My music taste is derived almost entirely from my sister.
Now, that isn’t to say I haven’t found some bands I love on my own. Such as Oasis, Barenaked Ladies, and Coldplay. But the latest favorites, Fall Out Boy and Dashboard Confessional, are entirely her fault. And it doesn’t help that my iPod is full of emo bands that I wish existed when I was in high school.
I think I’m in love with these two bands. These are the boys I would have wanted to date in high school, if I dated boys in high school. There’s just something about emo that just… describes the everyday emotions that plague me. I live so much inside my head, that when someone puts in words what I’m feeling, I can’t help but fall for them.
For example, my favorite Fall Out Boy song, “Sophmore Slump or Comeback of the Year” from their album From Under the Cork Tree express completely the way I feel about words and songs.
We’re the therapists pumping through your speakers
Delivering just what you need
We’re well read and poised
We’re the best boys
We’re the chemists who’ve found the formula
To make your heart swell and burst
No matter what they say, don’t believe a word
…
We’re the kids you used to love
But then we grew old
We’re the lifers here till the bitter end
Condemned from the start
Ashamed of the way
The songs and the words own the beating of our hearts
This song always gives me the chills every time I hear it. When I heard it in concert, I think I very nearly wanted to cry. Because, you just have this feeling that they mean it. That this is their life, and they wouldn’t have it any other way, even if girls just keep breaking their hearts.
Dashboard Confessional came before Fall Out Boy, or, at least my love for them did. I have learned with emo music that the pauses in the music are sometimes contrary to the way they write out the lyrics. It’s like reading a poem with different punctuation than was intended. So, the geek in me loves lyrics that can have different meanings, depending on where the comma is placed. For example, in Dashboard’s song “So Beautiful” off of “A Mark, a Mission, a Brand, a Scar,” they are either praising a girl or deriding her. The difference between
Careful now
You’re so beautiful, when you’ve convinced yourself
No one else is quite as beautiful
and
Careful now
You’re so beautiful, when you’ve convinced yourself.
No one else is quite as beautiful
Both interpretations fit in the song, and it is up to the listener to determine what the song means. Like poetry, really. And perhaps that’s why I love these bands so much. Lyrics mean a great deal to me, and it almost seems like these songs are poems set to music.
And now, I believe I have a new band to adore. K just introduced me to Reliant K, and while I sit here going on and on about FOB and DC, I’ve been listening to Reliant K’s album “Mmhmm.” And K is right, as always. They are a blending of Fall Out Boy and Dashboard Confessional, and I love them too. I predict I’ll have this album memorized by the end of the week.
Thanks K, you’re the best.
- “Sophmore Slump or Comeback of the Year,” From Under the Cork Tree: Fall Out Boy
I received the grade for my essay (the one I posted earlier), and I am shocked that I got an A. I didn’t really think I wrote it out that well, I didn’t do anything that I talked about in my paper outline, and I didn’t find any reference material that was outside of the course book.
I don’t know if I should be pleased that I write better than I think I do, or be worried that my writing still won’t be up to snuff when I transfer. If I transfer.
I was not—and still am not—happy with this essay. Perhaps it is because I dislike the subject matter. California has never held much interest for me. I love Sacramento, and I love San Francisco, but California as a whole is not something I think about too much. And maybe that makes me small minded, or close minded. But I think more about where I want to live instead of where I’m living.
The next paper for this class is on the mis-management of California. I suppose I should get a start on it, if I’m going to write a paper that I like. I think this next one is due at the end of March.
—”Lights and Sounds,” Lights and Sounds: Yellowcard
South Dakota is first of many states to attempt to pass anti-abortion laws, and I believe, the first to show how much they truly care about the welfare of women in their state. The bill is only waiting for their governor to sign it into law.
Proposed amendments to the law to create exceptions to specifically protect the health of the mother, or in cases of rape or incest, were voted down. Also defeated was an amendment to put the proposal in the hands of voters.
