%.

With all that going for me, I began thinking about being alive and kicking. That fired up The Neurons enough that they unleashed Mr. Big with “Alive and Kickin'” from 1991. I was just back from four years of living in Germany. Now stationed in Sunnyvale, CA, I was re-acclimating to American life when the album with this song on it was released. I enjoyed “Alive and Kickin'”, finding it a sort of funky but bluesy rock sound that reminded me of a late sixties sound and played it often. Fun to sit on the porch after work, soaking in the remains of the California day, sipping a beer, music playing, reading a book.

Coffee is up. Get it while it’s hot. Stay positive. Have a super Monday. In fact, make it a super week. On me. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

Chilly and cloudy, Monday touched down. The 7:30 sunrise glowed over a damp land. Clouds dropped their bottoms, hiding the ridges so I don’t know if snow is up there. It’s 36 F now. The weather systems and complications of axis tilt and our position in respect to the sun has 40 F as the day’s high before we spin away from the sun again at 4:39 PM. Then our temperature will drop to minus 2 C. Despite the cloud blockade, they say it won’t rain or snow.

This is 12/12/2022. We’re approaching December’s midpoint. And we’re hurtling toward winter solstice again. Also coming into view is a bevy of holidays with all the traditions, partying, celebrating, and observances which accompanies the holidays like a rock star’s entourage.

I don’t know what The Neurons are thinking today. After I finished with my dream journal and then posted one dream recollection (a drecollect) online, The Neurons put “Elvira” as covered by the Oak Ridge Boys (1981) in the morning mental music stream. Why the heck was Elvira selected? Don’t know. I know the song and several more by them as they were on the radio, and we lived with the radio on in the car and at home during that period, first in Texas, and then on Okinawa. Also, we met up with my SIL during leave when we moved from Texas to overseas. She was a huge ORB fan at the time. Like her and many others, I enjoy Richard’s deep solo. (Yeah, I needed to look up his name.)

Sunshine is blasting through the southern windows. I think coffee will go swell with that. Stay pos, test neg. Here’s the boys with their tune. Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

Sunshine, glorious sunshine. It’s going in and out. That’s how I define it from my kitchen perch. Can’t see the actual sky but I suspect the sun is constant but the clouds are moving about.

Still in Pittsburgh, PA, due to Mom’s medical emergency. She’s doing better, thanks, but remains hospitalized with multiple issues. At least she’s talking and eating, and showing strong streaks of her usual personality. My sisters and Mom’s partner provide the most guidance and support. I’m just here to do what I can when I can. Oldest sister also came in but leaves tomorrow AM.

This visit refreshes how much I enjoy the PIT area. Trees put off blinding green. No smoke although there is pollution. Humidity feels mad high, toying my hair into lofty frizziness. Makes me laugh. Great fun visiting with sisters and their families yesterday, eating pizza, drinking beer, watching the crazy Steelers-Bengals game and eventual, surprising Steeler victory. You should have heard that house as each major event occurred. Even though traffic is traffic, it has a structure to its chaos that’s familiar.

Back home in southern Oregon, the news tells me more wildfires are burning. The air is bad, but the temperature has dropped. Here, it’s 73 F with a forecast high of 76 and scattered rain showers. The sun brought its show online at 6:58 AM and will go offline at 7:34 PM. The high here is still ten degrees less than what Ashland will see.

For some reason, The Neurons have fixed Joan Jett and the Blackhearts in my morning mental music stream and their cover, “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll”, circa ’81-82. A covert connection seems to exist with me visiting here before leaving for Okinawa. I’m just guessing. The Neurons will not say.

Still on my first cup of coffee and coming alive again. Stay positive, test negative, etc. Finish this coffee, go see Mom in the hospital. Stay chill, peeps. Here’s the tune. Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music

You ever think about changing your calendar? I wonder how it would affect us if on each New Year, our first day was 365 (366 for a leap year). Then the days count down, like a Julian calendar in reverse. Today, instead of August 26, 2022, it would be something like Friday, 128, 2022. Then you’d think, oh my goodness there’s only 127 days left to this year. Your conversations would be interesting as people suggesting having a celebration on the 120, and you reply, “Is that a Friday?”

Today’s particulars aren’t notably different from yesterday. When I awoke a few hours ago, the temp. was 61 F. We’re up to 20 C now. Sunset is expected at 7:55 PM after a sunrise of 6:30 AM. Our high will be about 93 F. No clouds in the sky, and it’s blue. Air Quality is 2, so pretty darn good. On the news front, the GOP has shifted targets from the DOJ and are no longer chanting about defunding the FBI. Now they want to defund the IRS. Their cycle, from the false statements of the former GOP POTUS to their continual insistence that the 2020 POTUS election was stolen to some who lost claiming they won (yes, I’m commenting on you, Laura Loomer), to verbal attacks on different government departments seems to be about sowing discord, distrust, and confusion, which destabilizes our government, polarizes our politics, and disrupts our society. So no changes in the news, other than, oh, yeah, flooding, fires, droughts, baseball, football, and other sports. But yea, people cry, Lake Mead’s water level is no longer falling. We’re saved!

