The other night while walking to work I saw a lone firefly flashing his bioluminescent abdomen in a field where no female would ever see him. He was the last one to rise, the last of his brethren having perished in the week or two before after doing what they had been born to do. He was late to the party. His life will go unfulfilled.
I can sympathize with that insect...
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
A "SNEIZURE" IS WHEN YOU SNEEZE THREE OR MORE TIMES IN A ROW...
I have this bizarre allergy. I don't even know if it's correct to call it an allergy.
I've been to an allergist before. I have had the scratch test. The only thing I react to is cat dander. Now before you conclude that this must be the answer, cats don't make me sneeze nor do they make my eyes water. I've lived with cats and can be around them without any problems. It's only if I am scratched by them that I get a reaction. The area of the scratch wells up rather noticeably and becomes itchy but it ends there.
However, I do get days where my eyes are pouring forth tears (which generally don't drain out my eyes but rather out my nose) and I'm sneezing multiple times in a row (like three to seven times) all the while accompanied by this unending itch in only my left (or occasionally only my right) nostril. That itch is the start of the cycle.
The itch causes my nasal lining to swell which in turn creates tears which in turn drain itchily out my nose which in turn prompts sniffling which in turn results in multiple sneezes which calms me down for a few minutes until the next inevitable itch which restarts the cycle. Avoiding sniffling results in tears dripping out my nose and that itself also itches. There's no way to win and the longer I go without sneezing, the more powerful they are when it happens again anyway. In other words, the typical allergic response.
The weird thing is my nose is actually clear during these periods. Usually I have a slight, constant stuffiness. When the sneezing gets bad, it feels as though air is touching a part of my nasal lining that normally does not get touched by air. Once I get that feeling, I know I'm doomed. I've noticed that the medicine aisles of pharmacies sell DEcongestants...I really wish they would sell CONgestants because that's what I really need because pinching my nose shut does nothing. :-)
The trouble is, I have no idea what it is in response to, yet I know how to cause it. I don't do it on purpose, but if I don't get enough rest for three or more days in a row, it happens...always. It starts with a lot of yawning (duh), which results in me tearing up. Those tears drain and I sniffle without incident for a while but then after that first sneeze, it just builds to its peak. A good night of rest is all it takes to end it but I'm usually hours away from that option when it happens. It's the weirdest thing. Either I'm allergic to a protein/salt in my own tears or I'm allergic to not getting enough sleep. It's ridiculous. Maybe I should scratch myself with a sterilized needle dipped in my tears to find out :-)
The sneezing is the worst. I don't know why, but my body insists on hurricane-force, LOUD, spraying sneezes. I've always envied those girls who had those cute choo! sneezes... You'd think after the 1,017th sneeze, that the body would kinda get that it's not working but no... All I wanna do is score the delicate lining of my nose when I get this way. What is it about allergies that gets me thinking so medievally?
I've been to an allergist before. I have had the scratch test. The only thing I react to is cat dander. Now before you conclude that this must be the answer, cats don't make me sneeze nor do they make my eyes water. I've lived with cats and can be around them without any problems. It's only if I am scratched by them that I get a reaction. The area of the scratch wells up rather noticeably and becomes itchy but it ends there.
However, I do get days where my eyes are pouring forth tears (which generally don't drain out my eyes but rather out my nose) and I'm sneezing multiple times in a row (like three to seven times) all the while accompanied by this unending itch in only my left (or occasionally only my right) nostril. That itch is the start of the cycle.
The itch causes my nasal lining to swell which in turn creates tears which in turn drain itchily out my nose which in turn prompts sniffling which in turn results in multiple sneezes which calms me down for a few minutes until the next inevitable itch which restarts the cycle. Avoiding sniffling results in tears dripping out my nose and that itself also itches. There's no way to win and the longer I go without sneezing, the more powerful they are when it happens again anyway. In other words, the typical allergic response.
