reminiscing

i often have a problem with getting burnt out with music. I will discover a new band and quickly go out and buy the cd, then listen to it on repeat until I know every word, beat and rest and get so entirely sick of it that I feel like I can never listen to it ever again. Then I will skip it on shuffle for a couple of months then, rediscover, rejoice, rinse, repeat. I have been really trying not to do this recently. So after about 2 days of constant listening to the lovely new vampire weekend cd I just got, I knew that I had to stop listening to it. So I quickly put my ipod on regular shuffle, after skipping through about 100 songs that I used to be obsessed with I stopped on a familiar song, fireflies by owl city. Unless you've been dead for the past year you know what song I'm talking about and you probably know it's a great song, and if you don't feel that way you can keep it to yourself. So I let the song play, figuring I would be doing other stuff anyway, but then I just sat and listened. Listening to that song immediately shot me back into the past.
The first time I ever heard it, sitting in a barstool in my kitchen eating breakfast before school sophomore year, the music video came on and I stopped eating, this song wasn't like everything else on mtv. so when got home I googled the music video again, watching this little awkward boy hunch over a keyboard and play an amazing song got me right away. And then at the start of one of the least exciting/happy school years of my life, I had discovered a new band. Not just a band, but my next band. The next band that would change my life in some huge way and would send me into hysterics at their concert.
Next I was sent to the frozen custard stand by my grandma's house. lauren & I had been waiting for that stop all year. As I sat eating delicious custard (10x more delicious than ice cream with 10x the calories) I was surrounded by flashing and buzzing fireflies, how could I not think of that song, then go home and sit in the room and listen to it 1000 times? owl city was that entire vacation, it was all my ipod played, it was when we discovered sky sailing and when we made our lyrics video to on the wing (remember that, if not just go back to june or july).
But then that one song transported me to a place i've never been, but somehow I knew so well. A house with a bedroom filled with magical toys and a boy crouched over a keyboard, with a kitchen with barstools and a tv that plays music videos while you eat cereal in the morning, with a frozen custard stand down the street and a big, green yard filled with trees where you can take pictures with umbrellas and lyrics. Everything that fireflies reminded me of came together in that house. It was like I could go and walk through the room will flashing lights and fighting robots, ducking from the flying blimp and walk over to that boy to ask him to sing me a song.
I think that building day dreams is kind of like building a house. You take an idea, then you stem off from it with stories and events that you make up, building frame work around the foundation, the idea. Then you fill it in with characters, some familiar, some made up, finishing the interior of the house. Then you add the finishing touches, the furniture, with personal moments from your real life. Then you have your daydream, filled with some rooms that you've known all you're life, like my kitchen and custard stand and then some places that you've only been to once or maybe never. Like adam's bedroom in the video that has suddenly become a part of my mind, I think that every single thing that happens to me makes its way into one of these houses. Every thing that I've observed, every place I've been, every decibel that I've heard adam singing to me from a tiny speaker on my floor has made that house. But maybe it's not just adam, maybe I've got a beach house in california with andrew mcmahon, maybe a trashed suburban sprawl with the matches, a lofty new york apartment with vampire weekend. it's not that I'm imagining living in these places with these people (although that would be awesome) I'm just saying that the more I hear a song, every time that I listen to a cd over and over again on repeat I am building an overview of their music and for me it takes the shape of a house. That house holds the personality of the music, the hardships the lyrics convey, the experiences that I imagine them having that would lead to their music. They build a house that houses not people, but the passion in the music.

in the word's of the man who inspired this all
if my heart was a house, you'd be home


which makes perfect sense, because no matter where I go, all I have to do is turn on my music and I'll be home.

cheers,
cayla

wish for a sandwich

you always catch the clock, it's 11:11, right? then you proceed to make the most ridiculous wish that probably wouldn't come true in a million years. I just checked the time while brushing my teeth and what are the chances it was 11:11. after making my wish, I remembered a story that often comes to mind when I catch the clock and it always makes me laugh. so, story;

junior year homecoming was one of those nights when you feel like you live in the little dice-popper from the game trouble and some kids club kid is pounding on it with their fist. for numerous reasons it was a mess and my friends megan, phill, and I decided it would be best if we got out of there as soon as we could. while we were on our way back to megan's, we glanced at the clock and discovered it was 11:11. one of us, it might have been megan, told us all to make a wish, to which I replied, "I've been making the same wish for three years and it hasn't come true." just so melancholy. then phill says "obviously you've been making the wrong wish, it's probably too unrealistic. you have to wish for something that could come true, like when you see it's 11:11, you say 'I wish I could have a sandwich tomorrow', then tomorrow you have sandwich and your wish comes true".  I was taken aback at how simple 11:11 could actually be, and vowed to make simpler wishes, even though they were always accompanied by my previous wish as well (which probably was too unrealistic and maybe the wrong wish as phill had said). After our 11:11 chat we decided that it would be a great idea to get some ice cream, so we stopped by coldstone creamery and stood outside the door, dumbfounded that it was closed. we then realized the quickly forgotten fact that it was passed 11 therefore the place obviously wasn't open. the kid inside wiping down the countertops was either sympathetic or frightened by our fancy clothes and tear-streaked faces so he let us in anyways. good times.

