In September 2001, I was a month into my junior year of college. Junior year of college, if I've never made this clear, was the most awesome year ever in the whole world ever. The only thing that compared was the summer before junior year of college. As was my usual, I loaded up my classes on Mondays and Wednesdays, having late days into evenings those days, but one, maybe two classes on Tuesdays or Thursdays, which NEVER began before 10:00 a.m. Fall semester junior year, I had one class on Tuesdays, which didn't begin until 3:00 p.m., so Mondays were usually Monday Night Fun Nights at Wifey's. If I came home and didn't just sleep on her couch of pillows, it was late. Usually really late. This is particularly true if the neighbors called in a noise complaint because we were singing far too loudly (yet slyly had only Extreme's More Than Words playing at a respectful--if playing that song can ever be respectful--level when the officers arrived at our door). And I would sleep late. Usually really late. Am I embarrassed to admit that I ocassionally had to set an alarm so I could get up and ready to leave in time for a 3:00 p.m. class? Um no--I was in college, single, diligently working to strengthen a tolerance I needed for Southpong on Wednesdays, and making incredible grades so whatever.
While I don't remember what I did on September 10, 2001, I have no reason to believe it was any different than I described above, except for the call to law enforcement and slow rock karaoke. I do know that I was sleeping soundly when my phone rang a little before 9:00 a.m. and wondered in a very lady-like way, "Who the F is calling me before 9:00 a.m. on a Tuesday?" It was my Mommie, who was informing me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I believe my audible response was little more than "Huh, wow" given my compromised mental state and inability to concentrate at such an ungodly morning hour but I disinctly remember thinking, "What a horrible pilot." I was sleeping soundly again within 30 seconds of hanging up with my mom.
When she called again a few minutes later, it was only slightly less early and I was again awakened from a deep sleep so my ability to comprehend anything other than the need to press "talk" on the phone so that annoying noise would stop was severely impaired. When she told me a plane had hit the OTHER tower, I'm slightly ashamed to admit, I said "really?" but I thought "What an unfortunate coincidence, what are the chances?" Did I mention that I usually partied late into Monday nights? When we hung up, I lay my head back on my fluffy pillow and drifted back to sleep.
The phone rang a third time and my mother, in a tone I don't hear from her very often, exclaimed, "Another plane has hit the Pentagon." At this point, I thought something might be going on and I should maybe get up.
That which would become known as simply "September 11" had been on the news for well over an hour and after three phone calls and three plane crashes, I finally decided to get out of bed. My brother was active-duty Navy at the time, so the attack on the Pentagon was the incident that finally lit the match under me to start the day and see if maybe some of this was possibly on the news.
I wouldn't see any live news reports for a while because our cable was out. I was relying on news websites and my friends' AIM Away Messages to inform me. After a while, I surprisingly got an email from my brother who couldn't say much more than he was okay, they were on their highest level of alert at the base, but they believed it was terrorism and not to worry about him because terrorists largely concentrate attacks on civilian targets, not military ones.
It was still an hour or two before we got our cable back but by that time I had seen the crash footage and burning buildings a hundred times. I was dreading getting ready for class for fear I'd miss something and all I wanted to do was sit down and watch the damn news. Thankfully, just before I was making final preparations to leave, my school canceled classes for the rest of the day and I could sit in the floor and watch TV. When my roommate finally came home from her canceled classes, we decided to go and give blood. The line was unbelievable. I'd never seen anything like it before. I've never seen anything like it since.
I don't remember what I did the night before, and I don't remember what I did the day after except go to class where all of my professors and instructors had no intention of doing anything other than allowing us students to reflect and talk. I do remember, however, that when my mother called the first time, I was lying on my right side. When she called the second time, I was on my back. When she called the third time, I rolled out of the right side of the bed and turned on the TV, saw snow, and went immediately to the computer, where the first away message I looked at was Wifey's, I immediately IMed my Mommie and Dave and I then pulled up Internet Explorer and waited for Fox News and CNN to load while I emailed my brother. I remember what the box looked like on my college website that informed the public that classes were canceled for the remainder of the day and I remember distinctly my roommate's face and how she was holding her right hand over her mouth while tears streamed down her face and she dropped her backpack as soon as she entered the living room from the kitchen and yelled, "What the Hell is going on?"
