Sunda’s Theme Music

May 4, 2025, broke as a Sunda. Rain falling off in the night, blue sky and clouds mix it up in a friendly competition. Sunshine comes and goes with the clouds’ permission. The weather ‘they’ is hyping a high of 65 F, part of a warming trend for the week.

Dreams delivered today’s song. The dreams didn’t include the song. Disturbing as a loud animal roar in a coal-black night, the dreams had me scribbling details for well over an hour. Part of that was the phrase, “I’ve been thinking.” More usually followed. Now, though, The Neurons picked up the phrase, found where it belonged in a song, and rolled it for me. The result in the morning mental music stream was 1990’s song by Londonbeat, “I’ve Been Thinking About You”.

I’ve also been thinking about Mom. Her house is a mess without electricity. Day 5. She was convinced yesterday to go to my sister’s house and stay the night. Mom’s live-in boyfriend stayed at his daughter’s house. Taking care of her has been increasingly difficult for him. Her drugs and illnesses dull her mind and make her moody. She snaps at him. That’s worn thin. With her mobility lessening, he’s forced to carry her. She’s lost weight and doesn’t weigh more than a few birds these days. Still, weight is weight. Repetitive bending, lifting, and twisting is wearing out his 95-year-old body. Both have refused to leave her house and move into assisted living. But with her energy diminishing, his strength dropping, her senses dulling, and his eyesight and hearing worsening, will this be the straw that changes their mind?

We don’t know. More than anything, they’re independent and stubborn. I see so much of her in myself in these matters. Intellectually, I understand. Emotionally, it’s a far more complicated path.

My coffee is half gone. The cat has completed a few laps around the inside of the house. Now he’s gone to find sunshine. I want to do the same but I’ve planned a full agenda for myself. Who knows if I’ll stay with it.

I hope the best for you and your day, and us and our days. Deep breath; here we go. Cheers

May 4, 2025 2

Sunday’s Theme Music

Mood: Sundated

We’ve crashed into another Sunday. It’s August 11, 2024. Jays are busy arguing outside. A whipperwill keeps some background song going. Distant car travel are reminders that others are out there and on the move.

60 F now, 92 F will be the high. It’s a comfy 74 in the house. Meanwhile, the air quality is in the moderate stage again, 82, but smoke discolors the blue sky mountain tableau. Thin smoky tendrils are slithering into the windows so I’ve shut ’em.

Not sure where our fire is from. Haven’t seen any recent models for wind and smoke. The Park fire still blazes away down in California, less than a hundred miles away. Started by a man rolling a car down a ravine, it’s closing on 400K acres of burned land.

Dozens of fires are burning in my state, Oregon. None are too close at this point. Fingers crossed and knock wood that that won’t change. Burning more than 459 square miles, the Durkee fire on the state’s eastern side along the Idaho border, is Oregon’s largest. Started by lightning, it ate through the hot, dry vegetation, killing cattle and wildlife and forcing evacuations. It’s 95 percent contained.

Tucker (pronounced Tuck-ah) and Papi have entered a new state of floofproachment. First, Tucker was giving chase after Papi a few times. Then, as Tucker sailed past Papi, Papi sniffed Tucker’s nethers and tapped his tail. Next, Papi was sitting at the open door. Tucker, walking by to leave, paused and leaned his had Papi’s way. Papi politely tapped Papi on the head, signalling, move on, buddy. Then the two were seen touching noses in a classic flooformational exchange. This is only what we’ve witnessed but we’ve not found any signs of more intense encounters, so we’re assuming they’re moving closer to trusting one another and maybe getting along. It’s only been almost a decade. Time is sometimes needed for these things.

The dancing theme continues for the time being. Pausing to think of songs with dance in the title and songs about dancing, a scroll of titles are unrolled. The one The Neurons seized and plugged into the morning mental music stream (Trademark tapped), “And We Danced”, a 1985 song by The Hooters. Why that dance song, oh Neurons of Mine, I politely inquired. Have some coffee and think about it, they replied. I’m still sipping the coffee and thinking. I got nothing.

