Musical Monday #78

Welcome to the 78th edition of Musical Monday, the weekly quiz that Soccer Dad and I alternate hosting. As always, the challenge is to identify the title and artist of each song quote below, as well as the common theme of the entire set of songs.

With 77 MMs now behind us, some degree of repetition is bound to crop up. So I'll confess that today's theme is a sort of a second cousin to one I did a while back, with a few of the same songs - though using different quotes! Extra credit if you can ID the previous, slightly related theme. Also, I'll note that songs #34-36 on today's bend the rules somewhat, while #37 fits the theme very well, but in a different way than the rest of them.

1) "And I say I don't know"
2) "I don't care what the neighbors say"
3) "But you still mystify"
4) "What does it matter to ya?"
5) "Sometimes it's not for days"
6) "And the front rank died"
7) "Take my arms that I might reach you"
8) "I'll taste all that love that you've been hiding"
9) "You're like a fresh morning dew"
10) "You say I'm tough and kind of wild"
11) "My heart was captured, my soul surrendered"
12) "Exactly whom I'm supposed to be"
13) "Into your arms I fell so unaware"
14) "Respectfully, I say to thee"
15) "Simple though love is, still it confused me"
16) "From the profit he's made on your dreams"
17) "So why on earth should I moan?"
18) "Leave me never"
19) "Like the tick-tick-tock of the stately clock"
20) "We learn to give each other what we need to survive"
21) "We'll have a dance of liberty"
22) "They print my message in the Saturday sun"
23) "I turn my back and you're messin' around"
24) "I never cared for school or any golden rules"
25) "I like my bands in business suits"
26) "Movin' in for the kill tonight"
27) "But as quick as a flash your love is gone"
28) "Susanne the plans they made put an end to you"
29) "And the people who gain the world and lose their soul"
30) "Through the storm we reach the shore"
31) "It's enough to leave me crying in the rain"
32) "Young and wired, set to explode in the heat"
33) "That certain kind of love that moves all doubts"
34) "Loading crates down on the dock"
35) "You see, Andy didn't have many friends"
36) "Cut you down to size"
37) "I swear it's not too late!"

Good luck and enjoy!

Aaron's Birthday 2009: 22 And Not Counting

Aaron's birthday was today, the 22nd of January. He would have turned 22 this year.

If Aaron were still with us, his birthday still an occasion for joy and celebration, that small numeric coincidence would be noteworthy, perhaps an excuse for a extra bit of festivity. But with each passing year since his loss, it becomes more and more difficult to even remember when our family used to associate 1/22 with parties, fun, and congratulations. Now it's become an annual milestone to be dreaded and endured, accompanied by emotions at best bittersweet, at worst, depressing and painful beyond words.

Today is the fourth January 22nd to pass since Aaron's loss, and thus the fourth time I have posted to this blog to mark that date. In looking back, I note a progression, a change in my approach to this occasion, quite sad in its own right. The first year, Aaron's loss still so recent and raw, I determined to combat my misery and broken spirit by focusing on positive memories we had of his life, producing a long, detailed, and truly heartening recounting of joyful reminisces. On a smaller, less ambitious scale, I added to this list in 2007. And then last year, though I couldn't bring myself to uncover any further such recollections, to think any more happy thoughts, I was at least somewhat eloquent in my very inability to do so.

But today, I find myself overwhelmed with the numbness of spirit and dullness of inspiration that I had only professed in last year's birthday post. Perhaps this is simply in keeping with overall moribund state of this blog (alternate Mondays excepted). Or perhaps I have already written all there is to say - or all I am willing to say - about this subject, and can think of no fresh words, no innovative ways in which to rephrase and reiterate the feelings of bereavement and sorrow that never leave me for a single moment.

Whatever the reason, this is where I am today, in all its raw reality: aching, sad and lonely, tearful and angry, and wishing to Heaven we could just skip over January 22nd and be done with it.

As the Bard said, the rest is silence. Thanks for being here with me to read the words I can write, and between the lines of what I can't. You guys help me get through, as much as anything can. May God bless you and yours.

Benefit of the Doubt

"Barack, which means 'blessing'; Hussein - don't ask! - and Obama, which is an old Kenyan word for 'Kennedy'..."
- Robin Williams

"After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true."
- Spock, "Amok Time"

As anyone not sealed in cryogenic freeze knows by now, today the sun rose for the first time on a 44th US President, Barack Obama. After all the hype and hoopla, all the hints, hypotheses and huzzahs, it's time to see what our new president is really made of, and how he'll deal with the great many genuine, serious issues facing our country and the world as a whole.

