Life's Been Happening

 I don't know what to really post today, and not sure how long it will be.  I could ramble on like normal, but I'm not in the mood.  I kind of wanted to post because some of you may know where I live, and for those that don't, its a small town in Central Missouri.  I don't like giving a lot of details out about my life, but I did do a multi blog post a couple years ago about my town's 150th anniversary.  Today, started out like a lot of Spring days here, a bit windy with a chance of storms.  I don't think I have a sixth sense on storms, but I usually don't get worried about them.  When I get a feeling though I take precautions.  The storms were said to be possibly severe, but a lot of storms are like that.  My concern around 7 AM was making sure my mom took her morning pills, and she has to eat something with them, and to have breakfast before the lights potentially go out (an electric stove).  So with a small window we quickly had breakfast by 7:30.  It started getting dark, and I wasn't feeling it.  Storms are storms.  Around 8 or 8:15 I told my mom "eh, you might want to get your stuff together".  She usually packs something in case of emergency like important papers, and other stuff.  She thought I was joking at first because I was non-chalant at first.  I told her just to be safe.  I mean it looked like storms could get a little more severe than I thought.  A couple minutes later I teased her that the raggedy shirt I had on was perfect when news crews talk to storm victims. A joke like that showed I wasn't worried.  My mom worries a lot, so I always tell her that until I worry she shouldn't worry.  A tornado was spotted possibly near Joplin and they were under a warning.  They are far enough away that it wasn't an issue as of now.  There was one closer but they cancelled it before it was set to expire.

A few minutes later I was being cautious like normal and checking 2-3 weather maps, a scanner, and some traffic maps.  None too close to my location, but still I had nothing else to do, and it put my mom at ease.  Around 8:30 ish, the lights went out.  It was a bit odd that happened because normally during storms, the power stays on, and after it passes the power goes out.  At any rate, with no internet and no electricity, I do what I normally do- I look out the window.  Right before the power went out, I did see we we're issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning.  I'm not cool and think it won't bother us, I just didn't have the feeling.  Even when the power went out, it was like "hmm, I'll wait for it to come back on".  My mom was stationed at one window, I was at another and suddenly the wind picked up strong.  Even at that point I wasn't worried.  Though it wasn't dying down, and suddenly I blurted out, a little more aggressive than before but not concerning "get to the bathroom". Our apartment bathroom has no windows and the safest spot.  I followed her in there but unlike previous storms, I didn't stay in there more than 2 seconds.  I came back out, and I saw something in the sky 30-40 feet in the air.  My inner thought was "DUMMY, IT'S A TORNADO!". I can't tell if the howling was from the tornado or the windows that aren't installed the best.  I never saw a cloud but I had a really strong feeling.  Just as soon as I thought it, the wind died down to basically nothing.  It was either over, or the calm before.  Luckily it was over.  For the next few minutes my mom and I were cautious of more storms coming.  The brief Thunderstorm Warning was all we had, the town siren never went off.  A few minutes passed and I thought I might walk around and assess the damage and grabbed my cell phone.  My sister tried calling and sent texts to see if we was okay.  She told us they said a tornado hit just north of town.  After finding out we were in the clear, I walked around the complex where I talked to my uncle for a bit.  It looked like shingles were down, some parts of the roof fascia was off on our place, and a huge limb broke from the tree in the middle of the complex along with the door to a storage shed being blown off.  That wasn't surprising since it was already hanging by a thread.  Talking to other people at the complex, and everyone seemed okay, with everybody curious why there was no warning.  We heard rumors that the nursing home up the block got hit, and outbuildings were shattered.  Down the road a storage shed was moved from someones yard to the middle of the road.

A half hour or so passed and no power yet, so my mom and I decided to maybe look around town at the damage, but to stop at storage to grab a couple things.  First we wanted to check the cemetery to see if my dad and sister's headstones were damaged.  By the time we got there we noticed a lot of damage around town including the roof of a building.  And a round outbuilding that was missing.  The cemetery entrance was blocked with a couple vehicles and debris and it didn't feel safe to check it out.  We decided to next go to storage.  I was looking for my tree clippers but couldn't find them.  Rain started to return so we decided to lock up and maybe check around town a bit more.  By this time people were already helping out cutting limbs from roads and picking up debris.  A lot of flashing lights were throughout town, and then lightning starting coming so we decided to head back home.  By the time we got inside, this storm seemed to pass.  I decided to walk around a bit more, and then decided I would walk around town.  I wanted to see the building in the road.  By the time I got there townfolk were trying to move it with no luck.  I stayed out of the way but tried getting some pictures.  My photos mostly weren't worth showing, but I walked around the park with limbs down but cut up already.  At this point as others said and I saw with my own eyes, the path seemed to follow the Katy Trail.  As I walked near it I then thought of my aunt and uncle who live on the other side of the trail.  They live in a mobile home and while not worried, was curious if they were okay.  I stopped to talk to a person up the road who said lightning hit a tree next to his house which caused it to fall right unto a power line.  It was the road leading to my relatives.  I chatted with this person for a bit who despite a town of under 800, I had no idea who he was.  Just conversating.  Anyways I saw my relatives in the front yard of their place and I made my way up there.  They were fine, but you could tell they were shook.  My uncle told me he saw the tornado.  It went right through their backyard.  They had no warning and no time to go to a neighbor's cellar.  Similar to us, the power went out they heard the wind and went to their bathroom.  The door slightly cracked to see out the patio door to see the tornado.  After talking to them for a bit and my other relatives, we decided to look around his backyard.  He lives on a dead end with a ton of acreage in the back, and strewn all around were metal pieces, trees, and other various debris.  Tress were bent over if not fulled out of the ground.  He also had a view to other places around town.  A few neighbors weren't so lucky, heavy damage to homes, power lines down.  We heard a house outside of town was destroyed.  In the distance we saw a ton of debris.  Was that.... didn't they just put a new mobile home there a couple months ago?  It's not there anymore.  We made our way back to the house and my cousin decided to take my aunt and uncle to survey the damage so I went along, mostly to just head back home.  By this time a lot of people were looking around, and a lot more power & light trucks and emergency vehicles were in town.  The roads were safe, but it also could be said they should be closed.  We heard the main road was closed outside of town due to damage to power lines and debris.  Even rumors of arrest for those trying to enter town.  I road around a bit and then was dropped off.  I described what I saw to my mom, and showed a few decent pictures.  This was around 12:30 and still no power.  My cell phone which I rarely use was a communication tool reaching my sister and another aunt who were not only concerned but were fielding calls from others checking on us.  My nephew in the D.C. area was so concerned he messaged my sister and had his dad check on us.  My other nephew checked on us a couple hours later.  At this point I didn't want to disrupt the people trying to fix and repair the city and those checking on the residents so I stayed home.  It was close to 4 PM when power was restored (though some estimated it could be up to 48 hours with no power), and I was finally able to report to others concerned that we were safe.  From what I hear, nobody was killed, and its already been reported an EF-2 struck just outside of town, and traveled 6 miles before lifting.  I am somewhat skeptical it was only one, but looking at the tornado path I can see it just being one.  If there is a blessing out of this, it is two very distinct turns the tornado took.  The first one if it didn't turn, would have nailed the entire town completely.  The second one, which was shortly after the first, if it hadn't turned, it would have directly hit my uncle's house.  The non-blessing though is unfortunately two places was hit directly, one the aforementioned mobile home, and the second just outside of town when the tornado reached it's peaked and caused it to turn again.  

