Why Music Will Always Be Adored

Music. As most teens you become obsessed with music. What else is there to love, besides sports, movies, underage drinking and music? Exactly.

Then you become college-aged are able to go to nearly every show you want to, become segmented music lovers. You hone your tastes in a certain direction (indies, locals, jam-bands) what have you.

So it is with great delight I bring you the CD memory of today. It never occurred to me that music helps restore your memory. I can hear New Kids on The Block song and instantly I can remember things about 3rd grade that I haven't thought about in 18 years. Or like today, since I've moved, everything is in a box. So in my true WTF fashion, I grab an unmarked, unlabeled CD.

Stereophonics and Minnesota bands. Instantly I think of my former roommate and how obsessed we were with the UK band, because her friends from Wales turned us onto Stereophonics. Followed by Iffy, Faux Jean, 12 Rods, Soul Asylum. It is an overall fantastic CD and I can tell that I made it, gave it to someone, who either didn't take it from me, left it at my house, or I took it back because it was that good of a mixed CD. (I am notorious for doing that, eventually replacing, but yeah, call it an "unfavorable characteristic.") And then because I am a dork, or because I am who I am, I email this friend saying "stereophonics ...do you remember?" of which she will prolly email me back in a few days, because she is uber-busy. But yeah .....

A happy day music day in Speechless land ....

Greetings from my cubicle space

I'm swamped. And it does feel like I am wearing duct tape on the bottom of my shoes and walking around work, I feel like I am sinking. Of course not in the quicksand way, but in the sense that as soon as I complete one project, I can seventeen more dumped on me. And it should be like this until the end of the year.

Sweet Jesus Christ on the Cross.

But outside of that, all is well in Speechless in Mpls land. I wish I had more to let people know about. But I'm blinded by the light, that shining, glaring, light or blight is work. And while I am happy with my projects and the success of stuff, it has clogged up my ability to notice the finer details that happen in my everyday life. I'm not as "in tune" with the world, which is also why my RBall picks have been mediocre at best the last two weeks. No time. Hardly any time to read Sports Guy. Listen to NPR or The Current. or search the web for other things I enjoy. Seriously, I haven't checked my personal email accounts in a week. And to top it all off, I'm on call for the Red Cross the remainder of the week ........

So enough from my office space. I do in fact have an office, not a cubicle, but I realized this post and given my working condition, I could not muster the strength to reference lines from The Office. Which BTW has anyone else been closed to The War like I have been? Already my fave show of the season. Damn good documentary, and there have only been two episodes.

100 Posts on the Day I'm Moving

so i am an infrequent writer. and i've decided to keep speechless "directionless". i think i'm succeeding in those two goals.

i am moving. i can't stand it. it has to be one of those things that aren't so bad, but you make them worse because you are a lazy person and you can't stand all the crap that has to go into moving. because if i am going to do something, i usually don't half-ass it. (this blog being the exception.)

during my break and while listening to my new fave song "1234" it occurred to me i should jump online. bill simmons. randball. quick stroll thru city pages and then to here. sad, i haven't even checked my email. but then again, wwwhhaaatever.

100 Posts on the day I'm moving. It sums up my life. Something I enjoy, writing with something I dislike, moving. I suppose if keeps my life balance in check. Have you ever paid attention to the life balance? Call me a kook, fine, but seriously when someone you know dies within a month someone you know will become pregnant, have a baby or consider adopting something. It doens't fail. That whole Lion King Circle of Life thing, it's in effect.

In effect. Makes me think of Wrecks 'N' Effect (sp check that group name,
I'm too tired to Google) ......"all I want to do is a zoom, zoom, zoom and a boom, boom ...just shake your rump."

A many a 6th grade Spring Breaks watching MTV Spring Break while there are in Florida and being too young to get all the "getting laid" references, but thinking I was a girl in a shallow pool just dancing away in the daylight.

Really, not much as changed. Except I've been without cable the last five years or so, and instead I youtube bands and dance around to videos on the internet.

