Have you ever been alone in a crowded room when I'm here with you?

Have you ever been alone in a crowded room; well I'm here with you...

And for the record, I hope that Alex Rodriguez ends up making less than $25 million a year. I would dearly love to punch Scott Boras in the face. Seriously, who interupts the World Series to make an announcement like that. Not classy.

I feel that it would be much easier to have a son and a daughter opposed to having 2 sons and 2 daughters. You could love both equally and also treat them completely different with significantly less concern about them comparing themselves to each other.

You woke up
In pieces
From making
These changes
And holding
Me ransom
Won't write you
An anthem
-- The Broken Heart

Wow. Clockstoppers was so unoriginal and yet so enjoyable. It helps if you've seen Agent Cody Banks before (even though Agent Cody Banks was made AFTER clockstoppers) because Clockstoppers has a very similar atmosphere but manages it 10x better. But since Clockstoppers came first, I guess I could rail on Agent Cody Banks being a huge, inferior ripoff, which probably only garnered what little success it did because it featured stars like Frankie Muniz (in a post-pubescent state) and Hilary Duff (in pre-whatever the hell she's done to herself in the past 4 years-state).

But unoriginality of the plot and all (despite the very interesting premise), I don't know... it just didn't come off as being stupid and maybe that's why I liked it so much. It could have degenerated into stupidity SO easily and didn't. Of course, I have come to realized that I am SO heavily biased when watching these comedies that perhaps I am no longer qualified to voice an opinion. Here's the bottom line. If it's a comedy (or in this case, actually billed as a family-esq film), and it features a guy and a girl, I'll be honest here, as long as those two characters interact with each other in an interesting and original way, I can probably let everything else slide. So while it wasn't he most original of plots, or development, I found those two characters sufficiently interesting and thus enjoyed the film. There it is. So sue me. In this fairy-tale like, happy ending family/teen comedy, there is no kiss to seal the deal at the end. Sorry to destroy the film if you've not seen it but yeah. Actually disbanding the SWAK tradition in THIS kind of film, where everything else seems so typical and not leaving it to be desired deserves due credit. I think that was what did it for me. As the film drew to a close, I was thinking "please don't kiss her, please don't kiss her... if you do, you'll reduce this film to another generic prototype" and good thing it didn't happen. I would definitely have given it much more seething review had it happened... or perhaps not have bestowed upon it the honor of being talked about on this blog at this ungodly hour in the morning.

Guess who's done exams on December 10th?! That's a full 2 weeks before Christmas! I didn't think I'd end earlier than I did last year but I'm pretty sure I ended on the 11th or something last year. The trick now is making it to December 10th with relatively stable mental health.

FAQ:

"How do I get my account number?"

Automated response: If you have a chequing account, it's on your cheque

The obvious rebuttal: What if I don't have a chequing account?

I guess that part was too complicated for them to handle. So much for user friendliness. Idiots. I suppose people with Savings accounts don't need their account numbers.

This will be my attempt at helping Karen get a better understanding of what music I like. I don't know how to go about doing this and it might very well be the most challenging thing I've attempt to do on blogger since it's not an opinionated rant. In fact, for the first time ever, I will be attempting to dissect WHY I like certain songs/music instead of going for the wholistic "I just think it sounds nice" which is my usual answer. In fact I shall quote the question: "I wish I had a better understanding of your musical tastes and a broader view of the bands you like". Ok, with that goal in mind, here we go! I will include lyrical content where relevant. Also, keep in mind that with the exception of Jack's Mannequin and Something Corporate, liking a band does not mean that I like all their music. I am stubbornly selective even within artists who write good songs. So my music tastes are restricted to specifically those songs I list, which should be among my favorites.

