Say you see through the folly but you do it for the fame

Don't you hate how foggy you feel when you first wake up in the mornings? It's like you haven't gained full control of all your muscles and everything you do is sloppy and exaggerated. The first thing I do on school mornings is shower, so usually this involves banging my head on both sides of the shower because I'm so tired. Yes, I do fall asleep in the shower. And my thoughts are extremely messy, so if I have a good idea in the first five minutes of my awake-ness it's likely to just go away.

Why am I talking about foggy things? Well, it's because of my cold. Fun indeed. I haven't been "sick" sick in over a year, meaning a fever and needing to stay home from school. However, every year around this time I just have a stuffy nose and head like nobody's business. This morning it took 4 cough drops and a glass of tea just to get my voice working. And worst of all, my head feels about seven times heavier on one side than the other. So I've got that foggy wake-up feeling all day long. I sort of feel like on some type of drugs, but ones that just sort of weigh you down. Maybe like the women in African countries who carry baskets on their heads? Except this is IN my head, and every time I yawn or blow my nose my ears pop like I'm on an airplane or something. Overall, it's just frustrating.

Do I have anything non-complaining to talk about? Well, in Maddi's Media News I've tried two totally unrelated applications on my computer, skype and sibelius. I think I'm going to like skype. It's certainly not as popular as facebook, but the chat doesn't randomly delete on you and video chats are always fun. However, I feel the need to point out the awkwardness of video chatting that doesn't happen with phone calls. There are certain pauses in a conversation that are totally normal on the phone but when you're looking at the image of someone just seem, well, uncomfortable. If you were hanging out with them, the conversation would be more physical, and if you were on the phone, more verbal. To me, video chat is this awkward in-between stage. Sibelius is something totally different. For those people who aren't familiar with music notation software, it's this thing that lets you place notes on a staff and create your own music. I'm trying to arrange things, but since I've never arranged OR used sibelius, it's proving pretty difficult. I'm like "rest." and it's like, "RESTRESTREST QUARTER NOTE." Um, no sibelius. That's clearly not what I just entered. At least I'm getting better with my piano-playing. I'm practicing some things regularly, and I can feel my hands getting stronger, and my knowledge of the bass clef improving. God, I hate the bass clef. Still, the piano is a skill it's useful to have, and maybe I'll really launch into arranging soon. If I have time...right.

Los Conciertos.

And what may I be doing tonight? Well until about an hour ago, I thought nothing. But I have been plucked out of the blue and told that I'll be heading to the Vampire Weekend concert. Why, what's Vampire Weekend? It's not a movie marathon of the "Twilight series during Saturday and Sunday." It's not a vacation with blood-sucking things. It's a sort-of alternative band that does the very cool thing of incorporating a whole bushel of instruments into their songs. Seriously, you could hear like 20 different instruments in one single song. That's more than I can say about a large majority of music today. They look kinda like this

So it made me think about all the other concerts I've been to in my lifetime. There aren't that many, sadly.

Bernadette Peters - This was the first concert I ever went to, and I was about 8 years old. I'm an avid fan of Into The Woods, and Bernadette is my favorite. It probably helps that she's a fellow short redhead. I went with my grandparents and she sang some stuff I was familiar with. Some songs gave me chills, because her voice is so amazing. I've been listening to the Into The Woods soundtrack since I was about three years old, I kid you not. And the best part was, I got to meet her after the show. Well not meet per say, but as she was leaving the stage door she said hi to me and I got an autograph. What a moment. I still remember being surprised at how short she was and how cool it seemed.

Regina Spektor - She's really one of my favorites that I listen to on a regular basis. Marion and I were in one of the back rows, and the theatre was really slanted but it seemed like we were watching it from above. It was really unique and I knew EVERY song she played except two. We were right near the spotlight too, which cast an eerie blue glow on everything. It was sort of an out-of-body experience, and unbelievable.

