Monday, August 18, 2008

The boys in the trees

Another book I got for my birthday, from Kristen and Taylor.

This is a very interesting book. There's no dialogue. There are no actual events. It's all retrospective and inside different characters heads. For this reason, it gets a little long sometimes. But it's also very interesting most times. I'm not sure it's one of my favourite books ever, but it was definitely an intriguing style.

Some good lines:

"Sitting in the hard chair besides the hospital bed, he knew that what he was feeling was the rest of his life without her."

"And in the paper-strewn kitchen in the middle of the night they talked abut how strange it was, that the person you were was perhaps formed most by all that you had forgotten."

Sunday, August 17, 2008

just breathe

I love my cottage.

I'm just trying to get enough in these short hours. Enough sun. Enough fresh air, to breath enough of that heavy earthy smell and that airy water smell. To feel enough water and grass and sand under my toes. To see enough bright purple, count enough waves.

I want this forever.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

hit me with your best shot

Okay, world. I'm ready now.

love is a mix tape

I got this from Fae for my birthday. Non-fiction, it's Rob Sheffield's memoir of his life, through the mix tapes he's made or had made for him over the years.

I loved it. It was as good as Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs. Better, in some ways, because it was about music but it was so personal. It definitely reminded me of Chuck Klosterman though.

I love mixes. The fact that it's about tapes, reminded me of driving around in Blanche, in high school, playing tapes I'd made. And the way they never really worked, just like Blancher herself and just like life at the time.

Mix CDs, though, for me, are essential. Fae and I make mixes for each other all the time. I have mixes that I love more than real CDs. I make mixes that tell stories. That match moods. I've made winter mixes, mixes to dance to, mixes to cry to, mixes with one song for every month, mixes all about September, mixes to fall asleep to, Christmas mixes, traveling mixes, even a "people are dying mix."

For me, the best gift is always music.

This book was a gift, it was music and life. It was beautiful. I don't normally like non-fiction but... wow.

Good choice, Fae. <3

Monday, August 11, 2008

Seven songs

How can so much good
Exist in such a tiny heart?
Despite of all the pain she's in
She never falls apart.
And if she does it lasts the length of seven songs
She dries her tears on her best friend's sleeves and dances right along.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

How do you measure a year in the life?

#61. Make a mix CD to play at my funeral - include Dancing in the Rain.


525,600 Minutes
"Will my friends be strong, till someone plays my favourite song?"

1. Daydream Believer, the Monkees
This has always been my song. It's the only song with the ability to make me smile when I'm sad. It's me. It's mine. I am the daydream believer.
2. Blackbird, the Beatles
"You were always waiting for this moment to be free." This song stirs something in my heart. That longing to... live more.
3. Get Me Through December, Allison Krauss and Union Station
The first time I heard this song I thought, 'Of course this song exists. How could it not?' It's never lost that feeling of perfection and wholeness for me. Also, it's the first song on the winter mix CD my dad made me, one of my all time favourite mixes. I love my Daddy. This song is on there for him.
4. Samson, Regina Spektor
Never, ever fails to take my breath away.
5. Cathedrals, Jump Little Children
"There is a feeling that you should just go home and spend a lifetime finding out just where that is."
6. Affirmation, Savage Garden
My first love.
7. I Will Follow You Into the Dark, Death Cab for Cutie
8. Hey There Delilah, the Plain White Tees
Someday, I will have a daughter named Delilah. This one's for her, and for whatever kids I have and for love. Because love doesn't get any better than this.
9. Swing Life Away, Rise Against
At sixteen, this song felt like it was written about me.
10. Constellations, Jack Johnson
For the moments of feeling infinite and like there's something bigger than you. For the sky so big it breaks your soul.
11. Walking By, Something Corporate
For love.
12. For Good, Wicked
Because Fae is my Elphaba. Because there is no way to describe our seemingly chance encounter years ago other than fate.
13. Everlasting Friend, Blue October
For Fae.
14. Seasons of Love, Rent
Because this musical fills my heart and my head and constantly affects my choices.
15. The Boxer, Simon and Garfunkel
For Laura. For car rides.
16. Don't Stop Believing, Journey
For fun. For small roots and big dreams.
17. Imagine, John Lennon
Self explanatory.
18. Dancing in the Rain, Happy Hardcore
To dance. Always. To finish on a happy note.

Breaking Dawn

Yeah. While I was reading it I was thinking "Damn, this plot is even stupider than the last three books."

And yet I kept reading. Addictively. Who can understand the human need for horribly cheesy romanticism?

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

i know i have lost

I... don't know. Today was horrible. What am I doing...?

I hope this old train breaks down
then I could take a walk around
and, see what there is to see
time is just a melody
With all the people in the street
walking fast as their feet can take them
I just roll through town
And though my window's got a view
Well the frame I'm looking through
seems to have no concern for now
so for now I

I need this
old train to break down
oh please just
let me please break down

You can't stop wishing
If you don't let go
of the things that you find
and you lose, and you know
you keep on rolling
put the moment on hold
the frame's too bright
so put the blinds down low

I need this
old train to break down
oh please just
let me please break down
I need this
old train to break down
oh please just
let me please break down
I wanna break on down
but I can't stop now

svp?

S'il vous plais, ne m'oublie pas.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Way to go, Heather!


This is the official sign that someone should buy me an iPod touch. 30 GB. Anyone?

The day of my birth

You know you're getting old when your birthday becomes about making everyone else happy.

Jack Johnson concert was amazing. Listening to him play Constellations under a huge sky full of stars, with the collective energy of 40,000 + people.. it was a great birthday present.

I don't know how I feel about being 21. More to come on that one.

Friday, August 1, 2008

I'd settle for less...

I don’t need a better thing,
I’d settle for less,
It’s another thing for me,
I just have to wander through this world
Alone.

Yeah I’m gonna lose you
If I’m gonna lose you
I’ll lose you now for good.

Sad song, just nearly made me cry. Lose You, by Pete Yorn.