Friday, November 8, 2024

Three Beautiful Things 11-07-2024: The Past Lives in Me, Current Responsibilities, Salmon and Squash Dinner

1. I simply don't have either the music reviewer chops or much of an understanding of 1990s alternative rock music to articulate in any meaningful way why I enjoy Luna's 1994 album Bewitched so much. 

I know my enjoyment of this album is rooted in my long lasting love for the short film, Family Tree, which, along with Pieces of April, are my two favorite Thanksgiving movies. 

Luna's song, "California (All the Way)" is central to the soundtrack of Family Tree. That one song inspired me to buy Luna's second album, Bewitched, and there's something about this album's dark undertones and dreamy sound that appeals to me. 

Playing this album also takes me back, oh, I don't know, let's say just about twenty years when I played Family Tree in one of the writing courses I taught and asked students to write about this movie and what it says about living a well-lived life. 

I don't want to go back to those days. 

I don't long for the world to be the way it was twenty years ago. 

I don't live in the past.

But, the past lives in me.

Playing this Luna album, thinking about watching Family Tree again, and remembering the joy of working with students at LCC stirs up warm and satisfying feelings from the past that I'm really happy don't fade away. 

2.  I suppose part of what's fun about having past experiences I enjoyed come to life with the help of music is that I no longer have the responsibilities I had back then -- grading papers, department meetings, holding office hours, and the other things that were, at times, a grind. 

No, I don't have those responsibilities any longer, but I have ones in the present and tended to some of them today. A plumber is coming next Monday in the afternoon. I'll have another blood draw Monday morning. I'll have winter tires put on our cars on Tuesday. Our fridge needed some stocking today. I went to Yoke's. Every day, three times a day, an alarm goes off on my cell phone, and I have the responsibility to take pills. I'm staying on schedule and, thank God, maintaining my post-transplant discipline. 

The present responsibilities are all good, not a grind, but these things are not as much fun as showing twenty-four community college students at a time of all ages a short movie I love, introducing many of them to the band Luna, and enjoying that many of those students got kind of fired up about the movie and had a lot of fascinating things to say and write about. 

3. I thawed a perfectly sized chunk of salmon for two that I bought at Trader Joe's, seasoned it with Trader Joe's Salmon Rub, roasted pieces of butternut squash, air fried Debbie a batch of potato wedges, and warmed up some leftover brown rice for myself and this combination of food items worked splendidly. 

We enjoyed our dinner a lot! 

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