Things I Don't Understand

• How the President can take a specific question from a journalist, state an answer that is not even close to on point, and stare at that journalist and miraculously make them believe that he has answered their question and that they should move on. He's like God except the complete opposite.
• Why I am incapable of being offended. While I haven't seen the most graphic or disturbing movies or read the most controversial or distasteful books, I feel like nothing can offend me. I feel like I should have some belief that, when some demeans saidbelief, I should get offended. I don't. If it's something I believe strongly in, I just chalk it up to the person being an idiot. It's weird. Only one thing that can actually offend me and that's disparaging remarks about my family or friends, but really, isn't that universal.
• How I can justify in my head paying $6 for a gin and tonic on a Friday night.
• Why Scalia isn't more controversial. His beliefs are one thing. Him being an arrogant prick is another.
• Why there is a $60 fine for panhandling too close to an ATM. That should be self explanatory.
• What is so attractive about planned suburbs. Whatever happened to spontaneity?
• Whatever happened to Dan Quayle? Can we do a where are they now segment or something. Talk about politically assasinated, jeeze the guy spells one thing wrong in his life, never got over that. Worse than those creepy spelling bee freaks.

Lyrics:

"Liar, liar pants on fire, you're burning up like David Koresh."

-Ghostface Killah, Fishscale. Buy this album if you have any love for hip-hop. He's the best rapper out there right now.

Terri Schiavo

Another political post. Coming up is the one year anniversary of the death of Terri Schiavo. On Fox News (I'm sorry I watched them, but I needed a laugh), Hannity and Colmes had on Bill Frist and Terri Schiavo's parents. A couple of questions for each.

Bill: Mr. Frist first said that he believed the Florida court was in error because he did not believe it was morally right "actively kill someone that was not brain dead, was not terminally ill, did not have cancer, and was not on life support by removing her feeding tubes" (okay, that's not a quote, more a paraphrase). So, I'm curious, if she's not on life support, and you remove the feeding tubes, and that kills her, what are the feeding tubes? I mean, aren't they life support? The lack of them ends her life, so the presence of them are surely supporting her life. Perhaps I'm confused. Additionally, the woman was brain dead. The best doctors in the world said she was brain dead. The coroner said she was brain dead. She moaned periodically and could open her eyes, that doesn't mean there is anything going on.

Parents: You guys wrote a book. I think that's a little sick, personally. Probably should've written a blog. However, you did start a foundation, so I presume a significant amount of the profits will go to the foundation. When asked what function the foundation served, you said it was to help people that got in this same situation. I assume that means to pay for lawyers when parents want to keep their adult children alive even when it's against their children's own wishes and the wishes of the person closest to them (the husband or wife). Maybe I'm wrong on this too, but it seems like a pretty rare situation. I've got an idea, how about you put it towards Bulemia research. Bulemia killed your daughter, not the removal of life support. She was so skinny that she had a heart attack and that heart attack put her in a coma. Give the profits to research eating disorders, not perpetuate useless litigation. Thanks.

Sincerely,
Evan

Immigration Law

There is a new immigration law being proposed in the US Congress. There are between 11 million and 12 million illegal immigrants within the United States. Most are hispanic, many are migrant workers. This bill, at first, made an illegal immigrant's presence within the United States a felony. Republican's are calling for the deportation of all illegal immigrants. Fortunately, the Senate judiciary committee amended the bill, adding certain provisions that allowed immigrants to stay and removing the potential for a felony charge.

