**REVIEW** Lancome DreamTone (Final Update?)

Just a quick post about the results my sister is having after about 2 weeks use:

Her skin is loving the DreamTone. She had some dry, rough patches that were soothed and smoothed almost immediately.

At 10 years older than my 52 years, her skin is taking to the product the way it seems it was meant. To be really honest, I have pretty good skin for my age while my sister does not. She has had a lot of up and down weight gain over the years that affected her face. The DreamTone is not only improving the feel of her skin, but results in texture are visible.

Unfortunately, my sister will not let me post Before and After pics because she is such a grinch. Kidding. She is just vain and camera-shy. I get it. Who knows, in a few weeks, I might be able to convince her to let me show photos.

So, there it is for now. If your skin does not react as mine did to the product, it seems like it could be just the thing for a lot of you ladies - no matter what your age.

Peace
--Free

The Good, Bad & Ugly Internet

Google Plus and Twitter aren't enough for me anymore. I've signed up for Tumblr (not sure how I like it yet), About.me (not sure how it's useful yet), Last.fm (love it), and I've delved back into my dormant Pinterest account (totally hooked this time).

My older sister doesn't have or want to have anything to do with the internet except for the games on her phone. If it were not for the games on her phone, she probably wouldn't even know what her mobile data is for. I think that's a shame. There is so much on the internet that is good, educational, entertaining and socially world-shrinking. On the other hand, there are the Kardashians. This brings me to the point of this post: the good, bad and ugly of the internet.

The Good

• It's taught me, better than the other time I spend, that there's a difference in being known and being respected. The internet can make a star or villain out of almost anyone. 
• People find a lot of harmful enjoyment - like my sister with the games. It sure is cheaper. Example: $8/mo for watching movies and shows in my PJs. $10.25 for one evening movie theater ticket. That's solo, no refreshments (or "Pause" button for the bathroom breaks). Nuff said?
• It's an open classroom for anyone wanting to learn anything. People who can't afford normal portals of education can gorge themselves on knowledge.
• It really does erase boundaries. People on different continents of different cultures, races and backgrounds can connect, chat, share and even make plans to meet in person. 
• For people who ever wondered if they were the only ones who (fill in the blank with whatever insecurity, health problem, life problem, etc.) get relief in knowing they are not.
• People who can't travel - or maybe even leave their home - can see the beauty of the rest of the world.
• All the time we spent running to the store, the Post Office and bank and holding our phones listening to bad "Hold" music is pretty much done. Gift-shopping is so easy, you can check a person's Wishlist online, order the very thing they want and have it delivered - even if said person hates you and you're under police orders to stay a hundred feet from them at all times. (Don't ask how I know this.)
• Jobs are opened up by the existence of the internet. Technology needs the tech savvy. Those tech-leaning folk (and those who run from tech) can find jobs they might never have heard about. Some of those jobs can be done without stepping foot into a shower or out of the front door. (I don't recommend that shower part.)

The Bad

• Fame is there for the grabbing, but that fame is like any pleasure and comes in varieties: worth it, no way in hell worth it, long-lasting, fleeting, surprising or painful - and always with a consequence.
• The internet gobbles time the way I'd gobble cheesecake if I lived in an alternate universe with no calories or gravity. (By the way, if you know anyone who uses Pinterest, slap them the next time they claim to be to busy to do anything else. That site is like choose-your-crack city. I spent two hours on there one day and almost missed an appointment.)
• People need people (sing it, Barbra) but, sometimes, the internet is the worst way for people to meet. It's too easy to lie about who and what you really are. 
•  Seeing our societies shallow attraction to only those who are beautiful and successful can really breakdown the rest of us mere mortals.

