Baton Rouge Again

LOOK! IT'S GREEN ALGAE!!!

I'm going to the Laundromat tonight to wash clothes/take pictures. And yes, I'm excited. It hasn't ever gotten old- probably because when I get tired of going to the actual building, I still get to say the name of it- which, luckily, I have a jolly ol' time doing.

I've started sleeping in tights- just because I live alone and I can wear whatever the f*$@ I want. Haha

I'm going to Baton Rouge tomorrow night for a show with my band, Engine, and Gashcat and Elephant Apple at Chelsea's. I'm looking forward to it mostly. It's funny - even when all my feelings are right and good, the ride down still poses threats. I WILL NOT LET YOU GET TO ME, RED STICK- one of my favorite cities, and if I am finally happy for all the people within you, I should fully embrace you as just a lovely city in which I used to live. You don't have to be just a bad memory.... And I am now talking to an inanimate object.... But Baton Rouge is finally almost as lovely as it used to be, and I can't wait to be within it again.

Randoms

Trying to grasp reality., originally uploaded by olivia bee.

I'm waiting on someone to blow me away. I'm busy doing other things - my own things. And honestly, I don't expect it. Is that so bad?

I often wonder if I would be friends with me if I weren't me.

My next album to buy will be Bromst by Dan Deacon. "Paddling Ghost" and "Red F" are amazing. I'm also on an Animal Collective kick. Thank you, ladybug.

"Hold on - One more time with feeling. Try it again - Breathing's just a rhythm. Say it in your mind until you know that the words are right. This is why we fight." - One More Time With Feeling by REGINA SPEKTOR

Birthday Weekend = Waiter Mice in Suits

I had the most serene and beautiful experience with a lady bug this weekend. I wish I could remember how amazing it felt at the time. Now it just feels like a dream.

Kaleidoscopes and the Girl I Forgot

Since I was a little kid, I've been fascinated by kaleidoscopes.

They're so beautiful - like something from another dimension that we discovered.

Before I do something, I always picture this little girl (it feels like me when I was a kid) in the back of my mind and I picture what she would think about what I am about to do.

I hate disappointing her.

Sometimes I wish I could get her out of my head.

::::::::::: TOP 3 :::::::::::

So, if it's any consolation... This is the first time I've done this.... :) I have officially had two #1's/a #1 & #2 (I'm not sure, it feels wrong to say) for a long while. But I think I found my #3. And this is not based on their musical genius or anything (semi-excluding Jack White); they just happen to all be musicians. Because that's what I like, I guess.

Here it is, Ladies and Gentlemen -

My TOP 3!!!

#1 - JACK WHITE from The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather. Has to go to my beloved Jack White, of course. I'm attempting to describe why he's awesome and my #1.... Honestly my descriptions seem to all fall short. He isn't what one would normally call "a singer," but he tries so hard that he pulls it off and is more entertaining than any other musician because of it, to me. I'd rather listen to him than any other "singer." He was named #17 on Rolling Stone's list of top 100 guitarists. In addition to being a frickin bad-a on guitar, he also plays piano and drums as well as probably multiple instruments I have never heard of. I would pee my pants if I were in the same room with this guy- guaranteed. Icky Thump by the White Stripes.

#2 - JULIAN CASABLANCAS from The Strokes and Julian Casablancas (solo project). He's always slightly sharp vocally (which is the only way to make it work - flat sounds ever so horrible, sharp is intriguing), there is a lot of yelling, he's very hard to understand, cool as shniz, goofy but still very "I don't give a f&#*", always in his own world, very expressive. Watch The Strokes You Only Live Once music video - you shall see.

#3 - ANDREW VANWYNGARDEN from MGMT. This guy is most likely a man whore and a douche, as most beautiful people are. Also, he seems almost as if he's trying to be weird just to be weird if that makes sense? Maybe not, maybe he's awesome. But, he is a member of an originally two-piece band that has revolutionized and made popular indie music. So I am very thankful for his existence. And his face as well. :) And he cross dresses somewhat, which is totally appealing to me for some reason. Maybe it was my exposure to David Bowie as a kid, I don't know. But I always thought it was totally awesome. Time to Pretend - MGMT

Anywho, those are my top 3!!!

