Drawing a Blank

It appears my brain is on a bit of a vacation as far as blogging goes. I have been avoiding the blogger login page like the bubonic plague. Maybe I'm drawing a behemoth blank because work is hectic, or because I'm obsessed with my new camera (Shall I post more birds for you all? I have some winners!). Maybe I'm coming up empty because I am in a bit of a musical drought. Drought might not capture the intensity of the situation, actually. Let me put it this way: I have 30 pre-paid downloads waiting for me on my emusic account. They need to be used by the end of the month and I am just staring at them like they are a foreign code to crack. I'm in dire need of some new tunes to listen to, but I'm feeling a little uninspired. My favorite XM station seems to be playing a lot of the same stuff over and over. I'm feeling saturated. I need a new direction.

So build me up, buttercups. Give me some new tunes to listen to and reawaken my deprived iPod, which hasn't been turned on since last Thursday (simply unheard of!). What are you all listening to? What's making your happy buttons light up, musically speaking? Inspire me, and I will try to inspire you right back.

We did have a pretty cool theme at music club this past month that I enjoyed muchos muchos. Theme: Alcohol/Drugs for round one... Songs that showcase a change in tempo for round two. I'll post my prime, Grade Amy selections at another date, but in the meantime, take a peek at your own collections and be wowed by just how many delectable nuggets there are for this one.

My Apologies

I am a compulsive apologizer. I apologize for things I did, for things I didn't do and for things other people do. I'm aware of the problem. I'd say I'm working on it, but really, that would be a big fat lie.
Yesterday, I took Murph for a long walk. (I'd like to say we went for a run, but that, too, would be a big fat lie.) Along the way, we got jumped by three different dogs. Each time, the owner was standing within a football pass from the road. Each time, they attempted to call their dogs off. Each time, the dog charged anyway, snarling, barking, biting and looking otherwise intimidating. My dog, who is constantly on a leash, is a chicken. He's what they call "fear aggressive". He knows he's a wimp, knows the other dogs see him as such, and therefore finds his inner cock-fighter every time he's charged by an unknown canine. I have to be very careful when I introduce him to knew four legged friends. The situation really needs to be controlled by humans, otherwise, the fur will go airborne.
Needless to say, the three high-speed charges that occurred yesterday left my knees wobbling, my heart pounding, and my shin scratched to hell from flying dew claws.
So what did I say to the owners of the accused chargers? To the 100 lb German Shepherd owner who let her hoss of a beast come flying? I said, "I'm Sorry" like I usually do, of course. I walked away, my dog was trembling. I took about 10 steps and realized that the offenders' owners had said nothing. No apologies, no inquiries about pet health or loss of fur. They wrangled in their hell hounds and headed back to their homes. I was left to walk the next 1.5 miles wondering if I should ever bring Murph to my favorite spot again. That really irritated me.
Add this to the other two apology reflexes this week and I'm at a loss for people and their sense of obligation. The first happened when a woman let her wayward shopping cart go careening across the parking lot instead of returning it to its rightful corral, three spaces away. I retrieved the cart, looked at the woman and apologized. (WHAT!? Why did I do that?) She just stared at me like I had lobster claws coming out of my ears, and got into her shiny Lexus. The second came after my brother's 8 month old golden retriever puppy leaped on my driver's side doors -front and rear- in an attempt at a friendly greeting, and ended up leaving massive claw marks in my beautiful, shiny new paint. (The curse of the car continues.) What did I say to my brother? Yes. You know. I don't even need to type it. Clearly you would win the "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader" competition. What did he say in return? Nothing. "Oh it will come out if you buff it." End of story.

So are there two groups of people in our society? The Sorriers and the UnSorries? The Apologists and the I-Care-Nots? I don't know the answer but I think I'm about to run for office in one of the camps. Grrr!

Song of the day: "I'm Sorry" - Brenda Lee

Time to Evolve...

