Thursday, April 28, 2022

YEAH! Leadership program completed!

I guess when you are responsible for printing, you are the first graduate to get the program. 

I knew I’d make a big deal out of it in my own head, but when the director of alumni relations welcomes you to the alumni Laker family along with the flotsam and jetsam, you’re gonna get choked up.


 That 973 is really a 978, and if you think it annoys me that it isn't a thousand, you’d be correct. I finished the Leadership program with a 99.5%

Now, I wait for my degree to arrive in the mail. 

Monday, April 25, 2022

Fearless…?

Marching in like... 

Quote from Diane Keaton, “There is great value in being fearless… too much of my life I have been afraid. Fear has been one of my biggest regrets.”

Reviews of this blog by classmates have applauded my efforts at being vulnerable, spontaneous, adventurous, and fearless. Thank you, but...  

Oh, what is hidden behind the panes of my Johari window! 

I wish I were fearless, it would make things so much easier. Instead, I must admit to sweaty palms, quaking knees, nervous chatter, a churning stomach, and that feeling of dread that comes with being afraid. 

But I do it anyway. 

Why? Regret is worse. Regret means failing yourself. Not getting to experience the thrill of accomplishment. Or even the right to a shrug of consolation because at least you tried. 

I’ve often referred to the risk of sticking your neck out, giving the naysayers the opportunity to cut you down to size. I’ve experienced that too. But when they don’t, you get a better look at the world. 

Brian Boitano made the point that fear means you care, that you want to do well. That helped him channel fear into a positive emotion, that he could combat it by preparing and training.  

I know so many more people that deserve to be called fearless, jumping out of airplanes, performing on stage, whatnot. But I've also worn a bikini at 51, competed at 20+ national competitions, went back to school, and risked failure time and again. Is fearless the right word?

No. Maybe tenacious, with a little courage? Let’s acknowledge the fear and the battle with it, too often for me it is a worthy opponent. 

Sunday, April 24, 2022

School of Rock pictorial

School of Rock opened here in Grand Rapids and since I completed the leadership cert at GV, I still had learnin' on my mind. Why not see if I could be an aging rock star?

 

Yeah, I was nervous. I was one of two adults taking the tour. Rest were a bunch of kids.

Guitar and skates in the back seat, passions intermingling. 

I had my first lesson in 40 years - I learned Satisfaction and discovered I was gripping the neck wrong. It's ok to move the thumb under the neck, not grip it like, well... 

Tour included looking at all the spaces to jam. Each studio is named for a famous venue.

“Explore the studio space…”

Every rock star should have a style that is their own. Mine involves Aquarella Tieks and a custom designed John Deacon t-shirt. 

Yikes. I have some decisions to make.

Friday, April 15, 2022

Jack White at the VAA

 

We had fun too, Jack 

Here for his blue period

The best worst show I ever went to (awesome even though shit went down) was The White Stripes at the Pageant many years ago when Jack White was in his homemade instrument phase. Saint Louis being the ungodly humid hellfire it is during the summer, his pedals failed to work and Jack stormed off the stage, Meg sheepishly tapping on a cymbal before she disappeared as well. Some 35 minutes later, they come back with an apology and resumed the party. 

That was probably 20 years, two wives, and tons of side projects ago. I was eager to see him play again. Dave, recovering from the flu, opted not to go, so it was just Will and I. First bonus of the day was finding street parking, free, on the bridge. What luck! 

It was an odd sensation to relinquish my phone to a locked bag, but the beauty of that was the freedom to do other things instead of stare at the computer in my hand. It all felt less hurried, and time ticked away in real time, if that makes any sense. With transactions going cashless at the concessions as well as the merch table, the pace seemed less hurried as well. 

Opening act was Olivia Jane, a band fronted by the new Mrs. White. It was Wanda Jackson meets 60s punk surf. Entertaining. 

Jack came out in all of his indigo glory and blazed through 23 songs from his solo work, White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and even a U2 cover of Love Is Blindness that was lovely, confusing, and bluesy. Fans had been looking forward to The White Raven live, and it made its debut here. All The White Stripes songs received a huge ovation, but I was delighted by The Raconteurs numbers You Don't Understand Me and Steady As She Goes. I thought Love Interruption was a Raconteurs song too, but I may be wrong. 

Disappointed that we didn't get some of the gentler White Stripes songs like I Think We're Going to Be Friends. Conquest is so bonkers, there was no way. Fell in Love with a Girl, not on the list, after you just married the opening act? C'mon Jack! 

