Showing posts with label naturally. Show all posts
Showing posts with label naturally. Show all posts
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Saturday, August 27, 2011
A hurricane is coming tonight, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow . . .
Because I couldn't be any gayer, that's why.
Whether rightly or wrongly, this is the song that has been stuck in my head ever since the Weather Channel and all the news programs, national and local, began whipping up their 24-hour frenzy of chronicling of every bump, gust, drop, and whistle of Hurricane Irene's advance toward the North Carolina coast, New York, and beyond. A trek that has been days in the making and promises to be many more in the unmaking.
Because I grew up in the region where the storm has made landfall--only 15 minutes from Bogue Inlet Pier in light traffic (i.e., not summer)--I am particularly sensitive to hurricanes and the havoc they can wreak. Carol Douglas, notwithstanding.
However, I have to admit, nothing--except maybe a bowl of chicken pastry (not dumplings, you ignorant Yankee narrator!)--makes me feel more nostalgic for childhood than a hurricane. Despite all the dire warnings and potential for harm and damage, the oncoming storm engenders a certain amount of excitement and energy. As the sky grows more menacing and the winds more dramatic, everyone's pace quickens, your senses are heightened, and life seems more vivid. What happens next? How will this play out? What destruction will nature cause? Will things ever be the same again?
In the sleepy coastal North Carolina of my childhood, I was always grateful for the natural thrill brought on by the approach of a hurricane.
Then again, I never lived through a really bad one. From what I recall, way back when, in the late 1960s and 1970s, we merely had a series of indifferent hurricanes and weak-willed tropical storms, most of them just grazing the coast, dumping a lot of rain, and washing away the beach. Only later in the '80s and '90s, after I had moved away and my parents had relocated inland to the Triangle, did the storms get bad. I remember leaving home one afternoon, heading back on a plane to Texas, lucky enough to escape a particularly severe hurricane that even affected area 125 miles inland. While I was home and dry in San Antonio, my parents endured 100+ mile-per-hour sustained winds for several hours. With all the downed trees, they didn't have electricity again for more than a week. They couldn't even get out of their neighborhood, until neighbors with chainsaws started cutting through the debris to create a path to the main road.
So indulge my nostalgia at your peril. Obviously, I don't know what I'm talking about in terms of health and safety. But snowstorms, tornadoes, and flash-flooding have got nothing over the mood of excitement, danger, and fascination created by a good, old-fashioned hurricane.
Sadly, "hurricane mystique" doesn't get you much of a break on homeowner's insurance.
Sigh. Why did I have to go mention something "adult-oriented" like insurance? I know! Maybe for fun we could start talking about our retirement plans or lawn care treatments! Sometimes it's just better to stick with the hazy childhood memories. Pass the chicken pastry, please.
Whether rightly or wrongly, this is the song that has been stuck in my head ever since the Weather Channel and all the news programs, national and local, began whipping up their 24-hour frenzy of chronicling of every bump, gust, drop, and whistle of Hurricane Irene's advance toward the North Carolina coast, New York, and beyond. A trek that has been days in the making and promises to be many more in the unmaking.
Because I grew up in the region where the storm has made landfall--only 15 minutes from Bogue Inlet Pier in light traffic (i.e., not summer)--I am particularly sensitive to hurricanes and the havoc they can wreak. Carol Douglas, notwithstanding.
However, I have to admit, nothing--except maybe a bowl of chicken pastry (not dumplings, you ignorant Yankee narrator!)--makes me feel more nostalgic for childhood than a hurricane. Despite all the dire warnings and potential for harm and damage, the oncoming storm engenders a certain amount of excitement and energy. As the sky grows more menacing and the winds more dramatic, everyone's pace quickens, your senses are heightened, and life seems more vivid. What happens next? How will this play out? What destruction will nature cause? Will things ever be the same again?
In the sleepy coastal North Carolina of my childhood, I was always grateful for the natural thrill brought on by the approach of a hurricane.
Then again, I never lived through a really bad one. From what I recall, way back when, in the late 1960s and 1970s, we merely had a series of indifferent hurricanes and weak-willed tropical storms, most of them just grazing the coast, dumping a lot of rain, and washing away the beach. Only later in the '80s and '90s, after I had moved away and my parents had relocated inland to the Triangle, did the storms get bad. I remember leaving home one afternoon, heading back on a plane to Texas, lucky enough to escape a particularly severe hurricane that even affected area 125 miles inland. While I was home and dry in San Antonio, my parents endured 100+ mile-per-hour sustained winds for several hours. With all the downed trees, they didn't have electricity again for more than a week. They couldn't even get out of their neighborhood, until neighbors with chainsaws started cutting through the debris to create a path to the main road.
So indulge my nostalgia at your peril. Obviously, I don't know what I'm talking about in terms of health and safety. But snowstorms, tornadoes, and flash-flooding have got nothing over the mood of excitement, danger, and fascination created by a good, old-fashioned hurricane.
Sadly, "hurricane mystique" doesn't get you much of a break on homeowner's insurance.
