So You Say It's Your Birthday

It was twenty eight years a whole bunch of years ago today that a baby girl was born. And she made her parents so happy. She didn't cry... except when she was hungry and life was good.

And then she grew up.

You know her as the mess that writes this blog.  The song above is a HERE'S TO YOU to me and sums up rather well how I feel about birthdays.

Cheers everyone! Have a drink on me today:)

HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY

It is Thursday and that means it is HERE'S TO YOU day!  All in all, the best day of the week here on YOUR DAILY DOSE. Why? Because it's a celebration for YOU. (Note: this will be the last HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY post until we make it through April and the A to Z.)

If you don't know what this HERE'S TO YOU stuff is about, let me explain.  This is a weekly event landing typically on Thursdays.  The best (or worst) part is that I am not going to explain why I chose "whatever" footage for each of you. If, you watch your footage and are scratching your head at the end, well that means I didn't do a very good job. However, all is not lost. You can email me at rarichards68@gmail.com and ask me what I was thinking when I chose that particular piece of footage off of youtube and connected it to you. And then I will tell you. Then I will start sending up prayers that I haven't offended the crap out of whoever is on the receiving end of that email....lol. Because, honestly, I will tell you right now... I admire all of you enormously so I really hope that doesn't happen.

Also, this is not an exclusive venture by any means. I hope that you will take the time to watch ALL of the footage because I don't pick bad footage:-) I also hope that you might check out the blog of the person I dedicated the footage to because they are pretty darn awesome. If you haven't figured this out yet... I pick the footage based on something that you've written or something that I've gleaned from your personality. Think on that for a while... If you are having trouble watching the entire video (meaning it is being cut off on one side), click on it a couple of times and it will take you straight over to youtube. If you click on the four squares at the bottom corner of the video, it will enlarge it to fill your screen. The escape key will bring it back to normal size. The back arrow will bring you back to my page.

Now, let's get this PARTY STARTED!!!!

This one is for everyone:


This one is for JJ The Disconnected Writer:


This one is for Gossip Girl at ~~*~~Whatever~~*~~:


This one is for Al Diaz at Dragon On A Mission:


This one is for Brianne P. at Thinking The Lions:


This one is for Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out:


This one is for Misha Gericke at The Five Year Project:

Biting Bullets aka Raging Against The Machine

Another Tuesday is here. Once again, I don't have any Big Ideas for a blog post. Let's go with bullets, shall we?

• Last week over at Unicorn Bell they asked for submissions of Inspiring Stories. I debated whether I wanted to jump into that pool and decided that the worst that would happen was I'd get wet. So, my story is up over there today. If you feel so inclined to read it, well that would be awesome! If you like it, that would be even better:) You can click the link...
• My garden is thriving. Mostly. My dog runs through it on her way to the back gate. Aside from that, so far so good.
• My migraines have been troublesome. Again. I think I might be approaching the core of my issues. The closer I get, the more my brain wants to distract me. Excruciating migraines do the trick rather handily.
• I am now finished with my A to Z posts through the letter "R." I can see the Finish Line. Good thing because April 1 is almost here.
• Retired accountants "work" at the library on Saturdays for free before April 15. Since I have been on disability, tax hasn't been an issue for me. Heck, I am living below the poverty line and must live with my mom just to survive. Anyway, I used my inheritance from my dad and withdrew money from my IRA last year to make some much-needed repairs to this house.
• I expected the Energy Credits to offset whatever the IRS would charge me for withdrawing the money early.
• Not so. I got no Energy Credits because I had no taxable income (remember that part about living below the poverty line), but was assessed a penalty of just under $700 for withdrawing the money.
• Oh, and I lost my Energy Credits because they don't carry over if you aren't able to use them. So, even though I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to get better and back to work, the IRS is not going to give me the energy credits when I am working again. They are just gone.
• I concede that this debacle could have something to do with the migraine that has plagued me since Saturday.
• Do you ever tell yourself things like, "It's just money. No big deal. You shouldn't sweat the small stuff. In the scheme of things this really is small stuff, it just seems like big stuff." So do you? Does it work?
• I just had a bit of a revelation as I typed this last bit. Every time my migraine cranks up it has something to do with my core issues: feeling abused, trapped, loss of voice, loss of confidence, and not good enough. If you read my IWSG post then you know this hotbed of crap started in junior high school, reappeared when I was married, and stuck around for the duration. Each time I made progress, I was hit in the face with one or more of these feelings.
• Let's take a quick look at how I felt on Saturday. The taxation system of the government in disallowing my energy credits but insisting on my penalty even though my income was extremely sub-par... yeah, I felt trapped, abused, unable to voice my *valid - I think* complaint, bullied, but not confident about gaining any traction in turning this around. I suppose that not good enough doesn't apply, expect for the fact that one of the workers told me I was ignorant for not being aware of how this would all turn out. She said I would have been smarter to take out a loan (because that is just what I need - another payment every month). 
• But, I didn't say anything. I just took her dressing down because that is what you do with your elders. Right? Even though inside I was raging against the machine... and her. At least the guy who worked with me on my taxes felt badly about how this all turned out. (She was the person who checked over the numbers, verifying it was all "correct.")
• So, compared to her I was definitely not good enough and sorely lacking in the Smarts Department. And I kinda got the feeling that she enjoyed my having to pay that $700 for being such a dimwit and not taking out the loan I couldn't afford.
• And there it is. Rage. My core issue that I really don't want to face. Rage. Rage. Rage. 
• People pleasers, like myself, don't rage inside like a volcano on the verge of eruption. We nurture. We love. We give and give and give and give until it hurts by golly.
• Well, that was unexpected. Sorry about that. I truly didn't see it coming. It just poured out like water breaking the dam. If you got wet, my apologies. 

