Time Off

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Taking some time off for a variety of reasons. Hopefully I'll get back to posting soon. Take care, my friends.

Popular posts from this blog

What is this? Where am I? What's it all about?

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All good questions. Let me explain. My name is Giselle and I'm your new best friend. Well, maybe not "best friend." A best friend usually listens in addition to talking, but that's not me. What I will do is be here every day, starting June 1 2019, to share with you whichever song pops into my head. Why?  What's the point? Well, here's the thing: I'm a writer. It's a pretty lonely job. Over the years, I've become increasingly socially isolated and you know what? It sucks. It sucks bad. The truth of the matter is that a lot of us are socially isolated, these days. And not just older people--younger ones, too.  There are "friendly visitor" programs for seniors, but those of us under 65 are kind of lost at sea. I speak from experience. Let me be your friendly visitor! If you need a no-pressure visit every day, let me be your visitor. I'll bring a song--whichever song pops into my head, gets stuck in my head, or seems relevant...
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#SongoftheDay I Dreamt We Spoke Again (Death Cab for Cutie)

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Last winter, I listened to this Death Cab for Cutie album ( Thank You for Today ) on repeat. I'd probably heard it 20 or 30 times before I clued in to the fact that it was a break-up album, and maybe I was listening to it so much because, last fall, I went through a break-up and never really dealt with it. If you've known me for a while, you've heard me talk about my girlfriend, Sweet. What you don't know is that she isn't my girlfriend anymore. We broke up while my grandmother was dying, which is a stupid time to break up with someone, but the relationship had run its course, we were in very different places emotionally, and it was time to say goodbye. Actually, I lost a 10-year relationship and my beloved grandmother in the space of 4 days. I mourned the loss of my grandmother, and I let that take over. I pushed the relationship loss to the side. I didn't want to think about it. I haven't even told the internet until now. So when I talk about my p...
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#SongoftheDay Cheers Theme: Where Everybody Knows Your Name (Gary Portnoy)

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A lot has changed since I first created this blog. Even more changes happened while the blog was on hiatus. Most notably, my partner was diagnosed with cancer. He is currently receiving treatments, the side effects of which make every day incredibly arduous. When you become a caregiver, everybody tells you that you have to take care of yourself first--the whole oxygen mask thing. Even my partner tells me I need to take care of myself first, particularly because I have chronic health conditions that make it almost impossible to function some days. It feels kind of ridiculous sometimes, the two of us trying to take care of each other when we're both sick. We need so much help, and right now we have nothing. All we've got is each other. Every time someone tells me to take care of myself first, I wonder how I'm supposed to do that when my partner's needs are so immediate and life-or-death. He is not a demanding person. Cancer is demanding. It takes over your entire life...
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#SongoftheDay J'envoie valser (Oivia Ruiz)

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Believe it or not, I've never held myself in high regard. You might think that, in order to be a writer and market my work and all that, I must have incredible self-confidence. I don't. I've always thought I'm bad at everything and I'm not worth much. This is something I managed to convince myself a long time ago, and it wasn't hard to do. I know I shouldn't allow my self-worth to be determined by other people, but there's a part of me that's still as vulnerable as the young girls in the audience of this video. There's a part of me that needs to be shown I have value. My partner and I are not young people. We have histories, past lives, paths we've taken. When we got together, my partner had to make a choice: he could stay in his previous situation or build a life with me. If he'd stayed where he was, he would come into money. Big money. Like, a million dollars or more. He wouldn't have to do anything to "earn" it; thi...
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#SongoftheDay Watermelon Man (Herbie Hancock)

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I've been meaning to tell you this story for months. I promised to tell it to you weeks ago. So here we are, finally: the watermelon story. So, I'd just finished shopping at the little grocery store near my building. I was using a walker that day. I can wedge the shopping basket between the metal bars on either side while I shop, then pile my bags on the seat to get them home. That works unless I'm carrying anything really heavy. One time my partner tried using my walker to bring home three cases (36 cans) of Ensure, and he ended up slicing open his finger. Blood everywhere. But that's not the watermelon story. I interrupted myself. Let's start again. So, I'd just finished my shopping and I was coming out of the little grocery store with my bags piled up on my walker when I noticed that there was an older woman trying to fish a watermelon out of one of those huge cardboard containers they keep watermelon in outside the store. With zero luck. She, like me,...
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#SongoftheDay Back to the Future Theme (The Outatime Orchestra)

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My partner and I watched Back to the Future recently. He'd never seen it before. We got a DVD box set out from the library and I said to him, "Oh, this set has all three movies in it." He came home from the library the day after we'd watched the first one and told me, "I was about to return this when I realized all three movies are in here." I was so proud of myself for not saying, "Yeah, I told you that! Don't you ever listen to me?" heh. Life goes more smoothly when I don't lash out about things that really do not matter. If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and anecdotes, the easiest thing you can do is buy my books (most are for adults only!) or check them out from your local library.  Supporting my  AudioErotica  endeavour on  Patreon  would also help me hugely. I'm also an  Amazon Influencer,  so hopefully I can make a little pocket change when you buy stuff by clicking through  my affiliate link...
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#SongoftheDay Day After Day (Badfinger)

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I'll be honest with you: I didn't know Badfinger was a band until I googled musicians from Wales. I was familiar with this song, but I never knew who it was by. Now I actually understand the joke that mentions them in the Rifftrax riff of Psycho II (yes, that's an actual movie).  (edit: the riff I was thinking of is actually from Amityville 4, which is another lousy sequel.)   If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and anecdotes, the easiest thing you can do is buy my books (most are for adults only!) or check them out from your local library.  Supporting my  AudioErotica  endeavour on  Patreon  would also help me hugely. I'm also an  Amazon Influencer,  so hopefully I can make a little pocket change when you buy stuff by clicking through  my affiliate links . I also recommend subscribing to my newsletter. I generally e-mail subscribers with a weekly update, and I would LOVE to have you on the list.  C...
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#SongoftheDay I've Tried Everything (Eurythmics)

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I have been incredibly ill. Emergency room, IV fluids, diagnostic equipment, more meds.  I'm so sorry for taking off without letting you know what was going on, but there are times when it can't be helped. I've missed sharing music with you. I think in terms of posts I want to write, but for a while I couldn't come near my computer. Now I don't remember what I wanted to say. Figures, eh? This song came into my mind at a time when I truly believed I would never get better. Time and treatment didn't seem to make any difference. I was just so sick all the time. At this point, I don't know whether I'm "better" or whether the new medication I'm on is just keeping me stable. More medical appointments to come.  Meanwhile, various other portions of my life are falling apart. Not my relationship. That's strong. My partner has been taking good care of me physically, and I'm trying to take good care of him emotionally, but now is not a happy t...
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#SongoftheDay The Love Boat Opening and Closing

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The other day, my partner went out to visit a friend who has had multiple strokes and now resides in an assisted living facility. While my partner was out, I watched The Love Boat. Why? Because it was on. And because I remember watching it as a kid. It was pretty hard to sit through, as an adult. The laugh track, for starters. I found I kept leaving the room. When my partner got home, I asked him how his friend was doing. He said, "He was watching The Love Boat." If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and anecdotes, the easiest thing you can do is buy my books (most are for adults only!) or check them out from your local library.  Supporting my  AudioErotica  endeavour on  Patreon  would also help me hugely. I'm also an  Amazon Influencer,  so hopefully I can make a little pocket change when you buy stuff by clicking through  my affiliate links . I also recommend subscribing to my newsletter. I generally e-mail subsc...
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#SongoftheDay I'm Getting Sentimental Over You (Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra)

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I've been feeling so sick the past few days that I've barely had the energy to watch TV--and that's saying something. Watching TV isn't exactly a gruelling task. But one of my meds has been making me sick to my stomach, and after days of this I am just so weak. It's times like this when I realize how much my partner does to take care of me and to take care of our surroundings when I'm unwell. I'm noticing how much he does because he's not here. He's at his house; I'm at my place. And my place is a mess because I don't have the energy to clean it properly. Now I'm realizing that usually, when I'm sick, he does the dishes, he dries them and puts them away so we don't have a kitchen full of dirty dishes. Normally when I'm sick to my stomach, he runs to the bathroom with me and holds my hair. If my hair is pulled back, he pets my head because he says he doesn't know what else to do. But clearly he does know what to do, beca...
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