It's been a suuuuper long time since I wrote anything...mostly because I've been reading Lord of the Rings, which is a good but extremely long read. I literally just finished the first book, a month later. Also, I've been busy being a teacher, being an introvert/hermit, and watching "The Walking Dead", so I haven't been focusing on writing my thoughts very much...I'm just saying them aloud to myself like an insane person. But enough about my sad life...
I've been thinking a lot about music...and my weakness for musicians/writers. (Especially certain bearded banjo players...ahem, Winston Marshall, marry me!) I also think it's probably one of my life goals to have a song written about me...swoon! It's not like you can ask someone to write a song about you though; you have to do something really awesome to become a muse. I have yet to do anything so awesome that would make me a muse, unless someone is writing a song entitled "Awkward Girl Across the Bar Who Makes Strange Facial Expressions and Only Drinks Wine". Alas, that is incredibly specific and I would probably be the only person who would download it on iTunes. Plus, subtlety and metaphors go a long way in songwriting. I have compiled a list of songs I wish were written about/for me, so songwriting sexy men, take note:
1.) "Swept Away" by the Avett Brothers. Banjo, beards (you can't see them, but you can imagine them), need I say more? Also, the lyrics are pretty sweet.
Swept Away by The Avett Brothers
2.) "She Is" by Ben Rector. I really hope this song could be about me, except that I'm not from Boston.
She Is by Ben Rector
3.)"Make You Feel My Love" by Bob Dylan. Pretty sure this is THE most romantic song written. I'm linking a cover because Bobby D doesn't have the best voice.
"Make You Feel My Love" by Bob Dylan (Adele covering)
4.)"Everything" by Michael Buble. It's Michael Buble...I mean, MY GOD.
Everything by Michael Buble
5.)"Whatever It Is" by Zac Brown Band. This one doesn't need to be explained.
Whatever It Is by ZBB
6.)"Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol. I don't think this song ever gets old. Freshman year of college, what up!
Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol
7.) "She's Everything" by Brad Paisley. This man can write a love song like no other. This song makes me wish I had brown hair.
She's Everything by Brad Paisley
8.) "The Way You Look Tonight" performed by Frank Sinatra. "That laugh that wrinkles your nose, it touches my foolish heart" is so much better than "you're hot". Classic.
The Way You Look Tonight-Frank Sinatra
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Thursday, September 19, 2013
The Anti-Mr. Darcy Effect
It's every girl's dream to meet her Mr. Darcy...he seems like a jerk at first, but is actually good and true and kind and you can "bewitch him body and soul". (There's a whole group of people like Mr. Darcy, the ones who are stand-offish at first but aren't actually rude or prideful once you give them a chance--they're called introverts. I understand because I am one, and I probably relate more to Darcy than Elizabeth.) It takes Mr. Darcy longer to decide to reveal his true self, which is fine. He wants to make sure you are worthy of his trust before he opens up and shows he has a heart.
On the other hand, there are the Mr. Wickhams of this world. These men seem friendly and fun-loving at first but turn out to be swindlers, womanizers, sadists, misogynists, etc. Basically, they seem nice initially but reveal themselves to be completely full of crap. I call this the "Anti-Mr. Darcy Effect". Rather than seeming like a jerk at first, like Darcy, the Mr. Wickhams seem awesome at first but end up being jerks in the end.
Unfortunately, the true Darcy men of this world seem to be in shorter supply than the Wickhams. If only the Mr. Wickham types would show their true nature from the very beginning, we could run for the hills and save ourselves a lot of heartache and bitter resentment--unless you're like Lydia Bennet and you're into that crap. But as is, I guess figuring out people's intentions as you're getting to know them is part of the fun.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
7 TV Men that Girls Wish Were Real
They're fictitious. They're adorable. Why don't these guys exist in real life?
1.) Chandler Bing. He's hilarious. He's hopeless and awkward and desperate for love. We're perfect for each other.
