two things that keep a lot of people sane: friends and music

What I’ve come to realize in the past year is that you don’t need one best friend. If you have one, that’s fantastic. If you don’t, that’s also fantastic. All you need are people that understand you and love you for being the weird person you are. Expecting to have one single best friend at all times is an unrealistic expectation to which to hold yourself, and it does you no good. Do what you do to make you happy, but don’t go searching or picking people to be your BFFL because you feel like that’s the only way to go about life.

As I see it, there is very rarely going to be one person that fulfills all of your friendship needs (don’t get out your pitchforks quite yet, there are exceptions). Similarly, it’s rare that you’ll find one song that you can listen to in any mood.

Backing up a tad: absolutely everyone in my friend family is writing blog posts about us. We call ourselves “Squad,” which seems super annoying and I like to think that we’re being ironic, but honestly it’s more of a title than anything else. We’re a ragtag volunteer army in need of a shower. (Just kidding, none of those descriptors are accurate.) We’re a pretty weird cake-mix group of private school chicks, a Californian, guys who fight other people for leisure, and this other kid whose hair is made of gold.

We're not the Breakfast Club but here's a picture anyway. (photo credit)

Everyone else did cute little lists of “what everyone is” (i.e. book characters, music notes, etc.), and as the official squad Educator on Real Music and Other Important Things Such As Weird Sports Interview Videos, I thought it would be fitting to give everyone a song (or four). So, without further adieu, here is Squad + other friendlies as songs (a.k.a. The Playlist Based on People I Like, As Referred to by Their Secret Names That Aren’t Really Secret, As Well As One Sentence First Impressions Because That Adds Interest):

Goldilocks - Who is this kid that everyone is talking about?

      Dancing Through Life - Norbert Leo Butz (Wicked)

      Electric Feel - Brooke Adee (cover)

      Ghost (1 Mic, 1 Take) - Halsey

      Jenny from the Block (Track Masters Remix featuring Styles & Jadakiss) - Jennifer Lopez, Jadakiss & Styles P

Bub - That guy is cool-looking.

      Alphabet Boy - Melanie Martinez

      Ribs - LORDE

      Swim Good - Frank Ocean

      El Perdón - Nicky Jam & Enrique Iglesias

Papaya (a.k.a. The Taller Jew) - She’s the only person that can call me Sam.

      Shiksa Goddess -  Norbert Leo Butz (The Last Five Years) (How ironic.)

      Roll With the Punches - Lenka

      Hermit the Frog - Marina and the Diamonds

      A Higher Place - Adam Levine

La Playa (a.k.a. The Shorter Jew) - Someone told her I was shy?

      Seventeen - Marina and the Diamonds

      It Can’t Be True - 13 Original Broadway Cast

      The Scientist - Holly Henry (cover)

      Secrets - Mary Lamberts

The Oracle - All I remember is doing little children ballet together.

      Milk and Cookies - Melanie Martinez

      Dead Girl Walking (Reprise) - Heathers (Cast)

      Solitaire - Marina and the Diamonds

      Almost - Bowling For Soup

Spanish Professor - This guy is a mute (but actually just doesn’t speak English).

      Cheap Sunglasses - RAC

      Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song) - Billy Joel

      See Through - Pentatonix

      Ride (layered) - twenty one pilots

Mozart - He plays four billion and a half instruments whoa.

      Everything Else - Jennifer Damiano (Next To Normal)

     Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day

      All That’s Known - Jonathan Groff (Spring Awakening)

      Don’t Wait - Mapei

Oblivious - Whence did this older human come?

      Your Song - Ellie Goulding (cover)

      Can’t Pin Me Down - Marina and the Diamonds

      Headphones - Matt Nathanson (feat. LOLO)

      A Miracle Would Happen - Norbert Leo Butz (The Last Five Years)

The Mind - I’M A FAN.

      Soap - Melanie Martinez

      Obsessions - Marina and the Diamonds

      It Won’t Be Long Now - Karen Olivo (In The Heights)

      Blue - Troye Sivan (feat. Alex Hope)

Rayos - Preschool, good times.

      No Me Diga - In The Heights (Cast)

      Coming Up Roses - Kiera Knightley

      La la Land - Demi Lovato

      Uncharted - Sara Bareilles

Kitten - Baby swimming lessons.

      White Teeth Teens - Lorde

      Future Fantasy - Beckii Cruel

      Who Needs You - The Orwells

      WILD - Troye Sivan

The Guys

      Expressing Yourself - Billy Elliot

The Girls

      Candy Store - Heathers (Cast)

These are super random and seemingly sort of unrelated to these people, but they just fit somehow. I hope you all enjoy your songs, and I hope everyone else enjoys as well!

Ciao xx
Names are a box

here's what I like: books

Books. I like books. I like them a lot. Books are words that turn into images without one stroke of a pen to make the picture, because it’s all in your head. It’s a bit like Alice. I take it back; it’s exactly like Alice.

If you were confused, this Alice.
(image from here.)

