I know I have been slacking a lot on posts but I have been busy with things. So lets get into it.
Four days ago, on a bright sunny mid morning, I was up and about getting things done and I decided to take a trip down to the library to return some items. I get ready to go and walk down the stairs happily, jump into the car, throw the key in the ignition and wouldn't you know it the damn thing won't start. Not a good way to end that story, huh? I didn't think so either. I notice that the clock and odometer funky looking. Sort of like a dying calculator display. Pissed off, I make a few calls. I eventually get a place that knows about Volkswagen's enough to give me a non dumbfounded answer. They tell me to take a cable off the battery, let it sit for an hour and re-attach it. Sort of do a reboot of the cars computer systems. So I did and when I hooked it back up it started no problem. I was pretty happy, I spent nothing other than an hour and a few phone calls. I decide to take it to a near by auto parts store do do a quick diagnostic check and everything turns out good. As I drive it back to my house, the airbag light comes on and the door/lights alarm starts going off. Grrrreat! The next day I take it to a VW auto shop (not the dealer! You think I am nuts!) The hook it up run a full diagnostic scan on everything and get the problem fixed, no charge. Sweeeet! I drive away happy. The next day I drive all the about 60 miles round trip to an interview, including various stops along the way. No problems at all. I get home and decide to take that trip to the library again. On the way there I get the alarm sound again, no lights this time though. The alarm is on and slowing down and speeding back up randomly. I do the library thing (of course I got overdue fees on a few things), and I drive it to the shop again. They take a look can't pinpoint what is going on. It didn't help I got there 15 minuets before closing. they tell me what I need to check for to help them pinpoint the problem. Again no charge, which is nice. I drive back home, very annoyed because; A. My car is going crazy with issues B. That alarm sound is so annoying. You think a few seconds of it is bad try a good 10 minutes of it. I go home, and decided to deal with ti tomorrow. I go to take a ride this morning to see if I can pinpoint it better so I can take it in. The damn thing doesn't do it. Everything is fine, no dinging, no lights, it's running fine. To be continued...
Royal Bangs - My Car Is Haunted
For the past few weeks I have been helping out my sister by taking care of my nephews. I absolutely love them to death, and don't mind helping out my sister at all, but man kids are a crazy world that I am not accustomed to. They are exhausting! I have a new found respect for any mother or father with little kids. Not only that but all the gross things they do. I have dealt more with puke, pee, snot and poop in the last few weeks than I care to. I am a pretty sensitive stomach sort of guy too. With all that being said, I wouldn't trade my nephews for the world, and I still want kids someday. I just think they are a little more gross than before. This was the only babysitter song I could think of. I'm not like this when I babysit, I just think this Princess Superstar song is hilarious. Just thought I should put that out there.
Princess Superstar - Bad Babysitter
Since my interview went so well I decided to treat myself to a new CD. I haven't spent much on myself other than food so I thought it would be something nice for once. I was at Best Buy and I couldn't find anything I wanted so I just went random. I have heard two songs by the band Beach House before. One live on Jimmy Fallon, and one on a music blog. I liked them, but didn't really look into them much. they didn't strike me as anything special. Well they have a semi-new CD out titled Teen Dream, and it was on sale for $7.99 at Best Buy with a DVD of music videos for all the songs. I figured it's cheap if I don't really like it and there is double entertainment in it if I do. Well I am happy to say that I made a good solid purchase. The album is really good. Beach House have a very laid back dreamy electro pop sound. As I was listening to it I could see the album working on a warm breezy day or a drab rainy day. Victoria Legrand has a voice that can range from a low wispy hush to a soaring soulful tone. With a deeper range it makes the vocals almost sultry sounding. The music is kept very simple, subtle and somewhat repetitious but it also varies enough through out any given song that it doesn't seem boring. It almost makes you listen more to catch the tiny changes. The drums and keys are the biggest driving factor for this band. If you are looking to rock out and jump around doing ninja kicks and air guitar solos you might want to look elsewhere. However if you are interested in kicking back with a nice drink in hand, a good book or a sunny Sunday drive I would definitely pop this album in.
