What? You Think You Invented This??

My sister wrote a pretty excellent column today about how she "used to be cool". She still is cool, most definitely, but the trappings of cool are slipping away from her, as they do all of us. I may have given her the primer, but she took it to her own levels.

One great line from this article is her thought to the gas station attendant shaking his head at her Pogues song, "I know it's cool, you little puke!" I have that reaction almost daily when school is in session. The middle schoolers with their different colored high top Converse, or multiple bracelets, or black tights under shorts, the rare Doc Maarten. I look at them, and sigh, and think, "what? you think you invented this??" So, I know how she's feeling when she writes these words.

The Cure was the "edgy band" that the kids I looked up to in high school listened to, one of whom commented on Colleen's facebook today, responding to her article.

Colleen's cool. Despite the minivan and the mustang sticker.

A Night Like This - The Cure

Happy Birthday, Colleen!!

Here's a soaring number from one of your favorite bands. It's a beautiful day, indeed ;)



Beautiful Day - U2

A 365 to 40 Holiday, Day 10: Fill Me Up With Love

Another favorite. This one sort of takes a side track into the whole Jesus story by the end, but it's still a Christmas song, to me. A gentle reminder of the spirituality of the season never hurts. I don't need to be beat about the head with it, but between this and Linus, I find time to reflect.

My sister Cat was a huge DMB fan for years and years, so this song always makes me think of her. Also, it's one of those Christmas songs that frequently, when I'm singing along in the car, makes me cry spontaneously.

"Father up above, why in all this hatred, do you fill me up with love...?"

Stunning.
The Christmas Song - Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds

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A 365 to 40 Holiday, Day 7: Olden Times and Ancient Rhymes, and Love and Dreams To Share

Today's song is special for all sorts of reasons. First and foremost, my sisters and I LOVE (not past tense, current) this special, and will still make every effort to watch it on TV. Yes, I own the DVD, but I won't watch it until I've seen it on the networks first. It makes it still "a special" that way. Peanuts is my sister Cat's favorite cartoon, and Linus is her favorite ever. So, this is all tied up in memories of being a kid, in our pjs with a special snack, sitting cross-legged in front of the tv, waiting for those ridiculous York Peppermint Patty commercials to be finished so we could get to the best part. "That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."

In church, as we got older and a little more irreverent, we would throw our heads back like the Peanuts gang whenever we had to sing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" at the close of Christmas Eve mass. I wrote a quiz for my sixth grade students one year, for extra credit points.

Everything about this song is special to me, an all time classic. It's posted today for two reasons: one, it's on Channel 5 (local ABC affiliate, check your own listings) tonight, so you know where I'll be at 8:00. Two, it's MJ's birthday today, and he requested this one for his birthday post. So, happy birthday, friend. Glad you're back to listen to yet another countdown.

Christmas Time is Here (vocal) - Vince Guaraldi Trio

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My Sister Cat's iPod: A Two-Fer...

Because I simply just forgot yesterday. Take a red wine hangover, combine it with a baby shower an hour away, some baking, and then trivia night at the Elks, which was a fundraiser for my nephews' elementary school, and yesterday just flew by. So, I took advantage of the extra hour of sleep this morning, and I finally feel refreshed after weeks of running around like a lunatic. Which is not to say this week won't be exactly like the rest of them, but at least by the end of today, I'll feel physically ready to take it on (mentally, well, there's a different story).

Today, then, you all get two songs as my pennance. My sister Cat's iPod is a treasure trove of soft rock goodness. For years we have maintained that her iPod has actually been hijacked by a 45 year old human resources manager named Carol, who likes cat sweatshirts and doilies. She has a boyfriend, Mitch, who won't marry her because he's divorced and his first wife is a little crazy. They take foliage trips "up New Hampshire", and she goes to the outlet mall for everything. We've created an entire life for the mythical woman who programs Cat's iPod; it's a little odd. However, it gives both my sisters and I the perfect outlet in which to channel those guilty little soft rock pleasures from the 70s that we can't get out of our heads. Ever.

So today's selections are two from "Carol's " iPod. It's Sunday morning; they're appropriate.

I Love You - Climax Blues Band (oh, the cheese in this video...oh, it's glorious)



So Far Away - Carole King (who doesn't love Tapestry, though??)

Ziggy Played Guitar (in Suffragette City)

Happy Birthday David Bowie, and D. Oh, and some guy named Elvis, too. Apparently. The important ones are listed first and second, though. Hahaha!

In other random observations, I chimed in on a few facebook arguments yesterday. One was centered around my purchase of a Snuggie. Oh, yes, dear friends, I went there. The main reason for buying it was for my sister, who would wrap herself up in blankets in JULY if she could, and is pregnant and needing a cocoon most days. I then took advantage of their "buy one/get one" offer for myself.

The other facebook argument I'm opening up to the general world. A friend of mine replied to a comment one of his female friends left on his status with something along the lines of, "I thought there was a statute of limitations for the flowers thing?" Let me be crystal clear with all of you: there is NO LIMITATIONS on flowers. They are always appropriate. And we will always remember when we DIDN'T get them (and felt we should have) as much as we will remember when we did get them. Rule of thumb, guys. If there's all sorts of hullaballo on tv and the radio, or a day off, flowers are always appropriate. Flowers are also appropriate any day, whether it's 2 dozen roses from the boutique down the street, or the $7.99 floral special at the supermarket. Never, EVER, underestimate their power. Oh, and flowers to the office? Hot. Dale was surprisingly good at that.

So, in closing, to my buddy, no, there is no limitations on flowers. You could even send them NOW to make up for your grievous error, even if she is married.

Oh, and everyone send positive vibes Liz's way. She really needs them right now. She's a superhero, and has run into some kryptonite.

As you were.


Suffragette City (thanks, murph!) - David Bowie

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Electric Boogaloo

Yesterday, I was at a baby shower, and I was talking with my girlfriends about going out dancing. One of them was saying she was a little wary of going out to do that; she wouldn't know if she'd be comfortable. So I proceeded to talk to her about my sisters and our group of friends, who can turn any event into a dance party, and have on several occasions. My birthday party, our Christmas party, the planning meeting for that Christmas party. Put out enough Bud Light, and good dance music, and we're grooving.

Later on that night, I swung by my sister's house, and she had some friends over for a small barbeque. So, we were all out on the porch, talking, drinking, having fun. She then explained to us that she had been sent some DVD's from a high school friend, of old VHS tapes this girl's father had converted. One of them was a dance recital they were both in from 1987. So we put in the DVD, and begin laughing hysterically at the opening number. Suddenly, I felt a tickle at the base of my neck--what? What was this? Oh, no. Not a headache, or something serious, but the realization that THE LAST YEAR I TOOK DANCE LESSONS WAS 1987. And lo and behold, there I was in the back row. The crowd proceeded to simultaneously combust laughing.

At one point, we were tired of the cheesy 80s pop songs, and decided the video would be much funnier if Jay-Z, Wyclef Jean, and Eve provided the soundtrack. So, we turned the sound down and the iTunes up and watched 6 year olds in blue tutus pirouette to "Big Pimpin'" At which point, the whole evening degenerated into--you guessed it. Dance Party USA in Colleen's living room.

Good times, good times. Summertime and the livin' is easy.

Sisters

Raus, originally uploaded by crau1971.

Apparently, it's National Sibling Day. So, I thought I'd share this picture and take a moment to thank them for being the constants in my life, my touchstones, greatest fans, and best friends.

They rock my world.