Please Make It Stop

Can someone please make Beyonce go away?! Top 5 Reasons I Need Beyonce to fade off into the sunset:

1. Her voice is embarrassing.
2. The acting is embarrassing.
3. Her lyrics are embarrassing.
3. The dancing is embarrassing.
4. The constant campaigning to sing at Obama’s inauguration is even more embarrassing.

A Short Moment for Mama Africa

The Past Month

OK, ever since Facebook entered into my life, I can’t seem to visit my old friend WordPress.  Sorry!

So, this past month… Let’s see.

Got offered a job that pays almost twice what I make now.  And, with a decision I’m sure to regret, I turned the offer down.  Crazy, right?  Probably.  But, I wouldn’t have been happy doing the work.  I’ve spent so long looking for a better job that I can’t just give up for a better paycheck.  I’ll take a pay cut to find something I like.

Which I might have found… I talked with someone else about a job I really want, and I think it was tentatively offered to me, but then… Nothing.  Haven’t heard from the Director since.  Hmm… Fingers once again crossed.

What else?  I took some time off of work, which was fantastic!  Went to the park everyday and just enjoyed the freedom.  It’s been hard getting back into a work routine though.  I guess that’s the downside of a staycation.

Went to the reunion.  Ugh.  It was pretty bad.  I was pretty much the ONLY single person there.  All the guys are old, fat and bald and all the ladies are very… I don’t know… Southern?  Conservative?  Desperate to get into the country club?  Maybe I’m not being fair, but I was not impressed with how my class has aged and developed.  Thank god I didn’t actually travel to get to the thing.

I did see a few people that I had missed.  One of which has moved to Nashville and has talked me into doing a half marathon next month.  Oh, lord.  Don’t worry, I’m planning on walking it, but I still have to keep up a pretty speedy pace to finish officially (and get the medal!!!  I’m obsessed with the medal.)  Considering how badly I wanted to lose weight and get in shape, the timing is good.  So, I’ve started “training”– A lot of walking, a little running and eating better.  The goal is to lose 15 pounds by Christmas.  Do-able, but still tough.  However, I did run for more than 30 minutes today, so how ’bout that?!

What else?  I’m falling back in love with music.  This week it’s Ray LaMontagne and Brett Dennen and their new albums.  And Bon Iver!  I’ve just been introduced and I’m a big fan.  Last week, I spent the days with Miles Davis and Nina Simone and that was pretty good too.  I’m enjoying it all so much that I have to force myself to watch TV.  (I’m completely out of DVR space, thanks to Season Two of Mad Men.  I couldn’t watch it when it came on, because I wasn’t ready to watch them chain smoke.  Now it’s not a problem, but I just haven’t found the time to sit down and watch it all.)

So, just because I can:

Status Check

This is how I feel right now:

(My first embedded video and it’s just an audio.  Sorry!  But it’s the version I wanted.)

Random Thoughts After 3 Days in Peace & Quiet:

• Cupcakes are awesome.  Yummier than cake and half the guilt!
• Catch and Release is not a great movie, but I loved it for the scenery.  Made me want to be in Montana NOW.
• A clean house is overrated.
• Sailing in Gustav is overrated.  But sailing will still be fun when I go next weekend, since I wimped out on this weekend.
• It’s a shame that Lauryn Hill has become whatever it is she has become, because The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill really is a great album.  I pulled it back out this weekend, along with 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of… (also one of the greats!), and I cannot stop dancing around my house.
• I still need to lose 5 to 10 pounds.  I think I want to buy a jump rope, because walking the puppy isn’t doing it for me.  She gets easily distracted, so we never get very far.
• I wonder if there are Latin ballroom classes anywhere in town?
• Facebook is crack.  Crack is whack.  Therefore, I am whack.
• Finally watched Black Snake Moan from start to finish.  Wow.  That’s all I’ve got to say about that for the time being.
• Um.  I cannot possibly keep up with all of the Palin pregnancy drama if it keeps up at this rate.  Too bad Palin opposed Sex Ed.
• Kinda loving Emiliana Torrini right now.
• I’ve invited a guy I barely knew in college to stay here for Homecoming.  Uh, what?!
• Found out today that another friend from college is in rehab for the second time this summer.  I can barely wrap my head around that, and then I start thinking about her poor son.  I cannot imagine what his life has been like so far.
• Played some crap poker this weekend, but at least I won.  Maybe I need to go to poker bootcamp.
• Talked to the crush for the first time in about a year.  Might see him next weekend.  He sounds miserable, so I’m not so sure I’m in the mood for that.
• Life isn’t all bad.  I’m very lucky.

Things I’m into right now:

1. Brett Dennen – If I didn’t know better, I’d think Paul Simon and Tracy Chapman had a red-haired love child.
2. Jason Castro on American Idol (I know, I know. I still suck. It’s practically illegal, but baby boy has some killer eyes.)
3. Alana Davis’ first album
4. Grilled portobello sandwiches on ciabatta bread
5. My new Smithsonian magazine subscription

Yes, We Can (Part Duex)

The first time I heard this speech, I got chills.
Now every time I see this, I feel a rush of excitement all over again.
Way to go, will.i.am!

Naked As We Came

Ah, a rainy morning with a good CD to listen to…

I’ve really been enjoying iron & wine’s “our endless numbered days.” The lead singer’s voice is so familiar, so comforting. And the rhythms of the record are perfectly suited to the new pace of my life.

I used to think that my emotions were a little too connected to the songs around me. I actually began to believe that the music was stronger than me. That it could take me to a place I couldn’t escape.

I realize that this sounds pretty nuts. Won’t be the first time…

I think that music has always been an outlet for me to say or feel things in a way I cannot otherwise. Growing up, I had numerous outlets for expression. Hell, I sang for an hour or two every day, even without adding the time in the shower and car. And I played music on a regular basis. Somehow, as I aged and moved here, I lost the ability (or most likely the confidence) to use my own voice. So I co-opted the voices and moods of the music around me.

I remember being at a party, listening to upbeat party music, having a good time, and then a somber or introspective song would be played. BOOM. I’m now somber and introspective. Even though 10 seconds earlier I was upbeat and having a good time. I’ve had moments when I knew that a particular emotion was appropriate, so I would seek out music that would elicit the proper emotion. How fucked up is that? How did I end up so far removed from true emotion?

For the past year or two, I haven’t listened to much music at all, which is really strange to me. Perhaps, I needed to break that addiction as well. Maybe I’ve needed to find my way back to my voice, my thoughts, my feelings.

Next Great Band?

I think it is clear that if a TV show is created for the sole purpose of selling some sort of product, then I am without a doubt going to be addicted to it.

My latest secret shame? I’ve been watching The Next Great American Band. From the beginning.

It started with the first episode–there was this band called Sixwire that I was sure had Sawyer from Lost as their lead singer. (It’s not him.) And then I got caught up in it. And hooked. Not by the show, the judges or even the level of musicianship of all the bands. I got hooked by one band, and one band only. And while Sixwire is not bad, it was…

The Clark Brothers.

These guys are incredible. Of course I love their roots/new bluegrass style. But what I love most is their way of hearing a common song. I would love to climb inside their heads to hear what they hear. These three guys are incredible musicians and the lead singer is intoxicating.

I loved listening to them so much that I put up with all those weeks of Light of Doom, the kiddie metal band.

That’s love.

And I never thought I could enjoy the Backstreet Boys…

Dancing Cockatoo