Twenty First Century's Yesterday

My boyfriend's car has been slowly crapping out for a while now, and recently he found out it needed $3000+ worth of work on it. He only had it for five years, but he put more than a 150,000 miles on it through various trips to Colorado, Kansas City, Orlando, plus dozens of trips between St. Louis and Columbia when I went to Mizzou. So we decided it wasn't worth it to fix it up, and went car shopping.

The car he purchased came with six months of free Sirius radio. We've been having fun playing around it with it (All Springsteen, all the time!)

But when it came down to it, all we want to listen to was the 80s station and the 90s station. This is a bad sign, right? Every time I turn it on the top 40 station I only recognize a few of the songs, and that's just because they're on at work. My boyfriend doesn't know any of them. However, we know all the words when INXS is on, so that's something to be proud of.

I feel like my parents, when I was a kid they only listened to the classic rock station. I guess no music is better than what you listened to during your formative years.

Collapse Into Me Tired With Joy

It's interesting how we all express our love in different ways. I hear about guys do big romantic gestures and that's so not something my boyfriend would do. I wouldn't want him to, either. I'm okay with knowing quietly that he loves me. I don't need big, loud expressions of it.

He uses his talents to express this in interesting ways. Although his job is technically in the IT field, he does all sorts of projects for his firm, including making short, informational movies for conferences. He doesn't have the resources there to film a lot of different things, unless it takes place at a law firm. So he does a lot of things with animation, and he's getting pretty good at it.

He makes little movies for me, too. Not super involved things, but he took my favorite animated character (Butters), and had him preform my favorite Snow Patrol song, guitar and all, alongside an animated version of himself while I saw in the audience.

Most recently, he animated a cartoon version of my favorite singer (Jason Mraz) preforming my favorite song (I'm Yours). He took the time to look up the chords and the finger placements on the guitar, so the animated Jason is playing the correct notes.

It may not seem like much, but I know how long it must have taken him to do all this. He did it just to make me happy. That's one of the million reasons that let me know he loves me.

Drift Away

I'm going to combine two memes today, but they have a similar theme, so get over it.

First, a little while ago, everyone had that Wordle thing showing what words they use the most on their blog. I saw a new one going around where you go here, and then here, and get a word huddle about your Last.fm profile. So here it is.



Do you think I like Jason Mraz?

The second meme also involves music. It's the soundtrack of my life:

Opening credits: Chocolate- Snow Patrol

It’s inspiring and cheerful. Mostly.

Waking up: From the Morning- Nick Drake

Average day: Here It Goes Again- Ok Go

First date: The Fear That You Won’t Fall- Joshua Radin

Falling in Love: You and Both- Jason Mraz

It’s not the most romantic song in the world, but it’s what we were listening to when we fell in love. On the surface it sounds romantic.

Love Scene: I’m Yours- Jason Mraz

What’s not to love?

Fight Scene: When Anger Shows- Editors

Breaking up: No One’s Gonna Love You- Band Of Horses

It’s so sweet and sad

Getting Back Together: I Hear The Bells- Mike Doughty

This is the song that was playing when Logan got drunk and talked to Veronica about how their love is epic. It’s possibly my favorite scene from a tv show, ever.

Secret Love: Hold You In My Arms- Ray LaMontagne

This song doesn’t remind me of anything in particular, but it sounds so sad to me.

Life’s Okay: Flowers In The Window- Travis

Mental Breakdown: Walk In Fire- Doves

Driving: Nothing Better- The Postal Service

Learning A Lesson: Tell Me Something I Don’t Know- The Thrills

Deep Thought: The Weight Of The World- Editors

I don’t know what it is, but this song speaks to me on so many levels. It makes me want to cry. And smile. And close my eyes.

Flashback: The Past And Pending- The Shins

Partying: Four To The Floor- Starsailor

Happy Dance: Are You Gonna Be My Girl- Jet

Regretting: Silence Is Easy- Starsailor

Long Night Alone: Gobbledigook- Sigur Ros

Death Scene: Hallelujah- Rufus Wainwright

Closing Credits: I Will Follow You Into The Dark- Death Cab for Cutie

Dressing Up to Touch All This

There is a phenomenon today that completely confuses me. It's dressing up in character to go see a movie. I'm not making fun of you if this is something you do (well... maybe a little.) I'm really just confused at the reasons behind it.

Are you trying to prove what a fan you are? The fact that you're at that movie at the midnight opening is pretty good proof.

Are you just so excited you don't know how to express it?

I've only see this happen a few times. I wasn't at the movie people were dressed up for, but it's hard not to notice the pointy ears and masks. I think the only movies I've seen people dress up for are Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Harry Potter. I've heard there were people dressed up last night for the Dark Knight.

Actually, I have a second question. This one isn't as confusing, but still. Why do you wait for hours to go see a movie at midnight? Several of my friends went last night to see the Dark Knight. It'll still be playing tomorrow, when you don't have to wait in line for hours and no one (hopefully) will be wearing a batsuit?

Is the sense of superiority you have for seeing it 12 hours before everyone else that gratifying?

