Oh No, It’s Spring (or, Welcome to My Quarter Life Crisis)

***WARNING: THIS POST IS FUELED BY EARLY MORNING CAFFEINE.***

Okay, so this situation is not solely limited to my 25th year, but that magic number seems to have made it a little bit worse.

Spring is upon us my friends, and with spring comes my insatiable urge to travel (and listen to ska), or simply to get the fuck out of Pittsburgh. I mean, I like Pittsburgh, I really do, but sometimes you just need a change of scenery. Also, it’s not helping that all of my friends are moving to Key West and I looooooove Key West.

I love booze, sunsets, and chickens. I just wish it wasn’t so stinking hot and/or didn’t have such giant bugs. I also wish that I could live there without a job, because that would be sweet. I don’t want to go outside in the daytime, dammit. I think I would melt…Wicked Witch style. What’s funny about this is the one thing I’m not worried about: hurricanes. Really. I am all about the hurricane party. Hell, we tried to have a hurricane party in Pittsburgh when Ivan came through. The first floor started to flood, so we went to the second floor, drank beer, and watched Finding Nemo. Really, not that worried. Key West is prepared for this kinda shit.

Wow, okay, so this is going to be the most random blog post, but I love the guy who works at the Cool Beans in my building. I seriously walked in there, told him that I didn’t know what I wanted, but that I wanted it to be “hot, sweet, and far too caffeinated…and big. Really, really big”. I am halfway through this concoction and I feel like I’m going to explode. GOOD MORNING!!!



Okay, so back to this spring/quarter life crisis thing. See, I grew up in a town where people never leave. It’s kind of ridiculous. Also, there’s this whole job thing. What is it about 25? Why do you all of a sudden feel like you need to know what you’re doing with your life RIGHT NOW? My job right now is pretty sweet, but it’s really not what I envision doing with my life. Also, I work for a giant boys club. Now, it’s not that I am saddened about my lack of man-junk, it’s just that I know that there is no room for growth here. It’s one of those things…what the hell’s that AA saying? Something about changing the things that you can and accepting the things you cannot? This is a “cannot” and I’m okay with that. I am super awesome at being an office wench, though. And what city ever doesn’t have offices? Any kind of offices really. I’ll make your coffee and order your supplies and generally make your office kick ass. That’s what I do.

Even when my computer dies, as it did on Friday, I will do everything in my power to make it better. I spent two days trying to get my information from my old hard drive to no avail. It was incredibly frustrating and currently I’m using a computer that I’m pretty sure was built in 1986. Know how many USB ports there are on this bad boy? Two. That’s right, two. I had to unplug my keyboard to upload the meager amount of music that I had on my MP3 player. I just went from around 40GB of music to…4GB. FOUR! Thank god it was all of my “essential albums”, so I have a good mix of great songs. Still, I kind of want to dropkick a baby.

Well anyway, to try to sate this crazy desire for something different, I’ve pierced my septum, cut off all of my hair, and gotten glasses. WHAT ELSE CAN I DOOOOO!?

What to do, what to do.
Holy shit, coffee.

Thank god for credit cards because I have a feeling I’m going to be purchasing last minute tickets to Key West. At least for a few days.




AAAAAAAAAAND: Just finished my giant cup of overly caffeinated goodness. My head might explode.

International Day of Protest for Lolita Was A Huge Success!

THANK YOU to everyone, world wide, who came out on the International Day of Protest for Lolita on May 15, 2010. Even here in Pittsburgh we had about 2o people. The Seaquarium protest had almost 100 people! It’s about time something was done to reinforce the fact that these are wild animals, not entertainment.

I’d like to especially thank everyone who came, bought t-shirts, made signs, handed out brochures, signed petitions and donated. You’re what make this so wonderful! Also, I’d like to thank Luke Kapp and Matt Dye for taking video and pictures!

Remember, folks, the fight isn’t over yet! Please go to www.savelolita.com to see what you can do to help!
And here’s the video from Luke Kapp! Make sure to check out his YouTube channel.

