Tom Hanks Book of Short storeis

I just finished "reading "  Tom Hanks book "Uncommon type"  I say "reading " in quotes because I was listening to it on CD in my car.  It is read by none other than Tom Hanks, which is pretty cool. When the author is a GOOD reader you get the whole feel of the "voice " in the story.  Hanks IS Tom Hanks, so it was a pleasure to hear the stories.

Some of the stories annoyed me.  The first one, about the guy trying to be in a relationship with a girl who is obviously wrong for him, made me stop and start the CD.  He was trying to be a square peg in a round hole.  It was annoying as I thought the character was smarter than that.  Eventually, they both came to the same conclusion and remained friends.  These characters show up in several more stories, one of which- where they go to space and circle the moon, is just too fanciful for reality.   Still it was a pleasant "beach read"  only one or two had a real message.

I read a review where the reviewer was complaining that Hanks women were objectified.  Well I hate to point out the obvious, but since the stories this woman complained about were inside the head of a character, third person limited in one case and first person in another, you are not going to get some full blown egalitarian weltanschaung.  Your are going to get what the author thinks his character is thinking.  There are two or three stories with a woman protagonist,two where the woman is trying to find her way in the world after a break-up.  Those women are not objectified.  I think this reviewer read to much into it and if you look hard enough you will find something to complain about anyway.

Most of the stories have a typewriter, or someone typing in them,  I hear Hanks collects antique typewriters.  hmm I have an old Mid-century Underwood manual typewriter upstairs.  I wonder if he's be interested?  ;)

Nowhere to Hide

Overdue Review- Nowhere to Hide

Ok, I'll admit it.  I've been a fan of Cindy Alexander since she opened for my favorite band, America, a LONG time ago. Her amazing pipes and songwriting ability captivated me.  When Cindy announced she was doing an album of ( mostly) fan favorites that were single takes, I was pretty jazzed.  after all, it is in her live performances that you catch her essence. 

The cd has eleven songs, including two new songs by Cindy and covers of three songs,: "Something to Look back on" by Janey Street, "Book of Love " by Stephin Merrit and "Everything I own"  by Bread.

"Fan Favorites" are given a new, live feel.  I especially love the cool piano break in "Heels over Head"  which starts, not with the driving bass drum beat of the studio version, but with a delicate but forceful piano.   I am glad for the inclusion of "I See Stars" which showcases her lovely crystal voice and "Idiot Child"- one of MY favorites (thanks Cindy!)  The new song "The song will always find you"  has such a wistful , poignant message to it; Classic Cindy at her best.  I have to tell you I REALLY LOVE the song "Something to Look Back On"  I keep listening to it on repeat.   It totally resonates with me.   I hate to admit, but I can't listen to "Everything I Own" right now.  I listened once and was sobbing so hard I had to pull over- the downside of listening in the car.  It reminds me of my parents too much.  It IS lovely  I just can't get through it.

Be sure to wait for the little bonus at the end of "Wonderful" , you will get a warm feeling of who this incredible singer/songwriter is.    She has reached out to her fans with a not-so-secret wish to have a CD on the Billboard charts.  Buy the CD  If you like it, do what I did, buy one for someone you think will like it too.  I did.  I sent it to my sister in Oregon.  Jo- check your mailbox!  I think you're gonna love it!

Sleep poem

I had a dream about you
we were eating ice cream
in a shop window
when suddenly
we were in one of those
faux European commercials
where mannequins come alive and
you can drink from the glass inside the window
by pressing a straw against it

You drank some kind of dark green drink
pronounced it "delicious"
and all the while
music blared
the kind Millennials
are supposed to favor
(but I suspect they don't)
all pop-y
and the singer singing
in a flat monotone

I kept trying to write a poem
but the man you were with kept taking the scrap of paper from me
ruining my concentration
until you told him to leave me to finish
it  was about a goddess named Emma Still
an ice blonde with long elegant fingers
and bright red lips
who presided over something
which waking has made me forget

Happy Anniversary

This is gonna be short, because I am already running late but...

I got up a wee bit early this morning to make my husband his favorite cookie ( so Chris if you are reading this BEFORE coming downstairs, they are cooling on the table and should be ready by the time you are ready for work)

Eight years ago today, I married my best friend, my soulmate, Chris Myers. I know that I am truly blessed and am thankful every day that I made the rash decision to see a band called "Evita Freaks" back in September of 2007 at a dive bar in Studio City. Chris was playing bass with some of his childhood friends and I fell for him.  It took him a while to fall for me, but eventually it all worked out.

I'm not going to get all mushy, but our marriage has helped me in the worst of times and has given me the best of times. Little things make me happy and being married to a man who thinks of little things to make me happy is .. well.. the best!

So Happy anniversary, sweetheart. My dad used to tell my mom "that's one more year off my life sentence"  but I knew what he meant.  I love you, Christopher and I think everyone who knows me knows that!

Veteran's Day

"In Flanders Fields, the poppies blow, between the crosses, row on row."

