Turquoise Seas

I fell in love with this lake somewhere in Washington. It doesn't look that inviting in pictures but in real life, it's a vision. Turquoise waters, greenery and white clouds go very well together. What a beauty! It was totally breathtaking, like a painting you just want to touch and stare at. No, scratch that. It was like a movie set! Except I have neither a hand to hold nor a fabulous conquering-the-obstacles-of-my-life story. Epic my-life-is-averageness aside, I just wish I had the time to step out of the car and just stay there while being all emo and stuff. Hehehe. Makes for good "Alone but not lonely, I feel so blessed and happy" stories, don't you think? *stiffled whimper*

The Glass House

The Museum of Glass is a gallery featuring contemporary art in molten glass. It has glassblowing demonstrations, films about artists who use glass as their medium, a hands-on art studio for visitors of all ages, glass exhibitions, and a large selection of glass objects (from jewelry, housewares to home decor) that are for sale in the Museum shop. The glass objects for sale are all very beautiful. I would love to have a glass art for myself if they weren't so expensive ($50.00 for a small glass piece the size of a coin). It doesn't take a lot of money to appreciate beauty though, and I did find the entire museum colorful, whimsical and enchanting even though I wasn't able to take home anything for myself.

I've heard of glass blowing before but I didn't really have an idea on how much hard work it entails. It was only through the Museum of Glass that I was able to learn more about the hard part of the craft. I watched a live glassblowing demonstration inside an amphitheater called the Hot Shop, where the temperature must've been more than a hundred degrees inside. The artists creating the glass sculpture have been there the whole day, chugging water and turning molten hot glass into something shapely. It felt stuffy and the hot air was a bit suffocating. We were told that the more intricate the sculpture, the longer the artists stay in the shop. Talk about love for their craft. I couldn't even stay there for more than twenty minutes.

I guess the biggest pay-off after such a tedious creative process is the breathtaking output. All of the glass works look fancy and amazing. I'm not an art expert but it doesn't take an idiot to appreciate man's ability to fashion glass into something so creative and majestic. Here are a few of the standing works of art around the museum:

Cappy Thompson's Gathering Light is a mural about the art of glass making. It is a painting made entirely out of glass. When you see the piece upclose, you'll actually see bits of glass molded into one big picture (or three, but you get what I mean). It reminded me of stained glass windows at church, except this one's more vivid and mythical.

These were children's drawings that the artists turned into sculptures, fifty-two all in all. Very nice. It was my favorite among all the exhibits. Everybody's a fan of children and their ingenious imagination.

Martin Blank's Fluent Steps. At night, they look like roaring fire on water. It's amazing.

Sculptures leading to the Dale Chihuly's Bridge of Glass. Dale Chihuly is a Tacoma native commissioned to create a 500 ft bridge filled with exuberant glass art. I really, really, really like all of his installations in this overpass of art. The Chihuly Bridge of Glass connects the Museum of Glass and the train station (Union) but the real magic is when you look up and see the roof filled with hundreds of glass sculptures. It's like walking inside a kaleidoscope. It's very beautiful. I took a few pictures of my favorite parts. Spot the cherub in the first one!

Isn't it festive? It reminded me of The Beatles' Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds. There's a line in the song that goes, "A girl with kaleidoscope eyes / Cellophane flowers of yellow and green / Towering over your head". And tower over my head they did, in glass. :)

Those small tubes down there are actually Howard Ben Tre's Water Forest, a commissioned glass sculpture inspired by the rise and fall of the tides. Water is a prominent figure in Washington culture, the museum itself is beside a bay full of parked yachts. I took this picture while climbing up the steps to Chihuly's Bridge, as I was looking at the Tacoma dome and at the bridge that connects Tacoma to the rest of Washington. Perfect skies are always the prettiest, don't you think? :)

That is all! If you're up for a trip, here's the address:

Museum of Glass

1801 Dock St.

Tacoma, WA 98402

♥

New York, on a tilt

On my way to NYU, July 2010

Girls and their blogs

There is a lot of talk about girls who blogged (or tweeted) about the recent hostage fiasco and the online shitstorm they're taking for their thoughts. For clarity, I do not agree with what they've said or posted. As a veteran of all things online, I'm just sorry they had to learn this lesson the hard way. As for me, I'm glad I'm way past that phase in my life--searching for who I am and want I want, learning which thoughts to give out and what to filter. Oh, it is so daunting and at times, terrifying. The bane of our generation is that we're given a bigger platform to express ourselves and when we do, there comes a time when we forget our boundaries. We feel so powerful and limitless, only to be taken aback by the huge backlash that comes after a short period of peace. I believe we call it social media suicide right now? Yes.

