I couldn’t sleep last night.  I woke up at 6am with a scratchy throat, my eyes hurt, my head and stomach ached and my nose was all stuffed up.  It was terrible and in my 6am sleepy stupor I thought about the day ahead of me… I had absolutely nothing planned.  So, naturally, I decided to go back to bed.  I shut my eyes and with every noisy, irritating click of the loud radiator in my room the pains and aches I was experiencing seemed to amplify.  There was no way I would be falling back asleep anytime soon.  I got up, grabbed some water, went to get something for my throat and my eyes fell upon a little bottle sitting on the medicine shelf, next to the cough drops.  Tylenol PM.  Tylenol… PM.  The help you feel sleepy pills…. It’s 6AM…. the bottle says PM… but I have nothing planned… But I want to sleep all day…. But… Well… Maybe…  I considered the decision I was about to make, I heard the orchestral sounds of the music of a heaven sent gift, the letters on the bottle of pills were illuminated and flashing as I stared down the goods and took a step forward.  Throwing caution to the wind, I sucked down two pills and gleefully jumped back into bed.

Eyelids heavy, I slowly lift my head off the pillow and look around in a groggy state.  What time is it?  What day is it?  What am I late for?  My brain is whirring and I remember waking up earlier in the morning, taking the medicine.  I grab my phone.  2pm.  8 hours.  I slept for 8 hours.  My entire body feels a little numb, I have the droopy-slept-too-long tingles, my arm is a little sore from sleeping with it in a strange position and not moving at all, but… I.  Feel.  Good.  I feel remarkably well rested and lounge around the house for a few hours.  Somehow, by 4:30pm I start to feel a little tired.   I lay down for a minute and bam, I’m out.  Another 2 and half hours of sleep later, It’s almost 7pm and I wake up shocked to have fallen asleep again!  I get up and this time, feel no after affects of over sleeping – no tingles, no numbness.  I shake off the sleepies and go about my night.

I spent nearly an entire day asleep today.  It felt good… but not good…  I got a lot of rest that I needed… but it’s now 3:20 am and I’m wide awake.   Tylenol PM – you are still my friend but I think I’ll stick to the occasional nightly dose.

I am sitting in my living room watching the Grammys. I should be studying. I have two exams tomorrow and am scarcely prepared for either but the Grammys are irresistible.

Everything I’ve seen so far has been completely absurd. Flat out weird. I wonder if mainstream music is really getting this strange or if I’m just overly perceptive this evening due to extreme exhaustion.

U2 kicked things off with an eccentric performance of what I assume to be their new single, something about candy floss ice cream and community. Bono is old and he creeps me out.

Carrie Underwood rocked out… unfortunately. She should stick to ballads, sweeping gowns and big hair.

Miley and Taylor shared the stage… best career move Taylor Swift ever made. Her honey saturated, girlish vocals (which I’d usually criticize) sounded like pure bliss in contrast to Miley’s forced, raspy, crappy screeching. I find it amusing that both girls had to have backup singers to cover the haromonies and were incapable of singing back up for each other… teenage superstars are far too important to sing back up.

I can’t tell if Thom Yorke was into his performance or aloof – everything about Radiohead seems condescending to me… but this view is probably more reflective of Radiohead fans that I’ve come to know than actual band members… I knew that the group had been nominated for album of the year but I kind of hoped they’d snub the Grammys in some kind of statement about their music, ignoring the nom and skipping out on performing… alas, maybe Radiohead is not “above” the Grammys. I don’t know if this makes me like them more or less.

John Mayer is as dreamy as ever. Kanye West is an imbecile (even if some of his tunes make great driving music). Whitney Houston is on crack. Adele rules. Jennifer Nettles wrote a great song but I never ever want to hear her sing it ever again. The Jonas Brothers gave the worst performance of the night… I think I saw one of them forget the words to Superstition at one point. MIA’s prego performance was slightly awkward, visually disturbing and entirely brilliant. Lil’ Wayne is much littler than I’d realized… Katy Perry probably has a decent voice but sounds like crap every time I hear her (including tonight). Jennifer Hudson sounded nice… I was very thankful that I recorded the show and was able to fast forward through performances by Neil Diamond and Sugarland.

Ok, I really need to start studying.

