Just Dreaming |
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Saturday, October 05, 2002
This is more like it... Oh man. Do people really watch the new *clothes* at those shows? Where else is it considered acceptable to stare at pretty women? They purposefully stomp down the runway. You'd think they'd injure their joints stomping like that. Maybe they do, after a number of years in the business. Interesting how their marches are very similar to each others... I suppose that the way it's done. Models bounce a lot when they walk. This must be about the most boring fashion show I've ever seen though. I read a review of "Stealing Beauty", and was hopng the movie would look better than they said. No! It looks terrible. Cold and disjointed.. I keep hoping it will get better, but it hasn't shown any signs of that..Boy, just a few minutes is painful! It's baaad! "High energy point of the day: 8 a.m." Right, just as I drifted back into a deep slumber. Maybe they meant energetic dreaming. ;-) Looking at famous people who share my sign, I like these: Cary Grant - He's classy, this figures. I didn't know though. Excellent. Elvis Presley - This makes a lot of sense, good and bad. Too bad he didn't live a lot longer. Howard Hughes - Rich and eccentric. Benjamin Franklin - That guy was pretty unusual too. I'd like to see a picture of him younger.  I wish these things were true.. One prognosticator says this about the middle of next week (after a lousy start to the week), "In your private life, you could win prizes in competitions, meet new exciting people that quickly become firm friends and if you are single, you are in with a really good chance of meeting the partner of your dreams." Wow, of my dreams?! :-) Or how about this, "Someone you have known for a long time may secretly have designs on you, which once you find out will both shock and please you." So, she's finally going to somehow let me know? Wow, what a wonderful thing that would be! ;-) Sheesh, why do I read these things! Is there anyone who amuses me as much as I can amuse myself, and even finds me about as amusing as well? Yes, I've known a couple. Trouble is, I met them both while married. Hmm! .... Oh, that game that I had written off as boring last night, turned better later, a really neat surprise. My team's long out of it, but I love baseball still. At first I just didn't get up when the alarm went off. Then at 7:30AM I felt a bolt, "OK, *now* get up! You need to get to work." I did, only I flopped back in bed moments later... After thinking I'd get up by about 8, of course I didn't. No, I laid there, now on top of the comforter, for several more hours! During one of those stretches, I dreamt I was about to buy a house. It seemed a little funky, but it was big, and I liked it. Then, I went into the back yard, of what was, I thought, a vacant house. Back there, around the seedy pool/pond, a bunch of underage guys and girls were having a really wild party. Wow, what were *they* doing here? And as I looked around, "what are they doing?!" ....I walked out into the mist a little after noon, still with work to do. I'll just work a later shift. Coffee? No it's too late, I thought. I'll be back to the very early hours get up soon, I can't! Only, I am, and it tastes good. ;-) Friday, October 04, 2002
Maybe I was a little harsh... I don't think I'd throw any His Name Is Alive album into the rubbish pile. ESP is still tons better though. "Love's A Fish Eye" is lovely... it nearly redeems the dark "Home Is In Your Head." She's got a comely voice. God I love this song. She must be awakening from the nightmare here, finding out she's still alive, and everything *isn't* horrid after all. "The Phoenix, A Pool of Ice", yeah well this does sound icy. It's completely different from that other album."Are We Still Married", it was hard to tell towards the end. Another, "Beautiful and Pointless", well, I am starting to feel tempted to throw this album "Home Is In Your Head" back on the scrap heap. AMG's wrong again, no way is this album *better* than ESP. It doesn't even compare. Boy, they need someone like *me* to fix some of their rankings. It's like they were going through a living nightmare, and commited it to record. It's awful. Unless you like nightmares. This earlier album is a lot trippier. I'm glad I listened to ESP first...I was lucky. "Home Is In Your Head" sounds real different. They were in a different place then. Sounds quite a bit colder so far.. Maybe that's just the start.... It's kind of spooky. ("My Feathers Needed Cleaning.") OK, the very last song on that