GRATITUDE

Gratitude - The quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness. 

The word itself is derived from Anglo-French and Medi-evil Latin words, "gratitudo" and "gratus", which simple mean "grateful". Or, if you prefer: "thankful".

It really is such a simple quality, and a quality, indeed.

I had a bad day today. Or so I thought. Until I read one of my old school-friends blogs this evening, and realized just how easy my day was compared to what she is going through.

Meet Mandy:

Click here to meet Mandy

We went to high school together, like a million years ago. (ten years, if you must know) I haven't seen Mandy since we left school, but we have remained distantly in touch by the great Facebook. I've watched silently as she got married, started her life, began a business, faced some personal battles... One thing I've never forgotten about Mandy, from school, is her spunk, her perseverance, and her outright stubbornness  She was, without doubt, the most bloody-minded, headstrong girl in our class.

Which I believe is a quality that the Almighty must have given her, because if there's anything she needs right now, it's to be a headstrong, stubborn, not-taking-no-crap-from-nobody kind of lady. You see, never would anyone have dreamed that she would be faced with a battle as mortifying as the fight against metastatic gastric cancer. Her battle isn't going so well, at present. (read her blog)

And this has had me thinking for a few weeks now, about the nature of life, and how we experience it.

Today was one such day... I got up today, feeling fresh, healthy, maybe a just tad groggy from a wonderful, busy and extremely fulfilling weekend. I had a shower, washed my hair, had a healthy breakfast, popped a few multivitamins and went on my way. I got stuck in some horrendous traffic, and was half an hour late for work. I arrived to find that a crisis had invaded my work-space, and I absolutely lost my cool in a way that I seldom do. My morning was a myriad of up's and downs as I faced the day's events, and I was only too glad to call it a day when the clock finally hit home-time this afternoon.

I thought it was kind-of a rough day, you know? I got home, feeling weary and a little bit edgy. I powered up my laptop and it wasn't long before stumbled across Mandy's latest blog entry... and immediately felt so, so, so convicted. So cut to the heart. I had a rough day???

(Seriously now, read Mandy's blog immediately for the full affect of this statement)

There is a song that I listen to when I'm having a "rough day" (although I am in the process of re-evaluating what really constitutes to being a "rough day"). Rocking to this song, admitting that I'm Not Okay... well it makes me feel okay after all... It makes me smile, take a deep breath, and sigh. I dedicated this song to Mandy recently, and I dedicate it to all those out there who are being strong in their battles against cancers and other illnesses. I can't imagine how you do it. I take my hat off to you - you, who have every right to cry out "I'm Not Okay!" and yet you get up every day and fight.


I'm not sharing this to make anyone feel guilty. But I feel challenged, and so feel inspired to just share the following challenges with you:

1. BE GRATEFUL. Just do it. Stop whinging. Get over it. Find something in your life to say 'Thank you' for, even if it is simply "Thank you for another beautiful day to live". 
2. October is Cancer Awareness month - maybe you're not up to shaving your head to support the cause, but all you need to do to support the cause is to be aware, and create awareness. Wear a bandanna, purchase a ribbon, go get that suspicious-looking mole tested. Talk about it, and support the people that you know are walking the journey.
3. DO SOMETHING. Life is now, don't waste it. Apologize to those you owe an apology to. Similarly: forgive. Be kind to that person you have always been too shy to speak to. Take up that arbitrary hobby you've always dreamed about. Say "I love you". Say it to everyone that you really love! Everyone! 

Fellow Inhabitants of this Planet... JUST. DO. IT. 

Music to Get Your Gloves On...

I decided to do a little bit of a musical experiment this weekend - I hope you are as giddy with excitement as I am...

As I previously blogged last year, dance music (unaffectionately nicknamed doef-doef music) is admittedly one of the best music styles for any kind of exercise, including kickboxing. I decided to find out, by absolute trial and error, what other music is good for boxing. So I pre-selected a variety of music, and loaded it onto my iPod. I clicked on "shuffle" and off I went to the garage, where my punching bag hung waiting. My results were interesting, to say the least. Here are some observations:


Linkin Park
No good for boxing at all. I found this surprising, as I would have thought that their aggression would have contributed to the sport quite well. Not so - in fact, I felt quite drained boxing to Linkin Park. Not recommended, I'm afraid. Which is sad. But true.


My Chemical Romance
Now don't accuse me of being biased, but my findings suggest that My Chemical Romance is exceptionally suitable for boxing. The combination of near-psychopathic energy, aggression and most importantly, emotion, is what does it for me. I felt like I could tear a hole in the punching bag with my bare hands, and land in a sobbing heap on the floor. A bit over-the-top and dramatic, but effective nonetheless.


Sting
No surprises here, I would not suggest using Sting as motivational music for a boxing session. I felt more inspired to hang up my boxing gloves and take up yoga and meditation instead. Zero on the boxing-music chart.


Elvis Presley
Yes, I possess Elvis Presley music. (And proudly, I might add.) You won't believe this, but Elvis is truly great boxing music. I expect that the warbling croons of the likes of "Blue Moon" and "Love me Tender" instantly transformed me from a sweaty novice panting doggedly in my dirty garage, into Cinderella-Man... Has-been Champion pro, fighting for love... for survival.... for dignity... Age-old romance really does it, who knew? (I do now) 


Red
Red is a hardcore Christian band, and I honestly wasn't sure how I'd manage with them, but their extraordinary intertwining of bleeding guitars, screaming vocals and soaring orchestra (yes, orchestra) made me feel like a warrior, battling a giant red demon in the middle of a raging apocalypse. Red filled me with a passionate desire to overcome the punching bag, and overcome it I did. With goosebumps from head to toe. 


