Under the Arch

You may have noticed my lack of writing lately. I have some serious writer's block, it's just as annoying for me as it is for you. Since I can't seem to write in a narrative way, I'm just going to do a stream of consciousness thing today and we're all just going to have to deal. Hopefully soon, I'll figure out how to write while twitterpated.

The thing is, I'm like any other girl in the beginning of a relationship. All I want to talk about is the relationship. And no one wants to hear about how sweet he is or how much fun I'm having. Frankly, all the sighing and grinning at nothing is making ME want to throw up. I'm really overwhelmed, because this last match.com match-up has moved along rather fast in the emotion department. It makes me nervous, but I'm not shutting down or wanting to run so I'm looking at this as personal growth no matter how the relationship turns out.

I went with my friend Jessica to see a show at the Pageant last week and had a great time, but I've discovered that I am not meant for mosh pits. The show was a guy, a DJ, I guess who called himself Girl Talk, which was a giant dance party of sorts. My friend wanted to get up on stage to dance, unfortunately, so did every other underage idiot in the place. (My friend is not an idiot, she's a brilliant writer who asked me the other day if she could write a book about me one day. Why she would want to write a book about me is beyond my comprehension, but I'm sure if she wrote it, it would be amazing.) Anyway, the floor near the stage suddenly resembled a cattle chute and it was all I could do to keep upright. Madness ensued and I was seriously pissed off, elbowing anyone who dared to shove me and pulling a girl out from under the trampling herd when she reached down by my feet to get her cell phone. Other than a wrenched knee, I was fine, but I've discovered I'm too old for that sort of insanity and I'll go back to the sort of concerts I usually enjoy, which are generally more adult. After it calmed down a little and the crowd realized that security wouldn't allow anymore people on the stage, we had a little room to maneuver and Jess and I danced until I couldn't breathe, occasionally shaking my head at the combination of music. (He mixed Kelly Clarkson and Nine Inch Nails together, then Journey and Lil Wayne, or vice-versa, I can't remember now. Reading this, you would think it was awful, but it wasn't.)

The new guy, S, took me to dinner and a movie Friday night, we went to see Clint Eastwood's new movie, Gran Torino. It was really good. Sunday was spent at his place watching football. (I know, I actually watched football on tv, on purpose. Granted, I had a Glamour magazine in my lap, but still, football.) And I had fun. We ate pizza and watched football and I had a great time. Twitterpated. It's the only explanation.

Oh, and the new camera is a Nikon D40. Photos coming soon, I promise.

Yeah, that was me. ;) Here's a jumble of things that are too much for Twitter and not enough for a full post....

Thing #1: Thanks to Crystal, I found these truly hysterical handmade cards for the snark in all of you. ;) This one and this one are particular favorites. This one made me laugh so hard I almost peed myself. Her descriptions are just as funny as the cards.

Thing #2: I am officially single again. Ok, I was never officially un-single, but I'm not dating anyone in particular at the moment. ;) I've made a couple of good friends so far, that's pretty good, huh? lol

Thing #3: One of the girls I work with wants to set me up with her brother. I've never been set up before, so I thought, what the hell? I told her to go ahead if it makes her happy. I think he finds the idea of his little sister setting him up on a date as amusing as I do. ;)

Thing #4: I've bought all of 2 Christmas presents as of today. I suck at Christmas. lol

Thing #5: I went to Goodwill tonight to find some wool sweaters to felt. I have an idea for a present for my Grandma that I'll use them for, I'll post pictures when it comes together.

Thing #6: My camera pooped out on me, which is why there haven't been many photos lately. A new one is on my Christmas list, though the one I want is really too expensive for a present. We'll see what happens. ;)

Thing #7: A couple of movies came out today that I really want to see, Seven Pounds and Yes Man, but I couldn't find one person available to go with me. Boo :(

Thing #8: I am going to a Tweetup in St. Charles tomorrow. I wanted my friend Jessica to go with me cuz I'm determined to get her on Twitter, but she is going to the symphony instead. Now I kinda wish I was going with her. ;)

Thing #9: If you are not Twittering already, you really should! Peer Pressure! Ahhh!

