My dad would have turned 74 years old this week. That means it's been about 8 years without him to celebrate it. In honor of his birthday, Don Cheadle is releasing a movie based on one of Dad's favorite musicians.

But besides that, I've done a lame job on this particular New Years Resolution, writing more. But I've been extremely busy so that is okay. Great things have been happening my friends!

It's been over a year since my last radiation treatment. It's been over 7 months since my foot surgery. It's been almost 2 months at my new fantastic paralegal job. And the most exciting news for me is, after an extremely long dry spell which included a pretty nasty divorce from an exhausting marriage and going through cancer without a partner,  it's now been about 3 months since I started dating a really awesome man that so far has done everything right. Everything is really going well. I can't complain about anything.

Also, I bet I've listened to more music this year than I have listened to in the last ten years. That is an amazing thing too? What have I been listening too?  I started this year visiting a few record sales. You know, the kind where they have table after table stacked with records. Some are in really bad condition. Some are really bad records. Some are really great records in bad condition and those were really tempting. I did manage to find some decent records that were in the $1 stacks. Mostly, I have been trying to round out my collection with some of my favorites, like Neil Young, Bob Marley, The Cars, Prince, The Police, U2 and so on. I've also found some obscure deals like Yo La Tengo and Roxy Music. I have gone off the jazz journey, per se, but jazz is still in light rotation on my turntable.

I pulled out of the Pandora radio trap and landed in a Spotify guilt trip. With all of the controversy on how terrible Spotify is to artists, I have not let that stop me from making it my outlet to replace the music programming I used to love to do for a living. I basically just make myself playlists for my listening enjoyment. The great thing about Spotify is that, other than Taylor Swift (which doesn't bother me) and Prince (which most certainly bothers me), you can find any song and any artist that you want at any time you want. I've got 18 hours of music from "when I was cool" which I consider to be anything prior to 1999 that may have been played on my college radio station, 88.5 FM, WRAS in Atlanta. Yes gotta give cred; I'm sick at what has happened to my first love at the hands of the Georgia State University administration and Georgia Public Broadcasting.

http://savewras.com/the-latest-updates/

Needless to say, it pisses me off!

So back to the good news. I have a boyfriend and he has a most excellent collection of music including a ton of vinyl records that I would LOVE to own! However . . . no jazz! : (
Since punk music is his number one genre, I decided to approach him with Art Blakey as the Tre Cool of jazz. He liked it. I can't say he loved it, but I don't have to break up with him or anything because he seems open to it. We almost had an argument about the blues, in that he says he hates the blues. But there is some blues that I hate too. Well, hate is a strong word. Anyway, our best conversations are about music so this is going to be fun!

Gotta get to work on my Spotify jazz playlist!

An interesting chain of events caused my jazz journey to come to a silent halt. When I began this blog in 2013, I was partially unemployed and suffering from a raging pain in my neck. In April, I got a great job but my body just wasn't healing. Over the summer, I was taking a shower and noticed a large lump in my left breast. I called my girlfriend and we decided that I am just hypochondriac enough to not freak out and keep an eye on it. By September, we learned that I was stage 3 having cancer not only in the breast, but also in 3 lymph nodes. After chemo, radiation, miraculously keeping my great job and over a year later, I am ready to get back to my jazz journey. 

 I have managed to relent my refurbished record player to a Crosley that just looks old fashioned. My speakers are still quite old and could use an upgrade. The record collection has grown beyond my Dad's jazz. I worked my way through the entire Ken Burns jazz documentary, so my knowledge has deepened and I have a number of Pandora channels devoted to various artists.  Dad's records have really brought me joy and peace through the healing process. I was so glad I started this blog because it really gave me a foundation.

I am a completely different person now. I have cut loose of all people and sources of negativity and temptation. I have learned to rely on myself completely. I don't really care to reach out to other bloggers or promote my blog, although I hope that I will naturally find an audience. My journey has changed. 

Since jazz can refer to music as well as life, I want to continue this jazz journey. I won't limit it to music. The jazz of life is pretty loud. The most important thing that I learned from having and beating cancer is that pain, fear and loneliness is necessary to appreciate the other side. I no longer numb myself to these things. Because of what I have faced, I can embrace pain, fear and loneliness. It still hurts, but there would be something seriously wrong if it didn't. 

If I continue to travel on my journey, I will remind myself about the things that can get me through. Mediation, positive mantras, reaching beyond myself and losing myself in music are saving grace. The brain changes in response to experience. Letting go and staying strong will be my new jazzy journey. C'est Si Bon.