Yesterday Once More

I'm the kind of person who has to listen to music during the day when I'm working or writing. Since I'm sick of a lot of the downloaded music I have on my phone and I've taken a needed break from Pandora, I've been listening to music on You Tube. There are a lot of good musical combinations created by You Tubers and I came across a few great 70s compilations that included some excellent songs from my past. Songs like "Yesterday Once More" by the Carpenters, "Knock Three Times" by Tony Orlando and Dawn, and "Love Is in the Air" by Tom Paul Jones are just a few of the oldies I recently came across via You Tube. A lot of people knock 1970s music or only see that decade as the decade of disco, but they dismiss a lot of really great music. Hearing Karen Carpenter singing "Every sha la la la" in the chorus of "Yesterday Once More" is so calming to me. It's a shame she died so early, but fortunately the music she and her brother Richard put into the universe lives on.

I went to a reading with author Colson Whitehead a few months ago and during his talk he mentioned Donna Summer's song "MacArthur Park" which resulted in a sing-a-long with the audience. I was pleasantly surprised to hear my fellow Evanstonians in attendance belting out the chorus. Clearly there are a lot of 70s music fans in and around Evanston and folks who, like myself, know the words to "MacArthur Park."

Step Gently

Like many other people, I have a stepmother and step-siblings. Often times when stepparents are mentioned, they're referred to negatively. The evil stepmother is a real and present thing. I consider myself thankful that my own stepmother isn't evil or vindictive and we get along fine. But it's worth noting that I was in my 20s when my father remarried and my mother and father had been divorced for quite a while, so I wasn't a child when my stepmother became my stepmother. I also never lived with my father and stepmother. I also didn't grow up with my stepbrothers and sisters. We were all adults and living in separate states when the marriage between our parents occurred. Now fast forward to the present and my stepmother and her kids have a long weekend vacation planned for later next month. I, personally, would have preferred to skip this family outing for a few reasons. First, I don't really know my step siblings nor do I have much of a relationship with them. We see each other rarely (again, we live in different states). I don't dislike them, but I'm not keen on spending my vacation time with them either. Second, my father married into my stepmother's family. I did not. Therefore, if someone should spend time with her family, it should be my father, not me. The onus is on HIM to establish and maintain a relationship with his stepchildren.

As someone with limited vacation time from her day job, I resent having to spend any of my vacation days going somewhere I don't want to go and/or doing something I don't want to do. However, had I declined to go on this "family" trip, I would have faced criticism from my father. So I decided it was better to just suck it up and go along to get along. Sometimes you have to step gently when dealing with stepparents and real parents alike.

Weezer (and Some Other Stuff)

I've been listening to Weezer lately (old Weezer, not the newer stuff). When Weezer was having hit records in the 90s, I wasn't really into them. They seemed like a white frat guy kind of band. "Dude, put on some the Sweater Song while I get the keg ready!" However, I've come to like and appreciate their music from the 90s and I'm certainly not a white frat guy. My stereotyping of the band wasn't fair and I, of all people, shouldn't be stereotyping anyone.

In other news, I've also been watching a lot of the Seth Meyers "A Closer Look" segments from his late night show via You Tube. He's great. I'm late coming to the Seth Meyers party, but now that I'm here, I'm ready to put on some Weezer and get the keg going. I've also been watching some clips from his shows that feature his family. They're quite funny also. Meyers, in my opinion, is really providing some good commentary on the current political situation in a non-annoying way. I can't even watch Colbert anymore and I used to be a huge fan. I just don't care for his late night show and his whole shtick. I had stopped watching The Colbert Report also before it went off the air because I'd just had enough, but I was willing to give his CBS show a chance. I've seen some funny clips, but overall it's no bueno. (Sorry, Stephen!)

And last, but not least, I've picked up another clown. (It's also a music box.)

Silencing the Noise

It's hard these days to get away from the constant drumbeat of bad news. Everything now is "breaking" news or something to drive the general public into a frenzy. Try as I might to tune this noise out, it's hard to do. I also find myself checking various websites throughout the day and watching the news (local and cable) to find out what Donny T. and the Funky Bunch have been up to. But I've got to work harder to break those bad habits. For every minute that I waste on Politico or MSNBC is a minute I could be using doing something constructive like writing, reading, or taking a freaking walk. Silencing the noise of the media can and needs to be done from time to time. I'm not advocating for a total media blackout, just a decrease in the amount of "breaking news" that's spoon fed to the public daily.

Finally Finished

I finally finished a short story I'd been working on for the forthcoming Colors of the Rainbow series from JMS Books. (More details to follow later on that.) I'm not normally a short story kind of person, but writing shorter pieces for the JMS series like Love Wins, etc., is helpful for me because they force me to write on a timeline and that's something I need right now.

In other news, why did I watch Sessions (aka Foghorn Leghorn) testify today? I kept waiting for him to claim he had the vapors and pass out. So fragile and so unable to recall recent events.  

CYAIP

Like, apparently, 20 million others, I watched the Comey testimony yesterday. Even though the testimony was largely made up of different people asking the same questions in slightly different ways, I still found it compelling. John McCain's final questioning session really took the cake. I wondered if the guy stroked out before or during his time because he was so incoherent. Maybe it's time for him to take a seat. But back to Comey. Whenever I read or hear people who question why he starting chronicling his meetings with Donny T., I have to assume these people are naive about the way the work world works. Anyone who has had a poor work relationship with a manager and/or coworker(s) needs to chronicle everything. This is called CYAIP: cover your ass in paper. Everything has to be documented when you're dealing with workplace drama. Trust me, I know. The whole thing may still come down to your word versus someone else's, but the more documentation you have to prove your case, the better off you'll be. It's just the smart thing to do.

Jungle Boogie

I was listening to Kool & the Gang's song "Jungle Boogie" this morning on the way to work. "Jungle Boogie" is such a great song but it's one that probably wouldn't see the light of day if it came out now. A song by and/or for black folks with "jungle" in the title is a song that wouldn't get any airplay nowadays. The same goes for The Time's "Jungle Love." Yeah...no. The climate is totally different now and songs like these would be criticized as racially insensitive. There's a line in the Steely Dan song "Babylon Sisters" that says, "Turn that jungle music down. Just until we're out of town." Does jungle music equal black music? I'll assume it does. Okay, but "Babylon Sisters" is still a great song. I remember when I worked years ago in Philadelphia and our head honcho made a comment about avoiding obscure medical disorders to cover in our the books we published because, I guess, there wasn't enough of an audience to care. But she didn't describe these rare disorders as rare disorders, she described them as being "out of the jungle." I remember giving her the side eye for that. (She was British, so maybe that had something to do with her use of this phrase. Then again, maybe not!) In my old age, I just can't get my panties in a bunch about every little thing. And I'll continue enjoying "Jungle Boogie."