Saturday Hair Do.

Saturday hair do., originally uploaded by poodleit.

I want to get my hair done like this.

If Snowball can pull it off, so can I.

Spring Upun Us

Waiting in the dark., originally uploaded by olivia bee.

So, all in all, yesterday was a fabulous birthday. I'm so thankful for my friends. They really do mean the world to me.

Olivia Bee (who took this photo) is the shniz.

This weekend will be the first weekend in spring. I will be at Centenary all day with a dress on for The Battle of The Bands. My friend, Joshua October, is playing that day. : )

It's really amazing how emotionally changed I am by music. It feels like being in love. It's amazing how beautiful a feeling I can have from this. I can't even explain this feeling. My mind races with thoughts of something I don't even know. It simply feels like being in love.

Paleo - "A View of The Sky". Buy it. Listen to the song "The Password" in particular. You will feel.

Birthday ::::: SURPRISE ::::: Rant

IMG_3332, originally uploaded by c.norm.rockwell.

And here's to you for giving me a horrible birthday present- I don't know if you really did mean well at that time in your life or if it was all just showing me what I wanted to see... But I'm glad I see now who you are content to be; because, you have nothing to show for your smooth talking but a ball and chain... And noone likes a ball and chain. To sum it up, thanks for making it so easy. I am currently writing a new verse for Four Eyes to be recorded shortly. Thanks, Facebook, for having the guts to tell me, since no one else did. What I thought I knew of you was great. So sorry it had to end up this way. Life for me begins again here.

Such an odd couple of days. Had my first nightmare in my new house last night. It involved a raging HSAM drug-addict psychopath fan that tried to kill us. It involved him having a bandana with my originally-written lyrics as the pattern. Kinda cool actually. I remember feeling flattered, but scared. Haha

Show with PALEO tonight!!! Deedle deedle

Warhol's Light Bulbs

Warhol's Light Bulbs, originally uploaded by zetson.

Unloading everything I own yet again.

Everything seems dirty from one side and clean from the other.

So I wash all of it, regardless of what it actually looks like.

The dirtiest things have always tried to turn their face anyway.

Little Trees

This is my great great great great uncle's family in roughly 1870. He was the grand son of David Richard Norman, one of the five original orphan boys adopted by Lord John Sheffield when they came over from Great Britain in the early 1800's.

And I introduce John David Norman who lived from 1875-1951 and is my grandfather's grandfather (and also cousins with all the kids above). Paw Paw would tell me stories about this man. He is handsome. :)

And that is an exerpt from my family tree. It makes me happy.

I move into my new house today. I'm excited to make it my own-
sit on the porch, play guitar all night long, cook food for myself? Yeah, even that!

Deedle deedle

What if they really are a family?

Do you think we would listen then?.... Pshhh, idiot.

Before the Bubble Burst...

Before the Bubble Burst..., originally uploaded by HDR Cafe.

My favorite color is red. It sucks me in. And this picture (which happens to have no red, but) is so ridiculously beautiful to me. I love it.

I spent two hours yesterday randomly researching a man called D. B. Cooper, who supposedly was the culprit in the only unsolved airline hijacking in American aviation history. Yeah. Weird. Literally parachuted out of a moving plane with thousands of dollars and they don't know where or who he is.

One thing was decided last night: "I HATE TEASES." Hate them. Nothing happened last night. I just took part in a long wino rant about how annoying teases are. Life can go on now.