Within a day I understood how my mother could remember so vividly where she was when she heard JFK had been shot (she was on the playground in 3rd grade, in the swings if I remember correctly). I get it. I'll remember what I was thinking and what I was feeling for what I can only assume is forever. I had no one about whom to be concerned once I knew my brother was okay, so I was in not personally affected by that day. I didn't know anyone who suffered losses. I didn't even know someone who knows someone who did. So, it's never ceased to amaze me how events like that will be forever burned into our memory, whether it has anything to do with us personally or not.
It's also never ceased to amaze me how absolutely ridiculous my initial response was. And the second one too.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Monday, February 06, 2012
Music Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
This is completely off-topic from the subject about which I’m about to write, but I feel compelled to mention that two of the grapes in my Sunkist Apples & Grapes Fun Fruit pack taste remarkably like red wine. I know that sounds a little “duh” but how often do grapes actually taste like wine tastes? They normally taste like grapes. In fact, in my Fun Fruit packs, they normally taste like grapes with a hint of apple. I think it’s weird and a little frightening, leading me to wonder how long those particular grapes have been around. It makes me uncomfortable. Grapes shouldn’t taste like wine. Unless it’s a white grape that tastes like champagne. Yum.
Anyway.
I’m going to say something you’ve heard a hundred times before but, much like everyone else, I think I mean it more than everyone else: I love music. We all – make that 3 strangely wine-tasting grapes – think we love music more than the next guy. I don’t feel like I have to state my case to prove that I love music more than all others, but suffice it to say that music plays an integral part of my ability to be happy and content throughout the day. If I’m driving, I want music. If I’m working on something around the house, I want music. If I’m wrapping presents, I want music. If I’m sitting at my desk, I want music. If given the choice between music and no music, I’m going to choose music in most situations. My brother is the same way, and I believe my dad is too. You can take away the TV, but do NOT take away things that make or play music. Or white noise. But that too is off-topic. Suffice it to say, let me keep my music and my fans.
Many of my memories are spurred by music. Some come from smells, some by similar circumstances as the memory itself and of course those spawned by someone else talking about a particular event. But oftentimes, it’s music that takes me back. My growing up has been so heavily associated with music that certain songs can literally transport me to a certain time and place. I’m not talking about songs that remind you of something or someone. We all have tons of those. Iconz’s “Get F*cked Up” reminds me of the sophomore beach week. LL Cool J’s “Doin It” reminds me of hanging out with my friend, Ashleigh who would sing “…matter ‘fact I can’t wait for ya cane to rain” with her eyes shut. Alanna Myles’s “Black Velvet” reminds me of my Mommie, Sensefield’s “Save Yourself” reminds me of my maid of honor, and Peter Gabriel’s “Games Without Frontiers” reminds me of making my cousin Amber laugh. I’ve listed only positive ones, but there are definitely the songs that remind you of unpleasant or uncomfortable things. Hearing George Strait’s “Carried Away,” Tim McGraw & Faith Hill’s “It’s Your Love” and Garth Brooks’s “The Red Strokes” give me incredible anxiety and I’ll change the song faster than you can say “poor teenage choices.” With a few exceptions, though, these are all great memories and I love the reminders.
That’s not QUITE what I’m talking about though. What I’m talking about are the songs that can instantly put you back in a certain place, sometimes even at a certain time. These are the songs that can make me forget what I’m doing and I can actually see the scene in my peripheral vision, I can hear sounds as they happened, and I can even smell where I am a lot times. I can’t tell you why certain songs seem to have stronger effects on me than others, but I get so happy when it happens. Most of the time, the song will whisk me away every single time. A few have to come up randomly without me choosing it. And much like the “minor reminder songs,” there are negatives ones as well. Those I usually have to change quite quickly AND put on a happy reminder song. You don’t ALWAYS want to be teleported (I'm looking at you, Spin Doctors's "Two Princes"). Thankfully, those are scarce and I have many more happy reminder songs.
