Normal Goings-on

[Zzzptm]

Yeah, I've given up on things for a while. When I see no real change, I go back to them. When I see a real change, I re-evaluate my choices in light of new evidence.

[Vyn]

It's been an interesting couple of days for nature around here. Wednesday morning, 0430, I'm wheeling my trash can out to the road. The sky is clear, it's about 25 F, the moon is bright. On my way back up to the house I see Venus about 2 inches above the horizon - except it is about the relative size of half of a dime. It had the four prongs shooting out of it like you would see in a painting. I've seen Venus countless times but it has always just been a slightly brighter looking star. Wednesday morning it was unlike anything I'd ever seen in the sky - magnificent.

Thursday, the area was supposed to wake up to rain. Instead, we woke up to five inches of slush and half-dollar sized snowflakes coming down. Roads weren't frozen, but a lot of places closed down because the resultant slush accumulation made driving hazardous.

THIS morning, 0730. I'm working from home. Looking out front and there's a bald eagle perched in one of the trees in my yard. I've seen bald eagles flying around this area before, it's rare but happens. And here that giant thing was hanging out in my yard. Pretty cool.

[Zzzptm]

Wow, that's a beautiful confluence of Venus and the eagle, so the slush that kept you home enabled that moment.

[Zzzptm]

I'll be doing the music for my church's Valentine's Day dinner/dance activity on Saturday. My guidelines were:

1. have a mix of music through all the decades, 50s-today
2. everything should be danceable
3. here's a list we came up with that we thought might work

I added another rule

4. Now is not the time to educate people about some truly choice deep cuts

And started on my list. Given that there are 8 decades under consideration, just 10 mins each would be an hour and 20 minutes, which is a bit over what we planned for how long the event will run.

What I learned:

50s music is as danceable as ever
60s Motown-style tunes are evergreen floor stompers
70s disco tracks really need to rein it in, those songs get LONG
80s pop has some pretty good dance tracks, then you play some Prince and then they all lose a big chunk of their shine
90s - the best dance tracks belong to the electronica genres, can't dance to grunge
00s - I see we've started to use the f-word more often... can't play those at a church dance!
10s - there are pop tunes, but the quality has really dropped off since the 60s-80s
20s - I found some pop tunes without swearing, but they're mostly from kids' movies...

My solution is to first work through the decades and once I've played the throwaway pop from Meghan Trainor, BTS, and Panic! at the Disco, break my rule 4 and play some amazing Northern Soul stompers that you can't not dance to.

I was talking about this with a friend who took her oldest to his first junior high dance and she said there wasn't anything played there after the 90s except for "Happy" by Pharrell Williams because there's such a minefield of swearing and suggestive dialogue that the school doesn't want to get angry phone calls about. Looks like that's a generalized conclusion about pop tracks in the early 21st Century.

[Vyn]

Seems like a spot-on assessment of pop music to me. Just straight up vulgarities are so prevalent I can see where trying to find music suitable for a church dance would entail much more research than simply grabbing some songs from the Billboard charts. "My fat-ass big bitches in the fucking club" just won't fly regardless of how good the beat is LOL.

[Charger]

The Eagle spotting was very cool Vyn!

I have never seen an eagle...we've got two species here but I've never seen either...

Driving around at night has introduced me to several owls though...they're pretty cool. Saw a really big one last week...I think it was a Horned Owl (or Eurasian Eagle Owl / Bubo Bubo)...

[Zzzptm]

Just wondering now... was the eagle essentially trash-talking Vyn before the Super Bowl?

"You like seeing eagles? Just wait until Sunday, buddy, we'll be ALL OVER YOU!!! HAHAHAHA!!!"

^ Artist's conception of a bald eagle that's also a Philly fan.

[Vyn]

Interesting observation Z. Exploring that concept a little further, I would have to say that since Philly's namesake isn't a "bald" eagle, and the term "bald" generally meaning "no scalp" and the Chief's are, well, indians...perhaps that eagle was showing me that "the Eagles are going to get scalped by the Chiefs".

[Vyn]

Driving around at night has introduced me to several owls though...they're pretty cool. Saw a really big one last week...I think it was a Horned Owl (or Eurasian Eagle Owl / Bubo Bubo)...

Owls are so cool. They're like the bear of the bird kingdom. We have them around here, but I think I've only ever seen two out in the wild. I do hear them a lot, though. We had one that either had a nest or a favorite place to hang out at night that happened to be in a tree near my bedroom...never did see it but ever night for about a month I'd get woken up in the middle of the night by that bastard lol.

[Zzzptm]

Interesting observation Z. Exploring that concept a little further, I would have to say that since Philly's namesake isn't a "bald" eagle, and the term "bald" generally meaning "no scalp" and the Chief's are, well, indians...perhaps that eagle was showing me that "the Eagles are going to get scalped by the Chiefs".

In light of recent events, I'd say you've now got an "in" on hanging a shingle as an interpreter of auspicious natural events. I'll write a testimonial to get you going with good PR. Up to you to hawk your wares on the TikToks and the Instagrams and what-not.

[Charger]

Driving around at night has introduced me to several owls though...they're pretty cool. Saw a really big one last week...I think it was a Horned Owl (or Eurasian Eagle Owl / Bubo Bubo)...

Owls are so cool. They're like the bear of the bird kingdom. We have them around here, but I think I've only ever seen two out in the wild. I do hear them a lot, though. We had one that either had a nest or a favorite place to hang out at night that happened to be in a tree near my bedroom...never did see it but ever night for about a month I'd get woken up in the middle of the night by that bastard lol.

Yeah they are cool indeed! And pretty rare to spot, but driving here on the country side at night is a good way to do just that. They can also be quite noisy indeed!

[Thelemech]

Health wise I am doing well.

Now I am dealing with a mice invasion!

I can't win!

Darn little bastards 😒

[Vyn]

Great to hear your health is on the up!

[Zzzptm]

Good health, bad mice. Oof.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Thel... you need a cat!!

Glad you're feeling better.