Que Paso ( #BOTB Results )

 

     I've been trying to get my A to Z posts ready, but so far I'm not doing so well with it.  I think my wheels will start into full gear this coming week.  That's what I said last week and the week before.  This time I'd better mean it.   For now I'll break from the April Challenge to do my BOTB duties as announced previously...

Battle of the Bands Results

 

 

       I'm going to be real lazy for the sake of expediency.  You can find my previous Battle HERE if you want to see want we started with.   Here's what we ended with counting my own vote for Cafe Tacuba.

Final Vote Tally

Leo Dan               3 votes

Cafe Tacuba          7 votes

Now I'm off to do some blog post composing...

   

Como Te Extraño (BOTB)

    St. Patrick's Day is upon us once again, so why not celebrate music with a popular song in Spanish.  Yeah, that's what I'm going to do.  

Battle of the Bands

        Battle of the Bands is the blogging event started by Far Away Series and now hosted by StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands.   This event happens each month on the 15th and on some there is also a Battle on the 1st of the month.  My blog is one of those with a second Battle excepting over these summer months.   The premise is simple:  Listen to the songs presented below and then in the comments vote for your favorite and tell us why you liked it.  Then visit the links listed near the bottom of this post for more Battle action.

Cómo Te Extraño Mi Amor

 

      Back in the nineties when I started to listen to a lot of Rock in Español  (Rock in Spanish) music, I started hearing this song by the Mexican group Cafe Tacuba played often on the radio.  My wife Betty told me that the song had been a big hit when she was a young girl in her native Ecuador and she had been a fan of the original singer Leo Dan.  Naturally I looked for a recording of that original version and found it to be quite enjoyable in that sixties style.  I like either version, but I do have my favorite.

 

        Hope you'll give this an honest listen so you can tell us which version you like best--feeling nostalgic for the sixties or do you prefer the more modern sound...


Leo Dan   "Como Te Extrano"  (1964)





Cafe Tacuba   "Como Te Extrano"   (1996)

Time to Vote!

         Don't think that this music is too strange for you. C'mon!  It's just music.   In other words, which song version do you like best?   Hopefully you have an opinion of some kind.  You don't have to know about music to have an opinion since it all comes down to your own personal taste.

        Please vote on your favorite by letting us know your choice in the comment section and tell us why you prefer the version you chose. Then after you've finished here, please visit the other blogs listed below who may or may not be participating this time around. And if you've put up your own BOTB contest let us know that as well so we can vote on yours. I don't know if anyone else will be doing a Battle this time around, but you can still check out these sites.


Here are some other places where you might find BOTB posts:

 StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands

'Curious as a Cathy'

Sound of One Hand Typing

Jingle, Jangle, Jungle 

Landmark Sounds (Diedre Knight)

BATTLE OF THE BANDS BY DEBBIE D

Stine Writing

Trivial Music Silliness

Mike's Ramblings

Results coming on Friday March 22

    The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is upon us.   I've got to get busy!  How about you?  Do you have an April blogging plan?

And Now!.....What Am I Going to Do? ( #AtoZChallenge Theme Reveal )

 

Can you believe it's that time again!  Is this really my 15th year of doing this A to Z Blog Challenge in April?   I guess it is.   Now it's become a tradition for many of us.   And now here is what has become another tradition of the A to Z Community...

        This year my theme will be:

I COULDA BEEN

Yes, I'll be looking at many of the things I could have been in life as well as things I have done.  Mostly I'll be exploring the realms of jobs, occupations, and careers that I could have done in my lifetime--and at times even did for a while.  You've probably done some of these same things in your own life journey or are doing them now in your own life.  Hopefully I'll be sharing stories and ideas that are relatable and interesting.

      Sure, I could have done other themes, but this is one that's been on my mind for a few years now.  I guess it has something to do with the reflections on my own life as I get older, but I also wonder about those in the job market now.  Things have changed in many ways since my working days, but the bottom line has not:  Making a living or fulfilling some aspect of ones life.

       Hope you'll join me through these April thoughts and have some of your own thoughts to add.

        Now, I'd better get started on this project.  Sounds like work to me...

How about you?   Got any April plans?   Did your life plans of youth turn out the way you thought?

Better Late Than Not at All ( #IWSG & #BOTB Results )

        

       Sorry, though not really sorry, that I'm a bit late with my blog posting this week.  The intention was certainly there until unforeseen circumstances interfered.  But we know about what happens to best intentions sometimes and that was the case for me this week.

     I had planned on doing my Insecure Writer's Support Group post on Tuesday March 5 and then compiling my Battle of the Bands results post on Thursday to appear Friday March 8.  Then my plans went awry.  After a routine follow-up visit to my physician on Tuesday morning I had planned on going home to put my Wednesday post together.  Then the kink.  My doctor became concerned about some things I had told them about a physical event that had occurred the previous weekend.  He sent me next door to the hospital for some observations.  

       Even though I told him I felt good enough to walk through the parking garage to the hospital next door to the clinic, he insisted on having me transported.  I thought someone would just roll me over in a wheelchair, but no-o-o-o.  He had an ambulance come to drive around the block to the emergency room door.  Aside from his concern that I might have (or had already had) a heart attack, I was informed that doing this way would cost me much less money in the end.  Okay, I was fine.  The ambulance part was a bit weird, but fun in some strangely perverted way.  

        Then came that interminable wait in the ER with nurses and doctors coming and going.  They decided that since there were a number of tests to be run, they would have to admit me to the hospital and keep me overnight.  Not my favorite thing to do by any means, but everyone there was so darn nice it was difficult to be too upset.  And my wife was there much of the time and spent the night in a recliner in the room.  After a night of being repeatedly awakened for this test or that observation, I was prepared for more tests lasting throughout the day Wednesday.

       In the end the doctors determined that there had been no cardiac event and they saw no real problems that caused them concern.  I was released Wednesday evening and too tired to be thinking about any blogging activity.  I wanted to actually get a good night's sleep after my ordeal.

       Thursday morn I had to get up to go to another previously scheduled medical observation unrelated to my heart at the same hospital.  That all went just fine, but after I got home I totally forgot about my blogging duties and instead watched that absurd State of the Union address by our fraudulently installed doofus puppet President.  As I was about to go to bed I remembered my Friday post, but decided it could wait.

       So I did it Friday morning and it probably doesn't really matter that much.  I'm alive and I feel fine and that's what matters most.  So here is that post I had planned...

The Insecure Writer's Support Group

Join us on the first Wednesday of each month in Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group--a forum of writers who gather to talk about writing and the writer's life. For a complete list of participants visit Alex's Blog. 
     The co-hosts for the March 6 posting of the IWSG are Kristina Kelly, Miffie Seideman, Jean Davis, and Liza @ Middle Passages.

Have you "played" with AI to write those nasty synopses, or do you refuse to go that route? How do you feel about AI's impact on creative writing?

      No I haven't played with AI yet, but if I get a chance I might.  I would not go that route for any writing that was supposed to be "creative" as I think AI would defeat the purpose of creative writing.  I might use it for some utilitarian purpose, but otherwise it is the tool of the lazy person who has no real interest in creating written work that is original and perceptive.  AI can fake it, but if AI ever understands it then we are probably in trouble as humans.

Battle of the Bands Results

         My previous Battle was two groups doing the Negro spiritual "Trouble of the World".  I liked both pretty well (which is why I chose these two to go against each other), but in the end I went with the Crosscurrents crowd.  

Final Vote Tally

13th Amendment         3 votes

Crosscurrents               10 votes

   Now I'm outta here.  Got things to do.  A to Z is coming up and I have to prepare for that.  And other things too.  Lots of other things.

Trouble of the World #3 (BOTB)

     I guess I've been pretty lax of late in respect to blogging and other internet activities.  What can I say?  Not much.  I'm doing fine and keeping busy with other things.  But here I am with another Battle.  And I'll even report the results of my previous Battle.  Yeah--I know...

Crazy Love Battle

       In my February Battle, Freddie Falcon ran away with the thing.  I liked both versions so whatever I liked best doesn't matter much because Freddie won no matter what.  And that's all I have to say about that.

Battle of the Bands

        Battle of the Bands is the blogging event started by Far Away Series and now hosted by StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands.   This event happens each month on the 15th and on some there is also a Battle on the 1st of the month.  My blog is one of those with a second Battle excepting over these summer months.   The premise is simple:  Listen to the songs presented below and then in the comments vote for your favorite and tell us why you liked it.  Then visit the links listed near the bottom of this post for more Battle action.

Trouble of the World

       I've used this traditional spiritual a couple times in the past.  As I said back then, there are so many good versions of this tune that I could do several Battles with it.  So, here it is again, this time with a couple of jazzy versions.  Which do you prefer?

The 13th Amendment  "Trouble of the World"   (2012 )

Crosscurrents  "Trouble of the World" (2011)

Time to Vote!

         The only trouble I'm seeing at the moment is if you don't vote.  C'mon!  Let's play!   In other words, which song version do you like best?   Hopefully you have an opinion of some kind.  You don't have to know about music to have an opinion since it all comes down to your own personal taste.

        Please vote on your favorite by letting us know your choice in the comment section and tell us why you prefer the version you chose. Then after you've finished here, please visit the other blogs listed below who may or may not be participating this time around. And if you've put up your own BOTB contest let us know that as well so we can vote on yours. I don't know if anyone else will be doing a Battle this time around, but you can still check out these sites.


Here are some other places where you might find BOTB posts:

 StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands

'Curious as a Cathy'

Sound of One Hand Typing

Jingle, Jangle, Jungle 

Landmark Sounds (Diedre Knight)

BATTLE OF THE BANDS BY DEBBIE D

Stine Writing

Results coming on Friday March 8

 

        They'll be coming after my #IWSG post next Wednesday.  If I think it's worth doing and I feel like it.   And if I don't get too distracted.  That can happen as some of you well know.