Moonlit Jazz

WEEKENDS ARE TOO SHORT…

San Franscisco 49ers over the Oakland Raiders, 23-20. Ahh, it’s always sweet when the 49ers win against the Raiders. Blah! 😉

We headed out to Best Buy in Union City today. In front was a black and white and I wondered if I would finally see that former guy in gray. As we walked in, there he was! LOL! Awww, he gave me a hug and we chatted a bit. Just wanted to say how nice it was to see him. And how much nicer the dark blue than the gray. 😉

I’ve actually been reading a bit more these day. Okay, a romance novel and a Star Trek Voyager book this week. But that’s good, no? And for music, I’ve picked up Diana Krall’s Live in Paris as well as the Foo Fighters. Hmm, which to listen to first…

After scanning the shelves at Fry’s yesterday, I found BEYOND JUSTICE, the second Lawless film starring Kevin Smith. (Of course, I haven’t seen the first one on DVD yet.) I’ve been thinking about him lately. Maybe it was All Souls day that triggered the remembrances. I haven’t watched the movie yet…

I’ve gotten slightly addicted to the games at Yahoo. Ye gods! Mindless fun? I should be working on my stories! [sigh]

TUESDAY NIGHT MUSINGS…

Well, it’s actually almost Wednesday morning. 😉

Selling a house is a pain the ass. I know I’m not directly dealing with the whole mess of it, but it’s still something that affects me. I don’t enjoy this feeling of helplessness and limbo. It totally sucks!

The geniuses at work (the GAWs? LOL!) continue to make life harder on the working folks in gray and blue. I don’t think I’ve ever worked at a place that has demonstrated such utter incompetence in managing staff and improving morale. Morale, what’s that? Here, let’s pound at it until it’s all gone, poof! Like a lovely cloud drifting away in the sky. And managing staff? The immediate sups have their hands tied and the next ones up think they know everything even though they’re never there checking things out. Who cares if we’re short staffed and tired and worn out and disgusted as long as our shoes shine. Polish that brass, buddy. Don’t think about taking any sick leave even though you accrue half a day every pay period because you’re going to get written up for it and you won’t get to move to a better place in this department. Shot, you should just be happy you have a job!

I am happy to have a job. I absolutely understand that our economy isn’t doing well. I am absolutely thankful that I have a job that I don’t take home (though one might argue that just talking about it right now is “taking it home”). But sometimes being shown a little appreciation goes a long way. It’s much nicer than sitting with my fellows folks in blue and hearing about how we’re doing this wrong and doing that wrong and how we’re to blame for all the bad things in the office, etc. Why not just say we all suck? Why not just turn us out onto the streets if we’re so terrible? No, can’t do that. Then where would “the department” be? Shafted.

I’m not saying that my job requires special skills and technical expertise, though I will say not everyone is cut out for it. And I’m not saying that the rest of the positions in the office aren’t hard as well. What I am saying is that we’re all (mostly) doing our best. If we falter and actually take our breaks, it’s because we’re getting worn out and tired. If we complain and grouse, it’s because we actually care about our working environment and want it to be better for ourselves and our co-workers.

Sometimes it’s hard to care when you know no one else really does…

AND THE ANGELS WIN THE WORLD SERIES…

So, the last remnants of summer played out last night in Anaheim and the Angels took the series in seven games, their first in their 41-year history. So the book is closed on the 2002 baseball season. All we have left are the awards…

Checked out GHOST SHIP last night. It gave me a thrill to see Karl Urban’s name in the opening credits. Oh, but before the movie, the trailer played for LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS and the first thing they showed was a Karl Urban scene. Woohoo! It was a sign. LOL!

ON A SERIOUS NOTE

A young man is killed and members of a fundamentalist Kansas based Baptist church support the three men charged with his murder? How utterly f****d up is that? From today’s headlines at The Argus: Kansas church may picket at hearing.

It makes me so angry whenever I read about these so called “Christians” who stand on their pulpits and feed into their own fears and small mindedness. It sickens me that they use God’s name in such a way, condoning violence towards people who don’t think like them or who don’t live like them. It’s disgusting. What happened to God’s message of Love? Of Compassion?

Satan sleeps well in their souls, laughing at the way they twist the Lord’s message to suit his needs. How do they not see that? And where in the world did I come up with that?

I’m not normally a religious type. I try to acknowledge my “spritual” side at times. I just know what’s right and wrong in my heart and soul and beyond the anger and disgust, I am sad…

MORNING MUSINGS

MULDER: Giants won behind AL-style pitching – Ahh, it’s nice just hearing from Mark Mulder. 😉

Speaking of Mulders, we were watching the Birds of Prey episode “Prey for the Hunter” and I had to comment on a character, “He’s like a Fox Mulder.” About five seconds later, the character says something like, “So I’m the Junior Mulder.” LOL! I thought it was so funny! He looked familiar too, but I don’t know from what. Anyhoo, I liked the episode. I like the show! 😉

TWISTED ANGEL, CRY

Hey, that sounds kinda neat. 😉 That could be a poem.

Last week or so, I bought LeAnn Rime’s latest offering, Twisted Angel. I had already checked out her video, “Life Goes On” at Yahoo! Music, so I was prepared for her turn into the realm of popular music. I like the CD, which is a mix of ballads, dance tunes, and other things you aren’t going to hear on your local country music station. There might be one song that could pass for country, but for the most part, it’s all pop.

Now, just because you can do it doesn’t always mean you should.

LeAnn Rimes has a BEAUTIFUL voice. In any kind of music, her voice has a distinctive sound. In country music, she brings the old and the new into something special. She sounded good in her “Blue” debut and she sounded good in the songs from Coyote Ugly. She could take the country sound and hug the line between country and pop. It was all good.

Twisted Angel. I think I listen to the CD as a new entity, something different. In that respect, I enjoy it. But as part of the country music fan listening base, I’m also a bit disappointed by this “broadening” of her horizons. It’s good for her, but sad for country music. It’s one thing if she had always had that pop influence in her music; but it’s another thing to just turn into a pop princess.

It just seems overnight for me and maybe it wasn’t. Maybe I didn’t follow her career closely enough these recent years to see that she’s been changing her musical focus. That’s fine, I suppose. But does this CD disappoint her country music fans a bit? I bet it does…

And now that brings me to Faith Hill’s latest, Cry. I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet, but the hubby says that it’s not what he expected. He can’t name one song on the CD that would pass for country music. Will I have the same verdict? We shall see…

DREAMY DREAMS ON CLOUDY DAYS

One of my high school friends appeared in a dream I had this morning. How strange! He had a truck (and I don’t know that he actually has one) and I caught a glimpse of him as he headed off with a friend. Weird dream!

And yes, cloudy days. I like the cooler days, the sunless skies. Sometimes you just want to cuddle at home and let the world stream by. Better to do that on cloudy days.