2.) Seth Cohen. He's a quirky, hot, comic book nerd who listens to good music and rides a skateboard. These don't come along often.
3.) Ted Mosby--because who doesn't want a guy who steals a blue french horn for them? (Never mind the awkwardness of saying "I love you" on the first date.)
4.) Jim Halpert. He's a great practical joker, a romantic, and the dude waited like 3 years to finally get out of the friend zone. HERO.
5.) Matthew Crawley. Inherits Downton Abbey and a crap ton of money, still works as a lawyer because he wants to help the less fortunate. Swoon.
6.) Nick Miller. He's scruffy, he's sarcastic, he has no ambition, he's crippled with fear of commitment...oh wait, this guy does exist. We've probably all dated him. (Except that Nick Miller is far more adorable and lovable. With better facial expressions.)
7.) James "Sawyer" Ford. He's the perfect bad boy. He's Southern. He likes to read classic literature in his spare time. He could call you "Freckles" or some other cute nickname. He could protect you from the smoke monster. We could overlook the whole con-man thing.
1.) Chandler Bing. He's hilarious. He's hopeless and awkward and desperate for love. We're perfect for each other.
2.) Seth Cohen. He's a quirky, hot, comic book nerd who listens to good music and rides a skateboard. These don't come along often.
3.) Ted Mosby--because who doesn't want a guy who steals a blue french horn for them? (Never mind the awkwardness of saying "I love you" on the first date.)
4.) Jim Halpert. He's a great practical joker, a romantic, and the dude waited like 3 years to finally get out of the friend zone. HERO.
5.) Matthew Crawley. Inherits Downton Abbey and a crap ton of money, still works as a lawyer because he wants to help the less fortunate. Swoon.
6.) Nick Miller. He's scruffy, he's sarcastic, he has no ambition, he's crippled with fear of commitment...oh wait, this guy does exist. We've probably all dated him. (Except that Nick Miller is far more adorable and lovable. With better facial expressions.)
7.) James "Sawyer" Ford. He's the perfect bad boy. He's Southern. He likes to read classic literature in his spare time. He could call you "Freckles" or some other cute nickname. He could protect you from the smoke monster. We could overlook the whole con-man thing.
Friday, July 26, 2013
LA Adventures
Ahhh...the "city of angels", so ironically named. I now believe I have experienced "the" LA scene. My first night, I went to an art show called "Sweat Baby Sweat". Walking into it reminded me of going into my first college party, except for instead of everyone trying to fit in with the frat guys/sorority girls, everyone was trying to fit in by being as quirky and weird as possible. (What happened to just being yourself?) Instead of everyone wearing polo shirts and sundresses, like they would be on my home planet, these strange new people were wearing leather jackets, combat boots, half shaved heads, Fresh Prince style patterned shirts, cool vintage dresses, etc. I was highly intrigued! But, I think I stood out like a sore thumb. First of all, I looove to eat. (No vegan/vegetarianism going on with this gal!) Second of all, I enjoy washing and styling my hair. Third, I love wearing fun, extremely girly dresses. I think my only saving grace was my awkward demeanor and "hipster" glasses. I'm too quirky for SC, not nearly quirky enough for these people.
Almost immediately, I was faced with a dilemma: are all these artsy LA guys just extremely fashionably dressed/metro sexual or are they gay? (Typically, in SC, if they're male and super fashionable, they're likely gay.) I found the best way to break these stereotypes is to just bite the bullet and flirt with the guy. My night ended in a quite LA fashion...the extremely sexy, well-dressed guy turned out to just be a really fashionable budding artist, who got my number and took me to a studio to check out some of his art/sculptures. Meow! Except he never called me...typical. It's the experience that's cool, right?