"Don't Grow Old Without Me"

Banksy So, there is a particular song that I wrote called "Don't Grow Old Without Me" (WHICH WILL BE ON MY NEW ALBUM WHICH WILL BE FINISHED IN A FEW MONTHS!!!) and it was a love song written about all of the things I would miss about a particular person if they ceased to be in my life anymore. And, thanks to how my psychic mind works, he ceases to be a part of my life anymore. But the cool thing is, I sang the song for him while he was still a part of my life... And all of those things he heard me sing to him - about him - that I said I would miss, I was dead on. It's been a horrendous few months- the hardest I've ever had in my life. And it's a very sad story. I usually make a point not to say what the song is about when I'm playing a set; I also usually think about something entirely different while I'm singing that song. However, I explained in detail what the song was about before I sang it last week. Several people teared up... including me. It felt very vulnerable. It made me feel like a child. But it made me realize that those songs - the love songs that flowed so easily from me before - comprised merely a chapter of my life. A wonderful chapter of my life, but there really are so many.

There's a quote that is from some TV show (don't look it up - it looks dumb), but the quote is, "Do you know what hurts most about a broken heart? Not being able to remember how you felt before."

Weird thing is I knew what a broken heart felt like before it happened. I just wish I could feel that happiness again that I felt before all of it happened. I've always lived in the future or in the past. The present never feels memorable. But now, in the present, I look back to my past and wish I would've lived FULLY in the present while it was so beautiful.

Having said that, I don't think that my present is too terribly memorable as of now, but you never know the days or months that you will remember forever. Sometimes the ordinary things seem the sweetest later on in life. And so, for that, I'm going to live my present to the fullest. Why not make something beautiful to remember?

Every Once in a While, There's a Monday That is All Things Good

What an amazing day! Small exerpt:

1) I got chewed out by my boss today. However, I got to (quite respectfully, of course) tell him that he was wrong and it wasn't my fault. I was right, he was wrong. He has been an absolute angel since, and I walk with not only the knowledge that I am no longer in trouble, but also that.... I'm sure he was embarrassed. Hee hee. What a horrible person I am.

2) I signed on my lease today! I will be moving into a studio apartment by myself next Wednesday. It will be my first place I've ever lived all by myself. I get to decorate every thing exactly how I want it. I'm psyched. I will have this rug.

3) I START MY ALBUM TONIGHT!!!!! Can I even begin to express how excited I am?!

4) I am booking shows again FINALLY. I have a show March 14, 18, and 21. And on the 21st, which happens to be my birthday, I get to play a show with one of my all-time favorite musicians. His band name is Paleo and he is absolutely amazing - the modern day Bob Dylan. He had a project in which he wrote 365 songs in one year (recorded all of them, kept track of where he wrote them, etc.) and is one of the smartest, most genuinely awesome people I know of. I've listened to his music and kept up with him for the past two or three years, after hearing him on the college radio station in Shreveport. And now I get to play with him. This is literally a dream come true, as dumb as it sounds.

5) I got $50 worth of free money today. Yes, it was awesome.

MIKA ::: Naked Dreams

I'd tap that if he'd let me... He probably wouldn't. :/

And that was a joke mostly.

So, I had my first naked dream last night in a while- you know the ones where you're in a group of a bunch of people that are fully clothed and you look down and you're not wearing anything? Well, I started having those dreams when I was like ten and I remember feeling soooo embarrassed in the dream and utterly mortified.

So in my dream last night, it was me and like four other people in a pool in my parents back yard. I was just chilling in the pool and then climbed out of it and noticed.... I'm butt naked.... but it wasn't a big deal at all to me!

Everyone in the dream was like, "...Maybe you should put on some clothes. It's kind of inappropriate." And I was like, "Naw! It's so natural and comfortable and the sun is shining. Why NOT be naked?"

I felt beautiful. I think I had someone else's body though- a rockin one. Either that or I just felt super confident in my own skin.

...I think that dream either officially makes me a hippy or a hussy, not sure which. Supposedly from the link above, if you don't feel embarrassed in a naked dream, "it symbolizes your unrestricted freedom. You have nothing to hide and are proud of who you are. The dream is about a new sense of honesty, openness, and a carefree nature... Alternatively, the dream may be telling you that you are drawing the wrong kind of attention to yourself. You want to get noticed, but are going about it the wrong way." I read into dreams- your dreams seem to understand you more than your brain does.

