If you didn't need sleep, what would you do with all the extra time? I don't sleep more than four hours a night.  For decades and decades.  With that time I have always had a full time job and career, raised children and grandchildren, played in cover bands and ran sound, produced music and commercial videos, wrote and recorded three hundred songs, took thousands of band photos and helped people when I could. I have always been amazed how other people sleep so much of their life. MIDIMike

I have to share a story with you about something that just happened. But it started decades ago. In the 1980’s, I managed a local music store chain. Not the records and gifts kind but musical instrument stores. Stores that sold guitars, drums, keyboards, band equipment and PA systems were hot items before the Internet. I had no idea how this would turn out when it started, and this was years ago for an unplanned event, so details are vague at best.

Clichés are common.Your life is pretty much a bore.You would be a hero in another worldWhere you could be so much more. Lies are pollution.They all direct you to The Store.The whole world is out there for you to command.You’ll have to go door-to-door. Rotten Fruit and twisted vines.Parasitic voyagers, fatal canary mines.

I’ve had sex.I’ve had great sex.Not that I’m countingBut I have been disappointedAs often as I have been disappointing. Sex can be wonderfulWay too often it’s just push and shove.But there’s nothing like sharing your bodyWith someone you love. Get more sex.Get more than sex.It starts with flirtingBut once the web of lies begins…

If you are looking for the answer in life to know if you are in love look no further. If you answer `yes` to any of them, guess what? MIDIMike

Words are swords. They are powerful and can last forever. A doorway to understanding. But the source of their power lies more in the Voice. The Sound. The Meaning. I listen. MIDIMike

How much would you pay to go to the moon? Not nearly as much as I would pay to send some people there!

I know I talk about music and great artists I have worked and played with over the decades. During all that time I had my share of more-than full time jobs. I started with plastics and the injecting molding industry. I went from being a 'hopper boy' to a plant manager. Later I got into sales - service - and managing with a few other trades thrown in there.

What major historical events do you remember? I was born in the early 1950s. I literally don't have time for that. I would be dead half way through the list!

You see the truth and refuse it.  You are given advice and reject it.  You see the cliff and keep running toward it. But you KNOW what is true.  Your stories are not. Maybe you did have a rough start in life, but you would never let it go to start fresh.  You create the storm we live in.  You constantly chant `everyone is to blame’ to make you feel better, but all the fingers are still pointing at you. MIDIMike

What’s something most people don’t know about you? Most people don't know I'm an old man. Even people I have known for years treat me as much younger and are surprised when I tell them I'm my seventies. And counting.

When you think of the word "successful," who's the first person that comes to mind and why? No one.  Society does not honor success properly.  The most successful are those that resist the trappings of success. Power corrupts. Athlete's and stars get paid billions.......  For what? You probably don't know the names of the most successful people. To bad.

A look at the life of a celebrity stalker.  Starved for attention, empty lives looking for someone - some reason – some value.  They act like you.  Look like you. Absorbing everything you do and still do not know you at all.  But they are the Best Fan you have. MIDIMike

Who are your favorite artists? I don't really have a favorite visual artist, but Van Gogh is pretty cool. Musical artists are easier: Peter Gabriel and Bjork top a long list.

Looking back I think this was written because people would give me a hard time about what I wore when I played out with the bands I was in.  Some kept saying I had to wear faded jeans, etc. to be a ‘rocker’.  Obviously not true, besides, being the keyboard player I was usually in the back of the stage in the dark.  No one sees the keyboard player. But if I was going to court to be judged, I will be wearing a suit and tie! MIDIMike

The best of intentions won’t matter if you don’t let someone know them.  Reliving memories, there were so many situations I could have made better or just more enjoyable if I would talk to friends and tell them what I feel or see. Life is hard when my Default mode is set to ‘Silent”. MIDIMike

This comes from learning lessons one by one and a little too slow.  Once you realize the correct thing to do it is already too late.  Then we think we finally have it down only to see that we were just as naive as before.  This wasn’t my last song, I have a few more, but still don’t know where I went wrong. MIDIMike

What are your favorite types of foods? Are usually the ones in front of me. I can eat just about anything healthy, from anywhere.

This song dances around the question about a dog chasing a car. The chase can be fun but what happens when you finally catch the car? Nothing good. You can ask three wishes from the genie, but each one can turn out to be a nightmare if you don’t take another look at what you are asking for. MIDIMike

You don’t see it while everyone else does.Keep dodging us with reasons like ‘because’.I don’t know any other way to say itWhatever their game, you shouldn’t play it. What made you decide to get together?Why did you think it would last forever?Poems and games but nothing they say is realNot much friends can do if that’s the way you feel.

In the past I have read lyrics from older songs that often romantically compare human strength with animal traits, or nature’s beauty.  WE don’t do that anymore.  Most people have never seen a fox or a cheetah.  Those comparisons will fade with time.  The animals will soon be gone forever. Then we will be like humans; a plague. MIDIMike

Learning life's lessons is critical at any age. I have posted (probably too often) about getting older and noticing the unexpected effects it has. But even at my age I find myself slapped with something that should have been obvious. I have a cute story about vision, on multiple levels. Because of existing eye problems and general aging, my night vision has been getting worse.

Looking at retirement and the final stages of my active life. What can I get into now that I am literally being paid to do nothing? Hobbies?  Volunteer?  Travel?  MIDIMike

It’s like The Give And Take of breathing:We need to do it all of the time.You don’t have to look for hidden meanings:Not every poem ends in a rhyme. Some like coffee, but I prefer tea;A glass of cool, clean water.Want a drink, they have Coke or Pepsi.That’s something I can’t give my daughter.