The apartment is just about put together, with just a few more things to put on the wall and a few more piles of clothes to be put up or put away. For lunch today I had a toasted bagel. One half of it with peanut butter, the other half with apple butter. For dinner I had pasta with spicy meatsauce. I watched a crappy movie from 1980 My Bodyguard on TV. It was filmed in Chicago and even though it is fairly different from the Chicago I lived in (given that I was a baby when it was filmed and the city grew along with me) it made me sad because I don't live there anymore. It was my home for so long and before it was it was where I wanted to be. I've always lived in it or its shadow. Now I live outside of a city I don't know or love. What we do for life, huh?
So I'm putting off doing some reading, listening to some records in the warmth of my new home, which finally looks like it is my home after all. Why am I listening to right now? I'm ashamed to say it, but here is a lyric sample.
"YES! I am wise, but it's wisdom from the pain. YES! I've paid the price, but look how much I've gained. If I have to, I can do anything! I am strong! I am invincible! I am..." It is Helen Reddy's Greatest Hits. Don't blame me for having it, I got most of my records from the old collections of MOMS and POPS.
Where's Ruby Reddress?
Posted by: Mrs. Peperium | 07 September 2005 at 10:15
I've heard some pretty low people blame their parents for many things in their lives, but -- Helen Reddy's Greatest Hits? Next you'll be blaming "society."
Be a man. Get a blowtorch. Take the record outside. You know what to do.
Posted by: Bleak Mouse | 07 September 2005 at 13:09
It actually isn't that bad. I don't even mind "I am Woman" looking in hindsight at the withering of its ultra-feminist idealism in today's society. I rather like her version of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" and some of the other songs.
I don't blame my parents for my musical tastes (which run from quite good to terribly bad). I often find myself liking music not for its inherants "goodness" as music, but rather the baser question of "Does it sound nice to my ears" or "Does it remind me of something". If it makes me quiet and serene then it is good to me. If it reminds me of times gone by and simpler lives (at least imagined ones) then it is good to me. I do blame them for having so many bad records around for me to collect.
Posted by: Misspent | 07 September 2005 at 13:22
All right: "The sins of the fathers are visited on the sons."
I too have some guilty pleasures, but 'fessing up to them like that -- you're a better man than I am, Gunga Din.
Perhaps it's because I recall the "ultra-feminist idealism" of the 70s somewhat differently that the mere mention of Helen Reddy makes me want to grab a large squirtgun.
It's also an unfortunate fact of popular music that many artists are forever disgraced by the "hit single," whereas the bulk of their work can be rather good.
Posted by: Bleak Mouse | 07 September 2005 at 23:56
Delta Dawn, what's that flower you have on?
Could it be a faded rose from days gone by?
And did I hear you say
He was meetin' you here today
To take you to his mansion in the sky?
Posted by: Quicquid | 08 September 2005 at 08:25
YES! YES! YOU'RE MY BOY, QUICKY! YES!!
Posted by: Misspent | 08 September 2005 at 12:20
She's forty-one but her daddy still calls her baby
All the folks 'round Brownsville say she's crazy
'Cause she walks downtown with a suitcase in her hand
Waitin' for a mysterious dark-haired man...
But it is impolite to continue with this heartless exposé of Mrs. P's secret life. Especially since the Card's wife is not online to egg me on.
Posted by: Quicquid | 08 September 2005 at 19:51