I made a lot of mistakes, in my mind...

I started a well-intentioned post on Saturday and abandoned it midway. The flight was draining and I was tired...so it was a rambling, useless post. The truth is most of my posts are rambling and useless...but this one was really a stinker.

My basic point of that post (which has been deleted) was that I finally, for the first time in months, connected with music again. On the flight, I somehow wandered on to the right sound and I listened to it, completely, for the whole flight (Illinois - Sufjan Stevens). Mostly without any other distractions except the view from the window.

I was hoping this would stick, that suddenly music would resonate again...but today? Not so much. I had one moment with one song (back to Bjork today, really?) and spent the rest of the time hitting next on the random.

I want that feeling back...music working with the moment to make it bigger. And I can't seem to make it happen steadily. I clearly don't have the right music for work.

I hate my music.

Sex on a stick...

Not sure where that term came from, but I use it mainly to describe performers (of the music variety). And, this list only contains people that I personally thought were sex on a stick live/in person/in the real world:

• John Mayer - I dislike his music and I don't much care for him in general. But I happened to be at a concert or two (or three...) and he's delicious on stage...
• Caleb Followill (Kings of Leon) - caveat: has to have short hair. And again, this is a stage thing. Although I find him more attractive than John Mayer.
• Justin Timberlake - no caveats. He is sex. With or without the stick.
  
• Brandon Boyd (Incubus) - caveat: shirt off. Ok, not really.
  
• Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam) - Mostly on stage, but if he has short hair, always.
  
• Tori Amos - I know, doesn't really fit. And I wouldn't say I'm attracted to her. But...on stage...with her piano...yeah....if that's not sex on a stick, I don't know what is...
  

Honorable mentions:

• Brandon Flowers (The Killers) - audio sex. I find him completely unattractive on and off stage.
  
• Michael Stipe (REM) - I'm not attracted to him per se...but he's enigmatic and intriguing. And he mesmerized.
• Big baby head, aka Tom Chaplin (Keane) - um...there's not much about him that is attractive in a conventional sense. But...his hot tight red pants really made an impact. And his goofy English stage-presence.
  

Songs that I loved today...

This is a list of the songs I listened to between 10:30am and 11:30am:

• Knocked Up - Kings of Leon
• The Sound of Settling - Death Cab for Cutie
• Hyperballad - Bjork
• Crooked Teeth - Death Cab for Cutie
• Daughter - Pearl Jam
• Ooops, got distracted and listened to 4 Minutes (to save the world) - Madge & JT
• Ooh Ooh Baby - Britney Spears
• Getting Better - Beatles
• Better - Regina Spektor
• This is Such a Pity - Weezer
• Bedshaped - Keane
• lamb on the lam (in the city) - Band of horses
• Sofa Song - The Kooks
• What You Waiting For? - Gwen Stefani
• Sleeping Lessons - Shins
  

I find that when I code, the pop/dance music goes over well. It's brainless but keeps me moving.

And she twinkles...

My post title has nothing to do with this post. But my tree is standing, just needs to be fluffed, decorated and plugged in. All on hold until tomorrow.

Last night I went to the symphony - we saw John Williams conducting some of his movie music (and the theme for the NBC nightly news). I love the symphony. When I have a bit more money, I'll seriously consider trying out one of their varied season ticket offerings. I just love the sound of it all blended together. And there is something chill-inducing about hearing the Star Wars theme live. That is music I grew up to and heard repeatedly. Star Wars was one of our favorite childhood games (I was Bacca to my cousin Bee's Chew. Neither of us wanted to be R2D2 or C3PO, so we shared Chewbacca). My cousin pretending to be Luke with his hand cut off/getting it stuck in his shirt is probably one of my favorite (and only) childhood memories.

I enjoyed all of it. Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Memoirs of a Geisha. It was all good.

I'll be going to the symphony again in a few weeks (Welcome Yule!) and I hope to visit the CSO at least once a year in the future...

Music is my boyfriend...

How catchy is that little ditty?

