So Many New Gadgets Out There

Being from the "Baby Boomer" era, electronics seem quite difficult for me.  It really takes dedication to persevere.

For Christmas, the gift I gave myself was a new Kindle Fire HDX.  Every day when I get home, I try to tackle a new thing.  It is funny too, because every day, something new is added, not by me, but by a plan of action that was probably built into the design of the Kindle.

The other day I came across the "live" person that could assist me feature.  That was fun.  Up to that point, I kept calling Amazon in the middle of the night.

I started out getting slot machine games.  Then I progressed to Mah Jong games.  After a couple of weeks with that, I moved on to loading music onto my Kindle.  Although it was difficult and I had to get help more than once, actually the hardest part was trying to remember the names of the songs that I wanted to add.  Did you know that one of the first things to go for seniors is the short term memory? Funny how we can remember things from 50 years ago, but we can't remember what happened 10 minutes ago.

Every morning on my way to work, I'm singing along with the tunes from my favorite "oldies" radio station, KJUL 104.7.  Finding the songs in the Amazon store was easy.  It's remembering what I wanted to remember that was hard.  I would make a mental note about the song title and 5 minutes later the thought is gone.  It is impossible to write the name of a song down as I'm tooling down the freeway at 65 miles per hour, not to mention the police traps all along this freeway.  This morning I counted 6 policemen in both motor cycles and squad cars, that had pulled people over for speeding.  Some even pull 2 cars at once.  Anyway getting off topic here.....another senior dementia moment! (Hee Hee).

Getting back to my new Kindle....I've loaded 68 songs on it so far.  It is fun singing along to songs like.....Tan Shoes and Pink Shoelaces by Dodie Stevens or Top of the World by the Carpenters, along with songs by artists ranging from Patsy Cline, Johnny Mathis, Elvis, Josh Groban, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, Brenda Lee, Frank Sinatra, Skeeter Davis, Dionne Warwick.....Peter, Paul and Mary just to name a few.  Every day the list gets longer. 

Then I got an audible book.  Imagine having Colin Firth's sexy English accented voice reading me a bedtime story called:   The End of the Affair.  He was the "hottie" from Bridget Jones' Diary.

Can you tell I'm having fun with this?

Here are some sample music faves....Enjoy ok?



 



It was such a shock to hear that after all these years The Captain and Tennille are getting a divorce.

 

 

Just a few of my favs.....hope you enjoyed them!

 

 

Oh....BTW, some of the music that is now loaded on my Kindle even have lyrics!!!   I feel like I'm in my own private Karaoke room.  Feel sorry for my neighbors having to listen to me sing at the top of my lungs though!

 

 

Video downloads from YouTube include:

Minnie Riperton singing Lovin' You (1975)

Bobbie Gentry  singing Ode to Billie Joe (1967)

Captain and Tennille singing The Way I Want to Touch You (1972)

From the Cast of  the Motion Picture Rent - Seasons of Love (2005)

 





My Dance Card is Filling Up Again

What is great about living in Las Vegas is that whenever friends from Hawaii come to town, they always look me up so that we can reconnect.

The fun will start this week.  Super Bowl weekend is when the high rollers come to town.  We have a mini reunion in between games.  Not being a gambler, I look forward to meeting up with friends and going to a very nice restaurant to catch up with each other about our lives.  This week, I've already been warned that someone that I haven't seen in about 20 years is coming to town and I need to be "ready."

When the Super Bowl crowd goes back to Hawaii, the "cousins" will be in town again so here we go with doing funky things.  We've already talked on the phone and jotted down all the times and whereabouts and we will meet up the very next week after my Super Bowl buddies go back home.  With the cousins, we're maybe planning to go to a stage performance.  Haven't figured which one yet.

The week after the cousins go back to Hawaii, it's then my world travelling Reiki friend who will be in town and I am looking at fun on a totally different level.  It's about connecting with people on a different plain.  The intuitive level is a lot of fun.  To connect with strangers who don't seem like strangers.  Most times it is not about getting their name and contact numbers.  We can have a very deep understanding and feel love at that level and not have to know their vitals.  Wow....I'm always amazed how the "genie" inside me can sense the nature of people that I meet at these soirees.  It's like exorcising/exercising that part of the brain and it feels so great!

Nurturing the soul and connecting with others on an intuitive level energizes you for quite a while.  It's like being put back on track after a train wreck caused by everyday life. everyday thinking and everyday worrying. 