The Ugly

•  Not all people (yet) have access to the internet (though more than ever before) and, sometimes, they are shoved further into a poverty - whether a poverty of learning, opportunity or of spirit.
• It seems that just many people use the broken boundaries for bad as for good. The cowards and bullies have a bigger platform to recruit and target victims. And they use it. 
• As far as meeting someone on the internet (for more than "casual" contact), so much can go sideways. We've all heard about the friend of a friend who finally met Mister or Miss Right via some toolonely.com site. Sometimes, they find out just exactly why the liar face is so lonely. Lots of times it can be funny (to the rest of us) when a real-life meet goes wrong, but too many times, it's dangerous as hell, maybe even deadly. At the least, it can be heartbreaking. That's bad enough for some people.
• You have to be careful with what you put out there online. Most of us (I include myself here) are not nearly careful enough. Someone with enough time or money or lack character can find out what brand and color underwear you use on alternate days of the week. (And don't even wonder why the ads that pop up on the site you visit always have ads for the exact flavor of Coffee Mate creamer you prefer.)

Yeah, so...

The thing is, there is good, bad and ugly in everything. We just need to be more aware.

Peace

--Free

Weirdities Explained

Someone emailed and asked me to explain my phobias - or what I call my "personal qualms." I admit I have some quirks that run deep.

I guess I should thank the person who was cool enough to email me. Instead of just writing me off as a nutty nut job, they came right out and asked why I have all these phobias. If they were snickering as they typed, none of that leaked into the email.

In the years I've blogged here, I've talked so much about my little "issues" that I don't remember if I ever have explained them. I'm just a strange person. Not strange-bad (I don't think), but I have my ways. Maybe being a Cancer is part of it. And I am a serious moon child.

Going back through my old posts, I realized that I might actually need some kind of therapy. For instance, I have discussed here:

• Not being able to even watch another person in a deprivation chamber that involved water submersion. They looked too close to going under. I mean, just now using the words "water" and "submersion" together gave me the creeps.
• Having problems with my roommate (and a former best friend) because of her messiness and my fear of it.
• Quitting smoking made me dream my phobias. Note: Quitting smoking = good for you and adds years of life (I guess). Chantix = great way to stop smoking. Quitting smoking with Chantix = great way to dream yourself into a straitjacket.
• Being "normal" probably means having one or two things that freak you out. I re-read this post and, based on the number of things that I freak about, I am seeing some therapy or psychotropic drugs in my future.

One good thing about having neuro-sarc: I forget how crazy I am until someone reminds me - or until I review these blog entries. Maybe it's not such a good idea that I have pretty much documented my life here on BeingFree. All my craziness is going to haunt me as long as there is a world wide web.

Peace
--Free

"I'm not crazy, I'm just interesting." (yeah, I said it)

One of Those Days

Once again, this wouldn't be my life if it weren't funny.

You guys have heard me talk about my Sarc enough to know that it makes me clumsy sometimes, right? And I've told you how I have less than great eyesight. I am near- and far-sighted. I use my reading glasses more than I use my distance glasses for driving, but I pretty much can't see details either way without concentrating.

So on top of being a klutz and poor-sighted, I also have self-acquired Attention Deficit Disorder. And what I mean is that my ADD comes from mental laziness more than from the neuro-Sarc. I'm a daydreamer and I just don't always pay full attention to things.

Now keep all this in mind when I tell you that it was no one's fault but my own when I came this close to sliding under a half-ton pick-up truck the other day.

I had to make a quick run up to a convenience store. Just needed one loaf of bread and didn't want to fight the crowds at the grocery store. Of course, I am too vain to just do the wrap-a-coat-over-the-pjs thing. (My roommate does that all the time and I tell her that she's going to regret it when she meets someone special or important while she's looking ratty.) I don't like to go out anywhere without brushing my teeth, combing my hair and putting on at least some good Chapstick.

And, ladies, understand that I don't do this to impress the guys as much as I do it for you. I hate nothing worse than looking like crap when I run into another woman who looks like she's got it all pulled together. The only sleepwear I will wear in public has "Pink" written on it. Yes, I love my Victoria's Secret type lounge-wear ("type" could be Victoria's Stepsister off the rack at Walmart. Cute does not have to be expensive).

So anyway, I brush my teeth, tame the hair (oh boy) and gloss the lips. I tug on my cutest boots - which are not so ice-friendly but, what the heck, I'm just going from car to store and back. I'd tested the boots on our sanded lot at the apartment. And did I mention that they are really cute boots.

The boots were the first mistake.

Like always, I turn on the music in the car. Now, here's the thing: when I listen to music, I kind of go to that special place in my imagination. It's the place where I can sing well and I give concerts to imaginary fans, chair-dancing included. (Don't worry. I don't do the dancing thing while the car is in motion. That's just for stop lights and parking spaces.)

The music was the second mistake.

I get to the store, park and sit in the car until "No Parking on the Dance Floor" finishes. I'm shy about a lot of things, but I have no inhibition about singing and dancing in my car. Everybody wants to. I just happen to not care who sees me doing it.

So there I am, just killing it to the last little bit of the song.

This is a classic dance jam.

Just when the song was finishing, I noticed a big and beautiful shining monster of a blue truck pull into the space next to mine. I'm still doing my little shoulder-groove thing while I'm getting out of the car - because I can still kind of hear the music in my head.

The guy getting out of the truck is watching me and kind of smiling to himself because - I don't know, I'm the crazy-cool lady jamming down to sounds in her head? Or maybe he's just so damn happy to be driving that gorgeous vehicle? Anyway, as I go to step out of the car, I don't notice that the lot hasn't been salted or sanded. Also, I forgot that I was wearing my too-cute but not-safe-for-the-ice boots. I do the girly car exit (legs together, swivel and stand) still bopping away to my head-music and-

While it was in no way graceful, I bet skaters would kill to pull off the move I did. Everything seemed to be happening in slow-motion.

As I went into an immediate slide, I grabbed the door of my car. That only made things worse because I kind of whipped around and pulled the door out toward me.

Truck Guy came to the rescue. He caught me just as I was about to do an inspection of the underside of his ride. I ended up with my face planted in his underarm while my feet were doing this Scooby-Doo slip-slide-run thing. I felt like this went on forever, but I guess it only lasted a few seconds. Finally, I was standing upright but unable to move without sliding again.

Truck Guy was a gentleman. I know this because, even though I could feel him shaking with laughter, he kept a straight face while he asked if I was okay. I mean, he didn't even crack half a smile. That's control.

Of course I wasn't okay. I was embarrassed and I think I got whiplash in my ass.

Worst of all? There was a woman in Truck Guy's vehicle. He was polite about not cracking up but that bitch was laughing so hard she was about to give herself a hernia.

Truck Guy sort of toddler-walked me into the store and he even waited while I paid for my bread. He practically carried me back to my car. God bless that man, whoever he is... I'm sure that he and old girl entertained all their friends with that story. I know she did. That heifer.

Peace
--Free

**REVIEW** Lancome DreamTone (end of wk 3) UPDATED

~sigh~

It's over for me, ladies.

Sorry, but I gave up on the Lancome DreamTone that I've been trying out. It simply made my skin feel too dry. That's the bad news. The good news is that I am letting my sister try it. She might have better luck with it than I did. Already she likes the way it makes her skin feel. And she is pretty picky about products. Again, the bad news: she won't agree to let me photograph the full-face results. Something about not trusting the internet... I am going to try doing close-ups of her skin to mark progress.

For my personal final statements regarding DreamTone, it smelled good, felt great and I loved the design of the container. My main problem is that it made my skin feel thirsty. I work hard at moisturizing my entire body. For me, dry equals damage and wear. I like to feel soft and touchable.

Using DreamTone did not seem to damage my skin, but I did not see any dramatic improvements either.

At around $100, the DreamTone is rather expensive. As an alternative, I can purchase Anew for around $30 (for approximately 2 months use alone) or Olay for around $25 which would last over a month if using it with any other type of OTC moisturizer. At the cheapest, I can use olive, coconut or sesame oil in place of all the cosmetic brands. For someone in my financial position, the difference between five and thirty dollars for a vanity product is, well, enough of a difference. I get complimented on my skin all the time, so I will work with what I have for the time being. When I start having major issues with my skin, I might consider shifting more money away from food toward things like cosmetics and other vanity items.

Bottom line: DreamTone is probably just right for some skin types. Unless any results are expected to last for a while past final use of the product, the price seems high for the average working woman.  Using the product lightly twice a day, I could have expected to spend over $700 a year. For that kind of money, a woman could get a professional treatment in a doctor's office to handle minor issues.

Maybe DreamTone is going to be marketed to women in a higher income bracket. I don't know. My skin concerns are not that serious and my pockets aren't that deep. My sister says that, depending on how the product works, she would consider budgeting for it to use intermittently with other products. That's a thought, I guess, and it would be nice if there were more than one size and price option.

Peace
--Free

Forgot to add pics. I took the most honest ones I could: first thing in the morning, after sleeping with eye makeup on, hair NOT done. This was tough, but here goes:

I wanted to get rid of the dark "freckle" like spots on the left side

I didn't use DreamTone the day before, but went back to "cleaning" w/oil & using my Anew moisturizer.

Left my skin soft but just feeling too dry & kind of tight. That has passed now that I've stopped using it.

Not good to sleep in makeup. 

I might see a little smoothing of the lines on my forehead. A little.
(I'll make this one a profile pic since you can't see the lines! LOL)

I prefer to call them  smile lines. You don't notice them if I'm smiling!

Now all I need to do is start working on that hair!

Me and This Hair of Mine

A lot of women are going to be able to relate to this post. +Merry Weathers and I were having a conversation about our hair and I wanted to keep it going here on the blog.

(First of all, let me say that when I am talking about those who wear "natural" hair, I am speaking about black women. Not that it is only black women who have, in general, hair texture that is curly, kinky, thick or coarse. I am just speaking to what I know for myself.)

I am in a love/hate relationship with my hair. Hate is the current feeling at the moment. Okay - maybe not hate, but a strong irritation. And I'm not always the innocent party in this arrangement. Sometimes I'm abusive, then I make it up by being gentle and buying great products. Then I get lazy and start taking things for granted... It's a vicious cycle. But I am ready to admit my faults and accept help. I wish there was a Hair Help Anonymous for curly girls. I'd be all up in the front row of those meets:

"My name is Free and I abuse my hair."

If I treated my hair the way I treated my skin, I'd probably have a healthy and happy Afro by now. As it is, I have this TWA that dries up like a tumbleweed two seconds after I leave water. It wasn't until I started checking in with Curly Nikki on a regular basis that I figured out my problem(s).

Number One - I had never bothered to identify my hair type. This helped explain a lot. Now, I at least know that my hair is in the category of "low porosity" (versus "normal" and "high"). This helps me in choosing products that are better for my hair. You won't believe the mountain of products I have that are completely wrong for my hair type. ~sigh~

Number Two - Though I know some things now about my hair, I'm still a slow learner compared to folks who know the letter and number designation of their hair.  I know that my hair is nappy. Why the heck do I need to have a designation for that? The silliness. (I thought that was just for store-bought tresses! Live and learn.)

Number Three - Hair (especially when you are trying to "go natural") is like the best friend you pissed off a week ago: it's still there for you, but you have to treat it special for a while before things are good again. The relationship needs some real growth.

So, now that I have some clues about my hair type, I've been learning how to treat it better. I'm learning all about the Cherry Lola treatment, steaming (without spending a fortune), and which products work better for high, normal and low porosity hair. (True story: Talk about dry hair... in testing for my porosity type, I put a strand of my hair in a cup of water. It floated for two hours! It probably would still be floating, but I tossed it.)

I will tell you right now that if you are doing the "natural" look,  you need to check out the these sites. Be sure to let me know your suggestions for other sources of info.

