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 |   Thoughts destined to be washed away by the tides of life. |
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I've been studying my cover photo for a while now, and it seems to me that it is more than just a photo of what is there that can be seen, more than just three white rocks stacked on a beach. It contains an important question about the future, about what happens long after the photographer has gone. What will happen to our pile of stones when the tide comes in? Will it topple or has the architect built this structure at a safe distance? I don't know what will happen to these words that I stack here on the sand. They may prove safely distant, or they may be swallowed up by a rush of self-doubt. They may be here for a season. They may lose their balance and be scattered by the shoreline, or be hidden away under shifting sands. Perhaps someday, the tides of life will reclaim them. Or maybe that's just a bunch of poetic, romantic nonsense. After all, this is just a blog. |
| It's easy to get into a slump. Holiday pressures, family worries, toilet paper shortages - the modern world provides daily stresses that quickly change to keep us on our toes. There's no chance of solving the universe through deep reflection. This is not a philosophical battle we're in, it's a real one with ever-changing enemies and battlefields. Sorry, I got carried away. I simply meant to give a few facile excuses for my lack of verve and engagement. I don't know how it turned so Fortnite. I was really just going to tell you about my paper towels. Usually, I buy plain white paper towels - but these days, you take what you can get (see the reference to shortages above). The kids brought home a big package of brightly patterned paper towel rolls. The first one had blue and green bicycles all over it. But the second one - that second roll is an endless supply of cheerfulness and optimism. No, really. Every sheet is covered in encouragement. The paper towel under my coffee cup has "Every day is a new opportunity" emblazoned in bright pink and green lettering. It also tells me to "Kick" the past in some way or other. I can't tell for sure since this is one of those rolls where you can tear off half sheets and I don't have the other half of these sentences right here. Maybe it's the neon green, maybe it's the fact that my coffee is something I highly desire and it's sitting on this paper towel, but I feel an unusual amount of psychological pressure when I lift my cup and reveal the command to "CHANGE"! Anyway, it's possible that I am only writing this blog entry because the paper towels told me to. |
| Lindsey Stirling's Carol of the Bells is an invigorating example of the current trend to modernize traditional music and make everything more electric and more exciting to a new generation of listeners. It started a long time ago, rememberClassical Gas?. Then the Christmas version of electronic adaptations became popular with the advent of the Trans Siberian Orchestra. But Lindsey Stirling has done something that no one else has done before. She has managed to make the violin sexy. Her videos and her interpretation of famous songs have made her a musical sensation. This new video clearly draws on her dance talents that were previously honed and showcased during her stint on Dancing With The Stars. But my favorite Christmas album is not sexy in the least. It's the opposite. When I was young, Saturday night belonged to Lawrence Welk. My father loved to watch The Lawrence Welk Show, though he rarely had a kind word for any of the performers. His favorites were so few, but I think he enjoyed making sarcastic remarks about the performers he didn't care for more than anything. I always watched with him. And sometimes I agreed with his comical critiques. One performer that we neither loved nor hated was Bob Ralston, who played the organ in the orchestra and occasionally was featured playing the organ solo on the show. He must have been popular, because he recorded a Christmas album. When I say "album", I mean the old vinyl discs that went round and round. Records. Each side of this LP had medleys of several songs blending into each other. I don't know who sang the songs, it was some standard group of carolers. But Bob Ralston played the organ throughout. The music was very old-fashioned, and the singing fairly standard, but this album had a ton of Christmas songs jam-packed . It was the only Christmas album we had and we put it on the phonograph while we trimmed the Christmas tree. I recently found that this entire album is on YouTube. Playing it is like revisiting my childhood, my family, those people I loved and now have lost. This is the most average, boring, standard, dated collection and yet it is the most wonderful Christmas music in the world to me. Lindsey is a star. She's vibrant and exciting and her talent is amazing. But for me, Christmas will always sound like the guy from Lawrence Welk. |
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