This is what it's all about

The night has once again gotten to be very long and I reach for something to settle my spirit and my wandering thoughts that seem to be very loud in the quietness of this night. Everyone (even the cats), are long asleep.....except me. I've finally decided on a color for the large open concept living space on the main floor of our large townhouse. It's the most refined, soft (but not feminine) with a certain loving brightness and warmth to it all at the same time, elegant, welcoming shade of delicate peach. Now I really really have to try to go to sleep!

There's a song which has always brought me both comfort and strength in every situation you can imagine and I wanted to share it. Amazing that the performance I found of "My Life is In Your Hands" by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir was part of an outdoor concert their smaller traveling group (but just as big in sound) gave at a state penitentiary in Louisiana...where the average sentence is 88 years. Angola state penitentiary --- a place the name of which strikes fear and hopelessness in the hearts and minds of those who are either about to go there, have family there or have been to a place where this is familiar

I hope as the music washes over you that it will give you whatever it is you need, and the freedom to feel at peace, and then maybe you might say a little prayer for the souls there who still have not yet found *freedom* even in a place where that word brings thoughts of impossibility. Our life is in His hands.....this is really what it's all about. I pray you're able to find rest there.....and me, too.

Newer is not necessarily better...

Ok I'll admit it. I have AOL, and not the freebie one. Before we entered the online world I had carefully researched the various Internet Providers and concluded that for lots of reasons (waaay back then) AOL was going to be "it". Well, it's many years later and yes, we still have AOL. I don't quite dare go to the free version not only because you just know it's not going to be *free* forever, but also because I don't like the way it manages my email or allows ME to manage/create it.

You may think me nuts for hanging onto it, but it's been so user friendly and intuitive, plus as I don't read print newspapers, I get all my main and world news online. I have my AOL set to point me in the direction of my personal interests in addition to the headlines and other intriguing things and I can take it from there. And I can keep up in a conversation with anybody who reads any newspaper and often have tidbits of info that they don't know about.

Yes, I love my Google Chrome browser and my Mozilla Foxfire and frequently will exit AOL to use these to access the internet after I'm done with mail and catching up with news. Love the speed and the ability (with Google Chrome) to save the places/pages I most often go to so I can just click on them and boom.....I'm there.

This computer has Vista for its OS and of course, periodically AOL upgrades its software for "newer, faster, better" and sometimes, it's actually been a good thing. However, when AOL 9.5 came out in beta, man was that some bad stuff. It would continually stop working and run very slowly which made no sense as this is a very fast machine with tons of RAM. Yes, I know AOL runs every little thing through various filters and such which would result in slowing it down, but I no longer even use their anti-virus "security suite" once they discontinued it as part of your subscription. As we have cable access, I have the anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-anything bad stuff through our cable provider which CONSTANTLY updates it. So, when AOL 10 appeared, I uninstalled my clunky 9.5 and thought "NOW we're going to get something good!" and installed AOL 10.

Friends, unless you have microscopic vision and also enjoy torture, DON'T DO IT!!!! Talk about frustration. Yes AOL 10 was fast. But the way the email program worked was just plain crazy! Loony! Two different "saved mail" folders? I tried to adapt and learn, really I did. Soon I thought I'd get the hang of this "tabbed browsing" lunacy, but no. So just a little while ago I went through the exercise of uninstalling AOL 10 and searched for an older version which would run on Vista. Let me tell you, they do not make this easy, especially if you have Vista or Windows 7. Finally I was left with the option of going back to 9.5 which is now thankfully out of beta. I said a little prayer and installed it hoping that it would load pages faster and not be "unresponsive" causing me to have to shut it down and start over.

So far, so good. It was wonderful to see my email the way I used to see it, create and manage it. That in itself was worth the FOREVERNESS it took to download and install. Just why is that, anyway? But after all that, I've got it back.

Just another example of newer is not necessarily better........

The Commodores - Nightshift Live (1985)

This is really getting to be a regular Nightshift!