Battle of the Bands Results and A to Z Theme Reveal

Good morning friends.

It is Saturday and the birds are singing. I am trying to keep my eyes open and slugging coffee. However, I am *slowly* learning to appreciate waking up early (or earlier) and reading, writing, and blogging.

I promised you the results from the Battle of the Bands match-up on the song Sea of Love. The Honeydrippers, a band that Robert Plant put together in order to record more songs like this one, duked it out with Tom Waits.

I like both versions of this song. I think that I like Waits version best after watching that suspenseful version of the movie, Sea of Love. It was a bit dark and so is the Tom Waits interpretation. In other words, so much music has a time and place. However, I really enjoy The Honeydrippers all of the time. It is like opening a memory box. It even has the feel of a "different time." A better time. So, like so many of you, I cast my vote for The Honeydrippers (not that it changes anything).

The final tally...
The Honeydrippers - 20
Tom Waits  - 5

Before we leave this behind, I MUST share what some of you said about the Tom Waits version of this song. You guys are hilarious.

Empty Nest Insider was kindest with her use of the word "gruff." Gary, or klahanie, said "he sounds like he is in a lot of pain." Carol Kilgore said he sounded like "a dirty old man." Robyn said he "sounds like a dying frog." And Jay Noel said he "sounds like he needs more fiber." hahahaha. You all crack me up regularly. Don't ever, ever stop.

A whole bunch of you participated in the A to Z Theme Reveal yesterday. I had no intentions of blogging yesterday, so I didn't sign up for that blog hop. However, I will be A to Zing with a theme.

Are you ready for the reveal????

This is the bit that I have written for every post - placed right at the top - explaining my theme.

My theme for A to Z this year is a wildly different, but very exciting, HERE'S TO YOU all month long. 26 posts to be precise. The most difficult part was narrowing down the 26. All of you deserve your own post. What you will find here is a post by the featured blogger, with traveling music chosen by me that complements said post, and two links. One will link back to the original post and the other to the main page. This year's A to Z is all about making new friends!

Since I have already chosen the blogs, the specific posts, and the music, the only thing to do is create each individual post with everything linked in. So far, I have drafted the posts up to "I." That took a couple of hours. I expect to have everything locked and loaded by April 1. The only difficulty I see thus far is that some of my favorite posts by you guys exceed the suggested word count. I hope that the writing is compelling enough that it won't be an issue. Well, the other difficulty is that some of my favorite blogs just wouldn't work with the letters, and then I ran out of letters, but not blogs. Yikes.  So, if you don't find yourself here it doesn't mean that you aren't beloved by me. YOU ARE.

HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY

Hello friends!

Before I kick off the festivities, I want to remind you that you can STILL vote in Battle of the Bands. I will post the results this Saturday, the 22nd, so hop on over, take a listen, and VOTE. The song for this battle is SEA OF LOVE, which I think most everyone has heard at one time or another.

I am participating in the A to Z Challenge this year (see Sidebar with badge). If you haven't signed up, but want to join the challenge, just click on the badge. It will take you straight to the sign-up linky list. Why am I telling you this now? Well... the A to Z posts every day, except Sunday, during April. So that means that there will not be any HERE'S TO YOU posts during April. I know. I am sad, too. But, it really is all a person can do to keep up with the challenge. HERE'S TO YOU will be back in May! I also won't be participating in Battle of the Bands during April. It will also be back in May! April will be strictly A to Z.

