round numbers

You know the numbers with big round zeros on the end, such as 70, 80, or even 100. I've had 7 of the decade numbers go by. Overall, this makes me feel fortunate.

 

 

 

2000? It wasn't the end of world. Maybe just the start of it's downfall?

 

We all learn to count in base 10, or decimal. Many of you might know there are other useful numbering systems. Hexadecimal is base 16. Hex numbers are used in computer code because it is easier to write long strings of 1's and 0's. The 10 in hex is 16 in decimal. What if counted our years in hex?

 

Using the hexadecimal system, I don't think I would ever reach 70 hex (112 decimal). I hope to reach 50 hex which is 80 decimal. However our minds would adjust to the this system. Before long 50 hex would feel and be consider really old.

 

Are you still with me? 

Did you make it pass the nerdy math talk?

 

Recently, I found a Dire Straits song titled "Why Worry". The lyrical parts are shorter than the instrumental parts. 

My favorite phrase from the song:

 

Why worry?

There should be laughter after pain

There should be sunshine after rain

These things have always been the same

So why worry now?

 

  

what a fool believes

Feeling a bit of a fool lately. Those that have followed this blog know that I enjoy interpreting lyrics. Often an old song from my past will offer new meaning in my present. Other times it's just life memories of when I first listened to the song. Some of you have commented on how this new meaning/connection of an old song has happened to you.

 

What's up, What's down

 

 

Remember the Dobbie Brothers hit song "What A Fool Believes"?

 

Here's the first few lines:

He came from somewhere back in her long ago
The sentimental fool don't see
Tryin' hard to recreate
What had yet to be created once in her life
She musters a smile for his nostalgic tale
Never coming near what he wanted to say
Only to realize it never really was

 

 

Yeah you can't recreate something that was never created.

December rhymes with September

"Do you remember
The 21st night of September?
...."
OR
"Do you remember
The 25th night of December?
...."

Earth, Wind & Fire changed their hit "September" for a Christmas album.


September or December? Maybe the important word for me is remember. My memory of this last September doesn't rhyme with my December. My sad September brings me dreary December.

I had both cheers and tears for Christmas.

I did have support from the family so it was not too bad but still very different. Should I expect it to always be different? I think so. But different can still allow for joy.


Back to that Earth Wind & Fire song, someone thought they could make a Halloween version by using October.

 

 

New Post - that's what the button said

Yeah clicking on the "New Post" just opens up a blank post. The hard part is coming up with something to write in it.

I learned another bit of slang the other day from my grandkids. Dap up (or dapping) is a stylized gesture of greeting with your hands. It's a few moves past a fist bump. All the kids do it but not this old man with some arthritis in his fingers.

top of head in the morning

I heard moping is not a good coping strategy.

Better than moping I found my interest in lyrics provides a good distraction. Lately I find myself studying the lyrics to old favorite songs. Using Spotify or just looking up lyrics is quick and simple today.

I thought the title for the Cowsill's song used in my post today was "I Love the Flower Girl" but it's not. The real title is "The Rain, the Park & Other Things". (not very catchy IMHO)

Was she reality or just a dream to me?
(I love the flower girl)
Her love showed me the way to find a sunny day
(Sunny day, sunny day)

Was she reality or just a dream to me?

Since the flower girl disappears when the sun breaks through, I say the song is about a dream. There are many songs about dreams. The song didn't get pass number 2 on the charts. The number 1 spot at the time was "Daydream Believer". In my extensive research (at least an hour) I discovered the rain sound at the beginning of the song was a recording of bacon sizzling (I might dream about that tonight)

 

(Thank you for reading my post. Check back for another post from Lisleman's think tank and psychic center. (oh honestly it's not much of a tank. More like a saucer dish which might dry up over winter.)

My abbreviation CCC

Abbreviation can be abbreviated as abbr. Ok, so much language trivia. On to the post.

 

 

I'm searching for a sign

 

but I should get out more

 

On a my walk today, I talked to a squirrel

 

This says it all.

 

Oh yeah the abbr.