The weird thing is my nose is actually clear during these periods. Usually I have a slight, constant stuffiness. When the sneezing gets bad, it feels as though air is touching a part of my nasal lining that normally does not get touched by air. Once I get that feeling, I know I'm doomed. I've noticed that the medicine aisles of pharmacies sell DEcongestants...I really wish they would sell CONgestants because that's what I really need because pinching my nose shut does nothing. :-)
The trouble is, I have no idea what it is in response to, yet I know how to cause it. I don't do it on purpose, but if I don't get enough rest for three or more days in a row, it happens...always. It starts with a lot of yawning (duh), which results in me tearing up. Those tears drain and I sniffle without incident for a while but then after that first sneeze, it just builds to its peak. A good night of rest is all it takes to end it but I'm usually hours away from that option when it happens. It's the weirdest thing. Either I'm allergic to a protein/salt in my own tears or I'm allergic to not getting enough sleep. It's ridiculous. Maybe I should scratch myself with a sterilized needle dipped in my tears to find out :-)
The sneezing is the worst. I don't know why, but my body insists on hurricane-force, LOUD, spraying sneezes. I've always envied those girls who had those cute choo! sneezes... You'd think after the 1,017th sneeze, that the body would kinda get that it's not working but no... All I wanna do is score the delicate lining of my nose when I get this way. What is it about allergies that gets me thinking so medievally?
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
BANGING MY HEAD AGAINST MY DESK...
My roommate is my friend and while he is a good friend, he is a lousy roommate. I'm not sure if this thus makes him a lousy friend. Does it carry over?
If your friend takes advantage of you, s/he is considered a bad friend so if my roommate is "allowing" me to do like 95-98% of the work around the apartment, is he not taking advantage of me and if so, does that make him a bad friend? Emotionally I feel that connection while logically, I separate them. I mean, I won't lend even my best friends money if I believe that I won't be paid back but that doesn't mean I think them a bad friend, just bad when it comes to money. I'm torn.
Maybe it has to do with the fact that he has been unemployed since March and for nearly five months, did NOTHING to look for new work. Like a douchebag, I actually brought home an advertisement for Census work...y'know, a GOVERNMENT job...jobs which are practically synonymous with excessive pay. He would've been let go by now, it's temporary work...but it would've been temporary work at $20/hr. Instead, no...he's looking (or so he says) for work only now.
The point being that he has basically been home all day doing NOTHING around the apartment. He actually had the gall to tell me when first fired that "now that he has all this extra free time, that he should really start doing more around the apartment since I'm doing it all the time." How fucking offensive is that? When you include travel time, I'm working over 40 hours a week, I still have to sleep and eat, and yet somehow, I have all this free time to do EVERYTHING around this apartment. I wanna believe that it's the "night shift fallacy" but I'm really having trouble with that.
The "Night Shift Fallacy" is an assumption made by non-night shift workers. They believe that because we are home all day that we have more time to do stuff than they who have to work during more normal hours. Those who make this assumption, of course, have failed to take into account that WE HAVE TO SLEEP TOO. It's just we have to sleep during the day. When working the night shift, you have two options: you either have the morning or the afternoon, but not both. I personally choose to have the morning (going to sleep around noon). I've done the afternoon (going to sleep at about 7 a.m. and getting up at 3 p.m.) but without something to do, it's hard to get up on time. The temptation to sleep in is tremendous. WORK-LEISURE-SLEEP is the way I prefer to do it. WORK-SLEEP-LEISURE all too often becomes WORK-SLEEP-SLEEP SOME MORE :-)
Anyways... I am completely convinced that he is not only perfectly content with the situation as is, but that he honestly believes that I am being an awesome roommate by doing it all for him rather than he is being a fucking lousy roommate by not doing his share. I would have never described him as narcissistic before, but I'm coming to that conclusion now. Even if it's not narcissism, it's definitely a parasitic relationship and it speaks poorly of him as a friend to allow this situation to continue.