I think we're all allowed to make mistakes, inorder to build ourselves and make us better people. I have a lot, a few of them more cringe-worthy than most people. When I was fourteen, I didn't know who I was so I tried to pattern myself after people I admire. I refused to admit to it then because I was an arrogant teenager, but I did. It was such a struggle. I wanted to make myself like myself a little bit more, to the point of annoying everyone around me and even those who didn't know me. This vicious cycle continued until I went to college, where the pressure to be cool was even higher than when I was in high school. Everybody had a group, everybody wanted to be liked. Everybody wanted to fit in. I was guilty of stereo-typing myself into the typical college girl, even if I knew I was so much more than that. I still did. I don't know why, but I did. I guess I wanted to fit in so badly that I allowed myself to be stupid, even if I knew I was so much more than that. Back then, I felt that a constructed image of myself was so much better than the real version. I was very immature. Firing off thoughts here and there that I will never be caught saying now that I am older, doing things I know I should not have done. All for posterity. All for "friends". All for being "cool". The repercussions of my actions will always be something I have to live with. That's the end-game, the curse of youth. The bargain in exchange for my learning lessons I have surely learned the hard way. Today, I am the way I want myself to be. I can't please everybody but I like myself a little better. All original, no thoughts to copy, fights to answer to or parties to go to. I have learned that social-climbing/networking/fitting in/whatever-you-want-to-call-the-struggle-of-being-accepted is so complex that the best (and only) way to ward it off is to stop trying altogether. One day, these girls will too. They will shed off that "Love me or Hate me" attitude and become their own person.

I've seen the posts, I've seen the mocking. People aren't really kind online. In fact, being unreachable has given all of us the excuse to be vicious. Unforgiving. The ease of commenting anonymously allows us to be self-righteous even if no one is squeaky clean. These girls are young. They will say things they don't really mean before they realize it is too late to undo anything. It'll take them a few more years to realize the gravity of what they have done. I'm sure a few jolts of reality has crept up on them right now but it'll take them time to fully wrap their head around things. When that time comes, I'm sure they will feel remorse. I just wish these people who keep on taunting these girls would just take time to give them good advice. Something they can learn from, written in a cordial way. Instead of rage, why not show some pity? Some compassion? Cut them some slack, please. And if the urge of mocking or retaliating comes, give them a piece of your mind through teaching them. Do not mock. We wish for a better world, afterall. A happier Philippines. Well, a happy Philippines needs positivity. They are young girls, they still have a lot to learn. Don't we all?

Sleep All Day

It's a saturday and I'm very sleepy--although that fact may be attributed to my recent Advil dependency. I've taken to self-medication because if there's anybody in this world I'd like to see less of, my dentist would be it. She always finds something to dig through, drill clean or take out from my mouth. I believe I am scheduled for an impacted tooth extraction, a minor surgery. And that leaves me in sweats whenever I think about it because I am a wimp. I have a liver of steel, yes, but it's offset by a baby-ish tolerance for pain. I have delayed my little procedure quite successfully by flying to America but I sure can't avoid it now since it's hurting again. :( Le fu.

