Heather

O-O-H Child

The Five Stairsteps

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Years ago, I started a Blogger account. It was my initial (but half-hearted) attempt at re-kindling TMJ.

This was the post on 5/6/2016.

This song was my (written on scrap paper) jam, months back when I first discovered it. I like rediscovering it 🙂 This song makes me want to dance. Furthermore, it makes me feel like a strong, fierce, beautiful woman, and yet I cannot explain why that is. Right now it is serving as both motivation and the “focus factor” getting me through this internship reflection paper. It is like Hozier’s “Sedated” to Kincaid’s Capstone Project.

Gorgeous- X Ambassadors

When scheduling this to be published, I later found this acoustic version. The slower pace perhaps negatively emphasizes the repetitive nature of the song, but I still think the video is quite nice.

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As I was composing the post for “Letter to Hermione” I ran across this image when I google-searched for the song link.

That led me to the Kindness Blog. What a great concept! I like this one and this one as well.

It appears that this was one long TMJ post from my defunct Blogger TMJ stand-in. I transferred it over and likely made some changes back on 4/9/2020, leaving myself the note, “Correct this long TMJ from 8/24/16.” I never came back to it until today, 4/2/2024. Outside of editing it for grammar via Grammarly and questioning if that new Hozier song was not “Better Love,” I made no edits. Ironically, it appears that I had the same question back in ’20 when I commented, “I am thinking that the new Hozier song was “Better Love.”… ha I was obsessed with that song once I heard it 🙂 “. I cringe at some of these selections, but this is a time capsule, and perfectly aligning my former self with my current self is not the goal. Plus, it is a nice throwback to the history of those days, Phelps’ gold medal run, and my days of watching AGT. Random Note: I have (finally) published this nearly 4 years to the day after pulling it into WordPress!
– 4/2/2024

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

My House: If anyone thinks I have questionable taste in music, this selection may confirm your belief. But there is simply something about this song. It’s catchy, upbeat, and sort of happy.!… even as gross as it possibly is. The refrain, “Welcome to my house,” is neat… OK, I like this song. Let us leave it at that. And add that while listening, my other thought was, “And this further promotes poor English… wonderful.”

How I discovered it?: The Olympic Swim Team Car Karaoke. Fun seeing Phelps jamming to Chicken Fried… I would have bet against him even knowing that song. Labeling the car groups… the Mean Girls, that Clique you never quite fit into, the Mature, the IMMature, the good-natured quirky nerds… just fun 🙂

Other songs that deserve a mention:

Another AGT video 🙂 Grace VanderWaal’s “Beautiful Thing” is the song she wrote for her sister. I couldn’t help but think of Haley, and I did get a bit choked up (as usual when I give headspace to thoughts of our bond). Grace is incredibly talented, and I hope she has a successful career.

Hozier and his “new” song (4/2/24 Better Love?):

This took me FOREVER (see also Adele Car Karaoke) to listen to. I finally did, and I love it! It is soul-stirring. Half the time, I have no idea what he is saying, yet his music, like this song, feels immensely powerful. An aside from that is how repetitive this is. Generally, I take issue with excessive verse repetition, but here, as in his other work, I accept and embrace it.

Unsteady– I have always liked this song. Of course, it came on right after Better Love. So… it deserves a mention because I am sure there were many times when I thought of adding this to This is My Jam and then failed to do so.

Kevin– For some reason, I came back to this song. I am unsure what the reason was, but I assure you it was an excellent reason. Because of the social message, this song is so important. As someone who aspires to be a doctor, this fight is personal. Will I ever become a doctor? Who knows? Maybe God, but indeed not I. But I know that I care deeply for this cause and always will. This song is unique because it gives voice to an issue that needs more and louder voices. I almost passed over it on the AMAs recording! Fortunately, I watched the performance. It was moving, genuine, relevant, and the night’s best performance!

Upcoming Song I would like to listen to: This is a rarity as I do not usually wait for any of the “popular” stuff. “When a Girl Can’t Be Herself”… because I would love to hear Alicia Keys’ vocalization/ rationalization/defense of her no makeup vow.

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Look at Jeremiah go! I’ve suddenly realized that I am made for the tambourine. I always knew there was an instrument for me. 😉

Stubborn Love (Live)
Lumineers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLmIlVJYEtw

I was very into this song during the time before my MCAT.

On 2/24/19, I sent myself an email, as a reminder that, at some point, this should be my song of the week.

With Haley leaving, this is as good of a time as any. It feels lyric appropriate. And, it fires me up.

I went to my first Sofar concert with one of the coolest people I know. We hadn’t seen each other in a while so that in itself just made the night. The fact that Leah and I saw a concert we liked made it even better. My favorite song from that night is my jam for this week. It’s a good song, but the story is even better. The lead singer of the band wrote the song for his mother. Growing up, his mom bopped and danced to music regardless of where she was. She danced because she was happy. For many years, the singer was “embarrassed” by his mom. He finally woke up one day and realized that being around someone so full of life, love, and energy was a gift. I like that sentiment. Especially since I am someone with a mom so full of life and love, and who loves to dance anytime and anywhere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxtBcXqBcVY

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Mandolin Orange covering Boots of Spanish Leather

I was re-watching Isakov’s San Luis video, which I had earmarked for My Jam way back in October of 2018 when this YouTube suggestion popped up. Listening to it, I was blown away. I had never heard the Dylan version, so I went back and listened to his take. While Dylan’s version is a great song, this band’s version has a serenity that eludes its predecessor.

Watching the Mandolin Orange video, I not only found My Jam but wow, what a cool website!

audiotree.tv

The only note I left myself was

“That fiddle.
Especially 2:10″

When I first saw the note, I thought that maybe I had accidentally deleted part of the song title. I didn’t recognize it. When it first started playing I didn’t recognize the song either. But wow, this is precisely why I love this space. It’s a little treasure trove. I love this song and all it’s instruments!

P.S.
I can’t lie. Thanks to my track record I had to double check that 2:10 featured a fiddle and not a banjo! 😉

Down
Miranda Lambert

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Months ago, Pandora was on, and brought Zeppelin with it.

I walked into the kitchen to my mom singing along to “Stairway To Heaven”

“Mom! You know this song?”
“Heath, this is the music of my generation.”

Fair point.

I’ve always thought my mom was funny and adorable. But from that moment forward, she was cool too.

Present day, Yancey played this for us.

Led Zeppelin’s “Nobody’s Fault but Mine (1990 Remaster)”

Every so often, I intentionally introduce new music (read albums) into my life, I often swear that Zeppelin’ll be the next band I pick up. Perhaps today’s the day.

And hey! Is that a harmonica or an electric guitar at 3:02?

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Much of what I listen to revolves around running now. Different music is required for this different purpose. 🙂

Two things.

1. I have a strange love for this album.
2. Evidently, I was in a list-making mood…

What I like about it:

The constant build

The beat

The use of violins

Her voice… a great contrast to Macklemore’s

The difference in pace and immediacy of Macklemore and Missal’s parts

Over it
Macklemore and Donna Missal

The Studio Session is pretty neat too:

I have no idea if this is a Heather problem or a people problem, but do memories have sound?

Sometimes I can hear sounds, but I have to strain to hear and it’s elusive. The minute I start trying to bring that sound forward, to better hear it, it disappears. It’s like those Magic Eye books. The minute you focus on the image it’s gone.

Somewhere in the denizens of my memory, I can hear Lynn telling me to listen closely, and then in the special way she has, she starts cracking up. And suddenly, so am I.

https://www.npr.org/2018/09/18/648848244/50-years-of-sockin-it-to-the-p-t-a

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Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
by Jonathan Safran Foer

For years I have wanted to read this book around the 9/11 anniversary. The further we get from 9/11, the easier it is for me to forget just how horrifying and devastating that day was and what it felt like to have lived through it. My Goodreads review is below.

“This is the sort of book that I wish I’d come to know through lines rather than through pages. I annotated 24 sections that I found particularly striking or beautiful. It is for those sentences that I gave this book an extra star. 

I wanted to love the book. I wanted it to remind me of the horror I felt that day and in the time following 9/11. I wanted that because it saddens me to think that at this point, there are now adults who weren’t even alive on the day the towers went down. I don’t want to forget how that day reminded me to live every day as best I could. And I especially don’t want to forget how we came together as one rather than subsisting as fractionated sections pitted against one another. I wanted to love the book but I couldn’t.