Should I say something? You would think so. He really offended me with his "all this free time/more around the apartment" comment. First of all, in order to do "more", you must first do SOMETHING. Maybe once a month, he will wash the dishes. And even then, I still have to do the dishes because he (for some reason) never washes the pots still on the stove. So even when he does the dishes, I have to do the dishes. Vacuum? Ha! Dust? What's that? Sweep the kitchen floor? Eh...the bugs'll get it. Wipe off the hair catch in the bathtub after a shower? Of course not! I think I've handled his pubic hair more than all his boyfriends/flings combined. Clean any room in the apartment? I must be insane... Clean his own room? Not even once...not that it matters seeing as how he has turned the living room into his de facto bedroom. Nah, I didn't wanna watch some television today. Put more cans of soda in the 'fridge when there's only one or two left (and especially when you've taken the last one)? Nah, I don't get thirsty... Once in a blue moon, he will take the garbage and recyclables out. And I would bet good money that he honestly believes he is contributing when he does so.
Even when I'm cleaning the bathroom practically right in front of him, you would think that that alone might inspire him to maybe clean the living room or kitchen, but no. Why would he deprive me of my apparent purpose in life? He's such a thoughtful friend. He doesn't want me to think I am unneeded around here so he leaves it all for me to do.
This apartment has a shitty circuit set-up so we can only have one air-conditioner and that A/C is not in my room, it's in his bedroom...I mean living room. If he were employed, this would not be a problem. On those really hot days this Summer has been sadistically throwing at us this year, I may have actually been able to rest comfortably in the living room but no, Mr. Deliberately-Unemployed gets to enjoy it while I try to sleep in a room that regularly topped 92+° for a lot of days this past July. While I've gotten used to it, at 92° it is almost impossible to sleep. I would open the door, but there's only so much noise I can sleep with and even then, the A/C can't cool my room. But he gets to relax comfortably. Fucking A! I even bought curtains to seal off the living room so the A/C doesn't have to work so hard and he just leaves them open. Thanks asshole. And does he even buy a fan so that the A/C doesn't have to run NON-STOP for a month? No. Even those few days when it was actually seasonably cool and I opened the windows. He would close them as soon as I would go to my room and turn the A/C on. Fucker. He says he can't afford a fan and yet he managed, like a drunk who's chronically broke yet never without a drink, to find the $35 necessary to buy a book of artwork for The Last Airbender cartoon. The fan I use cost less than that and it's rather effective.
I am effectively being shut out of an apartment I co-rent because he won't get a fucking job. It's not as though the economy is the worst it's been since the early 1980s right? Oh wait, it is. Nah, it's easy to find work that pays $12+/hr. when unemployment is cresting 10%. And yet, because I am good at hiding my emotions, he actually believes that I am not bothered at all by this. Then he drops another bomb on me.
He actually had the gall to tell me that if he couldn't find a job, that I might have to find a new roommate. Oh really? I'm just gonna room with a total stranger in an apartment where I can't lock my bedroom door? I'm out of friends who will live with me (though if you can afford $650/mo. plus half utilities (about $100-$150/mo.) I'm listening). You can't just dump a roommate on me. I have to have approval of it. And quite frankly, I won't. I simply don't trust anyone else that much (or at least don't trust anyone that much who is currently available and wanting the small bedroom in a 2BR apartment). Go ahead and leave me. Break the lease you signed and that I have an extensive paper trail of you paying half-rent for. Breaking contracts isn't illegal...no! Judge Judy would totally award me a judgement whereby you still pay what you owe. Yes, you've pissed me off to the point where I would have no qualms about suing you for what you owe. Congratulations.
Believe it or not, I would take the loss of money and pay for this apartment by myself for a few months had he put in his part around here, had he honestly been looking for work the WHOLE time he was unemployed, had he actually done MORE (or even all) the work around this apartment while unemployed (y'know, to make up for the fact that he's not bringing in income). Yes, he has unemployment so while he has made his bills on time, he pisses me off by being such a willing recipient of the aid. Am I the only one who would actually be EMBARRASSED that I was collecting unemployment? Something tells me that if he qualified for foodstamps that he'd be happy as a pig in shit. But no, that's not how it's been happening. He's a leech to the system and a parasite of a friend.