Dental woes aside, I'm currently in the East. I'm babysitting my cousins whose parents are off to Montreal for a conference. I don't know what I'll do for the day. I think I'm just going to rest and read. I finally found a copy of Looking for Alaska this week, and that's about it for the most exciting event that has happened in my life lately. Either that, or finishing Suzanne Collins' Mockingjay which I will write about once everyone's done reading their copy. All I do is read. I've been too lazy to behave like an adult lately. I think it's safe to say I'm in a rut and the sooner I get out of it, the better. This article about emerging adulthood and people in their 20s has never rang so true. It annoys me that am so choosy, I can't commit to an idea unless I see myself in it long enough. Then again, I am impatient too. So I don't want to wait for things I am willing to commit to (which is very grave, very grave indeed as I only have to wait for five more months). I just don't want to settle, that's all. I don't want to be counterproductive either. So yes. I don't know. I don't know what I want exactly.

On a non-inquisitive note, check out today's morning view:

Catch you later, when I'm in a better mood. For now, *yaaaawwwn*

When things get messy, make peace

Books Written For Girls

Books Written For Girls:¹ In which I will talk about the books that currently take up my time, because there is nothing else I can talk about.

SALUT! I have so much free time nowadays that I go through books like they're food (Based on my size, you'd know I go through it like it's serious bitnez). I've been looking for John Green's Paper Towns for quite some time now because my last re-read of AAoK left me no choice but to start the first few pages of Paper Towns (there was an excerpt at the back of my book). I had to finish it so I was very happy I found a copy at the mall today, John Green books are very hard to find ². For me, at least. I also got The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins because it's the book of the month and I was kind of intrigued by the story. I enjoyed Rick Riordan's books and if Katniss is another Percy, I'd be fine. I'm not really on the lookout for heavy reading, which is evident in my stack of books-I've-yet-to-read:

I had to stop reading Elizabeth Bard's Lunch in Paris because I am always overwhelmed by jealousy (the author has Paris AND a boyfriend, who I'd like to think of as the spitting image of Yoann Gourcuff--the living Adonis of French football) and hunger (they always eat at fabulous restaurants and then they write the recipes of the dishes they like). I'm going to read it later on, when I am at a calmer stage in life. I think reading it right now won't help my already hefty frame because I eat my woes away. Who's an emotional eater? This girl!

I'm not really sure what's the point of this post (aside from self-indulgence, of course) but let me leave you with a passage (if you may, be gentle with me, I lose brain cells everyday) from Lunch in Paris, because this one describes me. Most of the time.

I'm the girl you call Wednesday for Saturday. The girl who reads Milton for fun and knows a fish fork when she sees one. A flirt maybe, but in that harmless, nineteenth century, kiss-my-hand-and-ask-me-to-waltz kind of way. Mostly, I'm a thinker, a worrier. Since I'm also a New Yorker, you can take that last bit up a notch. It's not that there's no free spirit in me. But it's a free spirit with a five year plan.

________________________

¹ Title lifted from this song, it's beautiful

² Looking for Alaska .pdf file, while we wait for the stocks to arrive. Hurry while it's up!

What is your Lonely Heart song?

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Jason Mraz videos make dog days better. My friend Carl told me he's currently searching for his Lonely Heart song. It didn't occur to me that I have one until I had to think about it. For me, your Lonely Heart song is the go-to song your spirit sings as you wait for somebody to love or for the chance to love that person you want to love.

This will always be my Lonely Heart song. Whenever I hear it, I am simultaneously filled with sadness and hope. Mr. A-Z never disappoints.

That Jojo's always on my mind

Remember Sammy, my pet fish? Yeah? Well, he died before I left for San Francisco. I gave his bowl to my sister as a parting gift, along with a small red fighting fish because I knew how jealous she was when I first brought Sammy home. That small fighting fish died too, and this entire paragraph is just irrelevant because nobody can explain why small fishes die fast at our house. We keep bigger fishes in two aquariums downstairs (one of the fishes, a really old, as big-as-a-dining-plate terrorist, ate its companion alive out of boredom, fin first and then chomped off its body later that week) and they all seem to be living strong.

I don't give up easily though, so behold! My new pet, (still a fighting fish, because a low-maintainance fish is the farthest I would go) Jojo! :) Yahoo!