Honestly, I am in a bit of shock of today's events, not just at what happened, but how it could have turned out differently.  A lot of cleanup over the next few days and weeks, but the important thing is I hear of no injuries.  A new emergency siren was already ordered and supposed to be installed next month.  That is sometimes a theme in these small town tornadoes.  I was thinking a few weeks ago how blessed out town was that so many storms and tornadoes hit the area, but our town seemed to be spared.  I guess it was our turn this time.  A few more feet wide and our apartment would have been in the path.  I can think of a few other times I was dangerously close to a tornado.  Once was about 12 years ago and just recently found out it wasn't even a tornado, but it was a major storm system that earlier in the day did kill someone not far from the hospital my sister was about to be discharged from (we were on the 17th floor during a tornado).  After being discharged, another storm seemed to go right over top of us.  It was not a good feeling.  Another time a tornado did hit, but not as close as we thought.  I was working at Wendy's and I believe a tornado touched down across the highway.  Another time a tornado warning hit Springfield, MO while I was at a church convention.  I'm not sure if a tornado was confirmed but I remember standing in a long dark hallway for 20 minutes until the threat was over.

I guess the main reason I wanted to write this was to inform everyone that I am safe, and the storm passed by with a lot of damage to my town, but not to me specifically.  A giant tree limb was down and on the other side of the building, a ladder standing open was not even touched (a shovel was still leaning against it).  Aside from that, I just haven't been in the mood to write lately.  Had a few days with no water due to a water main break, and still getting over that (mentally, no damage that time either aside from a Facebook post that ruffled some feathers).  Beyond that I have been reading some books, and have a few things to post, but maybe I'll get around to it soon.  Otherwise that's all I have to really say.  Maybe I'll find some pictures to post from today.

So with that who knew that at 7:00 I would be in for such an eventful day.  Anyways thanks for reading and hope everyone has a good and safe week.  More storms throughout the country tonight and this week, so be careful.

I'll add a youtube video I found of a Kansas City station filming overheard a few hours after the storm.  KC is 100 miles away and outside the media market, but they still covered it.

Late Night Musical Postings

 I'm losing my wit.  When I started this blog my titles had a little more umph to them, now its just like... uhh, something.  I have no idea what to title this but its really because its not a normal post.  It's not a ranting and raving type post, nor is it a card post, or even a thrifting post.  This was one I thought of doing spur of the moment showing off yet another love I have- music.  No, I'm not a musician per se, or at all really.  I fizzled out of band class in fifth grade.  I can play a plastic recorder, but I tried out a lot of instruments in band to a point none were the right fit.  I started on clarinet, then baritone, then maybe tuba.  Then I tried drums, also maybe the other percussion once sitting in playing the triangle.  I didn't quite make it.  I loved to sing though, and while my mom says I sing good, I beg to differ.  I was in chorus a few years, but it wasn't much.  About 15 years ago, maybe a little longer, I did kind of release an album.  By releasing I mean, I made some crappy music and gave a copy to a friend.  Even in high school I had dreams of working in music.  Maybe a rock star (you know the kind that can't sing, play and instrument, or really dance.... so like Britney Spears maybe?  Hmm, that explains why I liked her so much).  Then I figured I can't make music, why not play it?  So I thought of being a radio DJ.  In fact I did tour the college radio station when I visited the college I couldn't afford to attend and didn't.  Anyways, I did make an album.  I even may or may not have a Last FM listing.  My fictional band was called Chaotic Spring Jumpers.  My music was more of re-arranging musical tracks you may or may not know and love and make you not like it.  So I was kind of a front runner of the Youtube and TikTok creator There I Ruined It. It also explains why I like their content (though I don't have TikTok, so Youtube is good enough).  The music I created was part mash up, part just changing the treble and all the other things that makes a song good.  I really wish I could show you a track listing, but when my hard drive messed up a few years ago and all 360+ GB's of music (which if played 24/7 would take 4 1/2 months) was lost, it included my created music.

Ooh, I found my Last FM page.  I wrote a biography, and here it is.  I'm not sure if I only created 6 tracks for the album, which I don't have the cover listed on the page, but still have a copy of the cover somewhere (which again was a photo I found on the internet and just added words to).  Here are the 6 tracks.

Hmm, Love (CSJ Mash-up)- This was a mash up of Where Is The Love by the Black Eyed Peas over the intstrumental of Crash Test Dummies' Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm.  I actually played this one more than any other song I created.

Sister Golden Hair (Broken Cassette Cut)- This was the song Sister Golden Hair but I messed around with the reverb and other stuff on it.  Audacity had a lot of options with messing with stuff and I just did that until it was something I like.  I guess you could compare it to the VHS video camera look some people use today, this was just a song that sound like a warped cassette tape.

Shake Your Baby Fat (Race Against Time Trip Mix)- This was messing around with a song called Shake Your Baby Fat and I'm not sure who the artist was, or even how I heard about the song.  Anyways I sped it up and probably messed with other stuff on it.  I listened to this song quite often, and to be honest I could imagine it being played at a club.... if I went clubbing.