So why don't I say anything? The fact is, I am in no rush to start fighting with a friend I've known both for over a decade and with whom I have never actually fought with. That first one is always a doozy. The other fact is that he is a grown man and more importantly, that I am not his parent. No one told me to clean the bathroom, kitchen, living room, and my room. No one told me to sweep the floor, take out the garbage, vacuum, and dust. I just do it. Why? Because it's fucking dirty. That's why. And it's not like I clean totally at random. I do the dishes first thing upon getting home from work (I'm still in "work mode" so I get it out of the way before I settle down for my leisure period). He has from noon to when I get home if he were to do them practically every fucking day, but no and if by chance yes, I still have to wash the pots for some fucking reason. I understand not wanting to vacuum while I'm sleeping but I get up at eight and noise restrictions don't begin until ten. That's two fucking hours to do some noisy cleaning and all fucking day to do the quiet cleaning but no...and no, there has never been a yes to this. If he even knows how to work a vacuum, I would be surprised. His mattress, after a year, still lies on the floor like he's a squatter. He never bought a bedframe during the time he was working preferring to buy DVDs instead and waiting four months to finally buy a fucking couch for the living room (which I now practically regret as the couch has become his bed) cuz he didn't want to borrow money from me to do so. I hesitate to wonder what might be growing/living under that mattress since he has never changed the sheets on it.
The other thing I don't get is he brought with him an old desktop computer. He got a laptop shortly thereafter. He ALWAYS works on the laptop, never the desktop yet the desktop is still in his room and it's on 24/7. Why? That one still baffles me. He has a desk he could be doing his work at yet instead he's in the living room so he leaves his virtually abandoned desktop to run constantly in his room. Did you ever just want to bang your head against a desk until it bled just because it all doesn't make any sense? How did I get stuck with this shit?
If your friend takes advantage of you, s/he is considered a bad friend so if my roommate is "allowing" me to do like 95-98% of the work around the apartment, is he not taking advantage of me and if so, does that make him a bad friend? Emotionally I feel that connection while logically, I separate them. I mean, I won't lend even my best friends money if I believe that I won't be paid back but that doesn't mean I think them a bad friend, just bad when it comes to money. I'm torn.
Maybe it has to do with the fact that he has been unemployed since March and for nearly five months, did NOTHING to look for new work. Like a douchebag, I actually brought home an advertisement for Census work...y'know, a GOVERNMENT job...jobs which are practically synonymous with excessive pay. He would've been let go by now, it's temporary work...but it would've been temporary work at $20/hr. Instead, no...he's looking (or so he says) for work only now.
The point being that he has basically been home all day doing NOTHING around the apartment. He actually had the gall to tell me when first fired that "now that he has all this extra free time, that he should really start doing more around the apartment since I'm doing it all the time." How fucking offensive is that? When you include travel time, I'm working over 40 hours a week, I still have to sleep and eat, and yet somehow, I have all this free time to do EVERYTHING around this apartment. I wanna believe that it's the "night shift fallacy" but I'm really having trouble with that.
The "Night Shift Fallacy" is an assumption made by non-night shift workers. They believe that because we are home all day that we have more time to do stuff than they who have to work during more normal hours. Those who make this assumption, of course, have failed to take into account that WE HAVE TO SLEEP TOO. It's just we have to sleep during the day. When working the night shift, you have two options: you either have the morning or the afternoon, but not both. I personally choose to have the morning (going to sleep around noon). I've done the afternoon (going to sleep at about 7 a.m. and getting up at 3 p.m.) but without something to do, it's hard to get up on time. The temptation to sleep in is tremendous. WORK-LEISURE-SLEEP is the way I prefer to do it. WORK-SLEEP-LEISURE all too often becomes WORK-SLEEP-SLEEP SOME MORE :-)
Anyways... I am completely convinced that he is not only perfectly content with the situation as is, but that he honestly believes that I am being an awesome roommate by doing it all for him rather than he is being a fucking lousy roommate by not doing his share. I would have never described him as narcissistic before, but I'm coming to that conclusion now. Even if it's not narcissism, it's definitely a parasitic relationship and it speaks poorly of him as a friend to allow this situation to continue.
