Music as inspiration #3

Did somebody say Howard Jones?

This song was a big hit in 1985, so it's easy to not pay attention to the lyrics and just get caught up in the woah woahs.  However,  I am still a big fan of Things Can Only Get Better, all these years later and listen to it often.  Here's the video, (just the hair is fascinating, in itself):

Things Can Only Get Better video


You know how when a bunch of things go wrong and you think, nothing else could happen, things can only get better?  Well, that is a) totally not true (does anyone really think that, things can always be worse) and b) not what this song is talking about.  Oh and c) a really irritating thing for someone to say to you when things are going wrong and they are trying to "comfort" you.
So the song is interesting because it is really all about letting go of what holds you back and just going for it.  The best things in life are often hard to attain, full of risk, a scary path to walk down and not a sure thing.  Sometimes it is difficult to get to your goal but if you know your course, you can get there, as long as you keep your goal in mind.  Sometimes, however, you want something and you don't know if you can achieve it, even if you try your best.  It becomes tempting to not try because of the risk and your lack of control of outcomes.  Wouldn't it be easier to change your goals than to remain focused on something that is a "maybe"?  In the short term, not going for it may feel right but what about in the long run?  Regret is a hard pill to swallow and likely harder to swallow than trying and failing.  So regardless of outcome, sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind and go for it.  If it works, great and if it doesn't, there is comfort in knowing that you will never look back and say "I should have..."  "I was too afraid to...."  "I wish I had...." This is why I love the final paragraph of this song.  Sometimes when I don't know what to do, or am afraid to make a risky choice, I listen to this song and go for it.  Success or failure is out of my control but being afraid to take the chance, well, that is up to me.


Things Can Only Get Better

We're not scared to lose it all
Security throw through the wall
Future dreams we have to realize
A thousand skeptic hands
Won't keep us from the things we plan
Unless we're clinging to the things we prize

And do you feel scared - I do
But I won't stop and falter
And if we threw it all away
Things can only get better
Whoa, whoa whoa whoa oh oh

Treating today as though it was
The last, the final show
Get to sixty and feel no regret
It may take a little time
A lonely path, an uphill climb
Success or failure will not alter it

And do you feel.....
Whoa whoa whoa whoah...

And do you feel...

PS This song has a recent remake (but without most of the great lyrics) but I guess this means there is a whole new generation dancing to this song!
Things Can Only Get Better Cedric Gervais and Howard Jones

are you listening?

Today I had some time to wander around midtown Manhattan with a few million friends.  I do not like crowds and usually would just push my way through and try to get away from people but today, I had a mission for the blog.  Forget people watching, everyone was so close by, I could just go right in for people listening.  (Your welcome)  Wow, it is really easy to eavesdrop on 5th Avenue.  I heard so many gems that I had to stop and text myself so I could remember them all.
"There's the plaza hotel (true).  You know it looks like the capital building?" (????)
Looking at Cardier building "I bet this looks cool at night."  (correct)
Pregnant woman sitting on the ground next to her standing family.  "Do I look like a homeless person because someone just offered me a dollar?"  (Well, then the answer is yes, you do-PS please wash those pants).
While a thousand people crossed when we weren't supposed to (you can't prove I was one of them) "It's ok to cross because that bus is blocking the interesection." Car:  HONK!!!!  OK, I agree but thanks for rationalizing it. By the way, the whole way people cross the street here took me years to unlearn.  When I j-walked in Washington DC I got yelled at by a cop and when I do it in Florida, people tell me stories about people being killed j-walking.  I haven't completely unlearned it because I got told this last month.
Some random person "Are you STILL complaining?" haha, having a nice vacation?
"Next time I come here, we come at 6:30 in the morning!"  I hope others will follow her lead so that there will be less people there at midday.
"Aint nobody got time for that....oooh bling!!!!"  Human equivalent of the Up dog and "squirrel!"  I have no idea why she was saying that first part though but I would really like to know.
On the crowded 6 train:  Two guys talking about how many people there are here and in China.  "You know it is like this all the time in China.  They got millions of people there.  They all gotta walk like this (picture waddling like a penguin, while standing in place on a subway). Shit!"  hahaha, I just had to laugh out loud for that one, even if it is against the rules to look like you are looking or listening to anybody, once you bring in penguin waddling, it's fair game.
By the way, even though I wrote about people watching and people listening, please do not expect any of the rest of the 5 senses.  I try very hard not to smell, touch or taste strangers, even for the blog!

Read this while looking like you are not reading this.