Friday (CSJ SuperBass Bootcut)- This was long before Nicki Minaj had the superbass.  This was that lovely earworm song Friday by Rebecca Black, and somehow I made it worse!  I pumped up the bass like to the max and maybe made some other changes.  Honestly it was the worst track on the album, through no fault of the original song on its own.  I mean all the songs I picked I did listen to enough that I wanted to mess around with them, so I liked the original.

I Write Sins Not Tragedies (CSJ Dub-Mix)- Instead of speeding this one up, I slowed this Panic At The Disco song down a lot.  Remember the scene in Home Alone 2 with the Talkboy?  CREDIT CARD?  YOU GOT IT! Well imagine if this song sounded like that.  I also might have messed around with it more.  I can't remember at this point.

The Teaches of LumiDaddy (Hidden Deep In The Depths of Hell Bonus Track)- So this was another mashup and I played this one often as well.  This was the song The Teaches Of Peaches over the instrumental of a Lumidee song.  I forgot which one because I haven't listened to Lumidee in a long time and if you remember her, it was probably that song you're thinking of.  It wasn't bad in a mashup sense, but it was a hidden track because The Teaches Of Peaches was not a song you'd play for friends. Well unless you have a friend who likes Peaches who is a strange artist.  Her song was featured on the Jackass 2 soundtrack, and I just listened to her version a few days ago which prompted me telling a friend who then listened to it.  The two mashups are the songs I created I miss the most.

I can say about 12 years ago (which makes this album I created probably closer to 20 years old or at least over 15) I thought of making new music.  This new album was going to be actually me singing over the beat of instrumentals of rap songs.  Again, they weren't going to be good, but just a project I wanted to do.  I spent time searching for instrumentals, and even wrote out lyrics to a couple of the songs, and ideas for other songs.  That was all along I got.  Fortunately I didn't lose all that stuff, I just lost interest in it.  Around covid time, I found it again and thought about reviving it, but didn't.  Then about a year or two ago I thought of making another album that was somewhat similar to this first entry.  Again I checked out a few things, but I think I lost interest again, and it was also when my desktop messed up, so it was tough to work on.  Maybe one day I'll work on both new albums.  Maybe the one I wrote lyrics to, I can just create music through AI, which would sound better than something I could create.

Having wrote all of that, I think all of that was the intro.  Not really what I was going to discuss, because I think I might have talked about some of it before.  My point of this point was that I've always loved music.  I still listen to FM radio and I don't really care for Spotify or XM or any other type of radio.  I occasionally use Tune In to find a far away FM station though.  I've also found a website that tracks radio station playlists and I use that to find music I forgot about or new music.  Last year I decided to make a playlist on Youtube of music I was currently enjoying.  While I love 90s music, I still give current music a shot and still enjoy quite a bit.  I listen to more pop music than ever, but I created a playlist that I planned to update from time to time.  At the end of the year I decided to make another playlist of my favorite songs of 2024.  I usually made a chart of my favorite songs, but didn't last year and just used this playlist.  I did it so I could take songs off the current list and also in a way archive 2024 musically so one day I can look and see what I played throughout the year.  Some were major hits, some nobody really heard of and some were older songs I first heard in the year.  After I had two different playlists, I decided to make more.  I get in a mood to just go on a musical journey and listen to music.  The algorhithm on Youtube is weird, so sometimes I pick a song, then just play a song they suggested on the side.  Other times I hear songs and it reminds me of other songs and I'll listen to that.  So for the last few weeks I've randomly made playlists of songs and today I thought I'd not only link the playlists, but talk about some of the songs on them. Now we are out of the intro.

Current Music Picks

This is music usually released in the last year (I think most are the last 6 months) that I've found either through the radio or through Youtube that I enjoy.  Charli XCX has really re-emerged in the last year and I really like her new stuff.  I remember a few years ago posting on here about finding her album Sucker and being happy about it.  The only problem is she was raised in clubs and the rave scene and her videos usually give epileptic seizures.  Half joking they actually do include disclaimers at the beginning of her videos. 

I won't talk about every song in detail or even artist but the playlist does include the following artists-

Jessie Murph (I really became a fan of hers' this year)

Kasey Musgraves

Rose & Bruno Mars

Beabadoobee

ANOTHR (I only heard of this through Youtube, but kind of a song that pumps you up)

Mike Posner

Gracie Abrams

Blake Shelton

Hollywood Undead

Shaboozey (a new song, not the Tipsy one)

Flo Rida

Memphis May Fire

Pop Evil

Maggie Rose

SZA

Hailey Witters

There is more, but that's an idea.  I listen to country, pop, rock, heavy metal, acoustic, almost anything outside of Jazz or Classical.  I even dabble in blues.  This playlist may be updated shortly after I post this because Youtube releases new stuff on a playlist on Fridays and I try to check it out.  If nothing else some of these artists are up for Grammys if you still watch the awards.  

SONGS OF 2024

My next playlist is my songs of 2024 list.  A lot of similar artists but here is a sampling.

Kendrick Lamar

Sabrina Carpenter

Chappell Roan

Dua Lipa

Tate McRae

Madison Beer

Billie Eilish

Tinashe

21 Savage

Doja Cat

Dasha

Jelly Roll

Vampire Weekend

XG

Halsey

Tim McGraw

Rare Americans (this was a nice find, a storytelling rock/pop song which is an anthology story, this one is part 3)

The Decemberists

Afroman

Lana Del Rey

If you told me a few years ago I'd listen or even know who most of these are I wouldn't believe you.  My musical tastes have changed, but unlike most people stuck in the past I can adapt and listen to modern stuff.  XG is a female K-Pop group.  I can understand their lyrics (which are in English) better than most rappers.  Chappell Roan and Tate McRae really broke out for me this year, and Afroman can still make music (the good part might be up for debate but he still sounds the same).  Jelly Roll is growing on me as well.  Some songs from the current list is on this one too, and some artists, but still its more to catalog what I listened to throughout the year more than anything.