Jack's Mannequin
Unquestionably my favorite band ever. In fact, if you want a general idea of my music taste, listen to some Jack's. It's my musical taste in one big nutshell. One thing that stands out about Jack's Mannequin is that I actually enjoy his songs for BOTH the music AND lyrical content. Normally, I couldn't care less about lyrics. Or at least, put it this way: bad lyrics don't bother me. I can appreciate good lyrics though, and Jack's lyrics are off the charts because of how applicable, appropriate, and well phrased they are to every facet of my life. Music-wise, piano-rock always strikes a chord with me and Jack's also does this to perfection. I'm not going to dissect each individual song seperately because everything about them is good.

"But if you left it up to me, everyday would be a holiday from real"
"Oh the trouble we could get in so let's screw this one up right"
-- Holiday From Real

"But if it's true then tell me how it got this way"
"As I'm cutting through this track by track, I swear to god this mix could sink the sun, but it was you I was thinking of"
-- The Mixed Tape

"I put on the same clothes I wore yesterday; when did society decide that we had to change and wash a T-shirt after every individual use? If it's not dirty, I'm gonna wear it"
-- I'm Ready

"Dark Blue, have you ever been alone in a crowded room when I'm here with you? I said the world could be burning; burning down"
-- Dark Blue

Something Corporate
Andrew McMahon during his pre-cancerous days. Same guy from Jack's Mannequin. Something Corporate came first. SoCo's lyrics are not nearly as good as Jack's with the exception of Konstantine (which for the records probably stands as my favorite song ever), even though the lyrics are in themselves unique, and it's got a much more generic pop-punk sound. That being said, I don't have a problem with generic pop-punk if it's so over the top that it's good. That is SoCo. Also, it has what Jack's lacks: a show stopping tune (read: Konstantine). Something Corporate was once described as being a cross between Billy Joel and blink-182. Guess which other artists 2 artists stand out as being some of my favorite ever.

"I can't imagine all the people that you know; and the places that you go; when the lights are turned down low"
"We've been drinking and it doesn't get us anywhere"
"It's to Jimmy Eat World and those nights in my car; when the first star you see may not be a star; I'm not your star"
"This is to a girl who got into my head with all the pretty things she did"
"You spin around me like a dream; we play out on this movie screen and I said: 'Did you know I miss you?'"
-- Konstantine

"And as you sleep; and no one is listening; I will lift you off your feet"
-- As You Sleep

"Caught a train to Poughkeepsie, and time stood still"
-- I Woke Up In A Car

"These words are tainted, with years of jaded; innocence that's all but gone"
-- Forget December

The Goo Goo Dolls
I always felt that the GGD were a hit or miss thing with me. But as Grant very aptly once put it, there are no bad artists, only bad songs... and artists who write a lot of them. And the GGD have written some very good songs. Iris, Slide, Better Days, and Black Balloon are in my opinion the best that the GGD have to offer. Actually, with the exception of Black Balloon, the other three hold lyrical attraction for me as well, which is an added plus. I always feel as if there's some really charged emotion coming from these songs and while the same could be said of a lot of artists, it really comes through in the GGD's music.

"You're the closests to heaven that I'll ever be and I don't wanna go home right now"
-- Iris

"What you feel is what you are; what you are is beautiful"
-- Slide

"And tonight's the night the world begins again"
-- Better Days

Abandoned Pools
At some point, listing off bands will become sort of a moot point because I rarely listen to a lot of music by the same band (Jack's, SoCo aside). But for consistency sake, here we have Abandoned Pools. As far as I know, they've written 2 good songs: Start Over and Blood. Start Over is particularly good... I guess because of its lyrical content. So perhaps what we have here is a trend that shows how good lyrics help make a song jump from being good to being great in my views. But the music is very good. Also, Start Over is particularly dear to me because it conjures up memories of Clone High watching in the Doorbell Room at the beginning of first year.

"What a mess our lives turned out to be; it was at its best when you and I were only three; we can start with all the things that turn us out; and we can go right down the list and throw them out"
-- Start Over

Mandy Moore
Overall I think Mandy Moore might have one of the most attractive voices I have ever heard in the history of the world. That is probably the driving impetus behind my liking her music along with A Walk To Remember possibly being my favorite film ever. Actually, some of the better tunes I think come straight from the soundtrack. Cry and Only Hope come to mind. Those are probably the two best songs I have heard from her, although I will give credit to Crush and Turn The Clock Around to being pretty good as well. As for lyrical content, who knows. I've not really taken notice.