Without further ado, drum roll please.

It is Thursday and that means it is HERE'S TO YOU day!  All in all, the best day of the week here on YOUR DAILY DOSE. Why? Because it's a celebration for YOU.

If you don't know what this HERE'S TO YOU stuff is about, let me explain.  This is a weekly event landing typically on Thursdays.  The best (or worst) part is that I am not going to explain why I chose "whatever" footage for each of you. If, you watch your footage and are scratching your head at the end, well that means I didn't do a very good job. However, all is not lost. You can email me at rarichards68@gmail.com and ask me what I was thinking when I chose that particular piece of footage off of youtube and connected it to you. And then I will tell you. Then I will start sending up prayers that I haven't offended the crap out of whoever is on the receiving end of that email....lol. Because, honestly, I will tell you right now... I admire all of you enormously so I really hope that doesn't happen.

Also, this is not an exclusive venture by any means. I hope that you will take the time to watch ALL of the footage because I don't pick bad footage:-) I also hope that you might check out the blog of the person I dedicated the footage to because they are pretty darn awesome. If you haven't figured this out yet... I pick the footage based on something that you've written or something that I've gleaned from your personality. Think on that for a while... If you are having trouble watching the entire video (meaning it is being cut off on one side), click on it a couple of times and it will take you straight over to youtube. If you click on the four squares at the bottom corner of the video, it will enlarge it to fill your screen. The escape key will bring it back to normal size. The back arrow will bring you back to my page.

Now, let's get this PARTY STARTED!!!!

This one is for everyone:



This one is for Manzanita at Wanna Buy A Duck:



This one is for Liza at Middle Passages:



This one is for JJ The Disconnected Writer:



This one is for Brandon at Writer' Storm: Brandon Ax:



This one is for Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out:



This one is for Stephen T. McCarthy at FERRET-FACED FASCIST FRIENDS:



This one is for L.G. Smith at Bards and Prophets:

Tuesday With Bullets

When I don't have a specific thing I want to talk about, I used to employ the bullet point method. That way I covered a fair amount of ground without elaborating too long on any one thing. After staring at this screen for half an hour and not coming up with a "topic" the bullet point idea looks pretty darn good.

Here we go...

• On Saturday I planted my vegetables in our newly created garden space. 
• None of my vegetables grown from seed were among those planted.
• I killed all of the cucumbers when I transplanted them to larger pots. Adios. And my tomato seeds should have been planted back at the end of December, but I didn't get started on my in-house project until the end of January. So, the tomatoes at Lowe's were much sturdier than my poor plants. 
• The good news: I know now that Florida has three planting seasons. Spring. Summer. Fall.
• I plan to plant my tomatoes grown from seed for the Summer planting... assuming I don't kill them when I transplant them.
• I also planted two tomato plants in Topsy Turvy upside down planters.
• Last year, I planted too late for spring (April) and too early for summer. End result: all of my cucumber plants died. No tomatoes, either. By fall, I finally got some peppers.
• In other words, if we had to rely on my garden, my mom and I would be dead right now.
• I am hoping for better results this year.
• I am, once again, godawful sore from my heroic planting efforts.
• And yesterday I woke up with a migraine from hell. It lasted all day, all night, and I still have it now. Given the fact that it started raining during the night (Sunday). I think that the barometer may assume some blame here. The weather is supposed to clear this evening. I hope that my migraine does, too. You know... back to tolerable.
• My mom met a man using the Christian mingle website. And when I say "met" I mean that he lives 6 hours away, so they talk all the time on the phone or IM. On the one hand, he sounds like a very nice man and I'm happy for her. On the other hand, I am worried that when they meet in person, it will all go Blah. Anyone else have dating stories from friends, family, or your own experience of meeting someone through a dating website?
• I try not to be the "wet blanket," but my relationship meter is set on Extreme Caution. I suppose that hasn't been conducive to actually having one. Hmm.
• A friend from church and I are planning to go out to lunch on Friday and maybe see a movie. So, after church I said, "Oh, the new Captain America might be out." High excitement on my part. She looked blank. I expanded, "You know, Captain America from The Avengers." She said, "I didn't see it." Say what???? I then said, "Have you seen either of the Thor movies or Iron Man?" She said, "No." Hunh. I changed tack. "Did you watch the Veronica Mars TV show when it was on? The movie is out in the theatre now." This is a HUGE DEAL for me. I can't wait to see this movie. She said, "No." Hunh. She then said, "I mostly like comedies or romance movies." Well, I like those, too. I can't think of any that are playing right now that I want to see. I suggested seeing A Winter's Tale a month ago, and she agreed, but it just didn't happen. So... this will be interesting.
•  I set out to read my finished rough draft start to finish on Saturday. I couldn't get past Chapter One. It was awful. Terrible. The worst. So, after making all sorts of notes and marks and slashes, I reworked it on the computer. The new version is Chapter One Take Three. 
• On the one hand, I was thrilled that it was terrible, because that meant my writing improved. On the other hand, I couldn't help wondering how long I was going to slog through this thing before I began to think, "Okay now, this is actually better." If Chapter One is any indication, it could be a long time.