Tonights Playlist

This crappily titled playlist begins my randomness, a mix of old and new but usually starts out with a theme.  On this day I kind of wanted some dance music. Artists on this list include:

Fatboy Slim

Dee-Lite

Daft Punk

Jamiriquai

Junior Senior

Calvin Harris

The Chemical Brothers

Darude

Eric Prydz

Moby

Avicii

It started to fall off at the end with other stuff, but my goal with these is an hour or two of music sometimes stuff I haven't heard in a while, sometimes stuff I have.  Avicii and Mike Posner are common go to artists but a lot of this I enjoy but never listen as much as I want to.

I mentioned a website earlier that I find radio station playlists.  I'm starting to make a master playlist of songs on a spreadsheet, and sometimes seeing songs I haven't heard in a while gives me motivation to seek them out and start a new Youtube playlist.  My goal for the spreadsheet is just to have a huge music list, but also to rebuild my music library one day so I can not have to rely on Youtube. Also to find new music or forgotten ones.

Since this is a thin picture blog today I figure I'll throw a couple pictures up now to break up the words.

These were the 99 and 1 puzzles my friend got me for Christmas.  They don't really stay together well, but they were fun to put together.  I finished the cat one with help with my sister a bit, and my mom did most of the food one.  They are fun concept puzzles, but I'm not sure I'd get them, they fall apart so easy.  As you can tell by the outside not sticking together.  In a bit I'll show a couple more recently completed puzzles.

And now more music playlists.

Weekly Playlist Jan. 19, 2025

This was when I decided to make this a thing and put a date on them.  Not to create a vibe or go back to later, but more so I can remember when I listened to music.  I don't plan on doing this everyday, and I'm not going to make a playlist for everytime I listen to music on Youtube, but I don't want to do a playlist 10 days in a row.  Maybe 1-2 a week. then the rest of the time I just won't make playlists.  This theme started out as 90's country.

John Michael Montgomery

Ricochet

Joe Diffie

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

David Lee Murphy

Kentucky Headhunters

David Allan Coe

John Anderson

Steve Earle

Marshall Tucker Band

Then it moved into rock and other stuff like:

Seven Mary 3

Daniel Powter

Avril Lavigne

My Chemical Romance

Twenty One Pilots

Paramore

Chris Cornell

Switchfoot

This one was one that had algorithm issues and it moved away from what I wanted, then I just searched for stuff I wanted to hear. Sometimes I'll pick the official music video, but most of the time I just choose the audio or lyric videos to not only save memory, but I figure most of these are playlists you might want to hear in the background while doing something.  If its something you like you can always search for the official music video.  Some instances I don't have a choice or I just really like the music video.  I also prefer the lyric videos because I do like singing along.

Playlist- January 20th, 2025

This one might have been the start of when I tried to really have around 30 or so songs.  The idea at the beginning of this one was songs from movies.  I had an idea of what I wanted to start with, but the algorithm wasn't cooperative so I think I basically searched for all of these.

Jimmy Buffett

Bill Paxton

Randy Newman

Paul McCartney (very rarely do I listen to any Beatles songs or from any members but he did the song for the movie Spies Like Us)

Ray Stevens

Michael Winslow

David Coverdale

Kate Nash

Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes

Stillwater

The Lone Rangers

Cab Calloway

Gary Busey

Frankie Laine

Smashing Pumpkins

David Koechner

Some were songs that played in a feature scene, others were just background songs.  Stillwater was the fictional band from Almost Famous, The Lone Rangers was the fictional band from Airheads.  Bill Paxton sang a song in Club Dread, Ray Stevens did the Cannonball Run song.  Gary Busey was when he played Buddy Holly and David Koechner sang in the move The Comebacks. Since I picked most of these songs this might be the best curated list I made just because I had an idea of what I wanted to hear.

Playlist- January 27, 2025

I mentioned The Teaches of Peaches earlier, and I listened to the song.  i decided not to include that on a playlist because while not all these songs are clean, that one might have gone a bit too far if you never heard it.  Oddly though I do include Insane Clown Posse so I mean its not that different.  So instead of Peaches, I decided to beign with the song Peaches from The Presidents of the United States of America.  I didn't really have a theme for this date, it was more of a see where it takes me.  Though I noticed they changed the side panel so at times it was tougher to go with the flow.  Anyways here's who's on this playlist among others:

Spiderbait

Skillet

Breaking Benjamin

Hoobastank

Default

Staind

Theory Of A Deadman

Pillar

Trapt

Insane Clown Posse (WHO'S GOING CHICKEN HUNTIN'?)

Dropkick Murphys

Dave Matthews Band

Kirk Franklin

Montell Jordan

T.I.

Outkast

At one point the suggestions weren't good so I randomly though of songs I hadn't heard in a while.  Thats how I jumped from ICP and Dropkick Murphys to Gospel.  T.I. is an artist I listen to quite often.  Most of these playlists I go into with the idea of not playing stuff I listen to a lot, but when I get in a mood I just listen.  At the end I had a bit of a theme with Outkast's Bombs Over Baghdad followed by Squad Five-O's Bombs Over Broadway, then a group called RXG with Bob Yo Head.  A lot of B.O.B. but none from the artist B.O.B who had a song called Airplanes with Hayley Willams of Paramore. I decided not to list every artist on these nor most of the song titles so you could check them out if you wanted.

Playlist- January 30th

This playlist I planned to do and write a blog about earlier on Thursday, but I got started on other stuff and didn't make it in time.  The theme was Three-peat Thursday, and the idea was three songs from 1 artist.  In the end I chose 12 female artists whose songs I mostly haven't heard in a while.  I am a big fan of singer songwriters and storytellers and that theme plays out with this playlist.