Anyhow, the rest of my trip to LA included cruising in Beverly Hills, shopping at the Grove, going with my model friend to one of her auditions (don't try this if you want to feel good about yourself), eating extremely expensive "organic" meals (shoot me. I also actually purchased an all organic, fresh pressed smoothie as well. Shoot me again. When in Rome?), walking around Echo Park, and visiting Fox studios. My all time favorite thing that I did, however, was completely free. Hiking up to the Griffith Observatory in Los Feliz was by far the most awesome thing EVER. If you ever go to LA, don't bother hiking up to the Hollywood sign. You can see it perfectly from the Observatory, and the Observatory is cooler--in my humble opinion. (I have included pictures to prove my point.) Until next time!
Almost immediately, I was faced with a dilemma: are all these artsy LA guys just extremely fashionably dressed/metro sexual or are they gay? (Typically, in SC, if they're male and super fashionable, they're likely gay.) I found the best way to break these stereotypes is to just bite the bullet and flirt with the guy. My night ended in a quite LA fashion...the extremely sexy, well-dressed guy turned out to just be a really fashionable budding artist, who got my number and took me to a studio to check out some of his art/sculptures. Meow! Except he never called me...typical. It's the experience that's cool, right?
Anyhow, the rest of my trip to LA included cruising in Beverly Hills, shopping at the Grove, going with my model friend to one of her auditions (don't try this if you want to feel good about yourself), eating extremely expensive "organic" meals (shoot me. I also actually purchased an all organic, fresh pressed smoothie as well. Shoot me again. When in Rome?), walking around Echo Park, and visiting Fox studios. My all time favorite thing that I did, however, was completely free. Hiking up to the Griffith Observatory in Los Feliz was by far the most awesome thing EVER. If you ever go to LA, don't bother hiking up to the Hollywood sign. You can see it perfectly from the Observatory, and the Observatory is cooler--in my humble opinion. (I have included pictures to prove my point.) Until next time!
View from my friend's house in West Hollywood
On set at UFC tonight
The Griffith Observatory-too big to fit in the picture
Griffith observatory from the hike
The iconic Hollywood sign
Echo Park
Thursday, July 11, 2013
OMG Or-gah-nic
Another thing I have noticed since being in Southern California is the obsession with being "green" and eating "organic". It seems like many here are what we in the South refer to as "foodies". Since it is "cool" to consume food that my dear Ron Swanson would refer to as "rabbit food", you do it. It doesn't matter that wheatgrass or quinoa or kale (which I have lovingly dubbed "Broccoli's hipster cousin") have been eaten by people for literally hundreds of years, we MUST consume them now that they are trendy!
This started because I was in Beverly Hills with my family and asked my friend (who is a model in LA) where to go eat. She suggested some place called "Urth" that was all organic with "fresh pressed juices", etc. etc. I laughed and said that I doubted that my father, a normal, red-blooded South Carolinian male, would want to go eat a salad and some fresh-pressed juice. She responded by jumping down my throat and lecturing ME about GMOs (an acronym I do not understand nor care to look up) and other things I don't really remember. Rather than eating a fully non-organic bacon cheeseburger in protest, I decided to make an informed decision by trying something from the "fresh pressed juicery" near the non-organic restaurant my dad chose to eat at. Well, I should say I ALMOST bought something, until I saw that a soda-can-sized bottle of juice was a whopping $7.58! It would be more cost-efficient for me to go plant my own trees, wait on the fruit to grow, and press it myself! I ended up going next door and buying 2 cupcakes from Sprinkles for less than that amount--and they were DELICIOUS!
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for eating healthy and avoiding preservatives, etc. etc. I am not, however, for casting judgments on people who don't OR for paying three times as much for something that tastes the exact same simply because the label says "organic". Perhaps if I were an actress or a desperate housewife living in Cali, I would have the extra cash to pay for only organic products. (If organic really is the healthiest way to go, they shouldn't make it so dang expensive!) As it is, I am a lowly teacher who may occasionally splurge on a $2.99 Naked Juice from the Fresh Market--and I HATE quinoa.