I have officially declared this week, Wednesday the 4th of February through the 11th of February: SUCCESS WEEK 2009

For the next seven days, I will adhere to every productive impulse or inclination I might have; as opposed to my usual attitude towards getting things done, which would be:

If you’re tired nap first, if you’re hungry eat first, if you’re not in the mood put it off, if you have homework work on music, if you should practice music listen to music, if you should go to bed watch more TV, if it’s time to wake up hit snooze button three more times, etc. etc. (I think you get the point).

I made a list. I made a detailed list of everything that should be accomplished during success week. I made a rubric. A “success-o-meter,” if you will, to gauge my, well, success at being successful…

Some daily requirements of success week include (but are not limited to): exercise, bathe, attend all classes, go to work – don’t call in, study, read, log in to facebook only once, avoid frivolous spending, maintain a clean living environment (including the car), get enough sleep, wake up on time etc.

Goals for the week: finish 1 book, ace midterms, finish polysci paper that is due the 25th, be successful, meet 2 new people, improve relationship with 2 old people, etc.

7 days of sheer triumph and productivity, here I come! I am told that some people live this way… that is preposterous, what an exhausting lifestyle, to be successful all the time. No, I think just a taste of all the achievable is all I’d like. 7 days.

And… if all this doesn’t work out… if I get to day 3 and find that it’s too much, I think I’ll try again some other time. Success week is all or nothing so I will either succeed or fail. So I might have to try again, have another go some other week, perhaps in April… yes, if for any reason I should fail to successfully complete SW ‘09 this week of February , I will reschedule for April….

Already having a back up plan may look to you as a lack of commitment, it may appear that I am very ready to give up and put it off in the spirit of my old ways, but don’t be fooled. I am simply being prepared. Preparedness is crucial to any success… meaning I am off to an excellent start for SW ‘09! I even made a soundtrack, a few prime inclusions being: Success (Duran Duran), The Final Countdown (no one cares who sings this song), Ain’t Wastin Time No More (Allman Bros.), Eye of the Tiger (Survivor?) What Light (WILCO).

Join me if you dare.

I randomly keep a sort of “dream journal,” it’s just a Microsoft word document in which I write about weird dreams I have every once in a while. I was reading back through it today and I found this super weird entry from this past summer, I was quite entertained and thought I’d share it. I’ve claimed that I am the world’s best dreamer (it’s half the reason I love sleeping so much!) and this only proves it to be true… haha, the weird things that go on in my brain.

8-15-08

Elise and I and some other people for some reason join this weird cult let by this crazy lady. She is friendly and we all are excited and we do everything she says and we fill out these surveys about ourselves to help her or something.

Safe house, cabin, dad out of town, call him, “don’t worry,” etc.

(The entry ends with that list of words, I think I got tired of writing and so I just gave the general idea of where the dream went… when I began reading through this I had no recollection of the original dream but I amazingly remembered every detail by the end and I think I can sum up how it concluded):

We decided on the Hathoots cabin as a safe house to escape but then find out that the witch lady knows we are there so I call my dad (who is out of town) and explain everything, frantically, and he simply says, “Oh, don’t worry,” and I am furious/panicked that he won’t help us. The end.

At the age of four or five, my parents signed me up for soccer. I was a very timid child and I had absolutely no apt for the sport. I played for a few years and I remember my favorite part of it all always being half-times at the games because of the orange slices and juice. I would stand on the field, completely static, sometimes picking grass and occasionally running in the general direction of the ball (never actually kicking it) just waiting for the whistle to blow so I could go eat some orange slices. Half-time was the best and I spent the entire first half of every game anticipating it, unfortunately it was all downhill from there; after half-time I’d return to the field in agony 1.) because I had to spend another twenty minutes standing in grass and 2.) because I knew what was coming at the end of the game: the human tunnel.

