Music and memory

Memory is triggered by many different things, and it works differently for each individual.  For me the top memory trigger by far is music.  This has become very evident for me in the past few months.  Since losing my mother-in-law in early April I find myself tearing up in the aisles at work at the strangest times.  When the country music is playing on the Muzak system and a Trace Atkins song comes on (He was one of Debi's favorite singers) I find myself remembering a conversation with her, or time we'd spent together.  And it doesn't have to be one of his sappy songs, even his crazy "Honky Tonk bedonkadonk" song will bring the memories on.

And as I noticed this happening, I began to think of other songs that bring on memories. "Don't you want me" always makes me think of the summer I worked at Pine Trail Camp before my Senior Year in High School.  Lionel Ritchie's :Hello" makes me think of my freshman crush at Wheaton (not naming names, sorry). Collin Raye's "The Gift" makes me  think of my December wedding (even though the song wasn't played at the wedding or reception.  Anything by Johnny Mathis automatically takes me back to growing up with Mom as my earliest musical mentor.  And Cheap Trick's "Heaven Tonight" makes me think of my brother Dave, because he introduced me to Cheap Trick (and most of the other rock I listen to).  And who can forget Jenn Treezenburg (sp) when they here Aerosmith sing "Come Together" (Okay, probably only applies to kids I went to Calvin with)

I guess for me life is just filled with musical cues. And as Larry Norman says, "Let the Tape Keep Rolling"!

Aggravating

It is so aggravating!! All season long Dancing with the Stars has been on Monday and Tuesday with American Idol on Wednesday and Thursday.  Now it's finals week and suddenly American Idol is on Tuesday and Wednesday. Ok, they aren't actually against each other, but I watch stuff later with TIVO, and don't have 3 hours of watching time tonight.

WHY DO they do this to me??? Ok..sorry...done moaning.

Music find

When I was growing up in the late 70's and early 80's I was into the Christian music scene pretty heavily...in all honesty, I still am. I had stacks of LP's by big names like Randy Stonehill, Amy Grant, & the Imperials. But I also had more obscure acts like September, Malcolm & the Mirrors and Elim Hall.  Then in the mid to late 80's something crazy happened,,, a little thing called the CD.  Suddenly my vinyl was becoming obsolete.  I grabbed as much stuff up on CD as was rereleased.  But many of the smaller acts never met the digital format.  So when I went from CDs to iPod I could not bring the vinyl with me.

Now I have been looking at getting a USB turntable, but have never had the cash to invest.  But thanks to a friend of mine, I have found a couple website that have been able to help me out.  Now before some of you go crazy on me about robbing artists of their fair share, etc. Let me say first of all, I am only downloading stuff I know I can't find on CD.  Stuff I know is out of print.  I encourage you to do the same.  Check iTunes first, and download from their when possible.  But if you are looking for some great old christian albums check out these two sites:

old christian music


flipsidemn

And for those who just want to listen to some great old christian music, I recommend this podcast:

Full Circle

If you grew up around the same time as me, these will bring back great memories. ENJOY!!

American Idol: Here comes the finale & why Josh went home.

First let me start off by saying that when auditions were first starting, I picked Phillip Phillips to be in the final. And I guess Jessica has a good voice too, and should be there as well.  Problem this season was there was so much talent in the top five it really could have gone to any of them. 

Of course this week we had to say goodbye to judges' favorite, Josh Leddet (sp).  Now here is what I have to say about Josh-- he has an amazing voice.  With that said, I must also say it was his time to go home. "Why?" you may ask. I'll tell you...because every song sounded the same.  He was very James Brownish in his sound, and every time he got onstage I heard the same song with a new set of words.  He would have been great in the 60's but nothing he sang had Today's Hit written on it...I'm sorry. He was good, but not a winner on Idol.

Ok..nuff said. GO PHILLIP!!

I Hit a Duck

I am writing tonight with a sad heart.  While on my pizza deliveries, I hit a duck...or sort of hit him.  It is one of the hazards of mountain living that from time to time you have a run in with wildlife and the wildlife comes out on the losing end.

Tonight I was in a really good mood, and set to jam around the mountain and delivery as many pizzas as possible.  I was traveling pretty quickly, but within the posted speed limit from Blue Jay to Aqua Fria.  As I looked down at the road I noticed there was something directly in front of my car, and I could not stop in time to do anything.  I felt no thud, but as I looked back in the rear view mirror I saw two ducks crossing the street, and one was holding his wing straight up and walking with it's head very low...I think what happened is the wing got hooked on something under the car, and pulled out of socket or something...I am hoping the bird survived, and the wing might heal.  I feel just awful, and I had a bad evening as a result. 

On a positive note, I saw the baby coyote again that I had seen on Sunday, and this time mommy was right with him.

Dragging my Feet

That's how I feel this week, like my feet are just dragging.  So many things I should be doing, so much that needs to be done, and I don't feel like doing ANYTHING right now.

