All Time Greatest Hits

It's time for the Top Ten Music Blogfest. What!? You haven't heard? That's okay. But now that your here you should check out mine and then check out everyone else's over at Alex J. Cavanaugh's blog.

My list far exceeds my age, especially since I was only born in 1978, but I'm the youngest and I have four older sisters with three being ten or more years older than me.

Besides exceeding my age, it doesn't quite match what I listen to on a daily basis either, but then this is an all-time greatest list. By the list you wouldn't know I currently listen to artists like Lady GaGa, Katy Perry, Pink!, Bruno Mars, Flo Rida, and on and on. However, those artists keep me young, they don't remind me of my first boyfriend, my wedding day, rollerskating rinks in the '80's, or the part of my early twenties when I experimented with drugs (shhhh!). That's why they don't make my list. Check this out though, you might recognize and relate to some of these:

1. Somebody - Depeche Mode
   (This hits my list in 1992)My list starts here for a reason. Although the majority of my listening pleasure came from my parent's record/8-track player or any of my sister's stereos, I didn't really start loving music until I met my first boyfriend. Yep, this is the song I lost my. . .you get it. Good starting place, I think.
2. Purple Rain - Prince
   (For me, 1993)First real introduction to writing poetry. I went from writing in a journal to writing my feelings in code, otherwise known as poetry. With first loves come Purple Rain, at least in my experience.
3. Bridge Over Troubled Waters - Simon & Garfunkel(1994)My mom still has this record. In 1994 Dad came home from being away for business and announced he wanted a divorce. This song played a lot. I think I'm the one who played it over and over. In 2003, my husband took me to see them in concert. Definitely one of the best concerts I've ever seen. Probably the only audience member crying during this song. Oops!
4. Ironic - Alanis Morissette (1995)Thank you Alanis for inspiring me to open my mind and gain a spine. I was seventeen this year. It was a refreshing year. I had spent a good three years with the first love and now I was branching out as a whole new kind of person. I was always kind of an introvert who incidentally had a family who moved a lot (2 elementaries, 2 junior highs, 3 high schools). I was tired of being the new kid in school and vowed not to be that introverted, shy girl this year. It worked out for the best.
5. I Am the Walrus - The Beatles(1995)My introverted self found me a great new bunch of friends, well, kinda. Hmmm. They weren't the best type of friends, but we managed to have a pretty good time with each other for the short summer we spent together. I learned about The Beatles in a whole new kind of way. I Am the Walrus was actually a song playing on the radio on the way back from a busted party where the cops came and broke us up due to a neighbor's complaint that marijuana smoke was seeping into the hallway from the condo we rented in Park City, Utah. This isn't where my drug experiences begin. It is however, the year I vow to NEVER try and see Pearl Jam in concert again (no show, effing freak. I hate that guy! Love his music--hate him. Bitter party of one here.) Beatles won't show up again on this list only because the list is too short. I take great comfort in The Beatles and especially John Lennon, however.
6. Casey Jones - Grateful Dead (1995)My sister, Anna, had been playing The Grateful Dead in her car for years trying to get me to catch on. She toured around and saw them in concert and brought stickers back for my sticker collection way before I started listening. Finally, the year I get into Casey Jones, Truckin', Sugar Magnolia, among others happens to be the year he dies and I have tickets to see them play. That sucked. I stuck to his music for years after. I even found a guy who followed The Dead around and tapped into their system to make recordings. I listened to those tapes for awhile in 1997. Good times had by all. (Still not my drug era.) I listened while I wrote poetry and screenplays.
7. Me and Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin (1998)My mom used to call me a throwback even as a small child. She pegged me for child of the sixties or even as far back as a beatnik. When I latched onto Janis Joplin and didn't let go my mom just kept saying, "I've always said you're a throwback." Maybe I was reincarnated, who knows. It's great to listen to this song but even better to watch her sing it. I have a huge framed drawing of Janis singing on my bedroom wall. I don't know why but she inspires me more than any other female singer. (Still not my drug era.)
8. Into Dust - Mazzy Star(1999)I was fresh out of an abusive relationship and living a crazy lifestyle in West Hollywood, California. I was ready for a do-over. Unfortunately, I had never heard of Mazzy Star until I was high on acid. My writing took an interestingly dark and introspective turn but for the better. I was climbing out of a hole and onto a fresh new page. I was stepping away from years of raw poetry to short stories. I don't have an addictive personality and I was broke so I got bored with the drug scene pretty quick and focused entirely on sharpening my story telling skills. Mazzy Star gives me the incredible urge to play guitar. This is the year I get a guitar and meet my husband. The beginning and ending of a weirdly short drug stint into the rest of my blissful life.
9. Somewhere Over the Rainbow - Brother IZ(2001)My then soon-to-be husband and I heard this song and just knew it was our song. My husband's mother and her family are from Hawaii and we were planning to get married in Hawaii so it just seemed perfect. Every time we hear this song we pause and reflect on how we once pictured our lives would be together and are happy to discover we are right on track. This was the song we danced to at our wedding. By this time in my life I really believed there were lights at the end of tunnels, pots of gold at the end of rainbows, better times ahead. . .I wasn't wrong. I'm not disappointed so far.
10. Mad World - Tears for Fears (2002)Lots of things happened this year. I got married, plus I had my first child. My first child had kidney problems and faced surgery at 5 months old. My world had gone mad. I was falling apart and for some odd reason really latched onto this song. Sure, Donnie Darko was something else, but this song just understood exactly what was going on in my life at the time.

Now you've been through the deepest parts of my journey in music, hope you enjoyed. I can't wait to go around and read everyone else's. I would have put together some links but I'm typing this out in a hotel room in Utah and it's Sunday night. My husband and kids are begging me to close up shop and go to bed. We have a flight out of here Monday afternoon after I spent a good week caring for my mom during her first week of chemo. It's back to life in warm Southern California. Happy writing writers!

Significant Other Blogfest

I have to really, REALLY, thank my husband for putting this together even though he's been home alone with our three kids for a week while I've been in Utah caring my mother. Thanks Babe, Love ya!

The following post is written by my husband for the Significant Other Blogfest. Check out mine and then go check out everyone else's.

When my wife asked me to put together a “blog posting” I thought she was losing her mind. Didn’t she know that I was a financial advisor, whose written skills were next to non-existent? Didn’t she remember that I scored a 330 on the verbal portion of the SAT, twice! (For the younger people out there, it used to be scored on a 1600 point scale) . Anyways, here we go!

You writers are amazing to me. You able to come up with elaborate stories starting with a blank sheet of paper, a pen and your thoughts. I remember watching my wife write her first book wondering where did she come up with this stuff? I on the other hand, enjoy doing complex mathematic calculations in my head while I work out. To each their own.

Outside of work and workout I do enjoy cooking! The question was asked, “What food or drink is guaranteed to return your loved one to a good mood, even after a bad day writing?” For those of you that don’t cook often, the answer is simple. Just include the 3 main food groups, Butter, Salt, Sugar. To be specific, the dish I would cook is a Risotto with asparagus tips, topped with butter shavings and fresh parmesan. The side dishes would include a mozzarella caprese. Some homemade garlic bread with fresh chopped garlic and real butter spread prior to baking is a must. For you wine drinkers a nice bottle of Cain 5 (great blend). Lastly, some Gelato for dessert. Heck if this didn’t put her in a good mood, I would be in such a great mood I could just entertain! OK…I’m getting hungry. No seriously.

My wife is introspective and is at home with herself writing with only her thoughts and her computer. It’s really remarkable to hear the key strokes mimicking the sound of a machine gun. When she asked me, What one thing would you change about your significant others writing habits? I had to reflect on the question. She is dedicated, self-motivated, disciplined and she is able to create stories/situations/dialog that grab and hold my attention. So, where do we go from here? I can honestly say that I would not change her writing habits, I would change her self-marketing habits. The query process is a tough one. I watched my wife get her hopes up with a partial request and then have them crushed with the form letter rejection. There is no easy way to get rejected 99% of the time. The one word of advice is to put it into perspective and realize that the rejections are part of the process. She had 2 partial request out of 12 queries sent. In my head that is a pretty good percentage, to be exact 16.66667%. And…the most importantly is that constantly put yourself out there. If there are no outstanding query’s there is no potential for a partial or full manuscript request.

The last question, “How hard is it to sit by and watch someone you care for struggle to attain a dream...knowing there's very little you can do to help?” To be very pragmatic about it, it’s not difficult to watch as long as they continue down the path. During my Ironman triathlon, our neighbor put a sign together for me. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts!”. The only time I will be concerned is if my wonderful wife loses the passion to write. The happiness, success and failure are all worth it as long as you continue to do what you love. Good luck everyone and keep writing.