I’ve been trying to change my music-listening habits lately, as part of my overall quest to have a more positive, life-affirming focus. A lot of popular music is, if not actually depressing, fairly negative. Rap is the worst of course, with its hatred of women and glorification of drugs and violence. (And if you think maybe it’s not really that bad, or it’s just certain songs, read this.) Other genres are far better, but still have their downside. How long can you listen to the radio — pop, rock, or country — without hearing a song about a broken heart or a disappointing life? Bombard yourself for hours everyday with people singing about how much life hurts, and it’ll surely have some effect on your own expectations.

So, I started listening to classical music online. That was okay, but a lot of classical music is pretty dreary. It doesn’t have the negative lyrics, but dreary music can create the same mood. Also, after 37 years of listening to popular music, it’s hard for me to appreciate music that flows along without a drumbeat to anchor it. Most of the time, it fades into the background like the elevator music in a store, until after a few hours it starts to get repetitive and annoying. I’d like to learn to appreciate it more, but I think it’s going to take small doses over time, rather than immersion.

So I switched to Celtic music for a while. Much of this is upbeat, the kind of stuff you dance a jig to. That’s pretty good, but every once in a while they break in with a long bagpipe number that sounds like a bunch of trucks are in a traffic jam outside, laying on their horns. I can’t take very much of that.

Now I’m listening to 1980s pop and rock. It’s not ideal, but there are enough online stations that I can switch if something clearly negative comes on. The ratio of positive to negative music and lyrics was a lot better in the 80s than before or since. I’ve said before that rock music always starts from a basis of “Life sucks…”:

• 1960s – Life sucks so let’s get stoned. (Woodstock)
• 1970s – Life sucks so let’s hallucinate and screw a lot. (Disco)
• 1980s – Life sucks so I want to punch someone. (AC/DC)
• 1990s – Life sucks so I think I’ll kill myself. (Nirvana)

There are exceptions and overlap between those, of course. I’m not sure what the message for the 2000s is; this decade doesn’t seem to have a recognizable attitude yet. In any case, while punching someone isn’t the nicest thing to do, at least it’s a positive action in a way; it’s an attempt to remove something that’s bothering you. The others are all different forms of surrender.

Hmm, I wasn’t expecting this to get so deep or long. Anyway, now I’m switching between those three choices. I’ve tried listening to “inspirational” channels, but that seems to be a synonym for Christian rock, most of which is musically dismal. Maybe at some point I’ll collect my own library of “uplifting” music from all genres, and put the list on here.

I’ve started carrying my camera around town with me, to take pictures of whatever looks interesting, now that it’s spring and the sun comes out once in a while. So here’s some photo-blogging, comments below the pictures….

This is on the southwest edge of town; someone converted an old barn into a house. It looks pretty cool. I wonder if there’s a room in the silo?

The rest of these are from the cemetery on the west edge of town. I walk Pepper out that way a lot, because there’s a small creek on the other side that she can go hunt in. So I took pictures of some things while she was playing the other day.

When I first saw this one, I wondered who thought his gravestone had to be twice as tall as anyone else’s, but no, it’s just the statue at the entrance, commemorating the people who started the cemetery.

You know, I’m certainly no feminist, but I’m glad we don’t do this anymore. No, I’m afraid the other side doesn’t say, “Charles, Husband of Catherine.”

“He done what he could.” Kinda says it all, doesn’t it?

I wonder how two people “Born In France” in the 1910s end up in Barry, Illinois. Probably an interesting story there. Apparently Mrs. Kibler is still alive. There must be a lot of widows around here, because there seem to be at least ten stones like this for every one where the husband hasn’t been added yet. I know women have a longer life expectancy than men by a couple years, but walking around the cemetery you’d think it’s more like twenty.

This one broke my heart. At first I saw Aug. 12-Aug. 14, and thought, “Gosh, twin sisters died at birth, that’s really sad.” Then I realized, no, it says August 1916 to August 1917. Twin baby girls, one just past her first birthday and the other not quite there, lost within a couple weeks of each other. How horrible that must have been for their parents.

To wrap up on a lighter note, I love this one. “Ok, what should we put on Bob’s stone? Rest in Peace …. maybe something from a prayer ….. no, I know: ‘Fix It Man!’” And then the CB radio. It seems out of place on a headstone, but hey, it sure tells you more about Bob than something flowery would have, doesn’t it?

Happy Easter, everyone!

Ok, I think the author of XKCD is reading my mind a bit too much lately.

• Here’s one about me.
• Here’s one about what I do for a living.
• Here’s one about one of my favorite books of all time.
• And here’s one that’s just plain funny.

Actually, they’re all pretty funny, although sometimes the math gets a little obscure for me to get. If you like geeky humor, though, check it out. It’s like The Far Side squared.

Another web comic I really like is Copper. There aren’t very many of them, but the artwork is gorgeous.

As long as I’m on the subject of funny stuff, Lileks’s collection of dog pictures from newspapers is pretty great. Also, he’s started on his Joe Ohio matchbook-story series again. It’s not funny, just good, if you like 50s-era dime-store novels.