CCC stands for Curious Confused Clown.

It's been a strange month so far. 

Two lines from "Goin' Back":

 

"...

But thinking young and growing older is no sin  

And I can play the game of life to win

..."

Unanswered questions

Not all questions are as consequential as say, “what’s the meaning of life?”. I have sometimes pondered that serious question. The result was either an incomplete answer or a headache.

More often a question forms as my mind drifts along while listening to songs.

Here’s a recent example:
Which woman was that witchy woman the Eagles sang about?

She probably made her appearance during the witching hour.

I just want an answer

I have more. (a reason to keep reading)

Why can't more public restrooms be little temples?

The public restrooms mentioned in the sign above were worth the visit. They were functional and stylish which is a much needed approach to improve public restrooms. 

 😕

Next question to ponder.

I remember listening to this song back in the 60's. Even though we had no idea what the words meant we listen over and over. It had a catchy tune and some whistling. It was number 1 on the charts for a few weeks.

Can songs in foreign languages still become hits in countries having very few listeners that understand that language today? Do remember this song?

 

👴

I enjoy listening to the song “Save The Last Dance For Me” but the guy is either over-confident about his relationship or wants to test his girl’s willpower to temptation. Since I never impressed dance partners with a great show of my dancing ability, I knew my last dance would be compared to her other dancer partners that night. My question is why bring the competition of others to your relationship?

However that said, this clip of Bruce Springsteen dancing with his mom shows how the song can make sense. A very sweet video that’s worth watching.

Oh my darling

Bits of lyrical advice

It seems many of the lyrics of the classic rock songs have more meaning/messages than most lyrics today. This idea of mine is certainly biased. Accurate or not, that idea created the reason for this post.

Best case you might pick up some useful thoughts here. At least, I hope you are prompted to leave a comment.

So in no particular arrangement here are lines/phrases from my favorite lyrics: (oh with the extensive search capabilities on the web I’m sure you can find the song related to these lyrics)

 

Crossing a tree bridge

 

But it’s all right now, in fact it’s a gas
But it’s all right, I’m jumping Jack Flash

Wild thing, you make my heart sing,
you make everything groovy.

Oh, and she never gives out,
she never gives in,
she just changes her mind.

Remember what the dormouse said,
feed your head.

You can’t always get what you want,
but if you try sometime, you’ll find
you get what you need.

You can check out any time you like,
but you can never leave.

The church bells all were broken
And the three men I admire most
The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast

It’s not having what you want,
It’s wanting what you’ve got.

Some days I feel alright,
Some days I can’t wait until it’s night,
Some days you gotta face that light.

Don’t surround yourself with yourself.

Wildflowers don’t care where they grow.

A weema weh, a weema weh…
(ok just a catchy sound)

And I think it’s gonna be a long long time
‘Til touchdown brings me ‘round again to find
I’m not the man they think I’m at home.

You know you ain’t get younger
Your pain and your hunger are drivin’ you home
And freedom, oh freedom
Well that’s just some people talking
Your prison is walking through this world all alone

We go to a party and everyone turns to see
This beautiful lady that's walking around with me
And then she asks me "Do you feel all right?"
And I’ll say, "Yes, I feel wonderful tonight"

----------------

I’ll change this one for my blog:
You can check out any time you like,
but you can leave a comment.

Gimme some coolin

Please read carefully as my words have changed. (I aspire to select thoughtful words.) 

 

Hey

Well, my temperature's rising, and my feet on the floor
Crazy people knocking 'cause they're wanting some more
Let me in, baby, I don't know what you got
But you better take it easy, this place is hot

Gimme some coolin

cold snow coolin

July 2023 - record setting heat especially for wide areas of the southwest US. Now, I must point out that I do not live in the southwest. This national heat wave story must of been on my mind when I listening to an old favorite song, "Gimme Some Lovin" by the Spence Davis Group. Just change one word in the lyrics to "coolin" and maybe it could bring a bit of attention to our climate crisis.