Stay positive, be strong, and lean forward. Vote Blue in 2024. Here’s the music. Cheers

August 11, 2024 4

Saturday’s Theme Music

Mood: Coffstalgic

News stories scan make me blanch. Yes, of course there are feel-good Olympic stories. News outlets thrive on those. They sell clicks and papers and increase viewership. People want to feel good about the world. They don’t want to read of a school bombed in Gaza City with nearly 100 killed. And they want to turn away from the Trumpstorm that is the 2024 GOP campaign. Weird describes their candidates and also describes some of the base, but what describes the rest?

Baby formula recalls, Venezuela, Elon Musk, X.

Here, we’re dealing with wildfires and smoke pollution. Wildfires are being fought not just all over Oregon but California, Wyoming, Washington, Idaho, Colorado…that’s just the tip.

This is Saturday, August 10, 2024. There are less than 90 days until the elections.

It’s 62 F. We’ll see our average and usual high today, 92 F. Good. The air is low moderate again, and I can see the mountains and blue skies today.

A dancing outing is planned for Lake of the Woods Resort. The air is checked. Not good. Discussions are engaged: should we still go?

Time to start a new theme week. The idea of going out dancing brought up a bunch of songs for The Neurons, so that’s this week’s theme: dancing. One of their favorites, now circulating the morning mental music stream (Trademark burning) is a 1983 fast-tempo beat by the Pointer Sisters called “Neutron Dance”. Point of order for The Neurons: this is not “Neuron Dance”. Yes, that is how they hear the lyrics, but that doesn’t change the truth.

Though coming out of the techno 1980s, it’s a song for the current era. Themes like homelessness — “The rent is due, I got no place to stay.” Weariness: “It’s hard to say just how some things never change and it’s hard to find any strength to draw the line.”

don’t wanna take it anymore
I’ll just stay here locked behind the door
Just no time to stop and get away
‘Cause I work so hard to make it every day

[Refrain]
Whoo-ooh
Whoo-ooh

[Verse 2]
There’s no money falling from the sky
‘Cause a man took my heart and robbed me blind
Someone stole my brand new Chevrolet
And the rent is due, I got no place to stay

[Refrain]
Whoo-ooh
Whoo-ooh

[Chorus]
And it’s hard to say
Just how some things never change
And it’s hard to find
Any strength to draw the line
Oh, I’m just burnin’ doin’ the neutron dance
I’m just burnin’ doin’ the neutron dance

[Verse 3]
Industry don’t pay a price that’s fair
All the common people breathing filthy air (Lord have mercy)
Roof caved in on all the simple dreams
And to get ahead your heart starts pumping schemes

[Chorus]
And it’s hard to say
Just how some things never change
And it’s hard to find
Any strength to draw the line
Oh, I’m just burnin’ doin’ the neutron dance (Ah, ah, ah)
I’m just burnin’ doin’ the neutron dance

[Refrain]
Whoo-ooh
(Whoo-ooh)
I’m on fire, yeah
I’m on fire, yeah

Let’s all sing it and dance. h/t to Genius.com for the lyrics. Easier to copy than typing them all out.

Stay positive — I now, I’m one to speak — be strong, lean forward, and Vote Blue. Coffee and I have met up on a drink day. Here’s the video. Cheers

August 10, 2024 0

Monday’s Theme Music

Yes, it’s 3/14 of 2022, which means this Monday is National Pi Day in the U.S. Is it irrational to have such a holiday? Perhaps not, when we play with Pi and then say, well, let’s have some pie, like apple or blueberry, or pizza pie, yeah? Yes.

Sunrise was a hazy, lazy, diminished spray of more light on curdled gray clouds at 7:25 AM. That stratus could speak to water sprinkling out of the sky sometime today. Temperature is now 45, but they said that 20 more degrees will be added on before the world turns my valley from the sun’s face at 7:16 this evening.

My wife’s exercise class featured the Broadway hits tape today. One song was “Try to Remember”. I was passing through on a cat feeding expedition when she called out, “Who is singing this?” I recognized Jerry Orbach, the late, wonderfully talented actor. “What was the play?” she asked. I couldn’t remember that. As I walked out, she called out, “Oh, it was The Fantasticks.” Right.