Jojo's color reminds me of Yakov Smirnoff, which means "In Soviet Russia", so I named him Jojo after that Jojo from The Beatles' "Back in the U.S.S.R". Jojo was also mentioned in Get Back, but let's focus on one song here. ;) I don't know why but I really like Back in the U.S.S.R, it doesn't even make sense because Paul McCartney wrote the lyrics while they were in India, learning Transcendental Meditation, and it was intended as a Beach Boys parody (Remember their hit, California Girls?). I like to take it as a political jab at Communism or a paradox about the tension in Russia just because it makes things juicier. We see things the way we want them to be, don't we? Heehee. I just love singing to this song!

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EDIT/

Sad, sad news (well, not really). Hours after I blogged about Jojo, he DIED. !&@)#*!&(@#!!! I think na-usog ko siya (or someone who read this did!). Chos! I don't know what happened, he looked fine last night. :(  

/EDIT

The Beginning (of the Middle)

"Do you ever wonder whether people would like you more or less if they could see inside you? I mean, I've always felt like the Katherines dump me right when they start to see what I look like from the inside--well, except K-19. But I always wonder about that. If people could see me the way I see myself--if they could live in my memories--would anyone, anyone love me?"

An Abundance of Katherines is the first John Green book I have read. I was in Chicago when I bought the book and what better way to commemorate Greater America than buying a book that starts in Chicago and ends somewhere near (Gutshot, Carver County, Tennessee)?¹. It is a book about a child prodigy-slash-Dumpee named Colin Singleton, writing the perfect theorem to prove his genius and make something out of his failed relationships. Nineteen (ALL!) of which (technically, eighteen, because K-1 and K-19 were one and the same) were with a Katherine, hence the title.

It's hard to write something about this book because I love it without a solid reason. I just like it because it reminds myself of myself, in some parts, and that's a pretty lame reason to use when writing about a book. I'd say this book is for everyone who, as a teenager, went through unexplainable longing and confusion (Aren't you glad we're way past that dramatic, angsty, very cranky stage?). It will remind you of your youth and assure you of how far you have come, now that you are old enough. If you are as young as Colin, you will know--by the end of this book--that you'll just have to carry on and look for something to hold on to because life doesn't stop when you're hurt, even if you want it to.

What I like about the book:

1. Lindsay Lee Wells whom I can sort of relate to, in terms of chameleoning in and out of personas whenever she's in the company of somebody. Not that I am as hot as her or anything, but I've always been the average semi-threatening-but-cannot-really-throttle-anybody-kind of underachiever. The kind of girl you mark as a threat in the beginning but cuts herself out of the competition halfway through. I hate it, but that's always been my signature move. (Huh? Yes.)

"I'm full of shit. I'm never myself. I've got a Southern accent around the oldsters; I'm a nerd for graphs and deep thoughts around you; I'm Miss Bubbly Pretty Princess with Colin. I'm nothing. The thing about chameleoning your way through life is that it gets you to where nothing is real"

"...Things about you, and things about Colin, and things about Hassan and Katrina, are either true or they aren't true. Katrina is bubbly. Hassan is hilarious. But I'm not like that. I'm what I need to be at any moment to stay above the ground but below the radar.

The only sentences that begins with 'I' that's true of me is I'm full of shit"

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what I feel most of the time.

2. I didn't really realize I was reading YA until I was halfway towards the end of the book and googling stuff about it. It turns out I am not alone in this sentiment.

3. The whole book is filled with nerdy footnotes and anagrams. I like footnotes, in general, because it helps me understand the text. I also love footnotes because it used to help me make better cheatsheets in high school. Anagrams, on the other hand, are word games I've always been fascinated with but never really bothered to be good at. So, past is past but I do love a good reminder of my failures in life.

4. Colin Singleton likes to sulk and read books, is fond of self-pitying his way throughout the day and is secretly as good with the ladies as he is with learning languages (He tries hard, I believe, and that's how you nail it). He gets annoying in the end (only because if I were a prodigy, I wouldn't even spend time thinking about boys. I will enroll in Northwestern straight-up and get a few philosophy classes running before September hits), but sympathy is hard to forsake if you have been a Colin Singleton once. (If you haven't, screw you. You missed out on... a lot of chocolates, some noodles and Kleenex consumerism). It's hard not to rally behind this boy because his problems, no matter how pathetic ("I do not matter") or stupid (End of Theorem: The future is unpredictable) they are, have been our problem once, too. Maybe not exactly, but we've all been there. We've all felt alone, confused, and very, very, very irrelevant.