Our country was built on the backs of immigrants. Our country is still, in many ways, built on the backs of these illegal immigrants. Our agricultural industry, our hospitality industry and our restaurant businesses are primarily driven by the labor of illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants take jobs that no one in the United States wants. Politicians are saying that we should require immigrants speak English before they can legally enter the country. So, these educated English speaking immigrants will want to work in the fields for 60 hours a week in the sun for $4 an hour? Hmmm, that seems likely. I'm not trying to say that all immigrants work in the fields or are dishwashers or are uneducated, that's plainly not the case. There are 17,000 illegal immigrants in the UNITED STATES MILITARY!! That being said, a substantial amount of the jobs that non-English speaking illegal immigrants take are those that no other educated American would even consider taking. Why is this a problem for the United States economy? I understand the border patrol/security argument-the border should undoubtedly be secured for national security reasons. I understand the utility in having people enter the country legally. Still, I don't get the economic argument. Here's what would happen. Instead of paying illegal immigrants bare minimum wage, at best, to work on farms throughout the country, the agriculture industry will be required to pay American citizens substantially more than that of illegal immigrants. Those higher wages, in all those industries, will result in higher prices. Those moderately higher prices on produce and agriculture won't effect Bill Frist, or any politician, or you or me. It will effect the poorest of the poor. And that's it. So, instead of allowing illegal immigrants to escape the crippling conditions of Mexico and provide for their families, we'll give those ever-so-lucrative jobs to American's. Come on, is this really necessary? Our illegal immigrants are the most hardworking, underappreciated people in the United States. So they don't have some immigration lawyer in Mexico that can help them legally get into the United States-are we really going to make them felons? Ridiculous. Shameful and just kind of sad.

I remember when I was a kid, my parents had some work done on the house. They hired an older Mexican man that spoke English and was a legal immigrant. I remember them coming to the house and doing work that would've taken my dad 2 years in about 2 days. I remember them refusing lemonade, or water, or lunch from my mom. The man's two younger and illegal workers were probably 20 or 22. They were working in a room that didn't have AC yet, in August, in Georgia. It was really hot. Finally, my mom just started leaving water in the room and I suppose, they drank it eventually. They worked from 8AM-10PM one day. The fact of the matter is illegal immigrants don't ask for much. They did ask for something though at the end. The guy said he would knock $100 off the price if we had any spare clothes to give to his two illegal workers. He said they would send them back to their family in Mexico. They were in the US, supporting two entire families back in their native country. So, of course my mom threw together as many clothes as she could possibly come up with and gladly gave it to them. When I thought about this immigration bill, I thought about these two poor guys. Do I want them deported, do I want them to be felons? Absolutely not. They're hardworking, honest, happy people. Hell, they're more grateful to be in the United States than most American's are. I'm not saying we should have a free and open border, but we have to keep people like those two guys in this country. We have to have some remedy for them.

Comfort Media

DVD's:

1. Rounders
2. Lost in Translation
3. The Shield
4. Fargo
5. Donnie Darko
6. Igby Goes Down

Music

1. Underworld "Born Slippy" (from the end of Trainspotting)
2. Modest Mouse "3rd Planet"
3. Bright Eyes
4. Iron and Wine
5. Drive-By Truckers
6. Hope For a Golden Summer

These are DVD's I watch at the end of the night, or when I'm lonely, or when I'm stressed. These are songs or artists that make me fell better after shitty days. Tonight it's Lost in Translation coupled with some Drive-By Truckers. Fuck financial aid/outlining/cover letter writing.

Lyrics: "All the nice boys wait for a sign." Broken Social Scene Ibi Dreams of Pavement. Sounds like some sort of consent issue from criminal law.

Something Worthwhile From Justice Thomas

The following was quoted by Justice Thomas in a 2003 opinion. While I question whether what is claimed in this quote is actually true, I do find it interesting. Americans often question the sanity of radical Islamic groups. We wonder how they could do such things, how they could be such terrible people. We debate what went wrong in those young peoples' lives to make them want to blow themselves up for their religion. But listen:

"The world's oldest, most persistent terrorist organization is not European or even Middle Eastern in origin. Fifty years before the Irish Republican Army was organized, a century before Al Fatah declared its holy war on Israel, the Ku Klux Klan was actively harassing, torturing and murdering in the United States. Today...its members remain fanatically committed to a course of violent opposition to social progress and racial equality in the United States."
M. Newton and J. Newton, The Ku Klux Klan: An Encyclopedia.