Following that, the following week we will have a meeting with writers in Las Vegas.  This meeting is to brainstorm on a collaborative effort to publish a book.  I am really excited about this.  It is my goal to get my writing published.  It is scary and exciting at the same time.

How great is that!!! 

It certainly is great to be ALIVE! 

Oh Happy Day

Korean Dramas

Watching Korean dramas, a few "aha" conclusions came to life.

The first "aha" conclusion:  Korean mother-in-laws are really scary.  I can personally attest to this fact.....may she rest in peace.  Somehow it is quite assuring to come to the realization that it was part of the culture that sons were kings and daughters were the consolation prize.  The lowest was the daughter-in-law, on the scale of importance.  Now I can truly say that it wasn't me, but rather the culture that shaped my ex-mother-in-law. God bless her!

The next "aha" conclusion is that Korean jewelry is really wonderful.  The gaudier the better.  Many was a time that I said to my own mother...."oh mom....are you really going to wear that?"  Now I am at the age when I find it fun to wear funky jewelry.  The jewelry in Korean dramas are really awesome.  It makes me wish that I had the talent to create such fun pieces.  However, I found a store that had something close to it, so for Christmas I sent my daughter and granddaughter some fun pieces.  Check out the headbands and jewelry.  While the model is gorgeous....focus on the headbands and the necklace and bracelet.

 



 

 

 

 

 

Needless to say.....it was fun to shop for these things and what is even better is to see my granddaughter trying them out.  Such a "girly girl princess!"

 

 

Korean fashion is also wonderful. 

 

 

 

 

The above picture came from the movie Jang Ok Jung, Live in Love.  This movie showed some really great traditional fashions.,

 

 

Then there are the food movies.....Kimchi Family showcased many different kinds of Kimchi

 

 

 

 

while Feast of the Gods focused on many different kinds of foods prepared according to Korean tradition...

 

 

 



 

 

What a cultural (my culture) learning experience I am having. My grandmother must be smiling down on me right now, because I remember her playing the Janggu (Korean drum) and singing the Korean folk song Arirang.  She sang what I consider to be the north and south versions and loved to dance as well.

 

 



 

 



 

 

 

The second version called Jindo Arirang is my favorite, while the first version above is the well known classic.  My grandmother sang both versions.

 

Hope you enjoyed the experience.

 

 



Audrey in Wonderland....more commonly known as "Alice in Wonderland"



Ever feel like you have fallen down a rabbit hole into a world of literary nonsense?  Well, it seems perfectly clear now, the meaning of being counter-intuitive.

Let me give you some examples, that I have noticed....now that I'm getting older:

The aches and pains we now experience in our old age is not due to over-doing exercise.  In fact it is due to the lack of it.  Instead of thinking that a bit of rest would save the day....no it is a call to do more exercise instead.

If we want more love.....we have to give more love.  Don't hoard it.

There used to be a saying when we were younger.  "Fake it till you make it!"  In other words.....be the success if you want to become a success. 

The more we give the more we receive.

So many countless others.

With the New Year fast approaching, the time for making resolutions is upon us.  What do we resolve to do in the new year?

For most.....there is more focus on what they want versus what they already have.  As the song goes...."Accentuate the positive....eliminate the negative."

We plan for the future, and remember the past while all the time we are missing the present.  The present (aka...the gift).



This is the year for me to stop and smell the roses. 


To appreciate everything that comes into my life....good, bad, ugly, beautiful.  It is all wonderful because there's the lesson to be learned from the bumpy roads of life.  Lessons that take us to a better place.....the caveat is that we can't limit ourselves to being stuck and wallowing in self pity.

"Be brave young lovers and follow your heart."  2014.....let's get it on!

Repost of My Favorite Christmas Carols

Do you have some favorite Christmas carols?  I know I do....it's a great time of year.  There are classic ones, hilarious ones, cute ones.....

There are 3 all time favorites that I like......Ave Maria, O Holy Night and Mary Did You Know.....

I hope that I can find them on YouTube....

 

 

Andy Williams does a great rendition of Ave Maria by Schubert.  His vocal style is so sweet and soft....not strained....and very melodious.  I have heard several different versions of this song, but this is my favorite.  Ave Maria means Hail Mary in Latin.  Don't you just love the wonderful works of art of the Blessed Virgin Mary!

 

O Holy Night....when I hear this song I remember my elementary school days when we practiced singing Christmas carols for our parents.  This was one that we did and there was a student in my class that had a beautiful voice that sang the lead and we all provided back up.  I don't remember the name of my classmate, but it was the first time that I had heard this song..and it was sung so beautifully!

