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
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
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
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
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
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)
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Absent any new WordPress daily prompts, I pulled one from thecoffeemonsterzco. If you had to sacrifice one of your senses (taste, touch, smell, sight, hearing), which would you choose? This is a difficult choice. I ticked down the choices in my head and my initial thought was maybe touch. Then the potential danger sunk in. … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: I Touch Myself – The Divinyls
I looked at my logbook and was surprised how fast time had flew by. Since my heart scare, my cardiologist asked me to take my blood pressure twice a day. Once in the morning and once before dinner. I’ve been recording my numbers for two years ever since. I remember when I first started, taking … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: No Rain – Blind Melon
I was out with friends a few months ago and the subject of retirement popped up. One friend is contemplating it next year. He’s worked hard his entire life, saved and invested well. He’s crunching the numbers to see if it can be done. Another friend has been a firefighter and paramedic for over 25 … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Crash – The Primitives
My wife was visiting her family for a week and I was on my own to fend for myself. Typically my wife and I share the cooking duties so I’m not totally helpless when it comes to making a meal. When it’s only one, though, cooking an entire meal seems like a lot of work. … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: True Faith – New Order
I’m not a big Usher fan. That’s not to say I don’t like him. I just don’t know much about him. In fact, if you asked me to name one of his songs, I’d draw a blank. Recently I saw a clip of him watching his son playing basketball. He’s being a regular dad sitting … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Father of Mine – Everclear
I had to change the battery of our smoke detector. I opened it and found it needed one of those rectangular nine volts. I searched through our box of batteries and found one, but it was mismatched with another brand’s packaging. I didn’t even recognize the brand. Odd. My Wife: I wonder if it’s new … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: Maybe – Ingrid Michaelson
I read a recent article where Dan Rather quoted a Turkish proverb. When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king, the palace instead becomes a circus. So spot on. I don’t think anymore needs to be said. I remember a friend once told me that The Greatest Showman was his favorite … Continue reading My Gen X Playlist: This is Me – Kesha
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