 

While I'm just a blogger who enjoys lyrics of mostly classic rock, I hope we work harder to change our ways and invent new methods to mitigate the many effects of our climate crisis.

This recent heat dome missed where I live this past month. Other effects did come to the area. Flooding, and wildfire smoke have caused problems.

 

Better take it easy 'cos the place is on fire
Been a hard day and I don't know what to do

As I age, I’m thinking of changing the ‘B’ on my Bucket List to an ‘F’. What do you think?

 

drift zone

While I was out wandering (drifting?) the internet a few days ago, I stumbled onto amazing stories some odd stuff to post.

 

"As we drift into the zone" 

 

"Drift" and "zone" combine in my head to mean that moment you unconsciously slide into automatic thinking/creating. The drift into the zone line comes from the lyrics of "Island In The Sun" by Weezer. The song was in a list of relaxing songs I was listening to.

 

If you do an image search for "drifting" you'll see plenty of race cars going sideways with tires billowing smoke.

 

This type of racing reminds me more of the ridiculous fantasy car commercials of today than the auto racing I watched growing up. I guess the drivers get into the zone while sliding down the track sidewise. I wondered if that many car buyers let their fantasy decide their purchase.

Drifting over to news stories on the internet (pardon the burning tire smell), I learned entrepreneur, Joseph Pedott, died at the age of 91 recently. Mr. Pedott's company made a fortune selling chia pets.

Chia pet research lead to a chia pet car. I didn't get into the chia zone but I found the video by the creator of a chia car very interesting. She probably got into some type of zone while creating her chia car.

I'm zoned out for now and will soon drift to sleep. Later.

About 25 or 6 to 4

It was about 25 or 6 to 4 when it happened. 

the break of day - oh is that when the day breaks you?

I’m searching for something to say for this post.

Flashing lights against the sky, oh the police!

Giving up, I close my eyes, my attempt to sleep again.

I never could sit cross-legged on the hardwood floor.

I find myself staring blindly into space. My back hurts.

Don’t splash my face. Be nice.

Wondering how much I can fake.

Feeling like I ought to sleep

Spinning room is sinking deep

Searching for something to say

Waiting for the words of my post.

That’s all I have to say about 25 or 6 to 4. How about you?

whoa-oh

I've got troubles, whoa-oh.

I've got worries, whoa-oh.

 

I need to find that feeling down in my shoes. Maybe I should take off my slippers and put on some shoes. Then I might be able to walk away my blues. 

I need to move out of this.

No good being a hot head about it.

Comfort food?

Easier to stay in bed but shouldn't.

Love and Mercy

When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad

I admit that mind trick has worked for me a few times. Seems lately it doesn’t work quite as well. Maybe I’ve become allergic to whiskers on kittens.

No post here for all of November? My time last month for the most part was occupied in sharing joyful activities. My wife and I both got sick at the end of the month. No fun for about a week.

 

 

I shared good food and time with family.

 

We traveled to warm place for awhile

 

Recently as I was exploring songs on spotify I came across a Brian Wilson song from the 1980’s titled “Love and Mercy”. As I looked up more about the song I discovered that the title was used for the Brian Wilson biopic (2014). That film tells how Brian struggled under his crazy controlling psychotherapist. Finding love saved him eventually. If you haven’t seen the film, it is well worth you time.

I found this beautiful cover of the song. Libera performed for Brian at the Kennedy Center Honors (2007).

 

 

 

