(Re)Discovering Music

I love rediscovering music.

Last week I came across Trapt's self-titled cd and it has been on repeat ever since. I forgot how much i loved it, the songs are upbeat with lyrics that aren't so upbeat, but i love it none the less. Check it out.

Something Corporate. I absolutly love these guys and am still upset over their breakup. Some of my favorite SoCo songs would have to be Straw Dog, i love the piano entry of it. Down, again another awesome piano entry into the song, it's actually the main ringtone on my phone. Me and the Moon, love this songs to bits don't know why. The Astronaut. Ruthless. and basically all their songs. You should check them out.

Jack's Mannequin. Andrew McMahon is the lead singer of them, he was also the lead singer of Something Corporate. Like SoCo, i love just about every Jack's song. Their new cd is amazing and had Hammer's and String's on repeat for almost two days, Check them out also.

Thanks to Mandy VanDuyne, i have discovered School Boy Humor. At first i thought they were just going to be another pop group, with corny music & lyrics. But i listened to them and was happily surprised to find that their sound wasn't over popish, it had more of a rock sound to it, with lyrics that are more than just mediocre. My favorite song would have to be What If, i also really enjoyed their cover of 'Realize'

A Rocket to the Moon. Ever since last year i had heard a lot about A Rocket to the Moon. I go to college in Providence, RI and one of the kids that travels with them, actually lived down the hall from me the first trimester last year. It wasn't until a couple months ago that i actually listened to some of their songs and instantly fell in love with them. They've covered some of Tswift's songs, i almost like their version of 'Forever and Always' better than hers. *Shhh, i didn't say that* I recommand listening to them, 'If You Only Knew' is probably my favorite song of theirs.

I just bought The Maines 'Can't Stop, Won't Stop' album, i havent listened to it enough to really put my opinion out there, but from what i have heard its really good and they will probably make it to my repeat album list.

I also just bought Forever the Sickest Kids cd and love what i've heard so far, but haven't listened to it enough yet to form an opinion. But i can bet it'll also land on that list of albums that go on repeat.


There's many more that i could go on and on about, but i'll spare you the pain of that. If you haven't listened to some of these bands, i highly recommand that you do so.

this could change your life

a friend of mine had posted the following note on her blog on myspace, she is not the original author of this note, but like me felt the truth in what the girl was writing, almost like she was knew what i was thinking and feeling. I hope you enjoy it as well.


Dear friends,

To be human is to fall from grace; to be divine is to crawl from where you land. We are imperfect; disfigured; uncouth when we choose to be: we are divine when we aspire.

There are so many reasons to hate the world. The reasons for bitterness can fill up a room while the reasons for love can only fit at the tip of a needle. Whether they are natural disasters, humanitarian crises, or family problems, this little speck of Earth sometimes feels as though it is in the cusp of hell and heaven.

Today the weather was perfect. The sun was shining, the wind was cool, and I did not go outside. Instead, my morning consisted of problems with which I had been dealing since I was conscious enough for memories, and I cried until my head hurt. It is ridiculous how uncontrollable your life can be when the weather is finally agreeable. But here I am again, a month (or a year) later, typing about my experiences and wondering if it makes sense to anyone but myself.

If there is anything I have ever learned from these seventeen years, it's that life is not worth blaming. Pitying, hating, or destroying yourself for a bit of control or a bit of venting is not worth the pain or the effort. Whatever happens to you, ultimately you are the one who chooses how to react. You can hate yourself, or you can change. You can spurn the world, or you can improve it. For those, I have made my choices, and here I am today, intact.

We are small and we are not mighty, but our will is extraordinary Fear pain; fear rejection; fear change--we cannot deny our most basic instincts. Yet, we must not forget that we are the product of our own devices, and although there are things we cannot control, we are not unable to continue. Time only stops for the dead.

So friends, thank you for being part of my reasons to rise above my present and have hope for the future and humanity. Thank you for your words, for your "normal," for keeping me moving forward when my feet begin to stand still. Others have suffered more than I; I have suffered more than others, but we suffer the same way. Even the smallest amounts of love given willingly and unconsciously can overcome the greatest of evils. I am strong, but you make me stronger.

We have entered a world embroiled in suspicion, cynicism, and parasitism in need of thought, understanding, and empathy.
But most of all, it needs more love letters.

Write one with your life.

Are You a Nice Girl?

I am.

