Bird on a wire
holding on against the wind
Riding out the storm
Saturday’s Theme Music
Good morning. Welcome to the day after the previous day. Today is Saturday, March 13, 2013, which means it’s SATURDAY THE THIRTEENTH. That aside, Solup was at 6:26 AM in Ashland, and Soldown is expected at 6:15 PM. Then we’ll spring ahead in most parts of ‘Merica, losing an hour of sleep but putting soldown an hour later. I’ll welcome that, as I can take early evening walks.
Clear skies, cold nights and bright sunshine currently rules these parts. A cold 32 degrees was the low last night but it’s already mid-fifties now. Got to use this good turn of weather now because it will change next week. Of course, it’ll then change again the day after that.
Stone Temple Pilots, aka STP, provides the music in the stream today. “Trippin’ On A Hole In A Paper Heart” came out in July, 1996. I contemplated that a bit: that song is a few months short of being a quarter-century old. Now I’m trippin’ on how much time has slid since that song first broke the calm.
The song was in my stream for the lyrics, natch.
One more trip and I’ll be gone
So keep your head up, keep it on
Just a whisper, I’ll be gone
Take a breath and make it big
h/t to Genius.com
The lyrics came as I finished re-arranging the hairs on my head and gave myself a final look in the bathroom mirror before sliding out to brew the day’s first cup of coffee. So, why? Why that song today? It’s the frequent question, is it not? There’s no answer on this day.
Get the vax, wear a mask, test negative, and stay positive. Cheers
Friday’s Theme Music
TGIF! Thank God It’s Friday! Am I right?
Not really. I was a shift worker for many years. Friday had no significance except for which office chores were required. The weekends were a better work period because fewer were around. It was a good time to read as we sat, standing by — hah! — waiting for something to happen. Well, that depended on the command, theater, mission, and crises du jour. Such was the life of an Air Force Command Post controller.
In later years, working for civilian companies in the SF Bay Area/Silicon Valley, Friday was like the starting gun for a race through the weekend, running errands, doing chores, shopping, and eating out. In those days, yeah, TGIF definitely had its place for a while.
Anyway…
Today is Friday, March 12, 2021. Sunup was at 6:28 AM and sundown is 6:14 PM in southern Oregon. Temperatures dropped into the upper twenties last night. The sun has staked a bold claim under the day. Encouraged by it, unencumbered by clouds, we’re at 42 degrees F now. We’re expecting a high in the upper sixties. That’s some lovely yard work and walking weather.
Seeing that sunshine after I tumbled out of bed called out a 1995 song. See, I felt good, so I started singing “Good” by Better Than Ezra. Although its foundation is a break up song — he comes home to learn she’s gone — it ends on thoughts of change and looking forward to what might be. So, I thought, yeah, let’s look forward to what might be, once this pandemic runs its course. Maybe we’ll meet on the fourth of July.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask when you’re asked, and get the vax. Cheers
Sunday’s Theme Music
This is it. The countdown has commenced. Next Sunday, March 14, 2021, the giant lever will be pulled, sending the US into Daylight Savings Time. If you’re paying attention, that means today is Sunday, March 7, 2021. Yes, today is the last Sunday that we’ll be able to enjoy normal daylight for several months, as we go into daylight pinching mode.
Other aspects of the day includes 6:37 AM Solclimb and a 6:08 PM Soldrop in Ashland, a forty degree F temperature which feels warmer than it sounds when you’re standing in it, and a wintry blend of thundering gray, spring blue, and feathered white sky.
Returning to the DST thinking for a moment, DST drives a lot of political discourse and political polarization in the U.S., IMO. I think that one time when they pulled the lever back to change time, they pulled it too hard and fast. Suddenly, we’d leaped decades into the past. Although they caught the issue before dawn, damage had been inflicted. People felt like it was back in the 1950s in the U.S. because it temporarily was. Confusion was stirred when the current time was resumed. I think this episode happened about five years ago. I don’t have any evidence, but now it’s on the net, so it must be true.
