Ahhhh...hahahahahaaaaaa!  Gotcha!

My oldest son has long, curly, thick, gorgeous hair...like me ;)
It's ALWAYS been a fight to get him to get his hair cut. Always!
Sometimes, I've dragged him into the Salon by his hair.
Sometimes I've threatened him with confiscating all of his electronics.
I've even threatened to not let him sleep at his fathers house.
On occasion, I've tried bribery. Which is the only thing that seems to work with him.
He gets his hair cut. I buy him a book. Fair enough.

Well...
He needs a hair cut again. It's bad. Unruly. A poor mans Nick Jonas...only much cuter.
He refuses to get it cut.

So, the other day. I needed to run to Michaels to return a ball of yarn. I dragged him along with me.
As we were walking through the store, a sales woman yells after my son...
"You are so lucky. That is THE most gorgeous head of hair I've ever seen."

My son smiles.
He looks at me and says...
"And THAT is why I don't want to get my hair cut."

And here I thought that vanity was a girl...
Apparently NOT.

Also included on the list is Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder's "Ebony & Ivory" at #59, John Lennon's "(Just Like) Starting Over" at #53, Elton John's "Candle in the Wind (1997)" at #41, The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" at #39, Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson's "Say, Say, Say" at #35, Paul McCartney's "Silly Love Songs" (as Wings) at #31, and The Beatles' "Hey Jude" at #8.

"You're so vain, I bet you think this song is about you..."

Genius lyrics; so smart it took almost thirty years to figure out what she was talking about. She was talking about some guy who most likely listened and wondered, "Is she talking about me?" I guess if he listened long enough, he'd know, especially when she started spilling details about the time they spent together.  And even then he probably thought, "Is she talking about me?"

I know someone like that. Everything is about him, even when it's not. Especially when it's not.

He's exceptionally gifted at convincing himself that he's doing something for someone else when, in fact, he is doing whatever it is for him. Perform an ordinary task of kindness or courtesy for him and if it doesn't suit his needs, he'll tell you for your sake. Cross one of his 932 boundaries and he'll correct you, because it would be 'unkind' not to tell you the 'truth.'  Cry to keep from cussing him out and he will suggest that it's your period because after all he couldn't possibly be the problem.

All about him even when it's not.

My godmother, Bunny, always says that selfish people don't think they are selfish. They think they are justified.

I don't do that kind of selfish.  So on the day he told me to 'lighten up,' which was crossing the sixth of my five boundaries, I decided to do just that. I sent a text message that said simply 'I will lighten up.'

And I did. I left him alone to believe whatever the heck he wants. I gave him the space to keep it all about him even when it's not; especially when it's not.

It was one of those things I had to do for me. 

Best, Robin

fiftydaystofifty@gmail.com

We all have songs that we listen to when we're feeling sad, party tunes we rock out to with company, and ballads that make us feel, well, powerful. Some of these group "power" songs can be heard at sporting events such as Queen's ever-popular "We Will Rock You."

We women have our own genre of "power songs" sung by female divas that command our attention and unite us in our heartache, independence, and prowess. I was musing about this today when I was in a bit of a down mood. I started blasting "Leave the Pieces" by The Wreckers and singing along loudly (and off-key). Somewhere between, "It's alright/Yeah, I'll be fine/Don't worry about this heart of mine/Just take your love and hit the road" and "There's nothing you can do or say/You're going to break my heart anyway/Just leave the pieces when you go," I suddenly felt much better. Yeah, life hurts and hearts get broken...but this is a song about independence and moving on after heartache. Instead of wallowing in doubt, I suddenly felt less broken, and like I had a choice and that life really does go on.

Obviously, if you listen to this song, it's about a guy who doesn't want to commit and a girl telling him to get lost because she's tired of his flip-flopping. But there are so many times I need to remind myself that I do have a choice--I can tell the world to get lost, even though it s so painful. I can tell sin to get lost, even though my sins break God's heart (and mine, too). And isn't a contrite spirit almost one that is broken, sometimes in pieces, after we've told who or whatever to get out of our lives? I know many times after my own stupidity or because of the stupidity of others, I've sat with my heart in pieces crying my eyes out. Yet God always takes those pieces and puts them back together.