And that is the fluff and bother that is going on here. What's been happening in your world?

Battle of the Bands ~ Sea of Love

It is March 15.

First, I must say that I cannot believe how QUICKLY this year is moving along. It's flying, right???

Second, if you have been following this blog for any length of time, then you know that the 1st and 15th of the month means Battle of the Bands. SO MUCH FUN!

Have you ever wondered how I come up with the songs? Well, I have this list of songs that I know have covers. This installment, though, was not on my original list. Nope. About a month ago, I was watching Sea of Love (the movie with Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin) again. I hadn't seen it since... well, a Long Time. So long, in fact, that I forgot who the killer was. It was almost like a brand new movie for me. And that made me think that I am losing it. Getting old. One step away from the Nursing Home. Well, maybe that is a bit much. But you get the idea.

Anyway, at the first crime scene the guy had a record player and the 45 for Sea of Love was set to play on continuous. Now, if you don't know what a 45 is... google it. Just watching that needle touch down on the record made me long for easier days. Kid days. Days when where to play was my toughest decision.

Anyway, that song showed up over and over again throughout the movie. Not a big surprise given that they named the movie after the song. And it had a crackerjack ending. It reminded me of why I liked the movie so much when I saw it the first time. As is my habit, I sat through the credits. Do you do that?

So, the upshot of this story (and how it pertains to this battle) is that Tom Waits covered Sea of Love. That was the version of the song that played while the credits ran. My first thought, "Was who is that guy?" So, I carefully perused the musical information as it rolled by. My second thought was, "I need to add this song to my Battle of the Bands list." So, when Arlee posted yesterday about Battle of the Bands being today, I smacked myself in the head. Once again, I was unprepared. This is beginning to feel like a pattern.

I hauled out the list and there was Sea of Love at the bottom. So, I pulled up Wikipedia. The song was written by Phil Phillips and George Khoury. Phil Phillips recorded the song in 1959. That was also the version used in the movie (the record). It's been covered by various artists. The Tom Waits version, recorded in 1989, is the *most* different, though when I went to YouTube, I listened to close to all of them. Then the hard part of this choosing process set in.

Do I pair off the original Phil Phillips version against Tom Waits? OR do I use The Honeydrippers version, recorded in 1985, against Tom Waits? The Honeydrippers (feat. Robert Plant as the lead singer) also scored a hit with this song. In other words, should I pit the covers against each other or use an original and a cover? I rather liked the cover vs cover action from the last battle, so we are doing that again!

Let's bring them up chronologically. Since The Honeydrippers recorded their song in 1985. They are first.

Take it away....



And now for the Dark Horse, Tom Waits!

Take it away...



Other battles can be found by clicking the following links, so be sure to visit them and cast your votes there!

Faraway Series

FERRET-FACED FASCIST FRIENDS

Tossing It Out

DiscConnected

Donna Hole

The rest of this post is up to you. Your vote counts!!! Just tell me in the comments which version you prefer and why. I will be back in one week (the 22nd) to report the final tally (and cast my vote). Be sure to visit the other battles listed above. You can sound off and they will LIKE IT:)

HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY

Wowza. I can't believe it's Thursday... again. It happens so often. Like every seven days. Just when I've recovered from the last one... here we are again.

Hahahaha! Just kidding. I LOVE Thursday. And, boy oh boy, this Thursday is HUGE. As in massive. As in you guys wrote so much this week that tickled my YouTube bone, that my "Favorites" are overflowing. All in all, an excellent week it was!

Without further ado, drum roll please.

It is Thursday and that means it is HERE'S TO YOU day!  All in all, the best day of the week here on YOUR DAILY DOSE. Why? Because it's a celebration for YOU.