Love and mercy that's what you need tonight
So, love and mercy to you and your friends tonight

~~~~~~~~~~

When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember to post on my blog
And then I don't feel so bad

Bloggin me softly

Time for a tune post?

I grabbed this picture over at She Who Seeks blog.

Those of us my age, enjoying the songs of our past (as in Classic Rock) probably remember the song "Killing Me Softly With His Song". If your ears are now wanting to hear it, I've included a youtube clip at the bottom.

 

But first

 

nice spectrum I found at NASA

I thought by changing a few words in the lyrics I could create a blogging parody. Blogland could use a good song because blogging ain't what it used to be.

 

Bloggin me softly with his/her (whatever fits) post.

Expressing my pain with his phrases
Posting my life with his words
Bloggin me softly with his post
Bloggin me softly with his post
Telling my whole life with his words
Bloggin me softly with his post

I heard he wrote a good post
I heard he had a style
And so I came to see him, and read for a while
And there it was, this fresh post
A wonder to my eyes

Well ok maybe bloggin me softly is a stretch too far. This song has an interesting back story. Over the years I've found the back stories of songs can be very interesting. The wikipedia page for this song describes the story.

 

I first heard this story in a documentary about Don McLean. Singer songwriter Lori Leiberman (whom I had never heard of) had the idea behind the lyrics while listening to Don McLean perform at the Troubadour back in 1971. Two others (songwriter and a composer) were also involved but they didn't give Lori credit for the lyrics. Also, she was having an affair with that other songwriter. You can read the details at the wikipedia page.

Searching for something to say

Feeling like I ought to sleep 

Spinning room is sinking deep 

Searching for something to say

 

Those words were playing in my headphones when I thought, yes I feel that way. Ok, most all time the room is not spinning or sinking but I never know what to expect in these crazy times.

 

These lines come from the Chicago song "25 or 6 to 4" (personal note - I never felt very comfortable sitting cross-legged on the floor)

 

staring too long and hard

 

Like others, I wondered what this song was about. It's about what to write about in your next blog post. No, it was about trying to compose a song over a long night.

 

Life is a struggle even without others creating tragedies such as insurrections, war and other atrocities. Too many issues to cover in a blog post.

 

Tomorrow there will another televised report from the 
House Jan. 6 committee. Are enough people paying attention?

 

 

Can't you just see it in his face?

Here are a few lines from the Monkees’ song “Words” that remind of that former orange headed president and his close friends.

But all I can hear are those
Words that never were true
Spoken to help nobody but you
Words with lies inside

the great pretender

Oh yes I’m the great pretender. 

Pretending that I’m doing well. 

My need is such, I pretend too much. 

 

Pretending a little helps you visualize accomplishing your goals. Pretending too much might land you in jail. Charles Ponzi was such a great pretender that he convinced many people to invest in his pretend business. At the peak of his con nearly 75% of Boston’s police force believed they were smart investors in Ponzi’s scheme.

 

My wife once encouraged my pretending of being a singer when she bought me a Karaoke machine. I enjoyed attempts at singing "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes".

I gave it up. Even better I gave up smoking too. Reading my blog posts will never get smoke in your eyes. There are some posts that might give you an earworm.

 

Oh yes I’m the great pretender. 

Adrift in a world of my own. 

Woo woo

Door nails (the door nailed it)

It seems odd that we use a door nail to judge some dead thing.

Sooner or later

Is that the same as any day now? Time will tell but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Of course that’s assuming the universe will provide a bridge over troubled waters.

There are a plethora of phrases used without much thought. Many of them are built around slang so perhaps a surplus of slang would be a better description.

younger and not yet afraid of this

The Lisleman Institute of Wordy Knowledge has recently contemplated the following phrases. These phrases can be found in the lyrics of various pop songs.

• Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong (our political situation?)
• She came in through the bathroom window (ok this one has a story behind it but I've often wondered)
• Talkin ‘bout my generation (market research definition?)
• Get back in the ring, put on your gloves and fight (I'd rather just take the long way back home)
• This dog-eat-dog world (animal cruelty by dogs?)
• 'cause you know, sometimes words have two meanings ( yes that's my problem with phrases)
• That it can only be seen by the eyes of the blind (The blind have better imaginations. This is similar to a book being better than the movie)
  

 

