New Inventory and Updates

 It's been almost a week since as Les Nessman would say the "godless tornado" stuck my hometown.  A lot of local media coverage and a lot of cleanup later and things are starting to return to normal.  I did look at some of the damage three days after the event and it was still pretty bad.  The main road leading into town looked devastating on TV (I didn't make it out that way the first couple days), and even after countless telephone poles replaces and many helping community members it still looked a whole lot worse in person.  A house that was once hidden by 10 or more trees was now shown out in the open, heavily damaged and all the trees bare.  Not just the leaves, but most of the limbs gone too.  In my last post I explained my first thoughts, and I considered many people lucky and some that weren't.  Looking at more damage on Saturday I have to say I stand by it being potentially worse.  The way the tornado shifted as I said in the last post, was crazy, but looking at the main road it shifted even more sparing many more houses that were in the direct path.  Even when it lifted, it was in an area that it could have caused much more damage.  I-70 by that time likely had many motorists, and even a slight shift before lifting could have struck the overpass to our exit which is usually a haven for many truckers resting for the night.  I didn't take more pictures, but what I saw with my own eyes will be etched into my brain for a long time, if not forever.

A couple days ago I looked on Youtube to see if there was more video of the events from that day or the aftermath.  A station in Kansas City did do overhead coverage which I think I linked in the last post.  A station from St. Louis (over 150 miles away) even had a reporter cover it.  While I'm a bit surprised it didn't get more coverage outside the local area (and even some locally from some newspapers), I'm also glad it didn't.  The town does help one another, and what awareness it brought to the town did bring in more help, and that's all that matters.  Since I don't get out daily, I haven't seen what has happened in the last couple of days, but I have seen more cleanup outside my windows, and there are a couple more dumpsters for debris.

*PRE-PUBLISH/POST-EDIT: My point in that last paragraph was actually pertaining to the advanced warning.  Our tornado siren did not go off due to it being old and running on electricity.  The power went out a minute or so before the tornado hit.  As I watched a livestream days later of a storm chaser the only warning we had was a severe thunderstorm warning issued 5 minutes before the tornado hit.  About 2 minutes before the tornado hit this Youtuber wondered why a tornado warning was not issued for us.  The tornado touched down about a minute after we lost power, so no time to warn us.  It was maybe 4 minutes after the tornado touched down that the tornado warning was issued, maybe slightly sooner.  The warning was issued based on radar and they didn't even confirm a tornado did touch down at that point.  After watching it in realtime replay, I might have to give some Youtube weather people a shot next time.  I'm not saying they are better than meteorologists, but some are highly educated and are more than just "storm-chasers'.  This one in particular had a few maps and was going all through them. It may not have prevented anything, but it was interesting to see him predict the warning before it actually happened.

So with that I think I'll move on.  I don't want to keep dwelling on it, and honestly my last post I didn't even link anywhere. It was just more of something to clear my head some.  As I mentioned above, on Saturday I did look at some of the storm damage, but I also went to my local second hand store.  It wasn't really a planned trip, but my sister visited and wanted to show us around.  I made a quick run into Dollar Tree, but left empty handed.  I was only looking for a hydration drink, and the flavor I liked was out.  We also checked out Walmart, but nothing real exciting there either.  So Savvy Seconds was the place.  I wouldn't say we hit it big, but we did make some good finds.

The Michael McDonald CD is for my mom, she really likes him, and from what I heard, it wasn't a bad CD to grab.  The Lucinda Williams CD was for me, and while it doesn't have her best songs, if you enjoy her music, its good.  I enjoy her music, so I was happy to find it.  Usually I like to buy 4 CD's since they are a quarter each.  I grabbed 6 CDs, 2 were empty cases, and one was really scratched so I put them back.  The last one was a fun find.  My grandma always said she was related to Leroy Van Dyke (as I mentioned in a post long ago).  So when I found this one I was happy to grab it.  It has his one hit The Auctioneer, and other songs, which.... well, he tried, lol.  Nothing bad, but some just don't really fit his style.  That said I was happy to find it and like with all CD's I open the case to see if they are in there and to see if they are scratched.

Turns out it was signed.  That made me real happy, and even if scratched, I would have bought it.  He is still local and occasionally pops into the local record store (local as in Sedalia).  Overall I was pretty excited with just these items, but we also found more.

Still on a cookbook kick, we found a few more.  The only one I would have got was the last one, but my mom says the foil one is pretty good.  I really need to find a way to organize all the cookbooks one day.  In the meantime, I am pretty sure I will have a project on here soon showing them off.  Then again, projects on here don't always work out.

Another project I have in the pipeline involves puzzles and my mom found a couple more.

The top one she was a little less excited after she got home and noticed it was only 300 pieces.  It's okay, the price was right and its good to have a new puzzle.  The bottom one looks blurry, for some reason my photo taking skills have gotten worse recently.  Anyways its a painting puzzle, not a photo, so it doesn't interest me as much, but my mom liked it.

Overall, I think some very solid pickups.  That wasn't all though, because my sister also brought more books for my mom.  A few weeks ago there was a massive book sale, and we almost went.  My sister and her family did go, and got some good stuff, and some for my mom.

My mom was very interested in all of them, I might check out the Crook & Chase one at some point, but I have a lot of books of my own to read first.  There was one other book she got that was pretty cool.

My mom already has this book, but not signed!  One day I really should do a post on all the signed books we have.  I think it would be a fun post.  The plan is sometime this spring my mom and I are both planning to purge some of our books.  Either ones we've read, or ones we don't plan on reading.  We had an idea of donating books and puzzles to a huge church garage sale this month, but we forgot the date and it was last weekend.  Now we might clean our storage unit up real nice then next summer during city wide sales, just have a big garage sale.  My mom just wanted to sell books and puzzles, but after I mentioned a few bigger ticket items we had that we could sale the idea shifted to having a larger one.

As for other ventures, I haven't bought a lot of socks lately, just because I want to display them better.  Until I do, I need to find a way to not buy ones I already have.  I also want to clear up some space and reorganize, which I hope to do soon.  One project I tried to tackle yesterday didn't turn out quite as I planned, but also worked out.  I'll explain in a second.  A few months ago I mentioned buying a remote from Big Lots.  Well I finally tested it out yesterday.

I bought this VCR a couple months ago and needed to test it out.  It works and so did that remote I found.  There was only one problem- the reason I bought it was because I thought the front panel had a digital display.  It does not.  However this morning I realized I already knew that.  Because I bought the same exact VCR a few months ago, and likely at the same price.  That isn't an issue because I'm glad I have a few working VCR's.  I just need one with a digital display so I can rip commercials from old tapes.  I have an even older Montgomery Ward VCR I bought maybe a year or more ago and finally tested it yesterday too.  It works.... I think.  It didn't eat the VHS tape, and it appears the channels change, I just can't really get a display.  Its an issue on my end that I just get forgetful at times on how to connect stuff.  This VCR is 39 years old, and I either need and RCA to HDMI adapter or just need to figure out what I'm doing wrong.  I have a digital tuner but also can't find the remote.  I do know it works currently as a pass through, but I just need to figure it out.  On the bright side I have 4 VCRs that all seem to work.  That is good.

Since I am cleaning up my photo files, I guess I have more to show, so let's take a look.

On the previous trip to Savvy, we found more cookbooks.  These are the kind I like, local or at least community ones.  As my mom thumbed through one she was caught off guard... WHAT KIND OF CHEESE?  I have to say I never heard of it either, but it appears its still made in Australia but around 2020 they renamed it Cheer Cheese.  Who knew.

There were a couple other books, one we got the same day, and another I won on Listia.  I rarely look on Listia these days, but I won a book cheap and one I really had an eye out for a while and currently reading.

The top book was at Savvy, and while not on my wishlist, it was one I've heard about for a while and might give it a try.  My mom didn't seem impressed with it, but after reading it a bit, she says she is intrigued by it.  I have a few other books to read before I get to it though.

The bottom book is the Listia win.  I was surprised how cheap I won it for, it somehow slipped through the cracks.  I really liked the Moneyball movie, so much so that I had an eye out for the book, even before I started getting into reading books.  So far I'm about 1/4th of the way through and it is different than the movie, but not in a bad way.  My only critique so far was this last chapter I read about Bill James.  A lot of the Moneyball concept is based on Bill James and so I understand devoting a lot of space to him.  However, it was a chapter explaining who he was, and almost an advertising section to get you inside the mind of Bill James.  My thought is they could have cut about a third of it out, and still got the point across.  He was mentioned a few times in the movie and it was enough to convey that his concepts were what helped in the evolution, and that was enough.  Otherwise the book is pretty good so far without diving much into what was presented in the movie.  I read about the 2002 draft which I the draft was never really talked about in the movie.  So I think I'll enjoy it and glad I am reading it.

So far this year I have read 3-4 books, and I'm quite happy with that.  I finally made a list of what I've read on Library Thing and maybe at the end of the year I'll talk about it on here.

Let's see what else is in my photo dump bin.

The Reese's cupcakes were at Dollar Tree.  They weren't too bad but also not sure I would want them too many times.  It was good to have since we haven't had cupcakes or cake in general in a while.  The puzzle is really nice, but I haven't worked on puzzles in a bit.  Partly because its a bit crowded in here and we haven't worked on the puzzles on the main table.  Hopefully that will change soon, as I will be rearranging stuff soon.

The bottom two photos are the progress on a Quiktrip convenience store across from the Pilot Travel Center.  It should open by the end of the month, and I will check it out when it does.  I've heard good things about it, but I don't plan on going much. 

The top item was an egg I got while on a trip to Savvy.  I entered to win an Easter basket and I got to grab a free egg.  Inside was some spiky ball which I have no use for but still it was something.  Speaking of something, that View-master sure is something.  I think my eyeballs almost fell out when I saw the price though.  If that's the going rate, I might be rich.  I have more than a few of them, a couple exactly like that.  I don't take many pictures when out shopping but had to show that off.

The DVD is the second one from WDAF TV that I own, both are still sealed.  I like local TV history, so this was a nice fine.  My friend says he actually has the same one so that was cool.  The Hot Wheels car was just something I randomly saw and decided to get.  I have a DeLorean or two in Hot Wheels form and once I get organized I think it will display well.

As for my displays, like I said above I plan to reorganize, and part of it is deciding to get rid of a few things.  I think I want to purge some stuff or at least store it before I can organize it again.  Once I do that I will display stuff again and I will take pictures.  I also hope after I do that I might start scanning a few things again, including some cards.  I actually have a few things to show off so I need to do that.  My current plans don't really involve cards or card collecting, but I'm not closing the book on it.  In fact once things seem to get organized here, I might even start going back to my roots of this blog and showing off my collection again.  Its not just acquiring new items, but its about enjoying what you already have.  So maybe the return of my card Hall of Fame, or Maddux Mania, or Complete Sets.  Maybe that will even inspire me to start creating custom cards again.  At any rate I have plans for this blog this year and maybe if I can get organize better I can start writing more.  As for now, I'm not promising anything but we'll see what happens.

As for now, I think I'll wrap things up for today.  Thanks so much for reading, and I hope everyone has a great week.  I hope the weather gets better soon and I can open some windows and do some spring cleaning.  Cleaning up old photos on here was fun, maybe I can dig deeper and find more that I should have posted 5-7 years ago (they actually do exist).  But for tonight, I might just take it easy and figure out the VCR situation.  Have a great day.

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!