God just spoke to me so powerfully through this song. Yes, life will hurt, but I can give Him the pieces. Yes, my heart will bust wide open, but I can move past my mistakes. And, yes, I will be fine because God's holding this heart of mine. Amazing how God can work through a song like "Leave the Pieces," but whoever said we can only find God in the worship section at the Christian bookstore anyway?

While many female power songs don't always hit me straight in the heart, there are a few I like to rock out to as well like "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" by Pat Benetar, "Heart of Glass" by Blondie (how I love Deborah Harry), "Defying Gravity" from Wicked (I just love that soundtrack), "Take a Chance of Me" (Come on, it's a woman saying "Hey, baby, look this way!" It's even funnier when you watch MAMMA MIA!), "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera (who'd have thunk it?), "This One's For the Girls" by Martina McBride, "Reflections" from Mulan (the ultimate warrior chick), "Go Your Own Way" the Cranberries cover version of course, and my ultimate female power song--"You're So Vain" by Carly Simon. Ah, Carly, you're my girl!

So, ladies (or gents), what's one of your "power" songs for your spiritual or emotional health? Post it, proclaim it, rock out to it!

P. S. If I missed any, leave me a comment and let me know! If I didn't miss any, leave me a comment and let me know!

(trovata qui)

Brooke White - AI Season 7 contestant

Are you a Brooke White fan? Can't wait to play her songs in your mp3 player?

Download Brooke White's most addicting song now!!!

For only $0.10, you can now have a copy of You're So Vain (studio version) . Click here:
American Idol Season 7 - Brooke White - You're So Vain

Be fascinated again and again at her vocal prowess!

Factoids:

+ While performing this song during the 1970s round, White stared at Simon Cowell. It caught the judges' attention and Simon was heard saying "I didn't like the way she was looking at me as she sang the song."

+ "You're So Vain" was originally sung by Brooke White's idol, Carly Simon- whose favorite contestant in idol was Brooke. =)

+ "Oh my God, this girl is so talented and she sings the song so much better than I ever did or ever could."- Carly Simon

+ Brooke performed "You're So Vain" on the following shows: The Ellen Degeneres Show, Live with Regis and Kelly, The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet and Access Hollywood.

See the lyrics here:
You're So Vain Lyrics

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That is, before my kids began Life – because, of course, nothing happened before the Movie Of Their Lives, Starring Them, with Us as Extras and Cameo Players began rolling in the Great Projection Room of the Universe – just as schoolteachers live in the classrooms and have ABSOLUTELY NO BUSINESS in 7-11, EVER, and doctors do not have FIRST NAMES so PLEASE stop calling Dr. Lynch “Patty,” MOM.

Back in THOSE days… I once knew a gentleman “of a certain age” who was, shall we say, rather confident in his appearance. So confident in his appearance was he that he made regular trips to the beauty parlor – oops, I mean, salon – more often than I have in my life, probably, and to his credit, he was fairly on target.

He was a looker, particularly for his age. He definitely didn’t look his age, that’s for sure, so when his sixtieth – count ’em, sixtieth – high school reunion came around, it was all he could talk about.

All… he… could… talk… about.

“Do you think they’ll think I look all right? I look all right, don’t I? For a guy my age?”

Glassy-eyed, I came to, sipped my house white and nodded as brightly as I could. At last, I could take no more, and finally said quietly: “I bet you think this song is about you. Don’t you? Don’t you?”

He looked at me, puzzled for a minute, then gave me the pouty face, but he did have a sense of humor, and gave it a rest.

Happy ending, though: he WAS the coolest, thinnest, hippest guy there – with the thickest natural head of hair. So he earned it. The song really WAS about him.

So I thought of him today, when I had to drive forty highway minutes and accidentally left the makeup mirror down on my sunvisor, and kept catching a view of myself.

Dang, I thought to myself. “Who’s that pretty girl in that mirror there?”

“Who could that attractive girl be?”

Humming the tune from West Side Story, since I didn’t know the words, I broke out when I got to the part: “And I pity… any girl… who isn’t me… today…” ad-libbing: “Because she didn’t get the great results on her split ends with Citri-Shine that I did…”

So today, the song was all about me. Which, of course, no one at all noticed. Which, of course, was fine, because my philosophy is always that the only person who needs to be really pleased with you is YOU.