Back to those dead door nails, I found a youtube video that gives a good explanation of its origin. Maybe, when one door nail dies another one is born?

 

 

the conversion doesn't work

Win a free trip to the land of milk and honey.

Now typically every grocery store has milk and honey, so do we already live in the land of milk and honey? Also, do any of you know of a popular meal that combines milk and honey? 

As you probably know the phrase comes from the Bible, so maybe the translation got messed up.

Tower Bridge towering over the others.

 

Moving on to the land of fish and chips, I'll share my wasted thinking about measurement standards.

I'm interested to get your opinion. What if The Metric Conversion Act of 1975 had really taken hold and Americans gave up miles for kilometers?

But I would walk five hundred miles
And I would walk five hundred more
Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles
To fall down at your door

Those words about walking are the chorus lines from "I'm Gonna Be" by the Scottish rock duo, The Proclaimers. Substitute miles with kilometers and it just doesn't work.

But I would walk five hundred kilometers
And I would walk five hundred more
Just to be the man who walked a thousand kilometers
To fall down at your door

Those of you who think in metric terms know that 500 kilometers of length is shorter than 500 miles.

With that fact in mind, I conclude that if you walked a kilometer in my shoes you still wouldn't have walked a mile in my shoes. Of course, I'm not giving up my shoes but I have some old slippers that you can have for free. Walk a mile in my old slippers.

 

Turn around

There is someone walking behind you,
turn around, look at me.
There is someone watching your footsteps,
turn around, look at me.

 

 

 

Don't look now. I'm right behind you. Boo!

 

Just me over thinking the lyrics again. Is it just this  different age that has me finding these lyrics a bit creepy? Like stalker creepy. But stalkers are no talkers. A singing stalker? Nah, not likely.

 

So go ahead turn around.

long time since

Just like you don't need to run a blog to read blogs, you don't need to join TikTok to watch a Tiktok video. Last October I found this and honestly I don't remember how I stumbled onto it.

 

@ladytaphos

I've got to get a better tripod for these. 😂#f#oryou #c#emetery #g#rave #t#ombstone #l#adytaphos

♬ original sound - Alicia

I'll try to explain where I'm going with this.

Visiting a cemetery on vacation

Who visits cemeteries on vacation? My wife and I do. I lost count of the number of cemeteries we have visited. Now we don't plan our vacation around cemeteries but if we have time and one is nearby, we check it out. She is the one who got me interested. I find the history and types of memorials interesting.

Cemeteries served as public parks back when they became popular in cities. Picnics in the cemetery.

It has been a long time since I posted about cemetery visits. During my posting of more than a decade, I've produced less than 10 posts on this subject. My first post about this was back in 2007 (link if you are interested).

 

If you watched the above TikTok video, you can't help but noticing the lady is cleaning the tombstone. Doing an excellent job of it too, I would say. However cleaning tombstones is not an activity of interest to me.

I personally know two people who enjoy cleaning up tombstones. That's great for them. I just don't care to join in.

Also on the topic of cleaning which I admit no qualifications to discuss, I was surprise to discover people making money on youtube and other video sharing platform by letting followers watch them clean. I find that crazy. (a link to a cleaner influencer)

Ok I need to wash my hands now. In the meantime enjoy this song by Josh Ritter. I enjoy the lyrics.

 

 

Nobody told me

Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Strange days indeed
strange days indeed

enough already

Do you remember John Lennon’s song (recorded in 1980 but released posthumously by Yoko)?

These days since the election was called for President-Elect Joe Biden have been strange days indeed. It was not surprising that the reality TV president would not accept losing. But the firings within his administration and lack of other GOP leaders (lackeys) accepting the outcome is disturbing and becoming scary.

Picture Credit: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty

 

Rudy Giulaini has been busy generating scary ideas and looks. He must dream about conspiracies because he comes up with weird ones. During this sweaty press conference he apparently got so heated up that his hair coloring started to run. Rudy gave a bizarre explanation of their case by comparing it to the movie “My Cousin Vinny”. Maybe Rudy is looking to break into the comedy movie scene.

I recommend stepping away from these disturbing administration scary clowns. I enjoy science so I go over to NASA.gov for a break. Have you heard of STEVE? Steve is a rare, mysterious, glowing purple arc in the night sky. I didn't know anything about STEVE before I stumbled on a NASA story. Here’s a link.