Billy Joel
The man who started it all. Literally the first artist I began listening to heavily, introduced to me by Grant en route to Quebec in 2000. Billy Joel is just classy. Classy 70s piano rock. If you don't like Piano Man, we cannot be friends. Aside from Piano Man, songs like You're My Home and The Ballad of Billy the Kid come to mind as being good Billy Joel songs. I'm sure there are many others but I don't have the effort to download entire discographies. Those 3 are very very good though because they're just... classy. In my opinion anyway.

"It's 9 o'clock on a Saturday; the regular crowd shuffles in; there's an old man sitting next to me; makin' love to his tonic and gin"
"Sing us a song you're the piano man; sing us a song tonight; well we're all in the mood for a melody; and you've got us feelin' alright"
-- Piano Man

blink-182
Good old blink-182. They sing about so many different facets of "love" it's surprising. But yes, love the music. I'm a drummer. Travis Barker is fun to play alongside of. Therein lies the reason why I like blink so much. It's just energetic, crazy pop-punk music with some cool riffs and mind-numbingly generic chord progressions. Personal favorites include Adam's Song, Going Away To College, Down, and Always... I think. But most of blink is pretty good in general.

"I haven't been this scared; in a long time; and I'm so unprepared; so here's your valentine; bouquet of clumsy words; a simply melody; this world's an ugly place; but you're so beautiful to me"
-- Going Away To College

Joshua Radin
Possibly the best writer of quiet, acoustic songs, Joshua Radin has recorded some truly splendid material. Apparently his lyrics are fantastic (according to Grant) but personally, I think his music does him enough credit. Paperweight (duet with one Schulyer Fisk), Closer, and Star Mile are the ones I personally prefer. Closer has a really nice sounding guitar riff in the intro, as does Paperweight. Paperweight is one of those songs that I would whip out on the acoustic guitar at the drop of the hat and it's also a great lying-in-bed-on-a-Sunday-morning song.

The Used
Probably the epitome of the statement, there are no bad artists, only bad songs... and artists who write a lot of them, I like The Used. In general, I think they've written some truly great songs... and some truly bad ones. I Caught Fire and Blue & Yellow are personal favorites and are a good example of what The Used could have done if they didn't spend all their time screaming. Honestly, I understand the use of the vocals as a percussion instrument but The Used do much better without it (most bands do). I guess Alexisonfire gets away with it because their screamer is an actual designated percussionist but then again, Alexisonfire has written a lot of truly godawful music as well (more then The Used by a long shot).

Third Eye Blind
Grant's ex-favorite band (now replaced with Bright Eyes, none of whom's songs have made it past the bearable stage for me as yet), T3B has written some truly fantastic material such as Semi-Charmed Life, Jumper and How's It Gonna Be. Semi-Charmed Life I think is great for its energy and its ability to make even me want to get up and jump around. Also, it's lyrically great as well. How's It Gonna Be has a nice little guitar riff that as far as I'm concerned, is pleasing to the ears.

"And the four right chords can make me cry; when I'm with you I feel like I could die and that would be alright; alright"
-- Semi-Charmed Life

Jump Little Children
Very summer of 07 band for me, entirely associated with Courtney Plankton but that aside, also some truly great songs. Mexico, Rains in Asia, and Cathedrals are my personal favorites. Cathedrals especially has a great line in it that elevates it to "good song with good lyrics" status. Good lying in bed songs (it was the nature of the mix tape so I guess that makes sense).

