Day 4104: Great Titles

People have told me that some of my songs have great titles — specifically “I Left the House Before I Felt Ready,” “Everybody’s Somebody’s Asshole,” and “I’d Like to Win a Grammy for Best New Artist.”

Yesterday, when I spoke to some lovely people at Samaritans (where I got the title Ann 1360* when I volunteered for their suicide hotline in the 90s) about contributing proceeds from my June concert and album to them, I mentioned my song with the title “Don’t Kill Yourself.”

I don’t know if “I Love Myself” is a great title, but I started writing this new song yesterday:

©️Ann Koplow, 2024

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Do you see any great titles in my images for today?

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Here’s a song with a great title: “How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away.”

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Thanks to all who help me find great titles, including YOU!

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* Everyone who volunteers at Samaritans gets a great title comprised of their first name and a number; while I do remember my first name, I’m not sure about that number.

Day 3378: Fools

Today is April Fool’s Day, so let’s start out with a definition of “fool.”

If I were at a restaurant and somebody said “that damn fool waiter” to me, I would get away from that person as soon as I could, and I’m not fooling.

That reminds me of the time when I was waiting at my favorite restaurant to meet a guy from a dating site for the first time who had a very prestigious job, and he was late. The waiter kept refilling my water and when I started to feel like a fool I let the waiter know what was going on. When the guy finally showed up, I wasn’t fooled by him — he seemed insensitive, entitled, and humorless — and after a few minutes I said, “Look, I don’t think this is going to work out. I don’t want either of us to waste our time,” and I said goodbye and left. It’s a good thing I wasn’t fooled by him, because later that week I met my husband, Michael, who, if he is a fool, is the same kind of fool I am.

Also, the next time I went back to my favorite restaurant, the waiter (who was no damn fool) told me that the staff who saw everything loved it when I walked out.

Here are some quotes about fools:

I obviously don’t write for fools.

In my images for today, can you spot the fool who took the photos?

Somebody who is no fool shared that image on Twitter yesterday in honor of National Crayon Day.

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “fools.”

I look forward to reading all the comments on this “fools” post and thanks to all who helped me create it, including YOU.

Day 3377: Heaven

Heaven, for me, would include

• people I love,
• animals I love,
• music,
• beautiful scenery,
• peace,
• no pain,
• no injustice,
• unlimited pasta, and
• no waiting.

I’m including “no waiting” on that list because I’m currently waiting for four important people to get back to me. In the meantime, I’m trying to create my own heaven on earth by letting go of any anxiety about outcomes as I wait.

Do you see heaven in my images for today?

I assume that somebody’s idea of heaven includes clams on the half shell and/or taters.

Here’s a song about heaven from John Prine.

I have to finish this blog post now because I have an 8 AM appointment with my dentist. Heaven, for me, would include no dental work but lots of people like Dr. Del Castillo.

Thanks to all who help make this place a heaven on earth for me, including YOU.

Day 2958: Plans

My plans for yesterday included seeing my fabulous dentist Dr. Del Castillo about an unplanned missing filling.

My plans for today include singing my new and timely lyrics for Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” at a remote Open Mic, which you can hear in this planned YouTube video.

My plans for my vacation this week included testing out a new microphone before tonight’s performance. Because of the distortion on the high notes, I plan to post a new video of “Vaccine” tonight right after the Open Mic.

Before I share my other plans for today with you, I plan to share some thoughts about plans:

• I enjoy plans when they combine structure and creative freedom.
• There is a big difference between worries and plans, although we tend to confuse and combine the two.
• It is possible to plan without worrying and I plan to continue to get better at that.

My plans for today include sharing all my planned and unplanned photos from yesterday with you.

I hope your plans for today include leaving a comment about this “Plans” post.

Every day, my plans include ending my daily blog with gratitude, so thanks to all whose plans included stopping here today, including YOU.

Day 2926: What’s on my mind

Every day, for the past eight years, I’ve been telling people what’s on my mind through this blog.

Today, Georgia is on my mind, because of the two races for control of the U.S. Senate and because of this:

There exists a recording of somebody with sedition on his mind calling the Georgia Secretary of State, but because I don’t want to go out of my mind listening to somebody who is out of his mind, I’d rather listen to “Georgia on my Mind” performed by writer Hoagy Carmichael.

I also prefer to have Ray Charles’s rendition of “Georgia on my Mind” on my mind rather than what’s on the mind of somebody with a severe personality disorder who’s on everybody’s mind because he is still in power until January 20.

What’s on my mind also includes a broken filling in my tooth, which I’m letting my dentist know about now because he reads this blog every day. Hello, Dr. Del Castillo! It’s on my mind to call your office today.

I share what’s on my mind by capturing images like these:

What’s on your mind, here and now?

Gratitude is always on my mind, so thanks to all who help me share what’s on my mind every day, including you!

Day 2622: I’m glad you exist

I’m glad you exist.