If you don't know what this HERE'S TO YOU stuff is about, let me explain.  This is a weekly event landing typically on Thursdays.  The best (or worst) part is that I am not going to explain why I chose "whatever" footage for each of you. If, you watch your footage and are scratching your head at the end, well that means I didn't do a very good job. However, all is not lost. You can email me at rarichards68@gmail.com and ask me what I was thinking when I chose that particular piece of footage off of youtube and connected it to you. And then I will tell you. Then I will start sending up prayers that I haven't offended the crap out of whoever is on the receiving end of that email....lol. Because, honestly, I will tell you right now... I admire all of you enormously so I really hope that doesn't happen.

Also, this is not an exclusive venture by any means. I hope that you will take the time to watch ALL of the footage because I don't pick bad footage:-) I also hope that you might check out the blog of the person I dedicated the footage to because they are pretty darn awesome. If you haven't figured this out yet... I pick the footage based on something that you've written or something that I've gleaned from your personality. Think on that for a while... If you are having trouble watching the entire video (meaning it is being cut off on one side), click on it a couple of times and it will take you straight over to youtube. If you click on the four squares at the bottom corner of the video, it will enlarge it to fill your screen. The escape key will bring it back to normal size. The back arrow will bring you back to my page.

Now, let's get this PARTY STARTED!!!!

This one is for everyone:



This one is for Susan at I Think; Therefore, I Yam:
)


This one is for Becky at Becky Lewellen Povich: Writer, Humorist, Bliss Follower:
)


This one is for Jay Noel:
)


This one is for Steve at Steve's Nude Memphis Blog:
)


This one is for DiscConnected at DiscConnected:
)


This one is for Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out:
)


This one is for Alex J. Cavanaugh:
)


This one is for Jasmine at A Yellow Rose of Texas:
)

Hey You, Get Off Of My Cloud

I woke up this morning and thought, "Oh dear, I should post a blog today."

Okay, truth time.... I thought about my blog after I shook off this horrible dream I had.

I am still reading the Unlearn Your Pain book and going to therapy. Turns out that there is a lot of crap that I simply internalized. Now, all of it (most of it? some of it? plenty of it?) is dragged out in the open so that I can look at it. Yikes. It is not pretty.

I thought I already tapped out this bad junior high school experience with a teacher. Apparently not. I woke up reliving that experience and then yelling at him about how teachers aren't supposed to bully kids. We got enough bullying from our classmates. And on and on and on. It was ugly. My head pounded with a horrible migraine. You just can't tell me that pain isn't thoughts. It is thoughts. On the plus side, I think it was cathartic, to a degree, to tell him (okay, scream at him) how I really felt about the whole thing. But, it was adult me doing the screaming. Would it have been more healing if it had been kid me? I don't know. The adult in me already knows it was wrong. Bad. Horrible. No teacher should act this way. But, the kid I was didn't SAY anything. Hmm. I guess this is a conversation for the therapist the next time we meet.

Anyway, I didn't really want to blog about my therapy... even though it is eating a lot of my mental and physical energy.

On an unrelated note, I finally finished my rough draft. I know that it needs SO MUCH WORK. But still. It is done. I have something to edit. I can revise something that already exists. I spent all day Sunday walking around and patting myself on the back. It is good to appreciate each accomplishment. 

On another unrelated note... or maybe related to the initial topic of what to blog about... Tara Tyler at Tara Tyler Talks gave me the Liebster Award. I received this award in the past, BUT I stopped keeping up with awards in my sidebar (and am thinking of eliminating them entirely to clean up said sidebar). I lacked material for today, so I decided to answer the questions. I am supposed to thank the person who bestowed the award on me (Thanks Tara!), answer her 10 questions, create 10 questions and pass it on. I am fudging on the last part, but I'm a rebel!

These are Tara's questions:

1) What was your favorite subject in school?
English.

2) Do you believe in love at first sight? (do your characters?)
I believe in Like At First Sight. Sometimes that like leads to love. I believe in meeting someone and feeling like you've known them forever. It has happened to me a handful times in this lifetime. Those connections are very special, whether they turn out to be good friends or SOs.

3) What genre do you write and why?
I write what most would call women's fiction (or just fiction since I have guy reading it who likes it....) with supernatural, mysterious, and romantic elements. Is that a genre???? I chose it because I enjoy reading it. I am currently reading a lot of YA so that I can write it somewhere down the road. I think you have to read A LOT within a genre before you understand it well enough to write it.

4) What advice would you give new writers?
I am a new writer. What advice do you want to give ME????

5) How long have you been blogging and what made you start?
2010. I was so sick in 2010. Migraines took over my life and I felt like I was contributing NOTHING to the world. Blogging was the vehicle I saw to better myself. It started out as the place for self expression to try and understand how I'd landed at this terrible place. It turned into a chronicle of the journey. Now, it's a mish mash of everything.