Because of life, I haven’t had much time to read books lately, but somehow they always manage to keep in my life and keep me sane (or make me go insane). As of late, the books in my life have been few, but without further adieu, I present them to you, all in a queue (which is a fancy word for line, ooh):

The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography - James M. Rubenstein

This, as you may have guessed (you smarty) is my geography textbook. Somehow or other, it takes me about twelve years to get through one page of this book. Don’t get me wrong, it’s interesting as hell, if you think hell is interesting, or interesting as something else, like rainbows (besa el arcoíris??) if you don’t. Point being, the information is interesting, but the way it’s written can be… sometimes not.

Find it here if you want it, which you probably don’t.

Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut

I read this book for English. I can’t decide if I liked it or not. That is to say that I enjoyed the story (I think), but it’s always hard to tell with books read for school. A book read for any reason other than your own desire to do so is one that I believe will not be best enjoyed. Even a book recommended by your fellow book-loving friends (bless their hearts) will not be quite as climactic as one you’ve selected yourself. That’s just the way it is. I am, however, a big geek* for books set in World War II, which it partially is, and books so dripping with wit and weirdness that you find yourself cleaning the table with a dishrag every time you pick it up. Which it is.

Find it here if you want, which you might.

45 Arias - Handel

This is the new voice book that I just bought today. As is evident, it’s Handel, which is classical, which is opera. Opera is a word that either scares people and makes them run away and hide or fall on the floor of Costco and laugh until they pee themselves, so we’ll stay away from it for now. Classical is so fun. If you’re into singing, I would, in all honesty, highly recommend it. It sounds like it wouldn’t be, but just take my word for it and know that it is.

Find the book here.

Holt McDougal Online - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Otherwise known as my.hrw.com. HRW, and who knows what that stands for, will be the death of not only me, but also my entire math class, and most likely the teacher’s seven or so other periods. There is no way to describe this abomination except to say that it makes me not like math. I LIKE MATh. Shoot me. Except actually please do not shoot me, or anyone for that matter. I would strongly advise against it. Anyway, HRW, whatever the heck it means, is horrible, and even just typing about it makes me want to forcefully tear out sections of my hair. And I like my hair very much.

You don’t want to find this book.

The Boston Girl - Anita Diamant

This novel is what I am (not really) reading in my free time. I say "(not really)" because I hardly have any free time at the moment, what with auditions foR PETER PAN WHIch I haven’t discussed on this blog but what’s to say right now anyway, and with other things such as an essay which I should possibly be working on right this very moment instead of going over the five-hundred word suggested guideline in this blog post, etc. Anyway, I like this book a lot so far and would recommend it to people who like books such as this.

Find it here.

The Odyssey - Homer

Although I did read The Odyssey for school, I actually did mostly not dislike it. I’ve taken to calling Penelope “Penny,” which is super cute and lovely and if you’re having a child soon, which you’re most likely not because as far as I know, most of the people reading this are either teenage girls or my English teacher, who is a grown man, but if you are, you should name your child Penelope and call her Penny. Unless it’s a boy, or some other gender, in which case, name him/her/WHY IS THERE NO GENDER NON-SPECIFIC SINGULAR PRONOUN IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IT RUINS MY LIFE ALONG WITH HRW.COM whatever you would prefer. On second thought, name your child whatever you would prefer anyway. Unless it’s Derfla, which is Alfred backwards and comes up when you look up “most horrible name ever” on Google, in which case I beg you not to do that.

(If you really want The Odyssey, you can most likely find it anywhere.)

Other books I strongly recommend are Life After Life, I’ll Give You The Sun, Eloise in Munich (that’s a thing, right?) NO IT’S MOSCOW SORRY, Eloise in any other place at any time such as Christmastime or Paris, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Howl's Moving Castle, anything by Sophie Kinsella, and the Harry Potter Series. That should give you some variety.

I want to be Eloise. (image from here.)

Your obedient servant,

Not quite Alice, but close enough.

__________________________________________

*I’ve determined through extensive research and intense questioning that geek is a term used to describe a person who likes weird things, a dork is a person who does weird things, and a nerd is simply someone who’s smart. But really I think you should use them however you’d like. It is, after all, your book.

discussing why teaching yourself is a fine idea, the universal language, and words that don't exist

I taught myself to play “I Am Not a Robot” by Marina and the Diamonds on the piano a few days ago. Now, this could be a post about how sad my life is, how tragic that I spend my days teaching myself to play powerfully empathetic tunes on what looks like a large xylophone as shown in movies before colour television.

(See what I mean? I'll settle for "not really.")

Or.

Or, it could be a post about how teaching yourself is a fantastic way to “waste time” by doing something actually productive. It is immensely satisfying to be able to play a song that you know, and even more so if no one else showed you how to do it. I cannot describe to you the enjoyment of having the chords sound dare-I-say correct. When you start the song on a D and it comes out exactly as it does when you listen to the version Ms. Diamandis herself released in 2010 as her third track of her first album “The Family Jewels," it's just gratifying if I do say so.

The satisfaction that notes are universal. A C chord played at Carnegie Hall is the same one a lowly thirty-one-year-old plunks out as he tries to find the meaning of life, or at least a way to get out of his mom’s basement. The excitement that comes from the fact that there is the slightest possibility that I could harmonize with someone on the other side of the world, if the accident will. That a note in “See I’m Smiling” could be the same as one in “Seven Nation Army” as one in “Für Elise.” Now, who knows if any of those have the same notes at all, but just the possibility and the probability. What I’m saying is that it would hardly be unlikely.

Music notes are among the few things that are truly universal. Music breaks language barriers, economic barriers, political barriers, physical barriers. Caen las murallas, amiright? Music notes convey emotion because of where a dot was printed on a page and what sign comes before a measure. And that's insane.

Some disagree, arguing that lyrics convey the meaning of a song. I ask them, then, why do we have notes? For fun? Does so-and-so from that one opera sing in a minor key just because they’re picking and choosing? No. S/He/Xi does not. It’s done that way to convey certain emotions. The fact that the human ear, and maybe other ears, for that matter, can hear emotion without the language that we created is only fitting. It’s also somewhat of a miracle.

So that was a fun stream of consciousness.

As a spacer, let's add in this picture from the floor of the Marina and the Diamonds concert, because relevance etc.

In other news, on the yesterday-of-yesterday I had a “what-the-heck-even-is-irregardless” moment. Which, in fact, what is irregardless?

For those of you confused, I’m referring to the literal word “irregardless,” which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Let me break it down for you. Regardless means “without regard” which means “without paying attention to the present situation” or “despite the prevailing circumstances.” "Regardless" is already a negative word. The prefix “ir-“ is also negative, as in irregular, irreplaceable, irrefutable, etc., making “irregardless” a double negative word (or shall we say “word”).

People apparently got confused, probably because of the “irre-“ trend going on, and started saying “irregardless” where they should have been saying “regardless.” Now “irregardless" and “regardless" are used interchangeably by people who aren’t peevish about those sorts of things, and also probably never had a grammar geek for a mother. It's probably hereditary. Anyway, "irregardless" is apparently now in the dictionary, but at least it’s categorized as “informal” or “non-standard,” which is the least they could do.

Then again, so is “ain’t" as it turns out, so being in the dictionary barely means anything at all.

If you’d like to read the article that I turned to for answers during this time of crisis, click here. If not, that makes sense, as many people most likely don’t really care about that sort of thing. I say it's all in heredity. Cheers.

why, hello there!

Everyone is always telling everyone else to be themselves. But what if being yourself means being other people? If that doesn’t make any sense whatsoever, or even if it makes quite enough sense but you’d like to keep reading thank you very much, please see A1.

No! Not that A1! This A1:

A1.

Welcome to A1.

I am constantly talking in different voices, reciting monologues from the middle of songs whenever it seems necessary (or, more accurately, whenever I feel like it), and am at risk for bursting into song at any given moment. Being myself means playing different characters in everyday life.

This is a phenomenon that I (and many other people as well) refer to as acting.

How I see it, everybody acts all the time. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean everybody is being constantly fake or over-exaggerated; that’s obviously not true. Think about it, though: do you act (ha) exactly as the little you in your brain does? Do you project every thought, every idea, every secret, every emotion in your head out into the universe? Even when your guard is completely down or when you have a genuine reaction, the contents of your brain does not pour out onto your chrome yellow carpet while you’re watching Netflix. It just doesn’t happen, and if it does, you should probably see a doctor and call a carpet cleaner. 

“Nobody doesn’t dance.” That’s what the choreographer of the musical at my high school told us on the first day that we worked with her. Whether you’re in a professional dance company, take classes for fun, jam out in your bedroom when you’re home alone, or subtly tap your foot along to elevator music, you dance. Even if you think you “don’t dance” (and believe me, I thought I didn’t for a long time), it’s almost inevitable that you do.

I’m fairly new to both acting and dancing in the “taking-classes-and-being-technically-correct” sense, but they’re both things that everyone does, and that anyone can do.

A2.

The past few weeks have been filled with new things. I started a new theatre prep class, two new ballet classes, and a classical jazz dance class. We started rehearsing for the school musical, and I’ve met a bunch of new people and made a bunch of new friends. And now, I’m starting a blog!

Confession: this blog wasn’t born out of my own desire to share my thoughts with a cold and uncaring world (Brownie points if you got that reference).

It’s an assignment for my Honors English class.

Dun,
      dun,
           dun.

(KIDDING!! I love English!! And my awesome-great-fantastic teacher Mr. Parker!!!!

        I do, I really-truly do.)

That said, I’ve been looking forward to this assignment since I heard about it almost a year ago. I’m excited/curious to find out how this blog will change throughout the year and where it will end up.

I was thinking I’d pick a song to go with each blog post, but I don’t know how well that will go, as I’m having trouble even thinking of one song for this one. Maybe I’ll just make a list. Who knows?

Anyway, I’m pumped for this blog.

Night (or morning, depending).

xxxx,

Sam

find the new friend, the old friends, and the me