Jam of the Day - "Let Me Know" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs

"How I Feel About Love"

For the past two years, especially when at school I have been keeping a journal in which everyone was allowed to write. People drew pictures, wrote poems (haikus, specifically), and assessments of celebration from a friend's 21st birthday to bid day. Some of my favorite things that have been written over the years have been nicknames for friends, how we feel about people we don't always jive with, and reactions to intense feelings - especially after large events, like the Packers winning the Super Bowl.

Something that often got written about was love - mostly love between sorority sisters and supremely close friends. But every now and again, the topic of the good ol' romantic love comes up. Now, being the cynical people who wrote in my journal, love wasn't always held up in the best light. Like the beginning of the Chuck Klosterman novel Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, Lloyd Dobler (if you don't know him, google it) is the greatest man for every quirky, smart girl. Unfortunately for us, Lloyd Dobler does not exist in real life. The gap in societal expectation (see, Lloyd Dobler) and humans is pretty high. The gap goes both ways, and makes it impossible for Chuck Klosterman (and many others) to believe they are in love.

I couldn't be happier to have this journal, as it holds some of my favorite memories. Today, I found myself listening to corny, romantic music. But like always, I can't take myself seriously when listening to these songs. This prompted me to remember a lovely journal entry by a really close friend of mine where she says, "I do not believe in love. It is a fake thing that people make up in their heads because they need a reason to be with someone....being romantic is dumb because no one ever does it. Its not like the movies people." Hilarious.

In honor of the greatest journal of all time (that I've ever seen) and its quirky ideas about love, check out these three beautifully corny love songs.

Sham-A-Ling-Dong by Jesse Winchester - this is perhaps the most beautiful rendition of a love song that I have ever heard. Love it. This video comes from Elvis Costello's Canadian television show (it's true, look it up!) and makes Neko Case cry! But in reality, I don't blame her because this song is for sure tear-worthy. Don't get depressed now though, because it makes you cry because it's so beautiful.

That Teenage Feeling - Neko Case - Because the last song made her cry, here's an incredible love song from her 2006 record Fox Confessor Brings the Flood.

...and the best love song of all time, You Go To My Head - Louis Armstong and Oscar Peterson - seriously, almost no song is better.

Please Forgive Me

...for all of my grammar mistakes. And also for being curious as to why no one argues that life begins at ejaculation.

Today is Father's Day, you know what that means...

...we're gonna have a special day. Oh, good ol' Dads.

Life around these parts has been pretty good the last few weeks, just working at the daycare and trying to get my life together. I have been out of college now for a month, and I am already thinking that I should do something new. We'll see, I am looking at different grad programs but I don't know if I necessarily think that grad school is for me. No real life updates here, to report of.

The other day, during a four hour lunch break (the only one I will probably ever have), I headed over to Barnes and Nobles to see if I could pick up some nice fiction to read. As any other former college student can attest to, I haven't read almost any fiction since I left high school - which goes without saying unless you were an English major. So, with the intention of buying a novel to read (and rejecting the 50 Shades of Grey craze), I was going to search. Well, I walked out of the store with the book "Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein - a book about Disaster Capitalism. Someone has to have an intervention with me about reading depressing books that make me hate the Bush era that much more.

In lieu of sweet life updates (which are rare anyways), here are a few things that I have read recently which struck my fancy:

"Did Republicans Deliberately Crash the US economy?" from the Guardian, by Michael Cohen. Interesting read, especially after reading the first few chapters of Naomi Klein's book which talks a lot about how Milton Friedman's followers (see Neoliberalism and the US economy) promote chaos as being the best way to bring about change. Creepy when you really think about it, take a look!

"A Message to Girls About Religious Men That Fear You" from Huff-Po by Soraya Chemaly. Really, a rather chilling piece about how women should be inspired by their own power in light of many religious men worldwide who create policies and believe in discriminating against women, Chemaly argues it is because of our power.

...and for the last one, something actually more "fun." It's for the sociology major in all of us, "The Overthinking Person's Drinking Game" from the Thought Catalog. Hilarious.

Okay, after watching a whole season of the Louis C.K. fictionalized autobiographical t.v. show where he talks about his life after being divorced, and his two children (also his crisis to get laid), I really started thinking about Seattle in the same way. He says that getting divorced is mostly shocking because everything has changed since you were married, especially the dating scene. Bear with me, I know this analogy probably doesn't make too much sense.