Beach House - Zebra
"NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Mark Linkous, the singer-songwriter who released his music under the band name Sparklehorse, has died after shooting himself in the chest in Tennessee. He was 47. Knoxville Police Department spokesman Darrell DeBusk said Linkous shot himself outside a friend's house around 1:20 p.m. Saturday with his own rifle. DeBusk said Linkous was staying with friends and became upset after receiving a text message." Read full obituary here. RIP Mark.
Sparklehorse - Sick Of Goodbyes
I am going to throw some videos I came across into the mix to end this post. the first one is a cover of Life On Mars By David Bowie sung by Brazilian musician, singer/songwriter Seu Jorge. You may recognize him from the movie The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou which is where this unique on set recording session takes place. He has an album out of all Bowie Covers sung in his native language, and also has been a many movies including one of my favorites City Of God.
This next video is just some kid screen named Funtwo playing Johann Pachelbel's Cannon. This is a great musical piece by itself, but then you add in some AMAZING guitar playing and you got a killer track. I can only dream of ever playing this well. Check out Funtwos other videos as well. This kid rocks!
3/18/2010
The progression of termination and reclamation
Great news sports fans! I got a job! After a year and two months, I finally nailed one down. I will be doing the same thing I did before, call center for a bank, only for 2 dollars more and I get out an hour and a half earlier. Oh yeah and I don't have to do sales! Noice! Today I decided that I am going to post some songs that sort of tell the story of the past year without a job.
I was let go pretty quickly, no advance notice. I mean, I knew I was hurting for sales and trying like crazy to get them, but I never thought that I would be leaving a few short hours after starting my shift that day. Unlike Fred Jones, I did not have the nostalgic time of clearing my desk and saying good bye to fellow employees. It was all done for me. I was pretty bummed about being fired and then on top of that I didn't get to say "Later" to my co-workers. Sucktastic, indeed!
Ben Folds - Fred Jones Pt. 2
After getting over the initial shock of being fired, I started to think about the job I was doing. I went through the "what if's", and "coulda, shoulda, waouldas". I also came to the realization that sales is not my strong point. I didn't like being driven by incentives or selling goals, over genuinely helping people out of the problem they were in. I felt shitty reflecting on what I could have done and didn't do, but in a way,I felt good about getting away from something I wasn't comfortable with. Not to up myself here, but I'm a nice guy, not a hidden motives guy with a nice guy covering. That might be bad, but it's the way I am.
Frightened Rabbit - I Feel Better
There was a while where I decided that I had to do it alone. I didn't need any help from anyone. I was too proud to let people do things to help me out. I didn't let my parents pay for dinner for me. When told that if worse comes to worse I had a place to live by my Sister and my Dad I would tell them that would not be needed, I'll be fine (which was true but still). I also had this complex that I was one step above the others who were applying for jobs. When things didn't happen I got angry, depressed, indifferent. "Why even try anymore? All the work I do, and I get no results. Of course I was knocked down quite quickly. I wanted to be alone, and when I finally felt alone it wasn't a good feeling.
Kid Cudi - Do It Alone
With that thinking came the slow realization that I wasn't one step ahead. I had a good work history but that didn't mean anything without college. Even with college it was tough to get a job. So there I was, not king of the castle. Was it a tough thing to learn? Hell yeah. Was it all my fault? No, not entirely. Once I got a grasp on that I seemed to move on to accepting it and dealt with it accordingly. Doing what I needed to do to get by.
Herman Dune - Not On Top
I began to really see the economy as the shit hole that it was. I understood that I wasn't the only one with troubles. This was both a comforting feeling and also a scary feeling. I wasn't alone, but there were thousands like me going through the same crap. Most probably having it ten times worse than I did.
Lee Rogers - Troubles
You can only take so much rejection, so many days of feeling sorry for your self, and so many days of getting angry. One day you wake up and you just decide it's not worth it. By that I mean you go from feeling crappy about everything to feeling like there has got to be a change around the bend. That is when faith kicks in. It's different for everyone. For some it's family and friends urging you to keep your head up, laughter, a great day that just makes the week seem better, or religious beliefs. I am pretty sure I got to that point of saying "It's not doing me ANY good getting pissed off, or upset at the things I can't control. Lets take what hope is left and build upon that." Faith is a good motivator, a good anchor, and better than all those negative feelings. It's just a point of finding it.
