| May 6th, 2016
Maayong Buntag! (“Good Morning” if you were in Northern Mindanao!!!)
Oh the Jacaranda trees are going crazy this week..so much color..so vivid:) Personally, I think the trees are just ramping up to a big Mother’s Day Extravaganza this weekend! Happy Mothers Day to all you Moms out there!
Well, I am moved. The UJT is coming to you live from Chula Wanna once again. It is nice to be surrounded by family and even more critters. Lots of adjustments by all concerned but we are working through them well I think. I am rediscovering all kinds of projects that have needed doing for awhile. We have a packed garage with crap that needs to be organized, refinished, infiltrated, donated or just tossed. I sent the last UJT from the newly established location of Jamesnet but this will be the first ground up drafting of the thang to come to live from CV.
This week I learned some stuff:
• Renting space is complicated “trust” relationship that is slanted towards protecting the landlord. The tenant (me) gave the landlord a sizable deposit to protect the landlord from excessive damage in the six month original duration of the lease. The landlord rightfully expected the house to be returned in pretty much the same condition it was in when I moved in the six month before. However 7 years in, my landlord was disparaging the quality of my MollyMaid cleaning services, explaining that the worn area on the laminate flooring and the discoloration on the cabinets were water damage that I should have prevented. I am having trouble with that. I didn’t pick those products. I am investigating how to contest these assessments of damage vs normal wear and tear.
• Ted Cruz announced his running mate and suspended his candidacy this week. Donald Trump reassessed Ted’s value as a human being from “He’s a Pussy” on May 2nd to “He is a Smart Guy and a hell of a Competitor” on May 3rd after Cruz suspended his campaign. John Katich also decided to drop out this week. Not sure how The Donald feels about that but John says he knows God has a plan for his life. I am hopeful without the multiple yahoo field, the composting noise level of the Republican 2016 campaign will be reduced and therefore our collective national embarrassment will be diminished as well. Maybe we can discuss the real issues facing our country and world…but probably not.
Website Update
• 2nd week for the quiz!
Painting Update:
• Still digging out from the move. Hope to get my art table set back up this week yet.
Writing Update:
• Still digging out from the move.
Weird-Stuff-O-Meter:
• Thinking about my grandson this week reminded me of what good children my children have brought us. By the time I was only 13 in 1965, I had blown up my first car, forgotten some beautiful childhood lessons and learned some terrible teenage horrors. I was able to rearrange these things for the most part by the time I was 15 but the 2 years I was living in South Miami, I struggled with puberty, trying to fit in, bigotry, bravery and cowardice, violence, honesty, dishonesty and alcohol. It was a bad couple of years.
• Now that I am back with my child (daughter Jess) and her kids (Darrian and BJ), we had a family meeting and decided to set Monday as our “Unplugged Day” each week – no video, video games, no computer, Facebook, etc.. We will read, play Clue, Cribbage, Monopoly, etc. I am looking forward to it.
Music Update:
I think this weeks selection is a good one for you. Sometimes I follow the little trails of electronic crumbs left by others in iTunes. I will listen to a song by say James Taylor and down at the bottom there will be these other songs that, “Listeners Also Bought” and they lead up off down these merry little paths..and so on. This week’s selection features some new “favorite songs” from some folks who have been favorite players of mine for a long time.
• Coldplay – Paradise — Just a nice song that reached out and grabbed me when it came out. I know these boys get a lot of crap about being “commercial” but so be it if it works for them. It sure works for me.
• Jimmy Buffet – Gravity Storm — It’s stuff like “gravity storm’ that makes Jimmy the special man that he is. His turn of a phrase has generated millions of followers on our particular and some might say peculiar trail that has been our connected lives together. You might recognize some wonderful folks hanging in the back of this tune… Sheryl Crow, Micheal Utley and a fella by the name of Timothy B. Schmit were all playing with the Reefers during the “Off to See the Lizard” days.
• U2 – Iris (Hold Me Close) — This is another great cut from our free record (Songs of Innocence) from the U2 boys. It’s a deep one that I first played for you all about a year ago. It came up again on the iPhone and haunted my soul just to much to let it slide by. Its Bono’s heartfelt tribute to his Mom who has passed. This weekend is Mothers day. Not a day goes by when I don’t miss my my firebrand of a mother and thank her for the priceless gifts she gave to me.
• James Taylor – You and I Again — This is a a new song for me from James that he wrote over many years as a little piano doodle that he did whenever he was near a key board. Its just another JT song that makes my eyes tear and my face smile.
• Sarah McLaughlin – Song for My Father – Sarah had a year of loss in 2014 and produced an amazing album out of the ashes. You all know how much I have always loved her lovely voice and sweet old soul but this record and this song makes me ache for her. All I can say is that, it is every father’s goal to be the “Light that buries the dark” and “the constant unwavering heart” for their little girl … every time! I am not sure how well most of us pull it off but I do know we try.
• Train – Feels Good At First — These boys got some stuff going on but I like their deeper cuts more than their more popular tunes. But there is something for sure!
• Jeff Beck Group – Beck’s Bolero — Electronic Raphiel music …this was musical self-indulgence in volume and design. I never got to see him do it live but I did see Ted Nugget’s Amboy Dukes do a 30 minute version of Teds interpretation called Migration at the Miami Jai Alai Fronton. It was an amazing demonstration of self-indulgence but the boy can play guitar!
• Savoy Brown – Sitting An’ Thinking — This is a nice little instrumental tune to take us out this morning. Just give it some thought 🙂
That’s it… Do the best you can; Laugh every chance you get; And always remember, the best is yet to come!
As always, thank you for being my friend!
James |