From reading news and reflection on my dreams and daily activities and routines, The Neurons feted me with John Lennon, “Watching the Wheels” from 1981. Do you remember when he was gunned down? I surely do. Anyway, The Neurons have “I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round, I really love to watch them roll,” repeatedly playing in the morning mental music stream. That’s how my mood is, to some degree. Moods, like so many things, are a spectrum, so I’ll be sliding along to something else sometime, and then probably back again, and off again, and so on.

Yes, I have my coffee already, and I’ve eaten brekkie — waffles today. Now I’m contemplating the cats washing themselves and contemplating their fur, ears moving as a car passes, a bird breaks cover and tweets, caws, or screeches, pausing as a far dog barks and a prop plane drones closer. Stay positive and test negative and so forth. Here’s the music. Sing along if you will. Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Solstice! The Musical.

Today is the first day of summer and the longest day in the northern lats, while the opposite holds — winter, shortest, etc — in the south. Your experience could be different. Tracking sunrise and sunset shows some interesting info about the lengths of the ‘day’. By day, of course, we’re speaking of the hours between sunrise and sunset.

Watching the weather dude on the news last night, I learned that our average temperature for yesterday is 83 F, that the record, set in 1972, was 104 F, that last year, we’d been mired in a string of triple-digit days and the temperature for last year was 102 F, and this year, it was 78 F. Locally, I only briefly experienced 74, according to my system.

Today, Tuesday, June 21, 2022, is clear and sunny. Highs today will reach around 86 F, which is about our average for the date. Sunset will be at 8:51 PM and sunrise was at 5:35 AM.

I have a song by ELO called “Hold on Tight” stuck in the morning mental music stream. The neurons started playing it for me after I awoke, thought about a dream, and then forgot it later. Snorting and snickering, pointing at me, muttering, “What a doofus,” — they are quite juvenile and not very supportive — they began singing, “Hold on tight to your dreams.” The song came out in 1981, when I was transitioning from living in Texas to living in Japan, on the island of Okinawa, in service to my country. I enjoy the song’s throwback rock and roll vibe.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as the situation warrants, and so on. Time for my first cup of summer coffee.

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Thursday’s Theme Music

I wonder what it is about a day that things feel like they’ve come together, and the day seems wealthy with promise? This Thursday, June 2, 2022, is one of those days. Nothing extraordinary in its appearance. Sunshine crept in, gentle and friendly, at 5:37 AM — same as yesterday — and the air temp is 64 F. Though cloudy, with a chance of rain, we expect a high in the upper 70s to low 80s before sunset at 8:41 PM. The felines are loving it, happy with washing and slumbering in shaded spots in the yard. I’m cool with it, too.

The neurons continue their music games, inserting “Tempted” by Squeeze (1981) into the morning mental music stream, a song which was featured just two and a half years ago. I think it might be related to a dream. As I’ve been going through the morning, a dream segment was flash like sunshine on a wave, and then is gone. It is interesting that several songs that my neurons are loading are from the 1980s, n’est pas?

Stay positive, test negative, have a wonder-filled day, or at least a satisfying or successful one. Maybe you’ll hit the trifecta and enjoy all three. Coffee time. Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

April showers are now May showers. May 2, 2022, has brought Monday rain along with the now standard chilly temperature of 42 F. We expect 53 today. Sunrise was in interesting swarming of sunshine among swarming gray clouds and splashes of rain at 6:05. The sun’s daily turn will end at 8:11 this evening.

We had a gorgeous one yesterday, topping 70 F without a cloud in the air. The memorial service, a block party held on the street in front of his house and hosted by his widow, a sweet, retired nurse named Char, was well-attended, friendly, and oddly happy. Maybe it was the weather. Plenty of food was brought and shared. Anecdotes and accolades were dished out. Laughter ensued. Tears were wiped away. Gazes up at the blue sky were noted.

After the service, I returned home, checked today’s weather and went out for yard work. Alas, my string trimmer died on me after I was two-thirds completed. I suspect a switch and have found a video with a possible fix from people reporting the same problem and symptoms. I’ll be pursuing that later today. I’m coming to love DIY.

Today finds the neurons playing “Find Your Way Back” by Jefferson Starship from 1981. Yeah, it’s all mind games, coming about when I came out of a dream during the night. I wanted to find my way back to it and see how it ended. While that’s often successful, I failed this time. The song came out just a month before my wife and I were heading on our first overseas assignment. I’d already been overseas unaccompanied, but this was going to be a three to four year stay on Okinawa. Turned out to be a good one for us.

Anyway, here is the music. Hope you can stay positive and test negative, that you endure and prosper. Hope I can find a cup of coffee somewhere around the house in the next few minutes. I guess I’ll check the kitchen.

