I love summer. I really do! Fierce blue skies and puffy white clouds.  Beaches, sunshine, cookouts.  And them summer days are officially here, complete with the 3 H’s: heat, humidity, and headaches.

My head, doesn’t so much enjoy summertime.  Humidity is a trigger for my migraines - and with the wave of storms that hit us last week, I ended up with a doozy of a migraine that lasted 3 days.  After one day in bed with curtains drawn, and two more days of drugs (totaling 5 Maxalt), the headache took a vacation.

Over the weekend, another rash of storms and heat waves hit us. I didn’t dare journey outdoors; instead sat my arse in the house in the comfort of my central air conditioning.  I’m a sadist, but damn - just the thought of another 3 days on meds was enough to dissuade me from personal torture.

Well, here’s to summer. Here’s to fun. And here’s to hoping the rest of it goes better than the past 2 weeks!

Why is it, as a child, time goes by so slowly - like an inchworm crawls; but, as an adult, it goes by much too quickly?  Children can’t wait to grow up.  Parents reflect back on their childhood wishing they had that time again.  Mainly just for the sake of ample time to do nothing.

There isn’t enough time in my week to do all of the things I’d like to get done.  On top of that, my motivation factor SUCKS!  I have a running list that I keep in my moleskine.  Granted, it’s a never-ending list - that’s the whole concept; however, some of the items are long-overdue. And they’re not even difficult. But require a little effort and (the key factor) MOTIVATION.

My intentions are good. Truly they are.  But if I don’t get started the moment my feet hit the floor, they pretty much aren’t going to hit the floor.  Instead, they’ll be firmly planted on the footrest while my butt clings to the couch.

Can someone kindly kick me in the ass to get me moving?  Just one swift kick should be sufficient.  If not, how about extending the weekends another 2 days?

The upcoming year is going to go by much faster than I want it to and, before I know it, I’m going to be sitting at Nick’s graduation.  For that reason, I plan to make the best of - and savor - the time available up until then.

Watching one of the morning programs, they told the tale of how the new frontman for Journey came to be. A tribute/cover singer from the Phillipines, Arnel Pineda had a huge following on YouTube doing his thang - singing, among other things - Journey songs. The guys from Journey heard about him and had to check it out. Looking for a new frontman, they were wowwed by the video. But the challenge came in locating Arnel. Apparently sparing no expense, they eventually found Arnel and had him flown to the states to audition. End result, Arnel is now the lead singer/frontman for the latest version of the band. (Yes, I know there was another one inbetween, but he wasn’t memorable, at least not to me.)

While I’m thrilled to see Journey live on, I’m also tainted in that there is no imitation better than the real thang. There’s nobody who can sing Steve Perry songs better than Steve Perry. They can try, and they may even come close. But, as they say - close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. For comparison and proof, I offer up the following live performances. While audio and video is not the best, the live vocals are still, at a minimum - remarkable (there were better versions but these were the only ones that could be embedded).

Send Her My Love - Steve Perry 1983:

Steve Perry Faithfully - 1983:

I was watching late night TV the other night, and happened to tune in to one of the funniest interviews I’ve seen recently. David Letterman was interviewing Will Smith - and their conversation diverted to hilarious tangents in a number of directions. Didn’t see it? Or want to see it again? Following are the replays…

And here’s Part 2: