Category Archives: GenX

Art, Arts and Crafts, Blogging, Creative Writing, GenX, Humor, Imagination, Intentionality, Mindset, Time

Do You Need Time?

4 Comments

This was the question posed by the WordPress wizards in a recent daily prompt that I didn’t respond to.

I resisted the urge, until now, to provide my response to this question.

Which, of course, was “Duh!”

This, folks, could be looked at as a dumb question or it can be looked at as a question which was in dire need of context. Or, it’s a question that stoners ask each other when their high is ratcheting up and they’re lying in the grass next to each other, waxing philosophical about it.

The argument I make here is that it’s a foregone conclusion that I, along with every other human being on Planet Earth, needs time. I think the far more pressing question for us all, is if we had the time we wanted to have, what would we do with it?

True confession from the era in which I was working full-time and raising two young kids with Mr. NOA: I would sometimes fantasize as I was driving to and fro during my workday that I’d get in an accident. Ironically, I struggle with driving anxiety, but when it was just me and the open road, the fantasy would come through, completely unbidden. The car accident I’d have would not be a major one, mind you. Just enough to put me out of commission for say, a week. A week to recover. To physically and mentally rest. To not be a responsible adult for a bit. To read books and flip through magazines. To give myself a manicure. Stuff like that. To re-charge and return back to my normal routine refreshed. As this was a fantasy, I didn’t have to consider that I might be in pain or completely immobile and unable to care for myself physically.

It’s been years and years since this fantasy has made an appearance.

Yet, I have a rather long list of things I want to do rattling around in my head if I had more time. We all do, right? I think the trick is to accept that there literally isn’t enough time in the world to do every last one of these things. To find peace with it. I believe it’s really a matter of making time for doing the things that light us up the most. The things that bring us joy and positive energy. To be intentional about it.

Writing is that thing for me. Well, the biggest one anyway. I’ve been doing a lot more of it via The Artist’s Way workbook, though not for this blog. The blog has fallen by the wayside, but that’s ok. After 8 years doing this, I’m still into it, but I know that taking a sabbatical from it was most certainly not the end of the world.

Back to what I’d do if a magic “Time Fairy” granted me a boatload of time?

A short list:

  • Learn how to play my ukulele
  • Crafting (you would not believe how many Facebook reels I have saved of various creatives showing me how to make the cutest holiday crafts)
  • Treasure hunts at local thrift stores
  • Join a book club

How about you? What would you do if time was more plentiful in your life?

Now for a song by the spectacular Cindy Lauper, who just so happened to be inducted (about time LOL!) into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last weekend. This makes my Gen X heart so happy!

Friendships, GenX, Gratitude, Intentionality, Joy, Lifestyle, Music

Sometimes I Just Want to Yap about Music

7 Comments

I’m currently obsessed with using my basement rec room more. That is where my turntable is situated and where my rocking chair lives. I have this vision that I will procure more albums along with a vessel to house them in. When I consider which albums I want, I think about the ones I had as a teenager in Northern Minnesota in the 80’s. The ones I played over and over again. The ones I donated long ago with the original turntable I got as a present for my birthday (12th or 13th?) from my parents.

Like these:

Mr. NOA’s best friend from college, Kevin (aka my soul brother) visited us last weekend and brought a large collection of albums. Some, he said, are “for keeps” (Hotel California by the Eagles is one of them) and others, he said, are “on loan”. Because he gave up his turntable years ago and isn’t sure when he’ll get another one. Kevin and his wife will be visiting us again soon and I look forward to spinning some vinyl with him then.

He and I joked the other night that if someday we happen to be in the same nursing home together, we would keep the place hopping with our excellent musical taste and deejaying skills. I reminded him of the fantasy I’ve long had of the two of us collaborating on a podcast about all things music. I think that must be put on my list of retirement goals.

Kevin “gifted” me an eclectic variety of albums. For instance, there’s two copies of the soundtrack for the musical “Hair” and two copies of Neil Young’s “Decade” album. There’s one from Kim Carnes and a couple of Glen Campbell and Kris Kristofferson albums in the mix.

I spent some time this afternoon, given it’s Tuesday and my day off from work, sitting on the floor in the rec room looking through all of these records. I’m mostly looking forward to listening to Tom Petty’s “Southern Accents”, all of the multiple Paul Simon and Simon & Garfunkel albums, the Neil Young albums, and the one from the “Traveling Willburys”. And “Hotel California” by the Eagles without a doubt!

The most remarkable thing to me, beyond my brother sharing his treasure trove of music with me, is the loving care he took with them. There are several albums in this collection where Kevin slipped into the clear sleeves newspaper clippings related to the artist. If there ever was someone who could make a living from being a rock and roll music historian, it’d be Kevin.

Photographic Evidence 🙂

Of course I couldn’t possibly end this post with no music clips, so here’s a favorite of mine from “The Firm” (did you know this band only had two albums and was fronted by none other than Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin and Paul Rogers from Bad Company?). I love the swampiness of this tune…how about you?

Keep on rocking in the free world, folks (while it’s still free)!

Childhood, GenX, Mindset, Social Media

P is for Precious

6 Comments

Several months ago, I read a blog post asking “What are you precious about?”

I think that’s a really great question. It’s one that I’ve been periodically chewing on all this time. What does it mean though, to be “precious” about something? From my perch, it means being firmly attached to something at the soul level. So attached that you would be hard-pressed to change your mind about it. So attached that you are unable to see how it may be problematic. How it may be clouding your vision or negatively impacting your interactions with others. Sort of like that proverbial hill you’d be willing to die on.

Maybe you’re precious about a belief or an opinion. Maybe it’s a relationship or an attitude.

My (perhaps unpopular) opinion is that my generation, Gen X (born between 1965 and 1981), is overly precious about their identity as kids who were brought up in the “glory” days of the 70’s and the 80’s.

What makes me say this is my participation (I use this term loosely, as I am more of a lurker there than an active contributor) in a Facebook group for Gen X’rs.

I do realize that this FB group I’m in is but a sampling of the Gen X community, but the attitude of some of these fellow Gen X’rs is really something. The cutting sarcasm, the “f your feelings”, the “ok, boomer” and “you must really be a millenial” comments abound in this group.

Now, I can be as sarcastic as the next guy, and believe me when I say that I’ve certainly rolled my eyes and slung snarky retorts as a result of my Gen-X influenced sense of humor…but man! Some of these Gen X r’s are on such high horses about how tough they are because they survived being latch-key kids who drank from garden hoses in their backyards. It’s like they have a chip on their shoulders, an armor they wear at all times. I think this hampers their ability to have compassion for others, especially those in different generations. I really think that’s a crying shame.

How I see it is that we all had absolutely no say whatsoever about the fact that we were born in whatever era we were born in. Being born between 1965 and 1981 didn’t give us superpowers. Being raised in the 70’s and 80’s didn’t either. Gen X is no more special than any other generation.

That’s not to say that being Gen X isn’t an important part of my identity. Of course it is. My sense of humor was shaped in my pre-teen and teenage years through consuming Saturday Night Life, Late Night with David Letterman, and SCTV. And I think that gave me a great sense of humor, thankyouverymuch. I and my fellow Gen X’rs benefited from being raised at a time when the American economy was good. We grew up before the rise of gun violence in this country. We were safe and secure from so much.

The best thing to me, however, about being a Gen X’r is how much freedom we had as kids. We were not over-scheduled. We were left to our own devices to a large extent. I think this has resulted in my generation being creative, independent, and self-sufficient. Scrappy and resourceful.

If my generation could just take their cynicism down a notch or two by recognizing how precious they are about their Gen X identity, that’d be great.

Now, for a quintessential 80’s tune that to me is the rallying cry of Gen X. Check it out-it’s RAD!

Fun, GenX, Humor, Music

Reflections on Vinyl

3 Comments

A couple of Christmases ago, Mr. NOA bought me a new turntable. It was something I had wanted for a while. We have a finished basement here in House Number 8. Ever since we moved in, I had visions of utilizing that space for random, music-infused friends and family fun times. A turntable with an eclectic collection of vinyl was sure to bring my vision to life.

Thus far, I have only purchased two vinyl albums: Billy Joel’s 52nd Street (a favorite of mine in the 80’s) and “Mellow Gold” which is one of those compilation albums (3 albums in one!) comprised of pop hits from various artists in the 60’s and 70’s. I picked that one based on the songs listed on the back cover. My favorite songs in this compilation include “Sundown” by Gordon Lightfoot, “Doctor my Eyes” by Jackson Browne, and “She’s Gone” by Hall and Oates. There’s also two songs on this album that I recall singing in my “Madrigals” group back in high school: “Baby, I’m Yours” by Barbara Lewis, and “Cherish” by The Association.

I know, I’m such a music nerd.