Will at times seemed to be getting into it, but otherwise seemed bored with it all. He brightened when he saw kids his age at the show with their parents, and had hoped to see someone he knew. Because he was headed back to school after spring break, I was anxious about him getting enough sleep and had suggested leaving several times but he still wanted to hang out, knowing the encore would be Seven Nation Army. We laughingly debated when we would come roaring up the driveway, him taking 11:16 and 11:18, me taking 11:17 and 11:19; he won that battle. 

For reference, here is the setlist from the 2003 show, including Jack's meltdown 13 songs in: 

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-white-stripes/2003/the-pageant-st-louis-mo-6bde2282.html


Setlist for Sunday's show: 

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/jack-white/2022/van-andel-arena-grand-rapids-mi-13b6e9f9.html

Thursday, April 14, 2022

INT 310: What now? More shoes


Pewter is just sort of blah. I can fix that. 

The conclusion of my Leadership program ends... here I guess. I am waiting for my final grade and am surprised by how much it would mean to four point the class and as a result, four point this program. Since GVSU doesn't recognize GPAs for certificates, instead of being a summa cum laude I aspire to be a mini cum laude. 

Bah dum tiss!

So what now? Continue work on the Little House on the River. Look towards a new season of skating. Power Oscar through being a Michigan tourist before he graduates and goes home. Guitar lessons. Will's baseball season. Planning our 25th wedding anniversary. 

But I find myself circling back to shoes again. Because Tieks are $$$, I could not justify spending $$$ on a new pair just because I needed a purple to complete my color wheel - at Tieks Anonymous, it's a thing. So I needed a project, and the TA community loves projects. 

Well, projects these days are my middle name. So instead of getting blurple Moonstrucks new at some ungodly price, I bargain shopped at Poshmark and got a pair of pewter that needed a little TLC at $. 

Cleaned them up and began to apply the first coat of Prince Purple. 

Whoa, check out the difference with only one coat.

First coat applied. The shoes just soaked the paint up. 

Tuesday, April 12, 2022

INT 310: Discussion Eight, Getting Under Your Skin

How about a little Frankie? 

“While there is no one best way to move through the process of design thinking, there are useful starting points and landmarks. It’s best to think of design thinking as a system of overlapping spaces rather than a sequence of steps.” (p.16) In reflecting on work/life applications of this concept, it all makes sense, especially those instances that were more successful than others. As an example, I can offer the process of developing a figure skating routine. Starting points can be the beginning of a season, after qualifying competitions and nationals. Other starting points can be choosing music, the first competition of the season, or a test session. A non-linear process is crucial at each of these stages, especially if it allows you to loop back to find a new idea or direction. (p.17) One year, I struggled creatively and technically to create a program to Heart’s Magic Man. Frustrated, my coach had me put some music on and warm up while she mentally attempted to work out how to fix it. I had put on the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper album and was gliding through a few moves in the field while listening to Within You Without You. Something clicked for both of us, and we started over at the music selection landmark, adapting the old choreography to a new program.

At the core of design thinking are the concepts of inspiration, ideation, and implementation. (p.16) There are concepts within this process that scare me a little, that being failing early and chaos (p.17). I was raised to get it right the first time and while I don’t have OCD, I prefer order and cleanliness, especially if I have a lot on my to-do list. But that is where if I’m working on a team, a little of that pressure is off, if you are working on a team that values collaboration, is a safe place, encourages collective ownership of ideas, and enables teams to learn from one another (p.17). In my past experiences, these collaborations are rare, but when done correctly, amazing things are possible. An instance I can think of in my past was brainstorming a huge ad meant for one of the festivals in downtown Grand Rapids, our company as the title sponsor. The goal was to break the typical corporate sponsor pat on the back and tie our product with the festival in a way that was organic and celebratory. Another writer and I shared the opportunity and spent the afternoon generating and testing our ideas. When we finally hit upon the idea of gardening as art, we made parallels between paints and plants, brushes and brooms, we took our ideas to the managers, who implemented the concepts into the sponsorship ads, enabling all the teams - from writers to managers, to designers - to be a part of the successful campaign.

