384th Friday Blog Roundup
On Wednesday, I tweeted that I wished it were socially acceptable to sing aloud in the food store. I had just found myself in the bean aisle, passionately crooning to the pintos about how “ever since [they] went away I’ve had this sentimental inclination not to change a single thing.” The beans did not respond to my Paul McCartneyisms, but a fellow shopper looked at me in disgust. What she doesn’t know is that I lack the reflexive impulse to stop myself from singing along when certain songs come on over the store’s loudspeaker. These songs include (but are not limited to):
- “My Brave Face” by Paul McCartney
- “Let the River Run” by Carly Simon
- “America” by Neil Diamond
And G-d help us all if “We Are the World” starts playing. I not only have to sing along, but I have to sing along mimicking everyone’s voice. And it doesn’t end there. When Cyndi Lauper comes on, I have to raise my right hand into the air, close my eyes, and do the open-handed fist pump-like movement she often brought to her performances. And it’s like an illness — once I hear “We Are the World” in the store, I need to KEEP SINGING IT, DOING ALL THE VOICES, FOR THE REST OF THE DAY. And maybe even a little bit of tomorrow.
The exact same thing happens in winter when I hear “Do They Know it’s Christmas Time at All.” I curse group song projects.
But it gets worse.
There are certain songs that I can’t not sing and I can’t not cry while I sing. Such as the Police’s “Wrapped Around Your Finger.” (Please, tell me how you stay dry-eyed thinking about Freud’s mentorship of Jung?) The entire score of Les Miserables. John Lennon’s “Beautiful Boy.” And if anything by Michael Jackson comes on, I have an overwhelming need to tell people around me how I used to have a Michael Jackson folder back when I was in school. It was that fantastic picture of him in a pale yellow sweater vest, leaning on the wall. And once I say that, I have to tell the person how I went to the Michael Jackson concert, and my mother let my sister and I make one white glove covered in glitter glue, and I felt like the coolest girl in the entire world that night (even after getting to the show and seeing every other girl in their single white glitter glue glove).
Musak is hard on me.
Do you sing along? Are certain songs triggers and which ones set you off and make you start singing?
*******
I bought myself new business cards this week. I’ve had the same ones since 2007, and I still have over 3/4ths of the box. So I never bother getting new ones. The information doesn’t change and the only place I really use them is at the yearly BlogHer conference and a few meetings throughout the year. But I decided to splurge and get myself something that still is business casual but perhaps not as business so-casual-that-I’m-talking-to-you-in-flip-flops. I mean, I am usually talking to the person in flip flops, but I’d like my card to not point out just how casual I am. Especially when I’m speaking with people who have very serious business cards.
This is my old one:
This is my new one:
What do you think? I plan to still use the top one, but now I have a second option.
*******
And now the blogs…
But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week as well as the week before. In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:
- “The Coming Spring” (Bloodsigns)
- “My Secret Stash” (Lessons from an Infertile Social Worker)
- “CBub is Back” (My Lady of the Lantern)
- “The Nine Circles of Hell” (Mothernatureschmature)
- “Choose Happy” (Mrs. Spit… Still Spouting Off)
- “Intentions” (Serenity Now)
- “Dipping My Toes In” (Single Infertile Female)
- “Why I Blog” (For We Are Bound by Symmetry)
- “What Nadav Taught Me: Live Life” (Mommy Odyssey)
- “The Fifth Belongs to Calvin” (These Fragments I Love)
- “Our Story: Part 8” (Infertilit-He)
- “One Blushing Shame, Another White Despair” (Glow in the Woods)
Okay, now my choices this week.
A Glimpse Inside has a post about spirituality and what she believes, which is a gorgeous image within a sea of confusion. While she doesn’t know why terrible things happen or where we go after we die, she has this strong vision of her friend meeting her daughter in the world beyond. It’s just a gorgeous, simple, breathtaking post.
Hapa Hopes has a post about one of those dreams that you keep waking from and then falling back asleep to pick up again. Not to diminish the feelings the dreamer gets from watching it in her head (some dreams just coat you with odd feelings for the rest of the day), but it was like a transcript from the best avant garde movie for the rest of us. I think her interpretation sounds spot on.
In Search of Motherhood explains how she feels when her nurse tells her surrogate not to pee on a stick prior to the beta. She writes, “Did it occur to the nurse coordinator that I don’t want to find out from her on the phone — her with her always cheerful voice, which if we don’t end up with a pregnancy is going to cut like a scalpel?” It’s a powerful post.
The Elusive Second Line has a post about her fluctuating weight. Let’s just say that I could relate a lot right now, but it’s also just a raw, deeply-honest post about another aspect of infertility that the general world probably doesn’t think about when they hear about the two week wait.
Searching for Our Silver Lining has a really interesting post about her opposite of the hero — the villain. She looks at the way villains are made vs. born. I love this post because it makes you think. I personally shifted the opposite of the hero to be the anti-hero and wrote: “the opposite of the shiny, happy hero is the anti-hero as imagined by someone like Knut Hamsun. Like the narrator in Hunger — who is a product of his starvation. Who is a reflection of Hamsun himself after he returned from his failed trip to America to obtain a job. Maybe the opposite of a hero is a human.” It’s always a good post when I get to talk Hamsun. So go read her post in full for a good brain-stretch.
Lastly, Danana Has a Baby has a post about the people who live across the street from her who are childless. She realizes that she doesn’t know their backstory; what has brought them to this place. I love the ending on it: “I’d like to ask them what their story is. And I probably will. Both because I am curious, and because, especially after paying attention to what childfree bloggers have said over the last week, I want to acknowledge them, their presence in this neighborhood and in this world.” It’s about noticing the world around you and acknowledging everything you take in.
The roundup to the Roundup: Do you sing in the grocery store (and which songs get you singing). I got new business cards. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between March 9th and March 16th) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week? Read the original open thread post here.
39 comments
I don’t usually sing along in public — I have a TERRIBLE singing voice. But I have been known to belt it out in my car when I’m driving. 🙂
I really love the new business cards. Chic, fun, and professional. Nice job!
Hugs,
Jo
Socially acceptable my elbow. I absolultly sing in the supermarket, Or at the very least I hum. I just can’t help myself, I think I had my embarrassment chip removed at drama school. I get it from my Mum, I can remember being hideously embarrassed by her in my teens and now I am just like her. I can’t wait to embarrass my kids someday. Oh, and Les Mis, who can help but sing, I even know the link bits!
I love the second card, tres chic.
I have a good singing voice and you will regularly find me belting out tunes while driving, find it very therapeutic.
Your new business card is the business, love the colors.
After having a look around our community this week, I was struck by how many childless/childfree bloggers were popping up in comments and have have ventured to a few of their blogs because I’ve never really (shamefully I might add) payed them much attention and there is some really good writing out there.
This http://www.stink-bomb.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/beginning.html is just one. I particularly love how a lot of them are embracing their lives despite the crappy hand they have been dealt.
I say burst into song Mel, you may bring a smile to someones face while they’re doing their shopping!
I have sang along in public. I love singing and growing up with a music teacher mother who was also the chior director at church, singing was expected. i’ve sang in public since before I can remember. And yes, I’ve sang to the items at stores, earning me looks from people around me.
Lots of songs can make me cry, depending on the context and my own mood. I have a soundtrack that plays in my head frequently.
I love both the old one and the new one. They are wonderful.
I don’t think it is physically possible for me to not sing a Beatles song whenever I hear it, since I think I was listening to them in the womb 🙂
Also, I remember just about every song that was played at our wedding, and my husband and I have been known to dance to them in the aisles if we hear them.
And who doesn’t cry when hearing Les Mis songs? 🙂 I think a lot of them are too politically appropriate for our times.
Wait, it’s not social acceptable to sing in the grocery store? Oops. My bad. I’ll sing with pretty much anything – and do a little dance. I have a weird talent for randomly remembering words to a song. You should keep on singin’ sister.
Thanks for the shout out!
I sing in the grocery store, much to my husband’s dismay. I can’t help it, especially if it’s an 80’s tune. He gets embaraased and goes to a different aisle. We don’t grocery shop together much anymore so he is spared the humiliation. Well, actually I win out there, I don’t do the grocery shopping anymore :).
MUST sing songs for me are: anything by Duran Duran, Total Eclipse of the Heart, and of course Tempted by Squeeze.
Love the new business card, I can see a need for you to have both. Very awesome.