Should I say something? You would think so. He really offended me with his "all this free time/more around the apartment" comment. First of all, in order to do "more", you must first do SOMETHING. Maybe once a month, he will wash the dishes. And even then, I still have to do the dishes because he (for some reason) never washes the pots still on the stove. So even when he does the dishes, I have to do the dishes. Vacuum? Ha! Dust? What's that? Sweep the kitchen floor? Eh...the bugs'll get it. Wipe off the hair catch in the bathtub after a shower? Of course not! I think I've handled his pubic hair more than all his boyfriends/flings combined. Clean any room in the apartment? I must be insane... Clean his own room? Not even once...not that it matters seeing as how he has turned the living room into his de facto bedroom. Nah, I didn't wanna watch some television today. Put more cans of soda in the 'fridge when there's only one or two left (and especially when you've taken the last one)? Nah, I don't get thirsty... Once in a blue moon, he will take the garbage and recyclables out. And I would bet good money that he honestly believes he is contributing when he does so.
Even when I'm cleaning the bathroom practically right in front of him, you would think that that alone might inspire him to maybe clean the living room or kitchen, but no. Why would he deprive me of my apparent purpose in life? He's such a thoughtful friend. He doesn't want me to think I am unneeded around here so he leaves it all for me to do.
This apartment has a shitty circuit set-up so we can only have one air-conditioner and that A/C is not in my room, it's in his bedroom...I mean living room. If he were employed, this would not be a problem. On those really hot days this Summer has been sadistically throwing at us this year, I may have actually been able to rest comfortably in the living room but no, Mr. Deliberately-Unemployed gets to enjoy it while I try to sleep in a room that regularly topped 92+° for a lot of days this past July. While I've gotten used to it, at 92° it is almost impossible to sleep. I would open the door, but there's only so much noise I can sleep with and even then, the A/C can't cool my room. But he gets to relax comfortably. Fucking A! I even bought curtains to seal off the living room so the A/C doesn't have to work so hard and he just leaves them open. Thanks asshole. And does he even buy a fan so that the A/C doesn't have to run NON-STOP for a month? No. Even those few days when it was actually seasonably cool and I opened the windows. He would close them as soon as I would go to my room and turn the A/C on. Fucker. He says he can't afford a fan and yet he managed, like a drunk who's chronically broke yet never without a drink, to find the $35 necessary to buy a book of artwork for The Last Airbender cartoon. The fan I use cost less than that and it's rather effective.
I am effectively being shut out of an apartment I co-rent because he won't get a fucking job. It's not as though the economy is the worst it's been since the early 1980s right? Oh wait, it is. Nah, it's easy to find work that pays $12+/hr. when unemployment is cresting 10%. And yet, because I am good at hiding my emotions, he actually believes that I am not bothered at all by this. Then he drops another bomb on me.
He actually had the gall to tell me that if he couldn't find a job, that I might have to find a new roommate. Oh really? I'm just gonna room with a total stranger in an apartment where I can't lock my bedroom door? I'm out of friends who will live with me (though if you can afford $650/mo. plus half utilities (about $100-$150/mo.) I'm listening). You can't just dump a roommate on me. I have to have approval of it. And quite frankly, I won't. I simply don't trust anyone else that much (or at least don't trust anyone that much who is currently available and wanting the small bedroom in a 2BR apartment). Go ahead and leave me. Break the lease you signed and that I have an extensive paper trail of you paying half-rent for. Breaking contracts isn't illegal...no! Judge Judy would totally award me a judgement whereby you still pay what you owe. Yes, you've pissed me off to the point where I would have no qualms about suing you for what you owe. Congratulations.
