08.29.08
Posted in Love, Music, Web and Tech Stuff at 1:01 pm by Jules
You know, I’ve been hearing my husband’s voice on the phone for almost three years now. It still makes my tummy jump and my face smile when I hear a voice mail or message from him. I talk to him several times a day, every day, but those messages are still special. Isn’t that nice? I love him. 
Another thing which moves me - and about which I had totally forgotten until just a few minutes ago - is the original theme song and intro to the Star Trek (fairly short-lived) series, “Enterprise.” I just … mmm. Love it. Check it out.
Here’s my thank you. Foxmarks - you rule!! If y’all use Firefox and don’t have Foxmarks, I would suggest you check it out - even if you don’t use multiple computers. It’s nice to have a back-up. Were it not for Foxmarks, I’d be up that creek without that paddle right about now!
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05.06.08
Posted in Life, Movies, Music at 3:08 pm by Jules
Following are lyrics from a song titled “Virginia Woolf,” words and music by Emily Saliers, performed by Indigo Girls. It’s from the album, “Rites of Passage.” I first got this album in 1991, and when I learned this song initially, I knew nothing about Virginia Woolf. Back then, it was just a beautiful song with wonderful lyrics. (I’m quite partial to Emily Saliers, anyway. She’s a lyrical genius.) A few years ago, I saw the movie, “The Hours.” To this day, all I really know of Virginia Woolf is what I learned from watching that movie and the extras on the DVD. After watching that and learning what I did, I went back and immediately listened to this song again, and… well, wow.
some will strut and some will fret
see this an hour on the stage
others will not but they’ll sweat
in their hopelessness in the rage
we’re all the same the men of anger
and the women of the page
they published your diary
and that’s how i got to know you
key to the room of your own and a mind without end
here’s a young girl on a kind of a telephone line through time
the voice at the other end comes like a long-lost friend
so i know i’m alright
my life will come my life will go
still i feel it’s alright
I just got a letter to my soul
when my whole life is on the tip of my tongue
empty pages for the no longer young
the apathy of time laughs in my face
you say each life has its place
the hatches were battened
thunderclouds rolled and the critics stormed
battles surrounded the white flag of your youth
but if you need to know that you weathered the storm of cruel mortality
a hundred years later i’m sitting here living proof
so you know it’s alright
your life will come your life will go
still you’ll feel it’s alright
someone will get a letter to your soul
when your whole life was on the tip of your tongue
empty pages for the no longer young
the apathy of time laughed in your face
did you hear me say each life has its place
the place where you hold me is dark in a pocket of truth
the moon has swallowed the sun and the light of the earth
and so it was for you when the river eclipsed your life
but sent your soul like a message in a bottle to me and it was my rebirth
so we know it’s alright
life will come and life will go
still we know it’s alright
someone will get a message to your soul
then you know it’s alright and you feel it’s alright
(when my whole life is on the tip of my tongue empty pages for the no longer young)
then you know it’s alright and you feel it’s alright
(each life has its place you say each life has its place) it’s alright
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09.07.06
Posted in General, Music at 4:09 pm by Jules
I often get caught up in the thought that I live a mundane existence. This isn’t really true because every day brings new joys and surprises, and I’m not a mundane person - nor are those with whom I surround myself.
I am in love like I’ve never been before, and even though I see him every day, I can never get home quickly enough in the afternoons just to be with him again for a few minutes. So, when I begin to have these, “Oh.. my life is so boring - something *must* be wrong,” thoughts, I try to put things back into perspective.
Being on the brink of one of these episodes today on my way back to work from lunch, this song came on in my car. It’s called “Free In You” by Indigo Girls, and the lyrics are just perfect.
It’s not possible to have the kind of love I do and live a mundane existence. It just isn’t.