It's a good thing there is a family party to attend this weekend. I need to evolve past the "photographing random backyard wildlife" stage with my new camera. The birds are starting to get inflated egos, thinking they're being followed by the paparazzi. Still, I'm having fun. It's like documenting spring's arrival!

This little white-throated sparrow clearly thinks he's a "somebody".These two Orioles obviously think they're too "A-List" to be sharing a branch with a woodpecker.
Sure you've heard of "Bennifer" and "Tomkat". Let's not forget "Brangelina", too.
But what of these two lovey doves?

Yes. It's really important that something more exciting than birds happens soon, just to give my camera a sense of importance. Not to mention me... I came home from a run to plop outside with my new toy and open fire on the wildlife for the third day in a row. Someone may have to stage an intervention soon.
In the meantime, if you'd like to share my joy in photography bliss, clicky-clicky on the pictures and prepare to be awestruck by the greatness of my new baby.

Crack-Eyed Peas and Crystal Light Meth

I've got to figure out the person (or persons) responsible for the music that is played at our local grocery store. There has to be some secret society of music nerds out there who huddle together in their mamma's basement and spend countless hours pouring over the most sugary sweet, addictive, embarrassingly familiar power pop nuggets ever made. I picture them gleefully compiling mix tape after mix tape of these tunes, shipping them off to every Shaw's, Hannaford's, Stop & Shop and/or Market Basket in the greater New England area. I don't know what grocery stores in other areas of the country/world are turning out from the speakers, but if it's anything like what I'm enduring here, you'll feel my pain... I know you will.

It's almost a guarantee that I will hear one or more of the following while making my rounds through produce, dairy or dry goods on my weekly trek to Stop and Shop:
1. Never Gonna Give You Up - Rick Astley
2. Will You Marry Me? - Paula Abdul
3. Wind Beneath My Wings - Bette Midler
Usually, you can count on at least one Michael Bolton song (today I heard two) and chances are good you're going to be humming Belinda Carlisle to yourself in the cereal aisle. Can you rule out some Jewel or Kenny G? No, sadly, you cannot. Today I walked out to my car with "Season's Change" by the 80's power pop extravaganza "Expose" spinning around in my head for at least 10 minutes. I had to look up the song when I got home to see who recorded it. It's like crack. Supermarket music crack... That's a bad situation indeed.

What is UP with this trend? I feel the need to make the overhaul of canned music at the grocery store my own personal mission. Sen. Obama seems to have impeccable taste in music, at least for his campaign rallies... maybe I can get him on the movement with me. Say it with me now, people: "Yes We Can!"

Keep track, you three readers! Let me know what you hear the next time you're ruffling through the potato chips or pondering the perfect thickness for your sliced American Cheese. If you're overwhelmed by the presence that Ace of Base song has in your ears hours after you've passed through the self-check out, I want to know. Don't bury your head in shame in the candy aisle when you realize you secretly liked hearing it. Let it all out right here. I'm on the case.

Camera Karma

My "new" camera came on Thursday. I'm so excited to have it, I can't stand myself. The whole auction/bidding/purchase process went very smoothly, and, as nervous as I was about buying a gently used item, I ended up with a total gem. My newest gadget has only been used twice, came with two great lenses, and works like a charm. I am by no means an eBay aficionado. I've completed a whopping 9 transactions in 10 years Still, when I strike, I strike big. My first purchase was an antique Hoosier Cabinet that I bought 6 years ago, which is still the centerpiece of the kitchen. Other purchases have been smaller scale items, such as assorted antique glass pieces or the Polish pottery of which I am so very fond. Now... the camera. Unfortunately for me, it has been raining here since Thursday, so I've gotten minimal returns on my big purchase thus far. Every time the sun peeks out I go scrambling for the thing, but these impromptu photo shoots have turned up nothing more than a handful of shots of the dog or the birds at the bird feeder. Not exactly Nobel Prize material, to be sure. Still, I must share:

Quite unlike my cursed car, I do believe the Pentax is blessed. Thursday evening, as I sat on the back porch and focused my big- momma telephoto lens on assorted squirrels, chipmunks, chickadees and mourning doves, I heard a crunching in the woods behind the house. I squinted and craned my neck. Out from the tangly brush strolled four young deer, tip-toeing delicately through the far corner of the back yard. They stood awkwardly for what seemed like hours, finally bolting back to the shelter of the trees when Murphy caught a sniff of them and began to howl madly. I was still so new with the camera, the photos I snapped came out pretty blurry, but I took it as a good omen, anyway. It was a pretty nifty event for a maiden voyage! Hooray for camera karma!

6 Word Mantra, Revisited

Because of some recent "happenings", my brother and I, who have admittedly grown a little more distant in the past year, have been on the phone daily for hours at a time. Our bond, which had previously been stronger than steel, has been reforged by something somewhat woeful. This, to me, is proof that good things happen along with bad ones. Through all our deep talks this week, though, one thing he said keeps resonating in my cloudy little head. He said, "You know, you just live for your kids, Aim. Nothing else matters but your kids." Then he realized that I, his soon to be 32 year old sister, didn't have any, and doesn't really plan to. He backpedaled. "Well, I mean... I live for my kids. People with kids live for their kids. You know what I mean..." There was an uncomfortable moment, but it was just that - a moment. It passed and we moved on. Little did he know that he just did the impossible. He summed up his 6 word memoir in 5 words. "You live for your kids." While I'm not really sure where that leaves me, I'm amazed at how easy it was for him to come right down to it like that. Here I lamented for weeks and could only come up with something about a dog's tail.

Throughout the week, I found myself repeating another mantra I try to live by. (What can I say? It's been a week where all life's cliche's are needed.) I kept saying, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." I can't boil that down to 6 words no matter how hard I try; some element of the meaning will get lost if I alter the syntax too much. I wonder if everyone has a little mantra like that. (My other big favorite was always, "Walk softly and carry a big stick".) Kind of like a theme song, but without the music. I always said my theme song was "Superman" by R.E.M.
I think I'll go put it on now...

It always comes back to music with me, doesn't it?

Good News from the Vacation Front

Three sniglets of good news from vacationland:

1) Aberfeldy is good news, no matter how you slice it. I was privileged to snag a copy of this CD following last month's music club gathering. I've got it on loan from the Euro-Popster, and I've come to terms with the fact that upon returning it to him, I shall have to buy a copy of my very own, post haste. Since its entry into my car stereo a few weeks ago, "Young Forever" has upended my two most unhealthy of musical habits, namely: "Shuffle" and "The Verge" (my current favorite XM station). Thanks to Aberfeldy, I'm listening to music by the same artist for more than three minutes and 24 seconds at a time. I feel like I've been in a coma and someone extra-special just dropped by with some fresh cut peonies. I'm suddenly awake, happy, and tapping my toes- from start to finish. As an entire package, the album is great - with no "skip it" songs or breaks in the sunshine-filled smoothness. I think what I like most about this disc is the fact that I can't quite figure it out. Sure it sounds like sunshine, happiness and rainbows at first listen, but as you start to listen more and more, you begin to wonder if these artists are just masterminds of supremely cynical thinking. It has to be so. No Euro-Pop band with sunshine beams emanating from every orifice would have this for their CD Cover:

On that note, on to my second happy thought of the day.

2) I won an auction for my camera. Hooray, Yippee and Woo-hoo! It should be here any day now. Prepare for lots of pictures to be uploaded. I'm going on a self-proclaimed (and self-led) "Owl Prowl" the morning after it arrives to test it out.