I have to devote at least one paragraph to the example on page 18, citing Target’s success in bringing design within reach of the broader population. It is serendipitous that the concept of human-centered design thinking would align so well with my experiential learning project, examining the processes of a freecycle community. My closet purge the first week of class began with me debating the fate of a pair of Target Missoni flats! I debated whether to repair, throw away, or gift. I developed a framework around these shoes: my desire to keep them, if it was feasible to bother repairing them, and I had the ability to repair them (viable). (p.19) This decision played itself out over and over with every item that was purged from my closet. And each of those items then was offered on freecycle, the process of design thinking starting all over again.

Monday, April 11, 2022

INT 310: Discussion Seven, Designing the Portfolio

Is it brilliant or cruel that there's an app so I can work on homework from my phone? I am massaging the h*ll out of this project, all the time. The deadline will be a welcomed relief. Zip it up. 
 
What has inspired you? 
I have been inspired by the process of exploring the art I discover in everyday life and "writing it out." I revisited old themes used to shape my blog in the past: why art matters, playlists, typing out loud, and what's right in the world. Why Art Matters celebrates acts of brilliance found everywhere in life. Playlists are the soundtrack to that life. What's Right in the World is recognizing those moments of grace and joy when you find them. And Typing Out Loud is the moments of, well, not half baked thoughts but thoughts that may lead to something else that may become art that matters. 

What materials will you be including in your creativity portfolio? 
Photographs and illustrations taken or found. Lists of songs for the playlist entries. Screenshots of blog posts to narrate what went on for the week. Snippets from posts. References from course materials. Reflections on what I've learned. Most importantly, a link for anyone curious or bored to read my blog more in depth. 

How are you going to present your portfolio (theme, timeline, sampling of activities) on the final day of class? 
I will be presenting my portfolio in a powerpoint presentation. The theme of course will be creativity, and I will break down each of the themes in order to explain each. The timeline will cover posts from the last six weeks. Samples of posts will be presented to the class, as well as a link to my blog if anyone would like to explore my writings any further. The last slide will summarize what I learned and creativity I explored. 

Sunday, April 10, 2022

INT 310: What's Right in the World: Our Host Family Tribe

Took #21 out for dinner last week

At the time of this writing, I have had to turn down four Whitecaps ballplayers from starting the season with us. The reason why is Oscar, our exchange student, who will be with us until mid-June when he graduates from high school. We “rescued” him from a bad living situation in order for him to complete his school year. His time with us has been a hilarious mix of empty cups, multiple boxes of Frosted Flakes, citrus fruits, and hi-jinks with his partners in crime, Diego and Felix. 

Whoever the next player is, he will be #25 on our host family roster, fitting for June, when we will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. That's a hell of a list of kids. 

I had no idea this would come about in 2006 when I went to order season tickets and volunteered to have a player live in our basement instead. Or answered the call to have a French figure skater go to school in our district. Or say "come check out the basement!" to a college student without a place to live. 

What can I say about the experience without breaking any confidentiality rules? The perks are great, especially creating a lifelong connection to a myriad of people that wouldn't ordinarily be in your life. To witness how they are living every day life. To think you've created a familial connection with someone, even if the connection is long or short. I know my husband particularly loves being called Dad Dave. 

Saturday, April 9, 2022

INT 310: Rebel Playlist: Love for Yoko Ono

Grace under pressure 

On my way to judge a skating competition this past weekend, I once again found myself listening to The Beatles channel, and the conversation was with Michelle Zauner, lead singer of the band Japanese Breakfast, and author of the memoir Crying in H Minor. The conversation turned to Yoko and Zauner's contribution to the tribute album for her.

The Get Back documentary has cleared up what I had always suspected, and what Paul McCartney and John Lennon had said all along: the break up had more to do with them growing as men and artists and had nothing to do with her sitting in the studio darning socks. 

Homewrecker? Even Cynthia admitted she didn't break anything that wasn't already broken. Lennon has stated Yoko's firm influence made him want to be a better man. And when he wanted to step out on her, Yoko chose the girl (May Pang) and told him to get lost - just throwing a Beatle to the curb, that's cold. He came crawling back. 

But Yoko is more than just a muse: in her own right, she is a composer, writer, artist, conceptual performer, and humanitarian. And don't forget, single mom after John was murdered. I can't imagine carrying on his legacy as his widow has been an easy task the last 42 years, from the memorial in Central Park to ongoing living history projects carried out while she and the remaining Beatles are still alive. Labeled the woman who broke up the Beatles, can you imagine the torches and pitchforks had she moved on with her life, past being a Beatle widow? 

