Keep Calm, and…well, you know.

Some days, you feel small. Some days, you don’t feel like you mean a whole lot. Some days, you have to “cope with the fact that you are a bag of meat sitting on a rock in outer space and that someday you will die and you are completely powerless, helpless, and insignificant in the wake of this beautiful cosmic shitstorm we call existence” (thanks to theoatmeal.com).

You know the days. Your alarm wakes you up earlier than you needed, you’re late to class or work or whatever engagement that you don’t particularly want to be at, traffic is unusually awful, you drop your bagel after only one bite, people aren’t tipping you well at all at work, the little things just keep piling up, and the universe seems to be out to get you by just tearing at you, bit by bit by bit, until you’re just defeated.

Those are the times when you want to give up. You want to drop to your knees and ask why it must insist on pouring when it rains. You want to crawl under the sheets and close out the world. You want to slip into a mini coma until the day is over and everything is peachy again.

But you don’t.

You don’t do any of that.

You square up your shoulders. You stiffen up your upper lip. And you realize that the world is not out to slowly dismantle you. And you realize that the little things, are just little things. And no matter how many little things there are, no matter how much you multiply those little, tiny nuances by, they still don’t add up to a whole lot. You take a deep breath.

And you carry on.

Radioactive

It’s hard for me to describe how I feel on a day to day basis. Am I happy? Am I content? Am I blissful? Am I reposeful? Angry? Stoic? The spectrum is far too great. If I had to decide how I’m feeling today, this would be it:



That, my friends, is radium. It is a radioactive element. Today, I feel radioactive.

Maybe it’s because I feel like people don’t want to be around me. Maybe they shouldn't. Maybe it’s because I have the power to do so much; I can cure cancer, I can help, I can harm. I can do so much. I have such potential. Maybe it’s because I can have a glow about me, or not. Whichever. There is a lot to know about me, a lot other people and myself are finding out each day, and a lot that remains undiscovered.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been listening to this song a lot lately.

Whatever the case: I am radioactive.

How are you feeling today? Have you ever felt radioactive?

Long lost CDs

I got a new Ipod for Christmas last year, and I’m just now getting around to putting more music on it that I’d been missing for quite some time. I finally had to put my foot down today when I was excited to listen to an old album I hadn’t heard for a while, and discovered it wasn’t on my Ipod after all. So I pulled my old CD cases out of retirement, and got a little sad.

These CD cases have been sitting in a box at the top of my closet, untouched since I moved into this house. They are dusty and forgotten, shoved away and out of place in an age of digital music. I started loading the ones I didn’t have on my Ipod onto my computer, and got to reminisce as I listened to songs I haven’t even given thought to in years.



I used to be all about CDs. I would hoard them. And then when I couldn’t buy my favorite albums or I just wanted one song off of them, I made mix CDs. Tons of mix CDs. The picture above shows the collection I had, or what I could find of it. The case on the left is full at 64 CDs, the smaller two held 24 each, then there’s a bunch sprawled out and probably getting scratched all to hell without the protection of plastic sleeves. Almost all of them are burned CDs. And the mixes would be so random, too; I found an old Destiny’s Child song mixed in with a Sum 41 track, all together with the Macarena just thrown on there for fun.



I gave them all names too, that way I knew roughly what songs were on each one. This one was labeled “Flippin’ Sweet Mix.” Gosh I thought I was so cool back then…I probably still do.



Then I stumbled upon this one, labeled “Megan’s B-Day Mix!!” This was given to me as a present by my friend Kelsea in eighth grade. Remember when giving mix CDs was such a cool thing to do for someone’s birthday? I think that should make a comeback. I don’t give a crap if you don’t have a CD player, when your birthday rolls around, I’m burning you a CD. I hope someday, someone gives me a mix CD for my birthday again.

I loaded my CDs on my computer, all while downloading a couple other CDs while they imported to Itunes. What a crazy juxtaposition. It’s so weird to think that I’ve lived during both the rise and fall of CDs. So now, my cases will return to the box in my closet, and await a day when my Ipod gives out and I need all that music to be digitalized once again. Oh, the life of a compact disc.

Who still buys CDs? Do you miss them at all? Do you still have a collection from a time when a portable CD player was all the rage?

Small Time Celebrity

Recognize this guy?  (photo credit to exposay.com)

Yeah, it’s ok. Neither did I. But that’s probably because I didn’t watch VH1’s Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp. Then maybe I would be more educated on who this gentleman is.

