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“Fatherly Influence” – The Skald’s Lyre

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Saturn’s Day

Musical Journal:

I probably should have done this closer to Father’s Day but this post is more the result of reflection on my father the last couple weeks. I can count my mother’s influence on my musical tastes in a couple things – classical and choir arrangements.   My father, on the other hand, was eclectic in his music tastes. That rubbed off on me.

The family story goes that dad tried to buy a car but the guy said he had no credit rating so no dice. Dad then figured out the quickest way to get a credit rating.  He bought a record player on credit and paid it off in six months.  He then had the credit rating to get a car.  I don’t know what happened to the car.  But the record player was in my room as a teenager and I used it to play a lot of things. Including some metal if your wondering.

The result of this was a record collection which was part my mom ( a whole collection of classical music and some choir stuff) and part my dad. Later it would be part me. For my dad’s part, he was all over the place. Below are a few selections and some of my thoughts still regarding them. mostly though I picked up my eclectic, ‘if it sounds good to me I like it’ attitude from dad.

Personal Significance:

“Good Night Sweetheart” – Sha Na Na

I know it is hard to believe but when I was a teenager they had a show dedicated to the 1950s music and culture called Sha Na Na.  I suppose this song which is shortened for the purpose of the show represents a lot of doo-wop which my day was a big fan.  Dad never missed this show and mom liked it too.  I was kind of interested as doo-wop is still something I like to listen to on occasion.  I like this one because Bowser as a bass singer was top notch.

“Folsom Prison Blues” – Johnny Cash 

Probably the greatest thing dad ever did for me was expose me to Johnny Cash.  legendary song by a legendary artist in a legendary place.  To me Cash defies classification.  Is the country? Rockabilly? Rock-n-roll?  The answer is yes and no.

“Good Woman Blues” – Mel Tillis

Dad loved Mel mostly because he was fascinated by the fact that the man should sing like an angel but he could not talk straight because he stuttered. He always reminded me that just because people struggle in one area it does not mean they will be extraordinary in another.  This is also a good representation of the country music my dad was a fan of.

“Allentown” – Billy Joel

I used to have a paper route.  In the winter dad would drive me around to deliver and he would play the radio.  One of the songs at the time was this one and given my dad liked it.  He didn’t really like Billy Joel as a person much or even the message of the song completely.  having been a former union man and later on against them feeling a good boss and being a good human being was better than the antagonism of union vs. management. But he liked the song.

“In a Gadda Da Vida” – Iron Butterfly

The story goes that dad was putting together his next stereo and the guy at the shop said if he wanted to test the sound quality he should buy this song, sit between the two speakers and if he could tell him something interesting about the drummer’s playing then he had the sound right.  What it was is if you had it right the dri=ummer sounds like he is moving around you.  It works I tried it myself. This album stayed on dad’s record shelf until his death. He actually seemed to like the psychedelic 60s stuff.

Play List: 

“Good Night Sweetheart” – Sha Na Na

“Folsom Prison Blues” – Johnny Cash

“Good Woman Blues” – Mel Tillis

“Allentown” – Billy Joel

“In a Gadda Da Vida” – Iron Butterfly

Bonus Tracks:

Two Bonus Tracks today.  One more a representative of the doo-wop songs my dad had in his collection and something that I think was dad’s celebrity crush. Janis Joplin.  I think it was her voice.  I know to me, her voice is sexy as hell. Enjoy.

“Blue Moon” – The Marcels

“Piece of My Heart” – Janis Joplin

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Changes for July-Sept 2019 (Part 3)” – A Skald’s Life – Self Virtues

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Frigg and Freya’s Day

Journal Entry:

Change does not dwell in the realm of comfort zones and nothing more reflects that than the Self Virtues. In Discipline, I push myself past comfort and into something stronger. In Perseverance, I keep getting up after failure and defeat which always difficult but in the end gives the needed change in life to make it better. Fidelity is not always easy, especially when things are hard but it is the relationships that are strong because of the challenges to them that last.

The big thing in this section is the Rest Day Routine.  It has to be restful so it must have things in it that I enjoy doing and are recharging to me. It also can’t be full from stem to stern with shit so I am busy all day long like the Work Day Routine. I like downtime and time to do other things I find enjoyable and entertaining.  It doesn’t mean these activities will not involve the Disciplines but they will be things I enjoy doing.

Discipline:

“Discipline is the willingness to be hard on oneself first and then if needed help with the development with others, so that greater purposes may be achieved.”

Principle: Apply discipline to every aspect of life that it can be applied.

Goal: To Be following a full Paleo Diet by March 31, 2020.

Bucket List: Do a rebellious act on April Fools Day, April 1st, 2020.

