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25
Apr

My most Unusual Music Hobby Part 4

As promised here is the final step to my most unusual music hobby.    For over 30 years I have kept a hand written journal next to my stereo where I write down everything I listen to each day.   That’s right Everything!!   But it has to be something in my personal collection.   In order to explain it better I have some photos of my journals.  I use small 5 subject notebooks (9.5 x 6) one lasts me for years.  Here is how I write the listing.  Also keep in mind this all gets typed into a database.  The fields I use are Day, Date, Position, Artist, Title, Info

 

Journals and binders

Page from Journal

Music stuff

If you look close enough you will see I also include the format it was on CD, LP, if listened to in the car, used headphones etc. All this extra information is what makes my hobby so unique.  I can tell you exactly what I listened to, when I listened to it and how many times.   Don’t you agree this qualifies for a Ripley’s Believe it or Not spot?  If you think so please tell Ripley’s.   I am telling all music fans about my hobby.  Music is so important and should not be taken for granted because one day (could be sooner then we think) there will be a shortage of new music since so many listeners don’t support the artists anymore.  I may be from the old school but I like to hold the physical copy in my hand.  I don’t want my music only available to me on a cloud in cyberspace.  It’s ok as a convenience but I still want the real thing.  And my hobby is best done by listening to the entire album or by sides.  Let’s remember Ozzy’s words “Rock and roll is my religion and law”  I truly follow that by giving each album in my collection its fair share of plays and wouldn’t dream of buying only the single.

Me with some of my music collection

Category: Activies, Hobbies, Ripley's, Silly Fun, strange  Leave a Comment
13
Mar

My Most Unusal Music Hobby Part 3

Hi readers
Sorry for the long gap in segments but I’ve been busy with health & family problems. Hopefully things are on the mend and I can get back to posting.
Here is the third step in my most unusual music hobby. I have two more databases one titled Artist where the fields are: name/singer/guitar1/guitar2/drummer/base player etc. you can put whatever you want here I also include how many LP’s I have and former members.
The next one is a Video database which is out dated or old school. I used to record tons of music videos from MTV. This is a very basic database with a few fields : Artist / Title / type of music
Music videos bring back so many warm happy memories of my early working days. I lived at home and had the ideal job that was within walking distance. I’d come home at lunchtime for a quick bite, race to my room and anxiously wait to catch a Journey video which was common at that time. It made going back to work so much better after seeing Steve Perry. I bought my first VCR purposely to record music videos. I’m very impatient and didn’t like waiting for a video to be shown so I started recording all the time. It didn’t take long for a pile of tapes to stack up. Each tape only had a handful of videos I wanted to save. So I eventually went and bought a second machine to copy the videos onto their one tapes by type of music. It’s a shame that artists today don’t make videos much anymore.
I’ve gone off track here just remember these steps are up to whoever is doing this hobby with their own fields/information.
Hope you found this interesting— the next one WILL blow you away……..!!!!!
Keep on rocking, Monica

Category: Activies, Anythng music, Hobbies  Leave a Comment
01
Feb

Most Unusual Music Hobby Part 2

Here’s Step TWO

After you purchased the CD and entered all the info in the LP Database you are now ready to Create a Songs database.   This one is very easy to label I use only four columns (fields) titled  Artist/ LP name/ Song position/  Song title  Example of how it would look:

Osbourne Ozzy   2010-Scream     1.4   Life won’t die

Osbourne Ozzy   2010-Scream     2.1   Crucify

You probably are wondering what in the world the reason for the position column? I assign a number to each song as if the CD were divided in sides like it was when music came on vinyl or cassettes. So Life won’t die is the fourth song on side one and Crucify is the first song on side two. This information is needed later on as you will see if you continue to follow me.

Keep on rocking and following my hobby

Monica

Category: Activies, Anythng music, Hobbies  Leave a Comment
16
Dec

Merry Christmas!!!!!!

Families

Togetherness

 

 

What Can I say about Christmas that hasn’t been said before?

It’s a holiday where we should give thanks for the wonderful people in our lives and not about the gifts.   Over the years the true meaning of Christmas has faded farther into the back round, just take a look at the stores and how fast they go from Halloween directly to Christmas with Thanksgiving practically passed by.    Just imagine for a few moments WHAT would happen if we  ALL decided that on Christmas we were going to only BUY each person on our list ONE gift. Wouldn’t that make that one gift mean more? And it wouldn’t have to be something expensive just personal.   Other gifts we could give are things we can make, bake or  spending time with our loved ones.  These kinds of gifts that can’t be bought are the ones most valuable.   Let’s remember the TRUE/REAL meaning of this holiday and we all will be happier in the end.

Have a wonderful Merry Christmas!!!!  Monica

Peaceful no stress tree

Category: Activies, Childhood, Food, Holidays  Leave a Comment
27
Nov

Happy Thanksgiving

Just want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.   Here are some fun facts that I came across about Thanksgiving.

The first Thanksgiving dinner in 1621 with the English settlers and the Wampanoag Indians bears little resemblance to our current celebration. Did they feast on turkey? Yes, along with other plentiful fowl and waterfowl. But after that, things get a bit fuzzy. Cranberries weren’t used as a sauce alongside meat for another 50 years.  And there was no pumpkin pie at that time either.   I can’t imagine not having pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving.