It seems my allergies are getting worse each year, and the dust in the warehouse is activating  the allergies big time.  Major sinus headache today, which could explain not wanting to do anything.  Hoping to find some motivation before the week is out...or I'll just sit and veg in front of Idol tonight like I did with DWTS the last 2 nights.

If you have any motivational tips, let me have 'em, I could use any help I can get. Thanks!

Idol Chatter (SPOILERS)

Okay, I cheated.  I found  out who was voted off on Idol, and I'm a little ticked.  We all know that America's votes are swayed by the judges, and all season the judges have been hard on Hollie.  Admittedly, she did have some early problems with nervousness, but I think she has conquered that in the last few weeks.  I also agree her second song last night may have been a bad choice.  But I still think that Hollie has the best voice this season.  Now I know we are supposed to vote based only on the shows performances, but when you listen to the studio versions on iTunes, Hollie's voice is totally amazing.

Now Jessica also has a good voice, but she tends to lean toward screaming the high notes, while Hollie hit them cleanly without the scream.  Joshua's voice is great, but every song sounded the same, and frankly I was bored with him by week three,and use his songs as time for clean-up or bathroom break while I watched.

And then there's Phillip...he's been my favorite since his audition....I t should have been him and Hollie in the finale, now I'm guessing him & Jessica.  Anyway, go download Hollie's songs and you'll see what I mean.

Presenting "Doctor Who Clip of The Day'

For many years I have been a fan of Doctor Who.  If you are a fan, you know what I'm talking about. If not, I invite you to come to my facebook page, and each day you will be able to find a clip from the show.  Of course you will have to friend me first if you aren't a friend already..just drop my a note telling me you're a blog reader of mine and I'll accept your friend request.

Today I posted a scene from the very first Doctor Who episode in 1963 "The Unearthly Child".  For those only familiar with the 21st century incarnations of the Doctor, I will help you get to know the versions I grew up on.  Please join me on facebook for the daily clips.  I'll give you today's here on the blog, but com to facebook for the daily entries.

Learning curve

Today at work I started training on a new function.  Okay, actually it is just a major overhaul on an old function, but quite a bit of new stuff to learn.  They had me training with one of my best friends as my trainer.  That was nice, but also a little distracting, because talking is more fun than work.

I have always been a pretty quick learner, which is I guess a really good thing, because they needed to pull my trainer out halfway through the day to cover someone who left early.  I managed to survive the rest of the day with no major mishaps, and I think I have the hang of the new process.  I hope so anyway, because tomorrow is the heavy volume day for this function.  I'd explain the process to you, but it is long and complicated and would probably bore you.  Plus, if I did explain it, I'd have to shoot you....No wait, I don't work for the CIA.

I miss Hymns

Call me old fashioned, but I miss Hymns.  I grew up in a Baptist Church, and Hymns were a part of our service every week.  Some of the songs seemed a bit old-fashioned to me as a kid, and some were really hard to understand the meaning.  But they were good powerful songs.

Modern church music has turned to a series of praise and worship songs, and  many of these are good songs, and they can draw you in to a spirit of worship.  But I find many of them lack the substance that so many great hymns had.  I fear as more and more churches get rid of their hymnals and go to slick multi-media presentations with the words of the praise songs up on screens, that we might forget the great hymns of our faith.  

That is why I was so grateful early this year to find three great albums featuring mostly hymns.  First was Collin Raye's His Love Remains which features the country crooner on a number of hymns along with a few of his inspirational country songs.  The second came from one of favorite obscure Christian artists, Kemper Crabb; the album is called Reliquarium and features a selection of hymns done in a variety of styles, very unique and beautiful.  And lastly is the sweet voice of Leigh Nash (Sixpence None the Richer) on Hymns And Sacred Songs a mix of traditional hymns and a few more modern tracks, brought to you in simple almost folk like arrangements.  If you, like me are missing Hymns, check these albums out.  Here is a video from the Leigh Nash album...enjoy.

May Update

Well, here we are at the beginning of May.  And happy Cinco de Mayo to you all.  I thought it was time to give you an update on how April went as far as the New Year's Resolution chart. As you may remember, I started April off with the hope of coming out of the slump I had fallen into in March. Unfortunately this did not happen.  After my 0 point rest week I had a 2 point week and two 1 point weeks.

My big downfalls came in two area.. First of all, the food and snacking kept up..I find my big problem in this area is that quite honestly, I LOVE food.  It is yummy and I like to eat.  I have managed to control it a little better this week, so we'll see where I end up this week.

The second area I had problems was in my writing especially and also the reading.  My creative juices just seemed to dry up and I could not get the writing to come out.  This seems to have gotten better this week and I should hit the weekly target this week.  And with the reading I have just found myself very distracted and having trouble making myself do it.

So for May we will try once more to buckle down and get back on track.  Hopefully the June update will have better results.