The Song I'm Loving Today

Older (Ben Platt)

I don't remember where I heard this song, but I wrote down the singer and the title and set them aside.  As is often the case with little notes jotted down, I couldn't remember what exactly "Ben Platt Older" meant or why I had written it down.  Finally I decided to search the all-knowing internet and see what I could come up with.

The first result was a link to the YouTube video (also linked above):

I heard the first couple of lines and knew immediately why I had saved this little scrap of paper. 

Music's ability to evoke emotions is astonishing.  The idea of looking back on life as you age is certainly not a rare subject, but every now and then something just hits you in the right way -- perhaps because of how it's written or conveyed, perhaps because of where you are in your own life, perhaps just because you're having one of those days.  This song did that for me.

A selection:

"When you are younger, you'll wish you're older;
Then when you're older, you'll wish for time to turn around.
...
Have I killed my thoughts right before their prime?
Have I bit my tongue one too many times?
Have I said it all the way I really meant to?
If I wait 'til my tomorrow comes,
Is the waiting all I've ever done?"

What I'm Reading Now -- Brave New World

Brave New World is one of those books that I can't believe I made it all the way through school without reading.  This is all the more true because the particular edition I have (not the one pictured here, but I couldn't find a good version of the one I have) I bought as a summer reading book when I was in my teens.  I ended up reading something else instead, but I've been toting Brave New World around with me ever since, trusting that I would get to it eventually. 

All of that made it the obvious selection for my 2023 Reading Challenge book for May: a book you should have read in high school.

Our Own Devices: The Past and Future of Body Technology -- Take 1.5

In my life, I have been reluctant to give up on books once I start them.  This is a psychological hangup I'm trying to break myself of.  There are too many books out there to keep reading one that just isn't doing it for me for whatever reason.  

Our Own Devices, like Jack last year, is one I decided not to finish.  This one seemed like it was going somewhere that I could eventually have gotten on board with, but it wasn't getting there fast enough to keep me interested.  Will this be an ever-more-common hangup for those of us who are members of the internet generation, used to tiny blurbs and sound bites rather than long-form prose?  Probably.  And I'll try to keep that in mind rather than just closing a book on page 3.  I made it nearly 100 pages into this one before I threw in the towel.

So much for my February 2023 Reading Challenge selection.

What I Read -- Outlander

In an adventure which deserves a post all its own (one that hopefully I will get around to soon), K planned an excellent trip to London and Edinburgh last month.  I skipped ahead a few months in my 2023 Reaching Challenge to read my August book, Outlander, because its setting matched my travel destinations.

I admit that I have previously watched all but the most recent seasons of the television version of Outlander, and I'm not sure I intend to read the remainder of the books in any short order.  That is not to say that it wasn't an enjoyable read.  It has to be enjoyable to get through 850 pages, but I have lots of other things to read and the show is an easier, quicker, and multi-taskier way to take in what amounts to basically the same material.

For those who have managed to avoid the basics of the plot since this was first published a generation ago, it tells the story of Claire Randall a/k/a Beauchamp a/k/a Fraser.  The story opens in 1945, shortly after the conclusion of WWII.  Claire spent her war years nursing the British wounded.  She's taking a much-needed vacation with her husband Frank to Scotland, where Frank is ensconced in his family's genealogical research.  Claire, left somewhat to her own devices, finds a doorway through time and travels back to the Scottish Highlands of 1743.  She must learn their manners and customs, and navigate a country which is hovering on the edge of war with her own English ancestors. And then, of course, there's Jamie.  He's the swarthy, unbreakable Strider of his day, if you're into that sort of thing.