Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not
Sometimes, there’s just a vibe.
A woman walked toward him. Something about her brought up a smile. “Good afternoon,” he said. “How are you today?”
“I’m doing great. How are you?”
“I’m also doing great, thank you.”
“Good,” she answered.
They passed, going in opposite directions. Both looked back over their shoulder at the other, and smiled.
The ceiling fans are still. Baristas behind the counter are quiet. Low-key. Not like them.
The coffee house is a third full. Music plays. People chat and work phones and laptops, sipping beverages, nibbling treats. But a feeling rolls through. Something is off. Different. Like the building is waiting to inhale.
Maybe it’s not them or the building. Perhaps it’s only him.
Sometimes, it all goes so well, and it’s such a glorious, uplifting, satisfying experience, that he’s amazed that he’s permitted to sit and explore ideas and characters, spinning lies, and calling them stories.
Soft as the air, sunrise’s slow grace came upon our valley at 5:51 AM. Today is Monday, July 19, 2021. Heat is expected, but not too terrible. Seventy now, at nine AM, looking for 95 F before the sunset’s mellow withdrawal at 8:43 PM. More fires are burning in the Pacific Northwest. None too close to us, knock on wood. Bootleg continues burning, 300,000 acres, over a quarter contained. Tamarack down south has exploded. Favorable winds are keeping our air clean. Several small fires started locally but quick responses by people and fire departments contained them.
Walking yesterday, I channeled Flo Rida, “Good Feeling” (2011). I got those good feelings yesterday when I was walking. Often afraid to speak of them or write about them, lest I scare them away. I was high on a hill in the town’s southern end. Great view of some of the valley. Wineries. Brown hills. Mountain peaks. Air dirty yellow on the horizon, wildfire smoke.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, sometimes I get a good feeling, yeah
I get a feeling that I never never never never had before, no no
I get a good feeling, yeah
Oh oh, sometimes I get a good feeling, yeah
I get a feeling that I never never never never had before, no no
I get a good feeling, yeah
h/t AZLyrics.com
And I got that feeling. Wonder, how now? Why? What drives these feelings, a sense of optimism, almost invicibility? A sense that change is coming. Where does it originate? Is it an amygdala gone mad?
Maybe, yeah. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax. Here’s the music. Cheers
It’s like I’m all over the place – everything and nothing.
I’d been out shopping when Peter Frampton’s song, “Do You Feel Like We Do” came into my head.
The song was released back in 1976, one of several hits from the album Frampton Comes Alive! That title always calls images and legends of monsters into my head. It sounds like Frampton may have been dead, but look! He’s come alive! Good for Frampton.
Frampton mania ruled for a while in 1976. As often happens with pop culture in that era, when someone achieves great success, talk-show hosts and comedians include references in their acts. The song titles are incorporated into word play. The performers show up on television shows, magazine covers, and radio interviews. The song themselves on heard simultaneously on multiple stations. There’s just no escaping it.
Why I was thinking of it now can’t be clearly traced. Had it been playing somewhere in a store or passing car, missed by my conscious thinking but picked up by my subconscious?
Don’t know.
Didn’t know how I felt, either. Sorting feelings, I concluded, I feel pretty good. Scale of ten, probably seven.
Pretty good is defined more clinically as, I’m not worried or stressed, nothing is bothering me, and I feel no pain or health issues, right? Why don’t I feel great? Don’t know; maybe a COVID-19 malaise coupled with election fretting dampens my spirits from great to pretty good. After sixty-four point two five years of living, I’m still sorting the feeling mystery. So many variables blaze in to change the balance.
Anyway, I feel pretty good. Peter seems to feel good in the song. How ’bout you? Do you feel like we do?
Trump often declares how others should feel. He loves extolling the greatness of himself, and how wonderful he is. “I’m the greatest,” he’ll often declare. “People should be thanking me.”
Not me; I’ve not seen anything come from his miserable administration that cues up thanks.
Somehow, from coalescing thoughts and manifesting feelings, up rose New Order’s “Blue Monday” (1983):
And still, I find it so hard
To say what I need to say
But, I’m quite sure that you’ll tell me
Just how I should feel today
h/t to Genius.com
I don’t believe the song ever mentions Monday. That amuses me. The vocalist’s robotic, deadpan delivery offers a delicious counterbalance to the lyrics, no doubt by design.
Enjoy your day. Let me know how you feel.
Michael Seidel, writer 