The goal has been changed to reflect reality and I need to just set monthly subgoals so each month I am getting closer to it. It is important that my diet is tight as I head into winter, where up in the north, we all become more sedentary.  Even if I do move south, I still want it tight. I really need this to be better because I don’t see any other way to lose the last few pounds of fat I want to lose and at the same time maintain my muscles.

The bucket list item is a little bit outside the coming year by one day but the planning and execution of a lot of things are within that year.

Perseverance:

“Perseverance is the ability to stand up and return from defeat and failure”

Principle: Keep getting up after every defeat or failure.

Goal: To engage in an exercise program that involves weightlifting, hiking/walking, and stretching/ yoga an average of three days a week from April 1st, 2019 to March 31st, 2020

Bucket List: To get at least one tattoo by March 18th, 2020.

Weightlifting is a Work Day Routine item.  Stretching is Morning Routine. Walking is thus a Rest Day Routine item. It is also now the only exception to the three days a week thing. I might simply have only two days off.  Of course, if I am around when the snow flies, I might find myself doing the walk in the gym. This illustrates that items like these are things that are work and rest to me. All forms of exercise are kind of like that for me.

The next item on my bucket list is my first tattoo.  I don’t know if this would constitute an act of rebellion or not, I am however saving money every payday toward it. I am hoping a new and more lucrative job might enable this faster.

“Fidelity is the will to be loyal to one’s Gods and Goddesses, to one’s Folk, to one’s self, and loyalty to one’s friends was as valued as highly as loyalty to one’s family.”

Principle: Be loyal to those who have been loyal to me.

Goal: Celebrate my wife and I’s 30th anniversary (June 10th, 2019) with a mini-vacation (achieved)

Bucket List: Discover all the countries of origin from my genetics and visit them all by March 18th, 2029.

I look at achieved goals now and I see that every year I will have nine of them and the main goal is to achieve as many of them as possible.  To put that strikethrough through an achieved goal is a great feeling.

The research into my family history is one of those Rest day items I think.  I now realize how important this is to have roots that you know as much about as possible and understand them. It gives life foundation and depth when you consider yourself as the’latest chapter of a long story.

Higher Virtue – Wisdom: 

Dividing things into Work and Rest Days is probably the wisest decision I have made in a long time.  I am one of those guys who put the ‘I’ in Introverted of the INFJ personality. It not that I can’t go out and be with people, it is just they drain me and I need a recharge time and Rest Days are going to be just that recharge time I need.

Rest Day Routine: 

  1. Morning Routine
  2. Wife: Communication / Cuddle Time
  3. Blogging – Organize, revise, write a new post for the next day, 15 min. work on fiction.
  4. Walking – 1 hour.
  5. Cleaning – varies but one room of the apartment at least.
  6. Reading – half an hour for enjoyment.

This leaves a lot of room to do what I want for the rest of the day. The walking part also allows for full-blown two or three-day hikes when I can plan them. There is nothing on this list that I don’t enjoy doing.  The job search thing is now part of the Work Day Routine.  Next week I will be testing and adjusting these as this quarter of the year does not start until the first full week of July. That provides next week with a time of adjustment.

Goals and Bucket List Items Achieved (Since Summer 2018):

Goals Achieved: 3

  1. Graduated College with a BS in Political Science and minors in Economics and International Business – December 2018
  2. Finalize last requirements for my degree – Internship by May 2019 – May 2019
  3. Celebrate my wife and I’s 30th anniversary (June 10th, 2019) with a mini-vacation – June 2019

Bucket List Items Achieved: 0

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Changes for July-Sept 2019 (Part 1) – A Skald’s Life – Foundational Virtues

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Moon’s Day. 

Journal Entry:

Last week I started out by stating three objectives:

  1. I want to make sure that my Goals are yearly things and my Bucket List Items are more long term.
  2. I want to move as many things from the Weekly Routine to the Daily as Possible.
  3. I want to also introduce a simple concept – days off are different than days I work. I want days off to still be restful but productive in certain ways.

This week is about putting those desires into action.

Before I begin below with all this I need to journal something that reflects the quote above.  I am not so much struggling with depression although that is there, my main struggle these days is I don’t feel like I ma where I am supposed to be. I feel not quite in sync or in tune with where I am and that is on a lot of levels – Growth, career and yes, location. It is not that anything is bad, it just isn’t right; like an instrument slightly out of tune.

Change is inevitable.  My goal is to make it more deliberate and focused and I think I have delayed a little too long on changing things and now I feel like I am off.  I need a change because being in the wrong place will cause a lot of pain further down the road.

I need to change or things are going to bet more off to the point old habits come back and that is not a path The Grey Wayfarer wants to go down again.

Now, to apply these three abortives to the goals, bucket list, and routines.