So 100 posts isn't anything to brag about. Anybody can write anything these days. But I did begin Speechless in Minneapolis in May on the recommendation of my former baby boomer coworker, who is a lover of all things BLOG. so here i write in my Minnesota pants (grey with Minnesota and a Gopher on the butt) and my fave "I heart NY it's the Yankees I hate" t-shirt.

Typing only because I am a procrastinator and don't want to move. Even 100 posts or 100 years from now I will still be that procrastinator girl who loves to shoot the shit and wishes that we could wear sleep pants and hoodies to work. Someday. A girl can always dream and hope.

My Crush on Brent Burns

This will be a very girly-girly entry. You've been warned.

To those few reading, I want to begin with I love hockey. Always have, always will. It is hands down my favorite sport. And I will always argue that a hockey game is the best to go to over the other sports. Not as exciting to watch from the friendly confines of one's couch, but in person along the glass at the rink, there is no better place to be if you are a sports fan. And in order my favorite types of hockey.
3. NHL
2. WCHA
1. Minnesota high school hockey

Now.

I have had a crush on Brent Burns since The Wild drafted the then 18 year-old in 2003. I don't know if it's the long hair or the nonstop permasmile. I just thought he was cute, in the sense of "which actress would you rather have Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie?". So I'm not a stalker or a hockey groupie or a crazy fan. I just like to joke around that I am "MrsBurns". So I was giddy on Sunday when I grab the Strib and there is a feature on Burnzie.

Fantastic!

Now I always have been under the impression that the kid enjoys hockey, but is well-versed in other aspects of life. Don't like the goofy grin fool you. The kid is sharp. Maybe I identify with him in some ways, because in professional setting I send to be the one with the quick comments, and I've learned that upper management types with put me in a box with these comments and forgot about the other things I bring to the table. But that is besides the point. I walk a very fine Johnny Cash line between professional me and personal me. Trust me, there ain't too much difference. You get what you see with me and I wouldn't have it any other way, although I would try to cut back on the tangents, like this one that I am currently on.

So I identify with what perception I have of Burnzie and as a female I think he is cute. So to learn all the other personal things about him in the Strib feature, icing on the cake. It's like saying you will know who the SuperBowl winner will be in five years and then being correct. (True story: I predicted the Steelers SuperBowl victory a season before. Crazy, huh? If only I was a gambling kinda girl)

And I like that he has a girlfriend. I'm happily with someone, Burns should be too. And then the huskies. Melt my heart. We had one in college and now she is no longer with us. Still alive, just not with us who helped raise her.

So where does that leave me? Feeling totally satisfied in my crush. If he lives up to the potential, I will feel like Terry Ryan when he is scouting 15 year old Venezuelan kids. Seriously, there could be tingles. But until then, I'll keep my MrsBurns jersey on for Wild games, continue to brag about my crush Mrs. Robinson style and cheer like crazy when he drops the gloves.

Hey it's all part of the package when you grew up on the Iron Range.

Well, Well, Well, You Never Can Tell

........
what a week with bring?

personally, my life is going great. good job. good relationships. good health. all around good times.

when it comes to my interests of sports, music, books and news cycles, this was quite the week.

so i can't comment on the details. i've been too busy. with my own job, attending AFSCME things, moving, events, volunteering and having somewhat of "personal time" i've been engulfed and have had blinders on my peripheral vision to notice, as i call them, the strange things that happen to me.

stupid CJ taking shots at jason derusha and ben tracy. both people i have worked with professionally. i wonder if we could have a pay-to-stone CJ contest? seriously, she is terrible. only in america could someone be a gossip columnist for a living. whatta swarmy job. but i suppose it's nothing different than church gossip.

which is why i am agnostic.