Taylor Swift - Now this was cool. Unlike the two before, this was gigantic, at Gillette stadium in fact. We were lucky enough to be in the 12th row and it was a really "Big concert" experience. There were flashing lights and a big digital screen stage and Taylor had about 8 costume changes. She was brilliant, even if all her songs are kind of similar. She really through a lot of energy into the performance and it was the last stop on her tour, which was cool. I was there with a bunch of friends and all of our happiness was pretty infectious. And I got a T-shirt. It's a pretty cool T-shirt.

Vampire Weekend - Well, we'll see. =]

Annecdotes about food

Ramen is a home-alone food. It's absolutely delicious, but I always associate it with being stuck in the house, alone. The reasons for that are simple - it's easy to make and has both starch and a smidgen of protein, so if you eat it with a fruit or vegetable you can even claim you're being healthy!

I quite enjoy gummy sharks. To me they're the best of all gummy candies, with the one exception being clear gummy bears. I can't figure out why on earth I like clear gummy bears, since I'm still vague about what flavor they are, but I do. Still, gummy sharks are the most fun because they have two different layers. One layer is the blue, gummy layer, and the bottom layer is softer and more like marshmellow (except of course, it's not marshmellow.) Like this:

My new favorite food since this summer would have to be a really good panini sandwich made with fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil. Honestly, it's pretty hard to beat that. I had about 7 of them while my family was in Ogunquit this summer, and now I think I'm addicted. I also force my friends to make them for me when I visit their houses. (Just ask Emily London.)

And finally, for a food I can't stand - the beautiful and fabulous SARDINES. Such a typical food for a kid to dislike, I know. But there's something about them that drives me insane. Actually there are a few things. 1. They are fish. I don't like fish in general. 2. They smell...well, fishy. Ugh. And the smell stays in the air for long periods of time after they've been consumed. 3. Some people put them on pizza. Why on earth would they think that's a good idea?

Oh, and school starts tomorrow, in case you hadn't heard. ...Yippee.

Time, Is, A Moment, Sir.

So unless you were one of about seven possible people, that title probably made next-to-no sense. It's a reference from (surprise!) a camp skit entitled Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread. I've never actually listened to the music by the actual Philip Glass, but I know it's classical. A little bit was piano, flowing, and didn't seem like the play one bit. The play was like a bunch of repeating pieces strung together in interesting ways. The five or so characters only had a few different lines, and a lot of them were one or two words, but they repeated so much and in so many different ways it made a spectacularly cool plot. "Time." "Is." "A Moment." "Sir," was repeated probably the most. And when you think about it a little, time is a moment. Or many moments. I don't know about you, but I don't remember my life in a big long flowing wave of time. I remember the moments.

So what moment is it now? Well actually, it's that time of year where I realize there's about seven thousand things I need to get done. I turn into this lady. Trust me, she's not fun to be around.

So I start with the list-making, I start with the panic-organizing* of my room. I know I'm in my second year of high school now, but I still feel like it would be useful for teachers to send us those lists of school supplies like they used to. I just have to guess around, get some binders and a few notebooks. Usually I end up dragging my mom back to staples for round two, once I know what I really need. I also have to read another summer book, so far I've read Bean Trees, the required book, and "Einstein's Dreams," which sounds dorky but is actually really cool. Fitting in with the theme of time today, (oh hey, I didn't even realize that) it pictures all the ways the world could possibly be. What if time flowed completely backwards? What if there was a place at the center of the world where time was at it's slowest and things were faster from that point? What if people higher up off the ground aged slower than people living right in the valleys? It's all pretty crazy stuff to think about.

Also, my camera broke. It still looks fine, but when you turn it on the viewing screen is completely broken. It looks like a broken window with random ugly rainbow lines on it. And technically it still takes the picture but you have practically no idea of what the picture looks like until you upload it. Come to think of it, that would make an interesting photo project - blind photos. But even so, I don't have my camera with me to document whatever happens to be going on. It's really been bothering me more than it should, considering I was never and never will be a photographer. Here for example, was a blind photo that I took, although it easily could have been something I took if I could see what I was doing. TA-DA

Yeah, I took that without being able to see what I was shooting at all. Well this has been a very unnecessarily long post, and quite frankly, I'm starving. Time for a delicious lunch of toast and veggie sausage! (Oh yeah, and somehow I'm still a vegetarian. Well the world's worst vegetarian, but it's something.)