This is my tribute to the nice girls. To the nice girls who are overlooked, who become friends and nothing more, who spend hours fixating upon their looks and their personalities and their actions because it must be they that are doing something wrong. This is for the girls who don't give it up on the first date, who don't want to play mind games, who provide a comforting hug and a supportive audience for a story they've heard a thousand times. This is for the girls who understand that they aren't perfect and that the guys they're interested in aren't either, for the girls who flirt and laugh and worry and obsess over the slightest glance, whisper, touch, because somehow they are able to keep alive that hope that maybe... maybe this time he'll have understood. This is an homage to the girls who laugh loud and often, who are comfortable in skirts and sweats and combat boots, who care more than they should for guys who don't deserve their attention. This is for those girls who have been in the trenches, who have watched other girls time and time again fake up and make up and f up the guys in their lives without saying a word. This is for the girls who have been there from the beginning and have heard the trite words of advice, from "there are plenty of fish in the sea," to "time heals all wounds." This is to honor those girls who know that guys are just as scared as they are, who know that they deserve better, who are seeking to find it.

This is for the girls who have never been in love, but know that it's an experience that they don't want to miss out on. For the girls who have sought a night with friends and been greeted by a night of catcalling, rude comments and explicit invitations that they'd rather not have experienced. This is for the girls who have spent their weekends sitting on the sidelines of a beer pong tournament or a case race, or playing Florence Nightingale for a vomiting guy friend or a comatose crush, who have received a drunk phone call just before dawn from someone who doesn't care enough to invite them over but is still willing to pass out in their bed. This is for the girls who have left sad song lyrics in their away messages, who have tried to make someone understand through a subliminally appealing profile, who have time and time again dropped their male friend hint after hint after hint only to watch him chase after the first blonde girl in a skirt. This is for the girls who have been told that they're too good or too smart or too pretty, who have been given compliments as a way of breaking off a relationship, who have ever been told they are only wanted as a friend.

This one's for the girls who you can take home to mom, but won't because it's easier to sleep with a whore than foster a relationship; this is for the girls who have been led on by words and kisses and touches, all of which were either only true for the moment, or never real to begin with. This is for the girls who have allowed a guy into their head and heart and bed, only to discover that he's just not ready, he's just not over her, he's just not looking to be tied down; this is for the girls who believe the excuses because it's easier to believe that it's not that they don't want you, it's that they don't want anyone. This is for the girls who have had their hearts broken and their hopes dashed by someone too cavalier to have cared in the first place; this is for the nights spent dissecting every word and syllable and inflection in his speech, for the nights when you've returned home alone, for the nights when you've seen from across the room him leaning a little too close, or standing a little too near, or talking a little too softly for the girl he's with to be a random hookup. This is for the girls who have endured party after party in his presence, finally having realized that it wasn't that he didn't want a relationship: it was that he didn't want you. I honor you for the night his dog died or his grandmother died or his little brother crashed his car and you held him, thinking that if you only comforted him just right, or said the right words, or rubbed his back in the right way then perhaps he'd realize what it was that he already had. This is for the night you realized that it would never happen, and the sunrise you saw the next morning after failing to sleep.

This is for the "I really like you, so let's still be friends" comment after you read more into a situation than he ever intended; this is for never realizing that when you choose friends, you seldom choose those which make you cry yourself to sleep. This is for the hugs you've received from your female friends, for the nights they've reassured you that you are beautiful and intelligent and amazing and loyal and truly worthy of a great guy; this is for the despair you all felt as you sat in the aftermath of your tears, knowing that that night the only companionship you'd have was with a pillow and your teddy bear. This is for the girls who have been used and abused, who have endured what he was giving because at least he was giving something; this is for the stupidity of the nights we've believed that something was better than nothing, though his something was nothing we'd have ever wanted. This is for the girls who have been satisified with too little and who have learned never to expect anything more: for the girls who don't think that they deserve more, because they've been conditioned for so long to accept the scraps thrown to them by guys.

This is what I don't understand. Men sit and question and whine that girls are only attracted to the mean guys, the guys who berate them and belittle them and don't appreciate them and don't want them; who use them for sex and think of little else than where their next conquest will be made. Men complain that they never meet nice girls, girls who are genuinely interested and compelling, who are intelligent and sweet and smart and beautiful; men despair that no good women want to share in their lives, that girls play mindgames, that girls love to keep them hanging. Yet, men, I ask you: were you to meet one of these genuinely interested, thrillingly compelling, interesting and intelligent and sweet and beautiful and smart girls, were you to give her your number and wait for her to call... and if you were to receive a call from her the next day and she, in her truthful, loyal, intelligent and straightforward nice girl fashion, were to tell you that she finds you intriguing and attractive and interesting and worth her time and perhaps material from which she could fashion a boyfriend, would you or would you not immediately call your friends to tell them of the "stalker chick" you'd met the night prior, who called you and wore her heart on her sleeve and told the truth? And would you, or would you not, refuse to make plans with her, speak with her, see her again, and once again return to the bar or club or party scene and search once more for this "nice girl" who you just cannot seem to find? Because therein lies the truth, guys: we nice girls are everywhere. But you're not looking for a nice girl. You're not looking for someone genuinely interested in your intermural basketball game, or your anatomy midterm grade, or that argument you keep having with your father; you're looking for a quick fix, a night when you can pretend to have a connection with another human being which is just as disposable as the condom you were using during it.

