The Summer of 1979

This is one of my favorite songs.



Cruel To Be Kind, by Nick Lowe.  I've heard it a lot on the radio lately and always have to listen through.  You don't always know why a song means something to you, but sometimes you figure it out.  The other day, it was bright and sunny and I was driving down near the beach, the song comes on and suddenly I remember all the beach trips with my uncle Greg.  He was about 10 years older than me and would take me down to the beach to hang with his friends.  We had a lot of fun back then.

I'm not in touch with him anymore, since we had a falling out when I was 16 or 17.  I've seen him since, but I've given up trying.  We were very close and I didn't want to keep hoping, so I just stopped hoping and stopped trying.

When I looked up the song to see what year it was on the charts, I found lists of top hits of that year.  Here's one.

There are a lot of songs that are big for me, but the weird thing is that it seems impossible that they can all be from the same year.




I think this was a biggie for a lot of people. My whole neighborhood had this album and we all played it to death. My friends next door had big speakers that played out at the pool. I remember running home wet to get my album when Mark's copy wouldn't stop skipping.




Unlike Cheap Trick at Budokon, no one else on the block liked Supertramp, so I listened at home. Three years later, this would be my first concert. My older friend Paul had an extra ticket and couldn't find another Senior who wanted to go with him, so I got to go. I dug out my old copy of Breakfast in America to get ready in the days before. The concert was great. The Band opened up for them, and Paul, who had a beard, took care of buying the beer at Irvine Meadows Amphitheater.




Another one that we all had. Back to not knowing the "why" about a song... When I hear any song from The Game I smell strawberry bubble gum. Why? What happened to me and strawberry gum?




I have no idea why I know this one. Vague feeling that it's from hearing it at my next door neighbor's (not the pool neighbor, but the other side), but who knows... I'd never even heard of the Stranglers until Gal sent me a youtube link to Golden Brown about six months ago.

1979 is also the year I got hooked on my favorite band, Pink Floyd.  Although, it was from hearing The Wall, which is now my least favorite Floyd album.  It's the only one that I never listen to, so I won't be posting any depressing videos today.

I also got introduced to ELO and Deep Purple that year.  BOC was a favorite, too.  I'm almost embarrassed about that one. 

I'll end on The Knack.



It's hard to believe all of these are the same year. 1979 was a good one, I guess.

What's with all the sugar?

I understand the people who don't want artificial sweetener, but what's with the rash of products suddenly advertising that they now use real sugar?



This Pepsi's better because it's made with sugar?  We hear about (and taste) regular Pepsi and Coke products from neighboring countries that are made with sugar and "boy do they taste better" because of the sugar.  Never mind that the formula for sodas for each country are taste-tested and just plain different. 

Snapple has commercials advertising their new versions using sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). I'm sure they're tasty, but those uneducated on nutrition will think this is better for their waistline than the old Snapple... Nope.

I'm no fan of HFCS, but not because of it's nutritional properties (or lack of), but because it's cheap and has become ubiquitos in our packaged foods.  Sweet sells and with HFCS being super cheap, it's used to sell A LOT!

HFCS has gotten a lot of bad press, so I'm hoping it's going to be used less.  Buuuut, I'll bet sugar gets a bump for it's "naturalness" and HFCS stays the course.  No need to sell less sweet stuff, right?

Emotional Eating Sighting

I'm at Starbucks, and there's a woman practically making love to her cheese danish. She's not eating it like she's ravenous or anything. It's slow and careful, concentrating on every little taste and sensation.

It's sights like these that make me realize just how close our emotions are tied up together. How food brings out emotions and how emotions can make us crave food or certain foods.

This girl with the cheese danish is small and trim. Does she have this under control? Seems like it. What about the guy at the office who turns to the candy machine when his work isn't going well? He's not small or trim. Quite the opposite. Not in control.

I'm an emotional eater, and it's always a struggle when things get crazy, sad, lonely, and stressed not to eat and eat and eat. Being aware of this does help me. Sometimes I can channel it into other areas, like training, or housecleaning. Sometimes I merely manage it and find a way to make it go away. Harder, but sometimes doable.

At the very least, be aware of your own emotional links to and from food. Acknowledge them and see if you can find a trick to channel them. Somehow...

Semi-Random Listing Of Events That Happened Over The Last 35 Days

In no specific order of chronology or importance.   ...or relevance.  This stuff just happened since I've been away.

The JPFitness Summit was a great little vacation, seeing old friends and meeting knew ones. This was my third Summit, and I'm already looking forward to the next one.

I just spent over a month with Galya, and each day was better than the last. It was wonderful to get to know her over and over again. Blah, blah, blah...

Gal in Long Beach

Here's a DMB song...



...featuring Lucky and Elizabeth from General Hospital.  When you're looking for an album version of some songs, you get a log of choices (Lulu and Logan, also from GH, etc.). Please enjoy the daytime tv lovefest (I just watch it for the song, really!) while you listen to some older Dave Matthews Band. No tears, please.

Gal and I kicked butt (on one event, in which Gal carried me, basically) at Chris's Couples Fitness Competition. Go watch the video. Thanks Chris, for the generous editing that makes me look awesome!

After the comp, Alan Aragon and family came out to play. We had a nice lunch and some healthy dessert!

 

Take a look at this poster.

 

Sandra Bullock is 5'7" and Ryan Reynolds is 6'2".  This poster seems a bit off scale.

She looks even shorter, here.  

Excuse the gibberish...

We got some Vibram Fivefingers.

Tony and his snake, Albino, take a walk around the lake.

 

Allie hates the camera.

I'm sure there was more of interest, but I'm tired now.  Later!