I thought of the poem, written by John McRae, a battlefield doctor in World War One,  the "War to end all Wars"   if only THAT were true.  I thought this morning about those who died fighting and those who came back, changed by their experience.  My father was a World War Two vet, who fought at the Battle of the Bulge.  He talked about it more later in life.  One of the things he told me, you don't see in the history books.  He told me the housewives in St Vith brought their fine white lines out to the American soldiers to help them disguise their tanks and other equipment from the air.  It was Christmastime and there was snow on the ground.  My father asked one woman why she would do this.  She told him if the Germans won, they would not need the linens.

I am thinking about a vet i bought a poppy from, in front of a museum downtown, bout 10 years ago.  I bought it and waled away a bit.  then , overwhelmed, I went back and asked if I could hug him.  He said yes and we hugged. I cried.   It mean a lot to me.  I think you only see the WWII vets with poppies; even though they symbolize WWI, I think there is a carryover.  After all, the fathers of the WWII vets were the ones who fought in the War to end all wars.

Today, and every day really, I am grateful for those who fought.  While I did not always agree with sending out young men and women into battle (yes, Viet Nam) I had and have no quarrel with the soldier who did his or her duty.   Thank you for your service.   May we remember it always  and work together toward a day where we can argue and disagree without sending our people to fight and die for a disagreement ( Hitler was another story altogether..)

Things I think about while stuck on the 5

So, I'm going to commit a sin here. Last night while stuck in bumper to bumper traffic, my beloved soon-to-be-no-more radio station played "I want you ( she's so heavy") by the Beatles.  After what seemed to be 25 minutes of hearing John wail "she's so Heavy" over and over again I turned off the radio,  Nothing, at that moment, was more annoying than the Beatles, or at least that tune and I sat, musing in my silent car, why we used to think everything they did was golden and it was some kind of sacrilege  to dislike every single note by John , Paul, George or Ringo, even after they disbanded. I also cannot stand "Hey Jude"  the interminable  "na, na, na,na na na Hey Jude" goes on for - what- NINE minutes?  That's about six minutes too long.  We get it Paul.  I turn off the radio when it gets to that point too.  Anyone else with me?

So there's a lot of noise still about the NFL players kneeling.  For the record, I think they should be able to do whatever they feel before the game and I DON'T think it disrespects the flag or the soldiers or the veterans.  Didn't they fight and in some cases DIE for our right to freedom of speech, or does freedom of speech ONLY apply if you agree with what is being said?  In elementary school, there was a kid in my class who was atheist, which in the sixties was like declaring you worshiped Satan.  He refused to salute the flag and was picked on for it.  He wasn't one of the "popular" kids, but now over 50 tears later, I admire the courage it must have taken him NOT to go along to get along.  He followed his beliefs and stuck to them in the face of peer pressure.  As far as the NAACP wanting to change the national anthem because of a reference to slavery.  I don't know how I feel about it.  I need to look at the whole phrase and see what it says.  Does it glorify slavery or just refer to it?  After all it DID exist and it part of our past and one of the reasons for the Civil War ( there were others but that was chief among them) I need to see it, although that stanza  is never sung anymore.


As we go into Veteran's Day, I want to take a moment to shout out to all those who served and those who are serving now. I KNOW I KNOW  a "Veteran" is one who HAS served, but I want to thank those who have put themselves on the line for my freedom to state what is in my head, without fear of being dragged off to the Gulag

stuff...

Ok, fasten your seat-belts, it's going to be a bumpy night.

Yesterday, at work, I had an asthma attack.  It's been a while since I had one and it scared me.  I know what to do and was able to take care of it but.. wow. Probably brought on by stress and lack of sleep ( which is brought on by stress)   I am going to take this weekend to try to figure out what to do about.. everything.  I wish I could wave a magic wand and solve the situations that are bringing me down.  I can't and I am not going to be able to.   I need to talk to a few people.

Apropos of nothing, I got a call the other day from someone I used to know, CROWING about an article that had been written about them and how wonderful it was and how I should read it.  They admitted that there were a few "falsehoods" in the article.  I read it   A FEW??????  about half of it was BOLD faced lies and the rest were innuendo.  I don't know if I am angrier about the writer, who this person said "embellished" their exploits, or the person themselves, who seems inordinately pleased that the article makes them out to be something they are not,   I'd like to straighten out that they were NOT shot stopping a robbery, it was a gun cleaning accident.  I was there at the time. The fact that this person let this be published, as well as the fact that the article really hurt someone I know ( not me)  really grits my teeth.  Ah the "fake news"thing of today.  Can you even trust the media.  THIS is "Yellow Journalism" at it's finest.

Looking forward to a few days off, to rest and read.  I am reading "One Summer , America 1927"  I was struck by the talk about Warren G. Harding, a man totally unfit to have been President.  How he appointed people he KNEW rather than people who were qualified for cabinet positions, which caused the Teapot Dome scandal.  It reminded me of someone else.  Harding died in 1923, and the rumor was that his wife poisoned him, although the official cause of death was a heart attack.  hmmmm.  I'm enjoying the book and the look backward.  My dad would have been seven that year,  He remembered the excitement about Lindbergh and said the kids would shout at every plane "LOOK there's Lucky Lindy"  AH, the innocence of the time...

I am seeing the ENT specialist on the 20th.  Hopefully, he will have an answer to my ongoing problems and will be able to FIX this,  I might need some type of surgery, but I am sick of this.  It's making me tired,  and probably stressing me out!