So don't say you're on the lookout for nice girls, guys, when you pass us up on every step you take. Sometimes we go undercover; sometimes we go in disguise: sometimes when that girl in the low cut shirt or the too tight miniskirt won't answer your catcalls, sometimes you're looking at a nice girl in whore's clothing - - we might say we like the attention, we might blush and giggle and turn back to our friends, but we're all thinking the same thing: "This isn't me. Tomorrow morning, I'll be wearing a teeshirt and flannel shorts, I'll have slept alone and I'll be making my hungover best friend breakfast. See through the disguise. See me." You never do. Why? Because you only see the exterior, you only see the slutty girl who welcomes those advances. You don't want the nice girl.. so don't say you're looking for a relationship: relationships take time and energy and intent, three things we're willing to extend - - but in return, we're looking for compassion and loyalty and trust, three things you never seem willing to express. Maybe nice guys finish last, but in the race they're running they're chasing after the whores and the sluts and the easy-targets... the nice girls are waiting at the finish line with water and towels and a congradulatory hug (and yes, if she's a nice girl and she likes you, the sweatiness probably won't matter), hoping against hope that maybe you'll realize that they're the ones that you want at the end of that silly race.

So maybe it won't last forever. Maybe some of those guys in that race will turn in their running shoes and make their way to the concession stand where we're waiting; however, until that happens, we still have each other, that silly race to watch, and all the chocolate we can eat (because what's a concession stand at a race without some chocolate?)


By Jessica Leigh Griffith





Candis from JS had posted this in a note awhile back
and couldn't agree more and felt the need to share it with all of ya'll.

Wake Forest/Duke game

i am so friggin proud of those boys. Duke had found itself in a bit of a slide as of late, winning only 1 out of their last 3 games. Last time they played Wake Forest they played at Wake Forest down in Winston-Salem and lost a heartbreaking game by losing in the last 2 seconds of the game.

But tonight the boys redeemed themselves by winning by a score of 101-91. And had two amazinggg performances from Gerald Henderson and Jon Scheyer, both of whom scored career high points, 35 and 30 respectively.

They actually looked like the Duke team we always expect them to be. They played really good defense and brought a high energy with them, that you can only find at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

There's only one more home game for the Devils, before Greg Paulus has to bid adeu to the place he has called home for the last four years. I am greatly saddened by this. TO me he represents the last link of JJ to Duke University. Greg was the starting point guard for most of JJ's senior year back in the 05-06 season.
So this is to you Duke, for playing an amazing game and I couldn't be more proud of you!

eeeppp

i love these boys ridiculous amounts.

excitedddd

I am beyond excited for this movie.

Only 7 more days until it's in theatres.

Do you have your tickets yet?

hmmmm...

What can i blog about today, my life is this neverending sequence of boringness while i wait to return to school in a couple weeks. Which i am ridiculously excited, i have no classes just practicum in those ugly ass uniforms while working my butt off at jobs where you don't get paid for but are required to do a lengthy project on. It's all worth it though to get to go on our FAM trip, and can i just say how jealous i am that this tri they are going to Spain. I've always wanted to go there but more importantly Barcelona, I've heard the architecture there is amazing and i would love to be able to see in first hand.

I haven't done a sports blog in about a week, those brothers Jonas have just been everwhere lately, not that i'm complaining though. Just when I felt like I was drifting away from them, they lure me back in. And it was nice to see them being themselves, I felt like we hadn't gotten that lately, especially from Joseph. Nicholas, where has that boy been hiding. He has some personality and i love that a lot of it came out this week. But he's going land me behind bars one of these days. And i have a hard time believing he's only 16 years old.

Okay back to sports.

I am a born and raised yankee fan, it's like i have yankee blood running through me and i'm very protective of the players and coaches. But i have become quite disappointed in some of them as of late.

First of Joe Torre. I absolutely adored him as the Yankees manager and was saddened to see him leave. But he has left me disappointed and let down with this new book of his that he wrote. But my opinions are solely based on media reports & their leaks of the book and i'm hoping that they have exaggerated what's actually written. I have yet to purchase and read the book, but when i do i'll get back to you and let you now my opinions on it.

Secondly, Mr. Alex "i never took steriods" Rodriguez. Then miraculously a report from SportsIllustrated surfaced about him testing positive for a banned substance in 2003. He held a press conference yesterday at the yankees training facility in tampa, fl. Can someone please explain to me how a professional athlete, who monitors everything that goes into his body, can inject himself with a drug that he has no idea what kind of effects it will have on his body twice a month for almost three years? Seriously? He played it off as being young, naive, and immature; not to mention this drug came from the dominican republice where his cousin was able to buy it over the counter, sketchy much? Ughhh, it's just annoying and i'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around it. Bottom line is I'm very disappointed in A-Rod and it will take awhile before I trust him and can except him as a yankee, which i'm still working on after the whole pullingout of his contract so he can get a better one. But that's another story that i don't really want to get into.