5. Hassan, Colin's pudgy, Judge Judy loving best friend. I like sidekicks who steal the lead's thunder in stories, in any story. I found myself laughing at Hassan's lines, usually accompanied with Arabic words, and at the incongruency of his behavior and his religion. He also reminds me of myself, mostly because I am a fat kid with really horrible asthma attacks and I sometimes use that as an excuse to miss school. Really, no one can tell the difference.

If you are a somebody who's always looking for somebody else, if you are running after a past love or if you are STILL sulking about the loss of a seemingly perfect one, then this book is for you. It is for Dumpees mulling over (and consequently, if you are a bitter girl like me, finding painfully pathetic ways to declare your sadness--like blogging! Cheerio!) their constant stature, and for anybody who just wants somebody to love them back. I could tell you that this book has fantastic geekery only a certain people can relate to but in truth, and this is something we all know, it is for everyone because we all want to be wanted, Dumpers and Dumpees alike.

________________________________

¹In hindsight, it was a bad idea to leave Looking for Alaska lying on that shelf. Finding John Green books in Manila is just as hard (or even harder) as scoring a boyfriend who can discuss books about awkwardness and geekery with you.

Everything Is Going to Be Great

I was looking for a rather spiritual travel book (something in the lines of Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love) while I was in Seattle when I chanced upon Rachel Shukert's Everything Is Going to Be Great. More than anything, it was the title that caught my eye because I was (and still am) at a time in my life where self-doubt and uncertainty always reigns. Everything Is Going to Be Great, of course it will. What a great selling point for a book about a girl's misadventures and misfortunes as a broke, New York singleton trekking in the archetypal where-to-go-to-have-fun places in Europe. Everything Is Going to Be Great, indeed. It was not advertised, though (by the wonderful geniuses who coined this "saying"), that it has to go downhill to hell and back before one can reach the end.

I don't know what to feel about this book, I guess it was okay. I was very entertained while reading it but not exactly inspired (this may be attributed to my slighty cruel enjoyment of Schadenfreude). The book is technically a memoir about a girl and her travels in Europe, which is not exactly the whole of Europe (All girls can hope!), but an essential three-country sojourn from Vienna to Zurich to Amsterdam. It was supposed to be a grand tour of European cities but I felt that the book zeroed in on Mary Jane Land (Amsterdam!) and simply flew by Vienna and Zurich. I vaguely remember Zurich in the book, and Vienna was just a blur of wine, sausages and a dalliance with an old Italian man. I would love to learn more about Zurich but whatever it is the author left out of the places she should have said a lot about, she more than made up for in terms of humor and the "God, I wish I had this girl's balls" vibe that went on in my head while reading this book. I guess what I feel about this book may be summed up by what I feel about Shukert's entire "tour": Fleeting, but sharp, smart and incredibly solid.

It is definitely a light read but in between the sex, alcohol and truly complicated (sometimes even pathological) relations, I feel that the author has tried to enter a few lessons here and there. In the end, she was kind enough to insert a few sentiments that a lost cause can truly pick up on. It was irrelevant (because we're clearly after the fun and the misfortune) but necessary, for what good is a travel book without the shiteous experience, the sex and the ultimate learnings in the end? The most important lesson I got from this book (aside from the nagging thought that in order to live my young life to its fullest, I have to experience Europe in its entirety--smoke and crystals, filth and glamour) is this: If you think you need to get away to find the what's missing in your life, go ahead. Later on, when you've come back, you'll realize that if you can't find something in your own backyard, then you probably don't need it. At all.

Lonely Hearts, this one's for us.

HOW TO BE ALONE

by Tanya Davis

If you are at first lonely, be patient. If you've not been alone much, or if when you were, you weren't okay with it, then just wait. You'll find it's fine to be alone once you're embracing it.

We could start with the acceptable places, the bathroom, the coffee shop, the library. Where you can stall and read the paper, where you can get your caffeine fix and sit and stay there. Where you can browse the stacks and smell the books. You're not supposed to talk much anyway so it's safe there.