This started because I was in Beverly Hills with my family and asked my friend (who is a model in LA) where to go eat. She suggested some place called "Urth" that was all organic with "fresh pressed juices", etc. etc. I laughed and said that I doubted that my father, a normal, red-blooded South Carolinian male, would want to go eat a salad and some fresh-pressed juice. She responded by jumping down my throat and lecturing ME about GMOs (an acronym I do not understand nor care to look up) and other things I don't really remember. Rather than eating a fully non-organic bacon cheeseburger in protest, I decided to make an informed decision by trying something from the "fresh pressed juicery" near the non-organic restaurant my dad chose to eat at. Well, I should say I ALMOST bought something, until I saw that a soda-can-sized bottle of juice was a whopping $7.58! It would be more cost-efficient for me to go plant my own trees, wait on the fruit to grow, and press it myself! I ended up going next door and buying 2 cupcakes from Sprinkles for less than that amount--and they were DELICIOUS!
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for eating healthy and avoiding preservatives, etc. etc. I am not, however, for casting judgments on people who don't OR for paying three times as much for something that tastes the exact same simply because the label says "organic". Perhaps if I were an actress or a desperate housewife living in Cali, I would have the extra cash to pay for only organic products. (If organic really is the healthiest way to go, they shouldn't make it so dang expensive!) As it is, I am a lowly teacher who may occasionally splurge on a $2.99 Naked Juice from the Fresh Market--and I HATE quinoa.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Sooooo Cal.
Hello there...it's been a while...(cue awkward pause)...
For those of you who don't know, I decided to step way (as in 3,000 miles away from my home) out of my comfort zone and spend the rest of my summer in Southern California staying at my Dad's house. This is not something I would typically do--randomly deciding to go out of the state for a month and a half without a single friend to keep me company--but I figured I am only young once, I have no kids/husband/real obligations for the next month, and I may not have another opportunity to go exploring and adventuring by myself again. (Thank goodness I am a lone wolf/independent sort anyway, otherwise I would feel extremely lonely and friendless.) So, I may as well take a chance and DO something spontaneous!
I have only been here 6 days so far...but there are some very vital things I have noticed about the Southern California lifestyle:
1.) They call Hardees "Carl's Jr.". It seems to be much more popular here than in SC. Probably because we also have Bojangles and Krispy Kreme.
2.) I have yet to meet anyone who actually talks like The Californians on SNL. (Dammit!)
3.) The fashion sense in men here is very confusing. My sees and I have nicknamed it "Skugsterfarian".
Skugsterfarian= a combination of the skater, thug, hipster, and Rastafarian fashion styles. Highly popular in SoCal. You can also be a combo of any of the aforementioned styles simultaneously: skug, thugster, skipster, etc. (I will try to provide photo documentation of this phenomenon at some point.)
4.) It's REALLY FREAKING COLD on the beach until about 3 in the afternoon. I am not accustomed to this because at the beach in South Carolina it is disgustingly hot and humid all day long. You can probably gather that I prefer the weather of Southern California.
I will continue to chronicle my adventures in lovely So Cal...next time with pictures as well! :)
For those of you who don't know, I decided to step way (as in 3,000 miles away from my home) out of my comfort zone and spend the rest of my summer in Southern California staying at my Dad's house. This is not something I would typically do--randomly deciding to go out of the state for a month and a half without a single friend to keep me company--but I figured I am only young once, I have no kids/husband/real obligations for the next month, and I may not have another opportunity to go exploring and adventuring by myself again. (Thank goodness I am a lone wolf/independent sort anyway, otherwise I would feel extremely lonely and friendless.) So, I may as well take a chance and DO something spontaneous!
I have only been here 6 days so far...but there are some very vital things I have noticed about the Southern California lifestyle:
1.) They call Hardees "Carl's Jr.". It seems to be much more popular here than in SC. Probably because we also have Bojangles and Krispy Kreme.