I wrote about 10 different blog entries on the walk home from the gym (8 of them skewing dirty). I'm going to run with one of the ideas, but first here are two things that I found weird today:

• Girl next to me in the gym, reading the glossary of a book. I imagine this is her finals' studying technique? But...I think it's pretty bad, because what good is a definition without context?
• I wrote this TERRIBLE paper for my capstone class. I mean, it was regrettable. The only good thing about it was my research, which was seriously good. I got a really good grade and my theory that the quality of education at my school is bad? Justified.
  

On the walk home I was trying to figure out what I was going to do tonight, my first night of freedom in a few months. My train of thought follows:

• I think I'll do a little jig.
• Aw, remember when I used to dance around my room to my theme song senior year of college and Janet would laugh at me?
• I need a dance-y theme song again.
• (here's where I tumble into the gutter of my mind) Well, shit, if I ever get laid again, my theme song should be "Do It" by Nelly Furtado.
• Good plan. But maybe I should only make that my theme song if I'm consistently hitting it.
  

So there you have it readers, this is the usual for me. As for theme songs (if you're wondering, what kind of freak has a theme song?), what I mean is...any song that you seem to be playing repeatedly at a certain time of your life. Right now I have two that I can think of. One that I am going to hold close to my chest - not for embarrassment but for...privacy? The other is Possibly Maybe by Bjork (but only if the lyric is "possibly NO").

Hope that your heart's always warm...

And here are the last three questions...written for the second time by cg who had her first set swallowed by blogger...

If tomorrow you could wake up and magically be brilliant at something that you can't do, or are crap at doing, today, what would it be?

This one is a no-brainer. I would want to be musical. I bet if I tried really hard I could be passingly musical, but who has the time or money to do that? I'd love to play the piano or guitar. And I'd love to sing in key. It might help if my fingers were magically stretched a bit as they are exceedingly small and make chords and keys seem impossible...

Desert island CD. I leave it to your discretion whether you want this to be an actual released album or a mix CD - if it's a mix CD, your discretion as to how many tracks you choose to list here ...

This is impossible. I realize I'd need a mix - because I'd need music to "work" to (you know, when I'm building my hut) and music to cry to (you know, because I'm stuck on a desert island). The problem here is that this is going to be influenced by what I love now. And anything will get tiring after a while. And oh my god, I can't handle the pressure.

Sad sap songs:

1. Mona Lisa - Guster
2. Brothers on a Hotel Bed - Death Cab for Cutie
3. Your Ex-Lover is Dead - Stars
   
4. Joga - Bjork
5. Not the Red Baron - Tori Amos
   
6. Age Six Racer - Dashboard Confessional
7. A Plain Morning - Dashboard Confessional
   
8. Typical Situation - DMB
9. Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap
   

Working hard songs:

1. Hyperballad - Bjork
2. Tripping Billies - DMB
3. Let Go - Frou Frou
   
4. My Name is Jonas - Weezer
   
5. Sexy Back - Justin Timberlake
6. Mr. Brightside - Killers
   
7. Lovestoned - Justin Timberlake
8. Oooh La - Kooks
   
9. Naive - Kooks
   
10. Crystal Ball - Keane
    
11. Do It - Nelly Furtado
12. Stronger - Kanye West

This question is too hard. Way too hard. And you all should take this opportunity to clue me in to new music, because I have been craving something new pretty hard for a few weeks now. I'm listening to music at work a lot now (to drown out some uncomfortable noises originating in the cubicle behind mine).

Most influential person in your life so far? and if I can stretch one question slightly, so that it also includes some hint of why/how so?

My Mom and Dad. Most of it was a lot of the normal shit, but I think I've learned a lot by example (and while most of that is good stuff, some of it has been "what not to do"). I'm really not sure that there will ever be a more influential person. My friends have had great influence on me as well...but that all just gets murkier than the parent thing even is (and we jump into the question of how much of me is me and how much of me is that which I've taken from others...).

Now cg...here are your questions:

• Because it was so torturous and hard, I'm going to make you do your own desert island question (freudian that I first typed dessert?)
• If you could give whatever you wanted (no cost/time/spatial restrictions) to someone you love, what would you give? And to who?
  
