If you've read my blog for a while, you probably remember Clark. (Almost a year ago, he and I were fake-engaged for April Fools' Day, and it was a hoot.) He really is a great friend, and it's going to be hard to say goodbye to him when he graduates and moves away next month.
A while back, Clark asked me to help him learn how to play guitar. The problem is, I'm pretty much self-taught, and I can't do anything more than play a bunch of chords. I told him he'd be better off finding someone else if he wanted to get really good and do anything fancy, but he still wanted me to teach him, so I agreed. We have probably gotten together and played guitar about 5 or 6 times total, but he has made a lot of progress.
Anyway, here we are playing Ingrid Michaelson's "You and I." Enjoy!
(By the way, I'm pretty sure we've only worked on barre chords twice, and here you can see him playing one of them pretty much effortlessly. I'm proud of him, and I'm proud of myself for having effectively taught someone something. Woohoo!)
I went with Kaitlin and her roommate April to see a movie last night. As usual, we enjoyed it--and I don't mean that we sat there stone-faced and enjoyed it internally. We laughed when things were funny, teared up a little bit when things were heartfelt, and swayed to the music when they played the cheesy late-80s love song. To me, that is part of the movie experience. I like to let myself feel what the movie is making me feel.
Well, apparently, some people don't like our method of enjoyment. Now, let me clarify: When Kaitlin laughs, she laughs (which makes me laugh harder, usually), and when--in the film--an engaged man kisses another woman, we're going to emit a "you're in trouble"-toned "oooooooo . . ." but, to my knowledge, there was not a single time in the movie when our enjoyment of the film interfered with others' ability to hear and enjoy the film as well.
But maybe we were wrong, because we got heat for it once the movie was over.
First, let me paint this picture for you. There were probably about 20 or 25 people in the movie theater, so it wasn't super crowded. We had walked in about 5 minutes after the movie had started and gone all the way to the top--the very back row. In the row directly in front of us, there was a blonde woman who looked to be in her mid 40s and a young couple. When we first walked in, the blonde woman had given us a dirty look, like, "How dare you come watch this movie!" but I thought maybe she'd just eaten something sour, so I gave her the benefit of the doubt. Turns out it was her attitude that was sour.
When the movie ended, the guy that was part of the couple looked back at us and stared till we made eye contact. Apparently he had turned back a couple of times during the movie, so Kaitlin suspected he might be upset with us. After he caught our attention, he said, "Y'all were really loud," to which we apologized as kindly as we could--maybe we were being louder than we thought we were. I felt genuine remorse for about half a second, but what happened next just shocked me. The middle-aged woman said to us--over her shoulder as she was walking away, without the decency to look us in the eyes--"Yeah, next time bring your mommy with you so she can tell you when to shut up."
Our jaws dropped. April leaned over to me and commented that her panties must have been in a wad, Kaitlin teared up a little, and my face flushed. If you know me at all, you know that I don't blush because I don't ever get embarrassed, but I could feel myself turn red--I'm still not sure if it was out of embarrassment, anger, shock, or what. All I know is that I have never been spoken to in that way by an adult, and I'm having trouble recalling any similar incidents from middle school, even. I'm pretty sure that, no matter how loud we were, that comment was completely uncalled for.
I fumbled through a lame response about how if she wanted to watch a movie with my mama, she could pay to fly her out from North Carolina. . . . I am no good at trash talk, so it was pretty flimsy, but mostly I wanted to just point out that we were not some kind of boisterous teenagers seeking to be obnoxious, but that we were adults too. Sure, we're young adults, but at least our panties were in their proper configuration.
Sometime during all of this commotion, I felt something hit my head. Now, keep in mind, we're in the very back row, so it couldn't have just been dropped on my head by someone behind me. I felt the back of my head, and I found a prize in my hair--a piece of chewed up, still soft and fresh enough to smell, obviously thrown our way by someone who wasn't happy with us, chewing gum. That's right, chewing gum. Lucky for me, I hadn't leaned back and gotten it stuck even more in my hair, because it came out fairly easily. And lucky for whoever threw it, I didn't see him or her do it; had I seen it happen, I may have tried to pull out more of my terrible trash talk and just embarrassed all of us even more.
My feelings were a little hurt, but I'm trying not to let it get to me. I just hope the next time we go to a movie, we are surrounded by people who can at least enjoy our enjoyment.
The past few months, I've probably been listening to more music than ever before. I almost always have something playing in the background while I'm working, while I'm cleaning, and even sometimes while I'm falling asleep.
