J.P.

I was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, fresh out of the shower and with a face full of shaving cream, when I said, “Hey Siri, play ‘Your Love is Lifting Me Higher and Higher’ by Rita Coolidge”.

Now, I expected the smooth version of this track from the late 1970s to start playing on the small speaker in the bathroom as I started scraping the shaving cream and bits of stubble off my face.

Instead, I got a much older version of Rita Coolidge croaking out the track in question in a key that was much lower than the original recording. I feel like there may have been whiskey or something involved with the vocal stylings of the track.

I told Siri to stop and asked it to play another song from that era. “Undercover Angel” by Alan O’Day started playing, but again, it was not the original track from the 1970s but rather some re-recorded version that had way too much in the way of late 20th or early 21st century stylings to the instrumentation.

Still lathered up and feeling my blood pressure go up a little bit, I decided to try something completely out of the blue. “Hey Siri, play ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ by Sister Janet Mead”. This track was originally released in 1972 and has a very early-1970s sound to the entire thing. It’s also the only reason I can recite The Lord’s Prayer when required to do so; I have to have the song playing in my head while being solemn in a church setting.

The HomePod mini started playing the track in the right key, but it definitely was not the original recording. The fuzzy guitar seemed to be replaced or, at the very least, augmented by very 1980s sounding synthesizers.

Curious, and with the Barbasol drying out on my face, I fetched my iPhone and pulled up Spotify to play the same track. Yep, it was a re-recorded version as well. The vocals sound like they were an older Sister Janet Mead, but the instrumentation was missing that early 1970s goodness.

To reset my expectations, I pulled up the track on YouTube and confirmed that I remembered the song correctly. The streaming services were definitely claiming a re-recorded version was the original.

I don’t like that.

One of my complaints about the streaming services is that a lot of our musical history simply isn’t included in their libraries. There are remixes and edits and all sorts of variations from the original releases of pop songs back in the day that are not available for streaming. And now, it appears the streaming services or record companies don’t want to release the originals but rather are starting to rely on soundalikes or re-recordings.

I’m going to delve a little further into this to see how much is being re-recorded and the like and probably write about this a bit more.

In the meantime, I’m going to finally finish my shave.

I found this morning’s sunrise to be quite pleasant. I haven’t been sleeping well this week, but it’s always a pleasure to see the sunrise.

I did a little bit of sprucing around Ye Olden Blogge today. I’m trying out a new font setting and getting rid of some of the cruft in the pipes on the backend.

Mom enjoyed the flowers around our home while she was visiting last weekend. I took a picture of the flowers this morning and sent them to her in a text. The camera didn’t capture the vibrance of the colors I was seeing, but it didn’t do too bad.

I’ve stepped away from social media (again!) for a little bit, allowing myself only check on friends, families, and groups on Facebook in the morning before my shower. I’m finding that social media, in that it’s a lot of people talking about a lot of things in a chronological or algorithmic way, isn’t all that appealing to me at the moment. I’d rather be around people than try to interact with folks exclusively online.

I have been still visiting and chatting with a few folks on subject specific message boards and the like. For example, I belong to a Storm Chasers forum and at the moment we’re talking about the best restaurants we’ve encountered during our chase trips. A favorite for me is Brickhouse Barbecue and Brew in Liberal, Kansas. I didn’t get to go there this past chase trip, and in 2023 it was closed the night I was in town, but the other times I’ve driven through Liberal it has been an excellent experience. Another favorite is Twisters in Colby, Kansas.

I’ve been particularly introspective for the past month or so. I think it’s my way of pondering what I want to achieve in 2025 and for my reconciliation of events in 2024, particularly around the election. I guess my contribution to a better society is to be a better citizen, so I’m doing my best.

I have come to the realization that I’ve fallen back into that hoodie or trailer-trash-hoodie type of guy. Now that temperatures have fallen back in the 70s here in Southern Arizona, I have an excuse to wear a hoodie and I have a few good ones to choose from. They’re comfortable, and I feel the need to be comfortable these days.

I’m so fortunate to not have to work in an office.

I’ve been appreciating the stillness of the Sonoran Desert at this time of year a bit more than previous autumns. Sitting in the gazebo, and enjoying this quiet moment, is a wonderful way to spend the lunch hour.

I haven’t been paying much attention to the news since the results of the election were announced early in November. I really have no interest in watching people like Susan Collins “be concerned” about the cars of circus clowns Trump is undoubtedly using to populate his cabinet (junk drawer). Avoiding the news has been one step in maintaining my mental health. I feel I’m the better for it.

I just recently learned of the death of the UnitedHealthCare CEO. Apparently someone at McDonalds in Altoona, Pa. spotted the suspect and reported him to the authorities. I only learned of this when someone in our family shared a tweet stating that Burger King doesn’t snitch.

Violence is never the answer, but I totally get why folks would start going after CEOs of the insurance companies. It’s a horrible, horrible industry. My mother is wading through all sorts of insurance woes with her health care, my husband is ramping up for some health care coverage changes, and of course, I just went through the litany of “open enrollment”, where you get a very short time to make changes to your health plan for the entire upcoming year. The premiums go up, the co-pays go up, and apparently I’m suppose to be happy that I now have a deductible that’s only in the low thousands per year, and this is using (and paying lots of money for) the absolute best insurance plan offered by my employer.

Unfortunately, Americans sealed their fate when they favored Trump in November and it’s just going to get worse. I really don’t understand why people that paying insurance like your bladder is a car bumper is the way to go. I really don’t understand why your physical and mental well being is dependent on how much of your life you give to working for someone else. And I really don’t get why American society is OK with tolerating loopholes where the insurance company, not the doctor, gets to decide how much anesthesia you’re going to get when you’re getting parts removed or rearranged in an operating room.

I mentioned this to my mother during her visit and I’ve said it before on this blog, I am very grateful to be on the last half of my life. I never thought I’d see society unravel like it seems to be here in “the greatest country on earth”, but hey, God apparently blesses America.

Even though we’re still in the first half of December, I’ve been thinking about the New Year. I have mixed feelings about the approach of 2025. The political landscape is almost certain to be chaotic and I believe society will unfortunately follow suit with that chaos. It will be difficult to wall off that celebrated idiocy, and it’s going to take a lot of personal bandwidth to maintain a one’s sanity in this environment. I’m prepared to handle these circumstances, and the primary driver for that will be by being the calm one in the room.

This has not always been my strong suit.

I was recently listening to “The Daily Stoic” podcast by Ryan Holiday. He was discussing New Year’s Resolutions with author James Clear, and during the conversation he mentioned to James that he focuses on a word to define the New Year. It’s a short little reminder of his area of focus for the year. I like this approach and I’m going to try it out.

There’s one word that seems to fit my mindset at the moment. I don’t know if it’ll be the “word of the 2025” for my approach to life, but it’s in the short list of contenders for the chore. The word is determination.

As life moves forward and the folks around us do their thing, it’s important that we concentrate on “our thing”. Focus on that we can control. The stuff we can’t control? Let it do what it’s going to do and if it’s going to affect us in some way, be determined to let that effect be a positive effect.

2025 is going to take a lot of determination. I’ll be ready for it.