Excruciating Gatherings

This post originally started out as a comment at Kat's Musings and Meanderings, but, as usual, it became too long, and, in spite of what most of her readers may think, I don't like being one of the very few people who has more to say than everyone else. If I wasn't one of the only ones to be so long winded, maybe I wouldn't be so self-conscious (or maybe I'm actually "normally winded," and everyone else in this "sound-bite" world is too "short winded" ;-).

[Update 5/22/08: It was only after writing this comment that I discovered I had misread what Kathleen wrote. That meant I had done all this writing for nothing. She then replied to my comment this morning in a way that allows me to post my comment anyway (the first three comments at the link below explain it all).]

Kathleen's Question:

In her latest post, Kathleen asks: "Who invented bridal/baby shower games? Can they be shot? Strung up by their toenails? Waterboarded? Honestly."

My Know-It-All Response

I'm sure bridal/baby showers are a carryover from past decades/centuries when young couples were too poor to buy stuff on their own -- and had no credit-cards to entice them to buy stuff anyway --, and shopping was a rare luxury, not a nationwide addiction. But probably even more importantly, in those days there were no TVs (with god-awful, lowest-common-denominator shows like American Idol), no radios, no internet, no tune-out-the-world iPods, no cell phones, no beepers, no Blackberries, no "IM-ing," no fast cars to take us to impersonal bars and malls, no fast-paced, high-pressure careers (which have, regrettably -- for far too many people -- become an end in and of themselves instead of a means to an end) to help us "pass" all our time as painlessly as possible in solitary seclusion (except with regard to careers). In the old days the only real entertainment or contact people had with the outside world in a leisurely manner -- aside from reading daily or weekly newspapers, or a rare book or two, or a very rare letter or two per month from friends and family -- was to gather together and visit. Since transportation was extremely slow and opportunities relatively rare (especially in the sparsely populated west), they usually made the most of those visits by making them last for hours. Besides that, since life was so much more slowly paced in those days, and since there were few, if any, other entertainment alternatives, they were seldom in any hurry to leave.

Well sadly, times have changed, and many people are not only more isolated than ever, they seem to have grown to prefer it (I've become very guilty of it myself, although I hate it at the same time), but the custom of bridal/baby showers appears to have endured for some reason, maybe because lots of women will always love babies and weddings -- or at least the idea of babies and weddings; and they just assume that all other women feel the same way too, so they inconsiderately expect them to participate.

Sandy Denny - Mesmerizing (IMHO)

At one time in my life, this would have been a very typical post for me. If only I could return (full time) to those days once again.

I had never heard anything by Sandy Denny before a few minutes ago. In fact, I don't think I have ever heard her name before now (although I cannot say for sure). Here, in a session that was recorded in 1971, she sings a song entitled, Late November.

She is neither pretentious nor full of herself, as so many "folk singers" seem to be these days. Her representation of the folk-music genre isn't over the top either, as so many neo-folk-music songs seem to be in the 21st century. For Ms. Denny it is TRULY all about the song and the feeling, not herself or some angry agenda. Her minimalist performance is beautiful, mesmerizing and enchanting, at least to a nostalgic, sentimental pushover like me who loves these trips back in time.

[Update 5/20/08: I learned today that I actually have seen Sandy Denny's name in print before and heard her beautiful voice in one particular song (I just had not heard of her before). Hers is the amazing female voice in the Led Zeppelin song, The Battle of Evermore (based on a battle in the Lord of the Rings trilogy). I have always been very impressed by her voice in that song, but I didn't think I would ever learn who she is. I dug out my Stairway to Heaven album today and played the song again for the first time in years. Her name is printed on the album's inside sleeve, but it doesn't say what she does on the album, so I had no idea she is the female singer in The Battle of Evermore. In fact, I had no idea if Sandy, in this particular case, is a man's or a woman's name. Whether you like Led Zeppelin or not, it's worth listening to the song at the link just to hear her voice. I actually like The Battle of Evermore. It has an almost hypnotic rhythm.]

I Knew This, But Did You?

From The Air Force Times:

From January 2007 through March of this year, service members or civilian employees of the military donated at least $766,000 to presidential candidates... The analysis included donations of at least $200...

[Staunchly anti-war candidate Ron] Paul... received the most military contributions, with $201,271. That’s significantly more than the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain from Arizona, who received $132,133 from military donors... Obama, meanwhile..., has received $178,456 in military contributions, compared to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s $85,000, the analysis shows... [Read the rest.]

What do these military folks know that most civilian folks don't know (or don't want to know)? It's too bad that any of these military donors believe that either of the democratic candidates will end the war, because they won't. They have made too many promises to the powerful, pro-war, corporate and media elites who have put them where they are today.