MyGenXerLife

June 22, 2025December 7, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now – Smiths Covered by a Random YouTube Guy (Elliot Smith)

My oldest bother was the first in my family to get married. He had a pretty big wedding, around 300 guests. At one point, he brought out his guitar and serenaded his wife in front of the whole crowd. It was pretty romantic and I remember looking around and seeing a lot of teary eyes. … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now – Smiths Covered by a Random YouTube Guy (Elliot Smith)

June 20, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: One Tree Hill – U2

My sister has been chatting with my mom about distant relatives and began sketching out our family tree. She has different drafts on various pieces of paper. I’d been meaning to sign up for Ancestry.com for awhile, but my good intentions remained just that. After a recent family gathering, I told myself to look into … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: One Tree Hill – U2

June 13, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: Piano Man – Billy Joel

I received a deal I couldn’t pass up. Free rooms in Vegas at a pretty good hotel. I haven’t been in a while, I passed when my buddies went a few months ago. I’m pretty excited to hit the tables again. I haven’t felt this excited about Vegas in a long time. I’m impressed when … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Piano Man – Billy Joel

June 7, 2025June 8, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: Roxanne – The Police

I attended my nephew’s high school graduation yesterday. I was looking at the list of names in the program and it went on for a couple of pages. His graduating class was about 550 kids. Announcing each kid’s name as they received their diploma might take a minute. The kids at his school are pretty … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Roxanne – The Police

June 2, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: Green Grows the Rushes – REM

Mary at 50 Happens reminded me about preppy pink back in the day. I remember a preppy surfer guy in high school was the first to wear a pink Polo oxford. He paved the way for it to be cool. After that, all masculinity was safe from taking hits for donning something pink. After reading … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Green Grows the Rushes – REM

June 1, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: Cups – Kina Grannis and Friends

I knew it wasn’t a good idea. I even said to myself, I’m not sure you should be doing this. But it was an early Monday morning and I wasn’t quite awake yet. So I did it, totally ignoring my better judgment. What did I learn? My lap is not a good balancing place for … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Cups – Kina Grannis and Friends

May 31, 2025May 31, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: Both Sides Now – Joni Mitchell

I was reading a blog recently about a woman approaching her 39th birthday. It’s only natural to reflect on life when you’re finishing off your thirties. It got me thinking about myself around that age. I remember it well. Turning 37 was the first age that made me think, Damn, I’m getting up there. I … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Both Sides Now – Joni Mitchell

May 30, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: Buddy Holly – Weezer

A friend of mine teaches grade school and once told me about one of her students. Apparently, the little boy’s parents immigrated to the US, loved American movies and named their son after their favorite actor – Tom Hanks. I asked if people in his class called him Tommy or some other name that didn’t … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Buddy Holly – Weezer

May 29, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: For What It’s Worth – Hootie and the Blowfish

I subscribe to Rave and Roll’s blog. She posts the weekly playlist from David Marsden’s broadcast. I usually peruse the list to see what catches my eye. Buffalo Springfield’s For What It’s Worth recently made the cut. This song was released in 1966, a little before my time. Yet over the years, I’d catch it … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: For What It’s Worth – Hootie and the Blowfish

May 25, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: Make It With You – Bread

We arrived at the tail end of the farmer’s market just as they were beginning to close up. Usually, we pick up fruit and vegetables, but that day fresh bread was calling our name. Because it was almost closing time, they offered us a buy one get one free deal. How could we resist? We … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Make It With You – Bread

May 24, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: My Favorite Things – Maeve Touhey

We finished our mini-season of musicals with Mamma Mia. This was a fun one and the music was nostalgic. I will say, the first act was slower than I remembered. It picked up in the second and overall was a good time. What really made the evening was the encore. The entire cast played a … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: My Favorite Things – Maeve Touhey

May 23, 2025May 24, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: Semi-Charmed Life – Third Eye Blind

I searched through a few cabinets. It’s been a while since we needed them. I wondered if they were still good. I’m sure all were past their expiration dates, but I read results from expired ones could still be trusted. I finally found our stash of Covid tests. It feels like Covid was a million … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Semi-Charmed Life – Third Eye Blind

May 11, 2025May 24, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: The Mother – Brandi Carlile (again)