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I’m glad my awesome bass-playing dentist, who sent me the message below, exists.

I’m glad I exist and could read this message from my dentist:

You’re doing something great and I’m glad you exist

I’m glad Rhys — the wonderfully welcoming, kind, and perceptive server at Junior’s in Times Square — exists.

I’m glad my iPhone exists so I could take all these other photos yesterday.

I’m glad hope exists in so many places.

Here’s “I’m Glad You Exist” by Nateybeats:

I’m glad the comments section on this blog exists, below.

I’m glad gratitude exists, everywhere I look.

Day 2572: My readers

Yesterday, one of my readers (my bass-playing dentist Dr. Del Castillo) sent me this “for your blog”:

 

Speaking of mugging, another one of my readers (my long-time friend Deb) sent me this wedding gift, which arrived yesterday:

 

What do my readers understand about my other photos for today?

 

 

 

 

 

Those last two photos are for my readers who like dogs.

I believe it would help my readers to change this very unhelpful thought …

… to these thoughts instead:

Another one of my readers sent me this, hoping it would help people:

 

I hope my readers will enjoy what I’m listening to, right now.

 

I don’t know what I would do without my readers, including YOU.

Day 2417: The “Why should I care?” test

Yesterday, I witnessed somebody telling a writer that their  story did not answer the “Why should I care?” test.  Why should I care about that?  Well, sometimes I wonder why my loyal and lovely readers should care about the personal words and photos I share in this blog.

Why should you care if I went to the dentist yesterday and got a new dental crown that was created, before my eyes, in a 3-D  printer?   Why should you care if Michael and I took Oscar to the vet and he got a clean bill of health?  Why should you care if Harley escaped going to the vet by scratching Michael, hissing, growling, and making it impossible for us to corral him in time to make the appointment? In other words, why should you care about what I care about?

Why should you care about how I recorded some of yesterday’s moments?

Why should any of us care about allowing cats and people to communicate their stories in an authentic,  personal, and full-bodied way?

Why should anybody care about this video I took of the creation of my new dental crown?

 

Why should I care about the comments you make on this blog?  There are SO many reasons I care.   I can only hope I convey that caring in every post and every answer, every day.

 

 

Day 2414: Don’t worry, be _appy

Don’t worry, be happy, my dentist suggested to me yesterday, when I was worrying about having swallowed a loose dental crown.

It’s easy for me to be happy and to not worry when I have such a wonderful dentist.

Don’t worry, be happy that I have more photos from yesterday.

Don’t worry, be happy wearing whatever you like (especially when you’re on vacation) and spending time with felines and humans you love.

Last night, when Rachmaninoff’s 1st symphony came on the radio, Michael said he thought Rachmaninoff could be “sappy.”  Don’t worry, be sappy, Rachmaninoff.

Don’t worry, I’ll be snappy ending this post with my usual gratitude for all who help me create this daily blog and — of course! — for YOU.

Day 2376: Special Operations

Yesterday, on a special day, I noticed “Special Operations” on a parked  police motorcycle.

I thought, “I’m going to be interviewed for a special podcast tonight about my special heart and several special operations, including open heart surgery.”  As I was taking that special photo for today’s “Special Operations” blog post,  I heard somebody speaking to me and that turned out to be special operations officer Hicks:

I explained to Officer Hicks, “I took that photo because I’ve had many special operations on my heart.”  He said something special, like “Those special operations must have gone well because you look pretty good considering you’ve had all those special operations.”   He also said he didn’t think he was handsome enough to be in a blog, which I thought was especially modest.

Officer Hicks and many other special operations officers were in Boston yesterday, in preparation for the special Boston 4th of July celebration today. Minutes after I photographed special operations officer Hicks, I noticed something special on my car.

I thought, “What?!?! It’s true that I just spent a long time getting a special teeth cleaning and also talking to my special dentist Dr. Del Castillo, who is doing so well after having the special operation of a double lung transplant, but I don’t think that took over two hours!”  I looked more closely and saw this special reason for that ticket:

Since when do they give out special tickets for being over 1 ft from the curb, especially since only the back of my car barely met that special criteria?

I know that special operations officer Hicks is not somebody who gives out tickets and —  in case he thinks that I’m looking for special treatment —  I already did an online special operation last night to pay it.

Do you see any special operations in my other special photos from yesterday?

As you can see from those photos, I did a special operation of pre-medicating before my dental cleaning and did a special operation  when I got home — trying out a new cat carrier on Oscar, our cat-in-a-bag.

After my special boyfriend Michael and I walked around our special neighborhood last night (and saw some unexpectedly special fireworks and a special beach bonfire), we danced to this special 4th of July song:

Now, I’m going to request that you do the special operation of making a comment, below.

Happy July 4th to everybody who performs the special operation of reading this blog, including YOU!

 

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It took me several special operations to upload my photos today. I hope you don’t have to perform any special operations to see them!