• Some natural hair sites
• Natural Hair Community
• Curly Nikki
• Hairscapades
• Black Girl Long Hair
• Thirsty Roots
• Black Hair Information

• Treating hair based on individual types 
• The types (informative but...?
• Porosity types (now, this is useful)
• Low-Po treatment

• Steaming
• Benefits of and with or without a steamer (includes videos)
• More benefits of steaming and
• More steamer-free steaming instructions
• And once again

• Products for natural hair
• "Cleaner" products from 3 Sisters of Nature
• Black-owned natural hair businesses
• Ever Curl by L'Oreal
• Drugstore brands under $10 (thanks to Afrobella!)
• Carol's Daughter
• Tresemme & Pantene have lines
• Aussie Moist is featured on a lot of natural hair sites
• Vidal Sassoon worked well as a moisturizing shampoo & conditioner for me

I am learning that there is a whole language to the natural hair world. The co-wash, pre-poo, etc. It's a lot to grasp, but common sense should be your guide. For instance, I kept seeing "glycerin" being mentioned as a good moisturizer for my "lo-po" hair. Could have driven myself crazy getting to a supply store to purchase something. Guess what? My nephew had some SoftSheen Sta-Sof-Fro hair and scalp spray in a bathroom pantry. The second ingredient listed: glycerin. (Too oily for daytime, but a steamer treatment product for me.)

If anyone gets hold of more info, please share it with me. I'm off to steam my hair with a wet towel, plastic bag and a borrowed dryer.

Peace

--Free

I Challenge You All: To Do vs Done It

I am an app junkie. Time, weather, math, spelling, games... If there's an android app, I probably have had it on my phone.

It's dawned on me in the past few days that what I need is not a "To Do" app, but a "Done It" app. Until I find such an app (or learn to create one), I have been using pen and paper. Every couple hours or so, I make notes of what I have actually accomplished. Just before bed, I take a look and - well, I just started doing this so, right now, I mostly realize how little I do accomplish. What I am learning is that I waste a lot of time. Since I am forcing myself to be more aware of how I spend my time, I hope to start spending it better.

The Challenge:
If you want to try this, I suggest that you keep pen and paper nearby. Every couple hours, jot down what you have accomplished. (It can be a little cringe-worthy at first. If you don't think so, look at my first list below.) Don't try to change your usual routine for the first day if you want to get an honest idea of your time use. On Day Two, on one side of your paper, make a note of what you'd like to get done by day's end. On the other side of the paper, keep a log of what you actually did get done.

Wow, right?

So, yeah. That's my little challenge. But I'm not knocking the use of apps. Matter of fact, some apps are really necessary for me. I have one that tracks my blood pressure checks. This is because my doctor's like to monitor that sort of thing and I can rarely remember appointments, let alone a month's worth of pressure readings. Because I check my phone so much, I always notice the widget, which reminds me to check my pressure and log it.

I used one app when I was quitting smoking. It was (literally, I guess) a lifesaver. Whenever I wanted a smoke - which was about every 2 seconds, it seemed - I'd open Quit Smoking: Cessation Nation (*) and play a game or check my quit stats. It's kind of nice to be reminded of how your body is healing itself after years of nicotine abuse.

The apps I love though are the ones I just know I am going to use. I see them and think, "Wow, this is what I need to help solve every life problem I have." (Okay, not really, but I do get all hopeful like that.) I have so many apps on my phone that I forget about half of them unless I try to re-download them. Seriously.

One of the things I struggle with is keeping myself on track with goals. I am trying to get this book written, but I have trouble keeping plot and characters in line. Evernote has been my best friend for a minute now - though I don't like its widget. But the main kinds of apps I have been attracted to are the memo and list apps.

I actually use the Memo app (that came on my Samsung Infuse) several times a week. It's the only app of its kind that I do use on a regular basis. Not that it's the only good app of its kind, but there is something about how easy it is to use. Also, it never gets trashed up with updates. It's a good thing and they let it be. Bravo! (Watch what happens now that I mentioned it...)

