Sappy Alert -
Use caution proceeding. High pressure in the atmosphere has created conditions that have produced high emotions and gushiness. Readers are urged to proceed only with extreme caution.
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Today was one of those days when I was just happy to be alive, to live where I do, to have my life. Beautiful days with temperatures in the upper 70's in November can do that to me.
Gus and I went for a walk in the park, and I didn't ever want to stop. Poor sweet little Gus - I had to give him a pain pill for his back after we got home. He has taken copious naps all afternoon. We walked for about an hour and twenty minutes, and only the siren call of football kicking off summoned me home.
Days like this make me wish I were still skydiving, seeing the world from about 14,000 feet and then drifting slowly toward it. I wish I could bottle this weather and save it for those February and March days when I grumble, "God didn't put me in the South for it to be 11 degrees."
Here are some more songs as they played randomly on my MP3 player today. This time, either due to my OCD tendencies or my writer's desire to be as accurate as possible, I typed each song into my Crackberry notepad. I had a lot of time on my hands, okay?
"Save It For Me" by The Four Seasons
"Where's the Orchestra?" by Billy Joel
- I wrote about this song earlier in my blog history, because I think it's so cool that toward the end of that song, there is a reprise of the melody line from "Allentown," a song from the same album. Stop making fun of me.
"Goodnight Saigon" by Billy Joel
- The first time I heard this song, it was live in the old Omni in Atlanta, a venue that no longer exists. I was pregnant with Sweet Girl. The song is, obviously, about Vietnam, and at the beginning there is the sound of helicopters. I thought helicopters were landing ON TOP of the Omni; the whole building shook. I loved it.
[Even on random, the likelihood of two Billy Joel songs playing back-to-back is relatively high.]
"Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty
"Guilty of the Crime" by the Eagles (from their latest 2-CD set, which is nothing short of AWESOME)
"Thank You for Being a Friend" by Andrew Gold
"Waiting in the Weeds" by the Eagles
- This song has nothing to do with marijuana. I think.
"Goodbye Stranger" by Supertramp
"Money, Money, Money" from the Momma Mia soundtrack
"Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)" by Billy Joel
"Spooky" by Atlanta Rhythm Section
- When I was in college, Katydid got me free tickets to see ARS when they came to UGA for a Halloween concert. I asked Figment to go with me, one of our few real dates. I thought it was so cool that during the song "Spooky," the lyrics say, "So I proposed on Halloween." I was such a dork, because back then I was so hoping that someday . . . someday . . . someday . . . Figment would propose to me. Not.
- I've often wanted to share these lyrics with my students. The song is all about the world not owing you anything. But it has the word "bitching" in it, and of course that word is taboo in our county. Oh, the students can say it all they want, but teachers might get fired for it.
"You're Only Human (Second Wind)" by Billy Joel
- I love the story about this song. It's all about learning from your mistakes and forgiving yourself, and Billy Joel made an obvious error in the song. He trips over the lyrics and then laughs about it. Reportedly he intended to re-record it, but his then-wife, Christie Brinkley, said he should leave it as it was. Something along the lines of violating the integrity of the song itself if he fixed the error. Not in those words, of course, but she convinced him, and it stayed in the song.
If you are now wishing I would NOT take any more long walks in the park with my MP3 player, I apologize.
