2 posts tagged “life”

Since I have been tied up at playing catch up the past few weeks (among other things) I haven't been able to get to this one. Emily probably thought I had forgotten, but alas, no. I wanted to give it some serious thought about my life and the music behind the scenes. What I basically went for here was songs released by year and which one best represents my life at that point. Also keep in mind that the ages listed are what I turned that year. So, here goes.

December 1967 - Born on a cold day a week before Christmas. This day would be the scourge of my life as people in my life would be so wrapped up (Christmas joke) in the season as to literally forget my brithday.

1969 - A Boy Named Sue, Johnny Cash
 Two years old. Not sure if this is what made me a scrapper, but my real name is Terry, not Terrance, but Terry. My Grandmother threatened to disown my Mother if she named me Terrance. Wanna fight about it? LOL

1975 - Kung Fu Fighting, Carl Douglas
 Eight years old. This was the height of kick-ass ass-kicking around our house. Youngest of three boys, we fought like three Mike Tysons after another piece of ear.

1975 - Ballroom Blitz, Sweet
 Eight years old. Same thing as above, a fight could break out between us brothers at any point. All it took was a look from the guy in the back and we'd start to attack and it would turn into a ballroom blitz.

1978 - We Are The Champions/We Will Rock You, Queen
 Eleven years old. Guess who was one of the smartest kids in school? We tested all through spelling, math and other subjects. Went as high as they'd let us test. We were the champions, my friend.

1978 - Come Sail Away, Styx
 Eleven years old. This song was the background for my life. Soothing rocking background, loud vocals, yet very restrained in the backbeat. I learned it was better to watch and listen than do otherwise. Became the advocte for the littler kids on the scene. Bullies beware.

1979 - The Logical Song, Supertramp
 Twelve years old. This was how I'd become jaded by the establishment. Teachers (adults for that matter) weren't as smart as they appeared and didn't always have all the right answers. Always the man, keeping me down.

1980 - Another Brick In The Wall, Pink Floyd
 Thirteen years old. Started Junior High and yes, became another brick in the wall. Still taking advanced classes, but no longer care about grades. Slacking my way through school. Only thing consisten about my grades were their inconsistency. Began hearing things like, "If only he would apply himself..." at Teacher's conferences.

1980 - Ride Like The Wind, Cristopher Cross
 Thirteen years old. Also the year I got my first ten speed bike. I rode that thing everywhere. And I mean everytwhere. Think we logged several hundred miles or more a year on our trips.

1981 - Another One Bites The Dust, Queen
 Fourteen years old. Coming back to the second year of Junior High School, found out that one of my best friends had died in a bike accident over the summer. He was out riding on a busy street, popped out between two cars right into traffic. Dead. Instantly. Things suddenly looked different for a lot of people. We were no longer invincible.

1984 - Break My Stride, Matthew Wilder
 Seventeen years old. Sophmore year of High School, sports nut. Played tennis, football, track and field and of course, wrestling. This was my theme song for wrestling. And nobody was going to hold me down.

1986 - That's What Friends Are For, Dionne Warwick, Elton John, and Gladys Knight
 Nineteen years old. Graduation from High School. This was the backdrop for entering the real world and leaning on each other as we made our way into the big wide world. Helping each other was just second nature. It's amazing how good friends are always there for you. Pick up the phone five years later and call them and it's like picking up our last conversation from where we last left off.

1987 - Here I Go Again, Whitesnake
 Twenty years old. Wound up buying my first house when I was nineteen, but the paperwork wasn't all done until I was almost twenty. I waited eight months for the paperwork to be signed off. Truly making it in the real world on my own.

1987 - (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right To Party, Beastie Boys
 Twenty years old. Of course, having my own house meant that everyone wanted to come over and party there. It was rough and I almost ended up fighting for my right to NOT party and have some time to myself.

Henry David Thoreau ("Where I Lived and What I Lived For" Walden)
Our life is frittered away by detail... Simplify, simplify, simplify! ... Simplicity of life and elevation of purpose.

Henry Thoreau. Famous words from a famous person. What do they mean, literally and in context? I have been trying with some difficulty to simplify my life, with varying degrees of success. I have compiled our many bills into a few bank notes, gotten the bank accounts down to just a few, even sorted stuff out in the bedroom so that things would fit in the dressers. I have bought things to make jobs easier and quicker, I have purchased better quality items that will last longer and have not bought until doing so made sense. Simplify. Whew. Here are some more quotes on simplicity that really hit a note with me:

Prof. Ludwig Wittgenstein
The aspects of things that are most important to us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity.

• I believe this is absolutely true because I often lose things in the stack of mail that are important and therefore are usually rushed in getting taken care of due to poor record keeping. Simpler is better.

Thomas More
The ordinary arts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest.

• It is amazing the power of a family sitting down to dinner together has. Something so simple as that might bond people together stronger than almost anything else. Simply awesome.

Hans Hofmann
The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.

• I wish Congress with their multilayered bills would observe this one... Boneheads...

Charles Mingus
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.

• Lord knows we need some very creative people to go to work for the IRS... Holy crap do we ever!

Henri Frederic Amiel
A man must be able to cut a knot, for everything cannot be untied; he must know how to disengage what is essential from the detail in which it is enwrapped, for everything cannot be equally considered; in a word, he must be able to simplify his duties, his business and his life.

• There comes a time when you must just cut through the bull.(uhhh).ogna of life and get to the heart of the matter, that which matters most, the simplest things in life.

I think that John Buroughs sums it up very aptly:

John Burroughs
To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter ... to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring—these are some of the rewards of the simple life.

We must seek to simply our lives so that we do not become lost in the details. To be able to see the sunset for the beautiful thing it is rather than the end of another day that has us falling further behind in our overcomplicated life. Live in today, live in the Now. Some people have asked why indeed, if Thoreau wanted us to simplify, would he say it three times. Why not just once? The point to be made is direct. It's as if he wishes his readers to take heed not once, not twice, but three times. That simplification is that important that it bears hearing three times over.