1990s

Oh dear goodness, I’m practically rolling around in my childhood right now, listening to Dixie Chicks on shuffle and scribbling song lyrics into my diary.  It’s moments like these that remind me that I still have some type of grasp on who I used to be and continue to be.  And even while most of these songs are such rubbish, so much makes up for it: Chris Thile mandolin solos, choruses shifting into minor chords, power building up in bridges.  Oh, the bluegrass of the late nineties and early 2000s was magnificent.  Think on it–Dixie Chicks, Nickel Creek, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Alison Krouse.  A lot of great bluegrass came out then.

In fact, a lot of great music came out in the nineties, but it’s taken me until nearly twenty years later to realise that this crap was… well, not crap.  My room mate for next year is really into nineties alternative, which I started getting into about five years ago, and I’m fairly certain that you’re going to be able to walk into our room and feel like you’re in your childhood.  Matchbox Twenty will be playing in the background while you reach for my Skittles candy machine and a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.  Only our laptops will give us away.

One day, I’ll look back at the nineties and 2000s as the “Good Ole Days”, and I will lament about the kick-ball and hiking in the woods and climbing the trees while singing Spice Girls and shoving Pokèmon cards into our Lisa Frank binders.  God, I still have those Lisa Frank binders full of Pokèmon cards in my closet, right next to a bin of Beanie Babies that I was so sure would be worth a ton of money and put me through college.  But you can buy those same Beanie Babies from a garage sale for fifty cents, so, so much for that monetary adventure.

But I’ll look back at all of this in wonder; that much is certain.

I was reading Fahrenheit 451 today while waiting for the mall to open and let me buy a Father’s Day present, and I was surprised by how everyone around me reminded me of the characters.  Sure, in limited ways, but so many people are the sheeple like the majority of characters, and I wondered if I would be like Guy or Clarisse or Mildred or Beatty.  When we read things like this or Animal Farm or Ishmael, we always want to pretend that we would be one of the enlightened ones.  One of the people who catch onto what society is up to and starts fighting the system and thinking for ourselves.  But, in all reality, would we really be that person?  Or would we be following the motions like anyone else, living day to day with no other question?  Would we wake up and go to school or church or work like every other day?  Would you be the one to sit in front of the telly and soak in everything that it had to offer?  I was that person for so long before waking up, but as I read, I still can’t help but realise that I would be one of those people.  I’d be a sheeple right next to everyone else.

We can’t all be a Clarisse.

Will books be banned one day like in Fahrenheit 451?  It makes me wonder if the good old days will be right now because of the knowledge that we presume to be free.  And it’s something to think about.

But for now, it’s best left to Dixie Chicks and scribbles of what I think into a diary that no one will ever read.  It’s better off in poems that tell stories of far away places where people learn lessons in the strangest ways that no one else will understand but in glimpses of another’s mind.  It’s better left to sentences that don’t know how to end.

Read Full Post »

My Life According to Nickel Creek

Recently, my friends all filled out this survey on Facebook, so I figured that I would give it a try using the ever-so-wonderful Nickel Creek as my inspiration.  If this isn’t a shameless plug for my favourite band, I don’t know what is.

– – –

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Pass it on to 10 people you like and include me. You can’t use the band I used. Try not to repeat a song title. It’s a lot harder than you think! Repost as “my life according to (band name)”

Pick your Artist:
Nickel Creek

Are you a male or female:
Sabra Girl

Describe yourself:
Young

How do you feel:
Doubting Thomas

Describe where you currently live:
House of Tom Bombadil

If you could go anywhere, where would you go:
Out of the Woods

Your favorite form of transportation:
First and Last Waltz

Your best friend is:
Helena

You and your best friends are:
Somebody More Like You

What’s the weather like:
Green and Grey

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called:
Cuckoo’s Nest

What is life to you:
Seven Wonders

Your last relationship:
I Should’ve Known Better

Your fear:
Hanging by a Thread

What is the best advice you have to give:
When in Rome

Thought for the Day:
Best of Luck

How I would like to die:
Why Should the Fire Die?

My soul’s present condition:
Jealous of the Moon

My motto:
Speak

Read Full Post »

House Keeping

Could it be what we need is a backbone?  Could it be what we need is a backbone?  We want to believe that we tried.  Falling asleep is the weight of their eyes.  Slips away.