Thing #10: I decided last week that I wanted to chop all my hair off. If you've seen the Naked Monday about my hair, you'd know that this isn't exactly a new thing. My friend, A, cuts my hair for me and she told me yesterday that she won't be cutting my hair as short as I'd like. She flat out refused. lol We renegotiated today for a longer style that will still eliminate a significant amount of length. It's just pissing me off right now. It's too long and heavy and it's takes too long to dry when it's freezing outside. It will almost be this long again by summer.

Thing #11: You know that movie eye flirting thing where a guy and girl meet eyes across the room and smile for what seems like forever? That totally happened to me today at work. One of the cute kiosk guys was walking in as I was walking out and he totally eye-flirted with me. And I started to smile back cuz he's cute, even if he's a lotion guy* and then I realized what I was doing and panicked. Ahhhh! So, I looked away and probably blushed. One of these days, I swear I'll get the hang of this. lol

Thing #12: It took me 45 minutes to leave work today...just to leave the parking lot! Damn holiday shoppers!! Weird thing? The parking lot wasn't even full, didn't make any kind of sense. I needed to go to the wal marts too, but was so frustrated by the time I made it to an actual ROAD, that I went home instead.

Thing #13: I decided to take my semi regular waxing further south. ;) Casey convinced me. lol

Thing #14: I can guarantee that I'm forgetting something. ;)

 

* One of the kiosks at every mall, they have a bottle of lotion that they smooth onto your hands. I walk by the same damn one EVERY DAY and they still try to sell me their stupid hand stuff. EVERY FUCKING DAY!! (Ok, not every day, but still, 5 days a week. I recognize THEM!)

Every social situation I get this question,.... make a new friend, getting to know a romantic interest, small talk at a party, it always comes up....

T and I went to a concert last week for one of his favorite groups at the Lucas School House. Loved the venue, loved the band, if the weather had been a little more cooperative, it would have been the perfect night. After the show, when everyone was mingling, one of T's friends inevitably asked me about my music taste. I HATE HATE HATE this question because try as I might, I can not adequately answer. There IS no easy answer here, at least not for me. I really do like just about everything. It would be easier to make a list of music I DON'T like.

My home as a child was always full of music. Though none of us had any particular musical talent, we were always singing and bopping about uncoordinatedly to whatever album my mom was currently obsessed with. There is a particular video of my sister and I dancing around the dining room in our ballet leotards to Kids Incorporated that I won't be showing to anyone. Ever. (Remember them? Bwahahaha!)

This is from the 85/86 season, which is the one I think I watched, at least these kids look vaguely familiar. The Martika girl had an album which I MIGHT still have...somewhere. lol

Ahhh, memories! ;)

So, anyway, musical taste! After thinking about it for a few days, if I had to pick one thing to say it would be that I am drawn to female singer/songwriters. There, post done.

Just kidding. Clarify that statement, you say? Well, of course, I've been cruising youtube, and here are some of my favorites....

Brandi Carlile

Brandi sings from the gut. She just grabs my insides, rips them out and then very sweetly pats them back into place. There's another of her songs from The Story album called Late Morning Lullaby that really speaks to me, but I couldn't find an official video. :( Sadly, my album was stolen along with my car stereo last winter, and I haven't gotten around to replacing it. Bastard car stereo thieves messing with my music!

Ingrid Michaelson, who I've mentioned before, is also a particular favorite. She and Sara Bareilles (another talented songwriter) have teamed up for this song on a new album of Christmas/winter songs, which I am eagerly anticipating.

Sara has a single out now called Bottle It Up that I'm really enjoying and this next one is my favorite Ingrid song...