Here are my strongest Teleportation Songs. These songs can make me feel like I'm in a completely different place and/or time from where I am for a second and they will do so every single time I hear them:
1. Genesis’s “Tonight, Tonight Tonight”: This one doesn’t have to come on randomly. I can make this one happen. When I want to be in the late 1980s, crossing the Wright Memorial Bridge to the Outer Banks on a Friday night, riding in Big Buddy with my still-married parents, being followed by my aunt, uncle and cousin, on the way to our first beach house, I put this song on. I can smell the salt air and I can hear and feel the rhythmic bumps that used to define that bridge (duh-dum, duh-dum, duh-dum…always woke up our cat, Peaches). I can feel that excitement of going to the beach for the weekend and hanging out with my most favorite cousin. I can feel the excitement of spending time with her and not having my brother pick on me as much. I can picture the windowless child molester van with wood paneling and a speaker wall behind the seatbelt-less seat all around me and I can see the cat fur in the hole at the top of the speaker wall from where the cats crawled through (seriously, how did they get up there from the back of the van?). I’m looking at the interior of the van around me from the carpeted floor, because that was cooler than sitting in the seat. This one is probably my strongest Teleportation Song and I have to fight myself from “using” it too often. It’s one of my favorite songs in the world because of its ability to put me back smack in the middle of the one of the happiest times in my childhood. And because it’s a great song.
2. Red Hot Chili Peppers’s “Scar Tissue”: This one’s a little less specific, but no less dramatic. This reminds me of first semester of freshman year of college. When this song comes on, I’m 18 years old and I’m either driving around my then-boyfriend’s dad’s little town while MOH sings about the “birds of Cher,” driving home from college on a late Friday afternoon as the sun is setting over the mountains behind our football stadium, or I’m sitting in Deet’s Place watching a friend of ours sing this song in a karaoke show. When I’m driving home, I can remember the colors of the sunset with incredible richness and I can remember the interior of my car and smelling the crisp fall mountain air while my 1988 Chevy Corsica's headliner sat about a quarter of an inch from the top of my head. I can remember that I’m looking at the football stadium and taking a right onto Southgate. When I’m in Deet’s Place, I can see the chocolate croissant in front of me and smell the place around me. I know exactly which table we’re at and I know I’m going to be getting some cookies & cream ice cream soon. I can also hear the Fugees’s “Killing Me Softly” for the 3rd time and see these stupid chicks doing this stupid dance that made no sense at all. Regardless of the exact memory, I can feel that discomfort of being away for the first time and the conflicted feelings I had of enjoying myself so much but also missing home…and thinking I wasn’t supposed to be enjoying myself because I was supposed to be missing my then-boyfriend who was terrifically mad at me for going to the school when he couldn’t yet. I know when I hear “Scar Tissue” I’m going to be a freshman in college again for a few minutes. I’m going to vividly remember my dorm room, move-in day, the sidewalks and “shallow” stairs of campus, and my friend Amanda singing the part of “Around the World” where Anthony Kiedis doesn’t actually sing real words and I’m laughing hysterically. I don’t love the song, but I will listen to every single second of it. With a smile on my face.