"In the cathedrals of New York and Rome; there is a feeling, that you should just go home; and spend a lifetime finding out just where that is"
-- Cathedrals

M2M
I almost forgot about this band! A look into Jon Wong's broader band preferences would not be complete with perhaps the most influential band during my teen years (which I am sadly almost out of). I don't listen to M2M anymore. They pre-date blink-182 and I don't listen to much blink these days either. This is a perfect example of music that I love without thought or regard to the incredibly cliched and sappy lyrics characteristic of heartbroken, bubblegum pop. Atrocious lyrics or not, I love the music. I can't quite remember why I liked the music so much but there it is.

As for the rest...
At this point, I feel as if listing off bands isn't going to accomplish very much since I've pretty much listed the bands who I could arguably say are the "bands I like". But as for a further understanding of my music tastes, here are some specific songs that I find particularly good.

Straylight Run - Existentialism on Prom Night
"Sing me something soft, sad and delicate; or loud and out of key; sing me anything"
This song fought with Konstantine as my favorite song ever (with Konstantine winning in the end). The beginning of this piece is one of the most beautiful introductions to any song I've ever heard and I think one of the best parts of this song is how it uses that same basic line and plays the same thing, but with lots of layered chords on it (very Evanescence/My Immortal-like). Speaking of Evanescence...

Evanescence - My Immortal
The best which Evanescence had to offer, another cool sounding piano rock songs that was one of my favorites of 2003/04. Notice the trend of piano rock songs? Piano rock songs rule! This song gets special credit due to the insanely good instrumental portion of the piece that turns the piano hook into a full out band rendition. Truly masterful.

Story of the Year - Sidewalks
"Out on the front porch, watching the cars as they go by; 18 blue, 21 grey"
Oh man, my favorite song of 2005 and rightly so. This might be a song that I love partially because it's affiliated with such an incredibly surreal time in my life. Notice another trend: context in which song was originally heard plays a large role in determining my liking for it. I've done so much with this song it's mind boggling. Performed it on stage, fallen in love to it, serenaded kids, serenaded roommate, etc. You get the picture.

Tupac Shakur - Changes
This man must get credit for writing one of very few rap songs I really like. Straight from the Asif Virani archives, Changes was played on constant repeat for several portions of my first year in residence. I particularly like the piano hook that gets fired off in the background through the piece.

The Strokes - 12:51
As I famously stated once, my favorite song without social connotations and thus, the most forgettable of my favorite songs. This song doesn't make me think of anything/doesn't remind me of any moment in my life when this song was particularly prevalent but it is oh so good. Why? It's catchy and has a great synthesizer riff in it.

Matt Nathanson - Weight of it All
"I spent days, stupid, nailed to your floor, and I spent nights pushed against you, just trying to keep warm"
Matt Nathanson is wallowy. And this song is probably one of the most wallowiest songs I have ever heard, but something about it makes it seem ok to wallow.

Saturday Looks Good To Me - Alcohol
"Look for me but I'll be gone"
Old fashioned, catchy, tweeny-pop as Grant would say (the tweeny pop part at least). Like 12:51, I simply find the riffs and tune of this song incredibly catchy.

The Notwist - Consequence
"You're the color, you're the movement and the spin"
If I were tripped out on LSD or ecstacy, I expect that hearing this song would probably send me off the deep end. It's so incredibly beautiful and psychadelic and always best heard before Konstantine. The vibe is really really peaceful.

Stars - Your Ex-Lover is Dead
"And all of that time, you thought I was sad; I was trying to remember your name"
W00t! Song in triplet rhythm. I have a soft spot for songs in compound time (read: Iris, Paperweight, Existentialism on Prom Night, Sidewalks). This might be one of the saddest songs I've heard and the lyrics too are really good. I like the xylophone (or what I believe to be a xylophone) playing in le background.

My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade
MCR's singles tend to be pretty good and Welcome to the Black Parade is probably my favorite of them all. I would dearly dearly love to perform this song behind a drumkit at some point in my life because it is so much fun to play. Also one of those cool mid-song rhythm change tunes that I always respect because it seems like an avant-garde move in a popular culture where an unchanging rhythm is the backbone to practically every song written.