Today’s music is by Chicago. “Old Days” was released in 1975, and it’s about remembering the good old days. Of course, it’s a gentle reverie for them:
Old days Good times I remember Fun days Filled with ship of pleasure Drive-in movies Comic books and blue jeans Howdy Doody Baseball cards and birthdays Take me back To the world gone away Memories Seem like yesterday Oh, old days Good times I remember Gold days Days I'll always treasure Funny faces Full of love and laughter Funny places Summer nights and streetcars Take me back To the world gone away Our good memories Seem like yesterday Old days h/t to Lyrics.com
The song always strikes me as smooth jazz, pop-rock, brass-infused blend, but the lyrics are easy to recall. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and get a vax. Have a good one. Cheers
Sunday’s Theme Music
This is it! Sunday, February 28, 2021, the last day of February, the last day of the second month of 2021. From my perspective, it raced by like a Formula 1 machine. Lots of noise, here, and now it’s almost past.
What a way to go out. Here in Ashland, sunshine has roared in. Gone is the ice, snow, fog, rain, and mist. It’s only sun, sun, sun. The cats are all, “Mee-hoo!” (Actually, I made that last up. The cats are like, “Sunshine. Whatever. Let me out.”) Sunrise came at 6:48 AM and sunset will be at (fanfare) 6:00 PM, for eleven hours and twelve minutes of glorious sun. Temperature now is 42 degrees F, but we’re looking for highs in the upper fifties. It may be for just one day but I’ll accept this gift and enjoy it.
Today’s music is “This Is It” by Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald (1979). The two share song-writing credits. Loggins is the primary performer and it hit the charts under his name, but McDonald adds vocal support and has played the song many times in concert.
It’s a good song for deciding you or we are making changes or ready for changes.
There’ve been times in my life,
I’ve been wonderin’ why.
still, somehow i believed we’d always survive.
now, i’m not so sure
you’re waiting here, one good reason to try
but, what more can i say? what’s left to provide?
(you think that maybe it’s over,)
(only if you want it to be.)
are you gonna wait for a sign, your miracle?
stand up and fight.
(this is it.)
make no mistake where you are.
(this is it.)
you back’s to the corner.
(this is it.)
don’t be a fool anymore.
(this is it.)
The waiting is over, no, don’t you run.
h/t to Metrolyrics.com
So, there it is, the theme music for the last day of the second month of the new year labeled 2021. Stay postive, test negative, wear a mask, and get vaccinated. That is all.
Wednesday’s Theme Music
Hello. Welcome to this edition of Wednesday, brought to you by 2021. “2021. The year that has to get better.” Today is the twenty-fourth of February, meaning that February is fast running out of time. Today’s sunrise came at 6:54 AM in Ashland. We expect sunrise about eleven hours and four minutes later, at 5:55 PM. A sun bomb has gone off but the air is chilly at 40 degrees F. We expect another late charge into the low to mid fifties by late afternoon. The mountains blocks so much sun as it steals over the sky, robbing us of warmth and plunging us into early twilight. Across the valley is the land of sun, where it’s bright all day long, you know?
Rush is the music provider today. “Limelight” from 1981 skipped into the mental music stream as I walked yesterday. Its rhyming lyrics, with their sharp enunciation, are memorable.
Living on a lighted stage
Approaches the unreal
For those who think and feel
In touch with some reality
Beyond the gilded cage
Cast in this unlikely role
Ill-equipped to act
With insufficient tact
One must put up barriers
To keep oneself intact
Living in the limelight
The universal dream
For those who wish to seem
Those who wish to be
Must put aside the alienation
Get on with the fascination
The real relation
The underlying theme
h/t to Metrolyrics.com
And so the song goes, a good walking song, solid beat except where it slows for the solo, but that’s how prog-rock often goes, innit? Stay positive, folks, and test negative. Persevere, carry on, wear a mask, and get vaccinated. If that all fails, have a drink. Think I’ll go get a coffee, black, thank you, and unsweetened, like my soul.
You know?
Monday’s Theme Music
Thickening fog is graying out this Monday morning in southern Oregon.
