Old is New Again

I’m listening to my satellite radio and usually they are the first to play any ‘new’ hit songs and then about a month or so later the regular radio stations follow suit. I’m somewhat excited as they just announced that they were going to be playing three “brand new” songs back to back.

I prepare myself and turn the music up a little louder so I don’t miss anything. The first song they played was ‘Buzzin’; which is a complete and total rip off of an 80’s song called ‘I Can’t Wait’. Then the next “new” song to come on the radio was called ‘She Ain’t You’, which is clearly another rip off of a song released in the 90’s called ‘Right Here’. Then the last “new” song to be released was called ‘Alone’; which was a huge hit in the 80’s…this was a clear remake.

I have to tell you I am quite perturbed; because the radio is saying that these are new songs and clearly they aren’t. This is completely ridiculous!

It makes me wonder if we’ve run out of new and creative ideas. Or if what they say is true about this generation and them being lazy?? I guess I’m just curious as to why they can’t come up with their own music?

Will That Be Me?

I’m sitting at a 30^th wedding anniversary and it is such a lovely event. The dinner has just finished and the speeches have begun. It’s amazing to see how the bride and groom have changed over the years. They even invited the ring bearer, who by the way is 35 years old and has a family of his own.

It was so nice to walk down memory lane with this couple and to see that they are just as in love now as they were back then. We’re all sitting around the table listening and the emcee is cracking jokes and playing a few tidbits from songs from their era. Now I’m now an expert in music but I do know most of my music. But these songs are not even recognizable…even to me.

I don’t really take too much stock in it as this is just the music between jokes and speeches etc. I think to myself that I’ll know the other songs once they come on during the dance. As the speeches finish up I eagerly anticipate the music that will be played. I watch the DJ get set up and ensure that everything is in order and then I wait for it.

He plays the first song and it’s a song that I’ve never heard of…then the second and third song and to my amazement I don’t know any of these songs. There is hardly anyone on the dance floor and I start to think to myself…will that be me for my 30^th anniversary? I’ll be playing songs that no one knows…but those songs will be near and dear to my heart.

I start to wonder more about that and then see the happy couple dancing to the songs that no one really recognizes and see how happy they are and realize that if the songs make them happy then I have nothing to worry about.

Cold Water

It’s a nice hot July day; the sun makes everything hot and sticky. Even the breeze (that’s supposed to cool us down) isn’t. I head inside for a glass of ice water, as I don’t like warm water. As I fill my glass right up to the rim with ice, I then add water and watch it fill every little spot it can get into. Then as I put the glass up to my lips and take a large swig of ice cold water…I feel refreshed. I stare at the glass and literally watch the ice cubes melt in the hot sun and start to wonder why I like my water so cold.

I tried to think about it awhile longer and then remembered why I enjoy cold (and I mean cold) water. As a child we use to spend a lot of time at my grandfather’s farm, he didn’t have any power or plumbing in his place. In the winter time the well would sometimes freeze, despite how deep it was. So the alternative was to collect snow, nice clean snow into a rain barrel and it would melt and then there was your water.

I remember we would have to go to the highest point in the yard and find the cleanest place and then we’d truck the snow back and forth and back and forth…for what felt like a whole day. But once the barrel was full, our job was done. By that time we’d be parched craving water and then it was our turn to enjoy the fruits of our labour. We would put the scoop in the barrel and pour it into a glass and drink the ice cold water. It felt so good going down and quenched that thirst so quickly that I realized from then on I liked my water ice cold.

The funny thing is that I also drink tea (thanks to my grandfather); again I like it piping hot. I think it was for the same reason as he didn’t have heat either. But when it comes to hot drinks, they need to be piping hot and for cold drinks they need to be ice cold. Weird how I got that from my grandfather…

I come back to reality and look at my already melted ice and head back into the house to fill it up again and smile just a little as I feel a sense of my grandfather in me.