Kasey Chambers

Leigh Nash/Sixpence None The Richer

Joan Osbourne

Tift Merritt

The Wreckers

Kacey Musgraves

Brandi Carlile

Ingrid Michaelson

Natalie Merchant

ZZ Ward

K-Flay

Jessie Murph

The idea began when I heard Lose Yourself from Eminem on the radio.  First I revisited the Youtube classic Mom's Spaghetti which someone edited Lose Yourself into a song about spaghetti.  It didn't fit this theme, but late last year I found out one of my favorite Australian singer songwriters Kasey Chambers did a chilling cover of Lose Yourself.  Its been a month or two since I heard it and wanted to hear it again.  Now the song from Eminem is very personal.  While its easy to sing along to, you can tell that it was autobiographical to him about his upbringing.  Somebody who really wants to cover it has to have felt that same pain.  Kasey Chambers has suffered a lot as an artist.  Her first hit was a song Not Pretty Enough (which is also on this playlist), and it sets her up as someone who might lack confidence, but the truth is, she's a fighter.  Dropped from labels, being labeled an outcast, a painful divorce, made her tough.  The way she arranged this song is amazing.  She is not only covering it... it's tough to explain, and honestly listening to it a few times makes it easier to understand.  There are reaction videos on Youtube of this and most are amazed at how she covered it.  She starts off slow, a bit shaky.  You might think she's nervous, but her singing is also storytelling, because as the song progresses she gains that confidence.  Its not that she was nervous at all, she adding a layer of storytelling on top of the actual song.  "He's weak, palms are sweaty" she's acting that out in her singing.  "he was playing in the beginning, the mood's all changed" you will know as you listen her mood has changed.  She's a fighter she's up for the challenge.  I rarely use chilling to describe a song, much less a cover, but I will say knowing her and her story, I got a legit tear in my eye listening to this song.  I got one when I heard it again yesterday.  It's a song you'll just have to listen to to understand.

The other artists one this list are mostly ones I really like but haven't listened to in a while.  Leigh Nash is the lead singer of Sixpence None the Richer, and she has released solo stuff, but its not for everyone.  Joan Osbourne's album which included One of Us was one I remember playing a lot in the 90s usually all the way through.  Tift Merritt I discovered by mistake, and really liked and its been a few years since I've heard these songs.  The Wreckers were a duo including Michelle Branch, they had 1 or 2 albums and then broke up.  I like a few of the songs.  Kacey Musgraves I listen to quite often, the songs I picked were 3 of my favorites, and a couple I haven't heard in a while. Brandi Carlile much like Kacey Musgraves I found quite earlier then their fame.  The Story from Brandi is one I forget by name, but one I love hearing.  Ingrid Michaelson I may have discovered through One Tree Hill, and I liked a lot of her stuff.  It was nice to hear some of those again.  Natalie Merchant I liked in the late 90s as my sister had her Tigerlily CD.  I actually prefer her solo stuff over when she fronted 10,000 Maniacs.  ZZ Ward is a singer I discovered through the radio and has a bit of a bluesy vibe to, but I really like it.  Break Your Heart is one I should listen to more.  K-Flay I also discovered through radio and is one I wish would be a bit more popular.  She has had songs featured in movies, but I thinks shes still a bit unknown.  Blood In The Cut is the one most people might be familiar with.  Lastly is Jessie Murph.  I mentioned her earlier, but I just heard of her last year with a song with Jelly Roll called Wild Ones.  She has a unique voice, but then I checked out her other songs beyond the radio ones with artists like Teddy Sims, and she is a good storyteller.  I wanted 3 solo songs from her, but did choose a duet with Koe Wetzel because I really wanted to hear that song and it was the last song on the playlist.  Overall I think more thought went into this playlist then any other.

I plan to continue making these and for now I have them unlisted, but I might make them public.  I hope the links will still work if I do.  Unlisted just means you can't search for them.  Future playlists I think I'll keep unlisted but will either link on my Twitter or maybe throw them on here when I do blogs.  I just may not talk about them like I did for these.

As I said, I really like music so these playlists weren't really to make a post, but I figured I would make one in case people wanted to hear some music.  If you have ideas for a playlist let me know.  I usually like to have a theme when I make an actual playlist.  When I just listen I go with the flow.  Ideas I have for future ones include possibly arena rock ones or pump up songs (thinking of a Super Bowl playlist or something).  Wrestling theme songs, baseball (for opening day), and then whatever crosses my mind.  I'm not sure how long I'll keep these playlists up because I don't want like 200 playlists and I do have other playlists so I figure at the end of the year I'll delete some.  I have two other accounts on Youtube and one day I'll show off other playlists. One is sports related stuff, so that could be fun.  Before I wrap it up I think I'll show a couple more pictures.

The top one is the newest puzzle my mom has started, it is a melon farmer.  Much like Charles Bronson was in Mr. Majestik.  The next one is a recently finished one that was 400 pieces. I never got the chance to work on it, my mom finished it pretty quick.

Lastly is Bumble from Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (and he still has his teeth).  He was celebrating my mom's birthday.  We had a family get together and it was pretty fun.  I also got to show my nieces the movie Napoleon Dynamite.  They are teenagers and I'm not sure what they would enjoy so I try to find something for them to do.  if nothing else they have their phones, but I still like to make an effort.  They did really enjoy looking at old photos.  I still like having old photos, and I really want to finish sorting and scanning all of our family photos.  One day I would really like to get digital photo frames for each of my family members and have a flash drive or memory card so they card each have the photos.  They can keep whatever ones they want, but its a bit of a shame that my mom and I have all these photos just sitting in a box (or in some cases scanned) and nobody can really see them.  I prefer film photos over digital ones because to me they made moments more special.  Now you can take 20 photos in 10 seconds and while you have the proof of that moment, you don't really savor it.  At least I figure most people don't look though their photos as much.  I'm the same way.  Also "back in the old days" you didn't take 20 photos of your dog or selfies.  I don't mind them, but still they don't feel as special.  But I'm rambling and its late so its time to go.  Thanks for going on a musical journey with me.

I hope everyone has a great day and weekend.  As for me, I'm hoping the weather warms up like promised and I can open the windows a bit and maybe go to storage.  Then I might also do some more computer cleaning, but the hard parts mostly done, so that will just be more time consuming than hard.  Anyways, hope everyone has had a great start of 2025 and if not, I hope it gets better.  I'm just trying to stay positive (at least on the outside, maybe on the inside I have more anxiety about current events, but.... GOTTA STAY POSITIVE!).

OOH I FOUND MY ALBUM COVER!  ENJOY!