Here are just some of the other apps I always intend to make use of:

• Assistant (a little bitchy & you need data or wi-fi open)
• Bother Me (needs work, but a great idea)
• Calendar (don't like the layout)
• Executive Assistant (I got tangled in options)
• Days Since (does "until" also. I like it a lot.)
• InNote (forgot I had it til this post!)

By the way, I hope my challenge works for you.

Peace

--Free

My 1st Day List 

Checked and answered email

Online

Blogged & Music

Set out stuff for dinner

TV

Online and email while eating

Exercised for about half an hour

Light cleaning

TV

Music and on phone

Visited family and took a nap

Early dinner

Ran errands

TV

Some editing

That's it. Like I said, cringe worthy. I am pretty embarrassed that I got nothing much done. And what in the hell did I do that warranted taking a nap? What am I - 2 years old?

Thankfully, I can say that this is one of my slower days, but I was up at around 8am and in bed by about 11pm. This is all I did with my precious life hours??? Yeah, so, my next step will be tracking start and finish times. 

(*) Thank you, Ron Horner, for an app that probably really did add some years to my life.

Peace
--Free

Stuff I Was Surprised is Online

My ex always liked to say that there are 2 things that will surprise us about heaven: who will be there and who won't. That's probably true (sure hope I get to find out!), but I am still being surprised about the here and now.

I know that the internet has broken barriers to almost everything. Why am I still so surprised when I run across what's available to anyone with an internet connection? If I were raising kids today, I would be so out-gunned. When I was helping to raise my two nieces, half my power as an adult was my ability to lie with a straight face. (Don't you judge me. Every adult stretches the truth about some things in order to frighten kids into behaving.)

Anyway, if our kids had had access to the internet back then, there's no way they'd have bought my bluff about knowing if they'd been having sex by taking their pulse. 

Courtesy the internet, you can learn just about anything and anything about anything - and not just how to add, subtract multiply and write code, which you can learn withing ten minutes of a Google search. You can learn useless stuff, cool stuff,  fun stuff. For instance, I found you can do the following:

• Attend a handbag academy. Not kidding you. For a hundred bucks a year (or twenty-five per month), you can learn how to make handbags at home. You might even be able to sell them. Now, that's what I'm talking about. (My broke ass is already  plotting how to afford this.)
• Learn to chant. Yes, chant. I think I'd have to learn to hold a tune first.
• Learn how to get qualified to fly a plane. (I won't be worrying about this one. Hell, I'm not coherent enough to figure out if that last sentence made sense!) 
• Buy Canned Unicorn Meat? Seriously? Sort of. Well, yes. And other strange things. I found out about this silliness via a post on the Mother Nature Network. (And, yes, I do really need either a man in my life or a job. Like ten minutes ago.)

Now, this isn't a huge list because I went ahead and found these other places you can check for more weird online stuff:

• Incredible Things - Very cool site. Don't go over there if you are supposed to be getting anything else done for a while. If you need to be taking care of things like work or chores or rescuing a kid who's gotten his head stuck in a drawer (remember when that happened to DJ on "Roseanne"?)
• Having home delivery is cool, but having tampons delivered? I don't want any stranger knowing that much about my life.
• I only put this in because I like playing Sims.
• More weird buys, via Reddit.
• Weird college classes you can take online. (Ask me why the hell I bookmarked that page? Maybe because there's an "Art of Walking" class? I dunno.)
• Blisstree has a bunch of stuff to check out. Hope the links here are all still good. It's an older post entry.

One thing I thought of when I was looking at some of these sites is, I'm not the only odd person out there checking out weird stuff. It's good to know you aren't alone.

Peace

--Free

Hi. How Are You? Who Are You?