6) Morning, afternoon, or evening writer?
I tend to read and post blogs in the morning. Then I write. I like to relax in the evenings. Of course, all of that could change soon...

7) What's the hardest part about writing for you?
Do I have to pick JUST ONE thing? Frankly, it is all hard.

8) What movie would you like to be an extra in?
I spent ten minutes thinking about this and have come up with nothing. However, I would have liked to have been an extra for the TV show Moonlighting. I loved that show. Or maybe M*A*S*H. That one was great, too.

9) If you could go anywhere or any when for research, where/when would you go?
Scotland. I find that country fascinating. Pick a time. If I could time travel, I would leap through the centuries to see it all.

10) Did you always want to be a writer?
Yes and no. I always loved writing. Actually, that isn't true. I am like Dorothy Parker. At least, I think it was Dorothy Parker. Anyway, someone said, "I hate writing. I love having written." It's always been like that.

I am going to break the rules and NOT hand this out to specific people. If you are lacking blogging material and want to take a crack at the following ten questions, I would love to read your answers. If not, well that's fine, too:)

These are my questions:

1) Have you ever met someone famous?
2) What concert would you pay a "ridiculous" amount of money to see? The person or band can be dead or alive.
3) What personality trait do you like best about yourself?
4) If you could meet a character in a book, who would you choose?
5) If you won the lottery, how would you spend the money?
6) Do you believe that there is such a thing as "having it all"?
7) Have you ever had a paranormal experience of any kind?
8) What is the most important trait for a person to have in order to achieve success in their life? Job? Relationships? (It can be one trait that ties them all together or separate ones...)
9)  What is holding you back from achieving your dreams?
10) What is your favorite time of day?


Well, this post turned out rather long for someone who had no idea what they would write when the woke up.

Have you ever experienced physical pain from things that happened to you in the past or present? Do you understand the idea that pain is thoughts? Do you celebrate your large and small accomplishments? If you want the award, run with it and make a blog post. If you want to just take a stab at all or some of the questions here... well, I want to read it.

Battle of the Bands Result and Inspirational Song Friday

Hello friends. Today is the 7th and I promised to post the results from Battle of the Bands. The song was Time After Time, made famous by Cyndi Lauper, but she didn't compete. Instead various covers of the original battled it out.

Here is how the vote tallied in the end:

Quietdrive - 7
Eva Cassidy - 11
Miles Davis - 4

So, even without my vote, the clear winner here is Eva Cassidy.

There were two abstentions in this race. In the beginning it was neck and neck among all three participants. Then Eva pulled ahead of the pack and it was all over. It kind of reminded me of that game in the Olympics where the snowboarders raced in packs of six to the finish. And most anything could happen, and did. I can't think of what it was called, but it was very exciting.

My vote? Not that it matters, but I love love love the Eva Cassidy version. I remember thinking it was better than Cyndi's version the first time I heard it. Such a smooth voice and I really feel the song when she sings it. That doesn't mean I no longer have any appreciation for Cyndi's version (or the other covers, for that matter) because I do.

So, if you voted, thank you for your participation. I will be serving cake promptly at 7:00pm this evening to thank you for your service:)

A LONG time ago, I used to run a regular feature on here called Inspirational Song Saturday. It was basically just an excuse to feature 80s videos, because I was one of those teens glued to MTV back in the 80s, and it allowed me to travel to a different space and time. I also posted whatever song was inspirational in the here and now... from any decade. With that in mind (and my post from Wednesday if you read it) I am going to give you Inspirational Song Friday, minus the whacky facts from the 80s. Ironically, the song is from the 80s. Or maybe not so ironically. I think I might be stuck there...




So, are you happy with the outcome of the Battle of the Bands vote? Can I mark you down for cake? Does I'm Still Standing make you want to stand up and run a victory lap? What do you know?.... Me too!

HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY

It's Thursday and everyone knows what that means. You don't? Well, look out...

However, before we get down to BUSINESS, I want to remind everyone that tomorrow is the last day you can vote in Battle of the Bands. You can CLICK HERE to listen and vote. Yesterday I wrote a piece on revelations about my migraines and my rough draft. You can click back one post for that one.

Without further ado, drum roll please.

It is Thursday and that means it is HERE'S TO YOU day!  All in all, the best day of the week here on YOUR DAILY DOSE. Why? Because it's a celebration for YOU.

