Still not in the best of moods.
Been sleeping a lot. Probable cause : running out of Diet Coke. Normally, I would have re-upped my supply last night, but I ended up not going out to eat with Le Gang like I normally would on a Tuesday night so I had no shopportunity to buy more.
First, Joe was too sick to go out. Then I got sick too. The “very rough time in the bathroom” kind of sick. Took hours after that for my stomach to settle down enough that I felt it was safe to eat.
So that was fun.
Gonna do the comedy thang tonight. Not really in a joke writing mood, but whatever. I will get it done.
And who know how I will feel a couple hours from now? This current neutral-black mood I am in might evaporate and leave me feeling relatively okay.
Seems likely. Whatever I am going through right now is probably more physiological than psychological. I will be done with it soon, no doubt.
If nothing else, I at least have faith that the eternal chaos within will deliver unto me a fresh hell soon enough.
And after all, they say a change is as good as a rest.
Came across this nifty little website that tells you what songs were number one hits on your birthday, starting with the first one.
On the day I was born, this was the number one song :
And that’s an awesome song… for the most part. It’s bright and optimistic and happy and full of Wonder’s musical fabulousness.
But that initial riff ends with some chords that must contain whatever high frequencies that I am sensitive to because they jangle my nerves every single time.
It’s like nails across the chalkboard of my entire nervous system.
So I could never totally like the song. Not without reservation.
On my first birthday, the top hit was The Streak by Ray Stevens. That seems entirely apropos. It’s a silly, wacky song about a rude dude who runs in the nude, and quite on brand for the person I would eventually become.
Second birthday? This classic :
Pretty goddamned funky. I can dig it.
But the top hit for my birthday is Silly Love Songs by Paul McCartney, which I will not link here because I can’t stand the song.
Ironically, I just heard that interminably insipid little ditty while dining at White Spot recently, and I commented on how I didn’t like it at the time because it reminded me that not everything my music hero Sir Paul did was brilliant.
Then there’s four years where I do not recognize the songs before hitting 1980 and my 7th birthday and this all time block rocking song :
Debbie Harrie will always be an idol to me. Just so damned cool.
And then the hits just keep coming.
1981 – 8th birthday – Betty Davis Eyes by Kim Karnes. So very very good and so very very 80’s. If nothing else, this list is proving that the 80’s really are my decade.
1982 – 9th birthday – Ebony and Ivory by Sir Paul and Stevie Wonder. Music genius from two musical geniuses with a great message to boot.
1983 – 10th birthday – Let’s Dance by David Bowie. My first conscious impression of Bowie was this song and its video. I only learned of the stuff from the 70’s like Ziggy Stardust and Space Oddity later.
And finally, 1984 – my 11th birthday – Hello, by Lionel Richie. One of my all time favorite songs and by far my fave Lionel Richie song.
After that, the only one I really care about is With or Without You by U2 when I turned 14 in 1987, and that seems to signify the change in consciousness that took place in the 80’s when I was a teen.
Then there’s Vogue, by Madonna, on my 17th birthday in 1989. It’s a good song but I have never liked its superficial message. I know that all that fashion and glamour stuff means a lot to some people, but to me, it’s shallow and boring and I see it as emblematic of something from the 80’s for which I am not nostalgic.
Then that portion of the list ends with Jump by Kris Kross, and that is definitely “after” my time because I didn’t hear that song until way later in the Nineties.
So I guess, in a sense, my musical consciousness ended in 1991. At least when it came to taking in the music of the era.
Coincidentally, that’s when I went to UPEI and didn’t have cable and therefore no longer had MuchMusic and endless amounts of free time on my hands.
I wonder if there’s a link…..
A little more after the break.
The Beast Has The Key
And by “a little more”, I meant like 183 words or so.
About the title : this is another of my metaphors. For “the Beast” read “my id” and the key is the key to this cage I have locked myself into for all these years.
So “The Beast Has The Key” basically means that if I want to be more of a human being, I am going to have to learn to be more of an animal.
“Think less, feel more!” is my motto.
Tonight fit nicely with that lesson. I showed up for comedy and realized I had left my list of jokes at home.
Total panic and self-condemnation. The only way I could have fucked tonight upo after having written the jokes, and I did it.
Well you can’t fault my failure for lack of ambition. It knew what it wanted and got it.
So I borrow a pen an paper from Felicity and try to write some jokes. But panic has frozen my brain and I can’t think of any.
Eventually, I think of a few. They are pretty lame, but whatever. Getting anything besides a distant muffled whimper fro m my brain at this point feels like victory.
I go up, and what do you know, I do quite well.
My theory is that my expectations were so low that I totally relaxed and that made me a much more natural and effective comedian.
So what the hell. Maybe that’s just the way it works with me. Maybe preparation is not the right approach for me and I will do better if I just say loose.
Maybe I should forget my jokes more often.
But right now, I am just going to call it a night.
Good night, dear readers.
I will talk to you nice people again tomorrow.