Recap Time

 The weather in my neck of the woods hasn't been great this past week.  I'm actually not complaining it could be a lot worse.  This is the first big weather event of the season, and as for me, I came out unscathed.  Sure we got maybe 4-6 inches of snow, but we didn't lose power.  The forecast of up to 3 tenths of an inch of ice didn't pan out either.  In fact the meteorologists waited as long as they could to come up with the most accurate predictions and I think they did good.  Anywhere from 1/10th to 3/10 of an inch or more of ice and anywhere from 4 to sometimes upwards of 15 or more inches of snow.  Where we was the heavy snow stayed north of us.  The ice stayed south and even parts of the state had thunderstorms.  Kansas City even had some thundersnow.  I love weather, but am also grateful that nothing serious happens.  Sure the walk to the mailbox might be a slower walk for a few days until the snow melts, but I can live with that.

What the storm has done has actually been beneficial.  It actually started before the storm came, but it has continued throughout the storms.  One of my goals last year was to mitigate all my files onto a new external hard drive which I purchased in the spring time (or thereabouts).  It is a 4TB hard drive, and I have 5-6 other hard drives of various sizes, and I knew that I could probably have leftover room on this new one.  Even if I didn't lose all my music files a couple years ago, I would still have room for them too.  I realized fairly early that I'd still have about 2TB left, and that was celebration itself.  There were hardships along the way, like my chrombook which I admittedly haven't fully learned yet, it only has two usb ports.  I use one for a mouse because I don't like the built in pads on computers.  So only having one port and a chromebook with 40 or so GBs of space takes time.  It also didn't help that the old slow desktop that I had wouldn't read the new hard drive, so I had to move about 600 GBs or more using other drives (sometimes taking days at a time).  While expected, it also created an extra step.  I had a device to use on the chromebook for multiple usb drives at once, but it is near 20 years old and finally gave out.  I bought a new one and I'm not sure if its defective or what, but it has issues (maybe its the usb port on the chromebook).  Either way, its a long process.

In November the process was about over, but I got busy with other projects.  One I'll discuss in a bit, and the others just were things I wanted to do and get done with.  Anyways shortly after Christmas I found some time, and just before New Years struck, all of my files made it onto the new hard drive (save a few which was actually duplicates).  I was happy to be done, but the work isn't over, now I get to actually clean up all the duplicates, and I bet I might free up 100GBs or so.  It just feels good to finish projects.

Before I mention other projects, I thought I'd break it up with a picture.  Shortly after Christmas I made a trip to Big Lots.  It was after they announced they were closing, but a day after they announced some might stay open.  While still in limbo, the store had already started closing sales.  I bought 2 sets of flyswatters.  I saved 10 cents.  Not the best deal, but I did also find a remote which I think I saved a buck on.  I bought it in hopes of using it for a VCR, but I haven't tried it out yet.  Projects still to work on.

Another project I had little hopes of completing but one I really wanted to do was a Christmas project.  When I got the deal for Newspapers.com at 40% off, I jumped on it.  However I might have made a mistake.  I love it, don't get me wrong, but I have a bit of a writer's block on what to look up.  So I'm not using the resources as much as I should.  However a couple weeks after I started using it, I had an idea.  My mom loves reading stuff on her tablet, however my mom does not use the internet...or a computer...or almost any technology that she deems is "too hard to learn".  I don't fully blame her, but it was a miracle just to get her to use the tablet.  So every few weeks I load some magazines and newspapers I find onto the tablet and she reads them all.  Some is the usual, others I try to expand her horizons.  I think she's learning the ins and outs of collecting thanks to Beckett magazine.  Anyways, the idea I had was to create a newspaper for her to read on Christmas.  What I would do it take sections of actual newspapers (pages, articles, pictures, whatever) and I would put it into my own newspaper.  I had a lofty goal, and I started clipping articles and such.  After a couple weeks I realized "how am I going to do this".  Well Google has something where you can create a newspaper or many other things like newsletters, postcards, and other things (who knew).  So I started to work on it, but it seemed really hard.  Like something that might take months to do.  So I put it on the backburner.

Then I forgot about it.  It was about a week and a half before Christmas before I remembered.  It was a few days later when I tried it one more time.  This time it seemed much simpler, maybe because I really was focused on it.  I started out doing 4 pages and ran out of stuff.  So I looked at more newspapers, and I found more stuff.  Eventually over 2 days it went from 4 pages to 8, to 12, to 16!  I even had ideas for more, but it was two days before Christmas, and I was happy with the result.  I had to find some filler on some pages on Google, but it was good enough.  It wasn't perfect, but I already have hopes of doing another one next year, but it might be tougher to do since I think the subscription runs out in April.  Still I might start working on stuff soon.  If this works, here is the link to my creation.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DPCcOWq2a8TWHw9XkOHnZVguUvpDixQX0DkLhadYYTU/edit?usp=sharing

The best part of it was that it was completed just in time to add more stuff to her tablet on the 24th.  I let my friend check it out slightly earlier, and my sister got to see it on Christmas.  All seemed to enjoy it.  There is things I would improve on next year, but this was a fine first edition.  I might try other ideas from it too.  My next idea is maybe a wrestling one.  I also have an idea of a birthday one for my mom later this month, but that one I might not need that for.

So having completed a couple projects I figured I'd get around to another blog.  Not a lot for today, but I thought I'd show off a few Christmas gifts and some other things as I clean up files.  Another bonus of all my files in one spot- I found a few scans and photos from 2017 that I never posted on here.  I bought a bunch of cards and never showed them off, so maybe 2025 might be the year to do that.

After the trip to Big Lots, we headed to Menards.  There wasn't much I was interested in but it had been a few years since I've been there.  I came up empty handed except for this Jack Links meat stick.  While much better than that Dill Pickle one from one of the more recent posts, this Fritos Chili Cheese one was very lacking.  I thought it would be a bit more spicy, but it wasn't.  I'm glad I tried it, but not something I need to revisit.

As Christmas gathered my mom and I both said no gifts.  Having a tight budget doesn't bother either of us because we give and get gifts for each other throughout the year.  However a few days before we took a trip to Jefferson City (which I mentioned previously), my mom let it be known that a package was coming in the mail and it was going to be my gift.  HMM, A GIFT?  Welp, now I have to get one for her. So again, knowing it would be a thoughtful but not expensive gift I was thinking of what to get her.  Well (this might sound cheap), on that Jefferson City trip I found her gift at Dollar Tree.