If you don't know what this HERE'S TO YOU stuff is about, let me explain.  This is a weekly event landing typically on Thursdays.  The best (or worst) part is that I am not going to explain why I chose "whatever" footage for each of you. If, you watch your footage and are scratching your head at the end, well that means I didn't do a very good job. However, all is not lost. You can email me at rarichards68@gmail.com and ask me what I was thinking when I chose that particular piece of footage off of youtube and connected it to you. And then I will tell you. Then I will start sending up prayers that I haven't offended the crap out of whoever is on the receiving end of that email....lol. Because, honestly, I will tell you right now... I admire all of you enormously so I really hope that doesn't happen.

Also, this is not an exclusive venture by any means. I hope that you will take the time to watch ALL of the footage because I don't pick bad footage:-) I also hope that you might check out the blog of the person I dedicated the footage to because they are pretty darn awesome. If you haven't figured this out yet... I pick the footage based on something that you've written or something that I've gleaned from your personality. Think on that for a while... If you are having trouble watching the entire video (meaning it is being cut off on one side), click on it a couple of times and it will take you straight over to youtube. If you click on the four squares at the bottom corner of the video, it will enlarge it to fill your screen. The escape key will bring it back to normal size. The back arrow will bring you back to my page.

Now, let's get this PARTY STARTED!!!!

This one is for everyone:



This one is for Mail4Rosey and anyone else duking it out with winter:



This one is for farawayeyes at Far Away Series:



This one is for Susan Gourley/Kelley at Susan Says:



This one is for Red Shoes at Red Shoe's Chronicles:



This one is for author karen walker... following the whispers:



This one is for Al Diaz at Dragon on a Mission (the first scene):



This one is for Charity Bradford at Charity's Writing Journey:

IWSG ~ My Rough Draft and My Migraines

Before I do anything else, I want to encourage you to play along in Battle of the Bands. The song for this battle is Time After Time, made famous by Cyndi Lauper. I have three different covers duking it out in this battle. Right now the separation by the top two is just ONE VOTE. And Miles Davis is doing pretty well with 4 votes. He is trailing the leader by only THREE VOTES. This is a close race, so get over there and put in your two cents by voting for YOUR favorite. You can CLICK HERE.

Today is the first Wednesday of the month and that means it is time for insecure writers everywhere to share their fears with the world. Alex J. Cavanaugh started the IWSG and his awesome co-hosts areTina Downey, Elsie, Elizabeth Seckman, and Julie Flanders! Please visit and thank them for helping today. You can CLICK HERE if you want to join the Linky List.

I am closing in on actually finishing my very first ever rough draft. What am I NOT insecure about these days? Right. I am one huge ball of nerves and insecurity. Once that rough draft is done everyone says the Real Work begins. Say what? Real work? This has been worse than giving blood. You mean that my rough draft sucks lemons and I am going to have to really work it over? Yeah probably. Fabulous.

Things we've never done before are scary. 

When we are stuck in a bad rut, and have been for a long time, it is scary. I mean, if we knew how to get out... we would. If we truly understood how we got here, we wouldn't make this sort of choice again. It's all muddled and unclear and worst of all... seems unending.

Anyone who has read this blog for any length of time is familiar with the fact that I have chronic migraines. Back in the late 90s I started getting them sporadically. After I got married, I got them much more often (this just sounds dumb every time I say it now) and after my then-husband's young children moved in with us full-time, I got them daily. Painfully. It was and wasn't the kids. They had major issues from living with their bio mom, but the bigger problem was that their father didn't do anything outside of his comfort zone. He had no experience with raising kids... so that was outside his comfort zone. And anything over that line, he backed away from it, held up his hands, and insisted that someone else take over.

We were married three years. By the end of that time, I was so sick that I had to divorce or die. That was really where I felt I was. My mom was convinced that I was going to die. I'd gone from a successful career in commission sales to spending the bulk of my time in bed trying not to throw up with my head pounding so loud that... I admit it, I wanted to die. I wasn't going to kill myself, but if one of those big holes opened in the ground swallowing my house,  well that would have been a miracle. The good kind. Yeah, that was where I was mentally. So sick I wanted to die.

Fast forward to today. I found a new doctor who referred me to a tapping therapist, changed my diet to NO processed foods and more veggies, and has pretty well weaned me off of most prescription drugs. I am still on a few. I still have migraines. But not severely like I did. Things are getting better. There is nothing else my doctor can do for me physically.

My therapist suggested I read a book by Michael Schubiner, M.D. called Unlearn Your Pain. He says that anyone with chronic pain (and no tissue disorder) has Mind Body Syndrome. Our minds are powerful. So powerful that thoughts manifest themselves in our bodies. For instance, we are embarrassed and we blush. That is something happening in the mind producing a physical response in the body. Other responses like migraines, back pain, neck pain, fibromyalgia, gastro disorders, and more, are more difficult to trace back to the mind... unless you know how to do it.