The fact that the legislature of South Dakota refused to allow amendments to when abortion should be legal, leads me to wonder who these people really are. Would they want their daughters give birth to children out of rape? How about the genetically retarded children of incest? This worries me, because I know women who have have become pregnant, only to be told by doctors that they had to terminate, or risk death themselves. Apparently, South Dakota wants all women to risk death to bring a child into the world.
In abortion, just as in life, there are exceptions to every rule, but South Dakota is only allowing one:
The bill as written does make an exception if the fetus dies during a doctor’s attempt to save the mother’s life.
Although, I am not quite sure what this means. It doesn’t seem to state that if the pregnancy would cause harm to the mother an abortion could be performed. It appears to only allow a fetus who has died – directly or indirectly from a doctor’s doctoring – to be expelled from the body. That reassures me. It’s almost like saying “the only way you won’t be punished for termination of a pregnancy if it’s a miscarriage, or an accident.”
At 23, I most likely am right inside the demographic most likely to have an abortion. I am also violently pro-choice. I think that every woman should have a choice in what is happening to their body.
I do not believe, however, that abortion should be used as birth control. I think that a woman who has had more than one abortion (unless doctor recommended) should take a hard look at themselves in the mirror. And, get some birth control. Condoms are cheaper than an abortion. I also believe that you should not be able to abort a child when it is able to live outside the womb, even if it isn’t fully developed.
Awhile ago, Peggy posted about her choice1 with Brogan. She is pro-life, and she posted a link to a video that is extremely graphic. The video shows parts of human fetuses that have been aborted at all stages of pregnancy, up to the third trimester.
I watched the whole video. And it doesn’t bother me. Yes, the third-term abortions bother me, because essentially you’re delivering a healthy baby early, and then killing it. Fetuses that in no way could survive outside the womb don’t bother me.
I may be an extremely callous person. I am most definitely unsympathetic to those who seek to ban abortion.
Perhaps they might think about how over populated the world would be, if every child conceived was born. Abortion may be horrible to some, but it’s another way we control population growth.
As always, feel free to disagree. But don’t be nasty. I’ll put out flames on sight.
Articles Referenced:
“S. Dakota Legislature Passes Abortion Ban” 22 Feb. 2006. Reuters. 22 Feb. 2006.
- Broken link removed 7/8/09. [back]
I read a book today that I didn’t think would affect me as much as it did.
My sister has been bugging me for a week or to read The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chobosky. She gave it to me earlier in the month, after she had read it, borrowing it from a classmate.
Wow is all I can say about this book. It’s about the freshman year of someone who is different, someone who (I believe) everyone can relate to in one or another. The story is told through letters the narrator Charlie has written to this anonymous person, who he has never met.
The whole time I was reading it, I was thinking “I know how that is. Oh, I’ve lived through that. Yep, that happened to me.” It is such a heart wrenching account of a year in this guy’s life where he has to deal with his best friend committing suicide, his friends from junior high not speaking to him, and dealing with trying to “participate” in life and not just sit on the sidelines.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who has ever felt like they were on the outside looking in, like they are the only one who feels the way they do. It’s just so hard to explain why this book is so good.
Ugh, just read the damn thing. It’s so short, you could probably finish it at the book store (and if you didn’t, there’s no way you would be able to leave it behind.)
And I really have not done any amount of justice to how good this book is. If you’ve got a chance, pick it up.
- “Am I Missing,” A Mark, a Mission, a Brand, a Scar: Dashboard Confessional
I really need to get my shit together. Right this minute, I should be working on my English essay. It’s due tonight at midnight, and I’m only half done. Instead, I’m writing this, surfing the web, and listening to Crafty Chica’s podcast. The only thing that bothers me about iTunes integrated podcast-thingy? That it doesn’t give me the option to automatically download previous casts, all in one lump sum…. Oh, wait, I just figured it out.