So before we view the Islamic world as crazy, maybe we should look at ourselves and our own history. They may detest the commercialism, waste and obesity of Americans, but we have some history of hating the equality of man. Now I realize that, thankfully, has changed throughout our country. American's are proud to be American. I, of course, am proud to be an American. But it doesn't change the fact that we have a lot in our history to be incredibly ashamed of. The rest of the world isn't perfect. And neither are we.

To:

• To the girl, talking on her cell phone, who is meeting that hot guy in her class at the bar after she meets with the counselor, then she's going to Bennihanas (sic), then she's gonna go to the "Spot" for some more drinks, then she's not sure where she's going to spend the night but she may go to her friends or maybe she'll meet a guy or maybe she'll catch a cab home, then.......
• To the man bitching to me about the baby who is 15 rows behind us in the plane, crying only occasionally
• To the drunk in the back of the bus saying "you don't know me, you don't know me, you don't know me, i'm a man of god, i'm a man of god, you don't know me, you don't know me"
• To the attractive girl, working for what I'm sure is hefty commission, selling me monthly "opportunities" to help children around the world, that believes I will listen because she is attractive
• To Bill O'Reilly, Michael Moore, the blonde conservative chick that sucks, every liberal actor, and Pat Robertson
• To the homeless person that asks me for 75 cents everyday for the bus when the bus costs $2.
• To the cabbies that honk at me soliciting fares when I'm dressed up, believing I am a businessman, incapable of riding public transportation
• To the businessman waiting for the plane, who is yelling at the gate agent that the flight is delayed 40 minutes because of a flat tire: "You're lying, that's a terrible excuse, a flat tire...liar."
• To the man behind the old woman in line huffing and puffing, continually sighing passive aggressively
• To the people working the deli counter at Dominicks that can have a 15 minute conversation with every single one of their coworkers before they cut me a half a pound of Sara Lee Honey Roasted Turkey and a half a pound of contradictory (Domestic Swiss) cheese.

Shut the fuck up.

Lyric: "I guess this must be the place. I can't tell one from another. Did I find you or you find me?" Talking Heads This Must be the Place

Left Wing Liberals are More Dangerous Than Right Wing Republicans

Who do you hate more, stupid people or arrogant people? Stupid people generally can't help themselves. Arrogant people know they're smart and let us all know. Stupid people fumble, they struggle, maybe they think they are intelligent, maybe they try really hard, but in the end we really just feel sorry for them. Arrogant people are condescending, they're dreadful to be around, and generally they aren't nearly as smart or attractive as they believe they are. I hate arrogant people. I'm beginning to hate the left.

So, when I watch a political talk show and I listen to a Republican leader, or the head of such-and-such-abortion-clinic-bombing Family Protection Christian Right Society for Christian Families I don't think arrogant, I think naive. I don't think "wow these people are cocky bastards," I think "these people are missing the point." When I hear a Republican leader on TV lambasting a Democrat for hating the troops I don't think "man this guy is a dick," I think, "wow, this guy really knows how to play the trump card." When I hear someone talking about teaching intelligent design, I don't think "asshole" I think...okay well I think "wow this guy is an asshole because I know he doesn't believe this shit." But still, he's not an asshole for the way he's saying it, he's an asshole for what he's saying.

As for the Democratic Left, these guys can't get on TV for 30 seconds without seeming like complete cocks. Do I really need to hear Richard fucking Belzer on TV talking politics and making an ass out of his entire party? Someone needs to remind these actors that they are ACTORS. Again, the correct answer was ACTORS. You know what I think when this guy tells me that troops on the ground in Iraq don't know what the entire war is about and that he does because he can read multiple papers a day? I think, wow this guy needs to get some work. Why can't someone just get on TV without some sort of terrible middle of the road agenda? Can I get someone on TV saying "you know what, we fucked up, we know we fucked up, but we might as well take down Iran while we've got the chance." Or "we fucked up, we know we fucked up, let's pull out and let Iraq sort this out themselves-because in the end it's just gonna turn into what it was before-a horrible and brutal dictatorship." I am so sick of these middle of the road, underachieving politicians.

Let's see some current political agendas:
Anti-Racey Video Games: If people really think shooting people, seeing tits and picking up prostitutes in a video game is all that terrible, than they need something more to do. Isn't this a parent's job? Your kid gets their hands on Grand Theft Auto, than so be it. It's not going to mess them up all that bad. It's a VIDEO GAME! We've got kids everywhere, poor, neglected, molested, alienated, starving, dying and we care that some 9 year old is going to see sex 2 or 3 years before he'd be looking at Playboy in school anyways. Come on people.

Lobbyist Reform: I've got some reform for you guys- stop being so fucking corrupt. How about that? Isn't it ironic that the corrupt are passing anti-corruption laws? Do we really need to spend hundreds of man hours passing and refining an anti-lobbyist reform bill. Stop taking money from dirtbags, simple.

Anti-Flag Burning: Who does this hurt really? I mean really, at the end of the day what does burning a flag do? It doesn't incite riots, it doesn't kill our American spirit, flag burning is as symbolic as the flag itself. Let it go. I don't condone it, but there are more important things.

Gay Marriage: I don't care what you think about gay people. Personally, I believe that many gay people have more caring, loving relationships than say Britney Spears and Kevin Federline. I think gay people should be afforded the same rights straight people are. That's not the point though, the point is that this is a political play. This is not the "protection of families" this is the "protection of my seat in the house because I'm in a middle of the road Ohio district and if I can get some homophobes out to vote I'll improve my chances." Protection of the family? Most kids I know that are messed up are messed up because their straight parents went through a messy divorce. But we're not concerned with escalating divorce rates when we "protect the family" we're concerned with gay marriage. Well played.

And Finally BASEBALL: Baseball, are you kidding me!? The US is trillions in debt. Africa is a mess. Iraq is a mess. Afghanistan is a mess. Iran or North Korea will probably nuke us before the investigation into Barry Bonds is over. Yet, we have Senators making some stupid pitch to get face time by fighting the real enemy-steroid users. Well, I'm glad that we've got that cleared up. I don't trust a senator to reform baseball. Why don't we leave that to ESPN, SI, the Commissioner and the fans-the only people and outlets that can really change the game. But no, I need to see the leading story on SportCenter be John McCain cleaning up baseball. Finally, I can sleep soundly at night.

Lyrics:
"I'll wake on the floor, with my country at war.
And I wish I could care, but my liver's too sore.
If liquor's a lover, you know I'm a whore."
Two Gallants My Madonna -Some good ole melodrama.

What was.

So sometimes things don't work out. Sometimes people don't work. Sometimes personalities just can't mesh, can't mix. I suppose there are very few people in the world that are perfect together. I really don't believe most people ever find that person. I think generally we can find a person that we get along really well with, so much to the point that we're willing to work out all the kinks. We work and we work and someday, most people find themselves in something that feels perfect, something that seems perfect. Hopefully that feeling of perfection lasts, but generally it fades. You end up with someone long enough, you grow to love their flaws instead of loathe them. When you're with someone long enough, you learn to love the person, not because they're perfect for you, but just because they're another person. You'll have your songs together, you'll have your moments, and you'll have your memories. You'll have restaurants you shared, maybe some vacations you shared. But that doesn't mean that person is perfect for you. That doesn't mean that's your soulmate. In the end, you just find yourself happy, but you don't find each other perfect. Really, you just craft your relationship so that maybe it feels like a "soulmate." It's probably not.

I think a lot of the reason things didn't work out in this past relationship is that it's really difficult to be tolerant, and patient, and put in the time required to make things work when you're in law school. The chances of finding yourself in a perfect relationship is slim, and when you don't have the time to work on it, things get complicated. I hope I didn't fuck stuff up too much. It'd be bad to have to see someone every single day and have there be serious tension. It sucks to not have things work out with someone you care so much about, but better now than later. Hard to let go of someone you have become protective of, it always is. Maybe we can still be drinking buddies. Because as we all know, all law school is training to be an alcoholic.