ESP album *does* sound like some good Motown (actually gospel).. "Last One" is yet another very cool groove for HNIA. "I can't live at home in this world any more...." Amazing. Is this all the same group? Wow. I see two songs on the next HNIA album for me to look forward to, "Her Eyes Were Huge Things" followed by "The Charmer." Yeah, those do seem to go together in girls. ;-) Thank you God! More His Name Is Alive... That's the trouble with having a list of things you want to check out. It's hard to say exactly where within that list the things you're going to really love are, until you find them, and listen. The rewards though, sometimes those are sweet. What a strange name though! His Name Is Alive comes from something written about Abraham Lincoln in a text? So, why did they choose it for their name? "The Sand That Hold The Lakes In Place" has a really cool dub bit at the end.... Wow, this is cool album. Now the acoustic guitar on the beautiful, "I Can't Live In This World Any More", broken again by bits of dub at the end... These guys are definitely into dub. They do some trippy combinations within songs, which actually work. OK, OK, finally we come to the Pet Sounds era sound (on the 8th song in)... "Universal Frequencies", complete with a theramin sound... Very Beach Boyish. One song! ;-) Damm, these guys can really get in a groove...as their male singers come to the fore. Sounds very Brian-ish. "The Bees" sounds a little like Her Space Holiday. I hear a little reggae too, on others. I haven't heard any Mowtown at all, so far. Basically, it's one girl singing, on lots of cool compositions... How is that *anything* like the BB harmaonies? It does sound like another 60's pop group, a little. Which though? "What Else Is New" is really cool... But who, who?? I wouldn't care, but it does sound like someone really cool... Actually, I have it. On this song, HNIA sounds like a long lost 60's pop group with a really cool sound. (When it's not sounding like a dub outfit.) Not like any in particular, except themselves. Yeah! His Name Is Alive's "Dub Love Letter" is a very cool start to this album. Wow. I like *her* voice, too. (Two seconds later, I look down and see the Beach Boys' "Surfer Girl"...) I'd been wanting to check some HNIA for a little while now. Sounds like this is a good album to start with... Ahh, I left the dome light on in my vehicle! Hmm, that must have been so the last 3 hours or so.. Luckily my next door neighbor just let me know. I'm so f**ked up tonight. It's a good thing I'm in and don't need to go out. They're everywhere! "Stars on ESP/Nice Day really pays tribute to '60s-era Motown and Beach Boys pop sensibilities." I'm just reading about a His Name Is Alive album, and find the above. On AMG again, of course. Wow, Byrd's a wild man! This is classic.... To have that much passion, carefully, and only slightly, under control. Warner makes some good points too. He's harsher and less fun to listen to though. He's polite, but his anger isn't so honey flavoured.. Oh man, it's really fun watching those two old gentlemen. Byrd doesn't look like he would have that much energy... The spirit is strong. The backs and forths.. Good natured, pointed point and counterpoint. Who will be tomorrow's Senator Byrd? Wow, I'm watching some coverage of the earlier US Senate debates today... Senators Warner and Byrd mostly.. You have to see Byrd's emphatic gestures for the full effect! It would be great to be a senator and be able to debate like *that.* All the dramatic flourishes and beautiful twists of the tongue... "At this time you must guard against... coming on too strong." Yeah, I suppose I should..... I'm sort of enjoying headerless entry-making. It seems a little freer. Boy, the senate floor hearings are interesting today. Especially Senator Kennedy. Quite a debate going on. A very polite debate. Wally's the coolest character in Dilbert. Dilbert's boring, and Dogbert's mean. Alice is a workaholic. Wally just sits back and does his own thing though. Oblivious to everyone else! He's cool. (Athough their pointy haired boss is quite amusing too.) The leaves are drooping now, changing color fast. Green and yellow, so far. Summer is gone. This week, the highs dropped about twenty degrees from last weekend... It all happened so fast. Girl that I love, where are you? (I'm vaguely recalling an early reggae song... my reggae memories are getting mushier.) ...Too many hooligans roaming the land. Thursday, October 03, 2002