The other day, when I was looking at stats to identify the blog's most popular posts, I also glanced at where returning visitors come from. Actually, over the past several months, I have used Feedjit off and on to see where my visitors hail from. (By the way, I myself don't like the idea of being watched, so I don't like to look too closely at my readers without their knowing. That's kind of creepy, don't you think?) Anyway, Feedjit just gives me a look at locations of readers. If it does give me any more info than that, I don't really know or care.

The only reason I even like knowing where readers come in from is that I'd like to sometimes post about things that might interest them instead of talking about myself all the time. Because I have the attention span of a toddler, even though I glance at my reader stats all the time, I remember those stats for about half a second. The good thing about that is, repeat visitors kind of stand out even in my memory.

It looks like I have some faithful readers out there from outside Paris, France, in Washington state and California and New York and down in Brisbane and Sydney. I get a lot of visitors from the UK. If I look closer at stats, I seem to attract the attention of more folks outside the US - at least enough for them to come back. Wonder what that means?

~shrug~

Blogger, Technorati, Feedjit... numbers, graphs and charts. I can give myself a major headache if i look too long at any of this stuff. What am I supposed to do with this information? No clue. I just found it interesting for about five minutes. And it made me want to know about the folks who come over and take a look at the blog. I'm so self-focused when write my posts, but, if I could talk to you guys, I'd want to know more about you.

So, all right then, I am talking to you, and I am very nosy:

• Where are you from & do you like it there or not? Why?
• Are you Android or Apple?
• What would you do if you could do anything and get paid for it?
• What's your favorite social network, if you have one? (G+, Facebook, Twitter....)
• Are you creative & how?
• Do you have a theme song? What is it?
• What's your zodiac sign?
• Are you part of a big family? Do you like that?
• What's your favorite song, book, quote...?
• What cycle of your life are you in right now? (Happy, sad, changing, learning...)

Of course, I have learned from experience that my readers tend to be shy. I get more direct emails than I do comments here and on G+. That's okay. If you do email, please remember to put the post title in the Subject line. Sometimes things go straight to my junk folder and I can't tell what's what.

Peace
--Free

Theme Music. Life Music.

Katt Williams suggested it. Ally McBeal did it. Me too.

I decided I needed some theme music for my life. A soundtrack, I guess.

What would be your theme song if you could have just one tune to represent you? If you could pick more than one song - say, 10 or 12 - would they all be from one time period or genre?

The idea of having hearing music playing in my head when I walk into a roomful of strangers - or enemies - or while I am writing... It's just such a cool idea. And it wasn't Katt Williams or Ally McBeal who first put the idea out there in public. When I started this blog, I met (online) another blogger who talked about a life soundtracks.  This woman was way ahead of the times and she is way more than a blogger, but this is where I discovered her.

So the idea has been there. Katt put humor (and truth) to it.

Once I saw that, I realized I'd been doing this all my life! I've always been like Rose. C'mon, you know Rose, don't you? Best comic strip ever.* 

Anyway, I am usually cooled out like "regular" Rose until I need to bring out my inner "biker chick", then I'm all

image by Don Wimmer

Yeah. Like that.

The thing is, one song is not enough to cover my many moods, oddities and whims. For that, I probably could put together a multi-disc pack. But, if limited to just one song, it would be "Shine" by the Bar Kays,

 but I have music of all kinds running through my head all the time. It must be something with me and the songs about inner light. INXS's "Shine Like it Does" is my back-up theme song. The words are so beautiful. The reminders do me good.

By the way, when I told someone about my theme music, they (of course) pointed out that I only mentioned secular songs. Well, guess what? I don't think that any one genre of music has God locked down. Matter of fact, the "Shine Like it Does" lyrics are all about something positive and eternal. So, you can just miss me with that criticism. I'd get all on my soapbox about "Shine" too, but I can't find the lyrics anywhere online. (And I'm bad with lyrics. To this day, my family starts snickering when I try to sing along with "In Da Club" by 50 Cent.)

Not to appease anyone, but I do have my one gospel song that I will really lean on when I'm just worn down.

Like I said, it's about being reminded.

Peace
--Free

*For more Rose, check this out.