THE Oscars came and went and I’m still clueless about the movies they were talking about.
For the 10 Best Picture nominees, I was able to watch only two: “Dune: Part Two” and “Wicked.”
I used to watch Hollywood awards shows for the jokes and speeches of the host, winners, and presenters, and the live performances of nominated songs. The Grammys and the MTV Video Music Awards were particularly entertaining since they featured famous singers and bands.
But as I got older, unfamiliar movie titles, songs, and names began to dominate the list of nominees. How to be excited for a movie I didn’t care to watch, for a song I’ve not listened to, for an actor, actress, singer/band whom I don’t know?
If not for our Gen Z gym friends and Zumba instructors, I would be so clueless about Sabrina Carpenter, flowerovlove, and Niki. I remember going to a KTV bar with Gen Z gym friends. When they asked what I wanted to sing, I told them to pick the songs they like and let’s see if they’re familiar to me. And—surprise! surprise!—I knew some of the songs! Proving I’m not so old after all? Haha.
How old? Make a wild guess based on my idols: Brad Pitt, Pearl Jam, U2, Coldplay, Tears for Fears, Duran Duran, Sting, The Police, R.E.M., Annie Lennox, INXS. When I was much younger, this list included Robert Redford, Al Pacino, John F. Kennedy Jr., Robby Benson, Alain Delon, and Shaun Cassidy.
In December 2012 while waiting for Sting’s concert to start, I told my sis Joan, If he sings “If I Ever Lose My Faith In You,” I can go home na. And that was the very first song he performed that night. I cried. But didn’t leave the concert.
And then, there’s Pearl Jam’s “Light Years.”
There are times when I like only one song but not the whole album such as Macy Gray’s “I Try” and k.d. lang’s “Constant Craving.” Which happen to have my current favorite words as I try to curb my constant sugar cravings.
These songs bring back so many memories, much like colognes and perfumes—just a whiff and I’m back there again.
I’ve reached that age where memories can be complicated as they bring back both the good and the bad of history. So, let’s practice mindfulness, and read Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment.”
That reminds me. I’ve been reading several books on mindfulness lately. When I bought them months ago, I wasn’t consciously looking for such books so I now wonder why I ended up having them. Someone up there must be telling me something, huh?
The carnivore diet and the gym have definitely helped me appreciate the present moment. A gym friend had this best advice last year: How beautiful it is to leave everything behind the moment we enter the gym, and just be, once we’re here.
Since the gym’s clients are a mix and match of characters, personalities, and generations, it’s possible there are times when I’m clueless about what they’re talking about. So, it’s always politically correct for me to be kind, mindful, and demure.