3. Metallica’s “Until it Sleeps”: Not my favorite Metallica song. Not even close. Not my favorite Metallica album (WTF, they cut their hair?!). But I usually will not change this song when it comes on. When “Until it Sleeps” starts, I’m across the street at my friend Mikey’s house and my brother is washing his early 80s Blazer when he starts to blare Metallica’s new single from their first album in years, which my brother and I have anxiously awaited. It’s almost the end of freshman year of high school and I’m so happy because I hate my high school and I’m starting the weekend with my best friend and I’m only a few weeks away from the most fun summer I ever had before college. That was a summer of endless nights hanging in Mikey’s box van, working on his dirtbike (a KTM piece of crap), and learning from Wes (who had a much nicer Suzuki 250) that you can’t have just one taco from Taco Bell. Nor can you fix a floppy rear fender with just a little duct tape. “Until it Sleeps” will take me right back there, in a horrible dress that I never should have been wearing and I totally should have listened to my mom about that one. I can even tell you that it’s late afternoon on a Friday, pretty sunny and warm. I’m also super-stoked that my brother is talking to me like a person and not an annoying little sister. It’s a good day.
4. 702’s “Steelo”: I’m a sophomore in high school, riding in my cousin’s dark grey Honda Prelude with the sunroof open and we’re taking a left out of the high school onto the main road. We’re going to sing this, Foxxy Brown’s “Ill Na Na” and Lil Kim’s “No Time” during the 7 minutes it takes to get me home. And we’re going to laugh. And I’m wearing a shimmery purple velvet turtleneck atrocity with short sleeves that I should have not have been wearing. I'm looking at my cousin's really pretty emerald class ring, thinking about how much I can't wait to order MY class ring because class rings are like so cool.
5. Enrique Iglesias’s “Hero”: Picture it: College town. 2002. It’s about one in the morning and you’re in the Wendy’s drive-thru getting chicken nuggets and fries that will leave you with roughly $6.00 in your checking account but you don’t care because you need to eat. You’re with your best friend and her roommate and you suddenly realize that you all know the words. And you’re all singing them. And you’re all putting the same heart and soul into the expression of song that Enrique himself pours into it, if not more so. You might end up with a sore throat later but you don’t care because you’re absolutely laughing your ass off. A few months later, you’re going to make a CD called “Fun to Sing Songs” to be played on your road trips home with your best friend and this will be song number one. You’ll never skip it. And you’ll never get tired of it. I know it doesn’t sound funny right now, but I promise it was hysterical at the time. When I hear it, I’m right there in the car in the drive thru at Wendy’s or I’m on 460 in Bedford, screaming the song at the top of my lungs between fits of laughter. And so is MOH, sitting in the front seat.
6. Toya’s “I Do”: This song is not good but I love it. When this song comes on, I’m dressed as Treat, leaving the 2nd or 3rd Halloween party that year, for which MOH and I dressed up as Trick and Treat (our best ever, by the way). It’s junior year in college and just the beginning of the most fun year of my life, following the best summer of my life. We’re being driven back to MOH’s apartment by Connecticut and remarking that that was not the best Halloween party of the year. It’s a little cool, a lot late and I’m ready to crash on the couch of pillows.
7. Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun”: It’s summer of 7th grade and I’m wearing a babydoll dress with black lace-trimmed biker shorts and a pacifier necklace. I’m not lying. I think I’m dressed AWESOMELY. Just like every day before it and every day that will come after it, Mikey, Lee and Jake have come over to my dad’s house where I spent almost every day during the summers. I’m making grilled cheeses and we’re drinking massive amounts of Dr. Pepper and Mikey’s drinking his out of the mug with the see-through bottom. We’re going to watch MTV videos while playing Crazy 8s for a while and then we’ll go outside and play football. We might order pizza (why my dad gave us so much money for Papa Johns is beyond me—we ordered it a few times a week). As much as we love this song we know that our other favorite is coming up soon because MTV played the same videos all the time. With bated breath we awaited Warren G’s “Regulator.” When we saw one of these videos, we knew the next one was coming soon. For some reason though, “Black Hole Sun” actually takes me back, whereas “Regulator” more so just reminds me of the time.
