GBE 77- Why Am I Here?

Why am I here? Hmmm??? What a loaded question. At the age of 47, I still don't really know.

Awww, what the heck. Let's just listen to some music and let it make us smile.

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This is my submission to the GBE. This week's topic is "Why Am I Here?"

The GBE, or Group Blogging Experience is great fun. Each week (usually on Tuesday) we are given a general topic by our fearless leader Alicia and we have until that Saturday to blog about it. Say whatever you want. Silly, serious, true, fiction, debate.... whatever. It's up to you.

If your interested just go to Alicia's Blog and and check it out. If you want to participate comment her blog saying "I'm in", that's it. No big sign up or anything. You blog and she'll link to your blog and everyone else's on Saturday.

Make sure you're not private, although it's not a necessity. It just makes it easier for everyone to read your submission.

On my ipod...

This morning, driving to work, I heard this on my ipod. Don't we all, at one time or another, feel this way? We all need someone to talk to.

Either way, whether you agree or not, it is a good song and video. I just wanted to share.

What Old People Do For Fun

For a laugh on Monday morning...

Am I sensing a theme here?

I love THIS Metallic, back when they were selling out stadiums mostly by word of mouth because radio airplay was hard for them to get.

Just 4 talented guys and their instruments.

In my opinion, they are so over produced today, it has caused them to lose that "edge" their music once had. Allow me to provide a little background to the song and then, give it a listen... watch the video (excellent quality vid I might add). Even if metal is not your thing, come on, branch out, because... Let's all say it together....

MUSIC IS MUSIC.

*** My favorite line from this song ***

"Emptiness is filling me"

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"Fade to Black" is a song by thrash metal band Metallica from their second album, Ride the Lightning (1984). It was the first musical ballad released by the band, and is considered to be the precursor to "One" and "The Day That Never Comes" due to strong similarity in sound, structure, and subject matter. It was ranked as having the 24th best guitar solo ever by Guitar World magazine readers. It is one of Metallica's most famous songs. Since its release, "Fade to Black" has been a fixture in Metallica's live performances. It was also the last song that Metallica performed live with former bassist Jason Newsted. Jason's last gig was at the VH1 Music Awards on November 30, 2000. It was one of Newsted's favorite Metallica songs, and was said to be of great sentimental value to him, although it had been written before he had joined the band. Jason Newsted's previous band, Flotsam And Jetsam, performed a song called "Fade To Black" on their 1986 album Doomsday For The Deceiver before Jason left to join Metallica, although it bears no resemblance to the Metallica version.[1]

[1] From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hurt - Johnny Cash's cover

I came across this just now. Listen to and watch the video. It is Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt", written by frontman Trent Reznor. It brought tears to my eyes, so be forewarned. Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt" was released on his 2002 album, American IV: The Man Comes Around. Rick Rubin, producer of Cash's American series and a friend of Reznor, suggested the song to Cash. The line "crown of shit" was changed to "crown of thorns", not only removing profanity from the lyrics, but also more directly referencing Christ. The cover was released on a single with the B-side "Personal Jesus", a cover of the Depeche Mode single.

Reznor said that when Rubin first asked if Cash could cover his song, he was "flattered" but worried that "the idea sounded a bit gimmicky." He became a fan of Cash's version, however, once he saw the music video.

"I pop the video in, and wow… Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps… Wow. I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn't mine anymore… It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form. I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and alone. [Somehow] that winds up reinterpreted by a music legend from a radically different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning — different, but every bit as pure."[1]

[1] From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

GBE 76 - Illusion

This week in the GBE, the subject is Illusions. I know, I'm probably taking the easy way here, but I hope you enjoy the songs I pulled together about illusion.

Do you know any songs about illusion? Feel free to post them in your comments. I want to hear you guys. Doesn't matter what genre, because with me, MUSIC IS MUSIC. Plain and simple.

The Grand Illusion - Styx












Life Of Illusion - Joe Walsh



Sometimes I can't help the feeling that I'm
Living a life of illusion
And oh, why can't we let it be
And see through the hole in this wall of confusion
I just can't help the feeling I'm
Living a life of illusion


Pow! Right between the eyes
Oh, how nature loves her little surprises
Wow! It all seems so logical now
It's just one of her better disguises
And it comes with no warning
Nature loves her little surprises
Continual crisis


Hey, don't you know it's a waste of your day
Caught up in endless solutions
That have no meaning, just another hunch
Based upon jumping conclusions
Caught up in endless solutions
Backed up against a wall of confusion
Living a life of illusion










Illusion - Benny Benassi



Chorus:

I wanna be your illusion, be your illusion
To make you happy tonight,
Enjoy this trip with me

I wanna be your emotion, be your emotion
Why don't you turn off the light,
Imagine how we could be leavin

(Beats)

Sometimes I won-der why we have no limits
Everything we do is timed, just find out who we are
we wont stop playing, the special game of love
and when we get together the time is running
I'll be your dream that you'll remember over and over
If only you tried me, If only you touched me

Chorus:

I wanna be your illusion, be your illusion
To make you happy tonight,
Enjoy this trip with me

I wanna be your emotion, be your emotion
Why don't you turn off the light,
Imagine how we could be leavin

I wanna be your illusion, be your illusion
To make you happy tonight,
Enjoy this trip with me

I wanna be your emotion, be your emotion
Why don't you turn off the light,
Imagine how we could be leavin







Black illusion-Ozzy Osbourne



You load the dice and paint the smile upon your face

With fingers crossed you switch the perfume with the mace

What kind of dreams do you enjoy inside your bed?

Ill face the lies that take the evil from your head



Black illusion is all I ever see

Black illusion, Ill bring you misery

Oh yeah

Yeah


You always seem to know the answer to it all

You seem to cheat the truth and never take the fall

Your life is hollow and you simplify the rules

The time will come when you will join the other fools


Black illusion is all I ever see

Black illusion, Ill bring you misery

Oh yeah

Yeah


I load the dice and fake a smile upon my face

With fingers crossed I switch the perfume with the mace

What kind of dreams do I enjoy inside my bed

Youll face the lies that shake the evil from my head


Black illusion is all I ever see

Black illusion, Ill bring you misery

Oh yeah

Yeah

Yeah

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This is my submission to the GBE. This week's topic is "Illusions"


The GBE, or Group Blogging Experience is great fun. Each week (usually on Tuesday) we are given a general topic by our fearless leader Alicia and we have until that Saturday to blog about it. Say whatever you want. Silly, serious, true, fiction, debate.... whatever. It's up to you.


If your interested just go to Alicia's Blog and and check it out. If you want to participate comment her blog saying "I'm in", that's it. No big sign up or anything. You blog and she'll link to your blog and everyone else's on Saturday.


Make sure you're not private, although it's not a necessity. It just makes it easier for everyone to read your submission.

Do You Know Jack Schitt?

Women Drivers... Okay, not all, but this is funny as f**k!

The Rain Song written by Robert Plant

This is the springtime of my loving-


the second season I am to know


You are the sunlight in my growing-


so little warmth I've felt before.


It isn't hard to feel me glowing-


I watched the fire that grew so low.


It is the summer of my smiles-


flee from me Keepers of the Gloom.


Speak to me only with your eyes


it is to you I give this tune.


Ain't so hard to recognize-


These things are clear to all from


time to time. Ooooh...



Talk Talk-



I've felt the coldness of my winter


I never thought it would ever go


I cursed the gloom that set upon us...


But I know that I love you so


but I know that I love you so.


These are the seasons of emotion


And like the winds they rise and fall


This is the wonder of devotion-


I see the torch we all must hold.


This is the mystery of the quotient-


Upon us all a little rain


must fall, Just a little rain?


ooooh, yeah yeah yeah

Awesome card trick - Sam the Bellhop

Just press "PLAY" and enjoy.

HOW TO KNOW WHEN SHE'S PISSED! - GBE - 75

I received this in an email. It shows the "something went wrong" side of love and romance. Or the "husband f'd up" side. Hopefully, it will make you smile. I will answer the GBE question at the end, so scroll down.

So, the choice, between love or romance. Call me selfish, but I want both; I want it all. I never have had both at the same time, so darn it... As was once asked:

"Can anybody find me, somebody to love?" ~ Freddie Mercury

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This is my submission to the GBE. This week's topic is "LOVE OR ROMANCE?"

The GBE, or Group Blogging Experience is great fun. Each week (usually on Tuesday) we are given a general topic by our fearless leader Alicia and we have until that Saturday to blog about it. Say whatever you want. Silly, serious, true, fiction, debate.... whatever. It's up to you.

If your interested just go to Alicia's Blog and and check it out. If you want to participate comment her blog saying "I'm in", that's it. No big sign up or anything. You blog and she'll link to your blog and everyone else's on Saturday.

Make sure you're not private, although it's not a necessity. It just makes it easier for everyone to read your submission.

GBE 74

The subject this week for the GBE is a question: WHO/ WHAT INSPIRES YOU?



Okay, for me, it all depends on what it is.



Everyday, I am inspired by my mom and what she went through and how she came out of it. I admire her so much.



Although I struggle, as we all do from time to time, God inspires me to be the kindest and the best person I can be.



In life, hands down, music inspires me. It brings me up when I'm down; gives me the extra kick in the pants when I need energy or when I'm pissed, and it can calm me down. It is always there offering so many different genres; so many inspirations.



At my job, seeing actual product can inspire me. (I work at a catalog company, where I am one of the merchandisers of our catalogs, meaning I choose product). My coworkers inspire me. Not naming names. ;)




Lately I have been trying my hand at blogging. I used to be one of those infamous lurkers, but there has been a group of bloggers (Group Blogging Experience, aka GBE) who has inspired me to stretch myself to my limits and actually blog. I suggest you check them out. Alicia is the leader.



There have been others not in the group, and they have inspired me as well. But there is one in particular... Here I will name names, because if you haven't read her, you are really missing out.



Just Kate was the one who originally said "I know you can do it." and gave me that little push to try. Her blogs still inspire me today.


Thank you to Katy and all the other writers; too many to name separately. As Katy, Chris and Mish are all fond of saying, all of you guys helped me begin to "SHINE". :D



"It is wonderful how much time good people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow men, the devil would die in his own tracks of ennui." ~ Hellen Keller





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This is my submission to the GBE. This week's topic is "WHO/ WHAT INSPIRES YOU?"



The GBE, or Group Blogging Experience is great fun. Each week (usually on Tuesday) we are given a general topic by our fearless leader Alicia and we have until that Saturday to blog about it. Say whatever you want. Silly, serious, true, fiction, debate.... whatever. It's up to you.



If your interested just go to Alicia's Blog and and check it out. If you want to participate comment her blog saying "I'm in", that's it. No big sign up or anything. You blog and she'll link to your blog and everyone else's on Saturday.



Make sure you're not private, although it's not a necessity. It just makes it easier for everyone to read your submission.

Follow-up to The Assignment from BellaDonna

The man who was the teenage boy looks in the mirror. He remembers those words that were said to him back in the seventh grade. He hears them again.

Here he comes. 

It's fat boy.
 

Look at his clothes.  

You're ugly.

As he silently says each phrase, he thinks of himself now...


He is not fat; He was never so big that he'd have been a candidate for the Biggest Loser. He was a husky size till about the 12th grade. Now he is an average size man whose work has him at a desk. This had caused him to gain a little. But he is content. He is healthy. He is happy with his job.


His clothes. That makes him laugh. Nowadays it is jeans and polo shirts. Back then it was the mid-seventies. Need he say more?


He stops himself at the next phrase. Again, he looks in the mirror. Ugly? No. Granted, he is no Brad Pitt, but there is something... Then it hits him. It is the man's face in the mirror, yet it is the teenage boy's eyes looking back at him now.


He thinks he has found why he feels like he does at times. How when friends ask him to join them, he makes excuses why he can't when he desperately wants to. It is what he did in the seventh grade. It was survival. It is how he is and probably how he will be for the rest of his life. It is why he always worries about saying too much, and ends up not saying enough.


He knows the clown still likes to make appearances. He always will, but the man never knows exactly when. His friends are always surprised and a little shocked, as is he. Many times he is misunderstood when he is playing the clown.


He wonders about the cheerleader. And he wonders why.


He thinks of a song he heard today in traffic. Billy Joel's "And So It Goes". The lyrics could be his. So he turns away from the mirror and gets his ipod. He sits down, puts his ear buds in, and presses play. As he listens, he wonders if the teenage boy will ever leave and let the clown be. And a tear rolls down his face. He wipes it away, remembering how good his life is right now compared to others. Along with other events in his life, he knows that time long ago shaped the man he is. So he has quirks; he doesn't think he'd change a thing. He smiles as he leans back and floats away with the music.

In every heart there is a room 

A sanctuary safe and strong 

To heal the wounds from lovers past

 Until a new one comes along

 I spoke to you in cautious tones 

You answered me with no pretense

 And still I feel I said too much 

My silence is my self defense
 And every time I've held a rose

 It seems I only felt the thorns 


And so it goes, and so it goes

 And so will you soon I suppose
 But if my silence made you leave

 Then that would be my worst mistake 

So I will share this room with you 

And you can have this heart to break
 And this is why my eyes are closed

 It's just as well for all I've seen 

And so it goes, and so it goes 

And you're the only one who knows 
So I would choose to be with you

 That's if the choice were mine to make 

But you can make decisions too 

And you can have this heart to break
 And so it goes, and so it goes 

And you're the only one who knows