Lyric:
"This is the start of what was."
The Streets

Irony

Why do bankruptcy firms advertise on cable? I mean afterall, the people are on the verge of bankruptcy. Surely, they can't afford cable. Wait...they probably still have their cable. Broke people-CANCEL THE FUCKING CABLE.

Sleep Tonight

It's 2:43 AM. Is sleep in the picutre? Doubtful. I feel bad for the people that have to deal with me tommorrow. But hey, misery loves company-my roommate is staying up all night to work on a journal paper. Life can always be worse. On a completely different note, I had the nicest bus driver today. I think I got some respect because I was a kid riding a shady bus full of crack heads late at night. It was fun.
Lyric:
"Sleeping is giving in, no matter what the time is,sleeping is giving in,so lift those heavy eyelids,people say that you'll die,faster than without water,though we know it's just a lie,scare your sons scare your daughters."-The Arcade Fire Rebellion (Lies)

T-Shirt Style

You know, I get the whole clever t-shirt movement. I understand the Neighborhoodies movement. The get the clever sayings. Hell I own some Threadless t-shirts with some nifty designs. I don't think it's a bad look-wearing a band tee shirt under a courdoroy coat or a something. Band tee shirts have been around for years and will probably never really go out of style.

All that being said, there is one particular type of t-shirt that needs to go out of style. No one, at least not over the age of oh, say 16, should still be wearing t-shirts that identify them as something. "Retired Athlete", "Bitch", "Easy", "Princess", "Ladies Man", "Asshole"-shit like this is ridiculous. I was watching this terrible dating show on MTV called Next. So anyways, this kid on there is 23 years old and he's wearing a shirt that said "Retired Athlete." Is this shit really appropriate for a 23 year old to wear? I mean honestly, these t-shirts have this odd like pseudo irony. They are claiming to identify the person wearing the shirt as a "Bitch" or something like that when we really know this person isn't what is on the T-shirt. They aren't a bitch, they are just a person who has stooped to the lowest of the low in order to create some false identity. I mean it's pathetic, it's so pathetic. It kind of saddens me. Like do these people really think these t-shirts are funny? Or do girls think that when they wear one of these shirts guys are like "oh man, this girl is sassy, she might be a bit of an adventure." Or when a guy wears a "retired athlete" t-shirt, does he think that girls perceive him as having an ironic sense of humor. Is he witty? No, it's just completely fucking stupid.

So, I propose that we revolutionize the T-shirt business. We ban these simple phrase t-shirts and we require that these T-shirts say the truth. Some examples:

"Princess" will be completely overhauled. If you're a princess, we'll put that on the t-shirt. It will read something like this. "I was raised in the Hampton's on Long Island but refused to shop there. I required my mother, father or au pair to drive me to Fifth Avenue or SoHo on Friday's after I finished equestrian practice at my all white high school. Eventually I left the Hampton's for Yale, where I fucked every guy I came across and required them to drop hundreds of dollars on nights out in NYC despite the fact that they were on student loans and I had a credit card that drew straight from the interest from my trust fund. Afterall, I deserve this kind of treatment, because I'm a lady. I suck in bed, I don't work very hard in school, I drive a BMW. I drink wine, but not Yellowtale. I eat out, but not Applebees. I love to travel, but not by car, or really even domestically to be honest with you. My birthday celebration lasts eleven days."