“Free In You”
by Indigo Girls
A hard knock
A cold clock
Ticking off my time
A long look
But no luck
Couldn’t seem to find
Or unwind
Into peace of mind
Though I was trying
A quick glance
A big chance
My heart beat like a drum
I saw you
And I knew
Chances just don’t come
Round again
Not like this
First a laugh
Then a kiss
And I’m free in you
I’ve got no worries on my mind
I know what to do
That’s to treat you right
And love you kind
Thank you ever on my mind
Love is just like breathing
When it’s true
And I’m free in you
The lost time
And self pride
Are my big mistakes
A clear voice
A bad choice
Sounding like an ache
In my day
Not too bad
But too real
To go away
But now I’m free in you
I’ve got no worries on my mind
I know what to do
That’s to treat you right
And love you kind
Thank you ever on my mind
Love is just like breathing
When it’s true
And I’m free in you
And I don’t know
How you show
Such gentle disregard
For the ugly in me
That I see
That for so long
I took so hard
And I truly believe
That you see the best in me
I’m in love
We all love
And that thought
Sets me free
Free in you
Got no worries on my mind
I know what to do
That’s to treat you right
And love you kind
Thank you ever on my mind
Love is just like breathing
When it’s true
And I’m free in you
Yes I’m free in you
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08.31.06
Posted in General, Music at 12:37 pm by Jules
I work at a beverage manufacturing plant where we bottle and ship flavored water, etc. One of our customers we ship to is in Andalusia, AL. Every time I see the word “Andalusia,” the song, “Spanish Caravan,” by The Doors gets stuck in my head. Don’t get me wrong, there are worse songs I could be stuck with, but every time? Gah. I get a little weary of it.
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06.18.05
Posted in Movies, Music at 6:44 pm by Jules
I just finished watching the 2004 theatrical release of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera. (Directed by Joel Schumacher.)
OH MY GODS! This movie had my jaw agape and my entire being enraptured the whole time. Gerard Butler was sexy and mysterious and angry as The Phantom, Emmy Rossum, Christine, was beautiful and has a nice, clear voice, and Patrick Wilson played Raoul. And OH MAN. I knew him from Angels in America, but I had no idea he had the voice of an absolute angel. His voice is my new musical love! *swoon*
Draaz came home and saw the tail end of the movie with me, and when it was done, he said, “So, shall I add this to the “movies to buy for Julie” list?” I just nodded and said, “Uh huh.”
The cool thing is - while I’ve known most of the music for many many years, I never knew the story. I’ve never actually seen a production of it! Never even read the original story. So, I think that makes the whole experience that much better for me than for those who’ve seen it/read it multiple times.
Now, to go find CDs with Patrick Wilson singing!
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03.11.05
Posted in Music at 1:44 pm by Jules
My sister-in-law has been sending me MP3s from this season’s American Idol contestants (because I just can’t stomach Randy for another season, so I ain’t watchin’). Well, in addition to that, she and my brother also watch Nashville Star. Yesterday, she sent me a song by a chick named Sheila Marshall. (She was a contestant on a previous season of NS.) I reeeeeeeeally like her!! I went onto Napster today to see if I could find her stuff to download (because I’m impatient and didn’t want to wait for the CD to come in the mail), and I was in luck! So, I purchased her self-titled LP. Everything I’ve heard so far is great except for one song. Another one is so-so. What a cool voice she has, though. It sorta reminds me of Michelle Malone.
I’m happy! More new music!! 
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12.14.04
Posted in Music at 8:27 am by Jules
http://music.download.com
MAN! I have hit my jackpot. I don’t much care for mainstream music most of the time. It’s often shallow crap which just doesn’t hold my interest or grab my attention. There are exceptions, of course, but I much prefer something “real” to something “popular.”
I found several wonderful folk artists on this download.com site yesterday, and it makes me so happy! Of course, most of the music I’ve downloaded so far is pretty mellow, so I have to be careful. It can affect my mood quite quickly, if I’m not careful!
Here is a list of some of the “new” people I found.
Ciaran Flynn
Davide Gadren
Davie Tait
Dolores Mae Blue
Emer Kenny
Hannah Fox Larkin (really like her)
Jared Dobbs (very talented guitarist!)
Jeff Woodell
Marijan and Gillydee
Patrick Lehman
Richard Buckner (thanks, JakeD!)
Sarah Millyard
Serena Matthews
Shanna Zell
Steve Garvey
Steve Massey
The Moore Brothers
Tressie Seegers (awesome!)
You can find all of these folks HERE. If you like acoustic guitar and smooth singing, go. Now. Download. Listen. Tell me what you think.
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12.11.04
Posted in General, Music at 7:03 am by Jules
So, a thread over on NCT prompted me to go ahead and post this here, as well. This is rather long, but it contains important pieces of me. Read it if you like. Don’t if you don’t want to.
The thread on NCT says: “Give me a song that means a lot to you, and post the lyrics. Tell me why it means a lot to you, and maybe even supply your own interpretation of the lyrics if you want.”
So, here is how I answered.
I’m going to post (mostly) excerpts rather than lyrics for whole songs because otherwise, I would fill the page with song lyrics!! Here are a few of the most impacting for me.