They’re not necessarily the best songs (except for the number one, which just might be one of the best songs ever) but they can literally put me in a different time and place. I love these songs for that reason and at times they can truly be escape mechanisms. What I find so interesting about them is that they’re not specifically associated with an important or significant event during which these songs were played but for whatever reason, my brain latches on to them with tenacity. It’ll be interesting to see what songs do that in 20 years. Will I even like the song? Is it going to be that awful sky-full-of-lighters song I hate so much, but will remind me of the year I was engaged and I’m not going to want to change that stupid song, instead finding the need to torture myself with the song about fulfilling dreams that very few people will ever fulfill and never being the least bit inspired by listening to this guy singing about seeing a bunch of lighters from stage and how awesome life is now because I think the message is actually absolute crap and executed extremely poorly? I really hope it’s something cooler than that. I at least hope it’s like, Katy Perry, or something.
Anyway.
I’m going to say something you’ve heard a hundred times before but, much like everyone else, I think I mean it more than everyone else: I love music. We all – make that 3 strangely wine-tasting grapes – think we love music more than the next guy. I don’t feel like I have to state my case to prove that I love music more than all others, but suffice it to say that music plays an integral part of my ability to be happy and content throughout the day. If I’m driving, I want music. If I’m working on something around the house, I want music. If I’m wrapping presents, I want music. If I’m sitting at my desk, I want music. If given the choice between music and no music, I’m going to choose music in most situations. My brother is the same way, and I believe my dad is too. You can take away the TV, but do NOT take away things that make or play music. Or white noise. But that too is off-topic. Suffice it to say, let me keep my music and my fans.
Many of my memories are spurred by music. Some come from smells, some by similar circumstances as the memory itself and of course those spawned by someone else talking about a particular event. But oftentimes, it’s music that takes me back. My growing up has been so heavily associated with music that certain songs can literally transport me to a certain time and place. I’m not talking about songs that remind you of something or someone. We all have tons of those. Iconz’s “Get F*cked Up” reminds me of the sophomore beach week. LL Cool J’s “Doin It” reminds me of hanging out with my friend, Ashleigh who would sing “…matter ‘fact I can’t wait for ya cane to rain” with her eyes shut. Alanna Myles’s “Black Velvet” reminds me of my Mommie, Sensefield’s “Save Yourself” reminds me of my maid of honor, and Peter Gabriel’s “Games Without Frontiers” reminds me of making my cousin Amber laugh. I’ve listed only positive ones, but there are definitely the songs that remind you of unpleasant or uncomfortable things. Hearing George Strait’s “Carried Away,” Tim McGraw & Faith Hill’s “It’s Your Love” and Garth Brooks’s “The Red Strokes” give me incredible anxiety and I’ll change the song faster than you can say “poor teenage choices.” With a few exceptions, though, these are all great memories and I love the reminders.
That’s not QUITE what I’m talking about though. What I’m talking about are the songs that can instantly put you back in a certain place, sometimes even at a certain time. These are the songs that can make me forget what I’m doing and I can actually see the scene in my peripheral vision, I can hear sounds as they happened, and I can even smell where I am a lot times. I can’t tell you why certain songs seem to have stronger effects on me than others, but I get so happy when it happens. Most of the time, the song will whisk me away every single time. A few have to come up randomly without me choosing it. And much like the “minor reminder songs,” there are negatives ones as well. Those I usually have to change quite quickly AND put on a happy reminder song. You don’t ALWAYS want to be teleported (I'm looking at you, Spin Doctors's "Two Princes"). Thankfully, those are scarce and I have many more happy reminder songs.
Here are my strongest Teleportation Songs. These songs can make me feel like I'm in a completely different place and/or time from where I am for a second and they will do so every single time I hear them:
1. Genesis’s “Tonight, Tonight Tonight”: This one doesn’t have to come on randomly. I can make this one happen. When I want to be in the late 1980s, crossing the Wright Memorial Bridge to the Outer Banks on a Friday night, riding in Big Buddy with my still-married parents, being followed by my aunt, uncle and cousin, on the way to our first beach house, I put this song on. I can smell the salt air and I can hear and feel the rhythmic bumps that used to define that bridge (duh-dum, duh-dum, duh-dum…always woke up our cat, Peaches). I can feel that excitement of going to the beach for the weekend and hanging out with my most favorite cousin. I can feel the excitement of spending time with her and not having my brother pick on me as much. I can picture the windowless child molester van with wood paneling and a speaker wall behind the seatbelt-less seat all around me and I can see the cat fur in the hole at the top of the speaker wall from where the cats crawled through (seriously, how did they get up there from the back of the van?). I’m looking at the interior of the van around me from the carpeted floor, because that was cooler than sitting in the seat. This one is probably my strongest Teleportation Song and I have to fight myself from “using” it too often. It’s one of my favorite songs in the world because of its ability to put me back smack in the middle of the one of the happiest times in my childhood. And because it’s a great song.
