Kelly Clarkson

Hi everyone. As you can see from the title of this blog, Kelly Clarkson, this blog is about, well, Kelly Clarkson. Actually, it's about more than that, although I could quite easily fill this post talking about how much she ROCKS and how I saw her live and she was sensational and I love her songs and her new song is cool and Since You've Been Gone is one of my all-time favourite songs and how ... well, you get the picture. But as I said, this post is about more than that.
Kelly has just released her new song, My Life Would Suck Without You. It is a cool song, no doubt about that. There is more to it than that though. I read a review saying this song was the sound of a rock star with her tail between her legs. When Kelly released her last album - which I actually thought had some good songs, although it wasn't as consistent as I know she can be - she went out on her own. A lot of people thought this was a bad idea, that she should stick with the winning team, etc etc, blah blah blah. The album didn't do quite as well and now she is back working with known success writers. I hope I have that all correct, I am pretty surte i do, but that isn't the point anyway. The point is, we should never bag someone taking a risk. She was at the top of her game, she was killing it, and she said now I am going to try and do something that isn't sure-fire, but i will have responsibility and I will be the one out there to take the praise or criticism. It actually reminds me very much of when Michael Jordan stopped basketball and started playing baseball, because he wanted to try something he loved doing and he wanted the challenge. When he wasn't a "success", he copped a bagging. But that isn't the point! People stay stagnant. People go along, especially if they are good at something, and they do it day in day out and then it doesn't become a challenge anymore. The thrill goes. we have to look for thrills. We have to put our aasses on the line, and I don't mean donkeys, and we have to take the chance that we will fail. Because that is when we get to experience everything the world has to offer. We don't plod. We risk falling to have the chance to soar. if it happens that things aren't a massive success, we can go back and start over again at what we know. That is not crawling back with our tail between our legs. It is stabilising before we go off again to try something else new.
That was the longest paragraph I have ever written.
And that close to the shortest.
My point is, do not stay at what you know and are good at just because of that. It isn't wrong to try something when people question it, saying things like, "But you are doing so well at ..." or "But that isn't as secure as ..."
Take a risk. Learn to fall. learn to fly.
Go Kelly. You rock.

Have a great week everyone, and keep living the dream.

Seeya

Wally

Marysville and more

Hello again! I know, I know, I have been slack for ages again. It is getting to be a bit of a habit with me these days, the slackness and the DVD watching and the lying on the couch and the eating Doritos and the ... just kidding, that was all just yesterday afternoon! On other days I have been working, and teaching myself piano, and marketing, and last night I went and saw and AWESOME show called Starbound. Picture this. You get 60 kids, between 14 and 21, and in two, count 'em, two weeks they learn around twenty song and dance routines from broadway musicals around the world. And, not only learn them, but perform them at a standard that blows your mind. It was so cool. A few songs at the start of the second half in particular were amazing, and right after I finish writing here I am hitting iTunes to try and find them on there, although I would pay to buy the versions I heard last night, I kid you not.

So what else have I been up to? Well, I did take a bit of time off and go away for a week. That's right, I was away in the hills of Marysville, staying with Ashana and my mum, and for a few days Makka my niece, and for a couple of days Mels my cousin-in-law. It was really nice. Marysville, if you ever get the chance, is a very nice place to visit. Just past Healesville, over the Black Spur, up a hill our car struggled to even get over, and you're there. And when you are there, you must, I repeat MUST, go and see Bruno Torf's sculpture garden. I will not say anything more on the topic than that, I will let you find out for yourself and report back to me. And you will love it, I have no doubt. I am not a gallery person, I have to admit, which makes being married to an artist who volunteers in a gallery interesting, but I don't really like them. But this one blows me away every time. And I have been there many, many times.

So go there. That is an order.

Until next time, keep living the dream.

Seeya

Wally