*Panic-organizing ~ placing large amounts of STUFF from the floor on chairs, shelves, and under the bed. Possibly trying to categorize things together so I can feel like there's some order in my life. Letters, duct tape, return address stickers, and summer reading lists can all be thrown in that blue bucket, right? Of course right.

Of Course. It's Just Camp

What I love about it

-Being excited from the moment I open my eyes in the morning

-The carpool circle

-When there's music playing at the tentstage

-All the different kinds of art you see all around you

-Skipping from class to class without even thinking about it

-Singing with people better than you & not feeling competitive

-Improvising musicals, every day

-Wearing bright leggings

-Talking to bright people

-Trying to drink carton milk without a straw with your friends

-Being an apprentice & making younger kids laugh

-How every noontime show is fabulous

-Taking pictures for no reason at all

-Putting on an amazing show during rehearsals, start to finish

-Beautiful and crazy costumes

-Eating during A Capella

-Lying on the floor during A Capella

-Make moose noises during A Capella

-Actually singing in A Capella

-The fries from Isabella's, which seem golden on the best days

-Playing taps at the rock

-The opening night show

-The Friday night show

-Crying at cast parties because you need to get it out

-Realizing how amazing every single person there is

-How a single person can change your whole experience

-How a single camp can change your whole life

-The way people are smiling...it's simply the best kind of smile

Freaking Myself Out

So I just got back from visiting my grandparents. It's always fun to visit them, except for the fact that this obnoxious rooster is constantly going off (yes, like an alarm clock or something.) Aren't they only supposed to crow at dawn? This one crows at 7 Am. Then at 8. Then at 9:30. Then at 11. Then at two in the afternoon - we get it already.

Anyways, two nights ago we saw a production of Sweeney Todd. It was super amazing, and in case you’re unfamiliar with the production I’ll give you a quick summary. (If you do know it then sorry to waste your time and feel free to skip this paragraph!) It’s about this guy named Sweeney Todd (duh) who got wrongfully convicted of a crime by this judge who just wanted his wife. So then he comes back after prison and finds that the judge has been raising his daughter and that his wife is dead. He meets this woman named Mrs. Lovett and together they agree to get revenge on the judge. Mrs. Lovett also adopts this kid named Toby to help her. So they try to kill him but end up killing a lot of other people in the process (and making them into meat pies.) So finally he kills the judge, who had been planning on marrying his daughter, Joanna. (Gross, right, I mean he’s like 40 years older then her.) And then Sweeney discovers that his wife isn’t actually dead but she went completely crazy and he realizes that she was one of the people he killed. And so he kills Mrs. Lovett because she knew that his wife was alive but didn’t tell her because she was in love with him. And then the only one left is Toby and he kills Sweeney Todd because he’s gone mad and he’s also freaked out by him. And Sweeney’s daughter goes off and marries this guy named Anthony who she was in love with all along. So there was lots of love and death. But mostly death. Overall, the production was intense and awesome. Great music. One of my favorite things about Sondheim is how he repeats all his melodies in little pieces throughout the shows. The songs "Joanna" and "Not While I'm Around" both are in the same key, and even start the exact same way. They're both beautiful, and if they're sung by someone talented they'll definitely give you chills.

So between Dr. Who, Sci-fi in general, and Sweeney Todd I have been absolutely scaring myself to death lately. Don't get me wrong, I love all of the above but they are simply frightening. Dr. Who is less scary as you get used to it, but things like creepy psych dramas and sociopaths are still just as creepy day twenty-three as they are on day one. I've been looking around the corners before I go down hallways and dashing up the stairs after I turn out the lights. If you don't already, go watch Dr. Who. It's sort of a combination of a galactic soap opera plus Star Wars-esque action. And if you enjoy British humor then it's absolutely fantastic, as the doctor would say.

At the request of Ms. Vega

Inspired by Ms. Alli Vega, this post is about drugs. Not the using of, considering I am extremely against all that. (Honestly I think they're a horrible concept and they just show the lengths people are willing to go to in order to "relax.") But the way drugs are referenced through music. It's actually kind of amazing how much they come up.