Hi. Today is February 22, 2021. The temperature is 39 degrees F. Sunrise and sunset are 6:57 AM, 5:52 PM, presenting us almost eleven hours of daylight.
My mind has been busy with dreams, reading, writing, and thinking. Among the thoughts. They mentioned on the radio that, oh, surprise, people are creatures of habit. Surveys show that eighty percent of Americans have daily routines that they follow. They eat the same thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, go to the same places to shop, watch the same shows, etc.
Well, hello, yes. Much of this is driven by routines but by prices, selections, availability, health, and convenience. My breakfast, for example, is usually oatmeal. How it’s flavored varies. I add different fruits and nuts to it, or raisins, or peanut butter, or sometimes all of it. Yogurt with granola stands as an infrequent breakfast alternative. Once in a while, probably once a month, I’ll buy a breakfast burrito from a store. Once in a while, maybe every other month, I’ll have a doughnut or pastry for breakfast.
These things, though are driven by nutrition, taste, cost, availability, and convenience. I used to make and eat other things for breakfast. Metabolism changes, life style changes, and weight gain all started nixing how often I do that, along with convenience and laziness. Making a more elaborate breakfast (besides being pricier) is time consuming, and there’s cleaning up afterward.
Boy, I sound defensive, don’t I? But they’re right: we shop at the same seven places for our groceries when we go out. Those seven: Shop N’ Kart, Trader Joe’s, Costco, The Food Co-op, Market of Choice, Bi-Mart and Albertson’s. They’re all within a twenty-minute drive. They have decent prices. The food quality is good. We’re checked out places, but these are the ones we trust.
Enough whining. On to the music. Today’s theme song is “Sowing the Seeds of Love” by Tears for Fear, 1989. Don’t ask me why; it came into my head this morning, and I had no reason to not select it.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and get vaccinated. We’re still a few weeks from being eligible for the vaccination, ourselves. Here’s the tune. Enjoy.
Saturday’s Theme Music
7 AM, straight up. That’s what time sunrise was today in southern Oregon. Sweet to rise to daylight. Can’t say sunlight. Clouds continue bullying us with their dour expression. We did have a late afternoon sunshine visitor yesterday. Some blue sky accompanied her but she shied out before we were too comfortable with her presence.
Sunset today will be at 5:50 PM. I’m pleased for the later afternoon hour. Gives me time to do a walk without taking a flashlight and worrying about a bear or cougar coming up to make conversation.
Hello, and welcome. Today is Saturday, February 20, 2021. Outside’s temperature is 36 degrees F. The high isn’t straying far away from that mark, peaking at 48 as rain clouds keep the sun from getting carried away with warmth.
The Wayback Machine was active this AM. First, I heard singing: “Pick a little, talk a little, pick a little, talk a little, cheep, cheep, cheep, talk a lot, pick a little more.”
Don’t know why that tune from The Music Man made itself known but it didn’t last long. Songs about Saturday — probably the top three Saturday songs I usually associate with Saturday, “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)” (Elton John), “Saturday In the Park” (Chicago), and “Saturday Night” by the Bay City Rollers”, take a turn in the mental music stream. Then, though, dealing with the cats, an old Jim Hendrix favorite from 1968 pressed in.
The cats were just busy with whatever I was being busy with, underfoot, underhand, etc. So “Crosstown Traffic” kicked in.
You jump in front of my car when you,
you know all the time that
Ninety miles an hour, girl, is the speed I drive
You tell me it’s alright, you don’t mind a little pain
You say you just want me to take you for a ride
You’re just like crosstown traffic
So hard to get through to you
Crosstown traffic
I don’t need to run over you
Crosstown traffic
All you do is slow me down
And I’m tryin’ to get on the other side of town
h/t to Songfacts.com
Of course, I was singing the cat variation. This is where cat is subbed for girl. Room is subbed for town. Walk is subbed for ride and drive…
Stay positive, test neggy, wear a mask, and get vaccinated. Cheers
Thursday Thoughts
- My cousin, Glenn Seidel, passed away, ending his cancer fight. A genuine nice, caring person, his death is one that makes you question life’s mechanics. I wish he’d never suffered cancer; he’d watched his mother and younger sister fall to cancer. It’s good that he’s no longer suffering, though. Watching the suffering, unable to do more than mouth platitudes, is the struggle for me when a friend, relative, or pet is suffering and dying. No, it’s not about me; the survivors always mourn. It’s about what he — what they all — went through before reaching the point of death. Here’s to Glenn.
