Mix tape

Just to get it out of my system, here is a list of the songs i would put on mix tape if i were to make one this very moment. (Note: it would actually be a CD but i still call them tapes because mix CD sounds DUMB).

1. Dog Wranglin' Blues ~If Bears Were Bees
2. Go To Sleep You Little Baby ~Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch
3. Rockers to Swallow ~Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4. Underground ~Kimya Dawson
5. Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl ~Broken Social Scene
6. O Bondage, Up Yours ~X-Ray Spex
7. Walk Like An Egyptian ~the Bangles
8. Bull in the Heather ~Sonic Youth
9. Portions for Foxes ~Rilo Kiley
10. Sunny Days (Sesame Street Theme) ~Joshua Radin
11. Such Great Heights ~Iron and Wine (yes, it's a Postal Service song, but they did a good cover)
12. In the Waiting Line ~Zero7

Little Bear and American Teens.

So i just watched an old Little Bear episode on YouTube, but before i get to that i have to tell you about what possessed me to be watching old Nick Jr cartoons at 2:40 in the morning in the first place.

A couple weeks ago i checked out a DVD from the library called "American Teen." It's a documentary following five different kids in five different social standings through their senior year at a midwestern high school. And you know me (or maybe you don't-- who are you? Lets be friends!)-- i'm obsessed with high school sociology. Not as in a sociology class you take in high school, but as in the sociology of high schoolers and their different cliques, groups, whatever.

So anyway. I'm getting off track. I watched this movie late at night because i am an insomniac to rival the best of 'em, and i really identified with one of the kids they were following (her name is Hannah Bailey). I googled her as creepy fans are wont to do, and i came upon her blog, one of the entries in which noted that she was watching LITTLE BEAR ON YOUTUBE.

Is this sounding familiar?

So i clicked the link she provided and proceeded to watch with nostalgia and delight as Little Bear got the hiccups. Unfortunately, the video only showed the first five minutes of the episode and i couldn't find the next part in the related links, so i am left in suspense as to what got the hiccups to stop (as i'm sure they did), whether Papa Bear or whatever they called him got mad because there was too much noise being made, and whatever happened to that berry pie that Mama bear was baking.

Lovely lovely Maurice Sendak. He never disappoints.

They still show the commercials for that Little Bear training toothpaste, don't they? But they don't air the show anymore, right? So what they should REALLY do is put Little Bear in a toothpaste commercial marketing to the roughly 16-21 crowd that actually WATCHED Little Bear and is seeking to fill the void in their young adult lives by buying products that feature characters they loved oh-so-long ago.

Genius, right? It is a wonder someone isn't paying me handsomely to sit here in my bed at coming-up-on 3 in the morning and churn out ideas for the capitalist machine.

Beloved jingles and slogans? I'm coming after you next.

College shopping

So today my mom and i went shopping for my dorm, which i have to say is a lot more fun than shopping for back-to-school ever was in high school. Here's what i ended up with for my grown-up space:

-Bright green patterned sponges

-Spiderman Band-aids

-Hot pink sheets (and a set of white flannel ones for winter)

-A laundry bag

-Boring white hangers because the only other color was an ugly blue

-Dishes with happy slug-aliens on them

-Bright green under-bed storage boxes

-A mini first aid kit

-A pair of glow-in-the-dark spaceship footie pajamas.



So far i am not too good at this maturity thing.

So today i found out that my roller derby name is TAKEN! Oh the pain. You better appreciate it, Sylvia Wrath of the Carolina Rollergirls, 'cause i loved that damn name.

...However, i moved on pretty quickly and am now considering a name which will remain secret until i register it.

In other news...

HALLOWEEN IS LIKE 9 FREAKING DAYS AWAY!

Life is wonderful when it's almost Halloween. Yesterday i dug out our meager decorations and made our house look vaguely like we're not opposed to fun. My mom wouldn't let me put up spiderwebs inside though, so those will be banished to the porch.

Also, last night i ignored the siren songs of my dearest darlingest bed and stayed up ripping tights and hunting for things that would make me look like a badass but not a) fall under the stupid "i'm-something-sexy-for-Halloween-how-original" category or b) leave me too cold since this is late October in the Pacific Northwest. The general idea is to be Hell on Wheels-- i've got my derby elements pretty much figured out by this point and this morning i went out and bought a pair of devil horns and one of those sheer tattoo-printed sleeves. It might be a tad too short, but we'll see how that goes. Whatever. It was discounted.

A problem that presents itself, though-- my skates are those high-top white kind and my question is this: can i decoupage them? Cut out a bunch of pictures of pink and black things and Mod Podge 'em right on there? Or will they peel off and generally be a huge pain? If anyone has any experience with these kinds of things, i'd appreciate your input.

And now i think it's time for a nap.

Ah, the joys of procrastination.

Sitting in English, where i should be working on an essay comparing short-story characters but am instead quite obviously blogging. I don't know what even possessed me to come back to this-- i usually only blog late at night when my house is asleep and i get all pensive and afraid of the ghosts in the window.



Anyway. Hamlet performances are coming up soon, and i'm really excited, but also nervous; not so much at the prospect of performing in front of people, but more at the knowledge that it will be over soon and that i'll never see all my new friends again. Of course i knew i was getting into this when i tried out for a play at another school, but it's so much better than the alternative-- doing nothing every day after school but working, going to see High School Musical because blah blah blah blah blah.



Are you still paying attention? Why?





I'm beginning to think i may be manic-depressive. On Friday i was telling my mom that since i can't afford to go to Seattle U then i won't be here to go to Bumbershoot, and i just started sobbing. I don't cry, but this was all-out, hopeless, desperate, three-hours-face-down-on-my-kitchen-table-in-a-pool-of-my-own-tears sobbing. Yeah. And then yesterday, i was in the greatest mood ever. Felt like a i could run a marathon, do a dance, maybe even clean something. Am i losing my mind? Maybe. One way to find out.

The sound of loneliness makes me happier.

Why am i getting that old familiar feeling again? The one i haven't felt in years. The one where everything is the most beautiful shade of grey except for the grass, which is the most beautiful vibrant shade of green. The one where i want nothing more than to feel the pitted wet asphalt under my bare feet as i take one last look at everything and then turn and walk the other direction, not stopping until the asphalt turns to damp packed dirt and i can't hear my own thoughts over the sweet, silent mountain air.

Why am i suddenly so restless again? Is it because of the stress of figuring out how to pay for a college i can't afford?

(Side note- computer froze directly after typing that sentence, so i'm going to feel free to accept that as some very obvious, very frustrating sign.)

Or maybe it's NOT the same old feeling... maybe it's changed. Maybe i don't want to walk away, maybe i want to drive away listening to Bright Eyes' Poison Oak on repeat for as long as it takes me to get to some deserted strip of coastline in Maine. Or maybe i just want to throw myself down on that spongy, absurdly green grass and just concentrate on the water coming from all directions.

"Cold, wet, and alone" is a phrase most often used to describe someone who wants to be warm, dry, and surrounded by loved ones. But in all honesty, i can't think of what would make me happier right now than being cold, wet, and alone.