Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The Music in Your Head

We have all had it happen. A song gets stuck in your head, playing over and over again, making you feel a little crazy. Advertisers loves it when this happens with a jingle that sells a product, hoping that it will cause you to purchase something that seems familiar to you.

One day at home, my husband was singing his famous little jingle, "I'm an incredibly handsome guy..." and when I compared that to the song that plays itself in my head, which I will decline to quote because it is too depressing, it made me wonder about the source of these stupid little tunes in our heads. Why does my husband sing about how wonderful he is, but my song is the complete opposite?
Oh, I have all of the teachings from different points of view, spiritual or psychological, but no matter how many birthdays I have, I can't seem to make the ugly song go away.

What is the music that is being written for my children? Am I giving them beautiful music that will encourage them to do their best, and stretch their efforts to exceed what they think they can do? Or am I writing music that will torment them for their entire lives?

It has become a cliche to say that parenting is the toughest job in the world, and I will not argue that one. And I think that as human beings, we like to tell ourselves that our life is tough. But let's try to create music that won't be a dirge.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Is there such a thing as a reverse fan?

We attended a special event to watch the two playoff games on Sunday, just for the fun of it.

My emotions are not tied into football teams, although the Jacksonville Jaguars have a special place for a number of reasons. This was the sort of year when the best they could do was do get a good draft pick in the spring.

Back to the event today. The playoffs were of four teams, three of which just happen to have lots of fans in this area. The first game was played, in quite the dramatic fashion, with the score going back and forth. The table we were at had very vocal Eagles fans, and we joined in with them. It was heartbreaking when Arizona finished up as the winners.

On to the second game. Pittsburgh against Baltimore. Once again, still feeling as if we didn't have a dog in this hunt, but we have closer ties to Baltimore than to Pittsburgh, despite playing at Heintz Field, which should be a good reason, because this family bleeds Heintz Ketchup.

The teams we sympathized with both lost today.

I am thinking of selling my football sympathies to someone by rooting for their opponents.
Can a team have a 'reverse fan?'
Maybe this is a new type of 12th man.

A bad luck fan who will root for your opponent.

See me before the Superbowl.