Honor:

“Honor is the feeling of inner value and worth from which one knows that one is noble of being, and the desire to show respect for this quality when it is found in the world”

Principle – To possess a feeling of inner value about myself and my future with a desire to find the same in others.

Goal: Maintain a daily blog streak of one post per day for an entire year (365 days).

Bucket List: Hike the Northern Lakeshore Trail along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan by March 2024.

A small change here to give the bucket list hike a five-year deadline.

Courage:

“Courage is the bravery to do what is right always.”

Principle – Act with Courage at the right time.

Goal: Cross one thing off bucket list every year. Deadline March 31st.

Bucket List: Go Back to Budapest, Hungary for a vacation March 2029.

My goal here is a standard goal so that the bucket list items keep coming off.  after this year though with each bucket list having its own deadline, I will have to come up with something involving courage that is more specific.

My deadline for the bucket list item is the same as the one for fidelity which means by the time I turn 60 I want to have achieved both.

Truth:

“Truth is the willingness to be honest and to say what one knows to be true and right. It is often better to not say anything at all if one cannot be honest.”

Principle – To Be Honest, and Speak Truth to Myself and Others.  To Be Silent in the presence of Fools.

Goal: To Write a Non-Fiction Book by March 31st, 2020

Bucket List: Learn Latin by March 31st, 2021 to the point I can take a test and show my self proficient.

The only change I made here was to extend the language learning out two years.  I may make this learning a new language every two-years a regular thing from now on. It isn’t just a good mental exercise, but after Latin, if I learn languages that are more modern, it makes you more employable.

Higher Virtue: Love:

Labor of love for myself is all this change. I want to be better and this

Morning Routine:

  1. Review Nine Noble Virtues (NNV), Principles, Goals and Bucket List
  2. Meditation – 3 min.
  3. Check Communications and Email.
  4. Paper Journal: Create Daily Log and To Do List.
  5. Stretching / Yoga
  6. Breakfast, Medications, and Supplements.
  7. Shower and Personal Hygiene
  8. Get Dressed for the Day

Solid…no changes here. Overall my foundational aspects are solid.  They just needed some time-related elements to the goals to motivate me to move forward toward them.

I remain.

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Hard Rockin’ Girls” – The Skald’s Lyre

/ Ed Raby Sr / 1 Comment

Happy Saturn’s Day

Musical Journal:

I need a female voice that sings in my life.  I am fairly much a sucker for it.  I find myself drawn to women who can sing and it has always been an interest of mine to listen to bands and solo artists that are female. I have lost track of how many times and female voice singing has calmed me down. I have also lost track of how many times a female voice has caught my attention when singing and I have to go see who it is.

Now if you add that said female is involved in hard rock or metal then there is definitely a bonus attraction.  Girls that Rock are a rare breed as it is unusual or at least it was in rock and roll’s past to see it.  Not so much today but the selection has gotten better as women have basically said this is one stage where we can play just as well as the boys may be better and they are right.

Below are some of the girl front women and actual female groups that have made my playlist from time to time. Most of them are definitely a representative of the rebellious female that screams that rebellion, lust, anger, love or rage into a microphone.  I think emotion is probably a stronger thing in women and it comes out in their music.  There is, of course, the attraction fo being female and showing us that you can rock in a feminine way that still rocks.

Personal Significance:

I Hate Myself for Loving You – Joan Jett and the Blackhearts:

One of my teenage crushes was Joan Jett.  Sorry I was never into the prom queen type.

Rock Me Like The Devil – Crucified Barbara: 

Women singing a song about how they like good sex and want the man in their life to fuck them like a pro. Too bad this band was short-lived.  They definitely had some super good rifts and attitude.

Mz. Hyde – Halestorm:

Halestorm is one of my newer discoveries and I love the band as a whole.  This song is catchy in that it is well done, has a great rift and seeing we are talking about female rockers is one of Halstorms that actually has the title ‘Mz.’ in it.  The fact that women have multiple personalities is no surprise to any man, other than in this case she has so few.

Zombie – Pretty Reckless:

This song about being dead to others who have wronged them is really good and I find myself humming it to myself when I think of certain people at times.  Pretty Reckless has some good tunes other than this, but this one I feel in my soul at times.

Edge of a Broken Heart – Vixen: 

Vixen was a girl hair metal band.  I know back in the 80s the achieved a level of popularity among teenage boys that was legendary and I am sure it was for the quality of music they produced.  Yeah, right.  They were good but I think it was that 80s look that we liked seeing on four women rocking it out.  I mentioned before that prom queen types don’t appeal to me before right?

