Year 2 - Day 159 - This and That
Aug. 24th, 2021 05:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatIt's hot. I went to the pharmacy at lunch time - which is about a ten minute walk if that or the equivalent of six blocks of sidewalk, with cross-streets. And it was 90 degrees - I think that is 32 C? Anyhow, it wasn't bad on the way to the pharmacy, but when I returned - I was drenched with sweat. Made lunch and tried to work - gave up finally and took a quick shower - which was interrupted by a phone scammer. I should have just let it ring - but I worried that it might be mother calling. Mother had her pre-op appointment in Charleston today.
The heat this summer had kind of resulted in less walking about. For example, I've not walked around Greenwood Cemetery since roughly June. I mentioned this to Wales, who stated, "well it's been incredibly hot. I don't feel like it either." That, and I ruined three pairs of pants wandering about the Cemetery last year - when it was relatively milder.
I don't fancy wearing through the crouches of the new pants I bought this year.
So, if it weren't for my work commute, various errands, and doctor's appointments, plus visiting my brother - I'd have become an armchair potato.
**
Charlie Watts died. Who is Charlie Watts? He's the drummer for the Rolling Stones. Died at 80 years of age.
To the world, he was a rock star. But Watts often said that the actual experience was draining and unpleasant, and even frightening. “Girls chasing you down the street, screaming … horrible!... I hated it,” he told The Guardian newspaper in an interview. In another interview, he described the drumming life as a “cross between being an athlete and a total nervous wreck.”
Watts found refuge from the rock life, marrying Shirley Ann Shepherd in 1964 and having a daughter, Seraphina, soon after. While other famous rock marriages crumbled, theirs held. Jagger and Richards could only envy their bandmate’s indifference to stardom and relative contentment in his private life, which included happily tending horses on a rural estate in Devon, England.
Author Philip Norman, who has written extensively about the Rolling Stones, said Watts lived “in constant hope of being allowed to catch the next plane home.” On tour, he made a point of drawing each hotel room he stayed in, a way of marking time until he could return to his family. He said little about playing the same songs for more than 40 years as the Stones recycled their classics. But he did branch out far beyond “Satisfaction” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” by assembling and performing with jazz bands in the second half of his career. (Per AP.)
Twitter has decided that this means the Stones are legitimately dead. I think the Beatles died when both George Harrison and John Lennon died. (Shhh - don't tell Paul Mcartney.)
In other music news, according to the NY Times, Billy Joel's hit "We Didn't Start the Fire" is a hated song by many, and the subject of a lot of worse song meme's. I don't get people. The song is kind of catchy and has a deep sense of irony intertwined inside it. It's whiny and accusatory at the same time - and in some respects a critique on the Baby Boomers and other generations - who shirk responsibility, while creating their own evils.
That may be why they hate it? People don't particularly like being told they are whiny assholes. Can't think why.
I hate Fountains of Wayne's song "Stacey's Mom", it's downright creepy. Also not a fan of Justin Timberlake's Bye Bye Bye, or Bob Dylan's Don't Think Twice It's Alright - which only works if Joan Baez signs it (he wrote it about Joan Baez). Also Steel Magnolias is overly self-indulgent sentimental crap that gets boring after the third riff. (I dated a deadhead in College). And I prefer Harry Belfonte's version of Women are Smarter.
Everything is subjective.
**
Now that the vaccine has been federally approved. Crazy Org is mandating workers either get the vaccine for free or be tested weekly. I don't understand why it won't just state - get the vaccine, or don't bother coming to work, and no, we won't pay you or cover your health insurance costs. One co-worker thought that if people don't get vaccinated they should be charged for their COVID tests.
Yes, my tolerance for the folks not being vaccinated is gone. Granted there are a few - who can't for health related reasons - they get a pass. No one else does. Fear of needles? Pshaw. I didn't even notice the needle. Or feel the shot. Blood work is more painful, heck the nasal COVID test is more painful.
**
In Entertainment News..
*Spiderman - No Way Home trailer premiered. (I still have to see Far From Home - which is not available on any of my streaming services.) It's an ambitious film.
* Also the Cowboy Bebop Live-Action Series is taking shape - with John Woo testing very well as Spike - the space western, based on the anime series of the same name. (I still need to check it out - but have not been in the mood. Anime is like that - I'm either in the mood for it, or I'm not. I'm really not at the moment.)
***
Mother just called - her trip to Charleston went better than expected. Finally some good news. Also more information on the surgery - it's apparently a conversion total hip replacement surgery - where they clear out the existing work, and replace it with a whole new hip. This should reduce her pain completely, also she won't have to go into rehab and should be mobile within a week or so. She only needs someone to stay and help her for one week - not two. Apparently, the surgery that was done in January didn't work and wasn't helpful - resulting in lots of pain - but was best choice at the time. It was never going to heal. This surgery will fix it.
Fingers crossed that everything goes well, and according to plan. I am hopeful.
She got a peach pie, and peach bisque soup along with a sandwitch during her little trip. (Mother doesn't have my ceiliac disease or gluten intolerance. I'm the only one in my immediate family that does, some folks in the extended have it - but not many.)
***
Okay, signing off now. Hope all is well in your worlds.
Random photo today - is a monkey is Costa Rica - taken in 2017.
* Note: I am for the most part making these posts access only now. This one is public because it doesn't really have anything that deeply personal within it. Just an update on mother, which can use all the pleasant and kind thoughts she can get.
The heat this summer had kind of resulted in less walking about. For example, I've not walked around Greenwood Cemetery since roughly June. I mentioned this to Wales, who stated, "well it's been incredibly hot. I don't feel like it either." That, and I ruined three pairs of pants wandering about the Cemetery last year - when it was relatively milder.