Anyway, this essay that I should be writing but am not, is supposed to be about California. More specifically, it is about the paradox between the California Dream, and the reality of California. The problem I’m having is that being a native of California, born right here in the central valley, I have no insight on what the dream really is. For me, the dream is just to get out. To go see the world, and live somewhere new and different. I don’t understand why people would still choose to move to this state. It’s just a big let down. You think it’s going to be some big wonderful adventure, and instead it’s the land of high gas prices and suburbia. Everything is more expensive here, and still hardly anyone can afford it.
Did I mention I’m trying to avoid my math homework? I have no idea how many assignments I have to do, and I’m not sure if there is a test tomorrow or not, seeing as how we had Friday and Monday off for holiday (okay, I’m not sure why we had Friday off). Algebra is so not my cup of tea. We had a quiz last Wednesday, and I know I did one problem horrifically wrong, but I didn’t know what I was doing wrong. I didn’t figure out how to fix it until after time was up, and I was on the lightrail train back to work.
Update: I’ve finished my essay (and the math, yippy!). It is quite possibly the worst essay I’ve ever written in my life. If you would like to read it, feel free: California: Possibility and Disappointment (pdf file – don’t steal my work). If you notice discrepancy, unfinished thoughts, and the like, let me know. I get to redo one essay a semester, and I feel that this is it. Besides, it’s never good if you’ve started drinking to mask how much you hate the paper, before you’ve even written the conclusion. After I turned this one in, the assignment for the second essay was available. I really don’t want to write about the mismanagement of California.
- “Californication,” Californication: Red Hot Chilli Peppers
I must have the worst blood circulation in the world.
My hands are always cold, no matter what I do. Here, in the middle of February, I sit at my laptop working away on… Well whatever I’m doing. Surfing forums when I should be writing papers. Anyway, my right hand is so cold. So much colder than the left. If I’m not doing any typing, I’m wearing the one arm warmer I’ve completed out of the Cashmerino Bulky. I really should get a move on the left one.
But, this isn’t just limited to my hands. My feet freeze too. I can’t sleep wearing socks, because they just bother me, but my feet never warm up. I have two down throws on my bed, and still I sleep with extra pillows over my feet, just to keep the warmth in. It isn’t very cold here in Sacramento. Not compared to back East, or Canada. It almost never drops below freezing here in the valley.
Oh, but my parents are so against the heat. We have a two story house, the second floor being home to the family room and my parent’s bedroom. Really, the only places they spend most of their time, while I nearly never venture above the ground floor. Apparently, they forget all about the “heat rising” thing, and when it’s nice and comfortable upstairs (where the AC/heater controls are), it’s still nippy downstairs. I am rarely without a sweatshirt in the winter.
So, how exactly does one go about getting better circulation? While it’s fun to touch [redacted] with cold hands and make him jump, it is really quite annoying to have nearly-numb hands. It’s a wonder I can even type without errors, as it is almost like I can’t feel where my hands are going.
While I love winter, I can’t wait for the warmer weather, if only for my hands and feet to get back to normal.
- “Get Busy Living Or Get Busy Dying (Do Your Part To Save the Scene And Stop Going To Shows),” From Under the Cork Tree: Fall Out Boy
Oh, I know what you’re thinking.
You’re thinking that I’m just another brash up-start, trying to make it big in the blogging world. Well, you’d only be half right. I’ve been blogging for what seems like forever. But the last two years, I’ve been blogging over at Daria Unplugged, and well, it just didn’t fit me anymore.
Not the domain name, not the style of blogging, not anything. I’ve made a conscious decision to move to a new domain without the baggage of the old posts. That’s not to say that they won’t be around. I don’t plan on letting Daria Unplugged go anywhere until I figure out where to store it for long-term access.
So, while I’ll still write about knitting, it won’t be all about the knitting. The lack of a digital camera has really made me think hard about what I wanted to write about, and the things I’ve been avoiding writing about.
So, it’ll be different around here. And I’ll probably piss of some people. Maybe everyone. But, that’s okay. I really am unsympathetic.
Update (12/23/08): Obviously this is still the first blog post, but I removed the link to the old domain name, as I lost it ages ago. It seemed silly to still link there.