So, I worked the sheets in the workbook. Wrote down the earliest date I had headaches, stomach issues, dizziness, migraines, and on and on. Then, I had to figure out if ANYTHING traumatic happened to precede these events. Or about the same time. Woah.

Back in 2010, I wrote several times about the hell that was junior high school. I was really trying to sort through my emotional stuff. I knew I had junk in the trunk and releasing it was the only way out. Except I didn't. Release that is. So... junior high school.

Junior high was a nightmare. Our school was a merger of the richest kids in town and those of us living at the lower middle class level. The rich kids bullied the rest ceaselessly. Obviously, some bullies were worse than others. One had it in for me for three years. It felt like arming for war every day those three years. An unwinnable war. That was when the vicious headaches began and I felt sick to my stomach after every meal. Core issues of junior high: I was abused. I was trapped. I lost my voice. I lost my confidence. Nothing I did was ever good enough.

My marriage was a nightmare. It was a merger of someone who nurtured and gave and someone who took. The taker was never happy with the amount given and always wanted more. The taker verbally and emotionally abused constantly. It felt like arming for war every day. An unwinnable war. That was when the migraines began and the nausea had me throwing up constantly. Core issues of my marriage: I was abused. I was trapped. I lost my voice. I lost my confidence. Nothing I did was ever good enough.

Sound familiar? I was married three years to the day.

As soon as I connected these dots, my migraines started to get just a bit better. I still have issues to work out and release.

Living with a constant migraine has been scary. For the longest time it didn't seem like it would ever get better. No one had any answers. Doctors just kept throwing medication at it. But nothing changed. When something stays the same long enough, the idea trickles in that it might never change. This actually might be your life for the rest of your life. That is scary. I refused to accept that and kept looking for someone with a better answer. Eleven years later I believe I've found it.

I'm not saying I want to be working on this WiP for eleven years. But I know that I can conquer scary things. Because I already have.

BATTLE OF THE BANDS ~ TIME AFTER TIME

Despite all of Arlee's hinting about this upcoming Battle of the Bands, it didn't really penetrate this addled brain that the 1st was TODAY until YESTERDAY. What's up with that????

So, I sat down and looked over my list of potential match-ups and decided that Time After Time was perfect... given my own inability to handle the realities of time... and I am well acquainted with "falling behind."

As always, I was surprised by the number of covers out there. What I had written down was Cyndi Lauper vs. "someone"... but then I decided to switch things up. For one thing, if I used Cyndi's version of the song, I just knew that I would get an earful from Stephen T. McCarthy. He is not a fan. ::understatement:: Plus, I do read your comments and SO OFTEN we are swayed by the version we heard FIRST. It is the one we grew up loving, or have a memory association, etc. So, what if we toss out the most known version (the Cyndi Lauper one) and let the covers battle it out??? Yeah, I like it, too.

I found three very different covers of this song. It is not my first choice to put three songs on here because of the time it takes to listen to them all.  Yep, I am aware of that. Keenly. It also splits the vote three ways instead of two. That also is less than wonderful. However... I hope that you will have patience with me and give them all a listen. Appreciate that all three of these artists listened to this song and then applied their own brand of musicality into the original song. In the end, the "feel" of each one is different. And that is what we respond to as listeners... the feel of the song.

First up is the version that *I think* most closely resembles what you are used to hearing (and it may garner more votes simply because of that). Quietdrive uses different instrumentation than the original, but the pacing of the lyrics is similar. It was released in 2006. Wikipedia describes their style as Alternative Rock.

Take it away Quietdrive:



Eva Cassidy died in 1996 of melanoma (cancer), but her second studio album, Time After Time, was released four years later. Cassidy was unwilling to confine herself to a specific style of music. She wanted to be able to sing it all. And she did. The Washington Post commented that "she could sing anything — folk, blues, pop, jazz, R&B, gospel — and make it sound like it was the only music that mattered."

Take it away Eva:


Last up is Miles Davis. I really hope that I don't need to educate you on who this guy is. In 1985 he released his version of Time After Time.

Take it away Miles:


Now comes the hard part... or not... decide which version you like best and tell me all about your reasoning for that decision in the comments.  What did you like and not like about each version? I will be back on the 7th to declare the winner based on your votes. 

Other battles can be found by clicking the following links, so be sure to visit them and cast your votes there!

Faraway Series

FERRET-FACED FASCIST FRIENDS

Tossing It Out

DiscConnected