I don’t sing out loud in public (OK, maybe under my breath…) but in the car with the radio? That’s another story. ; ) The local classic rock station has a “Beatle Break” every night just as we are driving home from the train station — two Beatles songs, back to back — & I always sing along. It’s a great way to end the day & leave the stress behind. : )
Much to my husband’s embarrassment, I sing in the store all the time. Having a toddler in the shopping cart seems to make it socially acceptable though. In the future, I shall enjoy embarrassing both my husband and my kid.
Thanks for the mention!
I’ve discovered many new blogs this week. One post that particularly made my day was from ANDMom, who explains in great detail her issues with the growing bullying breast-is-best culture and why formula is a valid first-choice for feeding your infant. It’s a not a point of view that is expressed very often, but for those of us who either choose to formula-feed or are forced to do it through various circumstances, it’s always refreshing to be reminded that it’s a good choice too.
http://andmom.wordpress.com/2012/02/12/the-controversy-of-breastfeeding/
LOVE the new cards! They are still colorful and fun, like you, but still very professional!
And I don’t sing in stores, but I sing like a maniac in my car. Windows up or down. And I don’t even notice the funny looks any longer…
That’s so funny that you mention muzak in the grocery store, because the last time I went, the muzak was off and I ACTUALLY NOTICED IT AND COMMENTED ON IT to the checker. Who thought I was insane.
If you and I didn’t know each other and perchance met in the toothpaste aisle, we would blend our harmonies and fall madly in love.
My favorite post of the week: https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2012/03/explaining-evolution-to-first-graders/
Josh at Jack at Random has an amazing post that expresses the rage of grief suppressed so well (the comments are pretty great too):
http://www.jackatrandom.com/2012/03/half-truths-come-in-pretty-packages_13.html
I started singing in the grocery store when I had a 19 year old nephew that would not leave me alone. When I started singing (accompanied with dancing) I noticed that he was more than happy to give me a little room as long as it meant he could be on the other side of the store fetching something.
Ran across this blog a few days ago with the elusive male point of view:
http://louisvillian.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/hey-can-i-be-in-your-club-the-desire-to-become-a-father/
I am convinced that I was meant to be a rock star, except at some point along the way I was cursed with an awful voice. Doesn’t stop me from singing along though – all the time!
And I am loving the new business cards!
I’m also a singer, though my singing is pretty controlled . . . unless someone else is singing. Then I HAVE to join in. Most times the other person looks mortified, but on that rare occasion I find a kindred spirit and it’s amazing. Usually with crowd of onlookers who are clearly amused, but I could care less.
Thanks for the shout out! And the suggested reading material! I now have an excuse to read non-scientific literature.
My grocery store plays “Dynamite” every time I am there. It’s very catchy, and I can’t help but sing, but that song to me is and always will be the Maccabeats’ Hannukah song, so there I am, dancing in the dairy aisle, singing, “And the great menorah…For eight days it kept on burning. What a celebration, a great return to Torah learning….”
I am so cool. (Also: I am not Jewish. I just love the Maccabeats. No one in the store can tell I’m not Jewish, as evidenced by the tenacity of the Lubavitchers’ attempt to get me to pray (we live very close to their international headquarters), but my own knowledge of my goyishness makes me feel even sillier.)
I really like the second business card. A good balance of serious-but-not-too-serious. The first one is cute, but I feel more like I’d want to know (or hire) the person with the second one.
I sing along to pretty much everything. Not well, of course. 🙂 And I love your new business cards! I think it’s a good mix of fun (the colors) and professional.
I believe I have been banned in 37 states from ever singing aloud in public.
Ohhhh I had that Michael Jackson pic as a poster on the back of my bedroom door growing up & it’s what I used to practice kissing!!!
Love the business cards.
And if I know the lyrics, I’m singin’ along!
I love the new business cards! I haven’t sung in grocery stores though I’ve wanted to. I’ve also wanted to dance. I do sing vigorously and enthusiastically in the car (and have a decent voice if I do say so myself!). My son is going through a Lady Gaga phase and requests her often; who can’t sing along to “Poker Face”?
i don’t really sing in public, but sometimes i start dance. then my husband grabs my arm and tells me to stop because he’s mildly embarrassed 🙂
i love the new business cards, by the way 🙂
Shalom, y’didah! I sing along with songs in the supermarket, and what’s more, I always have. I used to pick up a product and sing its television ad song, prompting my mother to call me, “her walking commercial.”