There's also the gym. If you're shy you could hang out with yourself in mirrors, you could put headphones in.

And there's public transportation, because we all gotta go places.

And there's prayer and meditation. No one will think less if you're hanging with your breath seeking peace and salvation.

Start simple. Things you may have previously based on your avoid being alone principals.

The lunch counter. Where you will be surrounded by chow-downers. Employees who only have an hour and their spouses work across town and so they -- like you -- will be alone.

Resist the urge to hang out with your cell phone.

When you are comfortable with eat lunch and run, take yourself out for dinner. A restaurant with linen and silverware. You're no less intriguing a person when you're eating solo dessert to cleaning the whipped cream from the dish with your finger. In fact some people at full tables will wish they were where you were.

Go to the movies. Where it is dark and soothing. Alone in your seat amidst a fleeting community. And then, take yourself out dancing to a club where no one knows you. Stand on the outside of the floor till the lights convince you more and more and the music shows you. Dance like no one's watching because, they're probably not. And, if they are, assume it is with best of human intentions. The way bodies move genuinely to beats is, after all, gorgeous and affecting. Dance until you're sweating, and beads of perspiration remind you of life's best things, down your back like a brook of blessings.

Go to the woods alone, and the trees and squirrels will watch for you. Go to an unfamiliar city, roam the streets, there're always statues to talk to and benches made for sitting give strangers a shared existence if only for a minute and these moments can be so uplifting and the conversations you get in by sitting alone on benches might've never happened had you not been there by yourself

Society is afraid of alonedom, like lonely hearts are wasting away in basements, like people must have problems if, after a while, nobody is dating them. but lonely is a freedom that breaths easy and weightless and lonely is healing if you make it.

You could stand, swathed by groups and mobs or hold hands with your partner, look both further and farther for the endless quest for company. But no one's in your head and by the time you translate your thoughts, some essence of them may be lost or perhaps it is just kept.

Perhaps in the interest of loving oneself, perhaps all those sappy slogans from preschool over to high school's groaning were tokens for holding the lonely at bay. Cuz if you're happy in your head than solitude is blessed and alone is okay.

It's okay if no one believes like you. All experience is unique, no one has the same synapses, can't think like you, for this be releived, keeps things interesting lifes magic things in reach.

And it doesn't mean you're not connected, that communitie's not present, just take the perspective you get from being one person in one head and feel the effects of it. Take silence and respect it. If you have an art that needs a practice, stop neglecting it. If your family doesn't get you, or religious sect is not meant for you, don't obsess about it.

You could be in an instant surrounded if you needed it
If your heart is bleeding make the best of it
There is heat in freezing, be a testament.

For the brave ones, of The Lonely Hearts Club. ♥

Some Sondre Lerche

I was going to post a subdued My Hands Are Shaking but it's a smile friday in my life so here, have fun with If Only. Part of this music video's appeal is its obscurity, it reminds me of the Science of Sleep, one of my favorite movies. Enjoy! :)

Easy listening Thursdays

New Mayer Hawthorne! This new 12" is produced by Nottz and it definitely has a lot of soul. Originally sung by Otis Leavill in 1969, I Need You is bittersweet but easy on the ears. I love how Mayer Hawthorne blurs the lines between Motown and Hip Hop. It throws me back to the time when it was both the advent of hip-hop and the hey day of motown, where the Rat Pack reigned but at the same time, Harlem became cool. This song makes me think about the Bronx during the 1960's. Who wouldn't want to get some good old lovin', touchin', squeezin' from the up-and-coming crooners back then? Artistic, soulful, passionate, wielding a newly discovered art form full of song and power? Ah, such energy! Enjoy! :)

Download: I Need You - Mayer Hawthorne

Music for our club

Reblogged from Keishia's music blog:

Pretty much self-explanatory. A mix about finding love, hoping someone loves you and being alone. This is for my friends namely Anj, Arra, Pat, Peej, Reisha, Ria, Tantan and to all the single girls/boys out there. Join the club!

