hunters and typos

Aauugh! I just realized that I had an awful typo in the subject line of my last post. I had 'humters' instead of 'hunters.' I've become so reliant on the red dotted line that appears below my misspellings, that I miss it because it doesn't work in subject lines. 

I corrected it - but it must have stuck out like a sore thumb when it was there. Just terrible... 

hunters and collectors

Wait a minute... did I really write about a song by Adele in my last post? No worries, I've written about my enjoyment of music by the Carpenters, John Denver, certainly ABBA, etc. in the past. 

Still, today, I just may be upping my cool quotient a little bit. Or not. Depends on what you like and think is cool. Anyway, here are a couple of links to videos on YouTube that I recently discovered. To the very same song. 

The first is performed by Neil Finn, of Crowded House and Split Enz fame. If you are a fan of Crowded House, you may know that the bass player's name is Nick Seymour. Well, he has a brother, Mark, who fronted an Australian band called Hunters and Collectors. Mark wrote a song that is quite fantastic: 

Throw Your Arms Around Me (M. Seymour) - performed by Neil Finn 

And here is another version:

Throw Your Arms Around Me - performed by Eddie Vedder and Mark Seymour 

someone like you

There appear to be two schools of thought when it comes to the way the hit song 'Someone Like You' is sung by Adele: there is the recorded version where she sings the lines "don't forget me, I beg" while reaching for high notes, which is how some people prefer it, and then there are the live versions I have found on YouTube where she sings those same lines with lower notes; I am firmly in the former camp. 

I was so used to hearing the recorded version that I assumed she would always sing it that way live, but no matter how much I've searched online, she just doesn't hit those high notes live that I expect to hear. At first I attributed it to the health challenges she'd had with her vocal chords, but then I also learned that her vocal chords were fine, and that she could hit all her high notes again. So I kept looking for more recent live performances of the song, and nope, she wouldn't go that high anymore. And for me, her hitting them was the finishing touch to that song. 

Some so-called experts in her singing voice have even criticized her (I remember once reading how some people don't think Barbra Streisand sings correctly either... ??), but there's such a vulnerability in that part of the song that makes it for me. Oh well, I'll always have the recorded version to listen to. 

a 17-foot 7-inch long Burmese python found in Florida

I found this article online today, and I wrote about this threat to the environment 2 1/2 years ago in a blog post. More recently I've seen that African rock pythons are fast becoming an equal threat too.

Those thriller/horror movies about monster animal invasions seem pretty real now, don't they? 

Lakers do it again

When you make a list of the centers that the Los Angeles Lakers have had over the years, it's impressive: Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O'Neal... at least, those are the first that come to my mind. And now they've got Dwight Howard. Is it any wonder they've been so good for so long? 

Most teams decry the lack of good big men that are available, and yet somehow the Lakers manage to get some of the very best to ever play the game. As a Warriors fan, it's not only impressive, it's disgusting. I mean, Wilt the Stilt, the Sky Hook (I don't know what Kareem's nickname was, but I always think first of his sky hook), Shaq, and for the foreseeable future, Superman. Ack. 

And just to take it that little bit further, when you need that little bit more and take it to '11,' you can think back to when the Lakers were from Minneapolis: they had George Mikan too. A bit before my time, but yet another Hall-of-Fame all-time center.

Throw in Jerry West, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, yada, yada, yada... wait a minute, just for my sanity, let's limit this to a discussion of centers. And end this discussion...right...now. 

I'm getting a headache. 

strategy for the shy

I've been reading a book called 'First Impressions - What You Don't Know About How Others See You' by Ann Demarais, Ph.D. and Valerie White, Ph. D. and it occurred to me that one of the primary strategies for having conversations with newly met people would work perfectly for the shy among us... asking questions and letting others talk!

I'm really enjoying this book and I have yet to finish (it is perfect reading while I ride my stationary bicycle... a little riding and reading each day). Now it's not as simple as peppering someone with questions to avoid having to talk about ourselves, but it's nice to get conversations started without having to worry about whether or not we are interesting enough. And by letting them talk, we are actually making a favorable first impression!

It's less pressure to meet someone new, let them talk, listen - after all, aren't shy people good listeners in general? - and after making a good impression by being a good listener, relaxing and then adding a little bit about ourselves, so that the conversation maintains some balance. 

We can worry less about what we're going to say, or having to be witty, or charismatic, whatever we worry about, and let them have the spotlight. And if they're not shy, they'll appreciate it. 

It's nice to know that by listening, we, the shy, can still communicate in new situations, and actually make good impressions on new people!