Fun Connections I have to say, the Amazon UK site is really excellent for connecting up something you like with other particular things you might like. The nice thing is, you can quickly see similar groups, then albums, and various (UK) users' opinions on them, along with the users' comparisons to other groups... Nice resource! *These* UK guys seem to have great taste too! More Brian Wilson I can't believe this... AMG says, about Air, "More apt to cite stately rock paragons Burt Bacharach and Brian Wilson as their inspirations"... Brian Wilson? It's almost like those guys at AMG say the names "Beach Boys" and Brian Wilson, just because they're cool to say. Really, Air and Brian Wilson? Yeah right. I mean, they cite the Beach Boys as influencing Everclear too. I don't know... Maybe the influences are so subtle you can't hear them at all! ;-) Self-Pacification I'm being pacified by music. Some dreamy dub by Air. It's pretty cool stuff if you're in the mood. Still I'm surprised that people who right now seek some of the music I am currently acquiring and listeing to, are most interested in Air. They must be pretty popular. In Europe? Must be one of the few French groups I've ever gotten into. Perfect for a quiet rainy afternoon that never seems to end. Their Voices I have a girl friend who doesn't like her voice very much. However I like it. Hers is different and pretty quiet. There's a woman I work with, not closely, who just broke up with her loser of a boyfriend. Another woman I know calls her Miss America, and seems to think she's the most attractive thing to grace my place of employment. Yes, she is attractive, not really my type though I'd say. Listening to her, maybe it's her voice. It just doesn't do anything for me. Now, a young woman who almost ran into me in the parking lot, on foot I mean, instead smiled and said "hi" to me then. I was thinking, "nice voice." Actually, I was thinking, "Who was that?!!" I just heard her again, doing some business nearby. I walked to take a discreet peak. Ha, she was looking over at me too. I wonder about her. A pretty blonde with a nice girlish voice... There's another one here, a redhead with a great charming voice.. If she was "smaller".... Their voices are so impacting! (Edit, a little later . . strike that blonde.) What's For Lunch? I have a splendid appetite today. That's when it's good to go for lunch with another guy, who sports a hearty appetite as well. Ideas "College isn't the place to go for ideas." (Helen Keller) This was certainly true for me. High school was mind opening. College was dull intellectually. Post-college, beginning about 3 years after college, has been a mostly continual series of ideas and discoveries. I have found, however, that college educated women tend to be a lot more compatible for me, in many ways, than others. So, it's a good idea if the girl for this guy is college educated, too. Smart and sweet, that's quite a combination. :-) Charming Females As a guy, it's interesting to see how my varying appearance affects my daily interactions with the two genders. I've noticed something about the guys I talk with regularly. They seem to pretty much not care at all, whether I am on my toes, or dressed up, or in shape or not. The women, on the other hand, are completely different! They're easier to charm, when I'm in a charming mood. They love the shirt I am wearing today. It's a mystery, almost like magic or something. It's just a shirt! But they act like I am suddenly at least one notch up in their degree of attraction to me. Of course I like the effect, but then I don't wear the shirt that often anyway. Anyway, the females are a ton more affected, at least from what I can see, by what sort of mood, and what sort of clothes I'm wearing at any particular time. Charming females... :-) Guys are easier, girls are lovely though. Cows I don't do well with women who look like cows. Hmm, well, it just doesn't seem like a human female should look like a cow. Panned  Guys in the UK love to criticise UB40. They're dead wrong. Like this, "I didn't expect much from this album, but confess to being quite pleasantly surprised. A more thoughtful song selection - there's no Food For Thought, King, One In Ten, So Here I Am - could have made it better still, but as it stands it achieves it's goal amiably, and hopefully will give these artists a wider audience." OK, he was pleasantly surprised. That's because he was pretty clueless in the first place! No, no no, the songs he mentions are **not** better than the ones they used. Their song selection was quite good. Get a clue, UK! ;-) (I imagine they *do* have some great fans there, just that I've never run into any