Day 76: Halloween music

Between You, Me and the Lamp Post

Day 76: Halloween music

Your house may be decorated to give even those with nerves of steel the hibijibis; your costume may be as lifelike that even your family doesn’t recognize you, but if you’re playing happy, carefree music, the Halloween spirit you are trying to create will go right out the window.

What you need is a Halloween music playlist, tunes so creepy, so blood curling, they will scare the pants off anyone attending your party.  The following is a small selection to consider.

Thriller - Michael Jackson

From the first note, this song will indicate that you mean business. Whether your guests are dancing or stand around talking, when Vincent Price starts his dialogue, hitting off with “Darkness falls across the land, the midnight hour close at hand”, all of them are sure to feel their neck hairs rise.  Not to mention Vincent Price’s laughter concluding the song. That will rattle a few bones.

The Monster Mash – Boris Picket and the Crypt Kickers

Whether your guests were born in the fifties or nineties, everybody loves The Monster Mash. Although scary and as such suitable for Halloween, The Monster Mash is perfect to end all conversation signaling it’s time for your guests to start kicking up their heels. 

Black Magic Woman - Santana

Of course, wild dancing can only last so long.  Every now and then you’ll have to throw in a slow tune so your guests can catch their breath and smooch a little without leaving the dance floor. Rely on Santana and Black Magic Woman to do just that. 

I Put a Spell on You – CCR

Keep a slow pace without losing any of the Halloween atmosphere. Spells and potions are right up there with ghosts and witches.  Put a spell on your guests with the help of Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Soundtracks

​If you don’t like individual songs, how about some movie soundtrack music? Think Psycho, think Poltergeist, any of the Freddie Kruger movies or even some Resident Evil tunes.  All of them are guaranteed to be bone-chilling and if your guests have seen the movies, the music will bring back some memories.

Alternatively, you can go for the soundtrack of the classics such as Dracula or Frankenstein movies. The visuals were scary, but it was the music that had many on the edge of their seats and gave them nightmares.

Whatever you decide, mix up the fast with the slow; the old with the new; and give your party guests a Halloween to remember.

Day 4. Dancing

Day 4: Dancing. The benefits of dancing.

 

Have you ever heard someone say, “I’m depressed” or “I’m tired” or “I need to lose weight but I don’t know anything about exercising and I don’t want to join a gym”? There’s one answer for all those people … dance.

The next time you feel lousy or tired, put on some music, music with a beat to it and see what happens. Before long you will start tapping your feet. Instead of sitting there, feeling sorry for yourself, get up. Just get up, listen and feel the music. You don’t have to start dancing at full tilt, just sway your hips a little, or a lot, next put in some shoulder action and move your feet. Et voila, you’re dancing. If don’t exactly have the moves Michael Jackson had, who cares, you’re up, you’re moving, you’re dancing.

Dancing releases endorphins, also known as ‘feel good’ hormones. With the release of those endorphins, you’ll feel better, less depressed and less tired.

As for losing weight … what better way to shed those extra pounds than to dance. When you’re dancing you’re using every part of your body. Once you’re really getting into it, when you’re really letting fly (you know, dance like nobody’s watching) arms, legs and body are all over the place and you’re breaking a sweat. I guarantee you, if you do that a few times a week, you’ll lose that weight alright and you will like it.

Personally, I never liked the idea of going to the gym. Some people go to the gym before going to work, others go after work. I couldn’t do either. For starters, I’m not a morning person. When my alarm goes off at 6:00 a.m. I want to throw it out the window. Can you see me getting up an hour earlier to go to the gym? Not on your life. And after work … no way. Some days I feel fine, most days I drag my sorry ass home, collapse in a chair and don’t even feel like cooking. If I had to go to the gym, I would fall asleep on the threat mill or drop a dumbbell on someone’s toes.

Dancing on the other hand I can do at home. I can do it to my kind of music, either blasting it through the speakers or turning up the volume with headphones. 

Actually, always wanted to learn to tap dance, but I think my downstairs neighbor would object to that.

Anyway, next time, if you’re feeling less than perky or you’re feeling like the air has gone out of your tires, put on some music and start moving. You’ll feel better, you’ll see.

As for those who want to lose weight, don’t expect results after just one day, or one week. Give it a month and then step on your scale … you might just do a couple of high kicks of sheer joy.

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Halloween music playlist tips

Your house may be decorated to give even those with nerves of steel the hibijibis; your costume may be as lifelike that even your family doesn’t recognize you; but if you’re playing happy, carefree music, the Halloween spirit you are trying to create will go right out the window.

What you need is a Halloween music playlist, tunes so creepy, so blood curling, they will scare the pants of anyone attending your party.  The following is a small selection to consider.

Thriller - Michael Jackson

From the first note, this song will indicate that you mean business.  Whether your guests are dancing or stand around talking, when Jackson starts his dialogue, hitting off with “Darkness falls across the land, the midnight hour close at hand”, all of them are sure to feel their neck hairs rise.  Not to mention Vincent Price’s laughter concluding the song.  That will rattle a few bones.

The Monster Mash – Boris Picket and the Crypt Kickers

Whether your guests were born in the fifties or nineties, everybody loves The Monster Mash.  Although scary and as such suitable for Halloween, The Monster Mash is perfect to end all conversation signalling it’s time for your guests to start kicking up their heels. 

