Full House
We were having a party over Christmas at our place and we had some friends and kids about, about twenty five people in all, and I have to admit it, even I thought it was nice having a full house for a bit.
The children were getting ready to play pass the parcel and my dumb was somewhat founded when my wife called on me to put on some lively music.
“I don’t have anything. All my music is downbeat,” I said to her and anyone. I seem to be doing that a lot these days. It’s not the music is depressing- well, yes, some of it, but it’s generally mellow, soulful and probably too adagio for things.
I may have looked a little self-depricating to the point of downheartedness, because a lady tapped me on the shoulder and said: “I like your music. I have liked everything you played.”
I found some Abba in between Keith Jarrett and Richard Thompson and thanked her wholeheartedly.
Because it means a lot when you share taste with someone. It’s as much about what you like as what you’re like and when that’s validated, it’s a cool thing. It’s even better when not everyone shares your taste. It was nice to hear that voice from the crowd that evening.
It’s like this site. It may not be the most popular blog, and it’s never going to set the world on fire and that’s OK. There are a few people who like it and that’s enough for us all. Voices in the crowd, because it’s a huge crowd. And if you know anyone who is like you, then they might like this too, so send them a link - it all counts and it would mean a lot to me.
So here we are, standing on the doorstep of another year, me wondering if it’s a friendly wave and publish or if perhaps I should say something I could regret.
Thanks for visiting over the past few years, months or sooner if you’re new. I’m pleased as hell to be the custodian of your readership in some small way.
So while the new year may not change things in itself, and though the sadness may never go away, let’s hope that we ourselves may get better, that we can enjoy the laughter in the passing of time and that the years, in our growing wisdom, will be merciful.
Happy new year everyone. Best wishes for 2007.
December 29th, 2006 at 12:12 pm
I am a new reader and appreciate your thought provoking honesty and amusement. Just sayin’ …
)
Happy New Year!
December 29th, 2006 at 1:04 pm
No need to make excuses, Michelle - thanks for saying so.
December 29th, 2006 at 1:30 pm
Happy New Year Cliff.
December 29th, 2006 at 1:34 pm
Oh, and try this one for size:
http://gusopenshaw.blogspot.com/
The book is basically how to make lemonade when life hands you lemons. Or how to get revenge when a whale eats your wife, your kid, and your arm.
December 29th, 2006 at 3:12 pm
Happy new year to you, Cliff (and everyone else). I wish I’d discovered this(isthis) sooner.
W
December 29th, 2006 at 4:03 pm
Ed - that is an very, very clever idea for a book.
Wendy, Wendy, Wendy. Wendy. Wenders. Wendsleydale. Mr Wendel. Jean Claude Wendamme. Steamy Wenders. The Wendy City. If you’d’ve discovered it sooner there wouldn’t be archives to go through. Who could forget such classics as (start scrolling text and cue the music) http://www.thisisthis.org/2006/03/14/everything-change-is-butt-chew/
and http://www.thisisthis.org/2005/02/22/i-do-not-have-a-loyalty-card/
and http://www.thisisthis.org/2005/08/07/what-scares-me-about-eric-clapton/
December 29th, 2006 at 4:54 pm
Best wishes for 2007 to you too, Cliff. I blog for pretty much the same sort of reason as you - not to please everybody, but to let a few interested people know that I’m still here.
December 31st, 2006 at 11:26 am
I like this site a lot. Reading it is like talking to someone who likes the same music as me, which doesn’t happen very often.
31st December-wise, my resolution is to stop doing smiley faces. I always used to think that they were there for people who weren’t very good at expressing themselves through language, but since I started using IM I have found that you have to use them or people genuinely don’t understand that you’re making a joke. Or perhaps that’s just me.
Anyway, happy new year to the This Is This team!
(must… resist… urge… to make… smiley face….)
December 31st, 2006 at 11:53 am
You’re spot on, Katy - people are incapable of understanding humour on the internet without a giant sign next to it saying “ahem, excuse me, this isn’t serious”…
January 1st, 2007 at 11:40 am
Thanks Sam and Katy - cheers for sticking around.
- when I first wrote that it said - “sicking around” - does that say something about the This Is This readers? Time will hell.
Tell. I meant “Time will tell”.
January 1st, 2007 at 7:10 pm
Are we a team? Cool!
Where’s teh waterboy? I’m rather thirsty. What? I AM the waterboy?
Oh.
FIgures.