Love Me Already by Black Kids
"Can't you love, love, love me already
Love, love, love me already, baby"

Flash a Hungry Smile by Mystery Jets
(It's about a guy who seems to be a predator but he says if you give him a chance then you might actually like him. There is no harm in trying.)

"Come back to me no need to hide
Make a little room for me tonight"

Animal by Neon Trees
(To those oblivious or hard-to-get girls)

"I kinda wanna be more then friends
So take it easy on me
I'm afraid you're never satisfied"

We Get On by Kate Nash
(To those guys who don't notice how much effort we put in getting your attention. A little sensitivity or a compliment would be nice.)

"I just think that we'd get on
I wish I could tell you face to face
Instead of singing this stupid song
But yeah, I just think that we might get on"

2 Atoms In A Molecule by Noah And The Whale
"I woke from the dream
To realise I was alone
A tragic event, I must admit
But let's not be overblown"

Unattainable by Little Joy
"Oh, if you find yourself
amongst the lonely ones
I'll be waiting here with open arms"

Brightest Hour by The Submarines
(This song is full of hope. When does that day arrive?)

"Wandering through starry skies
And when tomorrow's day arrives
I'll be a moment closer to the
Brightest Hour here with you"

When I Go by Slow Club
(It's a pact between friends that if they are not married by this certain age, then they themselves should get married. Borderline desperate, that's how we roll!)

"If we're both not married by twenty-four
Will you pass me those knee pads and I'll get on the floor"

Wonderful World by James Morrison
"Well I know that it's a wonderful world, from the sky down to the sea
I can only see it when you're here, here with me"

Corners Of Your Mind by Ivy
(It's about not knowing someone, like a missed opportunity.)

"And it only goes to show
There are worlds I'll never know
There are rooms I'll never find
In the corners of your mind "

Why Don't You Love Me by Beyonce
(Beyonce cannot be any clearer. PREACH, B!)

"Why don't you love me?
when I make me so damn easy to love
Why don't you need me?"

Somebody To Love by Justin Bieber
(Guys, don't stone me to death for including this song, okay? I really like this song.)

"I don't need nothing else,
I promise girl, I swear.
I just need somebody to love!!!"

Love Today by Mika
(We'll find love in our own way maybe not necessarily with someone. It can be something, someplace or anyone at all.)

"Everybody's gonna love today, gonna love today, gonna love today
Everybody's gonna love today, gonna love today"

DOWNLOAD ZIP HERE

Cover: According to legend, each leaf represents something: the first is for hope, the second is for faith, the third is for love, and the fourth is for luck. Sadly, I only placed a three leaf clover for aesthetical reason. This clover represents luck for everyone who seeks love.

The playlist Keishia promised to make for us, The Lonely Hearts Club, is up and it is wonderful. I love every song, every description, every message carried in this mix. So I did a Tumblr and "reblogged" her post to further pimp out the awesomeness that is her taste in music. Download! Download! If you're tired of sitting, waiting, wishing (a la Jack Johnson) for the one you love, whether because of distance or some unforeseen, irrelevant circumstance a.k.a shiteous current girlfriends, this mix is an invitation to sit, wait and wish some more--for the same person, or for someone else. You never know.

With love,

The Lonely Hearts Club

You're nobody till somebody loves you

My friend Keishia posted a lovely mix about love on her music blog entitled J'Taime, C'est Tout and listening to it came with such a yearning for someone to actually dedicate the songs to, or hear it with. Yes, it's one of those days. So as I have plenty of time to update this blog nowadays, let me share what I feel about love most of the time (or on days when I decide not to be the strong, independent, confident woman I was raised to be--which is most of the time, because it's so much easier to rest your head on somebody else's shoulder than carry the weight around all by yourself).

It's a little song called You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You, originally sung by Dean Martin, reworked by the wonderful Mr. Bublé. :)

I have blog backlogs about New York, Washington and the magical city that is San Francisco but my lack of paycheck keeps me from writing about it, mostly because I refuse to do anything fun whenever I wallow in my unnecessary sadness. I am such a drama queen, it's so annoying. I could use the money though. Mostly for my books, but hey.