(Wow. This is longer than I thought it would be, and I’ve left some out!) If any of you read through all of this… well, I’ll be impressed!
from Love’s Recovery
lyrics by Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls
There I am in younger days, star gazing,
Painting picture perfect maps of how my life and love would be
Not counting the unmarked paths of misdirection
My compass, faith in love’s perfection
I missed ten million miles of road I should have seen
Most of Emily’s lyrics I love for the sheer beauty of them. She has such talent with metaphor; it amazes me. More in-depth with this excerpt is the fact that, often, when we think we can plan our lives out and see ahead, we end up overlooking things that could have been because we narrowed our vision.
from Watershed
lyrics by Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls
Well I better learn how to starve the emptiness
And feed the hunger
Speaking in terms of the soul… desires and what-not. I try to tell myself this constantly.
from The Girl with the Weight of the World in Her Hands
lyrics by Emily of Indigo Girls
“Is the glass half-full or empty?” I ask her as I fill it
She said it doesn’t really matter, pretty soon you’re bound to spill it
The ultimate in pessimism.
from Ghost
lyrics by Emily of Indigo Girls
and i guess that’s how you started like a pinprick to my heart but at this point you rush right through me and i start to drown
Ahh! Gorgeous imagery! Anyone who has ever been overwhelmed by love should be able to relate to this.
from Language or the Kiss
lyrics by Emily of Indigo Girls
i don’t know if it was real or in a dream
lately waking up i’m not sure where i’ve been
there was a table set for six and five were there
i stood outside and kept my eyes upon that empty chair
and there was steam on the windows from the kitchen
laughter like a language i once spoke with ease
but i’m made mute by the virtue of decision
i choose most of your life goes on without me
oh the fear i’ve known
that i might reap the praise of strangers and end up on my own
all i’ve sown was a song
but maybe i was wrong
Having always felt like somewhat of an outcast with my family while more openly accepted by “strangers,” these lyrics have always hit hard with me. They ring so true for so many people, and it’s sad.
Fare Thee Well
lyrics by Emily of Indigo Girls
fare thee well my bright star
i watched your taillights blaze into nothingness
but you were long gone before i ever got to you
before you blazed past this address
and now i think of having loved and having lost
you never know what it’s like to never love
who can say what’s better and my heart’s become the cost
a mere token of a brighter jewel sent from up above
fare thee well my bright star
the vanity of youth the color of your eyes
maybe if i’d fanned the blazing fire of your day to day
or if i’d been older i’d been wise
too thick the heat of those long summer evenings
for a cool evening i began to yearn
but you could only feed upon the things which feed a fire
waiting to see if i would burn
fare thee well my bright star
it was a brief brilliant miracle dive
that which i looked up to and i clung to for dear life
had to burn itself up just to make itself alive
i caught you then in your moment of glory
your last dramatic scene against a night sky stage
with a memory so clear it’s as if you’re still before me
my once in a lifetime star of an age
so fare thee well my bright star
last night the tongues of fire circled me around
this strange season of pain will come to pass
when the healing hands of autumn cool me down
Ever had one of those staggeringly strong and intense relationships that didn’t last long but impacted you fiercely forever?
Get Out the Map
lyrics by Emily of Indigo Girls
The saddest sight my eyes can see
is that big ball of orange sinking slyly down the trees
Sittin in a broken circle while you rest upon my knee
this perfect moment will soon be leaving me
Suzanne calls from Boston the coffee’s hot the corn is high
And that same sun that warms your heart will suck the good earth dry
With everything it’s opposite enough to keep you crying
or keep this old world spinning with a twinkle in its eye
Get out the map get out the map and lay your finger anywhere down
We’ll leave the figuring to those we pass on our way out of town
Don’t drink the water there seems to be something ailing everyone
I’m gonna clear my head
I’m gonna drink that sun
I’m gonna love you good and strong while our love is good and young
Joni left for South Africa a few years ago
and then Beth took a job all the way over on the West Coast
And me I’m still trying to live half a life on the road
Seems I’m heavier by the year and heavier by the load
Why do we hurtle ourselves through every inch of time and space
I must say around some corner I can sense a resting place
With every lesson learned a line upon your beautiful face
We’ll amuse ourselves one day with these memories we’ll trace
Get out the map get out the map and lay your finger anywhere down
We’ll leave the figuring to those we pass on our way out of town
Don’t drink the water there seems to be something ailing everyone
I’m gonna clear my head
I’m gonna drink the sun
I’m gonna love you good and strong while our love is good and young
There’s nothing much spectacular about these lyrics, but this was like my theme song after my divorce. I felt so free and ready to strike out and just go with it. (I did not, by the way. I stayed right where I was. LOL)
from Leeds
lyrics by Emily of Indigo Girls
… on a bed of anxiety over a deep dark drop down into nothingness into withoutyouness…
… find the open hole and press your finger there will all your might before the last ounce of my spirit bleeds onto the pristine sheets of the hotel bed in Leeds.