Sigh. Why did I have to go mention something "adult-oriented" like insurance? I know! Maybe for fun we could start talking about our retirement plans or lawn care treatments! Sometimes it's just better to stick with the hazy childhood memories. Pass the chicken pastry, please.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Shake, rattle, and roll
Well, wouldn't you know? The first time I'm in the vicinity of an earthquake, I miss the dang thing! Damn my Death Star fortress of an office building. Takes all the fun out of living dangerously.
Actually, truth be told, nearly everyone around me felt some jolt, rumble, bump, or something due to yesterday's 5.9-er in Central Virginia. Once again, I was too busy trying to be entertaining to notice.
So no earthquake for me. But how dare nature try to steal my moment!
Because no one we know seems to have been hurt--although more than a few were startled by the fact that nature does indeed happen in the elitist section of the country--I put together this little tacky homage to shakin', rattlin', and rollin', East Coast Stylee.
Enjoy. And duck and cover as necessary.
Little Boots, "Earthquake"
Jesse McCartney, "Shake"; OK, I'm sorry for this. He looks like Alfalfa from the Lil Rascals trying to get down, doesn't he? (I thought he was blond. And older. But maybe that's Aaron Carter. They all run together after a while.) Plus, lyrically, this is so juvenile and offensive, not to mention implausible. I mean, has he even reached puberty yet in this video? Is he even attracted to women? Pitiful. But, pop slut that I am, I love the sound of it, especially that little "shake-shake-shake-shake-shake" at the bottom of the chorus. I'm so ashamed, but then I didn't write or perform the thing. So, what, me worry?
Kelis, "Milkshake"; god, I hate the mix of this song.
Metro Station, "Shake It"; equally shameful in its own way--you just don't see it because the band's so emo-looking.
The Cars, "Shake It Up"
Peaches & Herb, "Shake Your Groove Thing"
KC & the Sunshine Band, "Shake Your Booty"
Carole King, "I Feel the Earth Move"; can't take credit for this one--my friend The Music Lover came up with this one.
Bill Haley & The Comets, "Shake, Rattle, and Roll"
That's all I got! Sorry, not doing Lil Wayne's "Earthquake" or Tori Amos's "Little Earthquakes." Things weren't that bad.
* * *
Favorite quote from the earthquake news coverage (from CNN):
"Shortly after the quake struck, traders in the New York Stock Exchange also felt the quake and shouted to each other, 'Keep trading!' CNN's business correspondent Alison Kosik reported from the floor at 2:20 p.m. E.T."
Heaven forbid anyone or anything should interrupt capitalism's long march toward the future.
Actually, truth be told, nearly everyone around me felt some jolt, rumble, bump, or something due to yesterday's 5.9-er in Central Virginia. Once again, I was too busy trying to be entertaining to notice.
So no earthquake for me. But how dare nature try to steal my moment!
Because no one we know seems to have been hurt--although more than a few were startled by the fact that nature does indeed happen in the elitist section of the country--I put together this little tacky homage to shakin', rattlin', and rollin', East Coast Stylee.
Enjoy. And duck and cover as necessary.
Little Boots, "Earthquake"
Jesse McCartney, "Shake"; OK, I'm sorry for this. He looks like Alfalfa from the Lil Rascals trying to get down, doesn't he? (I thought he was blond. And older. But maybe that's Aaron Carter. They all run together after a while.) Plus, lyrically, this is so juvenile and offensive, not to mention implausible. I mean, has he even reached puberty yet in this video? Is he even attracted to women? Pitiful. But, pop slut that I am, I love the sound of it, especially that little "shake-shake-shake-shake-shake" at the bottom of the chorus. I'm so ashamed, but then I didn't write or perform the thing. So, what, me worry?
Kelis, "Milkshake"; god, I hate the mix of this song.
Metro Station, "Shake It"; equally shameful in its own way--you just don't see it because the band's so emo-looking.
The Cars, "Shake It Up"
Peaches & Herb, "Shake Your Groove Thing"
KC & the Sunshine Band, "Shake Your Booty"
Carole King, "I Feel the Earth Move"; can't take credit for this one--my friend The Music Lover came up with this one.
Bill Haley & The Comets, "Shake, Rattle, and Roll"
That's all I got! Sorry, not doing Lil Wayne's "Earthquake" or Tori Amos's "Little Earthquakes." Things weren't that bad.
* * *
Favorite quote from the earthquake news coverage (from CNN):
"Shortly after the quake struck, traders in the New York Stock Exchange also felt the quake and shouted to each other, 'Keep trading!' CNN's business correspondent Alison Kosik reported from the floor at 2:20 p.m. E.T."
Heaven forbid anyone or anything should interrupt capitalism's long march toward the future.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Sparks
Scenes from Santa Fe, July 2011: Where I found the mental space to write again.If you're looking for a more spiritual take on writing and thinking, I hate to disappoint you . . . but even I need nature, beauty, the outdoors, and the wider world to write about pop culture, funny shit, and politics.
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