Another night (ahem....morning but without any sleep between last night and now) and all is quiet around me. Too much racing mind about everything to get done. Would you believe that I have to get ANOTHER book, that is 3 ring binder with protective vinyl sleeves for paint "chips" and all the other stuff that goes along with the Londonderry house end of things (meaning we have to wash all the walls and repaint everything due to our tenant having been a heavy smoker). And hey....I'm not a prude about that smoker issue. But when you get some computer generated correspondence from this person through the mail, read it, and then even your hand smells like you've had a cigarette, now, that's going to be some heavy smoke issue stuff to deal with. If just the paper which rolled out of his printer and came through the mail smelling that strong, can you even imagine what a large townhouse is going to be like? Walls, carpet, window treatments......have to stop thinking about that now.


Then there are the pages with all the things necessary about moving from HERE. Heck, I've got one page color coded with the different marker colors for each room to mark the boxes with so the movers will know where they go! And I'm not especially unusual in this, apparently as I've always moved this way and the moving guy I'm dealing with is very familiar (and happy) with this technique. Each room in our home to where we're moving back will have the same color codes on the doors (taped) so everything will be very clear. Saves bunches of time and frustration on moving day. But now? Endless details.


Oh....and the multiple reminders.....did the tenant leave a zero balance with the utilities so we'll have no issue putting them in our name. I kid you not: there was a season when the gas bill which was NOT in our name remained unpaid and the gas company came after US up here where we're living! I learned from this experience. Leaving nothing to chance about that one. Gas and electric. Already checked with cable and his cable is his wherever he goes, as is ours. We have no concerns about any potential cable balances there. I do think this is about the ONLY thing we have no concerns about. Yikes. No wonder I'm not sleeping. My thought is that when I write something in the notebook and then close it, I don't have to think about it any more. But my mind is endlessly turning over things I may have forgotten. OH! Like, I learned there's a different cellar door which has been installed.....got to locate the local locksmith to change ALL the locks, including that one. See what I mean?


Many of you can relate to this "nightshift" concept, but in totally different ways, though those of you in the insomniac club are very familiar with my particular version. Had to do something to ease my mind beyond everything else, none of which has been working. Yup. Youtube again. For some unknown Blogger reason, the song got posted before the post about the song! Go figure. But at least it's here!


I love this wonderful song by the Commodores....everything about it. The harmonies, the rhythm, the meaning of the words, the people gone too soon from among us but who brought us other wonderful music. I wish I could have found a better recording of this, but this was the best I could find.

So for all of you who are on the "nightshift" along with me, for whatever reasons....including actual work shifts, take a break and settle in. I'm working on getting my groove back and this is the kind of music that does it for me. I hope it refreshes you. Breathe easy, friends. Somehow, it will all work out. Go ahead. Click on it and listen once again.

Such Pure Joy!!!

Have you had so many sleepless nights that your brain feels hot? Well, I know it's not my "brain" because it cannot *feel*. But, if I didn't know any better, it's been just too cooked. Too much to think about. Too much to do. Too many unknowns! AAAAAARGH! For a person like me, this is like sandpaper on raw nerves. Literally nothing under my control. Choices, but can they be accomplished? I've lost my "vision" and my sense of purpose. I knew I needed to just go play.

At times like this, YouTube never fails me. It's been so long that I've posted to this blog, though, that I can't seem to share this song I really like with you and the amazing video with it. Dolphins flying and leaping through the ocean. Whales that you can almost hear laugh. Utter abandon. Not a care in the world. Watching it, hearing a song I've not listened to in a long time, "Cool Change" brought the temperature of my brain down a few degrees. Phooey. Oh not about the slightly cooler brain, but that I'm not sure I can embed the video here. If you haven't seen it, you'll love it. Who can see this without being amazed, relaxed and released from tension at least for a little while. Going to try it again (embed the video). Hallelujah it worked! Oh take a few minutes, and enjoy!!