• As a fellow singleton (singleton's of the world unite!), do you have any "deal-breakers"? Do you have anything that you would like a "date" or partner to possess?
  

I got the music in me...

A few days ago my sister did a concert meme that I found intriguing. Then my Dad followed in her comments. So here I take part, off of my Dad's concert list.

Copy this list; leave in the bands you've seen perform live; delete the ones you haven't, and add new ones that you have seen until you reach 25. An asterisk means the previous person had it on their list. Two asterisks means the last two people who did this before you had that band on their list.

(note: my concert list and my sisters would have been far more similar than mine and the Dads)

Dave Matthews Band**
REM**
Pearl Jam**
Barbra Streisand**
Paul McCartney**
The Police**
John Mayer*
James Taylor*
Ben Folds*
Michael Buble
Kooks
Keane
Death Cab for Cutie
Incubus
Puff Daddy (aw yeah!)
Justin Timberlake
Christina Aguilera
Pink
Guster
Indigo Girls
The Killers
Kings of Leon
Modest Mouse (not impressed)
Weezer
Audioslave

I have no embarrassment about any of those concerts.

Somewhere down there...

So part of the reason I am enjoying my workouts right now is because of the music. I love some poppy happy music (right now the three "go-to" songs that I sometimes just skip the shuffle for are: Do It - Nelly Furtado; Stronger - Kanye; What You Waiting For - Gwen Stefani). I look forward to listening to that stuff and "moving to the beat."

Because somewhere, deep down, I like to believe I have a little dancer in me. I love to dance. And I love to watch people dance. Obviously this is what draws me to music with a beat [and Justin Timberlake...because watching him dance is like dirty, sexy eye candy. And if you haven't seen his little dance bit in the final number of the VMA's, you should watch it. There's this weird slow-mo thing, and then he...I can't describe it, but he kicks it up a notch and does this weird hand body twitch and its absolutely stunningly mesmerizing. Go here to see it (you can skip the boring Nelly Furtado part, although that is the song I work out to...without the boring slow intro part.)].

And to be completely honest, this is why I love musicals so much. I really enjoy going to shows for the story and atmosphere too, and I obviously like when the singing is super strong...but when there is a good dance number, I instantly feel like I perk up. Like in Color Purple, the Africa part...that was kick ass. And while my sister remembers Sweet Charity as not so enjoyable, I remember being fairly delighted with the dancing.

Anyway...if you ever see me working out on the elliptical or bike, it's most likely I'll be mouthing the words and bobbing along to the beat (and I know I look stupid, because I've seen another person doing it and he looked dumb. Yes, only 1 other person enjoying his music in my 3 weeks working out).

Driven to tears...

subtitle: Every breath you take.

If you're quick, you realize that those are Police songs. I like to think I'm clever, so read on for the reasoning behind my title and subtitle.

Police + Wrigley Field review...

I think the venue was pretty cool...and our seats...you can't really beat our seats (first row, on the field but a bit to the left of the stage. Sting was basically right in front of us...thanks Pooj for the amazing seats). And the band was pretty tight for being a bunch of old guys. Here's some random observations:

1. They were far jammier than I expected, and personally I don't think it enhanced my experience. But maybe super-fans really like that?
2. Sting looks great for his age, but dressed like a weird Scottish tantric guy. Tight pants made his feet look huge as well. And he clapped like a weirdo - spread all your fingers as wide as they can go on both hands and clap. Looks funny, right?
   
3. Sting's bass...think he's been playing the same one since the seventies...it was battered and scratched. He must love that thing...
4. Lot of songs that I know.....lots that I didn't. But overall, enjoyable.

Now to the title of this post...my sister and I sat together in those crazy good seats. She has notoriously bad luck when it comes to her concert neighbors. When we arrived there was a couple in some seats next to us and on the other side, emptiness. She jumped into the empty side (mistake). Two men showed up (who thought they were pretty damn cool, what with their sunglasses that they put on AFTER it got dark. Idiots). One (or both?) of them smelled bad. Not BO bad but dirty, smelly, awful bad. Possibly the worst rotting/stinky feet smell in the world. The sister had to deal with the wafts of smell throughout the show..titles make sense now?

