My parents. I look at my siblings and myself and I see my parents’ fingerprints all over us. Growing up, there was an emphasis on family, work ethic, independence and kindness. There really wasn’t ever a direct conversation about these things. It was an unspoken understanding. My parents weren’t perfect, but they did the best … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Teach Your Children – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
That’s an easy one. I wish I could eat anything I wanted like I used to when I was younger. Burgers and fries? Coming right up. Pizza for dinner? A cold leftover slice is perfect for breakfast the next morning. Mexican food at 2 am after the bars closed? Extra hot sauce, please. Back then, … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Sweet Child O’ Mine – Guns N’ Roses
It’s Saturday night. We are at a local bar drinking. A friend drunkenly suggests that we all get tattoos the next day. We all lift our glasses and cheers yes! The next morning, we plan our trip to the tattoo parlor. One of my roommates looks up and says, “Oh, you were serious?” Four of … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Jane Says – Jane’s Addiction
Resilient I’m sometimes a hard nut to crack. I can buckle down and mix it with the best of them. Pressure, long hours, stress. I can absorb it all for long unsustainable amounts of time. I put my head down and march forward. Until I can’t. Twice in my life I’ve had to push the … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Dammit – Blink 182
I’m uncomfortable receiving compliments. I don’t know why. My initial response is to deflect. I’ve been better these days. I politely say thank you but still gradually move to change the topic. Best compliment? Once a friend told me that she thought I always looked to do the right thing. While I try, I’m not … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: The Voice – The Moody Blues
There is something called through hiking, which is hiking a long distance trail end to end. My bucket list includes the Camino de Santiago, which I’ve mentioned here. This is a 500 mile pilgrimage across Spain. I’ve heard it’s a life changing spiritual experience. There is another, much longer adventure that I’ve always found amazing: … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Walk On – U2
I once worked with a guy who I thought had an abundance of confidence. He projected it in his speech, his presence, his appearance. The only thing I couldn’t figure out was why he treated people so poorly and constantly put others down. It later dawned on me that he wasn’t confident at all. He … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Brass in Pocket – The Pretenders
I recently wrote about Hal Eldor’s five minute rule here. I’ve been trying to use this rule, but I still go longer than five minutes. That’s OK, though. I’m seeing improvement. The thought that there is a cut off time limit seems to help. That’s better than letting things drag on. Time to move on. … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Mad World – Tears for Fears
The workaholic in me would say work. But I’ve been off for awhile so I’ll set that aside. Recently I’ve been a victim of Netflix binge watching. It’s easy to say, just one more episode. Usually I’ll watch either espionage or murder mystery/crime shows. This past month I’ve been watching a slew of foreign crime … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Heart of Glass – Blondie
There are a number of movie music scenes that I’ll watch over again through the years. One of them is from the movie Begin Again. It marks a turning point for the different relationships in the movie and who knew Keira Knightly could sing. Knightley plays a singer-songwriter who is discovered by a struggling record … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Tell Me If You Want to Go Home – Keira Knightly
I don’t walk under ladders because quite frankly, it’s dangerous. I like Friday the 13th because it’s Friday and I love the weekends. When I knock on wood, I don’t do it because I believe in good luck, I just like using hand motions when I speak. I’m not very superstitious. I do believe in … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Mirror In the Bathroom – The English Beat
Once I was on a backpacking trip and we set up our tents fairly close to a ledge (no brains there, mind you). As I was entering my tent, I tripped and fell forward, flying head first. Thank goodness I had metal steaks hammered into the ground to keep my tent in place. It had … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Free Falling – Tom Petty
Hey. You made it. The big one oh oh. I know we agreed to write this letter as somewhat of a joke, but there was a part of me that secretly hoped you would actually read this. So here we are. My biggest hope is that your years have been full. You know what I … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: In My Life – The Beatles
Game shows used to be a thing when we were kids. I used to watch a bunch of them and thought how cool it would be to be a winner and get to go on a shopping spree. The winner got to select items from the studio smorgasbord of prizes. I could always find something … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Shoplifters of the World Unite – The Smiths
When you’re a kid and have an ethnic middle name, it’s usually something you don’t talk about. You avoid putting a spot light on it and try to fly under the radar. My friends used to ask and I’d tell them the first letter and challenged them to guess what it was. Everybody threw out … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: My Sharona – The Knack
50 Happens introduced me to the term Yacht Rock. I had no idea what she was talking about so I had to look it up. The name “yacht rock” didn’t enter the popular imagination until decades after its heyday in the early 1980s. Yacht rock refers to the soft rock that dominated FM radio airwaves … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Come Sail Away – Styx
When I was 20, I didn’t like when a liquor store owner or the casino pit boss asked to see my ID. For obvious reasons, I hated that. I was under 21. When I turned 21, I almost wanted them ask me. C’mon. Ask me. I’ve got my ID at the ready, ready to flash … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Twenty One – The Cranberries
I remember reading that apple cider vinegar is good for you. Since I’m open to anything healthy, I tried a spoonful. Jeez… I almost couldn’t keep it down. The next time I diluted it with a big glass of water and discovered it was still bad. There is no masking that taste. It’s awful no … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: In the End – Linkin Park
Each morning doesn’t officially begin until my third cup of coffee… Where I go from there, your guess is as good as mine. WordPress only asked for the first line, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’ll wait for the prompt that asks me for the rest and we’ll take it from there. I … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: The Sound of Silence – Simon and Garfunkel
Practically speaking, the three objects I need are my glasses, my phone and my car. The reason for my glasses (or contacts) is obvious. I need to be able to see. I should probably look at my phone less and give my eyes a rest. That’s a tough one to follow. That leads to my … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Train in Vain – The Clash
After graduation, I moved out and rented an apartment with friends. This probably was the best experience for growing up. Everything was new. I was a blank slate. I was 100% responsible for myself and it was a nice bridge to adulthood. Probably the biggest challenge was managing my finances. How could I pay my … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Baby, I Love Your Way – Big Mountain
I always love fortune cookies. If we do takeout, I sometimes can’t wait until the end of the meal. I’ll open my fortune cookie before we dig in. Typically, the fortunes are cheesy and I toss them aside. Every once in awhile I get a good one, so good that I feel compelled to save … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: I Predict – The Sparks
So, I’m currently taking a career break. For the first time in years, my days are not filled with stress. I don’t wake up in the middle of the night thinking about work. I’m now sleeping 6-7 hours per night. I’m not putting in 10-12 hour intense filled days at the office. My blood pressure … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Lay, Lady Lay – Duran Duran
Life likes to throw you water balloons filled with mixed emotions. That’s what happened when I had my first mortgage. I bought a small condo downtown. At that time, the area hadn’t quite been gentrified yet and nobody was really living in downtown LA. Smart move? I wasn’t sure yet. I worked downtown, had been … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: In Between Days – The Cure
I’d want to be Noel Gallagher at this very precise moment singing this song. It doesn’t get much better than this. He says “feel free to join in on the chorus. The crowd, “no we’ll sing the entire thing.” Incredible. YouTube comment by wesleymercer2184 Having 70,000+ people sing your song word for word back to … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Don’t Look Back In Anger (Live) – Oasis
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