3) Oh, beans. In the hazy glow caused by thinking about my new camera, I forgot #3. It could have been either/both of the following:
a) We have our annual "Bulky Waste Pick Up" this week in town, which basically boils down to a extremely large, drive-through yard sale where nobody gets paid for their junk. Truck driving folk can be seen cruising around town at all hours of the day and night rummaging through curb-side piles of crud. I would say our pile, which was quite impressive due to the amount of crapola left in the attic of our house by the previous owners, was reduced to 1/3 of its original size by the end of the first day. The first taker was a man in a pickup truck bearing a license plate of "RED NEK". Upon seeing this, I thanked the stars and moon (again) that I do not have a vanity plate.

b) I have spent all but four of my first 30 emusic downloads. The majority came from the "Funky Sixteen Corners" album, channeling the Godfather of Soul himself, Mr. James Brown. This has provided me with multiple opportunities to boogie around the house as I clean, paint, work, what-have-you. The Funky Sixteen Corners will be my next full album purchase, me thinks. If you're looking to funkify your life, I suggest giving it a listen. It's dee-lectable.

Seven Days of Glory

Vacation means three things:

1) I can drink my coffee from my favorite mug while sitting on the back porch in the morning (or on the couch if it is rainy and gross out). Contrary to popular belief, my favorite mug is *not* my red travel mug. That's just built for convenience while commuting. Nope, tomorrow morning, I can sit on the porch, drink my morning java and read Sunday's paper. So what if it's a day late? Tomorrow, my coffee will be slurped from a vessel that doesn't have a twisty, spill proof top and a rubber grippy pad on the bottom. That's because it's vacation.

2) I can play records all. day. long. Vinyl, Vinyl, Vinyl... all day! No listening to my office-style roommate blasting Celtic religious music. No quickies with my iPod while I snarf down some lunch from 12:00 - 12:20. Tomorrow's line-up is stacked on my coffee table, ready to go. In cue: Joni Mitchell - Blue, Carla Thomas - The Queen Alone and The Moody Blues - Days of Future Past. V is for Vacation. V is for Vinyl. This, I don't think, is a mere coincidence.

3) I can stay up late watching closet favorites like last week's Grey's Anatomy episode, The Graduate or High Fidelity any night I want. I even crossed enemy lines and bombarded the Netflix account, which, around these parts, is strictly dominated by the person with the Y chromosome. There's nothing better than being the only one up at 1 am and watching your favorite movie- except maybe falling asleep on the couch while you're at it. This behavior begs the question: If a girl watches a chick flick at 2 am and gets misty eyed, and no one is around to see it, does it really happen?

It's vacation week! Let us rejoice and be glad!

It's Mary-Louise's Heyday!

Yeah. That was my favorite book when I was a kid. Right up there with "Stand Back Said the Elephant, I'm Going to Sneeze!" It almost trumped "Harry the Dirty Dog", but not quite. Harry is still the man, burying his scrub brush and running through tar and all.

I'm going to interrupt my trip down memory lane to announce a new chapter in my novella of musical mastermindedness.

I've subscribed to emusic, and for this I am very glad. Actually, I found out the details of this fact quite by accident. I had started looking into emusic in January but, in typical fashion, couldn't commit. I debated and debated. I read and reread. Apparently, I drank and drank, too, because I ended up signing up for an account and didn't know I had done so until I participated in the mundane task of actually reading my bank statement this month. Once engaged in this riveting activity, I realized that I was being charged $9.99 monthly by emusic.

A big, neon green question mark was forming over my head as I pondered the charges. Evidently, I had signed up for this downloading service months ago, had been charged for it 3 times, and never even knew I had a subscription.

Memory loss is no laughing matter, let me tell you. This whole early 30's thing is for the birds.

I got 50 free downloads my first month, which are now nothing more than a memory, but hey, I'm going to go get my monthly quota right now. I'll fill you in on the new audio gems soon.
So far, I've hooked myself up with some songs from The Incredible Bongo Band, Rafter, Blue October and Bella.
Yaay!