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Monday, August 31, 2009

September When It Comes, Roseanne Cash & Johnny Cash

There's a cross above the baby's bed,
A Saviour in her dreams.
But she was not delivered then,
And the baby became me.
There's a light inside the darkened room,
A footstep on the stair.
A door that I forever close,
To leave those memories there.

So when the shadows link them,
Into an evening sun.
Well first there's summer, then I'll let you in.
September when it comes.

I plan to crawl outside these walls,
Close my eyes and see.
And fall into the heart and arms,
Of those who wait for me.
I cannot move a mountain now;
I can no longer run.
I cannot be who I was then:
In a way, I never was.

I watch the clouds go sailing;
I watch the clock and sun.
Oh, I watch myself, depending on,
September when it comes.

So when the shadows link them,
And burn away the clouds.
They will fly me, like an angel,
To a place where I can rest.
When this begins, I'll let you know,
September when it comes.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

A Sunday evening sipping on a satisfying Pretty Things Jack D'Or...

Another "lost" weekend for me... no, not in that way, simply stuck @ the office Friday and Saturday evenings. Saturday day was a total wash-out weather-wise, with the remnants of tropical storm Danny; Saturday after work I met a college friend for a bite and a couple of drinks but made it an early night... heard from someone else as well, who originally told me their plans were up in the air and, by the time I knew they were available, I'd already made other plans, sigh... I know below I've wrote of making/taking more time for me (and by extension, for people I like and wanna see) and I'm trying, but it is difficult to change habits, change priorities, even when those changes are the right ones to make... Once again, to any and all I may have disappointed or inconvenienced, I'm sorry. It is not intentional.

Sorta toward that end, this coming weekend (Labor Day weekend- already! Yikes, where did this summer go?) I'll be heading up to Maine to visit my brother and his family; I haven't been up there in a lil while... hoping that I may have a lil downtime here before I head up as well- we shall see...

I've purposely avoided much opining on the passing of Ted Kennedy. I posted the following on my Facebook wall, pretty much sums up for me:
I never voted for him, and his many failings- political and personal- have been, and will be, duly noted. However, this was also someone's father, husband, uncle, grandfather, friend, and as such, his passing is as deserving of respect as any others.
Requiescat in pace.

What else... I've mentioned it before in this blog, but to this day the smell of fresh-cut, dry grass in the late August sun always takes me back to double-session practices in high school; nice memories! Still been working out pretty well and eating right, feeling pretty good; perhaps it's true, you can never be too rich or too thin, but at least in the- if not thin, then fit department- I'm getting closer and closer to my body ideal. I'll never be waif thin (and truthfully, I wouldn't wanna be) my body ideal is athletically fit; I've usually been close to that, but, depending upon adherence to diet and exercise regimen, sometimes I've been closer than others... now if I could only improve upon the rich part of the equation... And I'm hoping I have an op to snap some current pics later this week as well...

Some questions to ponder (via a mailing from my friend Jim)
Why does a round pizza come in a square box?
How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?
Why is "bra" singular and "panties" plural?
If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables,
what is baby oil made from? (Ewww!!!)

Football season is starting soon! A few college offering$ later this week that I'm eyeing; FWIW, generally I limit myself to ACC, Big East, and Big Ten contests... And the NFL opens up in about another week and a half- go Pats!

"You know, man, when I was a young man in high school/You believe it or not I wanted to play football for the coach..."

Saturday, August 22, 2009

The Woman In Me, Shania Twain

I'm not always strong
And sometimes I'm even wrong
But I win when I choose
And I can't stand to lose

But I can't always be
The rock that you see
When the nights get too long
And I just can't go on

The woman in me
Needs you to be
The man in my arms
To hold tenderly
Cause I'm a woman in love
And it's you I run to
Yeah the woman in me
Needs the man in you

When the world wants too much
And it feels cold and out of touch
It's a beautiful place
When you kiss my face

The woman in me
Needs you to be
The man in my arms
To hold tenderly
Cause I'm a woman in love
And it's you I run to
Yeah the woman in me
Needs the man in you...

