I’m sure everyone’s done this already

But I’m going to be unique and post this a few days after the event.

As I’m sure everyone who doesn’t live under a very large boulder knows, Sunday was the 10th anniversary of September 11th.

First of all, in a slightly tangent-esque comment, I think it’s weird to call something awful an anniversary.  To me, an anniversary is something lovely, nice, a pleasant thing we’re remembering: wedding, first date, opening of a store, high school graduation, etc.  It’s always been a little weird for me to apply the word ‘anniversary’ to tragic events, like 9/11.

Oddly enough, though, it sounds perfectly normal to me to say that we are observing the anniversary of someone’s death.  When that’s an appropriate time to say that, of course.

Anyway, I would like to preface the actual 9/11 portion of this post by saying that this will not be very long.  I don’t have a very big revelation or story to tell due to the fact that I was young 10 years ago.  But I still want to share my perspective and how my take on the event has changed since then.

When the attacks happened, I was in my 6th grade homeroom, lamenting with the rest of my class that we had the “write about a current event” Do Now.  As usual, we were complaining to Ms. Baum that we can’t write a current event, nothing’s happened.  It’s all boring and the news didn’t tell me anything (as if 11 and 12-year-olds had even let their eyes skim the TV news channel).  About the time of the first plane hitting the tower, Ms. Baum told us that there’s always something to write about current events because “news is happening all around us.”

At lunch that day, some of us were eating in her classroom because we were nerds like that and the lunchroom was always too noisy and crowded (plus it was chilly outside and there was no way we were going to walk all the way there).  Ms. Baum had the radio on (maybe another teacher told her she should put on the news, I don’t know why else she had KYW on at that time) and we heard about the hijackings.  Of course, at the time, it was all a bit sensationalized and they were telling us that about 8 planes had been taken, but through that, we still heard about the towers and the crash in PA.

After that is a blur of students leaving school early, then everyone leaving early.

At home, we lived near a nuclear power plant at the time, as well as a small airport, and we were in an area that was part of Philly’s landing pattern air space.  So, my mom was, to say the least, flipping out.  I remember being annoyed by that.

My parents wouldn’t let us watch the news, so I didn’t really understand the full extent of what had happened until the next day when the other kids (and then teachers, but more rationally and factually) told me what they heard and saw on the TV.  What my 11-year-old self got was that two very important towers in New York, plus a field in PA, and the Pentagon, were hit by planes taken by some Islamic men who hated America.  A lot of people were killed.  Too many.

I remember feeling sad, scared, and absolutely confused.  But, I don’t think I quite understood the full extent of everything that had happened.  My parents still wouldn’t let me watch the news after that, so I didn’t see any of the footage until at least a year or more later.

10 years later, the tragedy of that day still hits me hard.  The images of everything that happened are painful to see and I can’t believe I was too young to make sense of it when it happened.  I feel like I was there, but I wasn’t truly in the know.

I have heard so many stories from people who were old enough to comprehend what happened that day and it amazes me how something so confusing and tragic (that’s what it will always be to me, sadly) could change so many peoples’ lives.

I’m not sure how to feel about that day now that I’m older.  Children see it in school books and learn it in history class.  I’ve been asked if I was alive then.  If I remember it.

I can say I was alive and that I remember the day, but I don’t know if I really have the right or ability to say much more than that.

 

Boogers.

An eloquent title, to be sure.

But, as it is, I am sitting in this room dealing with three different types of boogers, so it seems an appropriate beginning.

Booger #One.  My littlest sister.  She’s eleven.

Booger #Two.  Justin Bieber is being a music video on the television she’s watching.  Is that how you spell Bieber?  Beiber?  Meh.

Booger #Three.  There is something crazy going on allergy-wise right now!  Ever since the rains stopped, my allergies have been terrible.  I can’t stop sneezing, rubbing my eyes, taking pain meds for my head.  It’s difficult.  Really rather frustrating.  And it makes work difficult.  It also makes me tired.  Booger Three point Five, if you will.  Because, you see, I have a two hour dance class tonight and I have to be there an hour early to take my sister to HER class.  Huh.  Booger Three point Five-Eight.

Well, now that I have made myself sound like an eight-year-old….

You Can’t Stop the Beat-les.

That’s right.

Today, 21 years, 4 months and some handful of weeks into my life, I finally realized that the Beatles did not spell their name like that just to distinguish themselves from the beetle.

I mean, it never occurred to me that it had to occur to me. I was little. They were called the Beatles. They played good music. That was that.

And then, today, I was looking at my shirt in the mirror, wondering at its Beatle-iness and the BEAT jumped up and slapped me in the face.

I felt molto intelligent at that moment.