OWL – Chants (The Vibrations in the Streets Keep Me Weak in the Knees)

Not Owl City, but it’s driving me crazy that OWL’s first single is “Modern Eyes”. Owl City, Ocean Eyes. Come on now. Thankfully, OWL is good enough to make me look past that. From their Myspace:

Originally starting as a bedroom recording project between Vanessa Murnaghan and Matthew Macdonald (The Superfantastics) in August 2008, Owl quickly made their way across internet music blogs, into rotation at indie dance nights, and onto the stage.
With Matthew’s electronic arrangements that evoke equal amounts of MGMT and The Postal Service, combined with Vanessa’s warm melodies and laid back delivery, Owl will make you want to cuddle in a warm blanket with some hot chocolate.
Owl will make you want to dance in the middle of the street with your best friend during an Atlantic Canadian snowstorm.
Owl will make you want to throw a surprise party for a complete stranger.
Owl will make you want to bake a batch of cookies, but then eat all of the dough before the oven is heated to the proper temperature.
Owl will then tuck you in to bed because your tummy hurts, and apologize for the cookie dough incident.

I find this to be true. I want to do all of those things, especially the cookie dough one. They’re another one in a long list of bands that I’ve been hooked on lately and I’m beginning to see a pattern here. Bitter:Sweet, The Bird and the Bee, Jem, Owl City and the Postal Service. I love electronic indie-pop bands. I just can’t help myself. They were the natural progression of emo, and we all know I’m a giant emo kid. Okay, maybe you didn’t know that, but you know it now.

The duo from Halifax, Nova Scotia have released their first EP, Chants (The Vibrations in the Streets Keep Me Weak in the Knees) and you can download it for absolutely free here. I love free things! So should you! Charmingly sweet vocals and catchy melodies are keeping this album on repeat for me. MacDonald creates a soothing, aquatic quality while Murnaghan’s soft voice carries that melody along and gets it embedded directly in your brain parts. I’ve had “Morning Eyes” stuck in my head for two days now, only with small breaks for “Sandi with an I’s Song” and “Airport”.

Seriously, guys, what do you have to lose? The album’s free, and even if you don’t want to download it, it’s available on their Myspace. Take a minute and check out OWL, they’re certainly worth the time. B!

Runaways Free Giveaway Results!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Runaways Free Giveaway! Drum roll please…and the winners are, in no particular order:

- Dave Rahner! You’ve won Joan Jett by Todd Oldham and Kathleen Hannah!

 - Stephers! You’ve won Neon Angel: A Cherie Currie Story, by Cherie Currie and Neal Schusterman!

- Izzy G! You’ve won Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Greatest Hits!

and - Mary Zaroura! You’ve won the Runaways Original Motion Picture Soundtrack!

To all winners, please look for an email from thatgirlwithablog@gmail.com for further details! Thanks again, everybody!

Jem

Not the one with The Holograms, this is a new one. Not saying that a new Jem and The Holograms album wouldn’t be amazingly fucking awesome, but with today’s music market, they’d probably have Miley Cyrus as Jem and then I would have to stab my eyes out. Yeah, this one’s cooler than any other Jem that could possibly happen in this day and age. But I digress…The Welsh-born vocalist has been making waves since 2002, but she’s another one who’s slipped under my radar (and another good recommendation from Pandora).

Jem combines rock, new wave, electronica and trip-hop, and indie into a great blend and two albums, Finally Woken and Down to Earth. She’s written for Madonna, worked with Mos Def and Talib Kweli, and she’s another one of these artists that you find in every little nook and cranny of television and film including Sex and the City, Eragon, Damages, The O.C., Desperate Housewives, Wonderfalls, 90210, Six Feet Under, Crossing Jordan, Grey’s Anatomy, and Medium.

ometimes Jem rocks it hard and sometimes she just misses the mark. Like my husband said yesterday, “She’s not bad, but there’s so many people who do it…better”. He’s right. There’s some super awesome tracks on these though, and she’s still relatively new! Give her some time and I think she might be a force to reckon with in the slowly declining world of trip-hop.

Some of the better tracks to check out include “Crazy” and “Always Knew” from Finally Woken and “They” and “Come On Closer” from Down to Earth. She has a new album due out sometime this year and I’m pretty pumped. She’s got a long way to go, but miles of open road ahead. Check her out over on her Myspace.