Headbanger – Babymetal:

‘Babymetal is going to ruin metal’ is what people thought when they first came out. My response is that ‘if metal can’t handle three Japanese girls, then metal music is in sorry shape’. I do have to give a shout out to the musicians that are behind the group, they are skilled. The whole thing with this group for me is that they brought pageantry and spectacle – imagery – back to metal.  They have a lot of good songs. Metal music and cute Japanese girls, I wonder what the attraction to people was? Headbanger is probably a solid song of theirs but you should check out Karate too.

Play List:

I Hate Myself for Loving You – Joan Jett and the Blackhearts:

Rock Me Like The Devil – Crucified Barbara: 

Mz. Hyde – Halestorm:

Zombie – Pretty Reckless:

Edge of Broken Heart – Vixen:

Headbanger – Babymetal:

Bonus Track: Karate – Babymetal:

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

The Book of Rabyd 3:2 – “There is Never Time to Do It Right, but There is Always Time to Do It Over.”

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Text:

“There is Never Time to Do It Right, but There is Always Time to Do It Over.” – The Book of Rabyd 3:2

Thoughts and Exposition:

I don’t know actually where this expression originated in our family but I do know it was a favorite with my Father.  He was a big one for doing things right the first time.  He hated coming back to do something again if it could have been avoided by simply doing things right the first time. He also felt by doing it right the first time and taking a little extra time to do it that way saved time in the long run.  He was most definitely right.

It is when we get sloppy that we find ourselves doing things again and wasting time.  It is interesting that the one thing humans take so seriously is time, but that we waste so much of it doing a sloppy job is also true.  Sure the sand of time is ticking, but does doing things quickly really save time?  Doing the same thing over and over and expecting things to get better with each repeat or doing things right the first time and have time to reach other goals?  I prefer the later and have to conclude that my dad, wherever he got the saying, was right.

Time is the most important commodity anyone has.  You don’t even really know how much you have so it is important to get things right the first time so you don’t waste time doing things over and over again. That goes for relationships too.

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

The Book of Rabyd 2:3 – “Whenever You Find Yourself on the Side of the Majority, it is Time to Pause and Reflect.”

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sun’s Day

Text:

“Whenever You Find Yourself on the Side of the Majority, it is Time to Pause and Reflect.” – The Book Of Rabyd 2:3

Thoughts and Exposition:

This time through The Book of Rabyd, I am trying to quote as many different people as I can.  Mark Twain was pretty much destined to be on this list and it was only a matter of time.  This is my favorite quote from him and is truly a principle of wisdom.

Tribalism is inherent in the human species.  Survival trait. We band together to take on common threats and deal with common problems. The issue is that it can also lead to a mob mentality. It can lead to just bowing down to the culture, group think or what everyone’s opinion is.

This quote is a regular reminder to all of us who prefer reason to mindless pandering.  The issue is to take action on what makes sense and is most reasonable and this quote reminds us there is nothing inherently reasonable about the majority.  The only quality they have is more numbers. The majority is not proof of truth or rightness.

For me there is a reminder here that I am both a free citizen and a responsible citizen. Free because on thing that can enslave is tribalism and cults of personality. Responsible, because from time to time you need to be the thinking one that calls into question the actions of the mob.

There are institutions that thrive on this tribalism but they can, in my humble opinion be boiled down to two things – government and religion.  Both of these tap into people’s passions rather than their reason and thus are manipulative by nature. They tap into people’s inherent tribalism and mob mentality to get actions people think are the right thing, but are actually the desires of those who would seek power either through politics or faith.

The lesson then is never let your loyalty to the group outweigh your loyalty to yourself and your principles. Something I hope gets carried on by those who I call my family is the ability to question anything and everything, even if the majority thinks it is the best course.  I would rather have my descendants known for being rebels and original thinkers that people who just went along with the crowd and the mob.  That they would be people of Courage, Self-Reliance and Truth

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

The Rabyd Skald – Pages, Fiction and A Blog Milestone (100 Day Streak)

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Tyr’s Day

Just a few announcements in this The Rabyd Skald.

I have spent all week creating pages for the change of the year and a few others for organizational purposes.  There are more coming but I wanted to let you know that many of the main pages up at the top of the blog now have sub pages.  If you see an arrow pointing down next to  a page heading that means it has a sub page.  Just hover over it to see them.  Hopefully this will help you navigate better.  The whole thing is starting to now resemble a tree as far as organization with roots and branches.

I am planning on writing some fiction soon and actually I have one post started.  It is just with all the extra work organizing things my time is less.  I will get back to it fairly soon. I will probably do another future The Rabyd Skald to introduce the full lineup soon.

I also want to announce we have hit 100 days straight of blogging.  An important milestone.  We passed 100 posts a few days back but the goal has been a year of straight blogging every single day. 265 to go.

Thanks to all of you for reading.

Sincerely,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!