The absolute worst part of playing soccer, worse than being kicked or having my mom braid my hair in annoyingly tight braids before very game, was running through the human tunnel. I hated it. The whistle would blow signaling the end of the game and would I half-heartedly jog over, usually behind the entirety of my team, to the terrifying and completely bizarre human tunnel on the sideline; the final obstacle standing between me and the only other redeeming aspect of soccer games besides half-time snacks, the after-game snack. A tunnel comprised of my parents and other weird old people holding each others hands up in the air, jeering at you and occasionally reaching down and patting you on the head or back. I never understood why they had to touch me, or why they had to yell, or why they had to not only entrap me by forming a ceiling of arms above my head but also by leaning their faces in and looking down at me grinning as if it is enjoyable to have to experience something like that. It was hardly worth the granola bar and sunny d to endure that monstrosity.

Soccer wasn’t my thing, for so many reasons and luckily by third grade I moved on to other things in life. In my four years of playing, I never scored a single goal, I ran through countless tunnels and the snacks got continually worse as the sport became more competitive. I’ll never forget dreading that tunnel and I’ll always hold a little sympathy in my heart for the millions of little soccer players out there facing it every week.

I’m excited to be voting for the first time.
AI is out, Billups is back.
My 7 week winter vacation begins in exactly 14 days.
I slept for a solid 11 hours last night.
I filled up my entire gas tank for under $20.

Sweet.

This is the second rendition of the top ten funniest people I know list.  It’s really difficult to compile a list like this.  I know a lot of funny people, and if you’re reading this and you’re offended that you aren’t on it, don’t worry, I’m sure you were considered – and, you know, i’ll probably make another one of these some day, so if you didn’t make it this time around, you can work on being funnier and perhaps you’ll make the next one! 

THE TOP TEN FUNNIEST PEOPLE I KNOW COUNTDOWN

10. Rocky Rhoades: Making his first appearnce on my funny people list! There is little more entertaining than watching David and Rocky go back and forth. 

9. Joe Marsala: This guy is in on every joke. 

8. Jennifer Sorenson: We agree on almost everything… she’s quick and the best kind of sarcastic. 

7. Stormie Rhoades: Another newcomer to the top 10, so sarcastic, so critical in the most hilarious way.

6. Rob Kelly: I have to ground him by putting him at number six – he’s so high on so many other people’s list….

5. Elise Kelly: The dark horse.  She is funny.  “I used to hate you… but now I love you.”  She wasn’t anywhere near the top 10 last time around.  Elise is proof that you too can make it some day, if she did it, there is hope for ANYBODY. 

4. Brandon Freyta: The only person, besides coco…, that might be more sarcastic and cynical than me!

3. Alex Mclaughlin: “What’s worsterchesterwarshershirec sauce precious?” – need I explain more?

2. David Mercer: He’s gonna hate me for putting him at number two… especially since coco is number one…. but, making number one on someones funniest people list would go straight to his head.  Plus, how he’ll repsond to being number 2 just adds to his funniness….

1. Codi Liddiard: Cocoaoaooaoaoaw baby!  Any one who knows coco, knows this was an excellent selection for numero uno.

I usually have something to say… it isn’t often that I find myself at a loss for words… and admittedly sometimes, I speak too soon.  I occasionally share my thoughts on things without really giving them a fair chance, some might call me opinionated – I’d say I’m just strong of mind… ;) 

Here is a list of a few things that might not suck as much as I claimed they did or might not suck at all even though I bashed them relentlessly.

1. Heroes! – I was totally against this show for the longest time.  Robbin always tried to get me to watch it with her and I refused.  My parents bought the first season on DVD and I still refused to watch it… but then one uneventful summer evening, with nothing better to do, I gave in and put on the first episode.  My mind was changed within 5 minutes.  Heroes RULES, and I am moderately in love slash obsessed with Milo Ventimiglia (yet I’ll never be able to spell his last name correctly).  He is on the top five of my list of celebrities I’d marry without even meeting, among the likes of John Mayer and Adam Brody, impressive. 

2. Hayden Panettiere (keeping with the heroes theme) – I couldn’t stand this girl.  She was in a bunch of dumpy teen movies that I hated and I thought she had no talent whatsoever… just a pretty face with an unfair amount of luck.  BUT… watching Heroes totally converted me to a Panettiere praiser.  She has some depth, plays her role perfectly on Heroes and is one of my favorite characters on the show.  Recently I discovered that she is attempting to start a singing career… which really took her down a few notches, but, I’m just pretending that that isn’t happening… which is hard to do, especially after sitting through a youtube video of her singing the national anthem… it was painful. 