Taking THAT one step further, I did realize how very ridiculous I was, being so very pleased with myself and all, so I decided I would, for a change, make fun of my OWN vanity on a global scale, since I poke fun of everyone else, and I would take a picture of myself, looking at myself, in the car sunvisor – which turned out to be extraordinarily difficult.

So I came inside and took some more pictures of myself inside, which was even MORE vain of me, so I’m posting them, too, so you can all have a good laugh at me.

Still: you have to admit: it’s a fairly good hair day, despite the frumpy sweater.

Em 1979, Abba com 'Gimme, gimme (a man after midnight):

E em 2005, Madonna com 'Hung Up', depois de ter implorado pelo sample:

Em 1972, Carly Simon com 'You're so vain':

Em 2002, Janet Jackson com 'Son of a gun (I betcha think this song is about you) com colaboração da original:

Em 1981, Queen com 'Under Pressure':

E em 1990, Vanilla Ice jura que nem pensou na banda pra fazer seu 'Ice Ice Baby':

They are so fun to do!

You're so vain, you probably think this post (ups song) is about you, you're so vainnnnnnn, I'll bet you think this song is about you, don't you, don't youuuuuu?

You walked into the party
Like you were walking onto a yacht
Your hat strategically dipped below one eye
Your scarf it was apricot
You had one eye in the mirror
As you watched yourself gavotte
And all the girls dreamed that they'd be your partner
They'd be your partner, and

You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't you?

You had me several years ago
When I was still quite naive
Well, you said that we made such a pretty pair
And that you would never leave
But you gave away the things you loved
And one of them was me
I had some dreams they were clouds in my coffee
Clouds in my coffee, and

You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't you?

I had some dreams they were clouds in my coffee
Clouds in my coffee, and

You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't you?

Well, I hear you went up to Saratoga
And your horse naturally won
Then you flew your Lear jet up to Nova Scotia
To see the total eclipse of the sun
Well, you're where you should be all the time
And when you're not, you're with
Some underworld spy or the wife of a close friend
Wife of a close friend, and

You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't you?

As a few of you are aware, today is my 45th birthday.

Yeah, I know, I'm getting old.

Tom and I made our annual trip to the local watering hold for New Year's Eve. He keeps a house about a block away from there, which he uses to store all his construction stuff, so we parked at his house and walked over to the bar (no drunk driving!)

The bar was packed absolutely wall to wall, so I'm pretty sure they broke some fire codes last night. They do karaoke at this particular bar, but neither of us does karaoke. We just watch, and cheer for the good ones and chuckle at the bad ones. Now, I don't know if it was me or if it was just because people were drinking too much to be singing in public, but there were a lot of really, truly, horrendously bad karaoke singers there last night.

As the night wore on and people got even drunker, some of the karaoke singers chose a few songs I haven't heard in many years, but which only reminded me of my advancing age because I remember when they were big hits. I like these particular songs so well that I can't even tell you if the karaoke singers were any good. :-)

One of my favorites which someone sang last night was "Pink Houses" by John Cougar Mellencamp (though I think he's long since dropped the "Cougar" from his name). I had forgotten all about this song, but as soon as I heard it, I could picture the video in my mind's eye and I remembered all the words. This tune came out in 1983, when I was already married and in my junior year of college. Are you young-uns getting an idea just how old 45 is yet? LOL

Someone also sang "I'm the Only One" by Melissa Etheridge. This one came out in 1993, when my son was starting to play Little League (see, I'm getting older by the minute as I relay this information, LOL). Great song, I chose the "House" video version, because I couldn't find the original but I like that show.

My favorite song of the night, because it's one of my favorite songs period, was "You're So Vain" by Carly Simon. I know a lot of men this could be referencing, LOL. In particular, it very well describes a man I dated for a short period of time before I met Tom. In fact, that guy is so vain that if he's reading this, he probably thinks this blog entry is about him. LOL Anyway, this song came out in early 1973, when I was ten years old, and I remember that it got a lot of radio play. I even owned the 45. For those of you who don't know what a 45 is, it's a small vinyl record with one song on each side of it, and I still have a lot of them (see, I keep seeming to get older and older, don't I? LOL).