Iron & Wine - Each Coming Night
There are a lot of good Iron & Wine songs, but this my personal favorite. It's simply an all around good song that I could probably fall asleep to if it weren't for the fact that it always comes before Jack's Mannequin on my playlist. Oh well, such is life.

In conclusion...
In conclusion, my brain is turning to mush from typing this out and thinking through my favorite songs that exemplify my musical tastes. This might not be complete but I can't really conjure up the brain power to think this through futher so I'm going to leave it at this.

"Oh God, I have (name of camp owner/director's son) in my bunk tonight!"
"... so?"
"So? He's a holy terror (or some equivalently negative trait) and knows he can get away with anything!"
"I fail to see how being the son of the camp owner means that he can get away with anything. He might be inclined to think so because YOU think so and let him get away with everything"


Honestly here. Of all the campers you have, the camp owner's children should be the least of your problems. I mean, the kid's parents are right on camp. Doesn't that make retribution more swift and more painful? If anything, the kid should be MORE fearful of misbehaving because counselors have limits to ways they can punish bad behavior. While parents have limits too, I think it's a pretty reasonable assumption to say that parents have greater limits. So I don't see why campers who have parents working at camp get away with more. If they DO get away with more, it's because counselors THINK that the kids can use their parents to "get back" at them.

Really though, the camp director's not going to fire me because I treat his son the same as I treat any other camper. No possible way. The camp would get such a ridiculously bad rep if you fired an employee for not giving your son special treatment that the very idea is as far as I'm concerned, dismissable. Besides, I'm fully confident in my value as a camp counselor and I'm not concerned about them not re-hiring me next year. So as for the current camp situation, no. The camp director's kid is not getting away with anymore than any other camper. You shouldn't be concerned about demonstrating to the camper that his actions have consequences regardless of who his connections are within the camp. In certain places and times, yes, you have to be aware of who's in power and who pushes the buttons but not at a camp. This is especially true considering the chicken feed that most counselors get paid. It's something every camp tries to hide from their employees but they really need you more than you need them. As long as you do your job, you should have total job security. It's one of these jobs where the service provided is directly related to how happy the employees are. Enough counselors get fired for actually doing illegal acts as it is.

"What if you could go back in time, and take all those hours of pain and darkness and replace them with something better?"

Oh man, there is no expressing how good Jena Malone is in Donnie Darko. She might be one of my favorite characters from any movie ever.

One would think that someone who walks around downtown Kingston with the frequency I do would know where the local bakery is. Alas...

And I also completely forgot that there are occasionally live bands playing at Tir Nan Og on Friday nights. Should check that out with more frequency. I never made the connection between the loud music and the pub when I exit Sipps.

Tired. Bed.

Life just passes one day after another. I'm losing track of dates. Seriously, without birthdays, this month would seem like the same week after week. Ah, the life and times of a pillar-less existence.

The old box full of polaroids sits on my shelf
With the pictures of the first time we took the city by ourselves
And the whole ride home
We played "Konstantine"
And I walked you to your doorstep
And you kissed me in the rain, my lucky day
I still spell konfusion with a "k"
-- Success Story

"And the vibrant shade of green isn't envy. I just... ate a lot of chlorophyll this morning"
-- Questionable Content

I'm reading it again. It's too charming for me to stop reading after panel 666.

You know what my problem all boils down to? There are certain people in my life that I just care too much about.

Because I don't enjoy eating, I am going to calculate how much time I waste due to this activity.

I like to leave for class in the morning by 10 past. I normally wake up half an hour before that. If I didn't have to eat, I could wake up right at the hour cause it takes me about 10 minutes to take care of personal hygiene. So that's 20 minutes for the breakfast period.

Lunch, it takes about 5 minutes to actually make lunch, then I take about 10 minutes eating it and washing my plates. THEN I have to settle in before I can start work again. That's right. Settling in is key. That takes like 25 minutes. So lunch is generally a 40 minute period from beginning to end.