Believe it or not, I would take the loss of money and pay for this apartment by myself for a few months had he put in his part around here, had he honestly been looking for work the WHOLE time he was unemployed, had he actually done MORE (or even all) the work around this apartment while unemployed (y'know, to make up for the fact that he's not bringing in income). Yes, he has unemployment so while he has made his bills on time, he pisses me off by being such a willing recipient of the aid. Am I the only one who would actually be EMBARRASSED that I was collecting unemployment? Something tells me that if he qualified for foodstamps that he'd be happy as a pig in shit. But no, that's not how it's been happening. He's a leech to the system and a parasite of a friend.
So why don't I say anything? The fact is, I am in no rush to start fighting with a friend I've known both for over a decade and with whom I have never actually fought with. That first one is always a doozy. The other fact is that he is a grown man and more importantly, that I am not his parent. No one told me to clean the bathroom, kitchen, living room, and my room. No one told me to sweep the floor, take out the garbage, vacuum, and dust. I just do it. Why? Because it's fucking dirty. That's why. And it's not like I clean totally at random. I do the dishes first thing upon getting home from work (I'm still in "work mode" so I get it out of the way before I settle down for my leisure period). He has from noon to when I get home if he were to do them practically every fucking day, but no and if by chance yes, I still have to wash the pots for some fucking reason. I understand not wanting to vacuum while I'm sleeping but I get up at eight and noise restrictions don't begin until ten. That's two fucking hours to do some noisy cleaning and all fucking day to do the quiet cleaning but no...and no, there has never been a yes to this. If he even knows how to work a vacuum, I would be surprised. His mattress, after a year, still lies on the floor like he's a squatter. He never bought a bedframe during the time he was working preferring to buy DVDs instead and waiting four months to finally buy a fucking couch for the living room (which I now practically regret as the couch has become his bed) cuz he didn't want to borrow money from me to do so. I hesitate to wonder what might be growing/living under that mattress since he has never changed the sheets on it.
The other thing I don't get is he brought with him an old desktop computer. He got a laptop shortly thereafter. He ALWAYS works on the laptop, never the desktop yet the desktop is still in his room and it's on 24/7. Why? That one still baffles me. He has a desk he could be doing his work at yet instead he's in the living room so he leaves his virtually abandoned desktop to run constantly in his room. Did you ever just want to bang your head against a desk until it bled just because it all doesn't make any sense? How did I get stuck with this shit?
Thursday, August 5, 2010
WHAT THE FUCK GOOGLE?
How many goddamned sites do I have to be a member of these days? Everything's an impedence to communication all the sudden.
Want to send a message? Just sign up for "Friend Connect" and then you'll be able to post one right away! Fuck that! How about a link and I can send a message? I'm getting real tired of this shit.
I know the days of the "Wild West Internet" are waning. Soon we'll likely have to pay for all our content like we do for our cellphones and our cable. It won't be so bad, really. Remember when cable was still fairly new and the idea of paying for television was deemed absurd because you could get it for free over the air? Now people look at you funny if you don't pay for cable. The internet will be the same. It'll mark our age to future generations when we talk about how it used to be a free-for-all.
I'm just really hoping against hope that this multi-signup thing isn't part of the deal. I know there's this new trend to have a single log-in site now (I imagine it is a furious competition that Google will likely win). I have to admit I'm suspicious of it. It reminds of the old TV/VCR combo-sets they used to offer. The only problem with that is if one broke down, the whole thing became worthless. The analogue to that is why I'm leery of single log-in sites. If that log-in gets compromised, the EVERYTHING gets compromised. But I have digressed...
Seriously, stupid internet sites. Cut it out. I'm a member of Blogger.com. Allow me to send messages to those who have actually decided to follow me without having to sign up for a whole new service. My password load is already quite heavy.
I still wonder what it would feel like to come home to find all the dishes had been washed... That'd be nice...
Want to send a message? Just sign up for "Friend Connect" and then you'll be able to post one right away! Fuck that! How about a link and I can send a message? I'm getting real tired of this shit.