Gene Allison - Have Faith
I chose this song because I think it really represents everything described above. It's a soundtrack to a long journey filled with snares and the unknown. You can see the light at the end of the tunnel and though it's a rocky trip, if you keep your eyes on the prize good things will come. Daniel Johnston wrote simple songs that knew exactly what to say.
Guster - The Sun Shines Down On Me (Daniel Johnston Cover)
Last but not least is the inevitable song. The song you rock out to when everything turns around for the better. The celebration, the weight lifted off your shoulders, high-fives, woohoos, and praises. The time when you can finally look backwards and say "Whew, glad that is done with."
Jackyl - Down On Me
I was let go pretty quickly, no advance notice. I mean, I knew I was hurting for sales and trying like crazy to get them, but I never thought that I would be leaving a few short hours after starting my shift that day. Unlike Fred Jones, I did not have the nostalgic time of clearing my desk and saying good bye to fellow employees. It was all done for me. I was pretty bummed about being fired and then on top of that I didn't get to say "Later" to my co-workers. Sucktastic, indeed!
Ben Folds - Fred Jones Pt. 2
After getting over the initial shock of being fired, I started to think about the job I was doing. I went through the "what if's", and "coulda, shoulda, waouldas". I also came to the realization that sales is not my strong point. I didn't like being driven by incentives or selling goals, over genuinely helping people out of the problem they were in. I felt shitty reflecting on what I could have done and didn't do, but in a way,I felt good about getting away from something I wasn't comfortable with. Not to up myself here, but I'm a nice guy, not a hidden motives guy with a nice guy covering. That might be bad, but it's the way I am.
Frightened Rabbit - I Feel Better
There was a while where I decided that I had to do it alone. I didn't need any help from anyone. I was too proud to let people do things to help me out. I didn't let my parents pay for dinner for me. When told that if worse comes to worse I had a place to live by my Sister and my Dad I would tell them that would not be needed, I'll be fine (which was true but still). I also had this complex that I was one step above the others who were applying for jobs. When things didn't happen I got angry, depressed, indifferent. "Why even try anymore? All the work I do, and I get no results. Of course I was knocked down quite quickly. I wanted to be alone, and when I finally felt alone it wasn't a good feeling.
Kid Cudi - Do It Alone
With that thinking came the slow realization that I wasn't one step ahead. I had a good work history but that didn't mean anything without college. Even with college it was tough to get a job. So there I was, not king of the castle. Was it a tough thing to learn? Hell yeah. Was it all my fault? No, not entirely. Once I got a grasp on that I seemed to move on to accepting it and dealt with it accordingly. Doing what I needed to do to get by.
Herman Dune - Not On Top
I began to really see the economy as the shit hole that it was. I understood that I wasn't the only one with troubles. This was both a comforting feeling and also a scary feeling. I wasn't alone, but there were thousands like me going through the same crap. Most probably having it ten times worse than I did.
Lee Rogers - Troubles
You can only take so much rejection, so many days of feeling sorry for your self, and so many days of getting angry. One day you wake up and you just decide it's not worth it. By that I mean you go from feeling crappy about everything to feeling like there has got to be a change around the bend. That is when faith kicks in. It's different for everyone. For some it's family and friends urging you to keep your head up, laughter, a great day that just makes the week seem better, or religious beliefs. I am pretty sure I got to that point of saying "It's not doing me ANY good getting pissed off, or upset at the things I can't control. Lets take what hope is left and build upon that." Faith is a good motivator, a good anchor, and better than all those negative feelings. It's just a point of finding it.
Gene Allison - Have Faith
I chose this song because I think it really represents everything described above. It's a soundtrack to a long journey filled with snares and the unknown. You can see the light at the end of the tunnel and though it's a rocky trip, if you keep your eyes on the prize good things will come. Daniel Johnston wrote simple songs that knew exactly what to say.
Guster - The Sun Shines Down On Me (Daniel Johnston Cover)
Last but not least is the inevitable song. The song you rock out to when everything turns around for the better. The celebration, the weight lifted off your shoulders, high-fives, woohoos, and praises. The time when you can finally look backwards and say "Whew, glad that is done with."
Jackyl - Down On Me
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