First of all, there's the song Lucy In The Sky with Diamonds. The song goes through all of these strange images, most likely hallucination on the part of one Beatle or another. And it probably doesn't help that the letters to abbreviate are L, S, and D. The song is cool and well-written, but it's so hard to really like without feeling like a druggie yourself. Some people vehemently deny that idea and say it has something to do with paintings or something else entirely. You can never really know, but this one seems too heavy to ignore.

Next, "Nine in the Afternoon," by Panic at the Disco. This one's questionable. Honestly, I never thought about it that way until Alli pointed it out to me, so I can't say I see it entirely. However, if you think about the lyrics "Into a place where thoughts can bloom" and "Your eyes are the size of the moon," it would sort of make sense. Overall I find the song to be just a feel-good song and it was pretty well written. It's one of those songs where the lyrics just sound cool and make you think a bit.

And then there's the category of rappers and drugs. Eminem? It's amazing how much he changed. He had songs like "Old Time's Sake" talking about how great smoking is and he'll get pretty crude with those types of things. And then his latest album basically revolves around the idea of him giving up drugs completely and how much he's learned about life. I honestly think he was careless with his words and now regrets it. I read an article somewhere about how he feels bad about referring to women as "hos and bitches." Yeah, he should.

Overall, I hate the idea that loads of band people are druggies. And Alli Vega, I hope you go to bed at a decent time tonight. PLEASE. Three-thirty is not decent.

Viva La Vie Campamento

First, can we take a moment to admire that fail of French in the title? Maybe it's some ridiculous combination of Spanish and French. Well...I take Spanish, so the French half just isn't up to the standards of actual language.

Anyways, I can think of at least five friends off the top of my head who are leaving today. On one hand, this makes me happy. Obviously, they're going to have a blast at all of their many camps of fun. But on the other hand, I will miss them all tremendously. I have a full week before any of my summer activities kick in. I've been hastily writing letters to all who'll be going, hoping that they'll arrive early on. Once in a while I get a lonely feeling when everyone else is having that "Old-fashioned-camp-experience" away in the woods, and I'm here before Charles River starts.

In general, camp is fantastic. I know someone who wrote a whole essay on the importance of summer camp. I couldn't agree more. It's an experience where you get to be away from your house and family for long periods of time in an environment that isn't school. And that's a pretty rare occurance. Plus, the friends we make at camp are unlike any others. There's just something about the summery-smelling air and long days that make everything more awesome. You try new activities, wear whatever you feel like, and send and receive letters. I already said this, but I just LOVE letters.

Speaking of camp friends, I just saw some for a full 20 hour block yesterday :). And I tell you, that makes me more happy then basically anything. When I'm around them I'm filterless. People like Katharine make me laugh so hard that my stomach hurts. People like Leanne both impress me and scare me, in a good way of course. People like Erin, Franny, Miranda and Anna remind me that there are hints of CRCAP in Needham every day. And we're all in the same area we're just 100% honest and say whatever we're thinking. Of course, this can be a problem since when I come back from visiting I'm still blurting things out to my normal [is that even true? Probably not] friends. They sort of look at me like I should be put into a quiet room somewhere.

To wrap things up, summer encourages me to be a little more carefree. I splurged on iTunes and bought ten songs without even really thinking about it. All the days sort of blend together, and it puts you in a very relaxed happy mode. My camp (a creative arts day camp, and the best darn thing in the world) is starting last week of July, and that's coming right up. Around this time of year I just get a very positive feeling about things.

Summer and Being Alive in General

Six projects I'd like to accomplish this summer*

*Almost every summer I write down some ideas of things I think would be a good idea. I usually get around to two or three of them, but this time I really want to do them all.

1. Discover new music. It's not like I don't have enough; I have 740 songs on "Maddi's Playlist" on iTunes. But there's always more, and music is one of the things that everyone has some sort of opinion on. I definitely plan on convincing my friends to burn me some CDs.

2. Learn Hebrew. Since I never had a Bat Mitzvah I just never learned how. Actually, I'm sitting in front of me right now with a book called "Teach Yourself to Read Hebrew," so that's off to a pretty good start.

