I Cracked A Century

Today marks a special day around this Dude’s house.  What you are reading is my 100^th blog post. When I started doing this I never thought I’d hit 10 posts, let alone 100. In fact, I wrote 10 my very first month and thought that I’d exhausted my creativity. But somehow I’ve cranked out another 90 posts and if you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’ve read at least one of them. If not, I suggest you go back to the beginning and read each one in order. It will be almost as exhilarating as watching an old lady write a check for a gallon of milk at the supermarket, I can promise you that.

Thanks for your support, Wilt!

As you undoubtedly know from My Favorite Season: TV, I am a sitcom buff. If such a thing exists.  And if you watch sitcoms, you know they always hype the 100^th episode, because that helps them reach syndication and ensures that the producers’ grandkids’ college is paid for. The episode is rarely as exciting as the buildup, yet I’m utilizing the same teaser strategy for this post.

So while thinking of a topic for this post, I remembered that I’ve been honored by not 1, not 2, but 3 bloggers with awards lately. Since very few bloggers get paid, many give each other awards as recognition for amazing writing or to avoid chain letter curses.

I recently received awards from 2 ladies, who rock my world every week with their humor, thoughtfulness and, most importantly, passion for snark.

The awesome Zannah from Write, Rinse, Repeat gave me the Kreative Blogger Award. (And yes, it’s ironically misspelled like that.)  Zannah is a sweet Southerner who is very inspiring to me as a writer. Partially because she is like a younger, female Larry David who says the things everyone wants to say, but few ever do.  And she’s very tan.  

The amazing Sarcasm Goddess from For the Love of Writing presented me with the Very Inspirational Blogger Award. SG is a mystery wrapped in an enigma, coated in a layer of thick-cut bacon. She is a thought provoking writer about some serious stuff and also about how she hates playing kickball. She also loves bacon. A lot. Like most people like oxygen. I believe it is her edible muse.  

So those two ladies, and someone else that I can’t remember or find the link to, gave me awards recently. I guess they think I’m a good writer or something. These things usually come with stipulations.  They usually ask you to fill out some questions, list 10 random things about yourself and then select some other bloggers to receive the award to keep the chain letter ghosts from getting you.  So I’ll do just that.

The questions, directly from Write, Rinse Repeat are:

1)      What is your favorite song: Lately, The Weight by The Band. Though that could change in 5 minutes. It tells a great story in an eloquent way. And has a great chorus, too.

2)      What’s your favorite desert? Probably Mojave. But if the question is intended to ask about my favorite dessert, as most people answer it, I’d go with Banana Cream Pie.

3)      What do you do when you are upset? Depends on the cause. Usually, I honk my horn at the person who cut me off.

4)      Which is your favorite pet? Sort of a trick question, as I’ve only really ever had one.

5)      Which do you prefer, White or Whole Wheat? Whole Wheat is healthier, so I tend to lean in that direction. Not that I generally eat healthy otherwise.

6)      What is your your biggest fear?  That I’ll write a word twice in something tons of people will read, notice and laugh at me.

7)      What is your attitude mostly? Sarcastic. Duh.

Here’s the point where I’m supposed to list 10 random things about myself. Wouldn’t you know it that I just did that for a post not too long ago? Check ‘em out here!

11 Bloggers who I think deserve awards:

Zannah listed 7 bloggers and Sarcasm Goddess listed 15, so I’m going right in the middle with 11. They are amazing writers and good friends. Even though I’ve never met them in real life. Their writing inspires me to become a better writer. They make me laugh and I think one almost brought me to tears. Once. Check ‘em out:

Louise at Raising Ivy

Delilah at Confessions of a Semi-Domesticated Mama

Kim at Mama Mzungu

Oren at A Blogger and a Father

Adrienne at The Mommy Mess

Kimberly at Sperk*

Jen at Kvetch Mom

Joe at Living in Kellie’s World

Tracy at Scribblesaurus Me

Wendy at LMAO with Wendy (Liebman)

Michelle at The Journey

To the winners, here’s what you need to do now:

1)      Thank and Link back to the blog you awarded you (i.e. me)

2)      Answer the 7 questions above

3)      List 10 random facts about yourself

4)      Pick 11 bloggers to pass one of the 2 awards listed above to

5)      Buy me a new car (optional)

I could have listed 50 more, but here’s a sampling for you of some of my favorites. I hope you’ll check them out and tell them I said hello. They might even buy you a drink.

Thanks for checking out my first 100. Here’s to the next hundred (gasp)!

Rockin' Friday: Masterpiece

This week’s Rockin’ Friday tune of the week is a tribute to arguably the greatest lyricist of all time. Yesterday was Bob Dylan’s 71^st birthday, so I picked When I Paint My Masterpiece as this week’s song.

Dylan’s masterpiece was written in, coincidentally, 1971 and received its’ initial release with accurate premonition on Dylan’s “Greatest Hits Volume II” album.  The song is Dylan’s retelling of his travel through Europe and the unusual things he experienced on a quest for creative nirvana.  That being said, he also shares a bit of homesickness as well:  

Sailin’ round the world in a dirty gondola

Oh, to be back in the land of Coca-Cola!

Masterpiece has a catchy chorus that the Little Dude likes singing along to. But it also has a strong message about seeking our place in the world.  That chorus can apply to many things in life, and is something I often think about, as it can apply to many situations:

Someday, everything is gonna be diff’rent

When I paint my masterpiece.

Masterpiece has also been recorded to great acclaim by The Band, Dylan’s backup crew, and was part of the regular repertoire of the Grateful Dead for many years as well.  Chris Whitley recorded a bluesy version for his final album. 

Grateful Dead 7/26/87

What's your favorite Dylan song?

Rockin’ Friday: The Weight

This week’s Rockin’ Friday is bittersweet. The Weight is one of my all time favorite songs, but this week it has extra meaning. Robbie Robertson wrote it in 1968 and it was a highlight of The Band's debut album "Music From Big Pink". Since then it has been covered countless times by artists as diverse as Aretha Franklin to the Grateful Dead, and appeared in myriad movies and TV shows.

The Weight is the tale of a man traveling around Nazareth, PA and the interesting characters he encounters in his travels like Crazy Chester, Luke and even the Devil.  The song is written in a very folky style with great harmonizing on the choruses. Makes a perfect sing-along for me and my Little Dude.

This song is especially timely with yesterday’s passing of The Band’s legendary drummer Levon Helm.  Levon sang lead on this song and one of my favorite lines that he sang is even timelier now:

I gotta go, but my friends can stick around 

I was fortunate to see Levon in concert a year and a half ago and it was a stellar performance, especially considering that he’d battled cancer and other ailments for many years.

Levon and his giant grin will be missed. 

Check out The Weight from The Band’s farewell concert “The Last Waltz”:

What does The Weight mean to you?