Where the Road Meets the Sun.

I'm just too tired to write blogs anymore...
Which is sad...because it tends to be the highlight of my day...
Which might also be sad.

Work will be the end of me.
Oh man, I sound like my parents. (Who in turn are reverting to their youthful ways. ie: getting a facebook...yeah...whoops. I'm talking about you, Mom!)
But it's TRUE.

Working sucks.
NOT working, also sucks.
It's a vicious cycle, we are all just trying to get out of.

So with all the bitterness toward my meaningless, minimum wage job aside, here is what I got.

You know that feeling when you discover a truly fantastic piece of music.
You hear a song that somehow just changes your life.
Where were you before (insert song title here)?

I feel like, THAT feeling is similar to falling in love.

Hear me out.

You NEVER know where you are going to meet this song.
It might be in your car, on your computer, at a movie, a club, or even in church!
Great songs are everywhere, just waiting to be heard.

You might introduce yourself to a few songs, who seem great at first, but just fall flat toward the end.
Though the beats are great, the lyrics are shallow and disappointing.

Sometimes we outgrow songs.
It might have been the total shiz in 8th grade, and though we are nostalgic about our relationship with said boy band ballads, we just don't have the same feelings for them, anymore.

But then you find that one song.
That song that is always...fantastic.
Even though you have heard it a million times...
You know the lyrics inside and out...
It never ceases to impress you.

Music reaches us on a deep level.
Very much so like love.
I think that is why the two are so intimately connected.

But hey, maybe that's just me.



Wisdom.

Little Leaves.

I spent 8 dollars and 65 cents on a card today! < exclamation point. (I find writing out the dollars and cents, as opposed to 8.65, makes the price seem that much more outlandish.)

Now, I'm not the kind of person to blame my distaste for slightly ridiculous, but still celebrated, because they are tradition, (and a reason for people to eat too much and watch their families get into fights) holidays, on the greeting card industry.

I understand we all hate our lives.
But let's not blame Hallmark for our sad misfortunes.

STILL...the fact that I spent NEARLY 10 dollars on a folded piece of shiny paper, with horrifically cliched words, featuring pink and green, seemingly androgynous, fantastical animals who sing silly songs about Larry, pisses me off.

I know.
I know.
It's the thought that counts.
Tell Hallmark that.

Why even bother with the gift?
I just dropped 8 bones on the freakin' card alone!

And let's just be honest...what are you REALLY saying with the card?
I feel like greeting cards are right up there with those flyers people are trying to shove at you downtown.
To quote Mitch Hedburg, “Whenever I walk, people try to hand me out flyers. And when someone tries to hand me out a flyer, it’s kinda like they’re saying, ‘Here—you throw this away.’”

When someone hands you a card it's like they're saying...
"Here, someone wrote this slightly ambiguous quote about love and admiration and I thought of you. Plus there's a deer gently lapping water in a stream of redemption and solitude. I also signed my name on the bottom, in case you forgot who I am."

This might be slightly cynical...because sometimes there ARE nice things said on cards.
Something more than just, "Happy Birthday. See you next year. With Love, So & So."

(Do people even keep cards?
One of these days I'm gonna buy a whole bunch of one kind of a card.
And then give it to someone every year for their birthday...until they notice.
I'll bet an $8.65 card that they don't.)

If you think about it, these things could just as EASILY be said on a nice sheet of lined paper.
It's a little more intimate and completely YOU.
Plus it's cheap.

But then how would we incorporate the recorded songs and dancing animals?

You win this time Hallmark.


This picture of a lion made me think of you.
You rock.
Don't ever change.
Love, Kelli

Broken Horse.

Pregnancy is horrifying.
Child birth is gross.
Babies are ugly.

That last sentence might have crossed the line.
But I KNOW everyone is thinking it...I'm just saying it.

Babies are ugly.

I'm not exactly sure when they cross that barrier of mutilation to adorable, but new born babies are simply uncomfortable to look at. (I learned you are NEVER supposed to end a sentence in at. Whoops I just did it again. I'm really trying to work on it...obviously not too hard though.)

And just as fast as they become adorable...they learn how to speak.

