You can get up off the floor now

I know that I have not been posting at all, and if that very infrequently. Rather than give excuses, I thought I would make a request.

As I have also not been reading posts either (I Marked all as read in my reader), I would like to read those things you are proud of. So… if you have a post that you wrote within the past month, or know of a post from someone else that you enjoy— please leave the URL to the post in the comments so I can have something to read on my vacation this next week.

Looking forward to reading…

Summer Lovin'

Given that we are now in the midst of summer, I thought I would compare and contrast two songs about summer lovin' (No, I will not do the number from the musical Grease— sorry to put that song in your head).

I must admit that when I was a teenager I never had a summer romance. During my teens I was either busy playing sports, or working a full time job during the summer and never had much energy or connections to pursue any romance. The first time I had a girlfriend in the summer was when I was dating my wife and that was when I was already 30 years old (definitely NOT a hormone ridden teen).

There are two songs that seem to epitomise summer lovin' as a teenager to me. Depending upon your perspective, each song is a reflection of a teen pursuing love, or pursuing lust.

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The first song has a very "boyish" feel to it. It is almost as if this may be this person's discovery of love and their frustrations that accompany trying to hook up with someone.

Summer's the worst
Summer love is a scam
But I can't help dreaming of summer romance
My bubbles may burst but that won't hold me back
I've got quite a nerve
I'm giving summer just one more chance¹

Talk about your teenage angst… But all in all our character knows that you can't just try once. Even if you fail the first time, you need to still pursue love.

I'm in the crowd looking for a girl
I'm gonna drown looking for a pearl
Show your skin
You might get burned
But all the heat is worth the hurt
We'll fall in love
We'll dive head first
We'll never learn that summer is the worst²

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This second one you are probably more familiar with. Here is the reflections of a teen about his summer encounters:

Out past the cornfields when the winds got heavy
Out in the back seat of my '60 Chevy
Workin' on mysteries without any clues
Workin' on our night moves
Tryin' to make some front page drive-in news
Workin' on our night moves
In the summertime
In the sweet summertime³

I think this second line seems to sum up the person's feelings and show that it was not for love, but rather for lust.

We weren't in love oh no far from it
We weren't searching for some pie in the sky summit
We were just young and restless and bored
Living by the sword
And we'd steal away every chance we could
To the backroom, the alley, the trusty woods
I used her she used me
But neither one cared
We were getting our share⁴

Looking back on the type of person I was when I was a teenager, I seem to more closely identify with the first song, but I kinda wished I also had the second. So what about you… which song do you identify with?

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^{1, 2} Excerpts from the Michael Leviton song: Summer's the Worst.

^{3, 4} Excerpts from the Bog Seger song: Night Moves.

Inquiring Minds Want To Know

If you don't know already, I am currently a contributor over at the blog called In The Real World Venus vs. Mars. Back in January I was asked to fill out a survey which is used as a "Meet the Blogger" series. My number has been called and I am being featured today.

Please stop by and find out more about me here. If after reading my answers you still have unanswered questions, feel free to comment— I'll be glad to clarify.

Writer's Workshop: Cecil the Sock Puppet

In honor of Mamma Kat's Writer's Workshop I have decided to tackle prompt #4:
Write a funny story involving socks.

Authors Note: Even though this is a rehash of a post I made in December of 2008, I felt it should be mentioned again since socks and puppets go "hand in hand":

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When I was a child my mother made a sock puppet out of an old sock, some buttons and a pom-pom and called him Cecil the Sea Serpent Sock Puppet. One time my grandson was using the "puppet hand" when we were playing board games and I had to pull out Cecil and show him. We had so much fun I neglected my turn every time. I always find that the "puppet hand" has so many uses that I thought I would highlight on one of them.

In theater I tend to use the puppet hand as a marker— indicating where a given person is if they are absent. You just take your hand and bend it a bit closing the thumb with the upper fingers. You can pivot the wrist a bit and have the hand puppet look around "playing their part". You can even go so far as to say lines by opening and closing the thumb and upper fingers accordingly.

When I was in the play Deadwood Dick there is a scene where we have a hangin' and proceed to take Pong Ping out to the nearest tree and hang him. Because we had to have off stage voices during the scene— and because Pong had to have a costume change— the posse would act out the scene in the far corner of the stage and use the puppet hand for Pong. Because we couldn't risk a flash during a performance, I had someone snap this shot in the green room as proof of what we were doing.

No socks or Sea Serpents were harmed in the making of this post.

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Watch Your Step at the Wishing Well

I just recently finished the book Watch Your Step at the Wishing Well by Lisa Hudon. This is one of those easy reads that you can easily go through while on the beach or poolside. I highly recommend adding this to your summer reading list.

The story is almost like a fairytale in how an average everyday girl from the Midwest named Nicolle Bocelli falls in love with a rock star named Gary LaForge. And much like Cinderella, just when you think our heroine is living the life of bliss— true reality sets in like the clock striking midnight as this fairytale life of hers becomes complicated with drama and intrigue. And just when you think you have everything figured out, an additional twist is added which keeps you in the story and keeps you reading further. Not only does the story line keep you interested, the scenery the author uses keeps you interested as well.

I must admit that growing up in the same home town as the author there is a lot of imagery about the heroine's home town that I can identify with— but I also believe that the settings are quite believable and paint an interesting picture that assists in the character development. The contrast between the home towns of both Nicolle and Gary complement each ones character and assist in showing where they both come from as well as showing why their personalities are the way they are.

I rather like the way in which Gary interjects from time to time with his own telling of the story. It is almost as if Nicolle sat down after the fact and was writing her adventure when Gary decides he needs to give "his" side of things.

And just as everything in the story seemed to come together and reach a dramatic climax, it quickly ended. Everything was neatly put in its place and a calm sense of normalcy returned. But this sense of a heroic and dramatic ending leaves the reader wanting more. There are a lot of unanswered questions… but I'll leave that to the author to answer when the sequel is released.

Spin Cycle: Running in circles

This week's Spin Cycle is a poetry spin. I thought I would contribute a poem that has spinning involved in it just to keep with the theme a bit more.

This is one of those self reflective poems I wrote when I was quite depressed at not having anybody. Even today I sometimes get that feeling that perhaps those people to whom you call "friend" are not there for you and you are left alone.

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Running in circles the trail my own.
Again I must admit I am alone.

No one around to share the time
nobody at all to be just mine.

Again and again I'm in despair
I find someone but they're never there

And so I'll always be here patiently
waiting for someone who can find me.

But until then
I guess I'll never have a friend.

cj85'

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