I know the days of the "Wild West Internet" are waning. Soon we'll likely have to pay for all our content like we do for our cellphones and our cable. It won't be so bad, really. Remember when cable was still fairly new and the idea of paying for television was deemed absurd because you could get it for free over the air? Now people look at you funny if you don't pay for cable. The internet will be the same. It'll mark our age to future generations when we talk about how it used to be a free-for-all.
I'm just really hoping against hope that this multi-signup thing isn't part of the deal. I know there's this new trend to have a single log-in site now (I imagine it is a furious competition that Google will likely win). I have to admit I'm suspicious of it. It reminds of the old TV/VCR combo-sets they used to offer. The only problem with that is if one broke down, the whole thing became worthless. The analogue to that is why I'm leery of single log-in sites. If that log-in gets compromised, the EVERYTHING gets compromised. But I have digressed...
Seriously, stupid internet sites. Cut it out. I'm a member of Blogger.com. Allow me to send messages to those who have actually decided to follow me without having to sign up for a whole new service. My password load is already quite heavy.
I still wonder what it would feel like to come home to find all the dishes had been washed... That'd be nice...
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
MIXED MESSAGES IN MODERN SONGS
At work, we get to hear various channels on the MUZAK service the store subscribes to. We recently got a new box so we were finally able to get it off of FM1, a good LiteFM-like channel, but three years in a row of it got exhausting. When it's on HITLINE, I get to get a taste of the current popular songs.
I don't listen to music radio much anymore. It's not a hatred of music or anything. I just spend too much of my time listening to the Opie & Anthony Show on Sirius/XM and have little time to expand my musical horizons. That's what work is for now. MUZAK, despite its association with elevator music (which it does play), actually plays a decent variety of songs for its dozens of provided stations. It really puts any radio station to shame.
Of the modern songs, though, several catch my attention negatively for various reasons. It's not an "I hate all new music 'cuz it's new" type thing. I find Katy Perry's "Hot N Cold" to be catchy as I do with Miley Cyrus's "Party in the USA". Several Lady Gaga songs have grown on me as well. Since I have a lot of down-time at my job, I can listen to these songs both musically and for their lyrics.
Currently I hate "According to Him" by Orianthi. It's just one of those songs that at first sounds very girl-powery. I'm fine with that. That's cool. It was only after I started listening to it that it struck me just how anti-girlpower this song actually is.
First of all, she's singing to the wrong person. She sings that, "According to you, I'm stupid, I'm useless, I can't do anything right" and continues on in that vein until the chorus which changes from the 2nd person object to the third: "But according to him, I'm beautiful, incredible, he can't get me out of his head." She names numerous other qualities before concluding the chorus with "He's into me for everything I'm not...according to you."
Okay, so far the song comes across as a "fuck you to my ex" type variety. That's fine. We've all heard our share of revenge songs but this one strikes me as particularly stupid. Why is she singing to her ex? More importantly, why does she feel the need to sing to her ex in the first place because that's who she's talking to. It's not the new guy. If it were, the you's and he's would be switched.
There's also this nagging sense throughout the song that Orianthi has no value for herself instead relying upon the opinions of and seeking validation from others, specifically her current lover and her ex. But she makes up for it because by the end of the song we learn that "According to me, you're stupid, you're useless, you can't do anything right". That'll show him! Yeah! She's turning his words against him now. Wordplay! BOO-yah! Orianthi does have thoughts of her own... Awesome!
Orianthi is not out of the woods as just a verse or two earlier, she again reveals that she is clearly not over her ex when singing, "Why can't you see me through his eyes? It's too bad you're making me decide." What the fuck? She wants her ex to have these qualities rather than have a new boyfriend who has them. It's sickening.
And to top it all off, the music of the song is this over-the-top heavy metal sound which doesn't jibe with the way she's singing. The music is more powerful than her voice so there's this disconnect. Plus it feels forced. Rather than making her lyrics sound even more powerful, the music makes them sound more like a bad joke. The whole song is a joke as far as I'm concerned and I'm embarrassed that I will be linking it here offering Orianthi another page view from my reader.