A $5 slot machine bank.  She would love it.  I think I told this part.  Anyways I waited for the perfect time to wrap it and put it under the tree.  On Christmas morning we both woke up late, and 9:00 AM we had breakfast.  She didn't notice.  10:00 AM, she didn't notice.  11:00 AM my sister called, she didn't notice (I told my sister I'd wait until noon to see if she noticed).  At noon my nephew called, but shortly after I decided "let's open gifts".  We actually had a couple things under the tree, but more on that in a moment.  She laughed, and we scratched off the lottery tickets, nothing.  Didn't win Powerball or Mega Millions either.  So I was like "what's this" SHOCKED FACE!  She was perplexed.  Who's that for?  (well, a little context, my mom and I were the only ones there). It has your name on it....from Santa.  "Where did it come from"?  I guess Santa.  "I don't recognize this writing".  How about you open it.  "Really, did someone stop by to deliver this?" O.P.E.N.....I.T.

A SLOT MACHINE, I WAS GOING TO GET THIS BUT DECIDED NOT TO.

She was very happy, and I totally tricked her.  What is funny was at the time I had no clue she even saw it in the store that day. It wasn't until after I bought it my sister told me she spied it.  Later that night she mentioned how she wanted to get this slot machine bank.  I had to act like I didn't see it.  Worse yet, I had to go to Dollar Tree again right before Christmas and was dreading the chance they might have it.  They didn't and I was in the clear.

She then said something that surprised me.  If you look on the back side of the tree, there is something for you....

This white bag? A couple days earlier, I was shifting stuff under the tree trying to decorate it a bit more and actually placed something on top of it.  It was pretty flat.

I opened it and I loved it.  She was upset.  She had ordered a magazine and this was the gift she was waiting for them to deliver.  It wasn't as it appeared in the ad.

"The ad said a luggage set, I was so mad when I got the mail that day and that was it.  Luckily you was sleeping".  However upset she may have been, I really do like it.  I will be honest, I'm not sure how to use them yet, but I think they will come in handy.  The smallest one on the right I have used already, but I also left it in my sister's car on her last visit.  I think I can store small items in them, and come to think of it, maybe I can store my flash drives in a small one.

Either way we both surprised each other, and I was very happy.  We had other gifts under the tree, but these weren't too surprising.

The popcorn popper and the vacuum we bought on Black Friday weekend at Dollar General.  My mom wrapped them up though so we'd have gifts under the tree.  We've talked about getting a popcorn popper for a while, and this was cheap.  We've used it a couple times and it works good, though a bit loud.  I'm glad we got it.  The Vacuum was an impulse buy, but something I've kinda wanted for a bit.  I know its probably more of a novelty, but I've wanted a vacuum to clean up the car for a while, and this might work for that.  I haven't tried it out yet, but I might mess around with it in a couple days.

The popcorn we got after knowing we have the popper and needed popcorn for it.  The Jolly Time we bought at Dollar Tree, and it tastes pretty good, and a good price.  The other one we bought on our Jefferson City trip to Natural Grocers.  We haven't tried it yet, but I'm sure it will taste fine.

Later on my friend stopped by and he had some gifts.  I felt bad I had nothing for him, and one day I will get him something really good.

Sorry the puzzles are sideways, I don't want to edit the photos.  The Captain Lou Albano was a really nice first gift.  He's probably not one I would have seeked out, but I did really like him.  In fact of those 4 legends you could get, the Captain is the one I'd want the most.  I have to organize my figures better, so hopefully when I get around to it, all my wrestling figures will look nice.

The puzzles are also nice.  The Disney one I think will be real nice since we've done a similar one and its a Thomas Kinkade.  The other 2 are unique and look like fun to do.  He said he found them at Five Below.  I haven't been in a puzzle mood lately, but with a few projects clearing up, I have more time to do them.  We are also saving the 99/1 ones for when we have a family gathering at the end of the month and my nieces will visit.  There isn't a lot to do here, so they might enjoy working on them as much as us.  In all I loved all the items, and will post pictures when I finish the puzzles and when I display Captain Lou.  Now I might have to see if there is a Cyndi Lauper doll or action figure I could put next to him.  Might need to keep Roddy Piper away from her though.

This year its not that I wasn't in the Christmas mood, but I didn't feel like decorating.  I was like that for a few years until about 5-6 years ago when I had a sudden urge to make the apartment look real nice.  Maybe next year I'll go back to that.  As for this year, we did decorate the tree and I displayed a few things.

We didn't have a great spot for the tree this year.  Next year I'll move it back in front of the front window.  I must have taken that on Christmas morning because my mom's gift is right in the front.

Some decorations we've had for many years (or decades), others are more recent.  The frog must have been my sisters because she collected frogs.  The Winnie the Pooh stuff came inside a blu ray I got from Disney.  My mom even decorated the cactus up. The amazing thing about that cactus is its over 20 years old and in the last year or two it decided to grow a bunch of smaller ones, its blooming like it never has before.  The glasses on the gorilla is a recent addition, I think it makes him look like Dame Edna.

The Schmidt House is an oldie but a goodie.  Its one of a few shirts we hang each year.  The snowman is 20 or more years old.  I won it at church and it was made from some of the church ladies.  As they passed on, it brings back the memories of the good times I had at church.

The puzzle was something we got on a trip to our second hand store, and my mom finished it pretty quick.  It said it glows in the dark but it didn't.  The abominable snowman my mom thought was cute on a trip to Dollar General.  I do agree it was cute, and he's soft.  He still has his teeth even.  Its a nice new addition.

My mom also completed this one by herself.  She received this as a gift from Shriners Hospital since she usually gives them money.  Its a nice puzzle, and while simple, I think it will be a nice addition.  I might even find a nice frame for it one day.

As that wasn't enough, my sister visited a few days after Christmas, and while I knew she had stuff for my mom, I wasn't expecting anything.  I shouldn't have been surprised though she did have something for me, in addition to the sausage biscuit from McDonalds.