- Weather is on my mind. We’re contemplating a move east. Why? Summer weather here in southern Oregon has become a litany of summer suffering: wildfires, or smoke from wildfires suspend or kill activities and travel. Drought requires water restrictions, which is enforced via capitalism: if you have the money, you can buy the water. Depressing, right? But our winter is comfortable, remarkably snow free and freezing free. Moving east to Ohio or PA would mean plunging into that stuff.
- Watching Texas suffer from lack of planning for cold weather brings deep sighs of frustration. Save some pennies, increase profits, but when the shit hits, you’re wickedly unprepared. It’s sadly now the GOP way. Yet that ‘save some pennies, increase profits’ mantra holds fast against critical thinking. It’s always the poorest classes who suffer most, of course.
- Since I’m on politics, will the righteous right-wing notice that President Biden, a Democrat, immediately reached out to help states, whether they’re ‘red’ or ‘blue’? Doubtful that they’ll notice; doubtful that they’ll remember. Yes, experiencing a strong cynical streak today.
- We worry about the animals along with people, you know? We hope the animals are warm and safe, too. The logical response is, this is life; suffering is inculcated as part of the formula. Death is a natural ending. Still, I hope for the best. Guess I’m an unrepentant optimist.
- Writing (knock on wood) continues going well, which continues to scare me. There’s a burst of jubilation as a major chapter is completed. After a pause of reflection, anxiety strikes as I face the ever-present, ever-daunting question, what next? That question always pulls me back into the puzzle that’s called writing a novel.
- I’m watching more foreign television shows that are in their native languages. I run in place and watch television to wind down at the day’s conclusion. Usually do two to three miles between 10:30 PM and midnight. Bad dubbing draws cringes and winces, which are disruptions to the entertainment. Don’t need it. Instead, I watch television in German, Icelandic, Norwegian, French, etc., eyes glued to the captions. We like how characters appear in television from other countries. Characters in the U.S. TV land are typically pretty people with pleasant lives and mild challenges to their principles and decisions. Typically, matters are quickly resolved, with little complications. There are exceptions. The characters in stories in other nations are less pretty, less glamorous, and more natural. Yes, they’re more like me. Fortunately, watching foreign television seems to be a growing streaming trend. A great selection is available.
- One exception in U.S. television that I continue to admire is “The Wire”. Watching it for the second time, finishing season four, the levels of excellence in production values, acting, character development, plots, and story arcs all still impress me. It’s been several years since I first watched it, yet so many of the people and story-lines remain memorable. It’s a gritty show, but you end up rooting and crying for so many.
- Finished reading/read six books last week. I’m mastering the jogging-in-place-while-reading process. Five of the books were fiction, the other was non-fiction. Reading does enhance/intensify my writing process. Hungry for more books now. One is on hold at the library, so I need to head that way, but also research more to add to my list. I’m reading mostly crime and speculative fiction while I’m writing my science fiction/speculative fiction novel.
- With running in place augmenting my walking and other exercise, my 28-day average remains over 12, coming in at 12.41 for this cycle, with a best day of 14 on February 7.
- It’s raining outside. My cats are in and asleep. One sleeps on my feet as I type, keeping me warm with his weight. Another is in the foyer, curled up on the bench, a paw over his eyes. The third is stretched out on the guest bed like a ginger throw. Their presence and the knowledge that they’re safe and comfortable reassures me against awareness of the world’s pain.
- Now, time to go eat lunch. Then it’s back to writing like crazy, at least one more time. Stay safe, please. Cheers
