Glen Brammell Journal

I love how big our country is. I went on a trip recently and discovered that you can drive for hours on end at 80 miles per hour and still not be even close to our destination. This happened to me when I went to see a friend who lives in Mississippi. His name is john and we went to college together. It was good to see him and his family.

John had just bought a new home and was just starting to get it the way he wanted it. The first thing I noticed was that he didn’t have a security alarm. I talked to him about this and told him that it would be worth the investment to have some peace of mind. Knowing that his family was safe is of great importance. We found a home security tupelo company that could provide the services he needed.

Another aspect of his new home was that it would be very expensive for him to have cable service installed. We did some research and discovered a site called LocalTV-Satellite.com that made our decision easy. John could have his choice of the many programs options they had. I am sure that John is enjoying his new home and his family is too. As for me, I am facing a long ride home!

Last night we caught the movie, E.T. on one of the cable channels. I cannot believe it has been 30 years since that movie came out. It was really strange to see little Drew Barrymore in that movie as a little 4 year old girl!

I remember when that movie came out. Everyone was so excited about the story of a little boy finding an alien and making friends with it, that it was friendly and meant us no harm. I hope that if we ever do have visitors from space arrive here, that their first contact with us humans is with a little boy like the one in the E. T. movie.

Most of the time when I think of the flute, I think of Native American music. Those are songs that are haunting and very spiritual, usually accompanied by drums and chanting.

This morning I was poking around YouTube and came across two songs, by accident, that featured the flute Celine Dion’s theme song from “Titanic,” and a song by Celtic Woman called, “Scarborough Fair.” The odd thing is that I don’t remember the flute from the first version I ever heard of that song, by Simon and Garfunkel.

So I clicked over to the Simon and Garfunkel version and listened to that one. Their version features acoustic guitar and harpsichord – not the flute.Until the very end – and then there is a flute or possibly clarinet? I can’t really tell and I listened to it twice. Anybody know which wind instrument is featured on the Simon and Garfunkel version of Scarborough Fair?

That put me in the mindset for some old folk rock and I listened to some other Simona nd Gafnkel songs for about 30 minutes, then I had to get out of the house and head off to work.

Feeling a little down and grumpy, so I went on Youtube and started listening to old songs. Some of them are vaguely familiar and some I’ve never heard before. It started with a Celine Dion song from back in 1990 and somehow morphed into a duet by Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn – and I don’t even like country music much. The duet is called “You’re the Reason Out Kids Are Ugly.” It’s a really funny noveltys ong from the 1970′s that I am sure my parents listened to and got a good laugh from the lyrics.

That’s part of the fun of Youtube – you never know where your listening buffet will take you.

The neighbor came by this morning to warn me about this weekend. They are having a kids birthday party and the place will be noisy and busy with a couple dozen kids running and screaming across the yards. I remember how it as last year, and can’t believe its already been year since that birthday party.

There is just something about 20 eight and nine year olds running around that gives me a headache just thinking about it. That is way too much energy and noise for me. But for a lot of people, throwing kids birthday parties is like a competitive sport. They hire Party and Event Rentals companies to handle all the details for their kid and the friends, and then the parents don’t have to do much but run the video recorder and chit chat with the other parents who come to the party.

The smart ones hire out the Food Catering, the entertainment and the clean up. The parties in my neighborhood have come a long way since the days when I was a kid and thought that a couple hours in the mall arcade with unlimited tokens was the ultimate party. Nowadays they have
Bounce House Rentals, clowns, face painters, carnival games and all kinds of entertainment options. Its good to be a kid.