My wife is responsible for today’s theme music. She likes taking a few short exercise breaks throughout the day. She had been using her little iPod Shuffle for this, but she forgot to charge it a few days ago. So she fell back to using Alexa during the weekend. The songs she usually play are “Head & Heart” and “Fireball”. She’s trained Alexa to play “Head & Heart” when she says, “Alexa, play my favorite song.” Then, when the Joel Corry/MNEK 2020 song finishes, Alexa aways follows up with “Fireball” by Pitball and John Ryan (2014). I’ve heard each of those songs about eight times over the last two days, and they’re now welded to my neurons. I must share them to free the neurons. Well, I just used “Firefall” last year and I’ve never used “Head & Heart”, so here we go with “Head & Heart”. It’s a good dance song to move your blood.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax and boosters. I’m going for some coffee to move my blood. Cheers

March 14, 2022 0

Monday’s Theme Music

“Monday, Monday.” Some of us from a certain era will go on auto, bringing up the Mamas & Papas song. Or maybe it’s just me.

Today is Monday, the first of its kind in August, dubbed August 2, 2021. Our heatwave continues as our daylight hours decline. Sunrise in Ashland was 6:05 AM. Sunset will come at 8:29 PM. We’re again expecting our high temperatures to nip into the upper nineties/low 100s. Red flag alerts for fire dangers continue.

In COVID-19 matters, many of us are quietly preparing for another lockdown. Have some safe quiet gatherings. Stock up the frig, freezer, and pantry. Numbers are climbing. Vaccinations have stalled. ICUs are filling.

Enjoying the early morning light and wind, a 2012 song by the Swedish House Mafia began looping through my thinking.

Upon a hill across a blue lake,
That’s where I had my first heartbreak.
I still remember how it all changed.

My father said,
“Don’t you worry, don’t you worry, child.
See heaven’s got a plan for you.
Don’t you worry, don’t you worry now.”

h/t to AZLyrics.com

Of course, I am a perpetual worrier. No plan is ever perfect. Execution brings out more flaws. Others don’t share agendas, visions, and dreams. Clashes arise. Accidents happen. Nature interferes via disasters and disease. Stupidity, ignorance, and obstinance — sometimes by me, frequently by others — in my view, but this is my post — creates greater difficulty.

But I’m also an optimist. A believer in the long game. The arc’s inevitable bend.

Stay positive. Test negative. Wear a mask as needed. Get the vax. Here be the music. Cheers

August 2, 2021 7

Tuesday’s Theme Music

I have a habit now of waking up and reminding myself of the day and date. Just wanna ensure I don’t forget them.

We played dance music yesterday and danced around as we finished the jigsaw puzzle. Not so easy for many others out there. So, in a sappy way, this is for them.

From a simpler time (and another decade), here’s the wonderful Whitney Houston with “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” (1987).

Clock strikes upon the hour
And the sun begins to fade
Still enough time to figure out
How to chase my blues away
I’ve done alright up ’til now
It’s the light of day that shows me how
And when the night falls
Loneliness calls

h/t to MetroLyrics.com

Feel free to move around yer spaces.

March 24, 2020 1

Tuesday’s Theme Music

Today’s theme music is “Havana” by Camila Cabello (2017).

A lovely song about a brief love affair, it’s in my music stream this morning, background to routines, but I don’t know why. I had a smattering of dreams that felt inchoate. Little is clearly remembered except for an instance of awakening in alarm with the urgent question, “What was I supposed to do?” occupying me. Leaping up, I hunted for clues in a blended zone of sleep and consciousness. Anxiety ebbed back as I realized it was a dream, but I wondered about its roots.

So how does the salsa-influenced, bouncy “Havana” figure into this? Call me clueless in the morning.

As I enjoy the song, I played the video after Cabello’s SNL appearance a few weeks ago, chuckling at the reality send-up that bracketed the song.

October 29, 2019 0

Floof-si-do

Floof-si-do (floofinition) – a figure in which a human and animal pass each other foot (human) to shoulder (animal) or head, and circle each other as the pet tries for the human’s attention, and the human tries not to step upon or kick the animal.

In use: “He had a full plate of cheese and crackers in his hand, but that didn’t stop his pet from initiating a little kitchen floof-si-do.”

February 17, 2019 0

Sunday’s Theme Music

This song has been around for a few years. A group performed the dance associated with it yesterday in the cold, mud, and rain, at the Women’s March in Medford, Oregon. Turn out was lower this year, but it remains a worthwhile effort.

Here’s “Break the Chain” (2013, One Billion Rising).