My feelings about Apple...

iPhone smy-Phone.

I don't know if you all remember, but back in February, my computer crashed spectacularly, bringing down my mood, all of my homework and numerous hard to install programs. I blamed it on my iPod because it seemed to fit. I plugged the pooder in and the whole computer froze, hiccuped and died.

It threatened me again just now. There is clearly something wrong with my iPod. The kicker here is that it works some of the time. Sometimes I plug the iPod in, update it and sing a joyous tune because I have new music. But other times (like just a few minutes ago) iTunes freezes. I shut it down. I restart the computer. And the fucker (pardon kids) doesn't want to boot back up. This time, being the ever-intelligent computer wizard that I am, I brought her back from the brink (ok, fine, I got lucky. I hit every button on that horrible blue Intel boot screen and nothing happened. Then, I unplugged my iPod, banged more buttons and voila! I was suddenly at the boot options screen. Unplugging the iPod was the key. You asshole iPod video. Asshole).

So I'm a little grumpity. My expensive, pretty iPod is certainly unpredictable. And while I am confidant my computer is safe and healthy - I can't help but worry about plugging that sucker in. And I wanted new music for tomorrow...(although that may be a pipe dream, because now my iPod is stuck on the Do not Disconnect screen. And I dare not plug it back in. So I have to wait for the battery to die before it gets plugged back in. 8 hours from now...will it be dead?). Buble, you'll have to wait one more day til I get to know you before our upcoming, forced meeting in July....

So Apple, I have no desire for your new-fangled phone. I imagine frustration and annoyance will come hand in hand with that iPhone for quite a while...

Fa la la la la....

Yesterday, when walking home from the L after class, a man walking toward me was playing the harmonica. Just walking, harmonica'ing. No busking. Just music.

Today when walking home from work, a man walking toward me was playing the accordion. Just walking, accordion'ing. No busking. Just music.

I wonder what music will walk towards me tomorrow.

Weekend review...

I know, the weekend isn't over yet...but it's been a busy one and I feel like reviewing it. So stop complaining and read. Here's what I did:

I tried what is possibly my second attempt at baking since moving here in 2004 (yes. That is sad.). After baking it for much longer than the recommended 45 minutes, I have banana bread; one of my favorites. I think I probably should have baked it even longer, but it still tastes good (it's not doughy...I don't know why I feel like I should have left it longer, I just do). So - that was a success.

I checked the website for my class one million times to see if my midterm had been posted. As of 10:00pm on Saturday, still not posted. It is due at midnight on Monday.

Had a nice lunch with long lost cousin B and the sister.

Had drinks with some co-workers and didn't die from social anxiety. I think my social anxiety works like so: get invited somewhere. Accept. Feel nervous and anxious up until the point where I am actually there (be it for days, minutes, hours). Get there and feel fine. Maybe I should call it...anticipatory social anxiety? Is anticipatory a word? If not, I don't care, because that is the perfect word for the situation.

Went to a concert (The Kooks) at a very early hour (start time: 6:30). After seeing the band, we realized this is probably because at least one of them is under the legal drinking age. Yes. The band was made up of babies. After some fairly informative Wikipedia'ing I learned some really interesting (although you can never fully trust the validity of Wiki-facts) tidbits:

• At one point, the one guitarist was known as "the youngest man in rock". He's still under the legal drinking age.
• Naive, a delightful song, was written by the lead singer when he was....wait for it.........16. Yeah - you can feel bad about your 16 year old self now - what were you doing? Worrying about prom? Breaking up with your boyfriend? Worrying about AP classes? Writing a hit single?
• Um...this is the weirdest one...they are supposedly starting a fashion line.....of boots. Which is FANTASTIC, since all I did at the concert was make fun of their boots. No really. Not kidding.

I feel I should mention that this was possibly the best concert-going experience I have had at a Chicago venue (of the Metro/Vic/Riviera variety). We found an amazing spot to stand (and I'm not telling you where, so that you can't use that spot and ruin the possible use of it in the future). By the last few songs, some nice girls decided to leave and gave us their perfect seats. I saw the band the entire concert, got to sit for a while and didn't feel too crowded (although we did have two drunkies behind us...but that's almost a given). Perfect. Possibly impossible to repeat.