 3. The Twilight Series – I had NO intention of ever reading any of these books.  I first caught wind of this phenom last spring and immediately wrote it off as something I’d never be interested in.  Childish, geeky, shallow… these are the adjectives that I attached to the series…. well, then I purchased the first book of the series on an impulse buy last June.  I read it in 1 day.  I LOVED it.  It was so compelling and so easy to get wrapped up in and within minutes of reading it I joined the ranks of millions of other girls across the globe who are slightly obsessed slash in love with Edward Cullen… and he quickly escalated to the top five on my list of fictional characters who I would marry without meeting IF 1) they actually existed or 2) I became a fictional character, or 3) in the case of fictional roles played by actors  – said actors became the characters they were portraying… joining the ranks of Charles Darnay, so many Ashton Kutcher characters and Jimmy Smith of Millie, again very impressive.

4. Regina Spektor – I really dislike the song “Fidelity,” and my first take on Ms. Spektor was undecided; she was either unoriginal and ordinary or original in a negative way (to a point that wasn’t special, if you catch my drift) which also made her ordinary… and I don’t have a problem with ordinary but, it seemed to me that so many people made claims about her being exceptional and innovative.  She can play the piano… and has a decent voice.  Well, as I gained a little more exposure to her music I started to gain appreciation… and I will now agree that she is very talented.  Her musicianship is definitely admirable and her voice is so accurate, she has great control and her innovation is mostly pretty cool… though, I still can’t listen to her for very long increments of time, the voice does get a little irritating after a while.

5. Sudoku – Throughout high school, every single extra credit oppurtunity in my math classes seemed to be completing a sudoku puzzle… and I had no idea how to complete a sudoku and no intention of learning.  (Lucky for me, I’ve never needed much extra credit in math classes). Then, last winter, a friend of mine forced me to learn how to do it because she was sure I’d love it.  And… she was totally right.  I freaking love sudoku, I sit around and do sudoku all day long.  I do it while I watch TV, while I’m bored at work and in class. 

6. Harry Potter Movies – When I first found out they were making the beloved series of my childhood that taught me to love reading into films, I was horrified.  I knew they would fail to capture the fervor of the characters in casting the actors and I was furious that they were re-sensationalizing the arlready way over sensationalized series… I think Harry Potter was the first thing that taught me what it is to be pretentious.  Well I didn’t LOVE the first few movies, and I still have qualms with the actor they cast as Dumbledore, but the 4th film converted me into a HP movie fan.  I loved the 5th and absolutely cannot wait for the 6th, I’m so disappointed at the delay in the release of the Half-blood Prince!

7. Stephen Colbert – This might’ve been my biggest mistake of all.  I really hadn’t had much exposure to SC prior to starting college… and at the beginning of my freshman year I was really irritated by the guys in my Poly Sci class who were OBSESSED with him.  I watched his show once and really wasn’t all that entertained… Then, I watched his speech from the White House corespondents dinner in 2006, and I was mesmerized.  I started watching his show more and more and I think he is one of the funniest men EVER.  I DVR every episode of The Colbert Report and he is in the top five on my list of celebrities I would secretly marry without ever meeting, among the likes of Mark Ruffalo and Hunter Parrish. 

8. Knitting – When Robbin came home from New York wearing lumpy home-knit scarves, carrying a bag of yarn and needles with her wherever she went… I thought she was retarded.  She had taken up knitting and upon her return she sparked my mom to re-take it up as well… then they got Elise going.  I wasn’t a fan of most, well honestly probably any, of the things they were producing… but then, one day, again due to boredom, I decided to learn how to knit.  My mom showed me and I found I was pretty good at it and I started my first scarf.  I can still only knit scarves… and I still really don’t like anything I’ve made, but, the process of knitting is relaxing and fun… it’s another thing I do while watching TV.