Black Magic Woman - Santana

Of course, wild dancing can only last so long.  Every now and then you’ll have to throw in a slow tune so your guests can catch their breath and smooch a little without leaving the dance floor.  Rely on Santana and Black Magic Woman to do just that. 

I Put a Spell On You – CCR

Keep the slow pace without losing any of the Halloween atmosphere.  Spells and potions are right up there with ghosts and witches.  Put a spell on your guests with the help of Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Soundtracks

If you don’t like individual songs, how about some movie soundtrack music?  Think Psycho, think Poltergeist, any of the Freddie Kruger movies or even some Resident Evil tunes.  All of them are guaranteed to be bone chilling and if your guests have seen the movies, the music will bring back some memories.

Alternatively you can go for the soundtrack of the classics such as Dracula or Frankenstein movies.  The visuals were scary, but it was the music that had many on the edge of their seat and gave them nightmares.

Whatever you decide, mix up the fast with the slow; the old with the new; and give your party guests a Halloween to remember.

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Resolutions for 2013

New Year’s Eve is around the corner and if you’re like most people, you have a few resolutions in mind.  Are you planning to lose weight?  Get more exercise?  Be more productive?

I am not planning to lose weight.  The last time I checked I weighed 120 lbs and for my height (5 feet 10 inches) I’m actually underweight.  According to Robinson’s formula I should weigh 145 lbs.  I'm not fanatic about my weight anyway, as long as I fit into my jeans I'm fine.

As for exercising … I’ve tried all sorts of things in days gone by.  I practiced Shotokan karate and achieved the status of black belt, second Dan.  For reasons we won’t get into now, I don’t practice anymore and I doubt I can still execute the moves.

A brief exposure to yoga didn’t go so well.  I could manage the basic stretch exercises, but when attempting the lotus position it looked like I was trying to tie myself into a knot.  I managed to place my right foot onto my left thigh without any problems, but when I tried to twist my left foot onto my right thigh my companion burst into peals of laughter.  First I fell backward, next I rolled sideways, and just when I thought I was headed for success an almighty cramp shot through my left foot.  It was enough to put me off yoga forever.

I tried aerobics and oh boy, that was a complete disaster.  The floor workout went fine, the leg movements posed no problem, but where it came to the arm exercises … they spelled disaster.  Fired up by the rhythmic music I spread my arms a little too enthusiastically and flung lampshade clean off the dresser.  Oh oh … how was I going to explain this?  Blame it on Jane Fonda?

After that, I would have dearly loved to take up fencing or archery, but my family wouldn't allow it. 

So I took an interest in music instead.

The first instrument I learned to play was the Melodica.  

I loved this type of flute.  Unfortunately, Pitoe (our cat) did not.  As soon as I started playing, he left the room.  He didn’t just leave the room though, he went upstairs to one of the bedrooms.  Cat lover as I am I thought I’d save him the trouble and I would go to my room to play.  According to my family this plan didn’t really work.  Even though there was a ceiling between me and Pitoe, he would wake up from his slumber and start meowing toward the ceiling like a dog howling at the moon.  Eventually I retreated to the garden to play, but then the neighbors started complaining.

Fine, I packed away my Melodica and bought an acoustic guitar.  That didn’t last very long.  I wasn’t very good at it, and I was even worse when adjusting the strings.  I had a tendency of giving them too much tension to the point where the snapped.  One moment I would turn the nob and the next … ping, there went a string.  When one of the strings narrowly missed my eye, I knew it was time to try something else.

To cut a long story short … I got into writing.  All things considered, that didn't go too bad.  I wrote three novels and two children's books, but with the arrival of the Internet – and especially Facebook and its many games – I became horribly distracted.

So that’s my resolution for 2013 … more writing, less games.  I’m planning on keeping a journal and to finish a book I’m working on.  I have a title … “Temporarily Yours” and I have five chapters so far.  Let’s see if I can make it to the epilogue before 2014, shall we?

Does bowling with music makes for better bowling?

It just occurred to me that I neglected to report on last Wednesday night’s bowling league.  Yeah well, let’s just say that you didn’t miss much.  Let’s talk about today’s practice session instead.

I always do better during practice than during league, but apparently I’m not the only one.  When I spoke to a seasoned bowler today, whom I thought always kept his cool, he admitted that he does better when it’s just for fun too. 

My scores of today say it all:

191 – 164 – 222 – 226 – 166

That is an average of 193.8

Dieter did even better.  He scores were:

174 – 224 – 209 – 157 – 235

That is an average of 199.8

If only I could bowl like this during league.

Then again, the conditions were ideal today.  The oil pattern on the lanes was perfect and the atmosphere was relaxed and happy due to up-beat music piped through the speakers.  I always do better with music.

I’ve asked numerous times for music during the league, but so far this has not been approved because music messes with the serious bowler’s concentration.  Serious about bowling as I am, I guess that makes me a non-serious bowler.

The loudness also plays a part.  Soft music does nothing for me, but turn up the volume and my spirits lift while my bowling scores rise. 

In the absence of bowling alley music, I could listen to music privately through headphones, but this seems so anti-social. 

Before next week’s Wednesday night league, we’ll have another practice session tomorrow night.  Let’s see if I can do well two night in a row.

I need all the practice I can get for the upcoming Halloween tournament.  Last year Dieter and I won the competition.  Can we do it again?