Because…
Ah! What a time of year! The first few months of the year are always incredibly busy for me. Work is predictably hectic and coaching basketball is in full swing, so there is precious little time left for doing any new projects around the house or to play much online. This evening however I had some free time on hand, so I thought I might start organizing and thinning out the club room and storage area of our home’s rec level (a nice word for finished basement).
The club room is currently home to my original stereo system, a holdover dating back from my college days along with a fairly large collection of record albums. What memories college and that stereo bring back! Life was definitely simpler, the possessions austere. Furniture motif was “Early Parents”, cobbled together with some thrift store lamps, cinder block bookshelves, and of course, a $1,000 stereo system with dozens of albums. Priorities you know…
Where was I? Oh yes, organizing the club room and storage. I thought to myself, why not put one of those old albums on the old stereo and have some music to listen to while organizing? Just flipping through each album was a fun, nostalgic experience, bringing back memories of when I bought each one, looking at the album art, and feeling the different textures of the album covers. I settled in with one of my old favorites I haven’t listened to in ages: The Beatles – Abbey Road. I fired up the old turntable, flipped on the receiver and put on the vinyl. Man oh man, I forgot how nice that old stereo sounds. I had also forgotten how talented and fantastic the three part harmony was on Because…
With the music playing, my wife peeked in and came downstairs to see what in the world I was doing, which was basically me sitting on the floor and not doing much of anything. I asked her to join me, while I ran upstairs and poured us a few glasses of wine. We both just sat on the floor, and we listened, and we chatted like a couple of college kids back in the day. What a pleasant, nostalgic moment.
No, we didn’t get much work accomplished around the house tonight. Who cares?
Youtube now has the entire album uploaded if you are interested. Here’s hoping you enjoy your evening as well.
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Calling Out BS in the Google Age
This past weekend, I had the entire family over, mostly to watch our beloved football team in the playoffs, but also to have one last meal before my youngest son returned to his Spring semester at college. Now whenever my children (all in their twenties) get together, it can be a rather loud, rough-and-tumble affair, filled with debates and spirited banter. Competitiveness runs high in this family, and with an added layer of our ethnicity’s tendency to “discuss loudly” and passionately, the result is not for the faint of heart.
The wide range of topics my kids argued passionately over discussed are of little relevance to this post. I was more intrigued by modern-day tactics available to them in being able to call out BS. It seems that in these modern times, whenever anyone makes a statement that another disagrees with, out comes the iPhone, and a quick Google search to find a citation or reference in order to prove or disprove a point. It was an epic battle of the iPhone and search engine apps. Each was fact-checking statements of the other in real time while the discussions were bubbling away. The thumbs were getting as much of a workout as the mouths.
It made me think about how very different things were regarding debates and discussions in our day and age. I made this observation to them, whereupon they asked me, how did we check our facts and figures back then? It made me think a bit. I managed to tell them that we relied a lot more on memory, drawing from things we may have read or perhaps heard from others, but the reality is, we oftentimes didn’t really take the time to fact-check, as precious few of us visited local libraries on a regular enough basis to consult the tomes of knowledge in painstaking detail. Their collective sentiment and comment was, “So, you basically were able to bullshit everyone a lot more than today.” Ouch!
All of this leads me to the following questions:
Did we really BS each other more in the past, when we were reasonably confident that most folks we discussed matters with were not inclined to check out the accuracy of our statements? Were we more cocksure in our statements? Did we exaggerate more?
Are we more careful in these modern times to make statements because of the ability for someone to immediately call BS?
Have at it folks – I’m interested in what you all think.
