Post #686: Blondie - "The Tide Is High" - Autoamerican

So I just returned from a quick trip to Galveston.  I have been reading a book called The Intuitive Way by Penney Peirce.  In both the foreword and introduction, she keeps reminding her reader to stay tuned into the inner voice.  I found out early in the week that we were getting both yesterday and today off from work, and I kept having this strong urge to head to Galveston.  I'm so happy that I listened to my inner voice because I feel so completely refreshed!!  

I had an opportunity to enjoy some crab cakes from Benno's.  I also stopped and had some yummy Mexican food at Salsa's.  I did some shopping along The Strand, and I picked up the most fitting souvenirs EVER --- some loose tea at a new shop called The Spice & Tea Exchange and a Jane Austen coloring book at Hendley Market (and I'm not even into adult coloring... but I couldn't think of a better place to start than with Jane Austen).

Ha! And I got so sick of watching people snap selfies EVERYWHERE I went; so instead, I decided to snap a photo of my awesome Russian Navy (that's seriously what it's called) toenail polish right before I used the early evening to take part in some of the ocean meditations on Insight Timer while sitting right near the water... such an amazingly relaxing experience!!!

So for the entire trip, I seemed unable to escape today's song, which is a cover by Blondie.  It seemed to be on every time I got in my car.  It was playing in one of the restaurants where I ate, and even when I took my car just a few minutes ago to wash all the bird poop off, I heard it again.

Hopefully my inner voice will guide me on many more amazing adventures in the near future!!  Right now though, I've got a ton of things to do to get ready to return to my routine life tomorrow.

Until next time...

XOXOXO

Anastasia

The tide is high but I'm holdin' on

I'm gonna be your number one

I'm not the kind-a girl who gives up just like that, oh no

It's not the things you do that tease and hurt me bad

But it's the way you do the things you do to me

I'm not the kind-a girl who gives up just like that, oh no

The tide is high but I'm holdin' on

I'm gonna be your number one, number one

Ev'ry girl wants you to be her man

But I'll wait my dear 'til it's my turn

I'm not the kind-a girl who gives up just like that, oh no

The tide is high but I'm holdin' on

I'm gonna be your number one, number one, number one

Ev'ry girl wants you to be her man

But I'll wait my dear 'til it's my turn

I'm not the kind-a girl who gives up just like that, oh no

The tide is high but I'm holding on

I'm gonna be your number one, number one, number one

The tide is high but I'm holding on

I'm gonna be your number one

The tide is high but I'm holding on

I'm gonna be your number one

The tide is high but I'm holding on

I'm gonna be your number one

Post #685: Sting - "Fortress Around Your Heart" - The Dream of the Blue Turtles

I recently finished a memoir called Loud in the House of Myself: Memoir of a Strange Girl (cover photo included below):

I snagged the following description from Amazon.com:

"Stacy Pershall grew up as an overly intelligent, depressed, deeply strange girl in Prairie Grove, Arkansas, population 1,000. From her days as a thirteen-year-old Jesus freak through her eventual diagnosis of bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder, this spirited memoir chronicles Pershall’s journey through hell and her struggle with the mental health care system."

I absolutely thank my lucky stars and the Universe and all of the deities that my lifetime struggles did not include the ones that she endured, but what drew me to the memoir is that she reconciled her ordeals through acquiring tattoos.  In addition to Bipolar Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder, she also struggled with various eating disorders.  Her ultimate goal is to have her entire body tattooed so that she can live comfortably in said body.  I'm not sure that would be my method of dealing, but I thoroughly enjoyed exploring her thought process while reading the book.

Throughout the memoir, she kept mentioning her adoration for Sting.  It occurred to me that I had not posted about Sting yet (other than when I've talked about The Police), so I figured that the timing would be right.

