Saturda’s Theme Music

Mood: Fogbound

Rolling out of bed and ambulating down the hall, I checked the windows where my eyes met a wall of fog. Inspiration seizing me, I reversed course and dropped my head back into its indentation on my pillow. A floof’s unending breakfast song forced a reassessment of my moment after an indeterminant amount of additional Zzzs. I rolled back out of my warm coccoon of sheets and blankets and gave it the old Ashlandia try once more.

This is Saturday. January 11. 2025.

Yarp, fog socks us in. 37 F, air stagnation advisory, high of 42 expected, sunshine is being offered if we can slip fog’s tenacious grasp. Then it might be a pretty day.

Or not. As the barista related to me yesterday morning, “I was on the phone with my room mate and she said, ‘Oh, it’s a pretty day. Think I’ll go outside and do something.’ Then, five minutes later, it was foggy and pouring rain.” Yep, and it didn’t stop until daylight no longer let us in on what was going on outside.

The state of fog has fog-themed music energizing The Neurons. But some of ’em were hooked on an earlier thought about breakfast. Shuffling around, The Neurons pulled up Breakfast in America. Released in 1979, the album gained a life in my music rotation. See, this was back in an era when I bought music albums. Through tech’s evolution, the media shifted. Vinyl, tape, CD, whatev, we hooked the album up with the appropriate device and played the album. By then, I was 23 and made enough money that I could drop $8 on a new album now and again. Put it in perspective, gasoline was less than a dollar a gallon and a cup of coffee was usually less than two. Also, phone service was waaaayyyy cheaper and we didn’t have the net. We in the U.S. had cable and paid less than ten a month for basic.

So you’d take your new album home and play and listen to it while cleaning the house, washing and waxing the car, making and eating meals, and other activities. Happened with sufficient frequency that the songs came to be known in order. Every note and nuance was etched into The Neurons’ aural wetware. Today, they began playing the album for me in my morning mental music stream (Trademark droppy).

First song up is a guitar & keyboard-driven offering to Hollywood, “Gone Hollywood”. Supertramp wasn’t happy about the place at first. Complaints about life and Hollywood interspersed with moody sax playing. Real picker-up with lyrics like, “Ain’t nothing new in my life today. Ain’t nothing true, it’s all gone away.”

But the self-pity fades after the guitar solo and musical bridge. A more upbeat mood takes over. “I’m the talk of the boulevard. So keep your chin up boy, forget the pain, I know you’ll make it if you try again. There’s no use quitting when the world is waiting for you.”

Then there’s the rest of the album. Several hits on there. “The Logical Song.” “Goodbye Stranger.” “Take the Long Way Home.” Yeah, you might know those, if you’re of a certain age and musical preference, or if you drove around with the automobile’s music turned to pop stations in the 1980s.

The fog hasn’t let up but coffee and I made a pact, and it’s going to carry me through the trough of the day. Be good, be real. Here’s the music, and off we go, into the wild gray yonder.

Cheers

Friday’s Wandering Thoughts

Label this, ‘useless dialogue’. I was watching an episode of The Rig. Magnus (played by an actor I enjoy, Iain Glen) said, “We don’t know where Bremner is, so watch your back.” And then they all herd forward with none of them looking around or watching their back.

Yes, it’s an insignificant flea of an issue, so tiny that it can’t really even be called an issue. Except aspects of shows like that undermines the show’s quality and realism for me. It depletes the tension. They clearly weren’t really worried about Bremner because they did not look around.

I know, all the things happening in the world and this is what I complain about? Well, don’t worry — I have a lot more complaints about other things.

Thursday’s Wandering Thoughts

My wife and I were talking about a study about coffee-drinking. The headline hook: “Limit coffee-drinking to this time window to lower early death risk, study suggests

What prompted me to mention it to her was this line: “The researchers identified two patterns of timing of consumption: morning and all day.”

I’m a morning and early afternoon drinker, for the record. But she told me that she mentioned it to her coffee group yesterday. All her age or older, they’re intelligent people with good recall skills. As a group, they came up with all the other things we’ve been warned about over the years, only to have them roll over and say, “Wait, our bad. New data is in.”

So, you know, we take this study and its revelation with a little reservation. And maybe a cuppa coffee.

Twosda’s Wandering Thoughts

My car is now ten years old but it has multiple modern conveniences. This includes auto-temp control, heated seats, active headlights (which turn with the front wheels and change angles when going up or down hills to keep them level), and other goodies. While my wife loves the butt warmer, my fave by far is the backup camera. It is so useful to me. I recommend those for everybody and every car.

Fogda’s Wandering Thoughts

Was in the library. Coldish day with air temp circulating at 42 F as rain and clouds said no to the sun.

A woman and child walked past. The adult seemed in her late thirties. Child, a girl, looked ten. I assume Mom and daughter but I don’t know. What struck was their dress. The adult wore boots, gloves, a knitted hat, and a puffy jacket. Kid wore crocs. Loose pants which looked like fleece jammies. A thin long-sleeved top.

Out they went into the weather together. I said something to my wife about the difference in their dress. She replied, “Yes, those young people just don’t seem to feel it, do they?”

No, they don’t.

Frida’s Wandering Thoughts

I was on a mission. Leaping into the car, I drove down to the library. Fingers crossed, baby, fingers crossed. See, I finished a puzzle last year. Last month. The other day. Munda. Twosda, we took the puzzle apart, packed it up, and turned it ino the library from whence it came. Wezda, I discovered a piece had been left out.