I'm not sure if either of them remember this, but I think about it almost every 11:11, so I thought I'd share. and like I said before, I started making smaller, more realistic wishes and tried to appreciate the smaller things a little more. but even better news, my "unrealistic" wish from long ago CAME TRUE. so I guess if you're persistent, keep going for the big wish, but if you're not in it for the long run just wish for a sandwich.

cheers,

lauren

playing mommy

over the last five months of being a nanny, i have gotten a lot of experience of what it is like to be a mom. i've picked up/dropped off at school, handled play dates, gushing head wounds, potty accidents, removed impossible stains from white clothes, made meals, tucked into beds, and acquired the messiest car ever full of tiny toys, random trash, and little hand prints. and after tomorrow i will have also stayed home with a kid with the stomach flu. all i can say to my children in the future is bring it on.

ALSO

season two TOMORROW. insert: life completeness. 

while you're still on the rush of our boys finally being back in our lives, go see legend of the guardians. it is most amazing and so adorable. if that's not convincing enough then this should seal the deal:

hooray for it almost being october!

cheers,

lauren

I will not

1. Severely procrastinate writing/memorizing my spanish project
2. Go read Adam's blog again, because I need to do my homework
3. go read dearblankpleaseblank.com, even though it is my new favorite website
4. correct my chem teacher's grammar
5. leave all my homework to do at lunch
6. avoid getting a job until the last possible second, because I need lots of money
7. do anything embarrassing at the europe meeting on thursday
8. do anything awkward while volunteering at the blood drive tomorrow
9. make racial comments at the national honors society meeting, because I am also there (and I do not want to be a terrible person)
10. leave all of my 50 volunteer hours for key club until the day before march
11. spend lots of money on new clothes for europe
12. pass anymore colds onto my poor puppy
13. learn how to express my angry about how much homework I have in spanish so I can give my teacher a piece of my mind en español.
14. download new apps on my phone
15. dance around my house listening to juanes and enrique
16. tell my history teacher that I do not need an American Revolution study guide because I have been learning about that fricken war since I was 7
17. go lay in bed with apolo and read
18. google when csi premieres, because it seems a little late and should be on already
19. play Zoo Tycoon
20. Spend 15 minutes typing up a list of things that I want to do but can't because that would waste a lot of valuable time

Cheers,
Cayla

a day of epiphanies

do you ever have those moments when you suddenly have a thought and you just think it's the best idea in the entire world & everyone should know about it? today I was walking around asu, where it was only about 100 degrees, but still felt so unbelievably hot that I was walking 5 times slower than I really should have been. then I remembered that in boston they have these little tunnels that go under the schools that really come in handy when it's snowing &  negative 3472 degrees outside. so, why can't arizona state have these tunnels? AIR CONDITIONED TUNNELS THAT GO UNDER THE SCHOOL WHERE YOU CAN ESCAPE THE HEAT BUT STILL GET TO CLASS. why not?! of course, asu being the great little place it is only costs an arm and a leg, and air conditioning these little tunnels would cost them a hefty penny, but why not just charge an arm, leg, and first born child to fund these tunnels? then no more sunburn, dehydration, or melted shoes. brilliant?!

I'm sure you've also noticed that there are a lot of people on the road, not only in Arizona but everywhere, that should not have a driver's license or even a high school diploma. blatantly, these people are dumb. they drive 30 mph on the freeway, stop 800 feet before a stop light, leave their blinker on for fifteen minutes after they merge. it's ANNOYING and obviously dangerous. so, you know that nifty little test we all have to pass to get our license that basically only requires us to know how to spell our names and start a car? why not add a little IQ test to this license test so we can ensure that the people populating our roads are not entirely inept. yes?

other epiphanies I had today include that I should not eat two chocolate chip waffles smothered in syrup for breakfast because although they're full of sugar, my body, which is used to healthy foods, will be destined to crash from low blood sugar. this will only force me to dash out of my italian class and run across campus to jamba juice where I have a small episode concerning a pretzel. episode as follows:

me: Can I have a sixteen ounce razzmatazz with a soy protein boost, and also one of those cinnamon apple pretzels?

jamba man: sure. do you want that pretzel heated up?

me (clearly very pale and shaking so badly I can barely open my wallet): no thank you, I just want it now.

jamba man: are you sure? we can heat it up.

me: no, I just want it now.

jamba man: okay, but I can heat it up. [jamba man walks away, leaving me at the register, pretzeless]

jamba lady ( taking wrapper off straw and putting it in my smoothie at painstakingly slow pace): razzmatazz for lauren

me (quickly grabbing smoothie and drinking for 3 straight minutes): THANK YOU 

[jamba man continues to meander around behind the counter as I stare at the pretzels in their case. jamba man slowly realizes I need my pretzel. He opens the wrong door to the pretzel case twice, then finally reaches in the get the pretzel.]

jamba man: are you sure you don't want this heated up?

me: no, thank you

jamba man: are you sure? it's kind of cold.

me (getting frustrated): i'm sure.

jamba man: I can heat it up really quick right here.

me: I JUST WANT THE PRETZEL

[I rush out of jamba juice and realize the pretzel is almost frozen solid. sweet.]

I also had another epiphany today, but the pretzel story took a lot out of me so I can't remember what it was. yay for two jersey shores this week!!

cheers,

lauren