Tag...I'm it!

A new post from yours truly...

Life's roller coaster has taken me through so many highs and lows in the last month that I can't even keep track of them. I'll try to write through some of them just to clear my head now that the dust is starting to settle. But until then, our friend Farrago has tagged me for a music meme. A good excuse to get into a very easy, lighthearted post.

I'm supposed to pick seven songs I am into for whatever reason, tell you why I am into them, and then tag seven others to shame them to do the same. Of course, I don't have enough readers at this point to TAG seven other people, so I'll hit the ones I can when I'm through.

1: Got My Mojo Workin' by The Asylum Street Spankers. A great, slow, bluesy version of this Muddy Waters classic. And I'm all about dancin' the blues. Yes, dancin'...not singing....it's an amazing skill I'm trying to pickup

2: Word Up by Willis. Remember the 80s song by Cameo..."Wave your hands in the air like you don’t care, glide by the people as they start to look and stare. Do you dance, do your dance quick Mama, come on baby, tell me what’s The Word, ah – word up, Everybody say when you hear the call You got to get it underway, Word up, it’s the code word, No matter where you say it, You’ll know that you’ll be heard.

3: My Dear Country by Norah Jones. Just went to hear her in concert a few weeks back and I hadn't listened all that closely to her new album. But hearing this one in person really drives it home.

4: You Know that I'm No Good by Amy Winehouse. This voice shouldn't come from this woman...and if she keeps up her lifestyle, there's a chance it won't for too many more years. But I love her album...and it was a tossup between this one and Rehab, so I went for the not-yet-single. At least over here.

5: Your Man by Josh Turner. It invokes the old country music feel of the songs I grew up listening to, and here lately I find myself fishing back for that familiar feeling. His voice is amazing. And when it comes down to it, I just want someone to feel this way about me.

6: Hold On by Sarah McLachlan. There have to be a couple of classic faves on this list, and this song has gotten me through plenty of hard times. It's a cry for help, a cry for sanity, a cry just to be crying and a plea for strength and love all rolled into one. Damn...now THAT's a song!

7: For number seven I'll go for a kooky cover that everyone needs to hear at least once. Tori Amos' version of Smells Like Teen Spirit. As crazy as it is, it sums up the teen angst of the 90s for me. Angry song with the feeling and emotion simmering just under the surface, slowly drawing it all to a head of quiet desperation that ebbs into dark despair and abandoned reality. I used to love watching her rock on the piano bench and belt this one out on MTV. Yep - teen rebellion for the non-confrontational set!

Okay - so who to tag. Hmm... If you've already been hit, ignore me

Flash
Ultra
Scott
Schprock
and my reader whose blog isn't quite public yet. (Let me know if I can ever send folks your way, btw)

Insomnia has its privileges

Sleep? Who needs sleep? I’m starting to see it as a luxury. I get so much more done in the middle of the night.

But more importantly, I see things I don’t normally see. About myself…and elsewhere.

If you haven’t taken a second, go out tonight and look at the moon. It’s nearly full….and fully amazing!

Aiming at a moving target

I don't know about you, but when you think about space flight, I think aerodynamics...re-enry angles...shuttles and capsules and space stations. But here's one I hadn't thought of before... How do you pray toward Mecca when Mecca's always on the move?

Chew on that one a second.

You see, Malaysia is about to send their first astronaut to go live on the International Space Station for a few months. The astronaut, like much of the nation, is a practicing Muslim...among whose beliefs require prayer, facing Mecca, five times a day. That can be a problem when you're lapping the Earth.

The country plans to cut the astronaut a little slack....announcing that the direction of prayers be judged as well as possible, and that an astronaut in space during Ramadan can choose to follow the fast according to an Earth clock, or can make up the fast upon their return.

While I find this interesting, it reinforces to me the main conversation last time I went out of town....the idea of religion as a construct of man that allows for the understanding of God. These guidelines of Islam reinforce the solidity of the holy city of Mecca as a stabilizing force in the lives of practitioners living in a tumultuous region. Guidelines never considering the idea man may slip the bond of Earth and travel to the rest of creation. No, I'm not saying that religion is "The Man" keeping people down...just that the idea of a man hurling around Mecca brings into clarity the concept that the church is a creation of mankind designed to maintain a power structure of one form or another. Just as the idea of the Catholic Church, created to maintain the wealth and power and dominance of rich over poor. Or, you know, the way the Earth is fixed and life revolve around it. Right?