Then I felt a bit….well…let’s just move on from there, yes?

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I listen to a lot of different types of music.  Showtunes, pop, alternative rock, classic rock, country, etc.  Sometimes, I feel in the mood for one particular genre.  Then, a little while later (one week, one month, three months, an hour), I feel a bit bored.  That’s when I start to jump through the genres and feel like every one of them lacks a nameless thing that I want.  Something sticks, eventually.

Right now, I’m completely transitioning from indie/hipster music stuff to showtunes, which is all kind of also blurring into alternative rock.  Especially alt rock from the late ’90’s, early 2000s.

For example, I listened to showtunes in my car all the way home from work today, but I skipped a TON of songs.  Then, I took my sister to the doctor and listened to a Mumm-Ra Genius playlist.  On the way home, I listened to Bowling for Soup.  Yeah, I went old school.  Like, middle school old school.

I love revisiting music like that.  All the stuff I used to listen to.  It’s amazing how the lyrics stick with you.  Even the really random songs at the end of the CD that no one really listens to for the most part, unless you’re a hardcore fan.  And I was a hardcore fan of BFS and Eve 6.  My very first concert ever was BFS’s A Hangover You Don’t Deserve tour…I think I was 14 or 15.  AWESOME CONCERT.  Even with all the drunk people.  I went with my bff and her mom.  We had fun.

I think if my mom had known what kind of concert I was going to, I would never have been able to ever say the words ‘Bowling for Soup’ in the house again.

The only thing missing was the fact that Joel couldn’t do any cool tricks because he hurt his leg while performing in Texas.  Leg or ankle, I don’t know.  AND, they didn’t play Sara’s and my favorite song off the new album: Get Happy.

All we need is some ice cream and a hug!

Opening for them: Nightmare of You, MC Lars, and American Hi-Fi….if I remember correctly.  It was about 6 or 7 years ago.  We bought the NOY CD right there and I still listen to that thing.  I don’t even know if the band exists anymore.  Google says: YES.  THEY STILL EXIST.  THEY ARE STILL AN ACTIVE BAND IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY.  What??

Wow.

I’m excited.

I have some more music to catch up on….

Speaking of…if anyone out there reads this and happens to know where I can find a copy of an EP by the band Edmund (you know, the one that Arthur Darvill, aka Rory Williams-Pond, used to sing in), I’d love you dearly.  Of course, I’d love you only on the condition that you’d tell me where I can find it.  Re-reading the sentence, I realized I never said I wanted the info…I only said that I’d love you if you knew it.

So.  If you can tell me how to get this music, please let me know and I will love you forever (being that forever lasts until the end of the second month I’ve had the music).  Thanks ever so much.

Also, if you want to suggest music for me (bands, musicals, genres, whatever), go for it!  I’m open to trying new sounds.

Things I Think About

Arby’s Roast Beef Sandwich.  You guys.  Arby’s.  Think about the sound that makes.  Arby’s.  Ar. By’s.  R. Bs.  IT’S ROAST BEEFs!!!

And then I wiki’d it and I’m not making it up.

Nope, just kidding.  The founders were the Raffel Brothers.  Whatever.  I think mine is better.

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Who the heck names their kid ELPHABA?  Poor girl.

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Sometimes, I wish I could be a large, soulful black woman so I can sing like one.  Because DAY-UM.  They have some powerful, wonderful voices in them.

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I spend a lot of time thinking about what I would do with interviews, my Facebook, the pictures I have online, Tumblr, Twitter, and how I dress if I ever became famous.

As of right now, I don’t even have an agent or up-to-date headshots.

I think I’ll audition online for the Glee Project.

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What kind of impression do I leave on people when I meet them?

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Haha!  That sounds like I press myself against people and then leave a visible impression on their bodies.

That sounds silly.  Not everyone works like a memory foam mattress.  But it would be funny if they did… Whole new meaning to “I’m rubber and you’re glue!”  Everything I say bounces off of me and kind of leaves this funny dent in you.

This is a blog.

That’s it.  Simply, a blog.

Every time I try to make this work, I always abandon it.  I’ve had this for about two years, I think, and I keep forgetting about it.

I figured out the problem.

I keep trying to define what this blog is.  What it’s about.  By setting limits, I get bored, I feel boxed in.  Then, I leave the blog alone and forget it exists until someone says “blog” in a sentence.  Oh, blog?  I have one of those!  It’s got…like….two posts.

So, here I am again.  There are no rules.  I will not tell you outright what I like, what I’ll post, or how I’m going to post it.  I won’t promise a post each day, or week, or month.  Let’s just say that I’ll post when I feel like it.  And it’ll be whatever I feel like posting.

There it is.

This is a blog.  That’s it.