I've been to one of her art shows, a fascinating mix of large installations and John Lennon memorabilia. I remember lots of black cats, all in a row and poetry hung like art. I thought I was cool. 

So, songs for you and by you, Ocean Child:

    The Beatles, I Want You (She's So Heavy)

    Barenaked Ladies, Be My Yoko Ono

    John Lennon, Woman

    Plastic Ono Band, Listen The Snow is Falling

    Yoko Ono, Kiss, Kiss, Kiss 

    John Lennon, Oh Yoko!

    Japanese Breakfast, Nobody Sees Me Like You Do

    Yoko Ono, My Man

Friday, April 8, 2022

INT 310: Week 5, Reflection Activity

One of my favorite shadows

Think about an object in nature, such as a leaf. What patterns do you notice? I'm looking at a palm sitting on the bench next to me. I notice the gentle slope, the dark green streaked with burgundy on the edges. 

Think about an area of your home. How about my bathtub?

It's a triangle shaped tub, with jets. My potions and lotions sit at the right angle, a crystal candy dish with bath beads, soaps, personal care products. We've got spa lighting so if I want to read while soaking, I have ambient light. I have a novelty light in the corner to keep it from being too dark. 

Did I think about the shadows? Yes and no. I tend to look for the light. But the photo taken above, from the concert last month, shows both my son as a silhouette and my husband, most of his features obscured by shadow. It's one of my favorite photos of them: it's a candid, showing their generational relationship and a mutual love of music. 

Thursday, April 7, 2022

INT 310: Why Art Matters: Race Medals

April May June prizes

I love shiny prizes and things that help me create a goal. During the pandemic, I stumbled upon a couple of virtual race companies having crazy sales to blow out their inventory of races. I gobbled that up and hit the elliptical in the basement. 

The virtual races are clever, capitalizing on every celebration on the calendar, like Taco Tuesday, Sugarplum Fairy Day, Day of the Dead, and Cinco de Mayo. I have paid as little as $2 for a race, the medal being a silicone Hershey's Kiss, a 1 mile fun run. One of my favorites came with a box of chocolates, and was hinged to look like a heart-shaped box of chocolates. 

My first in-person race in two years is scheduled for May, and I'm hoping there won't be any covid restrictions in place so I can actually, physically do it for once. But I will miss my heart-shaped bowl of races, a random accomplishment on a random Tuesday.

Wednesday, April 6, 2022

INT 310: Creativity Circle Collaboration II

This is my buddy Curt, who is not in this class. We were to collaborate on passing our gold moves, until work got in the way.

In what ways did your creativity circle establish a safe, secure, and supportive space in your Collaboration check-in: 
  • Mutual agreement not to talk down to one another.
  • Share positive feedback only.
  • Show empathy when needed. 
  • Seek common ground during our Zoom discussions. 
  • Remain supportive within the forum discussions as well. 
  • Promise to email the group if we need another meeting prior to the final week to complete our projects. 
In what ways have course materials made you rethink the collaborative nature of the creative process:
  • Assurance that you need to feel supported in a collaborative space.
  • You can build relationships in shared experiences.
  • Exploring the idea of infinite potential. 
  • Reflecting on the principle of interrelatedness, how as a group, can work towards a greater solution. 
  • Embrace the principle of perpetual change, because the world won't stop for you.
  • As reference above and below, we created conditional rules within our group in order to create a culture in which an individual's creativity is respected. 
What did you learn from students in your Creativity Circle to help contribute to your final project:
  • Discussing how to set up our final projects. 
  • Brainstorming was not limited to just the portfolio; we discussed the final experiential projects. 
  • Concepts in collaboration. 
  • Sharing ideas about what to do and how to do it. 
  • Exploring all the options from notebooks to blogs to videos to photography. 
  • Encouragement and courage: to go for an idea, that no ideas at this point are bad.
How did you provide feedback to your fellow students regarding experiential learning projects and final creativity portfolios:
  • We revisited what we valued in a supportive space and how important positive feedback was.
  • Listening to one another's ideas: 
    • Terrie, notebook; 
    • Melissa, blog; 
    • Kirk, food photography; 
    • Audrey, small town exploration; 
    • Jennifer, cooking. 
  • Elaborating on our ideas and what may work for the final presentation. 
  • Asking questions to further an idea.
  • Discussing themes, timelines, and sample work. 
  • Reminder to make sure our ideas call back to a concept or lesson from the class. 