it was good to go to an AFSCME fundraiser last night. growing up in a union household i had to go, to represent the people who helped and stood in solidarity when my parents were on strike. union-busting is all the rage in corporate america, what is sad is that usually the working people are just trying to stay level to support their families. far too long, america has stood on the backs of the people who make this country what it is. and corporate america will continue to do so as along as people don't think for themselves and don't fight. i am fortunate that i am in a job where i can take care of myself and factors in a cost of living. but too many of are brothers and sisters don't.

the goal is to shrink the gap between rich and poor instead of widing it.

best thing of this morning (outside of the fact i think i could continue to be 11-5 in RBall) is Brent Burns on the front page of Strib. yes i admit i have a crush on Burnszie, however i think he is a goofball, and i like that he has a lot of interest and his passion, and the long hair and permasmile help, but i also respect that he has a girlfriend. so i'm not one of those crasy hockey groupie girls, just a girl who'd want to go on a double date with Burns and his lady.

am i fucked up or progressive or neither? i'm guessing it's the latter.

Remembering and Moving Forward: The American Way

It's been a weird week in the world of Ms. Minneapolis. Attending a burial at Fort Snelling, giving up foster dog for permanent home, personal things, work, family, ya know the rest of the stuff that everyday Americans face.

Sometimes I think we forget about the beauty of day-to-day living. I know, it's sounds lame, but there is something about Minneapolis spirit and Minnesota pride and something about being an American. Maybe because 97% immigrated to the states. Well I don't know the exact numbers, but I know that Native Americans are not in the majority. Maybe you know your roots and can trace back where you came from, or maybe you don't care. There is a theory that must "supernations" can only exist for 200 years before things start to fall apart. In a turn of coincidence, the US it approximately 231 years old officially. Are we slipping?

That's for you people out there in the world. And maybe I'm for once too much of an optimist, or maybe it's my US pride that I think we will always be a supernation because of the spirit of our citizens, even the illegal ones. Because most of us can trace our roots back to coming here from somewhere --- name the country and the reason -- whether opportunity, religious persecution, adventure, taking chances. We as citizens of this country are from brave people, whatever that nationality. People who took a chance, who decided they wanted a better life for their kids and future grandkids and they worked hard, they suffered and they settled. That is way I am a fan of www.weareellisisland.org

And just thinking about things over the weekend, I know I am not in PBS market research or even on their radar for trying to reach me as a consumer. But I can't wait for Ken Burns' The War to begin on Sunday, September 23rd. Visit http://www.pbs.org/thewar/video_clips.htm
to see for yourself. I'm guessing someone in your family played in a role in World War II, whether he/she actually served or stepped up back home to replace the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who were displaced across the world.

And away from the serious topics, I'm kicking off the NFL season 10 - 4, but three of my combined losses were by 7 points!?!? The agony. But it's just a sport and it's nothing extraordinary -- like the ordinary people who do extraordinary things every day. They are ones we usually don't highlight.

An Overdue Post

The fact that I haven't made a comment on the world who prolly lead to the question:
are you okay?

But then I realize that only a few (five)people sworn to secracy and potential cut throat tactics implemented by yours truly actually know the person behind the fascade, so it really doesn't matter that I haven't posted this week.

It's just a busy week, even too busy for me, to notice the little things that I usually do in the world. After attending a burial at Fort Snelling on Friday, on a gorgeous day, which made me think the twisted humor that goes on in this world, but then I realized it is the twisted humor I apprecaite. It's like whatever is bigger than us humans, has a way of keeping things in balance. In August I had the fortunate of three great things happening to me and now in September three not so great things.

Keeps me in check and I like that, but it doesn't make it any easier when you come to terms with things you regret (aka the worst day of my life), a burial of a 22-year-old-fallen-soldier and giving up a foster puppy.

So this week, and especially yesterday Ms. Minneapolis was in a state of mourning. And going through the way I grief, we all handle grief in our own ways. The one thing that has been a ray of hope (that could be a bit much and way too cliche, even for me) is RandBall, the starting of NFL and other blogs I read.

So thank you anonymous world, for helping me through the week. It's like the normalcy I was lacking this week. And don't get me started on trying to cross the 10th street bridge .....