Friday, April 21, 2006
Happy New Year
Today is Friday, and I'm standing on the edge of an extraordinary weekend. It happens once a year here in DC. Some take it for the crazy/beautiful fun that it is on the surface and others hold it in high regard and contemplate the deeper meanings of friendships and life. Of course, I'm of the school that takes a little from both.
Let me back up a little. Five years ago, almost to the day, I had an eye opening experience. I walked into an extremely large room full of people that were, in one way or another, just like me. It was like someone took my most favorite dream and brought it to life. I look back on it now as the day I started living my life as it was meant to be lived, for better or sometimes worse.
Yeah, yeah, I know, too sappy - but this is why I titled this entry Happy New Year. While most of you are looking back on a year on December 31, I'm laid up on a couch somewhere after surviving another Holiday retail season. There's no time to contimplate; it makes my head hurt. It is this time of year, however, that I tend to step back and look at where I've been and where I may possibly be going. Some years I look forward into total uncertainty. This year I look forward with a lot of faith and a lot of hope and a TON of excitement (and a little bit of sadness).
After this weekend a lot of things are going to be different. It marks the beginning of the end for a few things, especially socially. It marks when I truly start to feel like an Adult. Within the next 365 days I will be uprooting myself from everything I've known since birth and hopefully becoming a better person (or at least a little less ignorant) through some new experiences. It's a good thing that I have a Joe on either coast that I can count on (and their wonderful partners; Kent to the West and Al to the East.)
I know I can deal with whatever I'm dealt with now. I think I proved that to myself over the past year. A lot of my own preconceived notions about myself were shattered, and I thank a good handful of people for that.
I know some parts of this entry are extremely vauge, especially for those of you who have never met me, but for one reason or another find some of my rantings touching or humorous (or both.) But this entry isn't for you - it's for those handful of people, and they know exactly who they are.
So, yeah, I hold this weekend in high regard; higher than some I'm sure. But it's because of this that I keep on dancin'.
Let me back up a little. Five years ago, almost to the day, I had an eye opening experience. I walked into an extremely large room full of people that were, in one way or another, just like me. It was like someone took my most favorite dream and brought it to life. I look back on it now as the day I started living my life as it was meant to be lived, for better or sometimes worse.
Yeah, yeah, I know, too sappy - but this is why I titled this entry Happy New Year. While most of you are looking back on a year on December 31, I'm laid up on a couch somewhere after surviving another Holiday retail season. There's no time to contimplate; it makes my head hurt. It is this time of year, however, that I tend to step back and look at where I've been and where I may possibly be going. Some years I look forward into total uncertainty. This year I look forward with a lot of faith and a lot of hope and a TON of excitement (and a little bit of sadness).
After this weekend a lot of things are going to be different. It marks the beginning of the end for a few things, especially socially. It marks when I truly start to feel like an Adult. Within the next 365 days I will be uprooting myself from everything I've known since birth and hopefully becoming a better person (or at least a little less ignorant) through some new experiences. It's a good thing that I have a Joe on either coast that I can count on (and their wonderful partners; Kent to the West and Al to the East.)
I know I can deal with whatever I'm dealt with now. I think I proved that to myself over the past year. A lot of my own preconceived notions about myself were shattered, and I thank a good handful of people for that.
I know some parts of this entry are extremely vauge, especially for those of you who have never met me, but for one reason or another find some of my rantings touching or humorous (or both.) But this entry isn't for you - it's for those handful of people, and they know exactly who they are.
So, yeah, I hold this weekend in high regard; higher than some I'm sure. But it's because of this that I keep on dancin'.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Guilty Pleasures
We all have them. TV Shows, music artists, movies, hobbies; things that we really enjoy, but usually only behind closed doors when no one is paying attention.
I have a ton of them. I have an entire iPod playlist dedicated to musical ones, entitled "Shameless Shameful Pop." I was in college during the big pop music wave of the late 90's. Many an hour was wasted in my fraternity house debating the merits of Backstreet Boys vs. N'Sync or Brittany vs. Christina. But what it came down to, even as throwaway and uninspired that music was, it was always fun. Dance to it, drink to it, lip sync to it, sing it at the top of your lungs in the car - but you'd be hard up to find anyone between the ages of 15 and 40 these days that can't recall the lyrics to "....Baby One More Time" or "Genie in a Bottle."
Now the question I pose is this, if guilty pleasures are popular with ourselves (and sometimes extremely close friends) and we truly enjoy them - why do we always clam up when it comes to sticking up for the entertainment value of "Desperate Housewives" or even reruns of "Melrose Place?"
I think we'd be amazed (are you reading, FM radio? network television?) at what kind of creativity would come about if what was really popular became popular. Take Madonna's latest "Confessions on a Dance Floor." How is it that it has received little to no airplay, no video spins on MTV and has fallen into the middle to low positions on the Billboard charts - but then everyone can sing "Sorry" or "Hung Up?" It doesn't add up.
I think Apple is the Pied Piper of guilty pleasures. For just $.99 a song or $1.99 an episode, anyone can download and replay the guiltiest of their own desires. Fill up a Nano or your entire hard drive, and you'll never have to listen to the redundancy of FM radio or sit through commercials during old reruns ever again.
I guess it all boils down to our culture and what we portray ourselves as vs. who we truly are. Let me tell you, my real self is a lot more interesting than what I tend to throw out there for the public sometimes. But I'm learning to not censor myself as much anymore; learning to not sit in a room and take in what's being discussed without participating. What I have to say or do is important, because I own it....and all three N'Sync albums.
I have a ton of them. I have an entire iPod playlist dedicated to musical ones, entitled "Shameless Shameful Pop." I was in college during the big pop music wave of the late 90's. Many an hour was wasted in my fraternity house debating the merits of Backstreet Boys vs. N'Sync or Brittany vs. Christina. But what it came down to, even as throwaway and uninspired that music was, it was always fun. Dance to it, drink to it, lip sync to it, sing it at the top of your lungs in the car - but you'd be hard up to find anyone between the ages of 15 and 40 these days that can't recall the lyrics to "....Baby One More Time" or "Genie in a Bottle."
Now the question I pose is this, if guilty pleasures are popular with ourselves (and sometimes extremely close friends) and we truly enjoy them - why do we always clam up when it comes to sticking up for the entertainment value of "Desperate Housewives" or even reruns of "Melrose Place?"
I think we'd be amazed (are you reading, FM radio? network television?) at what kind of creativity would come about if what was really popular became popular. Take Madonna's latest "Confessions on a Dance Floor." How is it that it has received little to no airplay, no video spins on MTV and has fallen into the middle to low positions on the Billboard charts - but then everyone can sing "Sorry" or "Hung Up?" It doesn't add up.
I think Apple is the Pied Piper of guilty pleasures. For just $.99 a song or $1.99 an episode, anyone can download and replay the guiltiest of their own desires. Fill up a Nano or your entire hard drive, and you'll never have to listen to the redundancy of FM radio or sit through commercials during old reruns ever again.
I guess it all boils down to our culture and what we portray ourselves as vs. who we truly are. Let me tell you, my real self is a lot more interesting than what I tend to throw out there for the public sometimes. But I'm learning to not censor myself as much anymore; learning to not sit in a room and take in what's being discussed without participating. What I have to say or do is important, because I own it....and all three N'Sync albums.
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]