Some Trust In Faith

I am astounded on a daily basis at how much people trust my opinion, simply because I wear a name tag. People will call the store, ask me which cabinet I prefer, whether I like glass or wood doors, then order it, based on my opinion.

Yes, I have an art and design background. These people don't know this, though. I've only worked there for a few weeks, I could know literally nothing about furniture.

I experienced this to some degree in the optical business. At least there I understood it though. I can see your face and tell you which frames look the best, based on the shape, skin tone, size, etc. I can tell by the way you dress, what you do for a living, which kind of car you drive. All these tell me your style, whether it be trendy or classic.

I can't, however, see your house. I can't see the colors, the other furniture, the height of the ceiling, the amount of natural vs artificial light. I don't know if you like Queen Anne, mid century modern, or French country.

I'm just amazed that people trust my word so implicitly without even coming into the store to see the pieces for themselves.

I guess it's easier just to ask me than to have to make a decision on your own?

A, You're Adorable

I don't know if you guys have seen WALL-E yet (if not, why?). It was really good. However, for me, Presto was awesome. This is my favorite short. I know I mentioned this yesterday, but I just watched it again, and damn. It is too adorable. Poor baby waby schmoopy bunny. I just want to squeeze and squeeze.

Take Me Out

It's been awhile since I've talked about movies, so I thought I'd do a few quickly.

Hancock- I went into this movie with really low expectations because it was constantly reamed by the critics. I was delighted to find it didn't suck. It wasn't the deepest movie in the world, but let's face it. That's not why I see those kind of movies anyway. It's actually really funny (especially the scene at the train tracks), and Will Smith says several bad words and insults people, which sounds particularly funny coming from the Fresh Prince. Also, I love Jason Bateman. Yes, the "twist" was a little dumb, but oh well. The rest of it was still good.

WALL-E- Awesome, as always. It wasn't my favorite Pixar movie, but it was adorable, stunning, and had a strong message. If anything, the message was a little too strong, but that's alright. It was really, really, really good. The short at the beginning was one of my favorites they've ever done.

The Incredible Hulk- It was alright. It was definitely better than the Eric Bana version, but it still wasn't great. I mean, relatively, it was good. But it could have been a LOT better. If you want to see an action movie, find a theater that still has Ironman, or go see Hancock.

I Saw Fireworks From The Freeway

Things I Did This Weekend

(Alternatively titled: How I Gained 10 pounds)

  • Played and beat Guitar Hero Aerosmith
  • Bought a pretty new blue dress
  • Went to a fun cookout that involved beer and badminton
  • Ate a platter of fried food
  • Saw Hancock (yay)
  • Worked at job#1
  • Played Tiger Woods 08 outside under the stars and fireworks
  • Also watched 10,000 B.C. (blech) outside
  • Ate ate my favorite pizza place
  • Visited my brother at the hospital where he'd been for two days before he decided to call anyone in the family to tell them where he was (he's fine, we think. No worries.)
  • Ate kabobs, yucca, and plantains at a Peruvian restaurant
  • Ate ice cream
  • Watched Be Kind, Rewind
  • Worked at job #2
  • Slept

I'm Pushing Through

I'm 3 weeks+ into my new job, and it's going pretty good. In all honesty, this job is easy as hell. It's really basic, at least compared to my old job. This is my first week not working at my old job, and they're already calling me to see if I can fill in next week.

In any spare time I've had from working 60 hours a week, I've been reading while listening to music. Here's a few that I've really liked recently.

Books:

Bright Shiny Morning- James Frey: You maybe remember James Frey from his scandal a few years back with A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard being proven not true, making them fiction instead of the advertised memoir. I always thought this was dumb because these books would have been just as good as novels as they were as memoirs. Anyway. This is his new novel. It was pretty awesome. It's vignettes about L.A., some are facts, some are history, most are short chapters about different characters living there, trying to survive.

Shutter Island- Dennis Lehane: This was was recommended by Brad when I asked for recommendations a little while ago. And wow, was it good. I don't want to give anything away because you should read it. Also, Scorsese is making it into a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo, so hopefully they stick close to the book. If you like thrillers/mysteries at all, I highly recommend it.


Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close- Jonathan Safran Foer: This book is about a misfit, genius kid who tries to figure out what lock a key that belongs to his father matches after his father dies on Sept 11th. He searches all five burroughs with an elderly sidekick. This book is heart wrenching, uplifting, and funny all at once.


Music

Sigur Ros- Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust- Sigur Ros is an Icelandic rock band with a dreamy, ethereal sound. I have no idea what they're saying, but it sounds awesome. Or as I read on a myspace blog, "that they might just be the one band sent to earth to save us all."


"Gobbledigook" - Sigur Ros


Mike Doughty- Haughty Melodic- Mike Doughty, the former lead singer of Soul Coughing, has four albums out, and I love all of them, but this one's my favorite. It has I Hear The Bells, which is currently my favorite song. I listen to it over and over. The whole album is really awesome though. I'll probably write more about him later.