huge UB40 fans from England, yet...Well, one woman fan who had lived in England, but she moved. Besides I am talking guys, they're the ones who love to put down UB40.) Sweet Dancing Girl With Me Ha, you can actually understand them! The funniest thing about listening to the classic UB40 rhythms and mixes sung by the "Fathers of Reggae" (a cool and pretty accurate album title) is that you can actually make out all the words. Unlike original UB40 lead, Ali Campbell. Boy, this album seems sweeter than I'd ever imagined. Actually I've only listened to a few songs so far. It's a pretty intense experience for me... I'd love to be on a cozy dance floor with a really sweet girl, dancing to this stuff... UB40 makes you want to dance. Wednesday, October 02, 2002
Reggae Fathers OOoooeee, this sounds like a cool set.. I'm finally listening to UB40's "Reggae Fathers", on which they get some of the classics of reggae, like Gregory Isaacs, to sing over some of their very best songs... Like Isaacs, on "Bring Me Your Cup." Nice... Or, wow, can you imagine "Silent Witness" and "Love Is All Is All Right" and even "The Earth Dies Screaming" done by some of the Jamaican masters? Wow... Now, they don't surpass the fantastic, irreplacable UB40 originals... However, the mixes on every one of these songs is so dammed mellow... Perfect!!! This is reggae revisited, with a twist, at it's best.... Amazing.  Hand-Picked I was just thinking.... As I looked at, and signed, a photo scrap-book someone put together for a man just now retiring, I really started to think of the many people I've worked with over the years, who I liked a lot, and who no longer work at my workplace. It's a long list. How I'd love to put together an all-star roster, choosing the best, the smartest, the nicest, the most loyal, people I've ever worked with. It turns out a little creepy, because I know at least two of them are dead now. I picture them alive, though, with their warm smiles. They always made me feel good every time I was around them. I only knew Jane, and later Art, for a few years each, but I'll never forget them. They were jewels.... There are many others too, still living. Some fairly young (or at least younger than me) and others probably ancient by now... Oh, I'd love to have them back. I should put together a list, from different departments. I could include some old flames or near-flames too...My roster would be the best! The best place to work ever! Hand picked by me. ;-) The Rarer The Stuff I'm finding, with some things I'm hunting down lately, like the harder to find Land Of The Loops and The American Analog Set, that the rarer the track, the spacier it tends to be. More dub-like, and weirder. I have a feeling that if I *do*complete a followup to "Teach My Feet To Fly" it will be trippier than the first... Which will be fine with me. I'm not sure if it will connect with anyone else though... I'm still undecided on Hooverphonic. Are some of their songs simply cool - like they sound when I'm in the mood. Or, are they too cold to love, over time? It's interesting how your mind (and heart?) get into certain grooves sometimes. Like, right now, some of these certain indie (slightly odd) groups strike a cord with me. Their particular wierdness doesn't sound annoying at all to me. It's just fun, and part of the richness of the experience of listening, of feeling this music. It's not always true at all, however with some of these, the rarer the stuff, the weirder it is..... Oh man, "Soapy Hose" is so cool! I can't stand it. I'd rather be dancing. At Best "Only the mediocre are always at their best." (Jean Giraudoux) I like that one. I'm sometimes at my best... and other times, I'm most certainly not! Tuesday, October 01, 2002
Sweet I love titles sometimes... Right next to each other, from a personal favorite group with way too little recorded, Air Miami, two songs, followed by the album they're from... "You Sweet Little Heartbreaker", you're "Sweet As A Candy Bar", (sentiments from,) "Me, Me, Me." :-) It's My Life I love living *my* life. I may not have every little thing down pat, yet. ;-) But what the heck! Why Do They Call It Blue? My team, the Dodgers, took a dive the second half of the year... So I am not all that interested in the baseball playoffs. I sure hope next year turns out better for the Boys in Dodger Blue. Whoever started calling moods which are down, "blue" moods? Feeling kind of blue? That should be happy! I love blue! Reputedly, demons hate blue too. Another good reason to love blue! Feeling blue, hmm, not so blue today. A little blah. Blue is the coolest colour! Feeling blue should mean, you're feeling on top of the world! Hmm, my tie's got a lot of blue in it today, and *it* feels really happy, really proud of itself. Blue is good. In My Line Wow, it's surprising what little thing might make one's day seem just a little bit better. Having run out of two or three staples, I made myself go over to the local mega-supermarket. Ah well, I thought, there might be a nice looking woman or two there. It won't be total boredom. So, I quickly went through the aisle of the crowded midday market, picking up my few items. In the fruit section, I noted one particularly... I looked again, and she had two small toddlers with her. I didn't care, it was just nice to see her. A few minutes later, I grabbed some yougarts, (Yeah, Tillamooks on sale!) then went to the checkout. There were about 15 or so checkout lines open, and they were fairly evenly busy. so, I'm standing there, and who should get *in my line*? Right! The woman I was admiring (fairly discreetly I think) earlier. Yeah, it's nothing. Not like she slipped me her phone number or anything.. Kind of cool though. Some Luck... I'm going to go spend my "lucky" dollar coin. Considering how it came to me, as a gift from a certain girl, it seemed like a good choice for a good luck piece. Some luck. Although, she was really nice, so what if her coin has no positive spin to it. Weird Names I *hope* she likes that CD, of bands with weird names... Maybe just something different for a different mood some time. Monday, September 30, 2002
Looking Back It's fun to look back on a CDR you've made, which you are now happy with, after many changes. To listen to a previous version, and to see those tracks which didn't fit onto the final, for one reason or another. Like, "I've had this song forever, and was really excited about it, over a year ago. It just doesn't go with things which I am *now* excited about. Plus it's 7 minutes long. I bet I can fill that time better." It was so much fun trying to fill that time better, too! Or, "It's a cool instrumental... but do I really need another instrumental on this compilation?" That one probably would have stayed, except that I found a couple others I was crazy to fit on to the disc. A couple tracks were cut, in the end, because they're just too depressing. Hmm, well, plus I liked a couple others I found better. I don't mind some cool "down" songs, but too many is too much. Josh Rouse's "Summer Kitchen Ballad" fits in that category. Although, *that* was a very tough decision! "Sat in the kitchen with an asthma cigarette... Out the window with an inch of regret. It's a grey world," he wails, quietly. Sure, but it's so *painful* to listen to. He just stepped a little over where I wanted to go, for a permanent collection, there. Although I like it still. Not A Pretty Girl I'm so cruel! A haughty, not very attractive, fairly crude woman nearly ran into me a few minutes ago. As I stood looking out the window, moments later, the sun now shining on the wet sparkly outdoors, I thought about that exchange. She's one of the more unpleasant people I come into contact with regularly. One of those people who is not as gifted as they might think. However, I know it was cruel when she reminded me of a screen name I've seen (where???), "Not A Pretty Girl." Sure fits this one! Although "Not A Pretty Girl" was undoubtedly much nicer.... Wow, it's the end of September, and most of the trees outside look like they have no idea that summer has ended. They've got all their leaves, and their leaves are still green. I think they'll be waking up to reality soon. It's gotten chilly fast, the last two days. (Actually, a better description for this one would have been "Not A Pleasant Girl", although I wouldn't grant her the "girl" part - just a female of the same species... and the other part still applies!) Cruel! Two Ducks Bolted  As I began my walk along the trail this afternoon, I passed the pond, and two ducks bolted into flight. Male and female, I believe. Those ducks made me think of a song called "Dead Duck", which starts off my "Teach My Feet To Fly" compilation. I loved the feel of that song as a start to that CD. However, I was concerned too, that the girl who grew up loving her pet ducks (lucky ducks) wouldn't find that somehow disturbing or even offensive. Since then, Laura told me about hearing that song, "Dead Duck", in the background of a movie she watched while flying just a little while back. The "dead duck" was apparently a duck who got hit by a hard loaf of bread! I'm hoping that wacky imagery will fill the mind of the girl when she listens to this CD. The CD does have some sad elements, nothing overriding though...Oh, the rain sure has enlivened the stream by my path. It flows vigorously now.... I found a postcard from a very pretty girl in my mailbox on Friday, as I arrived home from work. I can dream of a faraway land! ... The wooden planks on the second bridge had some give in them. Those felt good beneath my feet. Seemed like I had a bounce in my step today, for *some* reason... On the way back, I walked by a mysterious forest on my right. I don't think I'd want to go in there.... A little further, there was a stick, attached to another stick, purposefully stuck into the ground, next to a raised sewer manhole mound. What was that stick doing there? Oh, I figured it out. That stick's to help see just how flooded it is, when that lazy creek flows over. It's a very floody park. Nearing my car, there's that odd white on blue sign "Do not feed the nutria they may bite." I wouldn't even get close to those rat things! ;-) ... On my way back, I was thinking the CD I was listening to is indescribably cool. Dreaming In The Rain I think dark, rainy weather is conducive to dreaming. I was delighted to awake a couple times Saturday night and Sunday early morning to the sound of rain on my roof. This morning, the sky is so dark, it's like another world. It's deeply dim, wet and grey today. My dream began with an outing with some coworkers. We all headed downtown for a movie, then went out to some sort of festival east of there. Suddenly, I recalled I'd left something back at the theater, and left the others to return downtown. I found myself in a lush room, with my PC on a table, a big, overstuffed couch on my right, in a generously sized room, overlooking the lobby. The lobby of what? This seemed to be either perhaps the old Paramount, which featured live shows years back, or a really grand old hotel lobby. I could sit there doing my thing on my PC, and looking out over the goings-on in the lobby. I loved the feel of it. My room was up on another level from the lobby, like perhaps the mezzanine. It wasn't physically separated from that large lobby, however no one paid me any mind, for ours. I wasn't sure how I came to be in this particular room, or how long I could be there, but I was enjoying it so much, I wanted to just stay a while. In addition to my perch over the happenings below, I could see out a floor to ceiling window behind me. As it grew dark outside, someone came, I think a cleaning lady, who looked surprised to see me. I think she turned me in! A little while later, the owner of the place came in, to tell me a thing or two. The man was a wheeler-dealer promoter type, who reminded me a lot of Bill Graham. He must have been planning that evening's live show. Anyway, he saw a towel on the couch (which I think I had used after spilling something) and thought I'd been involved in some nefarious activity, on his couch, in this room! I laughed and explained (without being graphic here) that if I was a pervert, I was the sort he could relate to. He got a kick out of that, and we hit it off. He took me next door, to what seemed to be his more secluded office. After unlocking layers of doors, and coming across wads of cash, he pulled out something to give me. I think it was some sort of drink. At that point I didn't care much. Instead of being in some trouble for my enjoyment of that room all day, I seemed to have a new buddy....  Sunday, September 29, 2002
Liquid Pudding That nutritional diet powder proved I was right all along! It tastes like liquid pudding. I could take the first couple. Then I started thinking, "this isn't food." Makes me thankful for real food! (Note: I've realized the Archives section of Just Dreaming is woefully behind in being updated. I'll take care of that soon...) Gushing Down The Gutter I just got back from a nice rainy walk... Today's about 20 degrees below yesterday.. Mostly dark and showery. I headed out in a break in the rain. About two minutes in, it started... I was sure glad I'd worn my hooded jacket.... Walking down the wooded trail, I met a couple other walkers. After a "hello", one said, "we should have your jacket!" Of course. It felt so good getting soaked everywhere my jacket wasn't. Walking back in, I watched the water gushing down the gutter. Finally, a break in all that sunshine! Unlikely Name...  There's an Air song called "Lucky Unhappy"? How unlikely is that?! I have a dream, a very fun dream I had this morning.. I'm going to write about it some time today |