I'm watching the Orlando Magic game and my future hubby, JJ Redick has gotten in already and has two points. He had an amazing game yesterday, but I'll probably blog about all of that after the current game is over.

blindfolded musical chairs anyone?

Blindfolded musical chairs anyone? As long as I get to do it with these three boys.
Any excuse to freely touch them without getting taken out with Big Rob.
But seriously, who wouldn't want to be that girl, not just for playing this game with them but she also one some amazingggg prizes and no doubt got autographs i'm sure backstage.
I'm defiantly jealous.

a pick me up

i've been in a bit of funk, but those brothers Jonas have done a good job of picking me up, so i'm going to show you some of the video clips from the last couple days.

SNL Skit #2


Late Show Conan O'Brien


The Late Show with David Letterman

Part 1


Part 2



they were also on the Ellen show today & it was hysterical.
Anyone up for a round of blindfold musical chairs?

UNC/Duke game

I meant to post this yesterday & apologize, but i ended spending the day in bed sick.

Going into the game I was extremely nervous and anxious, we had been playing extrememly well up until the past week and a half or so and felt like we had a lot to prove. We started off rather slow, going down by 11 at some point, but you aren't Duke without going on a bit of a ran. And that's just what we did. We took the 11 point deficiet and turned it into a double digit lead at one point. We played amazing defense and our shooting guards had found their touch especially Scheyer and Singler who had been in a bit of a slump going into the game. Dicky V had said the two were out shooting around hours before they were do to be at the court, it defiantly showed. We went into half time with amazing energy and pumped up.

16 seconds into the second half could perhaps be called the turn around of the game. Hansborough, Singler and another Duke player scrambled for a loose ball and the played ended with Singler being called for a techinical foul for elbowing Tyler in the face. Whether he did it on perhaps or his elbow just went snapped back of slipping of the ball, they said it was almost 90 degrees on court level, is up to interpretation. The technical gave Singler I believe his four foul of the game, five fouls being the limit. The Blue Devils soon saw their lead diminish and found themselves on the losing end of the battle. To tell you the truth I didn't pay too much attention to the second half, I was disappointed our play. We went into the locker room at half time a well flated balloon and we walked back on the court seeming almost a bit deflated and it just kept going down, they weren't able to really bring it back to where it was before. I think we depend on the 3 pointer a little too much, but I guess that's what happens when you don't have a prominent player to play in the paint, you have to depend on your shooters. And in the second half we were lucky if anything was going in and you have to give Carolina credit, the defense that seemed to fall away in the first half came back swinging in the second half and seemed to be effective. Over all the Carolina ended up scoring over 100 points against the best defense in the ACC.

Watch out Carolina, on your senior night I think you will be seeing a different Duke team and we will leave Tyler in tears and they won't be happy ones either.

interesting...

I've always believed that our angels will give us signs to help us in our lives and with making decisions. One way is by pulling our attention to the same numbers or sequences, whether it be by the clock or license plates.

This morning I was looking at my blog and noticed something:
I signed up for this blog on February 11 (2/11)
I posted my first blog at 11:47 am.
I posted my second at 4:11 pm.
I posted my last one of the day at 11:11 pm.
After noticing this I looked at the clock and it read 1:21.

Interesting to say the least.

a sad puppy :(

Duke lost to Carolina, after playing a stellar first half.
I'm too broken hearted to write more than this,
I'll post my thoughts on the game tomorrow.

i'm not a princess, this ain't a fairytale

i absolutely love this video,
i think it's her best one yet.

See You in the Dark

I can't get Honor Society's "See You in the Dark" song out of my head. And it is my week's mission to learn the honor roll, even though i'm not going to any shows any time soon. But it can't hurt to be prepared.

It looks like everything is in order for me to go back to JWU next month. Luckily, I won't have any classes, just practicum. Which I'm wicked excited about, but mostly just to go on the 12 day or so FAM trip we'll be going on. It'll be my first time out of the US and I couldn't be more excited!!!

There's a big college basketball game tonight. The Tobacco Road rivalry, that's right. It's time for the first meeting of UNC/Duke of the season. I've never been more anxious and worried for a game like I am for this one. My Blue Devils have hit a bit of rough patch the last couple weeks and are looking to redem themselves against the always tough TarHeels, but i have faith in the Devils. Let's take a trip down memory lane. I love this video clip and no i don't believe Henderson did it on purpose and I'm still pissed he got suspended a couple games for it.