2. Red Hot Chili Peppers’s “Scar Tissue”: This one’s a little less specific, but no less dramatic. This reminds me of first semester of freshman year of college. When this song comes on, I’m 18 years old and I’m either driving around my then-boyfriend’s dad’s little town while MOH sings about the “birds of Cher,” driving home from college on a late Friday afternoon as the sun is setting over the mountains behind our football stadium, or I’m sitting in Deet’s Place watching a friend of ours sing this song in a karaoke show. When I’m driving home, I can remember the colors of the sunset with incredible richness and I can remember the interior of my car and smelling the crisp fall mountain air while my 1988 Chevy Corsica's headliner sat about a quarter of an inch from the top of my head. I can remember that I’m looking at the football stadium and taking a right onto Southgate. When I’m in Deet’s Place, I can see the chocolate croissant in front of me and smell the place around me. I know exactly which table we’re at and I know I’m going to be getting some cookies & cream ice cream soon. I can also hear the Fugees’s “Killing Me Softly” for the 3rd time and see these stupid chicks doing this stupid dance that made no sense at all. Regardless of the exact memory, I can feel that discomfort of being away for the first time and the conflicted feelings I had of enjoying myself so much but also missing home…and thinking I wasn’t supposed to be enjoying myself because I was supposed to be missing my then-boyfriend who was terrifically mad at me for going to the school when he couldn’t yet. I know when I hear “Scar Tissue” I’m going to be a freshman in college again for a few minutes. I’m going to vividly remember my dorm room, move-in day, the sidewalks and “shallow” stairs of campus, and my friend Amanda singing the part of “Around the World” where Anthony Kiedis doesn’t actually sing real words and I’m laughing hysterically. I don’t love the song, but I will listen to every single second of it. With a smile on my face.
3. Metallica’s “Until it Sleeps”: Not my favorite Metallica song. Not even close. Not my favorite Metallica album (WTF, they cut their hair?!). But I usually will not change this song when it comes on. When “Until it Sleeps” starts, I’m across the street at my friend Mikey’s house and my brother is washing his early 80s Blazer when he starts to blare Metallica’s new single from their first album in years, which my brother and I have anxiously awaited. It’s almost the end of freshman year of high school and I’m so happy because I hate my high school and I’m starting the weekend with my best friend and I’m only a few weeks away from the most fun summer I ever had before college. That was a summer of endless nights hanging in Mikey’s box van, working on his dirtbike (a KTM piece of crap), and learning from Wes (who had a much nicer Suzuki 250) that you can’t have just one taco from Taco Bell. Nor can you fix a floppy rear fender with just a little duct tape. “Until it Sleeps” will take me right back there, in a horrible dress that I never should have been wearing and I totally should have listened to my mom about that one. I can even tell you that it’s late afternoon on a Friday, pretty sunny and warm. I’m also super-stoked that my brother is talking to me like a person and not an annoying little sister. It’s a good day.
4. 702’s “Steelo”: I’m a sophomore in high school, riding in my cousin’s dark grey Honda Prelude with the sunroof open and we’re taking a left out of the high school onto the main road. We’re going to sing this, Foxxy Brown’s “Ill Na Na” and Lil Kim’s “No Time” during the 7 minutes it takes to get me home. And we’re going to laugh. And I’m wearing a shimmery purple velvet turtleneck atrocity with short sleeves that I should have not have been wearing. I'm looking at my cousin's really pretty emerald class ring, thinking about how much I can't wait to order MY class ring because class rings are like so cool.