I’m sure there are many, many more… and maybe I’ll add on to this another day.  But I’d like to conclude with a brief list of things I’ve got absolutely right.  ;)

1. LOST – LOST SUCKS, I don’t care what anybody says.  I will never ever watch LOST. 

2. Arrested Development – This is the best show ever created.

3. John Mayer – He is incredibly talented and I love him with all my heart.

4. Leggings – Leggings are NOT pants and I will never ever accept them as such.  (See my first blog “Hmph”)

5. The New Facebook – It blows.

6. Will Ferrell – Not funny. 

7. Keanu Reeves – NOT talented.

8. Earl Boykins – I can’t stand Earl Boykins.  The 12th best day of my life was when the Nuggets disposed of him.  If you have to qualify a statement about someones talent than they probably aren’t that great… “He’s so talented, especially for being so short.”  Guffaw.  He drove me INSANE.

9. Abby Waner – Abby can straight up ball.  She splashed multiple NBA 3’s in the Colorado high-school state championships and started at Duke her freshman year.

I’m sure there are a many, many, many more things that I have right… but I’ll leave you with that.

I am constantly claiming that songs are my all time favorite song, I probably claim up to three songs a day as being the best song of all time. The truth is I don’t have a favorite song, but, I do have favorites… I recently decided on my favorite song of 2008: Naive by the Kooks.

This song wasn’t recorded or released in ‘08, it’s just a song I’ve LOVED listening to for months now. In Your Atmosphere by John Mayer was definitley a close second, but since I’ve only been listening to it since July, I couldn’t bump it to the number one spot. Other honorable mentions of the year include: Wildcat by Ratatat, Nobody Knows Me At All by the Weepies and Fire It Up by Modest Mouse.

Song of 2007? Chicago by Sufjan Stevens. Honorable ‘07 mentions: Comptine D’Un Autre: L’Apres Midi by Yann Tiersen, Walk Away by Ben Harper No Cars Go by The Arcade Fire and What Light by WILCO.

2006 was Paperweight by Joshua Radin and Schuyler Fisk. Honorable ‘06 mentions: Manhattan as recorded by Dinah Washington, Mint Car by The Cure and Arms of a Woman by Amos Lee.

2005 was The City Lights by The Umbrellas. Honorable ‘05 mentions: 3rd Planet by Modest Mouse, Nothing Better by The Postal Service, Funny Face as recorded by Fred Astaire, Non-Photo Blue by Pinback and You Have My Attention by Pinback.

All of these honorable mentions are off the top of my head… so I’m sure I’ve left out a few important ones.

2005 is really as far back as I can go… it’s too gruesome to consider what might’ve topped the list before that. 2004 was probably something terribly emo, maybe something by Dashboard. I honestly cannot recall anything that I listened to in 2003… which is slightly upsetting. And anything ‘02 or prior was probably 2pac. I listened to my fair share of 2pac throughout middle school and I have no idea why my parents allowed this. I even had a 2pac calander hanging in my room… I imagine 2002 might’ve been Dear Mama, a song that I can spit word for word, to this day. I’ll venture to say ‘01 was California Love and ‘00 was either ‘Nsync or Brandy….

The point is, I love thinking about what certain songs mean in relation to my life. I love hearing a song that recovers a memory forgotten, or reminds me of particular moments and feelings.

So, I’ve started a project. I’m chronicling my life in compilations of songs arranged in accordance to the dates of significance they had in my life. I’m including all my favorites, as well as those songs that just make me remember. For example, whenever I hear SexyBack by JT I immediately think of the summer of ‘06 right before I began my senior year, so this song will definitely be included and placed accordingly.

I’ve started by constructing a timeline of the past few years of my life, it begins in late 2004 and continues to the present. I documented all the big events; birthdays, holidays, performances, trips, etc. and I’ve started building my compilations around this. Adding songs where they fit and listing them chronologically. It’s fantastic.

I’m nearly half way finished and I have about 100 songs… I had a difficult time deciding what to do about entire albums – there are certainly albums that mean as much to me in entirety as another single song might – and I’ve decided I should include them as albums, which is really upping the song count.

I plan on burning all of these CD’s and titling the chapters. Hopefully I’ll finish soon… it’s great fun and I can’t wait to view and listen to the end result!

The countdown of my ten favorite beverages of all time, from ten to one….

10. Grape Kool-Aid

9. Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi

8. Nantucket Nectars Half & Half

7. Iced Caramel Machiatto

6. Hot Chocolate

5. Green Tea

4. Cherry Slushie (NOT slurpee)

3. Diet Dr. Pepper

2. Apple Juice

1. Chocolate Milk!!!!