Wednesday’s Theme Music

Mood: optimistic

Lovely moon out last night. I checked it out about 12:30 AM, when the air quality levels were improved and the temperature hovered about 60 F. Did you see that moon? Part of the perigean moon cycle, it seemed quite large, almost full, and pretty clear for us, meaning only soft marigold brushstrokes marred its clarity.

Now it’s 61 F. Clearish air, with some bluish smoky sky. AQI is better but the smoke smell is there to be sucked up as soon as you step out. Where there is smoke, there’s particulates, and possible respiratory system damages. Myself suffers from an AM stuffy nose and sinuses, and a sore throat. Shot of saline up each nostril helps the first, and a cough drop is sucked on once in a while for the latter.

Today’s high will be in the low 80s. This is Wednesday, August 30, 2023, in Ashlandia, where the children seek advancement, and the parents press for sanity.

Tracking the Hurricane Idalia, worrying about my fellow citizens, and tracking fires, worrying about everyone and everything. Engenders a sense of helplessness to track information and understand how little I can affect the course of activities. But track I must. I want to know what’s going on in a multitude of areas.

All that takes me back to how much I take for granted, which is a testament to the past, where problems were recognized and people worked out solutions. I mean things like highways and roads, fresh water supplies, electricity, the net, the food chain. Not all were perfect and some cause us problems, and because people are invested with how well those solutions work, they refuse to admit their solutions are now problems. Also, money. Security. Power. MSP. Follow the MSP and you’ll learn more than you want to know. I mean, think about how insecure wealthy people must be, if they must keep acquiring more money and power to prop themselves up. It’s a sad sickness.

Hearing about taking things for granted caused The Neurons to bring up Todd Rundgren and “Hello, It’s Me,” from the early 1970s. See, he wrote about and sings, “I take for granted that you’re always there.” So easy to fall into the mind slip of taking people and things for granted, and as I was thinking on that, the song began playing in the morning mental music stream (Trademark ancient). I found an interesting stripped down, live version that I hope you enjoy.

I’ve had a half cuppa joe, and the mind has picked up speed. Be strong and stay pos. Here’s the music. Cheers

Numbday’s Theme Music

Happy Numbday!

Today is Numbday, August 8, 2022. What makes it Numbday is personal. For some, it’s because of the work grind that commences with Monday. Others find the news creates Numbday — they just can’t take it anymore! Like when Trump was said to say that he wished ‘his’ generals were more like Hitler’s and denied that Hitler’s generals ever tried killing Hitler.

Price shock causes some Numbday reactions when folks buy a bag of groceries for $75 dollars or fill their car’s gas tank for $100. Smoke and heat exhaustion, flooding, and other weather events can cause Numbday. Revelations about a loved one’s halth or a deep personal betrayal have also been known to cause Numbdays.

My Numbday is caused by one of the oldest and most basic reasons: not enough sleep because of sleep interruptus CAUSED BY A CERTAIN FLOOF — yes, I’m talking about you, Tucker, and don’t you try to pretend that you don’t know what I’m talking about — and the need to get up early for an appointment. Woof.

The sun sprang up as if it were not a day over a billion, leaping into the sky at about, um, 6:11 AM, where it’ll stay until 8:22 PM, if standard rotation and orbital mechanics follow, which they should, unless there’s suddenly a black hole the size of a bowling ball coming into the scene. More on that later. Our temperature is a weirdly warm 68 F (20 C). We’ll be creeping up to 97 F today, so a little cooler than yesterday. Yeah, fires still rage out there, but our air remains clear. Fingers crossed, etc.

It was a bright moon last night, lighting up the local night as it waxes toward its full greatness. Out in the backyard to admire the night sky, because the moon was rendering it difficult with its light in the front, I caught a meteor’s streak. Blink and its gone. That kept me there for a few more minutes, hoping for another. No luck.

It did cause The Neurons to erupt with “The Reflex” by Duran Duran (1984). Simon and the lads remain in the morning mental music stream, a reflexive song in response to my reflexive need to try to see another meteor. Listening to the song, I often end up wondering, what exactly is the reflex? I know it’s a lonely child, yeah, I hear that, and it’s waiting by the park. Then there’s that chorus.

Oh, why don’t you use it?
Try not to bruise it
Buy time, don’t lose it
Oh, why don’t you use it?

h/t Genius.com

Is it the helping hand or the reflex that I’m thinking about using and trying not to bruise?

Well, some volunteer coffee has arrived to go down my gullet and lift my energy. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, etc. Here’s the music. Enjoy your Numbday. Cheers

Sumday’s Theme Music

This is it, Sumday, the beginning and the end. The circle remains unbroken, and here we are at the culmunation of hopes and prayers, work and play, getting ready and relaxing, all in one. For some. Your day might be different.