Monday, April 4, 2022

INT 310: Typing Out Loud: Hysteria vs. High n' Dry

Pyromania years, when they ruled. I had this one on my bedroom wall 

Listening to the Vinyl Lunch hour and Jackie Green shared the story that Mutt Lange, producer of Def Leppard’s Hysteria album, set out to make the metal version of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, in terms of cross-genre appeal, hooky hits, and making lots of cash.

I did not know this. It’s also about the time when I stopped listening to the band regularly. Their biggest hit, Pour Some Sugar on Me, is eye-rolling crassness that just killed it for me. And once my favorite band member Steve Clark passed away from an alcohol overdose, I was officially done. 

Why? Am I being some pretentious music snob?

So I went back to the album that made me love them, High n' Dry, with Pete and before Phil. And Rick had both arms. 

Let it Go. Aggressive guitars. Grit in the vocals. No gloss. Speaking of gloss, I was 12 when this came out, and spent most my babysitting money on Kissing Slicks rollerball lip gloss, designer jeans from K-Mart (snort), and cassettes. What a sight I must have been - Sassoon jeans, headband, velour v-neck tops, mastering the careful application of makeup in order to look killer but still be able to pass as natural under the watchful eye of Sister Gloria. 

Hit and Run. It's got all the pop hooks, but with fantastically heavy guitars. I want to bang. 

High n' Dry. One of the first MTV music videos, which was basically them playing on stage. Opening crunch very AC/DC. Singing about drinking, this is not a good look for them, knowing they kicked Pete out of the band for drinking and Steve would be dead within 10 years drinking himself to death. And I just showed my mom colors. I have not heard this song in years and I'm singing along word for word. I can't even remember what I had for breakfast. 

Bringing on the Heartbreak. THIS. This, this, this, THIS is what got all the girls listening to them. We've got Stevie Nicks showing us how to be gypsies, then Joe is singing about pretty gypsies. Oh....! 

Switch 625. Featured in the last season of Cobra Kai, and I about jumped out of my skin. Badass, Johnny Lawrence. 

This is turning into a playlist... maybe I can refocus after I'm done. My blog, my rules. 

You Got Me Runnin'. Chorus stronger than the lyrics, hooky as hell. Call and response. Boy, they had all the pieces even before Hysteria was a gleam in their eye. 

Lady Strange. Honestly, I'm listening at work, and this one went in one ear and out the other. 

On Through the Night. The song that should have been on the other album with the same title. Oh so very Queen of you. There's some really elegant moments in this song, something the hard driving rocker types would never say. 

Mirror Mirror. A harder version of Bringing on the Heartbreak. Side two of the album weaker than one. Now I know why I dug Steve Clark, his guitar work on this is outstanding. 

No No No. Oooooo, a little punky funky metal. This reminds me of Stone Cold Crazy. That's fast. I think I counted how many times he says no at the end of this song, I think it was 46. Stay tuned. Listening on YouTube, the new remaster cut it to 16! I feel jipped! 

This album feels more genuine than their later career releases. The rawness is appealing. Their musicianship was evident. 

I've started listening to Hysteria. 

Woman. It's slick, it's hooky. Given the modifications needed to Rick's drum kit after his accident, it does sound more produced. Guitars not as aggressive, more poppy. 

Rocket. I love this song, so what's my problem?

Animal. Oh, here we go. I had a roommate that sang this like she was eating men for breakfast. On my nerves. 

Love Bites. Back to the roommate. The way she sang "biiiiiites." Shudder. So maybe my problem is a Sue Bee issue? 

Pour Some Sugar on Me. No. Just no x 46. 

Armageddon It. Meh? Maybe it's just overplayed. It's like they put all the hooks in a blender and played what came out. A pop metal milkshake. 

Gods of War. Oh, this sounds more like the early days, that's heavy but with the signature Steve Clark melody. I can tie this back to the song Johnny's Got a Gun from Pyromania. 

Don't Shoot Shotgun. Dude, I like this one too. 

Run Riot. What's happening, this is a jam worthy of the early 80s. This would have fit right in on High n' Dry. 

Hysteria. Overplayed. Next. No, wait this needs to be addressed. To my ear, the hits are hooky to the point of listener fatigue. It's like wedding cake. I love wedding cake. But if I have wedding cake every day, I will no longer love wedding cake. I need something more substantial. 