2.) I have yet to meet anyone who actually talks like The Californians on SNL. (Dammit!)
3.) The fashion sense in men here is very confusing. My sees and I have nicknamed it "Skugsterfarian".
Skugsterfarian= a combination of the skater, thug, hipster, and Rastafarian fashion styles. Highly popular in SoCal. You can also be a combo of any of the aforementioned styles simultaneously: skug, thugster, skipster, etc. (I will try to provide photo documentation of this phenomenon at some point.)
4.) It's REALLY FREAKING COLD on the beach until about 3 in the afternoon. I am not accustomed to this because at the beach in South Carolina it is disgustingly hot and humid all day long. You can probably gather that I prefer the weather of Southern California.
I will continue to chronicle my adventures in lovely So Cal...next time with pictures as well! :)
Friday, June 14, 2013
Life imitating art.
I was watching "She's All That" recently, thanks to Netflix, and it got me thinking about predictable high school movies. Was anyone's high school actually like that? The extreme school spirit, the overly bitchy Mean Girls-esque popular crowd that does terrible things to the unfortunate, awkward and nerdy kids? The popular boys making bets to see who can turn the weird, artsy girl into Prom Queen? The rich kids that discriminate against the poor kids? The cheerleaders cheering the name of a singular football player who is obviously carrying the entire team to victory all on his own? Either my high school was into going against the social norm or all of those movies are giving a completely unrealistic portrayal of high school. (What?! Movies are lying??)
I mean, no one poured pig's blood on me or anything or stood me up for the big dance. I was just a typical teenage girl, neither popular nor unpopular. The worst thing that ever happened to me happened my senior year, when I walked into a party and someone yelled, "What the F**K is Meredith Wicker doing here?!" like I was some sort of social pariah and making the party decidedly less cool with my unwanted presence. (In reality, I was just a really good girl who sang for the church band and had never been to a party with underage drinking before.) I also had a girl send me a carnation on Valentine's Day saying it was from this cute guy in hopes that I would go up and thank him and he would have no idea what I was talking about and I would be royally embarrassed. (Sorry for the run-on sentence.) Thankfully, I figured out it was an evil trick and saved myself from further social awkwardness. I guess people WERE a little mean at my high school?
But fear not, awkward high schoolers, none of that crap even matters when you graduate. No one cares if you were picked on or not. Many of the "cool kids" end up not going to college, staying in their home towns, and hanging out with the same people for the rest of their lives. The football players will likely gain huge beer bellies and still throw parties for underage kids, while the weird, artsy girl becomes a famous painter or a graphic designer who lives in a hip loft apartment in New York City. Life can sometimes be wonderfully fair.
I mean, no one poured pig's blood on me or anything or stood me up for the big dance. I was just a typical teenage girl, neither popular nor unpopular. The worst thing that ever happened to me happened my senior year, when I walked into a party and someone yelled, "What the F**K is Meredith Wicker doing here?!" like I was some sort of social pariah and making the party decidedly less cool with my unwanted presence. (In reality, I was just a really good girl who sang for the church band and had never been to a party with underage drinking before.) I also had a girl send me a carnation on Valentine's Day saying it was from this cute guy in hopes that I would go up and thank him and he would have no idea what I was talking about and I would be royally embarrassed. (Sorry for the run-on sentence.) Thankfully, I figured out it was an evil trick and saved myself from further social awkwardness. I guess people WERE a little mean at my high school?
But fear not, awkward high schoolers, none of that crap even matters when you graduate. No one cares if you were picked on or not. Many of the "cool kids" end up not going to college, staying in their home towns, and hanging out with the same people for the rest of their lives. The football players will likely gain huge beer bellies and still throw parties for underage kids, while the weird, artsy girl becomes a famous painter or a graphic designer who lives in a hip loft apartment in New York City. Life can sometimes be wonderfully fair.
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