3. Finish a story. I love to write fiction, I guess what you'd call short stories, and I can never seem to finish them.

4. Learn more about graphic design. I'm definitely not an artist, but designing things with photos and easy art applications is something I've always enjoyed.

5. Clean my room. And when I say clean I mean complete and total overhaul, get rid of all the crap that's just been sitting there for ever and ever. Rearrange the furniture. Maybe even repaint it if the parental units will let me.

6. Write a lot of super-awesome letters to all of my camp friends who are away. I love writing and getting letters. I wish people did it more often, even though there's really no need because of the internet and stuff. The excitement of getting a letter is just a really fun thing.

What, no music commentary? Well I'll say this - Rob Thomas. Go check that guy's music out. It might not be the type of music everyone likes, but he's a pretty brilliant songwriter and his songs are addictive. Speaking of addictive, my song recommendation for today is "The Fear" by Lily Allen. I've basically been listening to this on repeat for the past seven days. It's about the complete and udder stupidity of celebs and the media, delivered sarcastically and quite amazingly. Plus, she has a British accent. Awesome.

Is it Summer? Are You Sure?/"Juliet" & "A Bushel and a Peck"

So school let out, apparently. I am in the current sophomore class, apparently. I bet that if I blinked I'd be applying for college. Seriously, it's not like the year was fast, because it wasn't quite, but this week certainly was. I just am in this state of suspended disbelief. Maybe I'll believe it in a few days.

Remember how I was going to be a vegetarian? Well I've been trying my hardest, but I think maybe I'm just not smart enough to be one. For instance, I ate a chicken pot pie last night, doing my very hardest to eat around all the chicken bits. Um...the gravy/sauce/everything? It's cooked with chicken. Duh. Anyways, when I said the year went by slowly I wasn't joking. I think it was because there was just so much STUFF crammed in there. Between numerous productions, dance, projects, and getting used to high-school level tests my days were about 18 hours.

Juliet - LMNT. Well my guilty pleasures include Degrassi: Next Generation, earlier Britney and some boy bands. So this qualifies, I suppose This song just takes me back to Cambridge, 2002. And the harmonies are pretty fun. I have a feeling that if there was a group of really talented singers together this would be great A Capella.

A Bushel and A Peck - Guys and Dolls. Well these were good times. 7th grade play, Guys and Dolls. The whole song and dance was pretty ridiculous but we all had fun doing it. We had these blue cheap cowboy hats, pink T-shirts and cropped pants. Also, I've got a soft spot for this song since my mom used to sing it for me when I was little.

What time is it? Summertime! It's our vacation! ~ HSM. Yeah, not a fan of the movies, but it had to be said.

Finals?

Homework is such a crushing burden sometimes I don't know how we stand it. Why aren't I doing mine, for instance? Well there's the fabulous rock opera RENT and graduation to blame for the delay. But what is annoying me most at the moment has to be finals. All the teachers suddenly pop up and say, "Hey! Let's make those students dig wayyyy back into their notes and find out all this stuff that they're never going to remember ever again!" "Wow, what a great idea!" I'm lucky because some of my finals are only on material we've covered from the midterm on. But seriously, it's getting obnoxious when they ask us to tell them a tiny little detail about, say, Holbein the Younger. I mean, who? I've barely got time to think about music, let alone write about it. I did have a good weekend, and I know once I finish these two weeks it'll be all fun and relaxation. Guess we've got to pull through the last leg of the journey.

Smell of the World/"Work It" & "I Write Sins not Tradgedies"

My house always starts to smell different when it's almost summer and it actually has different scents depending on the seasons. I'm not talking about the smell of the food in it, or the things we associate with the seasons, but the smell of the house itself. I think it might have something to do with the clothes they wear but I've noticed that other people's houses smell too. And they sort of smell like that person...usually in a nice way. But it's not a good or a bad smell...it's just like THAT SMELL.

Anyways, the songs that came up were "Work It" and "I Write Sins not Tradgedies." First of all, "Work it" gets very crude and I do not reccomend it as good music. The only reason I have it on my iTunes is that the chorus is backwards. And in my opinion, music played backwards is supercool.

