Soothing the Savage Beast

I've been searching for a new apartment & it's such a pain in the ass. I've kind of reached my boiling point with it & have been in such an awful mood all day thinking about it. I decided to download some new music & it is amazing how much better I feel. I haven't gotten a bunch of new music in a while so it was time & it was such a good idea! I don't frequently write about music but I'll open up to new horizons because it is one of the great loves of my life.

Isn't it fantastic how music can totally change your life (cheesy but true!) I just discovered Laura Izibor & I am in love. She's got the same kind of vibe as like a John Legend, Alicia Keys, India Arie type. Oddly enough, I found out about her by watching One Tree Hill. I like her extra because I feel like she's all mine. I like to have favorite artists that nobody really knows about because I feel personally attached to them. That's how I feel about John Legend except now everyone knows about him. He's still mine though.

John Legend is the musical love of my life. My college roommate turned me on to him when his first album came out with "Ordinary People" (my 2nd favorite John song ever. If you guess the 1st, you win a prize.) I cried when he played O.P. at his concert & then when I told my mom about it, I cried again. I'm pathetic, what can I say? It's true love.

But the thing about music that I love the most, is the way it makes you feel. Certain songs bring you back to times in your life or remind you of people or places or times & that is what I love about it. There really is a soundtrack to our lives. I love listening to my iTunes & seeing what comes on. I frequently sit in the dark listening to music & close my eyes & see where it brings me. Maybe that sounds weird but I don't care. I also break out into dance parties on a regular basis. Get over it.

Snail Mail

Think about this for a second: getting a hand-written note/letter from someone. It's kind of funny to think about because it's really not one of those things you do frequently think about. I'm not talking e-mails or FaceBook messages or texts. Those are nice too but on a completely different not-as-good level. There's a reason why people would write love letters back in the day; "love e-mails" just don't have the same effect.

But the reason I thought about this is because sometimes when I'm a little lonely or miss my family, I put on my grandfather's old flannel shirt. It's just one of those silly little comfort things for me. But it got me to thinking about him & his little notes he used to send me in the mail. They were amazing. There was never a time that I got one that I didn't laugh out loud or at least smile. It was always such a nice surprise when I would check my mail (plus they always had money in them so that was an added bonus.) But I miss those notes terribly because they meant so much to me & not because of the money.

When someone takes the time out to write a note or draw a picture or whatever, I just find it to be such a nice gesture. This goes for "Thank You" notes, especially. I understand after weddings you have a lot of these to write out but when someone writes something specifically for me & not a generic one they write to everyone, I will keep the note because I love that they did it. It's just somewhat of a keepsake I suppose. Maybe it's the scrapbooker in me but I always like to see things on paper. [Tangent time: I would HATE it when I would go to a Sweet 16 & as a "Thank You" I would get one of the professional photos that was taken of the Sweet 16 girl. There is absolutely no reason that I would want a professional photo taken of you. Ever. Grandparents/families? Yes. Me? HEEELLLLL NAW! But so anyway, I digress...] I worked with a girl recently that I helped train. When she was moving on to another department, she wrote me a hand-written "Thank You" note. I couldn't get over it, thought it was so nice. I later found out she wrote the same note to another girl, but hey, it's the thought that counts. My mother would love to hear me saying this because she was constantly trying to instill in me the importance of writing "Thank You's". Job well-done, Linda. You did it!

So I understand why people send Christmas cards but they've gotten to the point where they aren't personal anymore, they're more of a pain in the ass than anything. I would love it if in every one of my Christmas cards this year, there was a hand-written note to me, so get on that all 2 of you that send me Christmas cards. But I love to send little cards to my friends for stupid reasons. In fact, I'm going to start doing it more. And maybe draw little pictures inside & cut out jokes for them. Pop Pop would be proud :)

PS I always enjoy writing so much, I really don't know why I don't do it more.

Crazy Dreams...

I have some pretty weird ass dreams & half the time I can't remember them all but I do remember the one I had this morning. So my cat Lily wakes up around 5 AM almost every day & sometimes when she makes too much noise or is too annoying I lock her in the bathroom so I can sleep. Such was the case this morning & then I fell asleep & this is what I dreamed...