I certainly was not among Obama's admirers, supporters, or voters, for a variety of reasons articulated over the past year by commentators too numerous to list. But the time for such considerations, for criticism and negativity, is, in my mind, past. Perhaps, it will be future as well. But for today, I'm willing to give President Obama the benefit of my (many) doubts, and continue to hold on to the hopes I articulated right after the election.

Perhaps you disagree. Then let me at least say this: our Sages tell us to pray for the welfare of the government. This rule was articulated during a time period of far more despotic, destructive, and yes, Jew-hating regimes than any US administration could conceivably ever become. If it applied to them, how much more so does it apply to our new POTUS? So let me end by echoing words from the contemporary US version of that prayer:

He Who grants salvation to kings and dominion to rulers, Whose kingdom is a kingdom spanning all eternities... may He bless the President, the Vice President, and all the constituted officers of government of this land. The King Who reigns over kings, in His mercy may He sustain them and protect them from every trouble, woe and injury. May He rescue them; and put into their heart and into the heart of all their counselors compassion to do good with us and with all Israel, our brethren. In their days and in ours, may Judah be saved and may Israel dwell securely, and may the Redeemer come to Zion. So may it be His will, and let us respond: Amen.

Farewell to Khaaaannnn!

Actor Ricardo Montalban passed away yesterday at the age of 89. Best known to 70s TV fans as the serene and slightly mysterious proprietor of Fantasy Island, he'll always be remembered by us Trekkers for a slightly more volatile role in his long and successful acting career!

Hopefully, the actor's final words were a bit more positive than Khan's (or Ahab's). RIP Ricardo Montalban, and Vaya con Dios.

Musical Monday #76

Welcome to the 76th edition of Musical Monday, the weekly quiz that Soccer Dad and I alternate hosting. As always, the challenge is to identify the title and artist of each song quote below, as well as the common theme of the entire set of songs.

I didn't separate any sub-groups this week, although various songs do fit the theme in different ways. In fact, there's a loose, partial ordering of songs within the theme, and even some connecting pairs, that may help you fill in gaps after the first few are identified.

1) "I never kept a dollar past sunset"
2) "They dropped things on his back"
3) "Let's pretend we just can't see his face"
4) "Invest a dime"
5) "Cause you came and you took control"
6) "Put it in the ground where the flowers grow"
7) "The near and the dear ones"
8) "Somebody came and took your bed"
9) "These days are ours; share them with me"
10) "Playing warden to your soul"
11) "We'll dress him up warmly"
12) "Drink from the silver cup"
13) "The music plays so nonchalant"
14) "You've only got my heart on a string"
15) "Just take a seat, they're always free"
16) "Maybe tomorrow a new romance, no more sorrow"
17) "We lied about each others drinks"
18) "You are the move you make"
19) "They've been going in and out of style"
20) "But you know I could never stand for this"
21) "Out of the silver light, the past came softly calling"
22) "Anybody can sing it any old time"
23) "They reach into your room, just feel their gentle touch"
24) "Looks like it's over; you knew I couldn't stay"
25) "Well, I bet you wish you could cut me down"
26) "And he's boring as hell"
27) "I like the way you move and just the way you are"
28) "Agony's torn at my heart too long"
29) "I'm tired of moaning, I'm tired of groaning for you"
30) "But you know it's by your side I will stay"
31) "And the princess will wake up from her slumber"
32) "Let the morning time drop all its petals on me"

Good luck and enjoy!

Post Fast Test

I intended this post for yesterday, when the fast day of Asarah B'Teves was observed, but a combination of a renewed deluge at the office (those nice, quiet workdays during the "Holiday Season" are over!), and feeling generally lousy all yesterday afternoon and evening, got in the way. So this may be a day late, but at least I got a chance to us a nicely alliterative title!

Asarah B'Teves - the 10th of the Hebrew Month of Teves - is one of a series of four fast days that relate to the events surrounding the destruction of the First Temple, the others being Tisha B'Av, Shiva'asar B'Tammuz, and Tzom Gedaliah. It is also probably the least clearly understood of those fast days, in that the very event(s) it commemorates are much less well-known, and not even universally agreed (see Gemara Rosh Hashanah 18b). Yet in certain ways, Asarah B'Teves has a unique status, not only relative to the other Rabbinic fasts but amongst Jewish holidays as a whole. Here are a few questions to test your knowledge of the day's distinctiveness:

1) On what days of the week can Asarah B'Teves occur?

2) How does it differ in this regard from:
a) All other fast days?
b) (Nearly) all other Jewish holidays?

3) How is Asarah B'Teves also unique with regard to the secular calendar?

Post your responses in the comments - I'll cover any unanswered ones on Friday.