"Retired Athlete" will be changed as well. Really, any t-shirt that involves the word athlete, or sport, or anything of that nature can be changed to the following: "I'm a frat boy. I have had a number of sexual encounters that, when I woke up, I questioned whether or not I would be charged with some sort of sexual assault or date rape or something. I really don't remember them that well. I wear my hair shaggy because, well I'm not really sure. Occasionally, I claim that the reason I let my hair get long is because I can't afford it because I need beer money. But really, this doesn't make much sense. My dad is a partner at a prestigious accounting firm and dismisses my ridiculous haircut as 'boys being boys'. Really, I was never an athlete. I played high school football, and there was this one time that we almost got to state, but we didn't. Actually, by "athlete" I mean I was the offensive lineman on the field goal unit in high school. Don't give it up to me, because I won't call."
-It should be noted, that the essence of this statement is that "Retired Athlete" is equated to "Tool." However, we cannot reduce this statement to "Tool" because that would be another t-shirt altogether-that being of the dark-claymation-alluding-to-death-band Tool. We need to avoid this confusion.

"Bitch" should be changed to "The reason I'm not making you wear a condom is because I have an STD and significant issues with men and want to pass this STD to you so it burns when you piss."

In summation, this is only a start to this all important campaign. Do your part, and tell these people that their T-shirts suck and that they portray them in poor light. An alternative to completely explaining these individual terms is replacing them with completely graphic and uncalled for single or short phrases. I would laugh if someone sported a shirt saying something completely outrageous such as "HPV." That'd be kind of funny.

Lyric
"Check out the introvert in the corner with the rip in her skirt. Stomach pains so she grippin' her shirt. Ain't never had dinner so she know she ain't gettin dessert. Don't tell me it's her mission to hurt."
The Coup, socialist rappers, Heaven Tonight

Snowy Studying

Studying Property by a window, watching the snow occassionally and listening to the Microphones isn't really so bad. It's at least tolerable. This week is gonna be terrible, but hopefully this weekend and Spring Break will make up for it.

Oooooooooh Scary

From the local news:
"If you're a bird, the bird flu is already a pandemic. With air and commercial travel, the avian flu could race across the world."

"There is a likelihood of a shortage of anti-flu drugs."

"While health officials study the usefulness of a vaccine, they offered other advice...Sneeze into your sleave, not in your hands. Wash your hands. Stay away from people...at least three feet."

"The bird flu has infected as many as 170 people and killed as many as 90 people worldwide."

Are you fucking kidding me? Is this birdflu thing for real? I mean honestly if it has killed 90 people, I'm really scared. You mean 90 of the estimated 6.6 billion people have died from this shit. Oh my god. What the hell are we going to do? It kills .00000136 % of human beings? Okay, okay, calm down, here's what we're going to do. We're gonna build a shelter. It can have a ventilation system of some sort, something that filters out germs and such. Okay, so when the first case of the bird flu hits the United States, we'll send all the important people in the US there. We'll send the top CEO's in the country, the Vice President, probably Colin Powell, Condi Rice should probably be there, maybe some cultural icons...maybe Jewel or something for entertainment. I'm not sure, maybe she's not a great cultural representation. I mean these people have to carry on the flame of humanity. They have to carry on the human race after we all die of the goddamn bird flu. Okay so I've decided what we should do. We need to come up with a list. We need equal number of males and females, obviously. We should have four categories: 1) Intellect 2) Leadership 3) Athletic Prowess 4) Beauty. So like we can have Brad Pitt and Giselle or whatever that super model's name is under beauty. We'll have Lebron James and like Mia Hamm for athletics. We'll have Condi Rice and John McCain for leadership. And for intellect, hmm... Noam Chomsky if he's alive and maybe Sandra Day O'Connor. Wow, I'm really glad I've got this bird flu thing figured out. That news story really really scared me.