The writing style is obnoxious. The plotline is boring. Yes, there were some beautiful passages, but the author failed to bring them together into a cohesive masterpiece.

Mine is only an opinion, and apparently many people disagree with me. My best advice is to read the first 34 pages. If you get even an inkling that you won’t like the book, then trust yourself, because you won’t. I didn’t trust myself. Instead, I forced myself to finish the book, hoping it would get better. Hoping it would take a turn. It doesn’t. However, if in the first 34 pages you feel like you’ll love the book, then you probably will, so read on!”

I frequently email myself links to songs that I am drawn to and want to highlight as SOW. I didn’t write myself a blurb for this one, but I distinctly remember being moved nearly to tears by it. I wish I had written about the song then, but I was driving in Park Ridge (or was it Glenview?) and could not stop for even a screenshot! I heard it again this past week and immediately flashed back to my drive, and the following days when I listened on repeat, feeling nostalgia for a time and people past.

Where Rainbows Never Die
Steel Drivers

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After finding myself in the used bookstore, I bought this.

I loved that it could expose me to different music. I figured I could randomly open to a page and listen to the artist or album mentioned. Another aspirational project for my list.

Page 246.

His voice is annoying and abrasive, but something about this song wore off on me. There are weird ebbs and flows to the beat. Like buildups without a true crescendo.

Listen to Dylan version at:

• :55
• 2:38
• 4:20

But if you have limited time.
Time for only one listen.
Skip him.
Go with Sheryl.

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I made my selections 9/3 but post-dated it so I could have a song of the week.

Because I care. Always have. Always will.

Because I’m back. And I’m sticking around.

110%, one of my favorite places to be, is the dentist.

Before explaining that, I must first digress.

Summer of 2017 I wiped out on my skates and full-on face-planted. My body was in shock, so at that point, nothing hurt, but I knew I hit my wrist, my chin, my jaw, and my mouth. I was sure I’d knocked out my teeth. I told myself “relax, I can get veneers, just open your eyes because we have to get our sprawled body out of the middle of the street!”. I opened my eyes and the ground was covered in white fragments. At this point, it took some serious positive self-talk (and threats that I’m sure a car was cruising to round the bend and roll me over) to lift myself off the ground. As I pulled myself slowly away from the asphalt, it was like zooming out on an over-pixelated picture; suddenly the little images I had seen were making sense. Those “fragments of teeth” were actually the little white gravel pieces that break off from the road. My hand snapped to my mouth and with great relief, I realized that my teeth were still there. I truly can’t describe my level of elation at realizing that. My wrist had already doubled in size, my face was bleeding, but my teeth were there.

I should explain that as a kid, I never had that showing-up-to-school-in-my-underwear nightmare or whatever nightmares kids usually have. No, my nightmares consisted of getting my teeth nearly knocked out, and having to rush to the dentist. And right before I could find out whether I lost my teeth or if the dentist saved them, I would wake up. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that I really, really, like my teeth.

However, until that wipe-out, I never even contemplated needing a mouthguard. I was totally oblivious. And I mean really, I must explain. This is what I look like on skates:

Tricked out in protective gear, but nothing for my teeth! Well I took care of that and if I didn’t look like flying ugly before, I can assure you, I do now.

Anyway, it was in requiring a mouthguard that I really got to know my cousin Johnny (my new dentist). I assure you in all sincerity with no bias, I think he’s one of the most incredible human beings, and the best dentist. He is so passionate about not only his work but the people who help him do that great work. Literally, it’s a joy for me to walk into the office. His office administrator is the sweetest person I’ve met, and his hygienists do the best work. It genuinely lifts my mood walking into the office. I believe much of that is indicative of how Johnny sees his profession, as his life’s work; his mission. He is one of those people who I truly admire, a person who wakes up every day and gets to do what he loves. I admire him for that and I wish the same for myself one day.

ANYWAY, this was supposed to be a SOW post, but much to anyone’s detriment who reads this, I thoroughly enjoyed telling my story.

Marina, one of my favorite hygienists, loves listening to this artist. It’s like Bossa Novva, but different. Música Tropical. Never heard of it, but boy do I love it now.

One song, but really, this whole album is fantastic!

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