Every now and again I'll be listening to a random assortment of music when a song comes on that really speaks to my soul. It starts out being something that I just want to listen to over and over again. Then I want to sing it in the shower at the top of my lungs. Then I want to recreate it. I want to put my touch on it, no matter how amateur that touch may be. I want to make it my own; I want to express, through the same medium, the feelings it evokes in me. So then I sit down at my computer and pull up the recording program and try a few times to get it to sound right. But without fail, anytime I try and sing a song written by someone else, I'm at least a little bit disappointed.
I'm finally realizing that disappointment comes because I haven't been trying to sound like myself. I am always, at some level, trying to mimic the original artist, and let's face it--that's just not gonna happen. And frankly, I am figuring out that I don't actually want it to.
This realization has led me to set a kind of lofty goal for myself this year: I am going to write a song so I can find my voice.
I don't expect the lyrics to be particularly deep or moving. I don't expect the music to be anything complex or spectacular. I definitely don't expect to have any incredible instrumentation, because all I really have access to right now is my guitar, and I can't do anything fancy with that. All I know is that it's going to be for my voice (whatever that is), in my style (whatever that is), and from my heart, and think I know what that is, so that's a good start, right?
So yeah. Look forward to hearing my real voice sometime this year!
There's something you should know about me: I really love Valentine's Day. A lot. I've never really been able to be bitter about it, because I love love so much. And let's face it, I'm just as aware of my single-ness on February 14th as I am any other day of the year, so it's not a big deal.
This year turned out better than most because I decided I'd make and give out Valentines. I haven't really done that since elementary school, so I thought'd be fun. I was completely right, too! See for yourself--here are just a few of the Valentines I made.
This song came into existence because we wanted to buy Brady some Cheerwine for his birthday, but were unable to find any in the store that normally carries it. (It's a dime a dozen back in NC, but a rare commodity out here.) We decided we'd give him an I.O.U. for the delectable brew, but thought that a musical version would be better than a lousy piece of paper or a verbal promise. Below you will find lyrics so you can follow along with the video.
Disclaimer: There is one stanza that we didn't really change the words to. Please don't let that deter you from enjoying the entire song.
Brady Baby
KJ and KG: You know we love ya, You know we care.
Just shout whenever, and we'll be there.
You want Cheerwine? We'll get you some.
But the store didn't have any; they're so dumb.
We tried to fight 'em--we ain't playin'.
They claimed to be out. We said, "What the heck you sayin'?"
Said, "There's no pop here that represents Carolina,"
So we wrote you a song, and that's finer.
And now we sing: Brady, Brady, Brady, oh!
Like, Brady, Brady, Brady, no!
Like, Brady, Brady, Brady, oh!
Don't you love us more than Cheerwine?
Oh, oh, for you we both went in together
We wanted to buy a supply to last forever.
But them stupid fools didn't have the brew,
So now we're here to sing this little birthday thing
And now we're playin' on your heartstrings,
Makin' things come true that you've wished in your best dreams.
So don't you frown, frown, frown, frown,
Because you make us smile every time that you're around,
KJ: When I was twenty-two, I met Brady-boo.
There was nobody I could ever take clothespinning*
That ever could have been as much fun as you.
KG: You like my biscuits. They so boberry fresh!
And lucky for you and me,
You don't ever look a hot mess.
KJ and KG: You make our hearts pound
And skip a beat when we see you in the street and
At school on the playground.
But we really want to see you on the weekends.
To our hearts you've got the keys.
You don't even have to say please!
We'll waive the entry fees
If you rock your Justin Banger Biebs!**
Brady, Brady, Brady, oh!
Like, Brady, Brady, Brady, no!
Like, Brady, Brady, Brady, oh!
You're sweeter than Cheerwine.
(And then the ugly face I make at the end is when I'm in the middle of saying, "Now I'm gone.")
*A few months ago, we went on a group date in which we went to the mall and pinned clothespins on people without their knowing (So much fun--you should all try it) and Brady came as Kaitlin's date.
**Almost a year ago, Brady came over to visit our friend Kara who was visiting from Canada. Kara was playing with her ponytail in a way that made it look like she had Justin Bieber pre-haircut hair. In an effort to compliment her "Justin Bieber bangs," Brady accidentally said that he liked her "Justin Banger Biebs." This has become one of our all-time favorite Brady moments, and as soon as we decided to write the song, we knew we'd have to work it in.
Now feel free to listen to the song a couple more times so that anytime "Baby" comes on the radio and you're cranking up the volume to sing along (don't lie--you know you do it), you'll mix these words up with the real ones.
