Skip to main content

Symphonic Saturday - History

music1History is something that can override logic at times. Sentimentality is an emotional attachment. It makes it hard to get rid of things like sweaters. Often it's a longing for a time when life was different and seemed wonderful or at least better than what one is living right now.

I grew up in a time where children played outside and rarely were seen by their parents except at meal time. We were too busy playing in the neighbourhood. Street hockey, Hide-and-go-seek, Grounder, Redass, 21, and so many more games. But it wasn't all good. There was more bullying. I think that helped me become a strong adult today, but it certainly wasn't fun to go through. Also, I definitely can't pretend laws that let parents send their kids to buy cigarettes for them were a good thing. We were also poorer and I remember my parents constantly worried about the mortgage and other bills in those days. It was before my mom became a hoarder though, so there's that.

I collect vinyl records. Often, I'll get new-to-me ones cheaply at thrift stores. Especially classical records as I can get them for $1.99 and instrumental music is great for background noise that helps one focus. I also just enjoy orchestral music.

Sometimes, it's necessary to preserve history. We know the dangers of not remembering the past.

So I let my emotions guide the purchase of an album. It's called, "Travellin' the Northland." On it's cover is an Ontario Northland train. Ontario Northland was my favourite workplace and it's an important part of the northern transportation sector, so it's neat having this piece of history. The trains run behind my parents house, so it's something that really speaks to me on a deep level.

I'm unsure, but I suspect these men worked there too. I'll have to get in touch with one of my friends that still works there to find out.

It's in good shape, but much of it is in a style of music that I wouldn't normally choose for myself: country. In fact, I'm usually more likely to listen to anything but country music. There's also some polka on it that isn't terrible. It was recorded at the local TV station and manufactured in Oshawa, where some of my friends live. The recording quality could be better, but it makes me smile thinking about my old workplace and my hometown.

I think it's important to be careful when following your heart in general though. It's really common to wonder why one ever dated certain individuals. The heart doesn't know everything and often refuses to listen to reason.

As far as consequences go, emotions guiding me to a country/polka music album rather than jail or death is pretty good, so I'll take it.

Guid cheerio the nou,
R~

 
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

2020 Vision

Mostly, I’ve been planning for the new year, but I discovered I know Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It was a recollection under the influence that brought this to light. I also discovered I still suck at drawing, but I’m okay with that. I used to think I had to be good at everything, and I’ve realized that’s just not so. Some friends and I recently hit up a local board game pub. It was a pretty fun night. The first game was Balderdash and I was terrible at it. Because I was the writer in the group, some of my friends thought I should be more embarrassed about it and hide the fact that I don’t spend all my free time learning advanced vocabulary. But I’m not upset about it. Why? Two reasons: 1. I now know what I don’t know. 2. If one takes a close look at the top selling novels on the market, the level of the language used is not the level of many of the words in Balderdash. Not that I’m comparing my own work to those, but audience is what matters in writing. To me, it is far better to e...
Read more

Warrior Wednesday - Cross-training

[caption id="attachment_11040" align="alignright" width="300"] Image created using Bitmoji[/caption] Martial arts are a great workout, but it can be easy to forget that we need to do other exercises to ensure total body fitness. That being said, it doesn't have to take a lot of time or be a miserable experience. One of my Iaido mentors, 8th Dan Hatekenaka Sensei, does hot yoga when she isn't practicing Iaido. She practices Iaido every day whether there is class or not. Now Iaido is great for many things. Swinging a sword about takes *some* strength, so it works the upper body. It's important to mention that we try to get a sword that is a reasonable weight. Many are only a couple of pounds because they are a giant razor and don't need to be heavy in order to cut things. Also, a light sword should be able to be swung as thought it were heavy and a heavy one as though it were light. It also is helpful to prevent repetitive strain injuries. W...
Read more

Change is in the Air

I've been making a lot of changes lately around my home and some of them might seem a little odd, but they're making me happy. One thing I've done is taken apart my dining table. I never eat in there or have people over to eat. It was just another horizontal surface that would collect things like receipts, odd screws from various projects, and countless piles of paper. I had been frustrated because of the clutter it encouraged, but also because I didn't have a space for my Yamaha keyboard. I had been trying to use my keyboard in the living room, but it felt too cluttered and it wasn't sitting at the right height. With it now in my dining room, I was able to relocate my storage bench, which happens to be the perfect height to sit at while playing my keyboard. I now have much more breathing room. There is still a lot of mess to handle here yet, but I'm making solid progress. A lot of people suggest the bedroom is the place to start when decluttering, but I haven...
Read more