Orianthi's "According to Him" is simply a bad song that makes a mockery of the notion of girl-power. If that was her plan all along, then BRA-vo.
I don't listen to music radio much anymore. It's not a hatred of music or anything. I just spend too much of my time listening to the Opie & Anthony Show on Sirius/XM and have little time to expand my musical horizons. That's what work is for now. MUZAK, despite its association with elevator music (which it does play), actually plays a decent variety of songs for its dozens of provided stations. It really puts any radio station to shame.
Of the modern songs, though, several catch my attention negatively for various reasons. It's not an "I hate all new music 'cuz it's new" type thing. I find Katy Perry's "Hot N Cold" to be catchy as I do with Miley Cyrus's "Party in the USA". Several Lady Gaga songs have grown on me as well. Since I have a lot of down-time at my job, I can listen to these songs both musically and for their lyrics.
Currently I hate "According to Him" by Orianthi. It's just one of those songs that at first sounds very girl-powery. I'm fine with that. That's cool. It was only after I started listening to it that it struck me just how anti-girlpower this song actually is.
First of all, she's singing to the wrong person. She sings that, "According to you, I'm stupid, I'm useless, I can't do anything right" and continues on in that vein until the chorus which changes from the 2nd person object to the third: "But according to him, I'm beautiful, incredible, he can't get me out of his head." She names numerous other qualities before concluding the chorus with "He's into me for everything I'm not...according to you."
Okay, so far the song comes across as a "fuck you to my ex" type variety. That's fine. We've all heard our share of revenge songs but this one strikes me as particularly stupid. Why is she singing to her ex? More importantly, why does she feel the need to sing to her ex in the first place because that's who she's talking to. It's not the new guy. If it were, the you's and he's would be switched.
There's also this nagging sense throughout the song that Orianthi has no value for herself instead relying upon the opinions of and seeking validation from others, specifically her current lover and her ex. But she makes up for it because by the end of the song we learn that "According to me, you're stupid, you're useless, you can't do anything right". That'll show him! Yeah! She's turning his words against him now. Wordplay! BOO-yah! Orianthi does have thoughts of her own... Awesome!
Orianthi is not out of the woods as just a verse or two earlier, she again reveals that she is clearly not over her ex when singing, "Why can't you see me through his eyes? It's too bad you're making me decide." What the fuck? She wants her ex to have these qualities rather than have a new boyfriend who has them. It's sickening.
And to top it all off, the music of the song is this over-the-top heavy metal sound which doesn't jibe with the way she's singing. The music is more powerful than her voice so there's this disconnect. Plus it feels forced. Rather than making her lyrics sound even more powerful, the music makes them sound more like a bad joke. The whole song is a joke as far as I'm concerned and I'm embarrassed that I will be linking it here offering Orianthi another page view from my reader.
Orianthi's "According to Him" is simply a bad song that makes a mockery of the notion of girl-power. If that was her plan all along, then BRA-vo.
Monday, August 2, 2010
And So It Begins...
Wow, another online blog/social networky site for me to waste my time on. At least I have a thematic element in mind so that this is not merely a site of duplicated posts from my other fora (that is the plural of forum, right?).
Assuming I keep true to this blog, my intent is to use it to showcase any commentary I have in pop-culture, politics, or otherwise stupid shit that I come into contact with that (most likely) pisses me off in some way, shape, or form. And given that my rate of culture consumption tends to be somewhat on the passive side of the scale, odds are it will already be "so yesterday" by the time I get around to it. :-)
Assuming I keep true to this blog, my intent is to use it to showcase any commentary I have in pop-culture, politics, or otherwise stupid shit that I come into contact with that (most likely) pisses me off in some way, shape, or form. And given that my rate of culture consumption tends to be somewhat on the passive side of the scale, odds are it will already be "so yesterday" by the time I get around to it. :-)
Sunday, July 11, 2010
JUST TESTING SOMETHING...
Can you back publish on this thing? I may want to condense some of my other online journals here. I like this place.