Excitable. Oh I think I used to skip this one back in the day. No reason to buck tradition now. 

Love and Affection. I think I used to love this song, but I don't understand why, 30 some odd years later. It's filler, sadly. 

And that does it for me and Def Leppard for the year. 

Sunday, April 3, 2022

INT 310: Discussion Six, Natural Creativity

Our place on the river, we are always at our best there. 

"Creative genius is not the accumulation of knowledge; it is the ability to see patterns in the universe, to detect hidden links between what is and what could be." (p.33) One of my favorite things to doodle are things found in nature: six-petal, daisy-like flowers; leaves and fronds creating a canopy; and feathers, the delicate follicles tapering to a point. There is something so soothing about these loose parts of nature (p.34) that relaxes my brain and allows my hand to draw them without thought, the pen tracing lightly. After my father passed away, I helped my mom clean out his dresser drawers. I found his old college papers and was surprised at a glimpse of him as a young man: he liked to draw sharks, the strong elegant bodies punctuated by a slash of a fin or the zig-zag of sharp teeth. I have a few of my grandmother's and great-grandmother's pieces, and they enjoyed sketching scenes with water and palm trees in particular.  My mother was fond of faces and skilled at chins and noses.

Looking at what my family created while relaxed in a positive state (p.33) is fascinating to me at how varied the representation of the natural world is, and how unlimited (p.34) their imagination. To my knowledge, my father as a young man was nowhere near an ocean, did not like water and did not travel at that time, yet he imagined a connection to sharks and the ocean. My grandmother and great-grandmother too, both loved to draw palm trees and sandy beaches, and yet they did not travel either, their beaches lived in their hearts. Only my mother's drawings of people make sense, as she was very good at forming deep, personal relationships with everyone from employees to customers. 

Isn't that gorgeous?!

To dive into my own early experiences in nature (p.34), I loved flowers; so much so, I was one of those horrid children that would pick flowers from gardens without realizing what I was doing was a terrible thing. It was only until a neighbor appointed me the guardian of her yellow buttercups (ranunculus), did she successfully keep me from stealing all her flowers; for the record, I was five, maybe six. Funny that I don't remember much about being six except that I was in charge of that patch of flowers - would that be my ecstatic place? I still have a childhood fascination (p.36) with the tight petal formation, their beautiful waxy yellow appearance, and the sheer frustration of never being able to ever grow any of my own - such is fate's punishment so many years later.  

Mapquest allowing me to creep: you can just make out the wavy line of the creek at the center. 

I got one more, so you're getting four paragraphs instead of three: I am also deeply connected to water, which terrified my parents when I was little. Was it a desired connection to the natural world? (p.36) My parents were constantly fishing me out of pools, ponds, and lakes. They discovered I was a natural swimmer when I jumped into a pool at age three while attending my aunt and uncle's 25th wedding anniversary party. I was fond of mud and found joy in rainwater finding its way to the sewer. I thought the most beautiful place in the world was at the junction of Ballard, Page Avenue, and 9th in Michigan Center, where the most magical creek ran through someone's backyard. Every time we went to visit my Chicioa Ona - who had a pool AND a pond! - I would fight to be on the passenger side going and driver's side coming back just to catch a glimpse of the creek winding its way towards the lake. My sister has a place on the chain of lakes there, and I will take a detour just to look at it still.  

Friday, April 1, 2022

INT 310: April Playlist: The Temptations


 I cannot believe I've never done a Temptation playlist before, this must be some sort of April Fools' joke!

I got hooked on the Temps watching that so bad it's good miniseries starring the saint who kissed Madonna in the Like a Prayer video and the president from 24. Then my mother-in-law treated me to the show Ain't Too Proud to Beg: The Story of the Temptations this past week, which is the story of the band told from Otis Williams' perspective, the last living member of the classic five. Which is different from the original five, which included Al Bryant. Which is different from the funk era, which included Dennis Edwards. There's been a lot of Temps. 

Here's a quick playlist of the songs that have meant the most to me over the years: 

My Girl

I Want a Love I Can See

The Way You Do the Things You Do

Ain't Too Proud To Beg

I Wish it Would Rain

I Can't Get Next to You

Ball of Confusion

Just My Imagination

Papa Was a Rolling Stone

Runaway Child, Running Wild

That's It, Just One Line - Landslide

"Can I sail through the changing ocean tides, can I handle the seasons of my life?"