I don't usually look at Matchbox cars, but I might have keep an eye out for them now, those are awesome.  My food wall is almost full.  In addition to the socks, now I have lip balm, hand sanitizers, bottles, cans, and even cars.  I told my mom next year I think I'll have to move everything (AGAIN) so everything can be displayed.  I'm about 20 socks behind now and more each trip I take, and probably have room for maybe 20 more after that.  That doesn't include the room for all the extras.  So a new project for 2025.  As for these, I think I like the Junior Mints slightly more than the Sugar Daddy.  Now I want to see what the other cars are in the set and see what I should look out for.

In addition to the cars, she also got me a reversible plush of the Chiefs.  Surprisingly I have blankets of the Cardinals, Royals, and Pepsi, but not a Chiefs one.  I do have a couple throw pillows though.  This is really soft, and perfect timing for this weather.  Having said that, I haven't used it yet.  I need to clean all my blankets and don't want to dirty the Chiefs one with the others.  Though I might still try it out when I set in the recliner.  I might have to try it during the playoffs.  I know she reads that and I've said this to her a few times, but thanks again sis.  I really do love these gifts.

I forgot I took a picture of the remote from Big Lots.  Nothing impressive, but I was surprised they still have remotes that have a VCR button on it.

While at Dollar Tree on a recent trip I still look at Hot Wheels.  I usually skp most but I saw this one and had to get it.  I've always liked double decker buses and this was too good to pass up.  Again 2025 will see a serious reshuffling of stuff to display.

I wasn't expecting this to be a photo dump, but I still have a few more things to show.  First we'll look at some recent book additions.

Books are 4/$1 and in addition I found a cookbook (picture was blurry, so I have to retake the picture).  The first thing I spotted was the recipe book.  It was brand new and it even had filler pages or bonus page packs.  It was too good to pass up.  Then I found the Soul Surfer book.  I liked that movie, my mom did too, so I figure why not.  Next I found the cookbook, it was thin, but a local one.  I really need to take a picture of it because thats another future project (for this blog), so we'll see how that turns out.  Lastly was the Jackie Kennedy book.  My mom mentioned she might have it already, but she tends to collect books of first ladies.  I think she might have every Eleanor Roosevelt book ever thought of.

Before I close out on socks, I wanted to show some CD's that I didn't last post.  I was shocked at one of them.

I'm a sucker for unique Christmas CD's.  Though I had two other reasons to get this one. First we seemed to misplaced my mom's Christmas CD's and so she wanted some tunes.  Second, I've never heard Don McLean sing a Christmas song and was pleastantly surprised.  It was worth the quarter.  Next was the BASEketball soundtrack.  While I'm indifferent to Smash Mouth's cover of Why Can't We Be Friends, the Reel Big Fish's cover of Take On Me was really good, and Supersuckers' Psyched Out is pretty good too.  I think it was worth a quarter.

Next I found the Crossroads soundtrack from Britney Spears.  If I'm honest, I didn't like her cover of I Love Rock 'N' Roll, but this was still sealed.  In addition, I liked the songs Girlfriend from Matthew Sweet and Mystika;'s Shake it Fast.  I also thought it was cool seeing Jars of Clay and Bowling For Soup on the same album.  I still haven't opened it yet, but not sure I will.  Maybe it will be worth something.

Speaking of worth, I also found a CD that blew me away.  Not so much the CD, but the price I've seen it go for.  When I'm out, I usually don't check prices online for stuff.  i feel its a gamble and sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.  In addition, most of the time, I don't try to resell stuff, I want it if its cool.  The only time I will look stuff up is when I'm at Walmart, and thats because I'm now using apps for groceries, and more importantly I can access Walmart's wi-fi.

Anyway, here is the CD I was happy buying for a quarter and finding out what it was going for online.

This is still sealed, that's what caught my attention.  The band is Shaman's Harvest.  They are a local band that hit it big.  Though saying that, I'm not going to say I'm a huge fan of them, or can name any songs.  I do know at one time, they did the theme song for WWE wrestler Drew McIntyre when he was doing the Chosen One gimmick.  Now while in store I saw a sealed CD of a local band, and that was why I wanted it.  As many of you know, I like Missouri history in terms of like Sports, music, and such.  So this was a nice find.  I didn't expect anything beyond that.

When I got home, I discovered (in addition to a crack in the case), that this was their first album, and it wasn't their first major label album, like their first album ever.  The Parental Advisory label on the front is a sticker stuck on the wrapping.  I can't remember if my friend found it on Discogs or if I did, but I was quite surprised.  

Granted it was last sold on Discogs in March of last year, but $250-$420 dollars?  WHOA!  I did look on ebay but didn't see anything, sold or current.  I'm very tempted to throw a crazy number up and see what happens.  If it doesn't sell, no big deal.

So with that I think I'll show off some socks and wrap it up.  I think I have more stuff to show, but that can be next time.  I think besides a couple projects this year, most of my posts might be just clean up posts of stuff I never showed off. It will still be exciting (or as much as any of my posts are) just not all current things.

Oops, I forgot I found another corkboard for $3 recently.  While great to display stuff, we use them for puzzles.  It is easy to transport and the pieces don't slide.  The opposite side is cardboard and you can do puzzles on it if you want too.  While we don't usually do two puzzles at once, we did want a backup.  We might even use this as intended for a while too.

Okay, sock it to me!

Now technically the Sweet Hearts aren't in the same line as these other socks, they are a candy, and since my birthday is Valentine's Day, I make the rules, lol.  They are slightly smaller than the others, but I still like them.  Maybe I won't display them all year, but I don't see why not.  Maybe I'll have them hanging up before Valentines Day.

The other three are nice additions, but I already have the Oreo's at least a different version.  At this point its a bit tough to figure out what I have and don't so I am starting to be a bit more selective.  Since my picture is outdated, its also to tell.  I have Doritos, but pretty sure not like the black pair.  I'm pretty sure I don't have the Mac & Cheese, or at least that version.  I don't know how much longer I can wait before bagging these socks up, I think I'm about 25 behind now.  So maybe I'll bag them the old way for now.  I still want to get a cheap vacuum sealer and use the new bags at some point, they will look much nicer.  Though here is the most recent picture without 20-25 pair I haven't bagged yet.

Also one last decoration photo.

So I think that will wrap it up for now, I hope everyone is safe from the weather and had a great holiday season.  I hope everyone has a great 2025, and hope if you have projects that you can knock a few out.  Thanks for reading and have a great day.