Dinner, it takes about 20 minutes just to make the damn meal, then 20 minutes to eat it, followed by roughly 5-1o minutes of cleaning up. Then because dinner is a large meal, I need about half an hour to settle. Oh yeah, I also have to factor in the fact that I have to walk home from the library (where I do all my afternoon + evening work), settle into my house, discuss what we're going to eat with Genin, then walk back to the library after, so that's 35 minutes.

On top of all this, it takes me about 10 minutes to work myself into a working mood when I get to the library and I always take about 10 minutes before I leave to relax and enjoy the library atmosphere.

So let's see. 20 minutes for breakfast, 40 minutes for lunch, and 2 hours for dinner (if I leave the library at 5:30, I generally won't make it back until 7:30 so it's reasonable). That's 3 hours of my life A DAY gone because of this necessity to replenish my energy source! 3 whole hours! Good lord, what I wouldn't give to not need to eat.

You know how I can prove that Konstantine is one of the best songs ever written? A year and a half after I first heard it, it still makes me cry if I listen to it at the right time, in the right context.

Something new. If you have a problem with the house, grow some balls and confront us about it. Again, it pisses me off when people have silly insignificant problems that they don't have the balls to confront the house about and resort to weasly things like leaving notes on cabinet doors and stuff. Great, I lost all respect for my housemates too. I've practically lost respect for everything in the world lately.

My fucking left eyelid won't stop twitching! Agh. What the hell?!

The only thing more stupid than blaming Alex Roderiguez for the Yankees not winning the ALDS is blaming Joe Torre for the Yankees not winning the ALDS. Cause it's the manager's fault that the batters are striking out...

"Within the psychometric web of Cartesian-Newtownian scientific assumptions our arguments are dismissed as empirically unsupported"
-- The Politics of Early Childhood Education

GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK! This is like... modern articles written in the last few years regarding education. How could you possibly expect any reasonable audience to digest verbal diarrhea like that one? Right, so you've got a PH.D. That gives you full licence to write disgusting sentences like that? I mean, I'm pretty verbose but I always like to think that I'm clear. Who writes a sentence like that without even explaning before or after what it means? Oh right, within the psychometric web of Cartesian-Newtownian scientific assumptions our arguments are dismissed as empirically unsupported... I know EXACTLY what that means. No doubt. What's the use of writing an article that can only be interpreted by an elite few who aren't even the ones who NEED to know what you're talking about? Honestly...

Karen! Come to homecoming next weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've realized what is happening to me. I'm losing my ability to bottle things up for the sake of keeping the peace and status quo. I think that conversation I had with Courtney recently punctured a big hole in me and the ensuing vile that has spilled forth from that wound winds up here.

And another that pisses the hell out of me. People who blast their music irregardless of their surroundings. I don't think there's anything that could possibly be more blatantly disrespectful of other people; especially if they blast BAD music. For fuck's sake, you're not in a club. Why is the music turned up so loud that you had to yell at each other to carry out a conversation. God, living in this house is destroying any last ounce of patience I have with the world.

Gah! Even the simplest tasks have somehow become impossible. You know things just aren't clicking for you when you suddenly lose the ability to perform a yo-yo trick you've performed dozens of times before. God, and me being mildly OCD, I can't just put the yo-yo down and say "well, maybe tomorrow". I insist on keeping at it for a full hour until I actually regain my ability to perform said trick. Maybe I'm just frustrated at everything. So should I go play badminton tonight? If I have a bad night at that too I might just jump off a cliff.

Getting through security in the States has become an INCREDIBLE hassle. I wasn't aware that some many security procedures could possibly exist. No liquids, take off your shoes, take your laptop out and turn it on, make sure you don't have metal filings in your teeth, etc etc. God, I'm getting so sick of it. Take it from someone who's crossed the border 4 times in the past year. That's not even including all the inter-state flights that require yet more security measures. Seriously, you're making so many people's lives so troublesome. Why don't you just stop pissing off the terrorists. I am qualified to compare; I've been through security in 3 other countries, not including Canada.