Be Human by Scott Matthew

This is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. I heard it on KSCL last week driving... around town... with my good friend, Joseph. (Hey, Joseph! :) ) I spent a good two days looking for the song in mp3 format since it's not on iTunes. But I SERIOUSLY advise you google the song and listen to it. It is the song that describes my life right now. Not the lyrics necessarily. But the feeling. Oh! And I'm highlighting in red and as-ter-isk-ing my favorite lyrics and giving my take on the lyrics in blue for your reading pleasure. .... Eww. Oh, and think of a cartoon robot singing this song and all he wants is to know what it feels like to be like his owner that made him and like the kids that he helps.

I analyze and I verify and I quantify enough

one hundred percentile

no errors, no miss

I synchronize and I specialize and I classify so much

don't worry 'bout dreaming

because I don't sleep

*I wish I could at least 30 percent

maybe 50 for pleasure

then skip all the rest*

I really like this part because even when he is imagining what he would like to experience - the feelings themselves - he is stating those ideas in mathematical terms - percentages. Smart. Smart. He even thinks as a robot; there is no escape from his mathematical, statistical, logical viewpoint.

if I only was more human

*I would count every single second the rest of my life*

if I just could be more human

*I'd have so many little babies* and maybe a wife

This is the same basic idea as above. Humans don't count the seconds of their life; however, computers (or robots) have a constant timer running, set up at their initial birth. There would be no need to count ever single second (he's still imagining life in his robotic mindset). The last line I like just because it strikes a chord with me. It's cute.

I'd roll around the mud

and have lots of fun

then when I was done

build bubblebath towers and swim in the tub

sand castles on the beach

frolic in the sea

get a broken knee

be scared of the dark and *I'd sing out of key*

cuss when I lost a fight

kiss and reunite

scratch a spider bite

*be happy with wrinkles I got when I smiled*

pet kittens til they purred

maybe keep a bird

always keep my word

I'd cry at sad movies

I'd laugh til it hurt

I'd buy a big bike

and ride by the lake

and I'd have lots of friends

and I'd stay out late

I think this is where there is a shift in his thinking. He is finally wanting to do things that he can't do as a robot, and he wants to do them in ways only humans can (singing off key, getting wrinkles, etc.)

if I could just be more human

I would see every little thing with a gleam in my eye

if only I was more human

*I'd embrace every single feeling that came in my life*

would I care and be forgiving?

would I be sentimental and would I feel loneliness?

would I doubt and have misgivings?

would I cause someone sorrow, too?

would I know what to do?

will I cry when it's all over?

when I die will I see heaven?

He's asking human questions now - wondering what he will be like as a human. I think this song represents the idea of wanting to be something you're not- not in a negative sense necessarily. To sum it up, this song represents the longing of someone for something they can't have; which, ironically, only living, breathing things do in the first place.... Yeah. ;)

PLEASE LISTEN TO THIS SONG!!! SO BEAUTIFUL!!!

March is the Bees

The Features - "Some Kind of Salvation"


This is mid-spring/summer music.
I dare you to NOT listen to this album for a couple of weeks.
So.
Good.






Engine - "The Factory Fire"

This is my bands' album.
It's my favorite project I've ever been a part of in every aspect. Listening to it takes me back to a place that I enjoy very much. It was beautiful. Oh, and I wouldn't mind you listening and telling me what you think if you haven't heard us before. :)




MARCH IS HERE!!! Which means spring is almost here as well! Spring is my favorite season- nothing dies, everything changes for the better (except for pollen). I'm about to be best friends with my "nose crack"... Yeah, during that ellipsis? I totally just used it. Yeah, f*&# you, Downy Simple Pleasures.

::::::::::::::To Humanity::::::::::::::

Please STOP using the word "pretty" as a cure-all adjective. "Oh, look at this pretty picture!" "These are pretty things!" It's literally one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. And it makes you sound as if you're five years old. I have no suggestions for you and I really don't care what adjective you use as long as it doesn't sound like you're baby-talking to me. It's offensive.