September 7, 2024
There are flames in the hills near our house. Only a freeway separates our house from the evacuation area. Patti is home and freaking out. She can still see the flames from our house. My sixth-grade teacher showed a picture from his front yard of the smoke billowing up as if from a volcano. Patti’s friend’s mom is in the evacuation area but refusing to leave. This is a nightmare for older people who live alone. My mom couldn’t live alone after my dad passed away. She needed help in doing almost everything. It’s better that I didn’t have to deal with my mom being alone.
September 8, 2024
Our house is still getting doused in ashes from the fire. It rained today. That should help. There were some thunderstorms. Patti didn’t care for that. I don’t know who’s more afraid of them – Patti or the cats. It was hotter at my work than at home. That’s not normal. It’s usually ten degrees hotter at our house. These are unprecedented times. That’s what I would say if I didn’t accept every day for what it is instead of expecting each day to always be the same. I make no expectations of the world except to present problems to solve. The rarer something is, the less prepared we are to handle it. Before I start talking about reality again, I will move on.
I’ve been listening to a book by Miriam Gargolyes. She was Professor Sprout in Harry Potter. That’s how I mainly knew her. The book is the second book by her about her life. This is a recent book considering the first one came out in 2020. The publisher released it in September 2023. She’s the kind of author I love listening to. She’s Jewish, a lesbian, liberally opinionated, and doesn’t believe in God but follows the rules of Judaism as if she does. There are few filters to her personality. She swears throughout the book and doesn’t hide her negative or positive opinions about people. The second book has many repeated stories from the first book but I’m still enjoying it. She’s 83 years old so I’ll cut her some slack.
I was watching a Duran Duran documentary the other day, and Simon Le Bon mentioned their album was still on the NME charts. I looked them up to see what the NME was. It’s the New Musical Express, which is a magazine from the UK. They have a list of the top 100 albums of all time. The albums are mainly British artists but also feature albums from around the world. I went through the list and added the albums to my phone. I’ve been listening to them in the car to and from work. They were bands I’d heard of but never actually heard. The Velvet Underground was one of the first. I went through each song and listened to the end of the song, mostly. Listening to other artists, I skipped more of their songs. One album, I stopped listening to it halfway through. Their songs started sounding all the same.
Listening to new music allows me to hear songs I don’t know. This keeps me from wanting to sing along with the songs. With my throat problems, I don’t want to make them worse. It’s pure listening without the distraction of singing along. Most of the albums only have artsy songs that paint a sound picture in your mind. I have found no songs I already knew yet. I’m on the Pixies right now and I know one of their songs. If I hear that song, it will be the first one I’ve heard before. Other artists I know have referred to some bands in the list, but I never listened to the bands they talked about. I’m trying to change that. There were some albums and artists I’ve heard before, but I didn’t add any of those to the albums I’m listening to.
Why am I listening to these artsy albums from the past? Mainly, I am tired of listening only to audiobooks. When I’m working around the house, I listen to audiobooks. On the freeway, I like to listen to music to distract me from all the A-holes. It’s more of a distraction when I can sing along with the songs (especially my own), but this is the next best thing. Another reason is to listen to different songs than I’m used to. The radio plays the same songs over and over. New songs quickly get overplayed until I tire of them. I still miss being able to listen to songs in stereo. Even with one ear, I can appreciate the artistry.
Thoughts from Life 
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