5. Enrique Iglesias’s “Hero”: Picture it: College town. 2002. It’s about one in the morning and you’re in the Wendy’s drive-thru getting chicken nuggets and fries that will leave you with roughly $6.00 in your checking account but you don’t care because you need to eat. You’re with your best friend and her roommate and you suddenly realize that you all know the words. And you’re all singing them. And you’re all putting the same heart and soul into the expression of song that Enrique himself pours into it, if not more so. You might end up with a sore throat later but you don’t care because you’re absolutely laughing your ass off. A few months later, you’re going to make a CD called “Fun to Sing Songs” to be played on your road trips home with your best friend and this will be song number one. You’ll never skip it. And you’ll never get tired of it. I know it doesn’t sound funny right now, but I promise it was hysterical at the time. When I hear it, I’m right there in the car in the drive thru at Wendy’s or I’m on 460 in Bedford, screaming the song at the top of my lungs between fits of laughter. And so is MOH, sitting in the front seat.
6. Toya’s “I Do”: This song is not good but I love it. When this song comes on, I’m dressed as Treat, leaving the 2nd or 3rd Halloween party that year, for which MOH and I dressed up as Trick and Treat (our best ever, by the way). It’s junior year in college and just the beginning of the most fun year of my life, following the best summer of my life. We’re being driven back to MOH’s apartment by Connecticut and remarking that that was not the best Halloween party of the year. It’s a little cool, a lot late and I’m ready to crash on the couch of pillows.
7. Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun”: It’s summer of 7th grade and I’m wearing a babydoll dress with black lace-trimmed biker shorts and a pacifier necklace. I’m not lying. I think I’m dressed AWESOMELY. Just like every day before it and every day that will come after it, Mikey, Lee and Jake have come over to my dad’s house where I spent almost every day during the summers. I’m making grilled cheeses and we’re drinking massive amounts of Dr. Pepper and Mikey’s drinking his out of the mug with the see-through bottom. We’re going to watch MTV videos while playing Crazy 8s for a while and then we’ll go outside and play football. We might order pizza (why my dad gave us so much money for Papa Johns is beyond me—we ordered it a few times a week). As much as we love this song we know that our other favorite is coming up soon because MTV played the same videos all the time. With bated breath we awaited Warren G’s “Regulator.” When we saw one of these videos, we knew the next one was coming soon. For some reason though, “Black Hole Sun” actually takes me back, whereas “Regulator” more so just reminds me of the time.
They’re not necessarily the best songs (except for the number one, which just might be one of the best songs ever) but they can literally put me in a different time and place. I love these songs for that reason and at times they can truly be escape mechanisms. What I find so interesting about them is that they’re not specifically associated with an important or significant event during which these songs were played but for whatever reason, my brain latches on to them with tenacity. It’ll be interesting to see what songs do that in 20 years. Will I even like the song? Is it going to be that awful sky-full-of-lighters song I hate so much, but will remind me of the year I was engaged and I’m not going to want to change that stupid song, instead finding the need to torture myself with the song about fulfilling dreams that very few people will ever fulfill and never being the least bit inspired by listening to this guy singing about seeing a bunch of lighters from stage and how awesome life is now because I think the message is actually absolute crap and executed extremely poorly? I really hope it’s something cooler than that. I at least hope it’s like, Katy Perry, or something.
Monday, January 23, 2012
2011: The Year All Other Years Wish They Could Be
I've been somewhat busy lately, which has led to me having almost zero time to sit down and think of something about which to write, much less actually write. However, I've been thinking for some time that 2011 deserved something of a shoutout. I should have recognized its achievements in writing earlier but in a weird twist, 2011 itself prevented the recognition of its awesomeness by being so awesome it limited my time to write about it. To say it succinctly, however, 2011 rocked hardcore.
