What A Year It's Been!

On April 12, 2011, no KUPL listener had started rambling on KUPL's website.  There was nothing from listeners about shows in the Bing Lounge, birthdays, bears, sandwiches, or anything else imaginable.

That all changed the next day, on April 13, 2011.  On that day, one year ago today, "Ramblings from a KUPL Listener" was unleashed to the internet.

Before that fateful day, I'd never posted to a blog.  Being the non-technical person I am, I needed all the help I could get on how to get started, etc.  Fortunately, for me at least, (I don't know how he'd see it), I had someone I could turn to with all my questions and concerns; Earthquake Jake, the brains behind the whole "listener blog".  The man has to have the patience of a saint for all the questions, and insecurities I've bombarded him with in the past year!

 What a year it's been though!  From day one I've been able to post as much, or as little as I want; about anything I want to write about.  I love that, because it gives me a chance to be creative, which is a big part of who I am. 

Over the past year, I've been to several performances in the Bing Lounge, and blogged about each one.  I feel very lucky to have seen such a wide range of musical talent, from newcomers, like Jaida Dreyer and Glen Templeton,to living legends, such as Vince Gill. 

Often times my posts were inspired by what I'd hear on KUPL's "Simon in the Morning" show.  One in particular I remember was when they had the person who does the voice of Winnie the Pooh on the show.

That interview lead to Scott, Jolynn and Jake talking about various voices they could do, which then lead to having listeners call in to do their best cartoon voices.  Somewhere in the mix the Muppets were mentioned.  My brain being the way it is, combined all of this into one bright idea, which I acted on, resulting in a post about the following picture.

 For the record, Scott Simon actually is as tall as Jolynn Winter; for some reason I thought he wasn't, so his caricature is shorter.  I could fix it easily, but it's been way more fun letting Scott kid about it.

Not all my posts have been happy ones.  I remember being angered by the verdict in the Casey Anthony trial.  I wrote a post in honor of Caylee Anthony, to get the anger out.

One post that turned out to possibly be my most important one to date was titled, "The Magic of Music".

I don't know how I learned about a blogging contest sponsored by the organization, MusiCares, though I remember thinking it would be fun to enter, so I did.  That was in October 2011, six months in to having my blog on KUPL's website.

The point of the contest was to bring awareness to MusiCares, which helps musicians, and artists with medical, dental, and other issues, since most don't have insurance.

The winner would be on the red carpet for MusiCares at the "Grammy Honors Paul McCartney", to blog about the event.

To my utter surprise and amazement, I was actually one of the finalists chosen!  Though I didn't win, and don't know where I ended in ranking, I still feel like I was a winner.  I mean, there were only SIX finalists in the entire U.S., and I was one of them!  It's one of those amazing times that become a milestone in one's memory; and something I would never have been able to do, had I not had this blog.

There are so many other posts I could mention here, however, as I usually do, I'm rambling again, so I won't.  Let's just say, in the past 366 days, (it's leap year), I probably could have/should have had more posts out.  Of the ones I did write, were all of them great?  No. To be honest, there were a few times when I wrote something for the sake of writing; because it was for a Tuesday or Thursday post, which are the days KUPL listeners can earn 5000 points for finding the blog word of the day.  Those are days I HAD to have something posted.

And lately, I've been in a dry spell; though just a few days ago, the ideas started happening again.

My goal for the year ahead is to continue posting blogs about anything and everything I can think of; and post more than I have been.  And of course hopefully improve with time!

Thank you to anyone and everyone who's been reading my blog this past year.  Though I may not know you, do know that I definitely appreciate you taking time to do so.  Again, thank you!

For Caylee

Normally I try to stay on lighter subjects in this blog; fun, interesting things I think others may enjoy also.  However, for this blog, I'm making an exception.

I'm not a dumb person by any means.  I just don't have a clue though how anyone could find Casey Anthony not guilty in the death of her daughter, Caylee.

What was it the jury heard, that the rest of us didn't?  Or was it something they didn't hear, that the rest of the world did?  I have no idea; all I know is, I think the jury was wrong.  From everything I've been seeing on Facebook, Twitter, and other places, I know I'm not the only person who feels this way.  In fact, I'm beginning to think the only people who *don't* see Casey Anthony as guilty is the jury who acquitted her, her attorneys and herself.  Heck, even her parents thought she was guilty!

As I said, we probably will never know the whole story of what happened to Caylee.  Truthfully, my feelings are based on being a mom.  To me, any real mom would be worried sick if their child went missing.  Casey Anthony didn't even report Caylee missing for a month.  I'd be on the phone to the police as soon as I even suspected my child was missing! 

Then there are all the lies Casey told about Caylee's whereabouts.  What mom is not going call the police when their child is missing, and on top if it lie about where the child is?  Why did Casey Anthony have to lie at all?  I know she said it had to do with being abused and whatnot, but how can anyone believe that?  I mean, if the woman is going to lie about where her child is, and not seem concerned the child is missing, how can anyone believe her excuses for what she did?  I for one am skeptical, to say the least.

I could rant, rave and theorize this thing forever, and still not find an answer to what I feel is an injustice to the memory of an innocent child.  I won't though, because it won't change anything.  I did feel the need to express my sadness over the verdict though, so I have.

What you've read is the tip of the iceberg of how disappointed and angry I am about how this trial ended.  It's a blog that I've written from the heart and from the top of my head, unedited, except for spelling.  It was something I had to do, because I feel helpless for this poor little girl who never got the chance to live a full life, because someone decided to be selfish and rob little Caylee of that chance to grow up.

I'll end this blog now, before I start rambling again.  I'll try to limit my "downer" posts from now on.  Thank you to anyone reading this, for allowing me to express my feelings about this case.