I have had a long-standing problem with getting songs stuck in my head, then getting totally sick of the song (White Stripes, I love you, but I’m really done with thinking about your doorbell).
And then, it happened. 4th of July weekend, 2010. Guitar sing-along, and my friend Laura and I sang California Stars by Billy Bragg and Wilco. It got stuck in my head. A week went by, then two. Still stuck, but not sick of it. Then a month went by. Then a year.
Friend, it has now been almost two years and I am STILL not sick of California Stars. I now use it to dislodge other, less desirable tunes. Thank you, Billy Bragg and Wilco. You are my heroes.
I had the same folder 🙂
I love the new cards!!
I sing along in the car all the time, and I’ve found myself singing along to the iPod as I’m walking around the subdivision. I have no idea if I sing in grocery stores, but it wouldn’t surprise me. If I’m with my daughter, there’s a good chance one of us will be singing at some point.
The old cards are you and very cute, but the new cards are definitely more professional.
I can contain myself in public, but occasionally I must sing along at home or in the car. Lately, though, Tamale has been insisting that I sing specific songs at random times. The people in the grocery store a couple of days ago were pretty weirded out by my singing, “I want to rock with youuuuuu, all night.” The dancing and hand motions probably made it worse, as did the two toddlers grooving along.
I’m always humming or singing along quietly to music. If I recognize the tune, I’m guaranteed to either lightly sing or hum along. So if people give me funny looks, I’ve simply grown accustomed to it and don’t notice it anymore. When I’m grocery shopping (by myself) I bring my iPhone and my earphones with me, and just listen to my own music while I shop. I live in a small town so if I don’t want to socialize with others while I shop, it also lets me get away with shopping in complete peace and quiet.
As for your cards, I like both. But the new one is much more professional looking if you are promoting your writing.
Hubby and I sing (quietly) and dance our way through the aisles of the grocery store. That’s why it’s one of my favorite outings with him.
I am likely to sing-along or just quietly relish a song….a current thing to do is to startle baby girl with her sounds extended into some impromptu song. That sometimes makes her wait for her crazy mum to stop it.
I like the second card….very polished!
Oh, yes, I’m a grocery store singer. I don’t discriminate and will sing anything I know the words to, but I have a particular weakness for music from the 90’s. Totally laughing about you singing to the pintos.
p.s. Your new business card looks great!
I catch myself singing in public all the time. I just can’t help it. And I sing everything. If I know the words I will sing it.
Love both business cards.
I vote for the second card too. It’s you, and more refined than the first. I was going to nominate the silver lining post if you hadn’t posted about it yourself. So beautifully written.
I’ve been so depressed over the last few years, it’s hard to get me singing along.
But – for some reason anything by the Monkees ALWAYS makes me sing loudly, no matter where I am…
I just found a post about how important the support is from your husband/partner when going through treatment. It’s a great one to let your other half read if struggling with this.
http://missconception-ads.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/im-not-single.html
I have been known to sing in the store, but only if it’s fairly empty and the song is really compelling. I sing freely in the car, at home, and in my yard, but the store just feels a little too unacceptable. I think the second card is more serious but still a little fun.
LOVE both sets of business cards! But the simplicity of ‘writer’ is VERY cool.
A) I sing (and dance!) with all songs, and will add in harmony parts as required. 🙂 No radio? No problem – I’ll sing on my own.
B) I love the new cards!
C) I totally had that Michael Jackson folder!!
Let the River Run?! Me too – louder and louder as the song progresses! And The Gambler – that was my first record ever. The Eagles – Desperado. U2- With or Without You. I cannot sing The Rose ( Bette Midler?!) without crying. I don’t even know why.
I love both your cards. I like that they have a slightly different vibe giving you the choice of how/when to use them.
Must go do some reading from your recommendations.
J.W. Moxie has written a couple of seriously brilliant posts musing on the concept of “emotional infertility” that really deserve a read:
http://thesmartness.com/smartone/2012/03/mental-infertility-and-its-impact-on-the-adoption-loss-and-infertility-ali-community.html
http://thesmartness.com/smartone/2012/03/emotional-infertility-changes.html