davidcedillo.com

My job requires trust from both sides. I have to trust the folks I call are telling me the truth, and they have to trust that I am calling on behalf of the health department. Sometimes people don’t trust me. To quote this song:
You can’t go the distance
With too much resistance
I know you have doubts
But for God’s sake don’t shut me out

These guys take me where I want to go before I knew I had to be somewhere. Reply All is one of my “go to” podcasts when I need a good distraction, but I don’t want to shut my brain off. PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman host the show and explore weird and intriguing things on the internet. This episode from last March explores the elusive origins of an earworm, a song that works its way into one man’s head. If you need to feel productive while you’re listening to this (it’s a 50 minute story) then do some dishes while it’s playing. That’s what I do! Or you can read about it here, and take the 50 minute plunge later.

First she slid off the vinyl sofa, then she rubbed a balloon on her head, and then she dragged her feet across the carpet on the coldest day of the week. She wanted her hair to look just right! I think her exact words were, “Mom, I want my hair to look like a PLASMA BALL!!!” What?!? You don’t believe me? Ok, ok… I made most of that up, but when Christy texted this image of Katelyn I said “that’s going up on my blog!”

We got together with Barb and Evelyn last night for the first time in over a month. Barb lives next door and Evelyn is across the street. We take precautions to be a three house safe zone bubble. Barb made dinner, Evelyn baked brownies, and Jenny and I brought pineapple chunks and blackberries. Evelyn was self conscious about the way her brownies turned out. They were close to being runny instead of the way she likes them. When Evelyn said, “sorry the brownies are soupy,” I said “just like Soupy Sales!” and she smiled and said “oh he was funny!” I hadn’t thought of Soupy Sales in years.

How do you share the stage with The Beatles? Yesterday I celebrated 10 years of blogging on davidcedillo.com– 10 years and 1,392 posts to be specific! Then I found out that day, February 9th, The Beatles were on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. When I heard the radio dj on WUMB reference the date, I thought “cool! I started my blog that same day!” Then with each Beatles song that followed, it felt like a gradual eclipse because that’s what happens when another sphere moves into your space. So how do I share that moment in time with The Beatles? I just keep blogging and pretend the fans are screaming for me.

Ten years ago today I started writing on davidcedillo.com. If you don’t believe me, go to the archives and check. A lot of water has gone under the bridge and over the dam since then. In ten years I’ve hosted 3 podcasts, jammed with friends and strangers, taught pedestrians how to play songs on fruits and vegetables, used teeter totters for conflict resolution models, and attempted many other artistic endeavors! Here’s to another 10 years!

The zooming and the video calls reached critical mass yesterday. Between 1:30 and 8:00 we visited with our former pastor in Minneapolis, Jenny’s family in Nebraska, and this happy girl in Illinois pictured above! Thaddeus is holding his little girl, Bahiyyih, up close to the camera (thanks Diane for helping me spell her name right!). We were calling to wish Maryam (momma) happy birthday, and we got say ‘hi!’ to the whole family: Thaddeus, Maryam, Maku, and Bahiyyih!

KEXP is playing The Clash and all things related to the Clash today! Why? It’s International Clash Day! The radio station broadcasts out of Seattle but you can stream it anywhere on kexp.org. John Richards, the morning deejay, started the tradition in 2013 when he just wanted to play The Clash all day. Now it’s something that’s even celebrated in the UK. Joe Strummer of The Clash is quoted as saying “We’re anti-fascist, we’re anti-violence, we’re anti-racist, and we’re pro-creative. We’re against ignorance.” That’s an ethos I can get behind.

Was she taking notes? Was she forming a question? No. My co-worker Denise doodled a skinny balder version of me while we were in a meeting Tuesday. I got an email from her that said “here’s what I was doing during the meeting.” She drew it from my profile pic that I uploaded for work (that image on the left). If that picture was zoomed out you would also see John Cusack and Jenny.

If you’re reading this then it’s actually February 3rd and we can all get on with our lives. In real life Groundhog Day doesn’t repeat in a Mobius loop (like it did in the movie), but that doesn’t stop me from being paranoid of having permanent deja vu when February comes around. I’m ok, I’m ok. I don’t have to live like there’s no tomorrow because it’s… today!