Sunday, August 16, 2009

I came across this yesterday, thought it was interesting:
Seven Deadly Virtues?
If someone asked you to name the traditional list of Seven Deadly Sins, you’d probably come up with pride, sloth, gluttony, greed, anger, lust and envy. But writer Ashley Cooper has another take on the subject:
Truth, if it becomes a weapon against persons.
Beauty, if it becomes vanity.
Love, if it becomes possessive.
Loyalty, if it becomes blind, careless trust.
Tolerance, if it becomes indifference.
Self-confidence, if it becomes arrogance.
Faith, if it becomes self-righteous.

Three Minutes a Day
(I could probably stand to keep an eye on #4, and at times #6.)

I mentioned Yahoo will be eliminating it's free Geocities websites this fall. If there is one page from my site that I would like to maintain, it would be this one. Perhaps I may keep it as a doc file or something, find somewhere to keep it posted...

My Pats looked pretty good the other night in their pre-season opener! Tom Brady looked good, exhibiting good pocket presence and poise, no discernable happy feet, even had a 1 yd. QB keeper; the O-line provided fine protection as well... both starting units performed pretty well vs. Philly's 1's... Best of all there appeared to be no major injuries sustained... As part of the 50th season of Patriots football, the Pats recently announced their 50th Anniversary and All-Decade Teams... awhile back on my website I did My All-Time Patriots Team (going back to around the mid/late 70's or so.) Most of my picks stack up pretty well with theirs!

I'm just finishing up reading Michael Connelly's The Scarecrow; he's one of those writers I'd read anything by... Season three of Mad Men starts tonite!

"Sky rockets in flight/Afternoon delight..." (This just screams 70's; pop it in your 8-track player, slip on a pair of bell-bottoms, toss down a Quaalude, and hit the local fern bar!)

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Odds and ends...

First- my condolences to a good friend whose vacay plans (to Hawaii, yet!) were cancelled near the last moment; they were really looking forward to the trip :( Hopefully they'll be able to resurrect those plans in the not-too-distant future... Another friend of mine out California-way has been in the throes of a- take your pick!- lust/love adventure this summer; enjoy, "Tilda" ;) And sadly I have one friend who has been dealing with a mystery ailment this summer; several funky symptoms that docs have been trying to a put a finger on and identify. This is a good person who always strives to do right by self, family, friends, and community, one who has suffered more than their share of adversity during the current economic slump, despite being an intelligent, educated, talented, and hard-working person (and one with a very cute smile.... tho' she hates hearing that! ;) Thinkin' of ya, you...

Today ends what I've come to call Birthday Month! In like a 2 1/2 week stretch, my sister, my brother, and my mother all have their b'days! (Mine's in January- shop early and often, folks!- and my father's was in February.) I used to hate it as a kid, cuz it would make me broke by mid-August, buying gifts and all! My mom's is today; I already made her an orange cake, and I'll be heading there later today (off tonite- yay!) to cook up a couple of lobsters and some- yum!- local corn. And probably catch much of the Pats pre-season game this evening (my mom is a big Pats fan, too!)

I've been feeling pretty good of late, pretty healthy, been getting in some good- and consistent!- runs and workouts; even getting in a lil sun when I can! Been eating better, too- higher protein/lower carbs, you know the drill (yeah, a can of tuna and a handful of nuts doesn't sound too exciting, but it works!) Things meds/mones-wise seem to be going well, too... I have on friend who has been re-starting her workout and diet regimen and seems to be sticking with it (keep at it, C!) and another who is simply getting back at it hard (you too, Mad One!)

I realize I had/have been getting too introspective, too brooding, here in my journal as well as in conversation, messaging, emailing, with some of you. I do have a tendency toward that, but on balance I'm still generally a glass-half-full, upbeat kinda gal (for the longest time the most common adjective people used for Kellie was "perky!" Go figure!) No one- at least not me- wants to be a downer, nor does anyone like to hear/read a non-stop litany of gloom. Yeah, when things get serious I'll mention 'em, but moreso I prefer to focus, or re-focus, on the many more positive, or simply less-personally ponderous, parts of living.

A brief (and snarky!) political note: isn't it absolutely disgusting the incivility, the epithets, the anger, being tossed around at some of these health-care town meeting this summer?! Imagine even suggesting, let alone comparing, any of our well-meaning elected officials to Nazis, Hitler... er, um... Hmmm... Wait a minute... Seems to me I vaguely recall our previous President, members of his Administration, members of his party in Congress, and their supporters, being called just that! And worse. Sorry, Lefties- you folks trucked in that garbage, that ugly invective, almost non-stop the previous eight years; your indignation rings hollow now. (For the record; while I oppose nationalizing our nation's health care, I'm not questioning the motives of- most- who seek to. Merely disagreeing over the means they would employ to ensure adequate coverage to/for citizens who may be lacking and seek same.)

I believe I mentioned previously that Yahoo will be ending it's- free- Geocities website hosting and that, as a result, my website will be closing. Not sure if I'll try to maintain it elsewhere or not yet, or simply have a scaled-back web "presence." One of my pages is this: 7 Really Romantic Songs for Real Romantics! I hadn't updated it in a l-o-n-g time (nor received any suggestions in awhile) but there're a few I'd add: To Live Is To Fly, Townes Van Zandt; Come Monday, Jimmy Buffett (especially the Live @ Fenway version: "California has worn me quite thin/It's so nice to be in Boston again..." puts me in mind of a certain someone who comes back to Boston every so often, even tho' he told me he's not a Buffett fan!) Because The Night, Patti Smith Group ("Come on now try and understand/The way I feel when I'm in your hands... The way I feel under your command...") and lately almost anything by Diana Krall! As always, send me some of yours if you'd like!

"To live is to fly/Both low and high..."

Monday, August 10, 2009

Unexpectedly heard from someone this afternoon whom it was very nice to hear from again! Unfortunately they called while I was @ the gym- I didn't ck my messages 'til almost 3pm (after I got back and showered) and hadda leave to head back to the grind (where I am now) around 5... While, due to mutual distance and work schedules, I have no unreasonable expectations nor harbor any unrealistic or naive illusions, nevertheless this is something I am determined to try and make right... and yes, much of it does fall on me. I hafta to make some changes, hafta begin to make/take some time to enjoy life and living a bit more again- even in this current economy, I can't just be running myself into the ground as I have for much too long, always trying to do the expected/responsible thing while disappointing others- and disappointing myself- and missing out on seeing/meeting too many good people, missing out on too much of the fun that life does offer, fun that I still remember, even if it's been awhile...


On a sorta similar note... over the last month+ I've had three people now, people whom I like, respect, and trust, make the almost exact same comment re. me: You're in a rut. While I might disagree over the particulars (I tend to believe it's more I have difficulty extending beyond my comfort zone; I'm not risk-averse in those areas where I believe I possess competence and have had past success, but I do tend to be too- what? conservative?? (moi?!)- in taking chances in areas/on things where I may not- yet- possess as much skill, competence, confidence) it goes without saying (for anyone who knows me, reads this journal, etc...) that my life has, for too long, been one of habit, of mundane predictability, something that I do recognize has been to my detriment, as well as to the, if not detriment, certainly disappointment, of others. Above all else, this risk-aversion has been career-related; an unwillingness to rock the boat or challenge too much the status quo, let alone seek out many other/additional opportunities (my wagering investments being an exception.) But whatever the particulars, those good friends who have commented upon my rut have prompted some renewed self-examination on my part; so thank you.

The Longest Time, Billy Joel
"I don't care what consequence it brings/I have been a fool for lesser things..."