When children are brought into this world they are so...blank.
Their skin is soft and seemingly perfect. No scars or freckles or blisters.
The world has yet to leave it's mark on them.

Their words are uninhibited, bizarre, awkward and yet incredibly honest.

Today at work, a little girl, about 4 years old, accidentally got sunscreen in her eyes.
You would have thought someone had poured acid on her face, set her hair on fire and told her Santa Claus was dead (or WORSE, was actually the one who poured the acid on her and set her hair aflame), by the way she was screaming.
In the midst of all this, she began explaining to me the pain she was experiencing.

Sun Block Fiend: "My eyes are spiced."
Me: "Spiced?"
S.B.F.: "I have spicy eyes."
Me: "Spicy? Like salt and pepper?"
S.B.F.: "Yeah. But just pepper."

I think I'm gonna start using that one.
And with that, my faith in tomorrow's youth has been restored!

Mermaid to Order.

You know that feeling when you suddenly become ridiculously aware of yourself and/or your body?

You can go all day, blinking at a completely normal pace, but once you realize you are blinking...you all of a sudden begin putting a lot of thought into it.

For example, someone may bring attention to your blinking.
"Yo dogg, you blink a lot."
...you suddenly become so aware of it, it's as if you can't blink normally anymore.

Is it too fast? Too slow?
Does it look like I'm staring?
Ahghg my eyes are burning now!

The same goes with breathing.
We are fine, breathing at normal intervals, but as soon as we become aware of it, we can barely function anymore.
We start to analyze our breathing methods.

In through the nose, out through the mouth.
Long, deep breaths.
Short, shallow breaths.
Fast breaths.
Slow breaths.
Bad breath.

I think the worst of all of these though, would have to be walking.

As soon as I become aware of myself walking, I just lose all momentum.
My strides feel all out of place, and I don't even know what to do with my arms anymore!

Am I walking too fast?
Are my steps too short?
Are my arms moving too quickly?
Are they moving at all?

The thing is, we can go all day doing these very simple tasks, but the second we start THINKING about them, we completely mess them up!

We become uncomfortable and awkward.

We turn into a stiff-armed, shallow-breathing, fast-blinking wreck!

I think sometimes, we just get carried away by over-thinking things.

We analyze calories on a food label. (120 calories and 48 calories from fat. What percent is that? [If you got the Mean Girls reference, I will be seriously impressed.])

We go as far as analyzing the things we like just because of how others might perceive them. Do you ever have a difficult time committing to a favorite movie or band?
Yeah...we say it's because it "depends on the circumstances" or some crap like that...but the truth is...we don't want to be labeled as the "lame" movie liker!

[Pam: Well, I kind of like Legally...

Jim: Wait, wait, wait. Pam, no. Do you understand? The game is desert island movies, not guilty pleasure movies. Desert island movies are the movies you are going to watch for the rest of your life. Forever! Unforgivable.

Pam: I take it back.

Jim: Unforgivable.

Pam: I take it back!

Jim: Good.]

Point proven.

We might even go as far as over-thinking something that someone said...or didn't say. (Not something that I would ever do...but I'm sure it happens.)

The thing is, we do JUST fine when we don't think about things. (Wait! False...we definitely need to think about things...we just get a bit carried away at times.)

So why do we get so wrapped up in OVER-thinking things?

Everything was peachy at at a normal-thinking level!

We were blinking at a normal speed.
Breathing at appropriate intervals.
Our arms and legs were moving with comfort and ease.

We can talk to someone without analyzing every word or pause.

[Stanley: Sometimes women say more in their pauses than they say in their words.

Michael: Really?

Stanley: Oh yes. Let's listen to it again. And this time, really listen to the pauses.

Michael: God. Stanley, that's frickin brilliant. How do you know that? Did you learn that on the streets? I'm sorry...

Stanley: Oh, it's OK. I did learn it on the streets. In the ghetto in fact.

Michael: No kidding?]

Sometimes, we just have to stop thinking so much.
Stop trying to analyze or control everything.

Because even without thinking...
We continue to breathe.
We will continue to blink.
And our arms will continue to move normally (hopefully) while we walk.

There are some things in life, we don't need to think so much about it...
It'll happen on it's own, if you let it.