"I Write Sins not Tradgedies" is pretty darn good music. Although to be honest, I have next to no idea what it's actually about. But the melody is sort of jumbled which is cool, and the story of it makes enough sense to enjoy it. Not to sound like a citizen of Massachusetts, but the guitar is sicknasty. I wonder when Panic at the Disco will be making new music...

My computer, apparently is too slow to run Sims 3. This bothers me a little more then it should. But I get a strange satisfaction from designing clothing out of bricks/making people fat then skinny, then fat then skinny...as Emily and Marion can tell you. In fact, the technology in my house has been lacking in a few ways recently. My iPod also cannot fit all the music on it I'd like to have. And I deleted ALL the photos and videos. So it's just upsetting. Perhaps I'll save up for a new one...but it's doubtful I'll ever amass more then $100 all together in one place. If I could turn in my gift cards to useless places like "The water bottle emporium" (Okay that's an exaggeration, but some places are THAT useless.) in I'm sure I'd have a lot of money. Unfortunately, that's just not possible.

Humidity/"Octopus' Garden" & "I Don't Care"

It may not be above 78 degrees today but it feels like 100. You know why? You know why? The stupid fact that air in new England is infected with warm, moist water. AKA - humidity, the thing that makes our shirts stick to us and our hair just die in frizz against our heads. Not only is it ridiculously humid for the 1st of June, but it's thunderstorming too.

Tomorrow is MCAS! ..yay... Well it's not actually that exciting but it means fewer classes. And although this year it's required to pass MCAS to graduate I really doubt anyone's going to fail. MCAS is known for its simple multiple-choice bit and obnoxious little monologue that appears before the test starts. No, I do not have any missing, blank, or upside-down pages in my test packet or answer booklet. And apparently "the test packets will be destroyed following test administration." Kids always laughed about that but it's obvious why. I always pictured a gigantic fire or paper shredder and people throw in test after test...now that would be an interesting job.

"Octopus' Garden" is a marvel, even though it's Ringo singing and he's not all that fabulous. But back then they didn't have auto-tune, and he just did the best he could. Which personally, I like much better then all the auto-tuned crap you'll hear on the radio. Even Mariah Carey, Mariah Carey, used it in her last song. And she's a great singer so that's just sad. I always associate this song with a Beatles Birthday party one of my friends held when I was about 6. May or may not have been one of the greatest parties ever.

"I Don't Care" ...eh. Not really up there on the greatest songs ever written list. The album artwork always amused me. Incase you're unfamiliar, it's an angry bear riding on top of a happier-looking person in a teddy bear outfit. There's probably some kind of symbolism behind this but I'm too tired to try and figure out what it is. Apparently Folie à Deux, which is the Album title is French for "a madness shared by two.") It is a rare psychiatric syndrome in which symptoms of a delusional belief are transmitted from one individual to another."

So...if one person goes crazy another does too. Fabulous.

"Sgt Pepper's" & "If I Never See Your Face Again"/Long Weekends

There's almost nothing everyone likes better then 3-day weekends. I sometimes wish we had them all the time but then there'd be practically no vacations and I think we'd all split open without a summer break. (Plus, that'd mean no camp!) 3-days are also another way for America to procrastinate just a tiny bit more. Don't know about you but I certainly haven't started my homework yet.

But as weekends go, this one has been pretty good. I spent Saturday at Canobie Lake which was awesome as usual although the flying swings were broken, quite the disappointment. Sunday was spent at the Natick Mall with the lovely Marion Marsh and Sarah Heatherton. Technically, it's called the "Natick Collection," but I think that's just ridiculous. It's still a mall, people. If they want to give it a fancy new name they might as well call it the "Natick Patatick McNatick."

Anyways, the songs that came up today were "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "If I Never See Your Face Again." Both of these have terribly long titles, and therefore this post has a terribly long title. Sgt Pepper's is really one of my absolute favorite songs by the Beatles, and I love it too much to get around to the fact that they're not really singing that much in it. Whatever. Personally I think it has some great guitar and harmonies. The rhythms all fit together nicely and the song has a fun vibe to it.