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If You Were Me…
I have returned from a most restful and peaceful holiday getaway. Of course, the irony is not lost with my previous post, which proclaimed “I’m back!”, whereupon I then immediately proceeded to disappear from it all. While I certainly needed and enjoyed a semi-comatose uneventful existence in a tropical setting, it was refreshing only in a way a good nap or night’s sleep may be. Naps and sleep are necessary, but now I’m awake, refreshed, and full of energy, looking to do something that will stimulate my incessant curiosity. There are places to go, people to meet, things to discover. And that, my dear readers, is where you have an opportunity to stimulate me. (I can only imagine what the google search engines will do to direct spam my way with that last sentence)
So… if you were me, what kind of things would you plan to do in this very young, new year so full of hope and promise? Where would you go? What would you see? What would you want to do or accomplish? And most importantly – Why?
I’ll leave it to you dear readers (that is if I have any left after my prompt disappearance) to give me some interesting vacation and touristy ideas to ponder and stimulate my imagination. Who knows, I might wind up with a few holiday getaways I could never have imagined myself, and that’s what seems so delicious about it all.
I thank you all in advance for your thoughts – random ones of course…
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I’m Back!
Er… um… well… sort of anyway.
I’ll be brief. I’ve been out of town the past several weeks on some pressing business matters. I am exhausted, the paperwork is sky high in my office, my social calendar is completely filled with holiday parties, and my wife and I are hosting one next week as well. She has been diligently working all by herself to prepare for our holiday dinner party without my help, since I was out of town. There are Christmas lights that need to be strung outdoors, a home to prepare, errands to run, menus to plan, and a number of other things I need to do to ensure I stay out of the dog-house with my wife, not to mention that awful pile of paperwork awaiting me in the office. In other words, I’ll be rather busy and rather scarce around these parts the next few weeks.
I did however feel the need to update my blog. I was feeling rather self-conscious of that portrait of me on the screen from the last post staring back whenever I came here. Since I don’t have much time to write, I thought I’d put everyone in the holiday mood with (you should know me by now) something musical that is just a little bit off the beaten path. I hope you enjoy it.
To all my friends and followers, I truly wish you all the very best this festive holiday season. Peace.
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Thank You Totsy Mae!
About a month ago I was reading through a blog I regularly visit, Totsy Mae and I participated in a little gift-giving contest fun she planned to do over the course of a few blog entries that would follow. The original article is here: Six Word Saturday: Tis the Season to be Giving. It was all in good fun. I never expected to win anything, but surprisingly, her son drew my name out of a hat and I wound up one of her winners. Yay me!
Totsy had several winners with specific prizes. My prize was a portrait:
Totsy, you did a terrific job! It occurs to me that I am officially a full-fledged, self-centered narcissist now that I have my own portrait! With more than two dozen people following this blog, I will soon rule the Internets! Bwahahahahahaha!!!
OK, all fantasies aside, let me tell you a little bit more about Totsy. Her blog is fun and amusing. She writes with a raw and direct style that pulls no punches, yet somehow manages to slip in that Southern sweetness that tames the initial kick from her drink of words. Her artwork is incredibly good! All her blog entries have a nice sample or two, and occasionally she treats us to more of her artwork sitting in her paint room. There is an amazing assortment of styles in various mediums that they are all created on. I will come back and edit this post to provide links to where you can find more of Totsy Mae’s art offerings, but for now I wanted to make sure I got my note of thanks out there to Totsy right away.
Totsy Mae, thank you so very much for your generosity and for this very special personalized gift that was created from your hands. I’m truly grateful to know someone like you!
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Best. Funeral. Ever.
I bumped into an old friend the other day, a co-worker from an organization I used to work with a number of years ago. The obvious pleasantries about work and family were exchanged as we caught up on each others lives. It was mostly small talk not worth writing about here, but we did reminisce a little about her mother’s passing almost 15 years ago now. Oh how we laughed about her mother and her funeral. That’s right, we laughed, and it was a good laugh. Let me tell you about it.
“Chick” was Nancy’s mother. She was not a particularly religious woman. In fact, she would be considered a non-practicing Catholic; the kind that occasionally sets foot in Church, maybe on Christmas or Easter. Nonetheless, Chick was one grand old lady. She had a terrific sense of humor and her laugh was simply infectious. It was impossible to be around her and not laugh along with her. She could lampoon with the best of them.