What else, what else...I complained a lot about my mail. I bought myself a pot of mums to cheer myself up after the mail fiasco escalated yesterday. I bought a seriously brilliant present in advance for my friends personal shower (ha ha ha ha!).

It's been a good one - I didn't do much for school and it felt nice. I'm telling you, this quarter I'm having a really hard time caring about my grades/class. For two of my classes, this doesn't matter at all. For another? Bad. News.

D...ddd...dirty, dirty...

Here's my quick and dirty review of the Justin Timberlake (with Pink opening) concert.

Pink:

1. Wasn't as bad as I expected
2. That rope/circus trick was sort of impressive, man muscles.
3. Couldn't help but wonder...how would I look with a bleach blond pixie cut.....hmmm...
   

Justin:

1. Why, oh why, Justin, did you have to come here during my finals week? I've mentioned it before and I'll mention it again...but its not fun going to a concert where the main goal is to dance when you have a raging case of test poo. My stomach and intestines at this point are brick-like - still causing me fairly regular pain but producing no results - due to the large quantity of Pepto ingested. If this all offends you, I don't care.
2. I'm a silly girl because whenever the Timberlake is within 200 ft of me I get a burning in my loins. Maybe I'm tired (burning? loins?). The truth is, with test poo...there was no burning in my loins. Groaning maybe. No burning. What I was TRYING to say before I got totally sidetracked there is that Justin is hot. Sexy back.
   
3. My sister and I had an interesting conversation this afternoon on whether or not Justin is legitimate/a legitimate musician (her point is that he is walking a fine line between sex object and respectable artist). My Mom (my concert-going companion) mentioned that my brother wouldn't have been caught dead at the first concert (where I was. 15 rows from the stage. Not. Ashamed). But now it's suddenly OK to like Justin. Does that mean he's more legitimate? Or that people are finally just saying, OK, it's not so embarrassing to like Pop music (which I believe was never embarrassing. If you think it is, then you take music too seriously)?
4. The people-watching at the concert was fantastic. And horrific. Lots of dresses over pants and leggings. And pointy shoes. And the heels! A ton of the place was standing room only...and the girls walking into that area in their stilettos? Idiots. Trend city that concert. A lot of people that liked themselves just a little too much (and quite a few men who clearly wanted to be Justin).
5. As for the actual music (I'm on point 5 and haven't even mentioned the actual concert part....hmmm, interesting), it was as I expected. Some points a little shaky (he is dancing, give him a break) but others, quite lovely. My Ma was not impressed with the "stage in the round" concept and I sort of agree, although he did have some interesting methods that made it work for him far better than for Pink. Personally I would have preferred a traditional stage. Where I could see Justin's ass at all times...

Now I'm going to go lay in bed and massage my belly...achy, achy belly. Damn you test poo...damn you.

Paring down...

I have something like 7 ideas for how I want to blog today and I have no idea which is the right way to go. So first let me say that I finally think I am curious about politics and maybe, just maybe I'll be able to follow along with most of what's going down in DC. Maybe.

Moving on...I think that I may have reached the utopia point with my mixture of concerts. In the past month I've seen two concerts that I would not have gone to without a nudge in the right direction (read: free concert ticket). I saw James Taylor and Barbra Streisand. I probably know their music equally (not well). I went to both of these concerts with an open mind. I wound up a little bit bored at both, but bored in a good way. Bored in the "I wish I was right where I am with the addition of a book" way. I don't regret going to either and I feel like I gained something from both (putting what I gained into words is proving harder than my homework from this past weekend so...not gonna do it).

So my concert mixture now includes an overwhelming amount of DMB mixed with a dash of Barbra, Justin Timberlake, Paul McCartney, Keane, James Taylor, Death Cab and Puff Daddy (and many more <-- sing that like the birthday song). And the symphony. Can't get much more diverse (maybe if I had some country, jazz or...?)