Friends, I can count on one hand how many times in the last almost two years that I listened to these albums in my happy-good-times finished basement. And the only other person who was ever present with me any of these times was my 10 year-old grandson, while we were creating art together on the big folding table I have down there.

Now, I have faith that my HGT finished basement will become a veritable music-filled hang-out spot as time marches on; for now, however, I’m on a mission to find used vinyl to up the chances this will happen sooner rather than later.

Here’s what I recently found at a local thrift store. Perhaps it should have come home with me-however it seems more fun to consider what is going on with the album cover.

Clearly, these are “fancy” men. They envision being adored by their fans and they dress impeccably. I’m not sure if the red roses are being tossed to them by their audience or if this is just a show to ensure all are aware that these are chivalrous, romantic cis-het men who most certainly shower their ladies with beautiful bouquets on the regular. And what on earth is with the fish?

I’m sure they had an artistic vision for this cover. I was going to continue this snark-fest and pontificate on the song titles featured on the back of this album, but I got distracted by Google. However, before I could put this little blog post out there into the world, I felt compelled to at least do a quick search on this band.

Turns out, Heaven 17 included two of the guys from the Human League, and it appears this album actually was considered great by fans of 80’s English synth-pop. Human League put out one of my very favorite pop songs in the 80’s, “Fascination” which I wrote about here.

So apparently you can’t judge an album by its cover. Nor if you don’t even listen to it.

Speaking of album covers, I picked up a coffee table book (A Brief History of Album Covers by Jason Draper) while thrifting a couple of years ago. I have leafed through it several times and came to the conclusion that I can’t possibly display it lest my grandson gets to looking at it. The commentary within this little treasure is for mature eyes only.

So, tell me, my fellow vinyl lovers, what do you play on your turntable?

Let me leave you with a slightly more recent favorite song of mine, which I stumbled upon whilst perusing YouTube looking for songs to share from my “Mellow Gold” album. Turns out, Beck came out with an album of the same name. I hope you love the absolute weirdness of this video as much as I do.

Ambition, Blogging, GenX, Imagination, Music, Positivity, Self Help, Self Improvement

What Fascinates You?

8 Comments

As a Gen X er, the 1980’s was the decade that saw me through the ages of 13 through 22. Music was a huge part of that experience for me. Much of that time, though, I was listening to songs and artists from the 1970’s. The music of the 1970’s sounded better to my ears, and still does.

But that doesn’t mean that I don’t have a few favorite songs that were put out in the 80’s.

One, in particular, has my attention again. On account of self-help maven Martha Beck.

It’s the song “Fascination” by The Human League.

Back to Martha Beck.

For years now, I’ve been really into self-help books, as well as articles written by Martha and the like. Late in 2022, I saw an ad online for a free self-help “Master Class” led by Ms. Beck. I signed up for it and am currently 40 minutes into it (it’s an hour long and I’m not a dummy, I know it’s free so that I can be bombarded with pleas in my email box to sign up for costly self-help courses).

Anyway. I think of myself as a DIY’er when it comes to self help books and courses. From these, I take a little bit of this and a little bit of that, leaning into the nuggets that speak to me.

What caught my attention so far in this course is Martha’s idea of what the word “fascination” means and the importance it holds for finding your path in life. How I see it is that the “path” = my livelihood.

She describes fascination as “attention without effort”. That makes a lot of sense, don’t you think?

We all have those things that we can just focus on and marinate in without even trying, right? Topics, activities, concepts, fields of study.

I’ve got myself a draft folder in which I’ve started a list of the things that fascinate me. It’s going to be a long list that will evolve over time. I think it’ll be worth the effort. Especially if I do something with it afterwards.

What would be on your list of “fascinations”?

Blogging about things that fascinate me is a no-brainer. It’s an opportunity to fly my “freak flag” so to speak; to explore and experiment.

Other potential actions I could take based on pursuing that which fascinates me also fascinates me. Maybe if I follow those threads of fascination, I will unlock a skill or talent I didn’t know I had which will lead to new career opportunities. Or maybe it’ll simply provide me with some solid writing fodder.

As long I’m learning something new, it’s all good.

If you didn’t want to check out the video I shared here, let me tell you what resonated for me, as I gave my shoulders a workout while chair dancing to this song just now.

That would be these lyrics: “just looking for a new direction, in an old familar way, the forming of a new connection, to study or to play”. It’s a good way of describing what I’m trying to do here on this blog in 2023.

And you? Any song lyrics that speak to you, particularly in your blogging life?

Please share in the comments!