August 7, 2022 is upon us. For me, a wedding anniversary; we married at Wright-Patt AFB in Ohio on this date in 1975. Yep, still going, for better and worse, etc.

It’s about 22 C right now, a climb from 65 F. 100 F is anticipated for today. Sunrise punched in at 6:10 AM. As the world turns, the sun will depart our sky at 8:23 PM. The clouds have taken the morning off but a mass assembly is expected in the late afternoon.

Air quality remains excellent. I slipped out last night just after sunset to do a visual of the sky. All looked good except the northwest sector, which glowed with dirty purple and red malevolence. Nothing has come of it, so far. Fingers crossed, knock on wood, etc. Fires still burn in the area. Containment is growing but the rising heat makes everyone worry. Might not surprise you to learn that the wildfires thrive on hot weather.

I traipsed out again later to enjoy the cooling, silent night. The clock was leveling midnight and the moon was cruising low in the western sky, perhaps pondering a landing path into the mountain’s trees. White with silver icing, it was shifting toward three-quarter fullness, an inspiring sight against the blackened blue expanse. Light pollution was low. Stars, galaxies, and planets were all sailing the nocturnal firmaments. I watched for a while, thinking about photos sent back from the Webb telescope, contemplating history and science, the future and now. The Neurons brought out no songs. I wondered if they were napping or out of the office for the night. They hadn’t said anything to me about leaving. I’m always the last to know when The Neurons leave.

Thoughts continued into the novel-in-progress. That brought The Neurons back. They kicked a song called “Between Something and Nothing” by The Ocean Blue from 1989 into the mental music stream. The song is lifted from that late 1980s and early 1990s era of softly glittering electronic music and high questioning voices. What a time, but then, weren’t they all?

Stay positive, test negative, and so on to do as needed to protect and sustain yourself and others. The coffee truck is ringing its bell and coming up the street. Got to grab some money and dash out to get a cuppa. Have a peaceful one. Here’s the music. Cheers

Monday’s Theme Music

Another Monday has dragged itself to our doorstep, whimpering, here I am. We have no choice but to take the poor critter in and make the best of the day. “We’ll call it December 20, 2021,” we declare.

This Monday is little different from others this season. Windy, with temperatures slogging through the forties. A bleak sun huddles among clouds, displaying a marbled blue-gray sky. Daybreak came at 7:36 AM and sunset is due at 7:41 in the afternoon. Of course, we’re in a valley and the sun sets behind the mountains. Mountain shadows overtake us about 3:30 in the afternoon, cutting off the sun’s scant heat almost instantly.

Was out last night checking out the moon. Strong one, it burst through the clouds, which anointed it with a colorful corona. The clouds restlessly paced and squirmed. Stars and planets showed their faces but were gone in seconds. All that kicked in a David Bowie song, “Starman”, 1972, into the mental music stream. It still resided there this AM. Because the song sings about a starman being out there.

There’s a starman waiting in the sky
He’d like to come and meet us
But he thinks he’d blow our minds
There’s a starman waiting in the sky
He’s told us not to blow it
‘Cause he knows it’s all worthwhile

h/t to Genius.com

Well, let’s hope we don’t blow it. We often seem on the verge.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax and boosters when you can. Stay informed and alert. I have my coffee. Now I’m gonna listen to the music. Cheers

Thursday’s Theme Music

Clear night last night, after a quasi-balmy day. That’s a day when warmth and cold — spring and winter — have repeated rounds, looking for victory. Walk in sunshine and it’s so warm, and yeah, baby, spring is almost here. Then, stepping into the shadows, wintry winds slash your cheeks and hands and you’re, like, geez, that’s friggin’ cold. Even the smell between these experiences is different, with one offering a definite winter scent to the air.

Back to last night, it was clear, feeling like winter settling in for the night, but I was out, looking for stars and the moon. No moon was found, which made me cycle through what I remembered from seeing the moon (oh, yeah, we had that big full moon weekend earlier this month) (was that this month?) (how many weeks ago?). Then I spotted her, a waning crescent, by my guess, just peeking past trees, houses, and mountains, shy, like she’s uncertain of her role here.

All that released song lyrics into the stream. I had to strike a pose to remember. (Something about the moon and crossing…who was that?) I vaguely heard the guitars and vocalist…the voice seemed familiar.

More lyrics were found, and then I remembered, that’s REO Speedwagon. With a little more coaxing, other lyrics came, and finally, the name, “Ridin’ the Storm Out”.

Here’s the initial verse that I was trying to recall regarding the moon (thanks, Metrolyrics.com)

And I’m not missing a thing
Just watchin’ the full moon crossing the range
Ridin’ the storm out, ridin’ the storm out

Wikipedia.org says it’s from 1973. Cheers

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