Her last few years were difficult ones with regard to her health. She spent a lot of time in the hospital and in extended nursing home care after several surgeries. Despite obvious pain, nothing dampened that wild spirit or that sense of humor. She was genuinely happy to see her family and friends, and was always quick to disarm everyone from feeling any sort of pity, making them laugh instead. Even the nursing staff enjoyed being around her. She was fun personified.
When she passed, we were all saddened. I remember Nancy’s daughter telling me not to despair however; Chick would not want anyone being sad about her parting this life. She gave me a wink and a big smile and said to make sure we went to the funeral. I didn’t think much of it at the time, other than she seemed almost gleeful about the event.
So there we sat, in the chapel of the funeral home. One of Chick’s last wishes was to have the service performed by a priest who also had a spot on the local radio show that Chick always listened to. The two had become good friends in her final days. He honored that wish and was present for the service. Midway through the service, at 9:30 am, right in the middle of the psalm response it happened…
“Cock-a-doodle-doo!!!” A rooster crow sounded throughout the chapel. The reading stopped and everyone looked around, confused and bewildered. “Cock-a-doodle-doo!!!” again. It was coming from the casket! Then a voice: “It is 9:30… Cock-a-doodle-doo!!!” The crowing and time announcement was coming from the casket and it continued for a full minute. At first everyone tried to suppress the smiles, but one by one, people began to chuckle, and once it began, it just grew until everyone erupted and roared with laughter. We all laughed, and laughed heartily until we shed a few tears. You see, Chick’s other last wish was to be buried with her blind husband’s talking-and-crowing-wristwatch, with the alarm set to go off in the middle of the funeral service. I guess she just couldn’t resist the opportunity to make everyone laugh one last time in her presence.
As I sit here and think about Chick, it occurs to me that, although she is long gone, she still is able to make me smile and laugh. Now that’s a way to make a memorable exit.
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Be Back Soon – Part # … (I forget)
This time of the year is always hectic for me under the most normal of circumstances. Take a combination of my normal workload in the field of Finance, combine it with my favorite hobby/avocation of coaching High School basketball, add in the Winter Holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas looming ahead, and voila! Overload. I’ve been out of town on unplanned business matters the past week and have just returned from my travels (memo to self: do NOT travel ever again on Thanksgiving week!) to an office piled high with paperwork needing my attention; all before I return to my home and my wife, both in high need of some lots of attention before dozens of guests show up for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. Crazy week for sure!
So dear followers… if you’ve missed me, I apologize for the inconvenience; it isn’t because I don’t love you all. I’m just a little crammed for time. I’ll catch up with my reading and comments after I resurface from the food coma that is Thanksgiving dinner in our home. I’ve much catching up to do! Meantime, I hope you all don’t mind if I take five from my WordPress duties…
Dave Brubeck Quartet – Take Five
Wishing all my American friends a most Happy Thanksgiving Holiday, and all my other friends a splendid Thursday.
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Sacred Music – Ethereal and Sublime
I just returned from another visit to Victoria’s blog, whereupon I was intrigued by this week’s Monday Morning Writing Prompt topic of Sacred Music. Last week was quite extraordinary for me, two funerals and a wedding. There was no shortage of Sacred Music to be heard and felt as a result. This particular writing prompt captured my imagination, as I have been surrounded by music all my life, and I easily resonate with its raw beauty and power to transport my mind to another plane.
The word sacred evokes the notion of reverence, devotion, or veneration with regard to a higher order of a religious or spiritual nature. For today’s prompt and reflection that follows, I selected two musical pieces that some may consider to be deeply religious in nature. I am not, however, a particularly religious person although I do consider myself spiritual. These musical pieces are excellent examples of what some call prayer, or others meditation; a conversation of a simple creature seeking and reaching out to some higher order power in a uniquely personal and private moment of serenity, tranquility, and beauty. Inspirational, ethereal, and sublime.