" If I Never See Your Face Again" is kind of a weird one. I like Maroon 5 and Rihanna individually but I never would have bet on the fact they'd do a collaboration. I have to say they still sound kind of funky together, in both good and bad ways. Rihanna sounds a little out of place Although that's not really fair since this isn't the type of music that she normally sings. Either way I think that Maroon 5 are musical geniuses when it comes to good old songwriting.

Speaking of Rihanna, what is up with her new style and stuff? When she started off, she was all "Music of the Sun" and now she just looks like "Music of the DEATHDEATHDEATHANDDARKNESS." And she's trying to do her music videos all weird or artsy and copying Lady Gaga. (Which it seems like everyone's doing now anyway.) I think she was at her height during Good Girl Gone Bad. It was a balance between the two extremities, like she'd cut and died her hair but her songs were still sort of happy. Now when I listen to some of the stuff on Rated R I feel like I'm walking through some sort of halloween haunted house/ghetto. Everything is all minor and overproduced. If you look at her video for "Hard" and then go back to 2005 and see "If it's Lovin' That You Want" you would not believe they're the same person. Scary, isn't it?

"Let It Shine" & "Someday"/Vegetarianism

To begin, I've never made a blog before. Caroline Tegeler was in fact the inspiration for this, as I always find she has something interesting to say. We also have similar speech patterns whether she will admit it or not, and we often find ourselves interrupting each other with stories that simply need to be told. Plus, I actually have time now that the plays I've been in are all over. The other day I even got a tiny bit bored. That didn't last too long because I went into total shock about the fact that I was actually bored, and then I was too busy being shocked to be bored anymore.

I believe the point of this besides a way to get out random thoughts is that I'm going to put my iTunes on shuffle, and I'll write a tiny bit about the first two songs that shows up. And today, the song that came up was "Let it Shine" by John Scofield. The music part I think I'll keep in blue so that it stands out from the rest of this jabbering. (That word reminds me of Jabberwocky. And I bet that if you're in NHS chorus it reminded you too. Don't lie.)

The fact that it was "Let it Shine" dissapoints me a little, since this is by no means one of my favorite songs. It's JAZZ for crying out loud. But it's what came up and iTunes shuffle is a bit like life. The memories I associate with it are nice though, since they're mostly of my dad. He used to play it all the time on the piano and it was nice and relaxing. The album artwork is absolutely horrible though. It was made in 1995, which although it is the year of my birth was not a top age for fashion. John Scofield's shirt is an ugly color and it's kind of tucked into his pants, but falling out a little. And he's old, so it's not "cool." It's just weird.

Song 2 is "Someday" by Rob Thomas. Now this song I actually like. Rob Thomas is one of my favorites, except he has this strange thing about including lyrics about crying in his songs. Her Diamonds, well that one's ALL about crying. In "Ever the Same" he talks about how the girl is "falling apart." In "Give me the Meltdown..." oh that's totally self-explanatory. "How Far We've Come," even though that's technically Matchbox 20 includes the lyric "Started crying and I couldn't stop myself." Hmm. There's nothing wrong with crying, but this guy seems to be doing it quite a lot. The song Someday...is really sweet although a little repetitive. The music video includes a parade with a lot of hippies. The tree-and-people-hugging message is nice although too unrealistic for me to really accept it. But the song leaves you with a nice content feeling when it's done, which one of my favorite things about music.

In other news, I've decided to be a vegetarian for a while. The last time I tried this, it lasted about a day and then I wanted some chicken soup and it was down to not eating "red meat." And then some steak came along and that whole idea flew completely out the window. But this time I'm actually determined, and I've been keeping it up for a full week now. I can't promise it'll last but I like the effort and the idea behind it. Marion Marsh and Sarah Heatherton can testify that I restrained myself from getting chicken at the food court from that Thai place I love. I may have made some poor choices including buying a half pound of candy, but that's another problem all together. Anyways, this is my first post and I'm not sure how often I'll do this or if I'll ever do this again. We'll just have to see.