Well, that sucked. The library was closed that day. I told my wife and set it aside. She agreed with me, “We must get that piece back into the box.” Way we talked about it, it was a whole Indiana Jones adventure in the making.

Tursda arrived, and we forgot about the piece until that night. Then a big Homer Simpson d’uh moment hit and I remembered the piece. So, today, I left early and took the piece. The puzzle was still there. Chuckling to myself, I opened the box and put the piece in. Whispers arose from the other pieces. “Thank the maker, our little missing green piece of window shutter has been returned.” “Praise the maker,” other pieces echoed.

I was very pleased with my successful mission.

Floofsimilar

Floofsimilar (floofinition) An animal that looks or acts amazingly like another. Origins: Medieval Flooftin.

In Use: “Goof and Ball were different species but with almost the exact same black and white markings and chill, friendly personalities, were spooky floofsimilars.”

In Use: “Mark went out looking for his big black white cat. A week later, his cat showed up, and he realized that the first cat was a floofsimilar.”

Tursda’s Wandering Thoughts

We’re invited to some friend’s house to celebrate 12th Day on Jan 5. I’m looking forward to it because it’s the last official party of the holiday season for me.

I like the couple inviting us. Although we only met them this year, we’ve been at several of the same parties and ended up in satisfying conversations. But their invitation closed with an intriguing caveat: “Our driveway can only fit seventeen cars. Please consider carpooling.”

1. Seventeen cars? First, how do they know this? Was it listed as a feature or shortcoming when the property was being sold? “Driveway can fit seventeen cars.” Also, what sized cars are we talking about? Seventeen Fiats or seventeen Hummers? There’s a difference you know.

Other ways of knowing exist. Maybe they had a party and invited people and found out, OMG, our driveway can only fit seventeen cars. Or perhaps they did the measurements. Also, how are we parked on this driveway? Single file, in tandem? Two by two? So many questions.

2. I also suffered a bubble of driveway envy after reading that. Our driveway struggles with more than two cars, side by side. We can add two more in tandem behind the first two, depending on the relative sizes involved, but their rear ends will be sticking out from the curb. Looking at my street, we’d be challenged fitting seventeen cars onto it.

3. If they have parking for seventeen cars and suggest carpooling, how many people have they invited? My wife did mention that our hostess asked her for lists of the exercise class and coffee clatch participants, which not oddly if you know my wife is something that she prepared after arriving here and joining those activities and realizing that such a list — with names, phone numbers, birthdays, and email addresses — did not already exist.

Despite the suspiciously large crowd that might be there, I am looking forward to it. I mean, it is the last party of the season.

That’s reason to celebrate.

Tursda’s Teme Music

Mood: Yawninspired

It’s a nice day for a white sky, Billy Idol might have sung for today. A flat white sheet mottled by gentle grey moguls hangs loose across our valley. A little blue slips in from the far western edge on my field of sight. Sunshine chips through where it can, coming in with a fair facsimile of light. 46 F, windy, it rained last night. Might rain today. Might achieve a 51 F high.

This is Tursda, January 2, 2025.

Many are not aware that January has an interesting populist origin to its name. The first part of the year in the nothern hemisphere was often dark, cold, and quiet except for storms. Outside wasn’t a hospitable place. Inside caves, huts, and other primitive dwellings, not much was going on, either, as a lack of light, Internet, and decent heating kept folks huddling. Those first months became known as Jawnsuary. That j was actually a y; the period was Yawnsuary because they were so dull and boring. Later, the first month of the year became known as January to appease the god, Janus. Winter festivities were promoted to lift people’s spirits and change their attitudes. Religious leaders told people, “The cold, darkness, and suffering is good. It helps you appreciate the light and warmth that comes later. Snow is good. Look at all that you can do with snow. Have a drink, you’ll come around.” High priests built the first snow churches, snow men, and snowballs. Religious leaders led the way in going outside to have fun in the snow. That’s why religious leadership often wore heavy black, red, or blue robes. To stay warm outside, and to be visible in the snow. That’s a fact, jack.

Today’s music started last night when I, reading some news reports, dubbed some people as crazy. I know, it’s not nice, and often maligns people with genuine mental health and emotional issues by lumping those who are deliberately delusional, greedy, evil, and corrupt in with them, such as certain right-wing leaders. Anyway, catching a sniff of those thoughts, The Neurons came up with Gnarls Barkley and their offering, which is just called, “Crazy”. It’s playing now in the morning mental music stream (Trademark impaired). This song is not to be confused with the song, “Crazy”, covered by Patsy Cline, and written by Willy Nelson. They do have things in common in their lyrics, like believing something which is a delusion. I’ll include them both so you can compare the two different but impactful songs.

Stay groovey and be hip. Coffee and I have renewed our vows for 2025. Here’s the music. Let’s go get ’em. Cheers

Floofybeat

Floofybeat (floofinition) – Style or sub-genre of rock or pop music which incorporates animal sounds or approximations of animal styles. Origins: USA circa 1965.

In Use: “The Kiffness creates floofybeat videos of cats ‘singing’ tunes.”

In Use: “‘Li’l Red Riding Hood’ by Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs is a 1966 pop song that incorporates a wolf howl, qualifying it as floofybeat music.”

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