My mom stayed home to raise us kids for much of our childhood. There were four of us with a year or two apart each, so you can imagine the chaos trying to corral us. It wasn’t fair. It was four against one. Nearly impossible, but she somehow managed it. Three of us are boys. … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: The Mother – Brandi Carlile (again)

May 10, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: Don’t Try to Stop It – Roman Holiday

My uncle is visiting for a few weeks. He lives in Northern California and comes down every few years. He doesn’t leave the Bay Area that often, so it’s a nice change of scenery for him. I remember when I lived abroad, it always was nice to receive mail from friends or family. With that … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Don’t Try to Stop It – Roman Holiday

May 9, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: Save Me – Aimee Mann

I was reading a blog the other day and it explained if you dropped a frog in a pot of hot water, it will immediately jump out to save its life. On the other hand, if you put a frog in cold water first and gradually turn up the heat, the frog won’t realize the … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Save Me – Aimee Mann

May 8, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: Stand and Deliver – Adam and the Ants

We saw Hamilton last week. People gave us a heads up that it may be difficult to pick up the lyrics and follow the dialogue the first time around. They were right. While we couldn’t understand each verse, we were able to follow the story line. I think it’s good excuse to see it one … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Stand and Deliver – Adam and the Ants

May 6, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: Do You Want to Hold Me – Bow Wow Wow

It’s been forever since I’ve been to Disneyland. I was chatting with a colleague who is flying in with his family to spend five days with Mickey Mouse and friends. He said he’s got it all wired. Apparently there are a lot of options these days to make your Disney experience easier. For one, you … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Do You Want to Hold Me – Bow Wow Wow

May 5, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds – The Beatles

My wife suddenly started rattling off a list of delicious foods. Fried chicken, french fries, donuts, potato chips and hot dogs. I thought, Are you trying to serenade me? But then she followed it up with: Processed Foods: How Bad They Can Be. Apparently it was an episode of a health podcast and she asked … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds – The Beatles

May 4, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: Shout – Tears for Fears

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve discovered I sometimes bottle up feelings and occasionally need to push the pressure release button. I’d never been like this in the past. I usually was able to power through until the smoke cleared. My wife pinpoints this change in me to my brain surgery. Maybe she’s right. Before then, … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Shout – Tears for Fears

May 3, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: Go Your Own Way – Fleetwood Mac

Last weekend, the weather was beautiful. It was sunny and hit the mid 70’s. We went for brunch and sat outside to enjoy the weather. Many had the same idea and the outside seating was full. Next to us sat a young man with his parents. We were in such close quarters that I couldn’t … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Go Your Own Way – Fleetwood Mac

May 1, 2025May 1, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: Somewhere Only We Know – Keane

I was driving back from downtown Los Angeles. It’s a one hour drive without traffic. It can be close to two with. I hadn’t used the CD player in years (yes, my car is older). Turns out I had three CDs in my disc changer. I pressed play. The first to come on was the … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Somewhere Only We Know – Keane

April 26, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: Zombie – The Cranberries

My brother-in-law is a huge fan of The Walking Dead. I looked it up on Netflix and there are all kinds of episodes of that show. The only problem is I’ve never been a fan of the zombie genre. So it surprised me when I started watching The Santa Clarita Diet. I thought I’d watch … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Zombie – The Cranberries

April 23, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: Mother, Mother – Tracy Bonham

I have a friend who recently met someone interesting for the first time since her divorce. It’s relatively new and she wondered out loud what it would be like if she ever had to fess up to her teenage kids down the road. I had to weigh in. I mentioned to her that her daughter … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Mother, Mother – Tracy Bonham

April 22, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: I’m Just a Girl – No Doubt

We left a tough client meeting. The client was brutal. Asking tough questions, demanding, upset at different moments during the meeting. She drove the meeting hard. We barely survived. As we loaded into the car, I muttered a few words under my breath. What a bitch. I was about thirty at the time. The consulting … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: I’m Just a Girl – No Doubt

April 19, 2025

My Gen X Playlist: If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out – Cat Stevens

When I was in college, we used to go to this club in downtown Los Angeles. It was in a seedy part of downtown and housed in a converted warehouse. It had three floors, each with a different music vibe. One floor had hip hop/rap music. Another floor up had techno/dance music. The third floor … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out – Cat Stevens