I cannot simply put the musical pieces up without a set-up; I am after all a musical geek. Both pieces are commonly known as the Ave Maria. First is my absolute favorite version, written by Charles Gounod in 1859 as a melody superimposed over J.S. Bach’s Prelude No. 1 in C Major written in 1722. The lyric is the Hail Mary prayer in Latin.
Ave Maria – C. Gounod (1859) sung by Jessye Norman
The second selection, also a personal favorite, is commonly known as the Ave Maria, however it is actually Ellens dritter Gesang (Ellen’s Third Song), written by Franz Schubert in 1825. The song was part of a seven song Opus, a German translation of Walter Scott’s Lady of the Lake epic poem. The original lyrics of the song begin with Ellen praying to the Virgin Mary to protect her and her father from harm as they hid in exile in caves near Lake Katrine from their enemies.
Ellens dritter Gesang (Ave Maria) – F. Schubert (1825) sung by Barbara Bonney
I can be an incredibly long-winded person, almost never at a loss for words, but as I close my eyes to listen and reflect upon this sacred music, I am moved and filled with a simple thought:
Life is beautiful.
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Random Wedding Reflections
Yesterday was the wedding day of the daughter of friends of ours. The venue was beautiful, the weather quite nice for November, and the reception an immensely enjoyable occasion. All in all, it was a long but fun day. Sitting in the Chapel, we were treated to delightful music from a chamber ensemble and harpist, setting a serene and tranquil mood as we waited for the big event. Our friends are accomplished musicians and I just knew they would deliver a first rate experience musically with their selections; they did not disappoint. When the time arrived for the wedding procession, a full choral group of singers along with the chamber orchestra and harpist delivered a perfect rendition of Wagner’s “Treulich Geführt”, otherwise known to just about everyone else in the Western World simply as the “Bridal March.”
Opera geek that I am, I knew it came from Lohengrin, a Wagner Opera written and performed in 1850, more than 160 years ago. For people of today, the melody is immediately recognizable and is etched in just about everyone’s conscious mind, linked to the image of bride proceeding down the aisle to her groom-soon-to-be husband. It’s familiarity is so strong that my mind began wandering as it so often does. I began to wonder, what kind of reaction did Wagner’s first audiences have to this music when they first heard it, with virgin ears and no familiarity with the melody; with no frame of reference other than visual cues from the stage? What kind of impact did it have? How delightful must it have been to hear something new and so beautiful? What kind of emotion did this music evoke from a first time listener? Did the music compliment the visual betrothal on the stage?
Thankfully, my wandering mind was brought back to attention by the beautiful bride and the wedding ceremony. Either that, or it was my wife nudging and elbowing me in the ribs, snapping me back to attention. I suppose she’s seen that day-dreamy look on my face before…
Treulich Geführt, from Lohengrin (R. Wagner 1850)
Enjoy
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Ha! I’m Nearly Famous!
So glad I changed into new underwear this morning. Gee, I hope my fly is zipped...
What a crazy week it has been. Imagine my luck while stumbling around WordPress the other day, lurking about in a favorite blog of mine, Lorna’s Voice, just minding my own business, reading and commenting pretty much like I do any other day of the week, when all of a sudden I set off all kinds of alarm bells, wild lights, and confetti dropping from the ceiling. Apparently, my stumble happened to be the 20,000th hit on Lorna’s website, so out comes Lorna with camera crew in tow, looking to interview me as a famous celeb in the making. I now appreciate my mamma’s sage advice of never leaving the house without clean underwear – thank goodness! Click below to see how Lorna manages to do the impossible – make me look good under the media glare, and do it in her unique and illustrative style.
Lorna writes:
via Lorna’s Voice
I sure hope by linking my blog entry to hers, and hers referring back to mine, that I don’t get my readers caught in some kind of whirling reciprocal vortex of an infinite loop of WordPress hell. If I did, please accept my apologies in advance and, well, save a spot for me down there…
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