I can't believe I forgot...

Rather than say I forgot, I'm going to say that I was waiting to save the best for last. So here, a week late, the best dance sequence in a movie.







Try to argue otherwise. I dare you.

It's sing along time, yo.

Today's topic? Karaoke songs, baby! Which is totally right up my alley thanks to Japas 27 and their party rooms. