I may tell someone to keep their fingers crossed or not to walk under a ladder or to avoid black cats, but I don’t actually believe that crossing fingers, going around a ladder, or turning around upon seeing a black cat will have any impact on a person’s luck — good, bad, or otherwise. They are just sayings to essentially express to someone that you wish them well or no harm.
I’m not a superstitious person. People who are superstitious believe in superstitions, which are essentially beliefs based on old ideas about luck and magic rather than science or reason.
I am a pragmatic person. That meansI am concerned with facts or actual occurrences (i.e., reality). I think of myself as practical and realistic, and not as someone who believes in the supernatural or in old wives’ tales and superstitions.
But that’s me. If you are superstitious or believe in superstitions, well hey, whatever floats your boat.
A friend of mine sent me this. I’m an old Baby Boomer, but if you are a teenager or if you know anyone who is a teenager or anyone who has teenage kids, you might want to share this with them. For them, it will be eye-opening. For the rest of us, it rings so true, doesn’t it?
Note: As I have done too often lately, I didn’t change the title of this post from last week’s post. When I respond to a recurring prompt, I use Jetpack’s “Duplicate” feature, remove all of the blocks from the prior week’s post, and then write the new post. But sometimes I forget to change the title. Shit like that happens when you get to be my age. Last week’s title to my Cellpic Suunday post made no sense related to this week’s photo. So having just now noticed it, I changed the title if this weeks Cellpic Sunday from “Protests” to Bicycles,” which is what the photo this week shows. I hope I havent confused anyone too badly.
John Steiner, the blogger behind Journeys With Johnbo, has this prompt he calls Cellpic Sunday in which he asks us to post a photo that was taken with a cellphone, tablet, or another mobile device. He invites us to participate in this cellphone photo prompt by creating our own CellPic Sunday post and linking it back to his.
Every October, in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park there is a three-day-long music festival known as Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. The festival features an eclectic lineup of country, soul, folk, folk-rock, and, of course, lots of banjo playing. Artists perform nonstop across six outdoor stages spanning the length of a three-day spirited weekend of fun.
I took this photo below on October 4, 2015 using my iPhone 6. At the time, we used to live three blocks north of Golden Gate Park and could easily walk to everything the park had to offer, including music festivals like Hardly Strictky Bluegrass. But not everyone could walk to the park and car parking was very limited. So a lot of San Franciscans rode their bikes.
The photo shows how the park provided hundreds of bike parking racks and, as you can see from the photo, bikes are parked there literally as far as the eye can see.
I love classic rock music and some of my favorite bands are:
The Beatles The Rolling Stones Pink Floyd The Eagles Led Zeppelin The Who Queen Chicago Steely Dan Heart The Doors Fleetwood Mac
I could go on and on.
Oh wait!
The question is about favorite brands, not bands! And I was excited because my challenge word today was “band,” so in my excitement, I misread the prompt.
For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams has asked us to find a song from American Idol performers, as suggested, once again, by Nancy aka The Sicilian Storyteller. I stopped watching American Idol years ago, and these days I prefer the singing competition, The Voice. However, I do remember the first six or seven seasons of American Idol, and I do have some favorites from those early Idol seasons.
The performer I’ve chosen to feature is Chris Daughtry. In the fifth season, Daughtry didnt even make the top three, coming in 4th that year. Yet he ranks number 7 overall among American Idol contestants in terms of net worth. And the song I’m featuring, “What About Now,” is from his band’s first album.
Chris Daughtry is the lead vocalist of the rock band Daughtry, and “What About Now” was the seventh single from Daughtry’s self-titled debut album. The song was a ballad that was written by Ben Moody, David Hodges (both former members of Evanescence), and Josh Hartzler, who is married to Amy Lee (the lead singer of Evanescence). It is one of only two songs on the album not at least co-written by Daughtry. The song was officially released in the U.S. on July 1, 2008.
The song reached number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 3 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart. It was the fifth consecutive Daughtry song from that debut album to hit the top ten on the Adult Top 40 chart.
I always thought, up until writing this post, that “What About Me” was about a man lamenting that his love was fading and he’s hoping to be able to recapture what he once had with his lover. But when I watched the official video, which I’ve included at the end of this post, it’s clear that the song is a plea for compassion and a call to take action to combat destitution. The video shows stark scenes of homeless people, hurricane victims and others in need.
Here are the lyrics to “What About Now.”
Shadows fill an empty heart As love is fading, from all the things that we are Are not saying, can we see beyond the scars And make it to the dawn?
Change the colors of the sky And open up to, the ways you made me feel alive The ways I loved you For all the things that never died To make it through the night, love will find you
[Chorus] What about now? What about today? What if you're making me all that I was meant to be? What if our love never went away? What if it's lost behind words we could never find? Baby, before it's too late, what about now?
The sun is breaking in your eyes To start a new day This broken heart can still survive With a touch of your grace Shadows fade into the light I am by your side, where love will find you
[Chorus]
Now that we're here Now that we've come this far, just hold on There is nothing to fear For I am right beside you For all my life, I am yours
What about now? What about today? What if you're making me all that I was meant to be? What if our love had never went away? What if it's lost behind words we could never find?
What about now? What about today? What if you're making me all that I was meant to be? What if our love had never went away? What if it's lost behind words we could never find? Baby, before it's too late Baby, before it's too late Baby, before it's too late, what about now?
This, That, and the Other 