Someone actually sang "Strutter" by KISS. They sucked, by the way. I mention it because I actually know Bruce Kulich, the guitarist who took Paul Stanley's place in KISS during the "Psycho Circus" days. He's a really, really good guitarist, but more than a little struck on himself (so undoubtedly "You're So Vain" could apply to him as well, LOL). He plays guitar for Grand Funk Railroad now.

I decided that my New Year's resolutions are to finish my neck and back surgeries, and start working out again in earnest. When I was getting ready to go out last night, which is something I very rarely do these days, I realized that some of my good jeans are really tight, undoubtedly because I haven't been able to work out since I eat a very healthy and balanced diet.

So my goal is to get back to mountain biking and kayaking, as well as my regular yoga and weightlifting routine. Maybe if I'm really lucky and the surgeries go really well, I can even return to practicing martial arts.

Of course, I can't overlook the fact that 2008 is an election year, and I'd like nothing more than to get the damn warmongers as far away from Washington as possible, and to get a President and Congress seated who will bring our troops home and stop invading other countries just because they have something we want (oil, anyone?) I'd have preferred that Bush and Cheney be impeached long ago, which might have solved a lot of this problem, but obviously the largely Democratic Congress the American people elected to get us out of this mess after stupidly electing Bush not once, but twice, have no balls at all.

My statement about electing Bush twice of course assumes we didn't actually elect Gore in 2000, which is what I believe we actually did, but then we had to deal with the extremely corrupt Florida Republicans whose actions eventually seated that crazy-ass delusional "God talks directly to me" warmongering asshole Bush. Let's resolve as a country to throw all the warmongering bastards out in 2008, shall we?

Hopefully by this time next year, my New Year's resolution will be to change something innocuous and no longer necessary, like using profanity when describing politicians, LOL.

In the meantime, I wish for you all a wonderful 2008, filled with good health, loved ones, peace, and prosperity.

1. What wouldn't Meatloaf do for love? This has got to be one of the most discussed "unanswered" questions since the song was first released. The lyrics never come right out and say what he won't do and that has driven the world (okay, me) crazy. Theories have ranged from committing murder to proposing to the hussy in the film clip. (Useless fact: The woman in the film clip isn't the singer. Mrs Loud, the singer, is actually Lorraine Crosby, a singer from England. She also appeared as a contestant on the UK's version of the X-Factor.) So, any idea what he wouldn't do?

2. What was Sandy and Danny's "true love vow"? In the very last verse of Summer Nights, there is a line "then we made our true love vow". I have always wondered exact what a true love vow was. Is it a corny "oh Danny, I'll always love you." "Me too" or is it something else *wink wink nudge nudge*. Everything points to it being the first ("she's too pure to be pink"), but I have a twisted mind, so part of me thinks it's the second.

3. Who is so vain? It's been narrowed down to four men in Carly Simon's life - James Taylor (her husband), Warren Beatty, Kris Kristofferson or Mick Jagger. I believe the last opinion also added Cat Stevens to the list, but that was dropped when she revealed that the subject has an E, A and R in his name, as was Kris K.

4. What happened to Fatso? This has haunted me since I was ten. In the final episode of A Country Practise, Vicky brings Fatso to the vet's clinic after running over him and has to operate on him. That much I can confirm. He also never appeared after the series moved to Channel 10. But on no website can I find if he died on the operating table. Why can't I find out if Fatso died? That's all I want to know, I don't care about whether Terrence ever found true love or if Tom ever got over Shirley's death, just tell me if the damn wombat died!

So, there you have it - my unanswered questions. Please help me maintain some grip on reality by telling me the answers. To me, these questions replace the normal "what's the meaning of life?". If I could have three wishes, I would want these questions answered (well, the first three anyway - I can always watch the reruns to find out the fate of Fatso).

You never got a chance to sing this song to HWA---but I hope in the next life God will literally let you and automatically grant you to have that exact chance! I present the song, courtesy from Youtube.com, Carly Simon's You're So Vain.