SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You're progressing nicely in
your efforts to master life's most complicated skills. For
instance, you're making better and better mistakes all the time.
You're getting pretty good at being three places at once, too; and
with every passing month you know more about using your fears
to motivate you so they won't paralyze you. What you'd benefit
from most right now, though, is a refresher course in the
simplest fundamentals. For starters, you still have a lot to learn
about how to sleep and eat. And it's not too far-fetched to say that
you could use some breathing lessons. For that matter,
Sagittarius, you're not exactly a PhD in the art of happiness. I
suggest you sniff around to see if there are any crafty elders
offering workshops on how to regard everything that comes your
way as a blessing.
~ Free Will Astrology
I was so aggravated last night. I was driving home, and I was tired of
my book-on-tape (Buzz
Cut, by James W. Hall). There's nothing wrong with the book, I liked it when
I read it, but I think I remember it too well, and the villain is completely
unlikeable. So anyway, I listened to the radio for awhile, but the only radio
station I listen to is KCUR (NPR), and I'm sort of trying not to listen to the
news too much right now.
I couldn't remember what was in the CD changer, since I'd been listening to
tapes for a couple of weeks, but I turned on the CD player and started skipping
through the CDs (the changer has 6 slots) to remind myself what was in there,
and it would only play 3 CDs. It would play number 1 and number 2, then skip to
5, then skip back to 1.
I remembered the last book on CD I'd listened to--The Talisman--and remembered that
one of the CDs wouldn't play, but couldn't remember whether I'd tried it in a different
slot. I would hope that I would have, but didn't know. I thought, oh great. Now
I'm either going to have to take the car in and have it fixed--I assume it's still
under warranty, although knowing warranties, it probably excludes the sound system--or
deal with only having three of the six slots play, or maybe they're just all failing
one by one . . .
So I was really annoyed when I pulled into the garage, having worked myself up to it.
I pulled the deck out and took it inside with me, so I could look at it and be sure
I hadn't done something stupid, like put half the CDs in upside down. I hadn't. I
removed them all, then put them back in a different order, and figured I'd test it
out later. Bob told me to sit down and eat--he'd made me spaghetti--and relax, and
he picked up the deck and my keys and went out to the garage.
I propped my book up in my book holder and ate and read, and tried not to think
about anything.
Pretty soon he came back in and said, "Worked like a charm." His theory is that it
had something to do with the cold, since it was about 4 degrees yesterday and the
changer is in the trunk, and I'm sure that's what it was. He came in singing, "You're
like a shot of tequila in the morning." He said, "Who is that?" and I told him it was the
Crash Test Dummies (God
Shuffled His Feet). (The actual lyrics are, "Running
into you like this without warning, is like catching a whiff of tequila in the
morning. But I'll try, try to keep my food down . . .")
Oh my God! I went to Amazon.com to look for the link to that previous album, and
The Crash Test Dummies have a
Christmas album!!! I love weird Christmas music! I'm so excited! I
had to tell someone immediately, so I jumped up and told Dave, and he had already
heard about it (doesn't have it, but had read about it in Rolling Stone). I've got to
go order it right now.
Okay. Well, now that that's handled . . .
It had been quite a while since I'd listened to that album--I'd picked CDs at
random the last time I loaded the changer--so I listened to it on the way to work
this morning, and I couldn't believe how much it made me smile. They're eccentric,
but you know, I love eccentric.
Dave's making a new Flash MP3 player for our web site
where we'll each get to pick a couple of pieces of
music to feature. I know I spend too much time and energy worrying about this stuff,
but I've been thinking about it ever since I heard about it, and I have no idea
what to choose. Should it just be something I like, or something that really defines
me? Something that everyone would understand was really me, or something that
would surprise them?
After listening to CTD this morning, I was thinking maybe, "How Does a Duck Know?" ("How
does a duck know what direction south is? Or how to tell his wife from all the other
ducks?")
Or then there's that great line from "God Shuffled His Feet:" "And if your eye gets
poked out in this life, will it be waiting up in Heaven with your wife? God shuffled
his feet . . ."
So many good ones!
The current, complete selection in my CD changer (and yes, they all worked perfectly
this morning, I ran through the whole series):
- God
Shuffled His Feet - Crash Test Dummies (God! Ducks! Tequila! Tigers! Brad
Roberts!)
- The
Love Songs - Paul Young (One of my favorite albums of all time.
There's a newer, remastered version,
but strangely, it has different tracks, with the notable absence of "Senza Una Donna,"
the duet with Italian recording artist Zucchero.)
- Wishbones
- David Knopfler (Another favorite, and pretty much the soundtrack to my life right
now. It calms me down and makes me happy.)
- Soul's
Core - Shawn Mullins (Bought after hearing "Lullabye" every time I turned on the
radio one weekend while we were out of town--the rest of it is pretty good, too.)
- Beggar
on a Beach of Gold - Mike and the Mechanics (Good road music.)
- New Light
Through Old Windows - Chris Rea (An old favorite, and it has a Christmas song,
too--"Driving Home for Christmas.")
I was also thinking, maybe a
mantra.
And there's always "Working on it" from the Chris Rea Album: "I've got eight little
fingers and only two thumbs, will you leave me in peace while I get the job done?! I'm
working on it . . ."