While in NY, my husband told me to people watch.  I think I am not only people watching, I am also watching other people, people watching.  I haven't lived in NY for a long time now so I have forgotten the fundamental rules of public transportation: don't make eye contact, don't talk to anyone and don't react to anything.  I guess I didn't forget the rules since I just wrote them but I am not really all that good at following them anymore.  I had to train myself when I moved to Florida to look directly at people and say "good morning".  Now I have returned to my roots of watching people but looking like I am not watching them... Or possibly I think I look inconspicuous but really look like a stalker.  Whatever, I don't live here so who cares.
Here's what has been observed.  Today while being alone on a subway car with one teenager, he glanced my way (rule breaker), I guess deciding I was harmless (am I? yes).  He then put his backpack down and started doing pull-ups from the middle bars on top of the train.  I wondered, would I do that if there were only one random person there to see?  Then I remembered I wouldn't do a pull-up if I was alone so of course I wouldn't.  I had been singing along with music before he got closer so la la la, I'd do that.
Yesterday I took the bus.  A man came on with a cat carrier and as soon as the bus started the cat started meowing.  This must have been a professional cat because it was clearly annunciating the word "MEOW."  Everytime the owner looked in the case the meows stopped and as soon as he lowered it again, "MEOW!!!"  I looked around.  No one said a word.  No one cracked even the smallest smile. No eye contact.  Do NOT acknowledge that someone just loudly meowed.  Meowing counts as communicating and is therefore breaking the rules of public transportation.  Shame on that cat!  Take his metrocard!  Eventually the guy sat down and put that cat on his lap and then no more meowing.  So I was amused by the cat but the people....now that is fascinating.  Those are big time New Yorkers and law abiding citizens!

Squirrel?

 

What are you looking at?

 

Squirrels are everywhere!  Run for your lives!  Actually, don't bother because if you scare them,  all they do is freeze as if we are dumb enough to think "hey that squirrel isn't moving, it must be a statue of a squirrel, guess I'll just keep on walking."  Well, listen squirrels, (as far as I know there are no squirrels reading this blog, if you are a squirrel, please leave a comment) you don't have to bother to freeze because I don't want anything from you anyway.  What do these squirrels think we are going to do to them? I don't want acorns.  I don't eat squirrels. Do they think I'm a dog and I am going to chase them?

 Anyone that is not a squirrel just looks the same to them?  I don't want to chase them. Not sure why these squirrels think they are so desirable.  I think squirrels are kind of arrogant. Don't you?

"I think I'm cooler than I really am and cooler than you."

I do, by the way, think they are cute, as long as I don't look at their creepy little hands.  Scary creepy hands.  I like the cute bushy-tailed ones in NY.  The ones in Florida have smaller tails.  For a while I thought there were sick squirrels all over Florida until I realized they must just be a different kind of squirrel. 

Speaking of Florida squirrels, I wonder every time we have a big storm where the squirrels and other animals go.  I do generally stay away from the windows during hurricanes (especially since two of them exploded during hurricane Wilma) but I have never seen any squirrels fly by during a storm.  I guess they go underground but where are these squirrel bunkers?  Do they have canned acorns in there?  and a tv?  Is this also safe for zombie apocolypse or nuclear war?  Maybe the next time I see a frozen squirrel pretending to be a statue I will ask him where his bunker is and if I can go there during the next storm.  Maybe I should start collecting acorns for payment.

 

"Get your own bunker! hmmph!!!"

Thanking a blog: Thank you blog!

I am thankful for many things but I am going to blog about being thankful for this blog.  I follow many other blogs and many are about real life.  I know that this must be cleansing to do but my decision was to make this blog not about my life but just the little things that occur within it.  I get enough real life all day long so I decided to use the blog to pinpoint things that make me feel good.  On some days, it is hard to think of a topic but I work with children and one thing I always ask them is "tell me something nice about your day."  So this blog is often my answering that same question.  Even if it wasn't a good day or it was just a "typical day" (my students always tell me that), I strive to find something that I can write about that will help me focus on the positive.  I couldn't think of anything the other day but wound up reminiscing about paper fans and water fountains (and later discussing this with my husband and sister) because the bright point of that day was my conversation with my friend Marla about air conditioning and us laughing at my ridiculously dramatic story of my "tough times" growing up without it.  I blog about my bunnies because they bring joy to myself and my husband and on any day, they do something that can make me laugh.  Plus, they are always staring at me so if I can't think of anything, it just gets awkward. (She's staring at me right now.) The blog about my grandmother's art, well, that one made a few people cry but in the way of bringing fond memories about someone who deserves to be remembered in that way.  The other day my husband asked me to blog about how good his meatloaf was but I refused, not wanting to write a blog on meatloaf (gee, why?) but he gets honorable mention for making delicious meatloaf, particularly when I have a lot of work to do!  I use the blog to talk about inspiration in music and lyrics because frankly, sometimes I need it and sometimes I ask people to read it because I think they do too. This blog is an opportunity to let me wonder but not worry about the big stuff, just ponder about the everyday and I love that.  Life is really interesting when you pay attention to the details. Hey, this blog started three years ago around my birthday.  I must thank this blog because every year I get tons of birthday coupons. All that free ice cream, is thanks to janisiswondering!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone, including you Janisiswondering!