Sarah Hale, a 19th  century women’s advocate lobbied ceaselessly for a national day of thanks, publishing many editorials urging several presidents to nationalize Thanksgiving. Finally in 1863 President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday to be held on the last Thursday every November.

More common staples of this holiday are Parades and contrary to popular belief it was not Macy’s in New York City but Gimbels department store of Philadelphia, PA that produced the first-ever Thanksgiving Day parade. The massive balloons are the biggest attraction needing thousands of volunteers to control.

Football has also become attached to this holiday where two Ivy League teams battled for the championship in the sports infancy back in 1876 and had become tradition ever since. But nothing out ranks the Detroit Lions Turkey day games, which began in 1934.

So will you be watching the games or parades or stuck in the kitchen cooking?  However you spend your day this Thanksgiving just remember to give thanks for that is the “true” reason this holiday was created.

To everyone A very Happy Thanksgiving,  Monica

very tempting

Category: Activies, America, Holidays, seasons  Leave a Comment
18
Oct

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

I recently posted on some heavy issues now it’s time for some fun.  I want to wish everyone a very Happy Halloween!!!

Halloween and TV do mix; this is one time of year we get a lot of great shows to watch that have a spooky theme. One favorite Friday night show returns on Oct 25th GRIMM.

Grimm Great show

If you haven’t watched it you should   and a new show follows it called Dracula which looks good.  But don’t forget all the other classics Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, Walking Dead, Sleepy Hallow (new) and Witches (new). Not to mention all the movies that are shown this time of year makes for some enjoyable TV watching.   Who can ever get tired of the great horror movies like Freddie? Or Final Destination or anything done by Steven King or Wes Craven?   How about some humor mixed in with “Warm Bodies” cute one.  But whatever your taste this is a GREAT month for TV and the Movies. The remake of the classic “Carrie” should be good. So keep on watching and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!     Monica

cute Halloween cat

Category: Activies, Holidays, Silly Fun, TV  Leave a Comment
01
Sep

Meeting POP EVIL

Can you believe Pop Evil knows about my book?

As fate would have it, while on vacation in WI, I was presented with a rare opportunity to attend a POP EVIL show. I hurried to get my ticket the night before to guarantee I’d get in and boy was I surprised the next night. I not only got to see POP EVIL but I was among the first few fans to get a meet and greet with the band.  The guys were wonderful as they greeted the row of fans that were awaiting them. They each signed our CD’s, posters, shook hands, gave hugs and made an effort to say something to each fan but the most memorable part for me was having my picture taken with the band. This was something we’d all have as a special memory forever.

And even more so for me since I was also able to hand them my information about a book I wrote that has a music theme. They were very supportive and showed interest. It meant the world to me that finally musicians would know about it. After all that is who I dedicated the book to.  I hope that POP EVIL finds the time in their busy schedule to read it. But as you can see when I saw the picture up close I realized that  Matt was holding my card. That small gesture made this experience even more exciting and personal for me.

POP EVIL put on a great, high energy show that evening giving the fans a mix of new and older material. And the smaller venue made the show more intimate. The band was super cool and told the fans to stick around after the show cause they were going to hang out.  They really are a nice group of young men and IF they are in your area by all means go check them out.  You won’t be disappointed.     
Keep on rockin, Monica
check me out on youtube

Category: Activies, Anythng music, books, Humanizing the Jaguar, Pop Evil  Leave a Comment
20
Aug

Free TV

Do you ever wonder HOW TV evolved into

Remember when

this monster that we have to pay so much for every month? I remember cable TV coming into our area back in the very early 80’s. At the time my parents were not keen about having a hole drilled into the house or the part of paying an extra monthly bill. So they told me IF I wanted to have the cable TV I’d have to pay for it. I was more than willing since I was working and MTV was on the list of channels which was a priority for me. I was so thrilled and excited, we got 2 outlets one in the living room and the other my bedroom. I remember coming home for lunch and rushing upstairs with only a can of slimfast, and turn on MTV most times I could count on seeing a Journey video before heading back to work. I was in my late teens and this was a whole new way to watch TV less ads, a clearer picture and many more choices, many nights I stayed up wee hours in the morning. Keep on Watching, Monica
PS more to follow

Category: Activies, Anythng music, MTV, TV  Leave a Comment
13
Jun

Plant mystery? Do you know what this is?

Can anyone tell me what this plant is called?

This is such a  lovely plant. I’d really like to know what this is. My neighbor told me this plant only bloom once every three years which could be the reason I haven’t noticed them until this season. It’s a shame these flowers* don’t last-longer casue as you can see they are so eye-catching. I noticed they were only in bloom abnout 10 to 12 days and now only the green leaves* are left.

Please share what you think they could be so I can look it up and learn more about this plant.    

Purple plant mystery

Thanks so much and keep rockin, Monica

Category: Activies, seasons  Leave a Comment
16
May

Spring is beautiful

Beautiful Spring sight

So has Spring really sprung??  With the crazy weather we’ve been having throughout the country is it safe to say that?    Here in the Bristol VA/TN area it went below freezing back on May 22, 2002 so guess we’re not out of the woods just yet.   I love the spring it’s a time of renewal and to watch all the flowers and trees bloom and hear the cheerful sounds of the birds singing.  Do you like Spring?  If so please leave your thoughts tell us when it finally gets warm in your area …….  here’s some more pictures to enjoy  keep on rocking,  Monica

Nature at its best

dogs love spring too

Category: Activies, seasons, Uncategorized  Tags:  Leave a Comment
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