elephants balancing

When I was a kid, we always used to dance to the opening music of Playschool when it came on TV. I remember all the little coloured squares flipping over on the opening credits. My favourite host was Benita. She had long, curly, grey hair. I've no idea why she was my favouite. My sister liked George.

There was one animation they used to play a lot which had a song about elephants balancing on a piece of string. Every verse, another elephant would join them on the string, until eventually it collapsed under their weight. The song was very cheery, but for some reason it terrified me. I just didnt' understand why elephants would think a piece of string could hold their weight, and why they kept pushing their luck by inviting more elephants on board. Anyway, I used to hide behind the counter whenever it came on.

One day, my dad was home from work on a weekday (which didn't happen all that often) and playschool came on, and he asked why we didn't dance to the music anymore. I'd forgotten we'd used to do that.

sun, sun, sun, here it comes

I've had Here Comes the Sun stuck in my head all day, because we were practising it in my a capella group this morning. George Harrison didn't write many songs (at least, not many that The Beatles recorded) but the ones he did write just hit the spot! (While My Guitar Gently Weeps, anyone?)

Anyway, I've been thinking today about songs about the weather. There are so many of them, and I don't think it's because the songwriters just couldn't think of anything else to say ("sooo . . . how (hot/cold/mild)'s the weather been lately?"). The weather really does affect your mood. (As ex-love-of-my-life and Relient K frontman Matt Theissen once put it: "lately the weather has/ been so bipolar and/ consequently so have I"). And mood is pretty similar to emotion. And emotion is the basis for a hell of a lot of songs. Plus it makes for some ultra simple imagery. Feeling sad =  it's raining in my heart. Feeling happy = sunshine on my window. Things are getting difficult = storm clouds gather overhead.  For every emotional state imaginable there's a weather condition. So why not sing about it?

Anywhere you go
You always take the weather with you

Yes, I miss you like the rain
Falling softly on a summer's day

I'm walking on sunshine . . . whoa-oh-oh!

Looking out on the pouring rain
I used to feel so uninspired

Love's a hurricane
And you meet me in the middle

The answers my friend
Are blowing in the wind

The sun is up
I'm so happy I could scream

Day is dyin' and the night is born
Baby don't leave me so lovelorn

Nights are long
They creep up upon us
Like a storm when
Nothing's in order

Can't you see that it's just raining
There ain't no need to go outside

If I could bottle up the sea breeze
I would take it over to your house
And let it loose through your garden

I know it's up for me
If you steal my sunshine

But I'll always remember what you said to me
The stronger the wind, the stronger the tree

In your eyes were all the colours the rainbow forgot

Cloudy
The sky is gray and white and cloudy
Sometimes I think it's hanging down on me

It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away

We step outside into the Melbourne weather
And with a shock it brings her back to where she is

And the fence
It shimmers in the heat
Like it wants to disappear


Wow. I got well and truly carried away there. Here's a picture of Ringo Starr eating a sandwich.

dreams and visions

The other week when I was walking home from uni, I had a premonition.

I was walking around this blind corner, and the thought flicked through my head "I wonder what would happen if someone was coming from the other side" and a microsecond later I walked straight into the girl who was coming from the other side.

This happens to me reasonably often. I think of something, and then it happens.

I also often mix up my dreams with real life. Something will happen in a dream, and I'll think it really happened until someone corrects me. Like the other night, I dreamed that my friend was killed by a drug dealer with superhuman powers (combination of watching Weeds and Buffy before bed), and I got such a suprise when I saw him the next day. Not that I'd been thinking all that time he was dead, I just didn't remember the dream until I saw him, and then it was such a relief to know it wasn't true. Or other times I feel angry with someone and don't understand why, until I realise I dreamt about them betraying me. And then I have to apologise for being rude. Which is confusing, to say the least.

But really, I don't think my premonitions are real premonitions. And I don't think my dreams are, either. Considering the multitude of thoughts we have every day, some of them are bound to come true.  'Law of large numbers', or something?

Joan of Arc had dreams and saw visions. (Were they premonitions? Or just good ideas for winning battles? I can't remember.) In Paris, there's a statue of her in the middle of an intersection. Joan of Arc, with tonnes of cars driving past her every second. I wonder if she ever forsaw that?

See, it's true. J of A. Intersection. Paris.

things between people

I've been meaning to start a blog for awhile now. I have a lot of thoughts, and I quite like writing them down. And I thought this would be a good way to do it.

The song Things Between People is the number 1 on my Top 25 Most Played list by a very long way. The reason I chose it, though, actually has nothing to do with why I love the song. The name just suddenly struck me as very profound. What is more important than things between people, after all? As much as I love philosophy and politics (and I do love them), it always comes back to things between people.

So that's what I intend to write about. Memories. Observations. Reflections.

Things between people.

Probably.