In 2011, I turned 30, had a Champagne and Bitches party, and reached some of the more important milestones of an adult's life. That's a lot for someone who just found her Glamour Shots and suitcases full of Barbies and Jem dolls. And maybe the hand-drawn picture of the Challenger astronauts I got as a kid. I mean seriously, a month ago I was tracking Santa online. But I digress. 2011 told me that it was time to start thinking like a 30-year-old and it tempted me with grown-up treats. In July, I got what I like to call a "career" instead of a job and I love what I do. In October, Boyfriend and I got engaged after nine years and he gave me my perfect ring in my favorite place. In December, we purchased our first home and we now have stairs. It's been a surreal six months and the time has absolutely flown by. I can't believe I've been at my "new" job for six months as of Wednesday and that there is less than a year until our wedding.
And can I tell you...it's all kinda awesome. My job is awesome, being engaged is awesome, and I think our house is pretty awesome. My job is stressful but in a good way, planning a wedding is stressful but in a fun way, and buying a house is stressful but in an amazingly satisfying way. Writing a check every month that goes towards purchasing something feels a lot different than sending it down the rent drain. Not to mention, the home-buying process really assists you in perfecting your signature.
But the coolest part of 2011?
I have cable! For real cable. Like, we're paying for it and we have a guide and a fancy remote and everything, cable. I can watch Archer. I can watch Beavis & Butthead. I can watch Dance Moms. I thought I could watch Dr. G, Medical Examiner, but apparently I don't have that package. But I can watch it On Demand! I can watch The Soup! Also, um, not going to lie...I can also watch pointless E! shows like Kardashian crap and red carpet specials. Red carpet specials! And I've been able to start my mornings the way they're meant to be: with SportsCenter. Thank God I have SportsCenter again! If only I had had it at the beginning of football season, I might not have laid the suck egg that I did in our football pool this season.
2012, you have big shoes to fill. I dare say they're even quite fancy. With rhinestones and stuff. Oh but they're flats, because 2011 is self-conscious about not being taller than you.
In 2011, I turned 30, had a Champagne and Bitches party, and reached some of the more important milestones of an adult's life. That's a lot for someone who just found her Glamour Shots and suitcases full of Barbies and Jem dolls. And maybe the hand-drawn picture of the Challenger astronauts I got as a kid. I mean seriously, a month ago I was tracking Santa online. But I digress. 2011 told me that it was time to start thinking like a 30-year-old and it tempted me with grown-up treats. In July, I got what I like to call a "career" instead of a job and I love what I do. In October, Boyfriend and I got engaged after nine years and he gave me my perfect ring in my favorite place. In December, we purchased our first home and we now have stairs. It's been a surreal six months and the time has absolutely flown by. I can't believe I've been at my "new" job for six months as of Wednesday and that there is less than a year until our wedding.
And can I tell you...it's all kinda awesome. My job is awesome, being engaged is awesome, and I think our house is pretty awesome. My job is stressful but in a good way, planning a wedding is stressful but in a fun way, and buying a house is stressful but in an amazingly satisfying way. Writing a check every month that goes towards purchasing something feels a lot different than sending it down the rent drain. Not to mention, the home-buying process really assists you in perfecting your signature.
But the coolest part of 2011?
I have cable! For real cable. Like, we're paying for it and we have a guide and a fancy remote and everything, cable. I can watch Archer. I can watch Beavis & Butthead. I can watch Dance Moms. I thought I could watch Dr. G, Medical Examiner, but apparently I don't have that package. But I can watch it On Demand! I can watch The Soup! Also, um, not going to lie...I can also watch pointless E! shows like Kardashian crap and red carpet specials. Red carpet specials! And I've been able to start my mornings the way they're meant to be: with SportsCenter. Thank God I have SportsCenter again! If only I had had it at the beginning of football season, I might not have laid the suck egg that I did in our football pool this season.
2012, you have big shoes to fill. I dare say they're even quite fancy. With rhinestones and stuff. Oh but they're flats, because 2011 is self-conscious about not being taller than you.
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