Just beautiful expressions…
from Deconstruction
lyrics by Emily of Indigo Girls
We’re sculpted from youth, the chipping away makes me weary
And as for the truth it seems like we just pick a theory
The one that justifies our daily lives
And backs us with quiver and arrows
To protect openings cause when the warring begins
How quickly the wide open narrows
Being from an alternative religious sort now and having struggled with my spirituality for so long, the first time I heard this, it was like the proverbial lightbulb going on over my head. I think this is what people do far too often. They just PICK something rather than allowing the right thing to find them. But, I guess we all do that to an extent.
She’s Saving Me
lyrics by Emily of Indigo Girls
We were sitting round a dying fire, somebody lit incense somebody lit a cigarette and passed the bottle around
It was just strawberry season, backbreaking pickers in the patches everything’s burning down to ashes and down to the ground
She’s saving me I don’t even think she knows it
It’s a strange way to show it as distant as last night’s dream unravels
She’s saving me I’m a very lost soul I was born with a hole in my heart the size of my land locked travels
I try to put it aside but it’s too much bigger than me there’s a big brown hawk in the tree Lighting and leaving
There’s tea leaves tossing, heads up pennies in my pocket, dead star like a rocket, the arc of my grieving
She’s saving me I don’t even think she knows it
It’s a strange way to show it as distant as last night’s dream unravels
She’s saving me I’m a very lost soul I was born with a hole in my heart the size of my land locked travels
The sky pours out biblical rain
Then days so still the beauty gives you pain
The heatwave kills the green and she remains unseen
But colors up my dream with all things blooming
This is not all there is - it’s not a kingdom - it’s not an angry god
It feels like her
It feels like no fear, it feels like no doubt, it feels like inside out
The ashes stir
She’s saving me I don’t really think she knows it
It’s a strange way to show it as distant as last night’s dream unravels
She’s saving me I’m a very lost soul
I was born with a hole in my heart as wide as my land locked travels
I think the ideas behind this could be applied personally in so many different ways for different people. This song is just beautiful. (It’s just not ever the same only reading lyrics and not hearing the music, too. I suggest you ALL go and listen to all of these songs! ) I found out, after seeing how perfectly this song could fit with the idea of the Pagan Goddess (which I knew it wasn’t because Emily is Christian), that she wrote this song about her younger sister who died. I don’t know anymore details than that.
So, if you made it this far, can you tell who has had the most influence on my life over the past 14 years?
resource: Indigo Girls Website
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12.10.04
Posted in Music at 9:15 am by Jules
I just bought, downloaded, and burned Joss Stone’s The Soul Sessions this morning. $8.80 from Wal-Mart. (The biggest suck thing about it, though, is that the basic Roxio applet will only burn at freakin’ 4x!!!)
Joss Stone has such an awesome voice! I heard about her not too long ago from Skip. Of course, I forgot soon after. Then yesterday, while downloading free tracks from Amazon, I came across her name again. (Incidentally, the two tracks they had listed for available free download for her were no longer available.) So, this morning I checked her out, listened to some clips, and snarfed up that Soul Sessions album. I can’t wait to listen!
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06.13.04
Posted in Movies, Music at 12:16 pm by Jules
John Williams
The man is such an awesome composer.
I can’t believe I didn’t KNOW he did the music for the Harry Potter movies. How did I not know that? Weird. No wonder the music is so good.
Movies of note on that page:
Indiana Jones 4
War of the Worlds
Jurassic Park IV
I didn’t know they were making these!
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03.17.04
Posted in General, Movies, Music at 2:02 pm by Jules
I ordered two Virginia Woolf books yesterday, and I cannot wait until they arrive, so I can finally read something of hers. I became interested in her after the first time I watched The Hours, but I never did order anything then. I got Mrs. Dalloway and Moments of Being. Figured I’d start there.