A Fine Frenzy

Ali has a sort of otherworldy beauty that comes across in her haunting melodies. She also has a way of cutting right down to the truth of a matter while still sounding sweet and innocent that I find inspiring. ;) One of my favorites is a song called The Minnow and the Trout, which , of course, doesn't have a true video.

Sarah McLachlan has been on my music list since high school. This one is from that time, a song she wrote with the help of a stalker's letters.

I think I have all her albums but the most recent one...

Bonnie Raitt is another old favorite that always makes for good karaoke. :)

These are just a handful of the women on heavy rotation on my zune and the only things they have in common are being female and writing their own songs...I ran out of patience before I got to Alanis Morrisette, Avril Lavigne, or Gwen Stefani.

And then every once in a while, I throw in something like this...

Eclectic is putting it mildly. ;)

I had another Naked Monday post up here last night and...well...I hated it. It sucked and I apologize to the 3 of you who read it since I couldn't in all conscience announce it on Twitter. This is the post I should have done all along.

Last week, I went to see Ingrid Michaelson at The Pageant on the Loop. I love the Pageant. I know many people here in St. Louis hate the venue, but I love how it feels like a club and even though the drinks are expensive, the tickets are not and if you pay with cash, they waive the fee that every concert venue charges you for nothing, as far as I can tell. I've been to several shows at the Pageant and they always put on a good show and that's the important thing. I was there with my friend A, who I met through an ex and though we aren't close, I can always count on her for a concert buddy, cause we like similar music and she's always up for a show. We had great fun as usual and she was mesmerized by the opening act. (ok, I'll admit it, his singing voice was pretty sexy and you can hear for yourself on his myspace page here For Ingrid's myspace page go here Check them out, you'll like them. well, I do and taste is of course relative, but I recommend both)

The photos aren't the point of this post, mostly because I took them with my camera phone and camera phone=suck. But just to illustrate the night, here is a pic of Ingrid who was unexpectedly funny in that at one point she yelled into the crowd, "Come on, people, let me feel you up!!!!" The story of how she discovered the Arch had stairs and a museum and a "TRAM!" was hilarious too. What made the night for me was what happened in my head while I listened to her sing.

The girl on the left is the back up singer and, don't laugh, I've always wanted to do this. There's no reason you should know this, but I can sing. Like I used to sing, in front of others, and even competed in high school. Granted, that was...many years ago, but the point is I can sing. I don't have any interest in fame and fortune, I don't want my name in lights, but I think it would be amazing to tour with a band and sing back up. Small ambitions, but ones I never did anything about. Why? Well, I never had the balls. And now I do...have the balls, er, or something. So, I started thinking and I thought, what's stopping me from trying? Nothing really, and did you know that there are bands on craigslist looking for singers? There are!! So, here's what I'm thinking...any of you St. Louis readers up for Karaoke? It's been a while since I sang for anyone but friends and I need the practice before I audition for anything at all. Sound good? Who's with me? ;)

I know I said I would have the Bossy entry up today (yesterday), but between a laptop that starts and stops randomly just to annoy me (turns out I had a virus, wheeeee!), and the most ridiculous hangover on the face of the planet, the only thing I've managed to finish is posting the photos on flickr, which now tells me I'm not a pro member(say what?).

Tomorrow there will be two posts, including a Naked Monday confessional, wait until you see how many pairs of shoes I own!

Until then, I will leave you with this little tidbit before firefox decides to freeze again...I watched The Boondock Saints tonight. Great movie if you enjoy the occasional gratuitous violence. I know a guy who has a quote from that movie tattooed on the back of his hand. All this time that I've known him, I thought I had seen that movie before. I knew of the movie, I knew what the case looked like, but after watching it tonight...not so sure that I've seen it before today. I find this really embarrassing. How did this happen? Maybe I "watched it" with friends, in that, it was on, but I wasn't really paying attention. I don't know, exactly. It's a mystery. A really boring mystery. ;)