-“Spineless”, Jealousy Curve

I feel that I should leave you with songs that I enjoy.  Call it the gift of musical knowledge.

Finals week has been going well; in fact, I’d be willing to say that it has been the most enjoyable week of university thus far.  Each night, the cafeteria serves doughnuts and sweet cakes with coffee and tea.  My entire house will get together and try to seat fourteen of us at one circular table.  We end up sitting on each others laps and sharing chairs so that we can all be together, and it is well worth it.

The finals themselves haven’t been too difficult.  Yes, I spent much of the weekend and days past studying, but with plenty of breaks and times to visit with the friends that I will not see for a while.  There are two people in my house that I am particularly close to.  One left yesterday, and the other will not be coming back next semester because (get this) he’s going to Paris, Milan, London, and New York to do modelling work.  Remember that link I posted a while ago of the modelling pictures by my friend Aaron?  Well, this is him.  He was recently signed with NEXT New York, and they’re sending him to Europe for two months or so next semester.  So, he’s skipping out on second semester and will be back in the fall.  I’m so proud of him, and he’ll have a lovely time.  But I will miss him very much.  Much more than he’ll know.

Meanwhile in life, though, I’ve been reading, crocheting hats, and facing the fact that I will be back at home for three weeks.  I was writing in my diary about going home, and I mentioned that I feel like Harry Potter whenever he has to go back to the Dursleys for the summer.  That is exactly how I feel.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love my friends back home and my family, but I simply can’t be at home for extended periods of time.  My bed is uncomfortable there, there’s so much noise, cat and dog fur clings to everything (even though I love them, it’s hard to look nice), and my family just…. well, we’re very different people.  It’s difficult for me to be myself around them or to talk to them about anything that interests me.  I try to talk about politics, but they only watch Fox News and are brainwashed by singular media (which, as a note, I collect my news from BBC each day, NPR, and random news stories and newspapers.  I prefer not to watch televised news or get anything from a single source).  I try to talk about crafting, but my mum doesn’t understand my version of style or crafts or painting.  I try to talk about current events, but their ignorance and closed-minded thinking shines through.  I love them; I just can’t be with them all of the time.

Remember, I’m very introverted, too.  My mum is very extroverted.  She needs to constantly be around me in order to feel close and wants me out in the living room and kitchen talking with her and watching the same television shows (which, mind you, are full of bias or sad looking animals.  And, seeing as how I lack empathy, that doesn’t quite work for me).  She doesn’t understand that, not only do I not need to talk to someone in order to feel close to them, but I would rather stay in my room and not talk at all if there is no reason to.  It’s something that she will never understand, as extroverts never understand introverts.  Luckily, I understand her, and I try (even though it kills me) to appease her and make her feel loved.  It’s the least I can do, and at the same time, the very most.

Yes, I fully admit that I’m a bitch, and a cold-hearted one at that.

Meanwhile in life, though, I saw The Princess and the Frog with my dorm-house yesterday, and it was quite enjoyable.  I may or may not write a review for it in the near future.  I’m also currently reading “French Women Don’t Get Fat” by Mireille Guiliano.  Though I haven’t finished it yet, I recommend it if you are looking into health books.  And, remember, health.  Not diet.  I don’t play into diet books or the like, as I think they’re total rubbish.  If you want to lose weight, push that our of your mind and try to get healthy instead.  After all, weight loss is only a side-effect of being healthy.  Once I finish the book, I’ll write a real review on it, as well.

Wow, one paragraph, and I’ve already promised to write two reviews.  While I’m at it, I may as well write a review for some music or something, though I think I’ll leave you with another musical quote instead.  And, should you catch an interest, that would be wonderful.

I hate to see a friend of mine,

Laughing out loud when she’s crying inside,

But you’ve got your pride.

-“Jealous of the Moon”, Nickel Creek

Read Full Post »

Music Taste

My psych class this morning was cancelled, leaving my only class of the day to be my art class at 15.00.  On top of that, I’ve spent the past two hours studying with friends in the lounge (which is here on out called the “living room”) and listening to fantastic music.  Some Beirut, Andrew Bird, John Butler Trio, Explosions in the Sky, Sufjan Stevens.  Good stuff.  Plus, it’s going to rain more this afternoon and possibly storm.  Glorious.

Speaking of good music…  I’ve been wanting to mention a little bit about those songs that I was talking about a few posts ago.  Wow, that was literate.

Read Full Post »