I don't fancy wearing through the crouches of the new pants I bought this year.
So, if it weren't for my work commute, various errands, and doctor's appointments, plus visiting my brother - I'd have become an armchair potato.
**
Charlie Watts died. Who is Charlie Watts? He's the drummer for the Rolling Stones. Died at 80 years of age.
To the world, he was a rock star. But Watts often said that the actual experience was draining and unpleasant, and even frightening. “Girls chasing you down the street, screaming … horrible!... I hated it,” he told The Guardian newspaper in an interview. In another interview, he described the drumming life as a “cross between being an athlete and a total nervous wreck.”
Watts found refuge from the rock life, marrying Shirley Ann Shepherd in 1964 and having a daughter, Seraphina, soon after. While other famous rock marriages crumbled, theirs held. Jagger and Richards could only envy their bandmate’s indifference to stardom and relative contentment in his private life, which included happily tending horses on a rural estate in Devon, England.
Author Philip Norman, who has written extensively about the Rolling Stones, said Watts lived “in constant hope of being allowed to catch the next plane home.” On tour, he made a point of drawing each hotel room he stayed in, a way of marking time until he could return to his family. He said little about playing the same songs for more than 40 years as the Stones recycled their classics. But he did branch out far beyond “Satisfaction” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” by assembling and performing with jazz bands in the second half of his career. (Per AP.)
Twitter has decided that this means the Stones are legitimately dead. I think the Beatles died when both George Harrison and John Lennon died. (Shhh - don't tell Paul Mcartney.)
In other music news, according to the NY Times, Billy Joel's hit "We Didn't Start the Fire" is a hated song by many, and the subject of a lot of worse song meme's. I don't get people. The song is kind of catchy and has a deep sense of irony intertwined inside it. It's whiny and accusatory at the same time - and in some respects a critique on the Baby Boomers and other generations - who shirk responsibility, while creating their own evils.
That may be why they hate it? People don't particularly like being told they are whiny assholes. Can't think why.
I hate Fountains of Wayne's song "Stacey's Mom", it's downright creepy. Also not a fan of Justin Timberlake's Bye Bye Bye, or Bob Dylan's Don't Think Twice It's Alright - which only works if Joan Baez signs it (he wrote it about Joan Baez). Also Steel Magnolias is overly self-indulgent sentimental crap that gets boring after the third riff. (I dated a deadhead in College). And I prefer Harry Belfonte's version of Women are Smarter.
Everything is subjective.
**
Now that the vaccine has been federally approved. Crazy Org is mandating workers either get the vaccine for free or be tested weekly. I don't understand why it won't just state - get the vaccine, or don't bother coming to work, and no, we won't pay you or cover your health insurance costs. One co-worker thought that if people don't get vaccinated they should be charged for their COVID tests.
Yes, my tolerance for the folks not being vaccinated is gone. Granted there are a few - who can't for health related reasons - they get a pass. No one else does. Fear of needles? Pshaw. I didn't even notice the needle. Or feel the shot. Blood work is more painful, heck the nasal COVID test is more painful.
**
In Entertainment News..
*Spiderman - No Way Home trailer premiered. (I still have to see Far From Home - which is not available on any of my streaming services.) It's an ambitious film.
* Also the Cowboy Bebop Live-Action Series is taking shape - with John Woo testing very well as Spike - the space western, based on the anime series of the same name. (I still need to check it out - but have not been in the mood. Anime is like that - I'm either in the mood for it, or I'm not. I'm really not at the moment.)
***
Mother just called - her trip to Charleston went better than expected. Finally some good news. Also more information on the surgery - it's apparently a conversion total hip replacement surgery - where they clear out the existing work, and replace it with a whole new hip. This should reduce her pain completely, also she won't have to go into rehab and should be mobile within a week or so. She only needs someone to stay and help her for one week - not two. Apparently, the surgery that was done in January didn't work and wasn't helpful - resulting in lots of pain - but was best choice at the time. It was never going to heal. This surgery will fix it.
Fingers crossed that everything goes well, and according to plan. I am hopeful.
She got a peach pie, and peach bisque soup along with a sandwitch during her little trip. (Mother doesn't have my ceiliac disease or gluten intolerance. I'm the only one in my immediate family that does, some folks in the extended have it - but not many.)
***
Okay, signing off now. Hope all is well in your worlds.
Random photo today - is a monkey is Costa Rica - taken in 2017.
* Note: I am for the most part making these posts access only now. This one is public because it doesn't really have anything that deeply personal within it. Just an update on mother, which can use all the pleasant and kind thoughts she can get.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-25 01:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-31 02:32 pm (UTC)I honestly view music as a deeply personal experience, and everyone's tastes vary.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-25 03:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-31 12:42 pm (UTC)That may be why they hate it? People don't particularly like being told they are whiny assholes. Can't think why.
The people who strongly dislike "We didn't start the fire" also recognize that it's catchy, but do not give it, or Billy Joel, the credit you do. The "deep sense of irony" your note... was not intentional. Nor did Joel write it as a "critique on the Baby Boomers" -- but rather the opposite. (He wrote the song in reaction to a Gen Xer telling him Boomers had it easy)
But then, maybe your ability to see irony into the song is why you can appreciate it the way a lot of other people don't. A lot of people don't hear what you hear when you listen to it, and they find it lazy and self-regarding.
Also, my FB feed is filled with History teachers and quizbowlers who are just absolutely sick of it, and of 'adaptations' of it... so that may be a factor. I am very versed in the case against this song...
no subject
Date: 2021-08-31 02:28 pm (UTC)It doesn't change my take or perspective on the song, or view of it. But it is always interesting to hear another perspective.