The Rasmus
Now this is a 'dark band' and, in my opinion, quite effective with a punching bag, but... it seems to work only if fueled by some kind of heartache in addition to it. It's what we call an emo band, and emo without pain is... well, just a lame fashion statement really. So use The Rasmus wisely with the punching bag, because they don't pull the emotion off quite as well as My Chemical Romance.


Good Charlotte
Again, an astonishing result - I expected the lovable punk band to provide me with bounds of joyful energy to work out, but instead I just found myself getting annoyed. But like, really annoyed. In fact, I had to stop boxing on a few occasions to take my gloves off, and change the track whenever Good Charlotte or Blink 182 came on. Gosh could this be the first sign that I'm getting old? .....Naaaaah, couldn't be.


Sum 41
This band did nothing for me. Neither did 30 Seconds to Mars or Hoobastank. It was all merely very good background music, but that's all it was. So, standard-issue alternative music seems to be pretty neutral ground. Better than Sting, at least. 


Kongos
Now this is excellent boxing music. Kongos is just a refreshing rock bad, with driving rhythm, brilliant durmming (as so well demonstrated on their hit track "I'm Only Joking") and good old-fashioned great vocals. Even their more 'toned down' tracks, like "Escape", make for pleasant exercise and boxing music. Great for light sparring and warming up.


Rihanna
The problem I experienced with the likes of Rihanna, Shakira and Beyonce is that I felt the urge to strip my gloves off, and dance with my punching bag, instead of hit it. So, while I can't accurately say that this is not energizing music, it's not the kind of energy I'm looking for. Well, except for one song - Breaking Dishes - which I've mentioned once before HERE."Breaking Dishes" I could box to... but I'd probably break something. 


Guns N' Roses
Now it's not easy to mention Guns N Roses in this forum because my iPod only played one of their songs, "Sweet Child of Mine". Big no-no with the punching bag, it seems. I'm not even sure how this happens, but in losing my focus to this track, the punching bag actually managed to punch me back, in my solar plexus, and left me somewhat winded for a minute or two. So classic rock, the likes of Guns n Roses and  Metallica , not conducive to safe boxing, and not recommended.

To summarize, I'd have to say that ny top three boxing bands are....

My Chemical Romance 

Red

Kongos

And if all else fails, Fellow Inhabitants of this Planet, there's always that blasted dance music.

MCR Lyrics of the Day

Considering that this blog is partly inspired by My Chemical Romance (see my first blog post ever here - lame!), I do get the occasional, irresistible urge to spurt out some random reference to them. I've been listening to MCR for 3 solid days now, every moment I get, and so I am just bursting with the urge to spurt, and thought I'd begin this "MCR Lyric of the Day" tradition, for times like these. 


So I'm beginning with a track off their more recent album, "Danger Days" a song quite simply called "Na Na Na". I'm not sure how many "Na's" there are supposed to technically be in there, but you'll know the song if you're a fan. 

This song in it's entirety is not meant to be understood... It's way 'out there', and totally abstract, and I don't know if anyone except Gerard Way truly knows what it's about, although I've heard it speculated that it's about corrupt society, commercialism and greed. Pretty deep stuff for a rock band.

Gerard Way being out there and abstract

But for all the bizarre lyrics, this one excerpt is so plain, and so cutting, it catches me mid-thought every time.

Excerpt from "Na Na Na" - My Chemical Romance

Everybody wants to change the world

Everybody wants to change the world

But no one..

No one wants to Die

Wanna try, wanna try,

Wanna try, wanna try, 

Wanna try now..

How true, that we as humanity are so very quick to verbalize our opinions on what would make this world a better place, but as soon as that requires some self-sacrifice or discomfort... well, that's a different story. Thought-provoking stuff. For a rock band.


Listen to "Na-Na-Na" here - it's a censored version, so feel free to crank it up! It flipping rocks.

Remember Me

The song in my head lately.. "The Only Hope For Me is You"... starts hauntingly with the words "...Remember me..."


So beautiful, and keeps going around and around in my head. Thought I'd share, so that anyone out there who wants to be remembered in some way can let the thought linger a while. 


My Chemical Romance - The Only Hope For Me Is You


Enjoy!

Life In Soundwaves

I would like to welcome myself to the world of blogging, and more importantly, welcome you to my blog, and indirectly, to my world.

A Little Rock A Little Roll is simply a personal blog, just some “thoughts to paper”, where you will find that one of the biggest influencing factors in my life is music. If you yourself are a passionate music-lover, perhaps you will find yourself feeling quite at home here, and I hope you will share your experiences too.

A Little Rock A Little Roll is more or less a great analogy of what life seems to be about. Sometimes, life rocks your boat, violently, aggressively, like an angry Metallica tune… Sometimes life rolls the boat, gentle, wooing, like a Coldplay ballad. This is what I love about music, and why it is my driving passion: the feeling in it. The fact that it is life experience put into musical expression. Life in soundwaves.

You will get to know me as Potency Supernova. I took the inspiration for this name from one of my current favourite bands, My Chemical Romance. For those who are fans, you may know about the “Killjoy” nickname concept – the Fabulous Killjoys being the band group’s alter-ego’s set on fighting against the evil government corporation Better Living Industries (BLI/Ind) of California in the year 2019, after a Doomsday-type catastrophe has apparently occurred. There’s a lot more to the story, you can start your reading up online…

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101028141136AAk8mBh

…but it’s all fictitious and all in good fun, and provided a great theme for MCR’s latest album, Danger Days. There are websites where you can input your full name, and have a Killjoy name generated for you (http://rumandmonkey.com/widgets/toys/namegen/14076/ ) – I decided to take the creative route, and conceived my own.

So, let’s start there - for those of you with a Killjoy alter-ego: what is your name?

It’s nice to meet you all.