My coworker is the new lead singer for a local band called From Slaves to Kings, and I went to their show last night. They were special guests at the Epic Proportions tour featuring Lost in Atlantis. By the way, From Slaves to Kings killed it last night, and I highly recommend checking out their music at http://www.reverbnation.com/fromslavestokings. They’re gonna be big.

There were two artists on the tour who played before them, and that guy up there, Gabe Kubanda, was one of them. He is a solo artist who plays guitar and sings. And he decided to hit on me after his set.
Now, I don’t know if anyone’s ever been hit on by anyone of celebrity status, even small-time reality TV celebrity status, but it’s kind of interesting. He’s not the first celebrity (or otherwise) that I’ve met, and it gives a cool story, at least. He was pretty respectful about it, as well, and not as creepy or cocky as some other guys tend to be. He asked if I’d go on their next tour with them in September and be their promo model, and then he could possibly convince me to be his girlfriend. His words, not mine.

I did have a pretty cool conversation with him, though, so that was still an upside. Needless to say, I will not be going on tour with him in September. Sorry dude. And who knows? Maybe one day he’ll see this because it has his name and picture can probably be searchable to Google in this post now. Doubtful, but possible.

Have you ever had a cool conversation with a celebrity, big name or otherwise? Have you ever been hit on by anyone of famous status? Got any cool celebrity stories at all? Let’s hear them.

“Call Me Maybe.” No.

So you can’t go anywhere nowadays without hearing certain songs. And because pop music seems to be going downhill fast, these songs are usually irritatingly catchy and terrible at the same time.

Some Candian girl no one’s ever heard of got big with “Call Me Maybe.” Talking to you, Carly Rae Jepsen. And if I’m not mistaken, I think Beiber had something to do with her getting signed to a record label, which makes it even worse. I think Beiber is just handing out record deals now, I don’t know. But anyway, you hear “Call Me Maybe” everywhere now, and I’ve never heard another song by her. We frankly don’t need to; she could probably retire off the royalties on that song alone. And the parodies? Don’t get me started.

I was perusing failblog.org the other day, and I found this:

To read the full version, go here: http://failblog.org/?s=carly+rae+is+crazy+maybe

But to break it down, this guy basically wrote a Facebook post aimed at Carly Rae Jepsen and explaining how little sense her song actually makes, and then asking for clarification. He mentions the fact that you don’t throw “a wish in the well.” That’s not how wishing wells work. He basically breaks down lines in the song and picks them apart, also stating that the possibility of calling her (maybe) is entirely misleading; she says “here’s my number” but never gives a number to call her at, hence nulling the entire concept of the song. It’s a little long, but I highly recommend reading the whole thing. It’s hilarious, and I don’t do it justice.

This is basically the fate of popular music. I could go on and on about terrible song lyrics that are all the rage with the kids these days, but I just don’t have the strength. What is our world coming to??!! Who listens to these songs and enjoys them??!!

Yeah….

To be fair, I didn’t know it was recording. Okay fine, I was completely aware. I admit it! This song is a complete and utter guilty pleasure for me to jam out in my car to and sing terribly off key to. So sue me. You win, Carly Rae.

So let’s hear it: what is your guilty pleasure? Are you a closet Carly Rae Jepsen fan like me? Do we like these songs because they’re terribly awesome?

Be brave.

I’ve learned it’s tough to get to a point in life where you don’t care what people think. We all do it; you’re hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t worry about others’ opinions of them. And those middle school years? They’re the worst. But I’ve found that I’m ten times happier when I stop concerning myself with what others think and just “letting the freak flag fly,” as they say.

So today, I’m being brave. I’m doing something that I didn’t think I’d ever do. And to be honest, maybe it’s something I really shouldn’t be doing. But oh well. Today I am singing and posting it online. I know, sounds menial and like something only a true member of my social-media-driven generation. I know it’s a small thing to be brave about, and maybe it’s a trivial thing to be brave about. But I’ve always hated how I sing, and I have never been too keen on singing in front of people because it’s embarrassing to me.

Today, I go against both of those things. Today, I am brave.

And no, I don’t care if you think I’m a bad singer. I do, but here I am anyway. And I love this song. So there.

So what are you going to be brave about today? What are you going to do that goes against your norms? What puts you outside of your comfort level? Because I’ve strayed a ways out of mine…