She was banging against the door so I got up to let her out. When I opened the door, a large grizzly bear had somehow pushed aside my toilet & was climbing up through the hole in the floor. Lily ran out & I slammed the door (because you know, bears can't break down flimsy doors.) I'm not sure why I didn't flee my apartment but I guess I'm not much of a thinker in dreams. Instead I hid in my room with Lily & called animal control & decided it was safe enough to go back to sleep until they got there.

Then I woke up & just to be on the safe side, I let Lily out of the bathroom.

The Way Boys Watch Sports...

I'm going to guess that even if you don't enjoy watching sports, you have at one point or another sat through a game with a group of boys. Yes? Then I highly encourage you to read on. I am surrounded by boys watching sports on a daily basis so I have a lot of research in this area. There are various ways that boys watch games. Let me explain.

First there is the play-by-play guy. This one is kind of self-explanatory. This type of guy will sit through a game & comment on every play & pretty much state the obvious of what is going on. I'm not a huge fan of the play-by-play guy because sometimes you just want to watch the game. I have eyes, I can see what's going on. I don't need you to tell me. I'm going to guess that this guy doesn't know as much as he pretends to & he feels he needs to make up for his lack of knowledge with constant chatter to distract everyone else.

The color commentator. This guy can be interesting to watch with because they will add their little tidbits of info or factoids & they usually add to your viewing experience, just as the actual color commentator on TV does. This guy usually knows a little more about sports than your average guy. He'll say things beyond what you might know.

The referee. This guy finds it necessary to call every play. In basketball, they always yell whenever there's a foul or a travel or anything that a ref working the game might call. Football, every penalty or first down is brought to our attention by said referee. I sometimes wonder if these guys sit at home with their yellow flags, ready to pounce. Also see: umpire.

The analyst. If you enjoy sports, you enjoy watching with an analyst. This is usually someone very familiar with the game, like a former player. It's generally someone people respect because their opinions seem to hold more traction. Color commentators strive to be analysts but they are always a step behind. Analysts don't necessarily talk throughout the game but really break it down for you during commercials or half-time.

The sideline reporter. This guy doesn't talk a whole lot during the game but when he does, he usually has some useful info. He'll pop up with a note here & there & just as on TV, your play-by-play guy will thank him.

I watch a lot of sports but there's a significant difference in the way girls watch & the way boys do. Watching sports for boys is kind of like a fraternity so it doesn't matter who is playing or if they care who wins, they will watch & plays their parts. Of course I'll argue with the refs (the ones actually working the games) & yell & scream when the situation warrants it. If it's not my team or a game that somehow affects my team though, I'm not watching with a purpose. 9 times out of 10, boys are.

Enough is Enough?

This is gonna sound weird coming from me but I'm kinda sick of talking about sports. It's what happens when you live in Bristol I think, unless you're a huge sports nerd (which believe me, there are PLENTY here.) All of my friends here work at ESPN so everybody is a sports fan. When I'm at work, I talk about sports. When I hang out with my friends, we talk about sports & work. To be perfectly honest, I'm not 100% sure if I know how to have a full conversation without mentioning sports anymore. I mean, look at the header on this page. What does that tell you about me? (aside from the fact that I make some pretty kick-ass Halloween costumes.) Hell, I don't even know what to write blog posts about because all the things I think about are sports-related. You wouldn't think this would be a problem but I like to think I have more dimensions than just my knowledge of sports.

Don't get me wrong, I love sports. If I didn't, do you really think I'd work at ESPN & have lived the last 2+ years of my life in this place? But that doesn't mean that that's all that I am. Just like onions & ogres, I've got layers too. I think the problem is that I use sports as my go-to conversation. Hey, sometimes you gotta go with what you know! Also, boys love talking sports so as soon as a boy knows I work at ESPN, all they wanna do is talk sports. I'm not sure if I can change this about myself (at least not as long as I live, breathe & eat sports in Bristol) but the first step is admitting you have a problem, right? I should try to go 1 full non-work night without bringing up anything athlete-related & see how it goes. Challenge accepted.