 

 

I know that there is another singer that has a better rendition, I want to say Harry Connick, Jr.....but I could be wrong and alas....YouTube had limited selections.  Josh Groban does a great job singing this song because his voice is just so wonderful....he could sing Baa Baa Black Sheep and make me swoon!

Here is what I believe should be a classic....Clay Aiken sings this song which became a huge hit for him.  The words are so captivating and simple, yet speaks volumes!  Mary Did You Know.....

Now here are some wacky hilarious ones that just stick in your mind....again....I hope that YouTube has captured them....

Yep....Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer is fun to sing...especially if you add the twang in this hillbilly ditty.

Oh...the Hawaiians are not to be outdone....YouTube don't fail me now. 

Frank DeLima is a local comedian.  If you get the chance to see him live....don't miss the opportunity.  He is too funny!  He makes fun out of all the nationalities.  What you just saw is his take on the Filipinos.  When Shirley and I saw him in Hawaii at the Noodle Shop many many years ago, he singled us out because he told us our eyes were so slanted we could see through closed venetian blinds.  We laughed so hard we almost "peed our pants!"   I especially loved his rendition of Tina Turner's Proud Mary.  I couldn't find that one....but I did find another one that you will like Adullah Fataai, a Samoan football player.

Oops....I'm digressing.....back to the work at hand!  Cute Christmas carols.....well there's Alvin and the Chipmunks singing Christmas Time is Here. 

I also liked the Hawaiian pidgin version of the Twelve Days of Christmas.  It is called Numbah One Day of Christmas.....it was written by Ed Kenney, Eaton "Bob" Magoo, Jr., and Gordon Phelps.  Sadly, I couldn't find a good version of this on YouTube, but I can remember the words to the Hawaiian version and not the English version.

Well...I hope that you enjoyed my selections of Christmas carols.  To all of you out there....have a great holiday.  As we Hawaiians say.....Mele Kalikimaka and Hauoli Makahiki Hou....if I haven't screwed it up...it means Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Oops....back up....rewind....there is yet another Christmas carol that I love....it is a duet featuring Bing Crosby and David Bowie.......singing a combination of Little Drummer Boy and Peace on Earth.

Merry Christmas to all....and to all a good night!

Antique Shopping

During my recent trip to Santa Cruz, California over the Thanksgiving weekend, my grandson Chris and I went to a few antique shops.

Let me first say this and get it out of the way.....You really get a sense of how old you've gotten when you find a lot of things that you remember seeing in your home when you were growing up, that are now being labeled as "antiques."

Our first stop was at Edward and Sons Antiques on Soquel Drive.  We got quite a bit of a history lesson from the proprietor.  Now this shop is definitely NOT a "trash to treasure" establishment like so many others are.  I recognized 2 religious icons there, similar to what I've studied in Art History. 

In my Art History class, I was intrigued by the following icon:

 

 

 

This icon is called Christ Pantocrator.  It is an encaustic painting, or hot wax painting using beeswax with colored pigments then applied on wood.  This particular piece can be found in St. Catherine's Monastery in Mount Sinai.  It was one of the first images of Christ and is one of the most widely used images of Orthodox Christianity. 

 

You will note that the image represents Christ's two natures.  The left side represents Jesus, the man fully human, with his right hand raised in blessing.  The right side of this icon represents God.  He is holding a bible with the cross on it which usually signified the Gospels.  The Gospels told of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, ergo, the right side of the icon is God, the spiritual being.

 

Anyway, getting back to this antique shop, we also saw some early wedge wood pottery, some unusual pieces of jade and many other wonderful items. 

 

Our next stop was a more typical antique store filled with trash to treasure items.  Chris got to try out the dial phone, he saw some dishes that we used as dinner plates.....oh and the most prized item was a similar fur piece my mother insisted I wear to my junior prom in high school.  While other girls were wearing shawls, my mother had me in a white fur piece and also had my dress special made of pink satin and white lace.  Quite frankly I was embarrassed to be so "over dressed" and felt dowdy looking to boot.

 

Don't even get me started on the senior prom gown......

 

 

 



Landfill Harmonic

The message is clear.....Recycle and most importantly......Don't Throw Away People.

When that boy said that in this video....it made me stop to think.  What other treasures are we overlooking in this world?

Let's take the time to ponder on that and see how each of us can turn trash to treasure.