14 of 31: (tired of) "giving"

High-fives to my latest over indulgences: 

• Fiction Family - Fiction Family
• The Ting Tings - We Started Nothing
• Rage Against the Machine - Live At The Grand Olympic Auditorium
• Muse - Origin of Symmetry 
• Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
• Brandi Carlile - The Story
• Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You
• Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
• Emerson Hart - Cigarettes and Gasoline
• The Fray - The Fray
• Erin McCarly - Love, Save the Empty
• Flogging Molly - Float
• Radiohead - In Rainbows

Because I've been projecting the funk:

10 really great things that I love/am thankful for/just make me smile...

• the care package that I assembled for The Staff Sergeant's next trip - care packaging is love.

• I have the day off, it's sunny and 65 degrees and I'm spending the afternoon in a sweet, new coffee house downtown

• 16 Military Wives - The Decemberists
  

• reading Anne Lamott's hilarious quips on life and writing

• pole dancing...and the next 6 weeks of it that await me :)

• taking down the Martha empire one cookie at a time. I heart baking.

• HAVING HIM HOME!

• um...7 weeks till graduation

• fitting once again in my "skinny" jeans

• a brief series of date nights and date night dresses [trapeze, naturally]

::sigh::

Outside it rains and I have sad eyes, or maybe tired. Perhaps it's just a rainy mood inspired by gray clouds. I'm heavy, my eyes are anyway, and the music wafts lazily over and through and below the murmur of the others. I know the voice of this singer but can't retrieve his name from the tip of my tongue. His identity doesn't much matter, and this song fits oddly with the melancholy nature of the late afternoon shower. Peppermint tea rolls steam from its surface before me and dribbles carelessly down one side - syphoned by the the steeping bag.

The aroma of coffee permeates the air. [and peppermint too, of course.]

I have no idea what has gotten beneath my skin, nonetheless this unnamed agitation is bothersome. Maybe it is the rain, and the sad slush of tires through puddles on the asphalt. Maybe it's the Hornby novel I read, likening marriage to the impulse to drink bleach. Maybe it's [this] or [that]...maybe, maybe, maybe. Maybe it's the woeful plight of voices around me, those who might actually be planning to toast the Universe with a brimming pour of Clorox.

Could the goal really be unachievable...?

I believe this 2:32 minutes says enough on its own.

I love love LOVE this song.

And all together unrelated, but brought to my attention...see dreaded plague, paragraph 5 and also the entire eighth paragraph.

Life is ironic :)

Laugh.

A series of unfortunate events.

I retired my laptop hours before usual to instead lay in bed and devour a chapter or two of On The Road. Right about Fresno my eyes got heavy, and for once in long while, I surrendered to their sleepy desires. It was before midnight when I set my alarm for 7am and turned out the lights to wedge between the covers. A good plan, I thought, to bed early to rise early. My body revolted like an angst-ridden teen...tossing and turning and waking on the hour. When the alarm jolted me from a lukewarm slumber, I laid there exhausted for half an hour more. At 7:30am I was still doing well for time.

This morning I swore to leave 30 full minutes before class was to begin even though my campus is only 3 miles from my front door. It seems that with the influx of freshman, a simultaneous disappearance of parking slots has also occurred. I've thought about calling Roswell to investigate, but instead I attempt to remedy the problem with futile curses contained within the solitude of my car. It isn't really working. You should also know that time management is a great weakness of mine, but this morning I was on my A-game. I was prepared to be prompt in my attendance.

At exactly 9:05am I stepped outside, locking the door behind me.

First hurried step, phone - check.

Second, iPod - check.

Third - I'm gonna be on time!

Fourth, keys - che...where are my keys!?

I didn't yet launch into panic, although it was more than warranted. This would be my third missed class since the semester's beginning from which I would be absent. I'm pretty sure that under such circumstances, a student becomes a top candidate for immediate failure or dismissal from the course. I calmly turned back and lunged for the spare...I should probably add it to my list for Roswell's research, seeing that it too has mysteriously gone missing.

Shit!...and panic ensued.

To make a short story not as long as I would otherwise make it, The Roommate left work to let me in, I sped to class, found a miraculous parking spot in the garage, the door wasn't locked today, and I sauntered awkwardly into the classroom only 10 minutes late. I was at odds with the universe! After a solid effort of flawed preparation, I think I'll stick to my preferred by-the-seat-of-your-pants method.

On happier notes, The Staff Sergeant and I have a date tomorrow. I believe we'll be attending an indie rock affair in the Gulch. Hopefully it will prove to be as good of a show as the talk seems to bill it.

This is why they call it "Music City."

I spent the better part of last night in the presence of greatness. It is times like those that make me so glad to be in Nashville over anywhere else in the world. I was at the Rutledge for the first of many RAINN benefit concerts that will tour the states (Boston, NYC, Asheville, to name a few stops). The line-up included Matthew Perryman Jones, who I have mentioned before, K.S. Rhoads, Kate York, Brooke Waggoner, and Katie Herzig, and can I just say, that for $5, anyone who wasn't there truly missed out.

It sometimes makes us Nashvillians jaded to be fortunate enough on any given day to be able to flip open The Scene to scope the evening's shows, or just to stop into our favorite bar/venue and be blown away by incredible talent. Other times, at least for me, it makes me sad that not everyone can do the same. Last night was...for lack of a less overused adjective, amazing.

Kate York, K.S.Rhoads, and Brooke Waggoner started the show off with a typical round - and by "typical," I mean only in format. Every song moved me with the sorrow that wrote it. The three even laughed in jest at their cumulative dismal tone. We've all been there, though - broken, I mean. Their brokenness, however, was far more beautiful than any state in which I have found myself. Inspiring is what it was. Beautifully inspiring.

Lowercase Collective followed the round in what I can only describe as the most boring performance I've ever seen. It wasn't the music, or the songs, it was the lack of energy in the performers. A few times I half expected the bassist to numbly flip the pages of a hidden magazine atop the speaker against the wall, or for the keyboard player to be sipping coffee, making out his grocery list between cud-chewing chomps of his gum. They were bored, hence, we were bored. I feel for the lead guy. If the others had his energy, the show might have been salvaged.

Third on stage was Matthew Perryman Jones. He rocked (hard). No less do I want to bear the children of his music, in fact, I may want to more. I purchased his album, "Throwing Punches in the Dark", on iTunes yesterday. It's incredible. He's incredible. His band was in NO way bored. He performed a version of an old spiritual song that I simply can't recall right this moment...but, wow. It flustered me, moved me, inspired me. Everyone should love him. OK, enough. He's married. ::sigh::

My roommate had mentioned her excitement to see Katie Herzig. I however, had not heard of her. She opened for The Fray a few months ago, she had written a song that caught my ear on the local indie station, but wasn't singing it. I must say that my life is further enriched now that I know of Katie Herzig. She seems the unlikely "rockstar" by appearance, but her voice will quite nearly move you to tears. She pours herself out on the stage - empties herself. For us to even feel a percentage of the passion she offers to her audience, we as society would be changed as a whole.

Four hours, a Michelob Ultra and turkey sandwich later, we headed home. Following so much creative energy, more than anything I wanted to paint, but alas, work waited in the morning hours, and I'm attempting to retrain my body to sleep.