Caterwauling

Lachlan posted about the music she grew up with. On 8-track. And also being born in ’74, I felt her pain that the young’ns in her life can’t fully appreciate the music we hold so dear, even if it IS Barry Manilow. (Don’t judge — I love it too!)

I recently had the honor of playing “Guitar Hero” with a dear friend, and well, we appreciate it for COMPLETELY different reasons. He totally rocks at it and knows the songs because, well, that’s probably where he knows most of the songs from. (Ah, to be 25 again. …) And he was GOOD at playing along with songs such as Kiss’ “Strutter” and Kansas’ “Wayward Son” and other goodies from Cream and Bad Religion and White Zombie. *swoon*

(Clearly “Headbanger’s Ball” ruled my world. Yay for the VH1 Classic station!)

See, I completely sucked at the game because I was far too busy headbanging and singing and having flashbacks of WHEN THESE SONGS WERE ON THE RADIO. And not satellite radio or “oldies” stations — when they came out, kids. (Don’t get me started on how much I was digging Warrant’s “Cherry Pie,” either. LOVED IT.)

He was terrific at the game because he played it enough to learn the songs and feel the rhythm and could actually play at an advanced level. Old-ass here couldn’t even master the beginner level because she was too busy remembering how much she wanted to be a GROUPIE, not a GUITARIST!

(I have my grandfather’s guitar now. I totally have “taking lessons” on my to-do list now.)

I felt really old when I realized my companion hadn’t even been born when MTV launched; I think I was 8 years old but I remember diggin’ me some Buggles on that glorious August day. 🙂

It’s funny — MTV used to play the same 15 or so videos in constant rotation way back when. But now that they have MILLIONS of videos to choose from, you’ve got to be up at 4 a.m. in order to see any of ’em because everything’s “Real World” and “Road Rules” and whatever shows distract us from, gee I don’t know, learning about new music and enjoying some of the old.

I really don’t think that I’m all that old, but how sad is it that the music I grew up with is “new and hip” to the next generation and for me, it’s nostalgia?!?!

Oh, and don’t THINK I haven’t downloaded the “Guitar Hero” set as my new-favorite iTunes playlist. … 😉

I’ve been having these Bizarro World days in which they were both the best and worst of my life, all rolled up into one.

I’m going to take a piece of my own advice and not concentrate on the yucky bits because wasting time thinking about them only seems to generate/attract more of them. But what I did come out of all this with was this: Apparently I’m not the only one who makes mistakes in life. Sometimes it seems like I’m the only one who regrets them, but enh, at least I’m not the only a-hole on the planet who consciously, willingly and even enthusiastically jumps headfirst into an empty pool.

I had a dream the other night, in which I kept telling people to go away because I was meditating. I had told people that I meditated two to three times a day, and that’s why I was so healthy. Hmm. I can dig it — maybe a sign from above to do just that?

I was in mid-meditation yesterday (hey, it actually helped!) when I could actually feel the world turning. I was suspended in a moment, literally hanging in midair, when I realized that’s all this life is — a string of moments, both good and bad, but ALL of our own choosing.

Even if we don’t choose to, say, have somebody let the air out of our little balloons, we do choose how to handle it. We can smile and act fine — fuck, we can smile and BE fine.

Or we can just stop pretending to be fine because we’re not — at least, not at that moment. Even if we will be eventually — even if it just takes us needing to walk three steps away and gulp down some non-toxic air.

In my moment of meditation, I realized I screwed up U, V, W, X and Y in hopes that Z would eventually happen. And I realized that Z wasn’t screwing anything up for anybody — that Z was just enjoying apparently A through T just fine. And I’m sorry but you just can’t have your cake and eat me, too, as Mom would say. 😉

The lesson? If I can’t make U, V, W, X and Y work, what makes me think Z is going to be the thing that actually happens flawlessly?

I know I am in self-help land right now with the “Laws of Attraction,” but it’s all good. I’m reprogramming here. It’s probably the only reason why I don’t short-circuit; some outlets are unplugged anyway so the switchboard isn’t overloaded!

“There are avenues and supplements
And books stacked on the shelf
Labyrinths of recovery
In search of our best self
But most of what will happen now
Is way out of our hands
So just let it go
See where it lands.”

— Indigo Girls, “I Believe in Love”