Worlds Leading Causes of Death:
1. Ischemic Heart Disease (heart disease) 7,375,408
2. Cerebrovascular Disease (something with head blood vessels) 5,106,125
3. Acute lower respiratory infections (coughs, pneumonia, whooping cough) 3,452,178
4. HIV/AIDS (AIDS, it's new) 2,285,229
5. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (heart attack) 2,249,252
6. Diarrhoeal Diseases (self explanatory) 2,219,032
7. Perinatal Conditions 2,155,000 (deaths at or shortly before and after birth)
8. Tuberculosis (really bad cough) 1,498,061
9. Trachea/bronchus/lung cancers (more coughs) 1,244,407
10. Traffic injuries (getting hit by a car or bus) 1,170,694
11. Malaria 1,110,293
12. Self inflicted injuries (killing yourself) 947,697

Well I kept looking. I looked at a bunch of World Health Organization reports. I mean I looked at tables for rich countries, tables for poor countries, tables for really really poor countries like Mongolia. I look at tables for just the US, tables for just males, tables for females, tables for elderly tables for kids. I never found bird flu. Weird were spending so much money on something that killed 1/10,000 as many people as suicide did last year. Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. We are a sad people. We don't give two shits about AIDS in Africa. The fact that the Iraqi people could be on the brink of civil war doesn't even make CNN's front web page headlines. Well at least we're knowledgeable about a second rate disease that kills a shitload of chickens and next to no humans. At least we've got politicians demanding more money go to researching something that kills less people in a year than AIDS kills in like what, an hour. This is pathetic, it really is.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it'll infect the United States and cripple us economically. Maybe it'll kill one fourth of the worlds population. How ironic would it be if I died of bird flu? I'm gonna take my karma chances and call this "potential" "pandemic" a lot of shit.

Lyric
"But I'm glad I hitched my apple wagon to your star
I never would have got here if I followed my heart
I didn't think much of it until i took it apart
I'm glad I hitched my apple wagon to your star."
-One of my feel good songs of the year The Boy Least Likely To. I'm Glad I Hitched My Apple Wagon to Your Star.

Quarter Life Crisis, Embodied in Lyrics

Today I listened to a song on Itunes that I don't think I had ever heard before. That's kind of strange, because my Ipod/laptop almost always plugged into my head. It's just another addiction to add to the list which now include caffeine/the internet/the shield/heroin. Well, not heroin. Regardless, very rarely do lyrics catch my ear these days. Generally, when I'm listening to music I'm focused on reading something or focused on zoning out staring at the city lights on the bus ride home. Today though, a Dismemberment Plan song came on and I seriously fucking loved it. The Dismemberment Plan has been an up and down band for me. Sometimes I really like them, sometimes I think they're a bit obnoxious. At the very least, they have humorous, insightful, and thought provoking lyrics. Sometimes the thought they provoke goes something like "wow, i've never thought of that" or "wow, that's sad." Sometimes it's "what the hell was he thinking dropping that terrible lyric." This song though, this song really made me think of a million people I know now and a million people I used to know. So...I listened to it like 8 times today. I think there are elements of this song I used to be able to relate to. Not so much anymore, but it brought back some memories.

It should be noted that I feel like every twenty something feeling kind of lost should listen to this song and feel better. It's a phenomenal song to represent those days that you don't remember the specifics of-just that you remember being great. At the same time, it reminds you that life moves on after those days, things change, and you gotta move with them. We should not be static. We should change as the things around us stay the same. Simple, but great:

"The only thing worse than bad memories
Is no memories at all
From the age of 20 to 22 I had five friends
None of whose names I can recall
And as I would walk down K Street to some temping job
As winter froze the life out of fall
Yeah, I must've been having a ball
Different scene outside your window now
Same VCR, same cats
Different people at the very same job
Similar alley, different rats
The trash goes out on a Tuesday now
You got to make a note about that
Yeah, this time you're where it's at
You can't say it but I know it's in there
You don't know it but I know that you're scared
Obvious and lonely, a spider in the snow
Now you find the very same pit still yawns
Deep down within the very same gut
The very same ghosts still seem to haunt you down
Down those lines you always tried to cut
You thought you just might need a little change
And now you find you got nothing but
How can a body move the speed of light
And still find itself in such a rut?
You can't say it but I know it's in there
You don't know it but I know that you're scared
Obvious and lonely, afraid to not let go
You can't say it but I know it's in there
You don't know it but I know that you're scared
Obvious and lonely, a spider in the snow."

Take heed. The Dismemberment Plan Spider in the Snow