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Saturday’s Theme Music

Good morning, people of Earth. It’s sunny and warming fast here in Ashland of southern Oregon. The sunlit portion of the day began at 7:11 AM. Temperatures are already up to 67 degrees F on this February 12, 2022. We did not reach the 70s yesterday, but were denied at 69. However, today’s air fills balmier. The chance of breaking 70 F by the time the sun’s show ends in our valley at 5:40 seem higher than than someone at Woodstock in ’69.

Today’s music feels like another odd turn. “Cool Night” by Paul Davis is one of this mellow 80s tunes prevalent in the decade’s early part. It came to me as I was walking yesterday evening. About an hour before sunset, I was already feeling the chill brought on by being in the mountain’s shadow. (Side bar: Would “The Mountain’s Shadow” be a good novel title? Feels like it would.) I thought around then that although it was a warm day, it was going to be a cool night. Sometime later, after I’d made the turn for the final mile home, the song rose into the mental music stream, where it still resides today. Thus, you know, it must be shared to be dislodged.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax and boosters. Here’s the music. I’ll get the coffee. Cheers

(Another side bar: “The Mountain Shadow” and “The Mountain’s Shadow” have both been used as a novel title. Thought it sounded like a good one.)

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Well, happy birthday Eddie Van Halen, Paul Newman, and many others. Yes, today is January 26, 2021, a Wednesday, as it happens. Sunshine invaded our valley at 7:30 AM. Lovely to not be stumbling through a dim house but instead stride through sunshine washing the floors and windows. The temperature is 40 F and we expect to reach 63 before the sun takes its rays and leaves at 5:18 PM. As expected with these sort of winter temperatures, clouds are skipping the valley today.

I singled out Paul Newman and Eddie Van Halen from the long list of Jan. 26 birthday notables listed on a webpage because of their influence in my life. Paul Newman was a big star by the time the cobwebs cleared from my infant mind and I started paying attention to the world. He was one of Mom’s faves. Whenever something involved Paul Newman, Mom talked about it. Frank Sinatra was the other one like this for her. Guess she had a thing for blue-eyed men.

Meanwhile, Van Halen was born the year before me. Started his band when I was sixteen and then rose to become one of rock’s pre-eminent guitarist and another star in my rock universe. That he died so young — just a year younger than I am now — bothers me just because I admired and enjoyed his playing. I’m sort of fatalistic about death on the one hand, believing it’ll happen to all of us, while also wondering if there’s another side, something that does happen beyond death. Many accuse me of mysticism when I speak of these things; they are sure that death is final and there is nothing more. But, abiogenesis remains a mystery that exists but can’t be explained, sort of sliding it into another mysticism category. Then there’s the matter of what was here before the Big Bang? I think understanding everything is still a work in progress and that as we learn more, we’ll discover many more baffling components of consciousness, existence, time, and reality.

Today’s morning mental music stream inhabitant is “Over the Mountain” by Ozzy Osbourne (1981). The song arose yesterday while walking. I was at the top of a crest, about 2900 feet. Across the way, the sunset was spreading a rosy jam across the golden mountaintops that stood against a blue sky. Spectacular. In came “Over the Mountain” as I thought about what was happening on those mountains and on the other side. So much life that we know little about except in general terms until the shit gets real, right?

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the jabs when you can. I’m popping off for more coffee. You stay and listen to the music. I already heard it. Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music

Hi, Friheads. It’s 31 degrees F on this sunny Friday morning. Today’s date is December 10, 2021. The high will be 36 F. The burst of gold we call sunrise struck at 7:28 AM and the sun parade will cease at 4:39 this afternoon.

We’re calling it sunny but a flotilla of long, sketchy clouds are cruising the altitudes, pulling a foggy net behind them. Then the sun fires beams at the fog and zips it away. Looks like the weather might be variable today.

I don’t know why, but REO Speedwagon’s 1980 song, “Keep On Loving You”, inhabits the morning mental music stream. Bit mellow for this Friday AM. I was thinking that I needed something with a hard beat to stir my feet. I reflected on the lyrics for a while, looking for a connection. It came out just before our move to Okinawa on military assignment. I listened to the song quite a bit on the rock but I can’t connect dots between now and then. Something with the dreams? Can’t address that. Only remember two and half dreams from last night. Nothing in them relates to the song. Cats? Doesn’t seem to be. They’ve headed outside, into the sunshine, despite the cold air temp. Wife? Perhaps something on the subconscious level is there. Or maybe it’s a response to life. Feeling a little down and weary this AM. It’s a monthly thing, where the effort and tedium just sucks the joy out down to the dregs. Life dregs are like coffee dregs: cold, black, and bitter.

Well, stay positive! (Ha, ha.) Test negative, wear a mask as needed — have you been following the Omicron developments? — and get the jabs when you can. Reading this morning that Omicron might cause the pandemic of the vaxxed, and they’re suggesting that everyone needs a boost. Got boost? I do. Hope you do as well.

Here’s my coffee. Oh, sorry, you’re looking for the music. Here’s the music. Have a better one. Cheers

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