I also ordered the sheet music piano solos for the music from The Hours. I can’t wait for that, too! I just love that movie, and the glimpse I got of Virginia Woolf from it intrigues me.
We’ll see.
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09.04.03
Posted in General, Music at 7:58 pm by Jules
I always love to see how some person - living or dead - has an effect on another’s life. Following are the lyrics from a song titled “Virginia Woolf” written by Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls. I have been singing this song since the summer of 1992, and I never quite understood it until yesterday. I have, only recently, learned anything about Virginia Woolf, and yesterday was the first time I had heard this song since learning. I have set some lyrics in bold. When it got to those parts in the song yesterday, chill bumps sprang up all over me and tears overwhelmed my singing. I had to stop.
I love what some people are able to do with words. Of course, it never has quite as much impact as it does when you hear it.
[Quote]
some will strut and some will fret
see this an hour on the stage
others will not but they’ll sweat
in their hopelessness in the rage
we’re all the same the men of anger and the women of the page
they published your diary and that’s how i got to know you
key to the room of your own and a mind without end
here’s a young girl on a kind of a telephone line through time
the voice at the other end comes like a long-lost friend
so i know i’m alright
my life will come my life will go
still i feel it’s alright
I just got a letter to my soul
when my whole life is on the tip of my tongue
empty pages for the no longer young
the apathy of time laughs in my face
you say each life has its place
the hatches were battened - thunderclouds rolled and the critics stormed
battles surrounded the white flag of your youth
but if you need to know that you weathered the storm of cruel mortality
a hundred years later i’m sitting here living proof
so you know it’s alright
your life will come your life will go
still you’ll feel it’s alright
someone will get a letter to your soul
when your whole life was on the tip of your tongue
empty pages for the no longer young
the apathy of time laughed in your face
did you hear me say each life has its place
the place where you hold me is dark in a pocket of truth
the moon has swallowed the sun and the light of the earth
and so it was for you when the river eclipsed your life
but sent your soul like a message in a bottle to me and it was my rebirth
so we know it’s alright
life will come and life will go
still we know it’s alright
someone will get a message to your soul
then you know it’s alright
and you feel it’s alright (when my whole life is on the tip of my tongue empty pages for the no longer young)
then you know it’s alright (each life has its place you say each life has its place)
and you feel it’s alright
it’s alright
[Quote]
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06.18.03
Posted in General, Music at 5:42 pm by Jules
WASHINGTON (AP) — Illegally download copyright music from the Internet once, or even twice, and you get a warning. Do it a third time, and your computer gets destroyed.
Powerful lawmaker earns song-writing royalties
shakes her head
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Posted in General, Music at 5:28 pm by Jules
[Quote]
Thought I knew my mind like the back of my hand,
The gold and the rainbow, but nothing panned out as I planned.
And they say only milk and honey’s gonna make your soul satisfied!
Well I better learn how to swim
Cause the crossing is chilly and wide.
Twisted guardrail on the highway, broken glass on the cement
A ghost of someone’s tragedy
How recklessly my time has been spent.
And they say that it’s never too late, but you don’t get any younger!
Well I better learn how to starve the emptiness
And feed the hunger
Up on the watershed, standing at the fork in the road
You can stand there and agonize
Till your agony’s your heaviest load.
You’ll never fly as the crow flies, get used to a country mile.
When you’re learning to face the path at your pace
Every choice is worth your while.
Well there’s always retrospect to light a clearer path
Every five years or so I look back on my life
And I have a good laugh.
You start at the top, go full circle round
Catch a breeze, take a spill
But ending up where i started again makes me wanna stand still.
Up on the watershed, standing at the fork in the road
You can stand there and agonize
Till your agony’s your heaviest load.
You’ll never fly as the crow flies, get used to a country mile.
When you’re learning to face the path at your pace
Every choice is worth your while.
Stepping on a crack, breaking up and looking back
Every tree limb overhead just seems to sit and wait.
Until every step you take becomes a twist of fate.
Up on the watershed, standing at the fork in the road
You can stand there and agonize
Till your agony’s your heaviest load.
You’ll never fly as the crow flies, get used to a country mile.
When you’re learning to face the path at your pace
Every choice is worth your while.
[Quote]
Words and music by: Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls
To listen: Watershed.wav (sample only)
If I had to name one person whose words/thoughts had influenced me more than anyone else in my life, it would be Emily.
“Well I better learn how to starve the emptiness and feed the hunger.”
(That’s what I keep trying to tell myself.)
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