Another aspect of the memoir that I wanted to share is that I learned a new clever term for "death"... While working in the area of Estate Planning/Probate, of course I have encountered many euphemisms for mentioning such; however, I have never heard it referred to as "answering the bone phone"... good thing I hadn't taken a sip of my beverage while reading that phrase because I would have undoubtedly had to spit it out... that's how hard I was laughing when I came across that passage.

Lastly, many people don't know that Sting was a teacher prior to making it big in the music industry.  Here's a reference to such from Wikipedia:

"After being a bus conductor, building labourer and tax officer, he attended Northern Counties College of Education (now Northumbria University) from 1971 to 1974 and qualified as a teacher. He taught at St Paul's First School in Cramlington for two years."

So in addition to "Fortress Around Your Heart", I am also including "Love Is the Seventh Wave" because it opens with a classroom setting and has a very childlike and visually pleasing aesthetic... Enjoy!

Until next time...

XOXOXO

Anastasia

Under the ruins of a walled city

Crumbling towers in beams of yellow light

No flags of truce, no cries of pity

The siege guns had been pounding through the night

It took a day to build the city

We walked through its streets in the afternoon

As I returned across the fields I'd known

I recognized the walls that I once made

I had to stop in my tracks for fear

Of walking on the mines I'd laid

And if I've built this fortress around your heart

Encircled you in trenches and barbed wire

Then let me build a bridge

For I cannot fill the chasm

And let me set the battlements on fire

Then I went off to fight some battle

That I'd invented inside my head

Away so long for years and years

You probably thought, or even wished that I was dead

While the armies all are sleeping

Beneath the tattered flag we'd made

I had to stop in my tracks for fear

Of walking on the mines I'd laid

And if I've built this fortress around your heart

Encircled you in trenches and barbed wire

Then let me build a bridge

For I cannot fill the chasm

And let me set the battlements on fire

This prison has now become your home

A sentence you seem prepared to pay

It took a day to build the city

We walked through its streets in the afternoon

As I returned across the lands I'd known

I recognized the fields where I'd once played

I had to stop in my tracks for fear

Of walking on the mines I'd laid

And if I've built this fortress around your heart

Encircled you in trenches and barbed wire

Then let me build a bridge

For I cannot fill the chasm

And let me set the battlements on fire

Post #684: The Beatles - "I Want to Hold Your Hand" - Meet the Beatles!

Work has been absolutely unbearable as of late... so much so that I have been having an incredibly difficult time keeping my snarky comments to myself.  As a result, a close friend suggested that I find a token or reminder of some sort to keep my mouth shut when I want to say something that I might later regret.

While wandering through the aisles of World Market one day, I located this snazzy little hand, which also doubles as a business card holder:

It seemed to work miracles at first.  Every time the negativity would begin stirring in my brain, the little hand would remind me not to start spouting out said negativity.  Sadly, that did not last for long however.

One day, when I was at my wit's end, I picked up the little hand and held it in mine.  It had such an amazingly calming effect on me... but I could not help singing today's song in my head the whole time, which then made me smile.

So now when things start taking a turn for the worse, I just snatch up my little hand and center myself and get on with my day.

Until next time...

XOXOXO

Anastasia

Oh yeah, I'll tell you something

I think you'll understand

When I say that something

I wanna hold your hand

I wanna hold your hand

I wanna hold your hand

Oh please, say to me

You'll let me be your man

And please, say to me

You'll let me hold your hand

Now let me hold your hand

I wanna hold your hand

And when I touch you I feel happy

Inside

It's such a feeling that my love

I can't hide

I can't hide

I can't hide

Yeah, you've got that something

I think you'll understand

When I say that something

I wanna hold your hand

I wanna hold your hand

I wanna hold your hand

And when I touch you I feel happy

Inside

It's such a feeling that my love

I can't hide

I can't hide

I can't hide

Yeah, you've got that something

I think you'll understand

When I feel that something

I wanna hold your hand

I wanna hold your hand

I wanna hold your hand

I wanna hold your hand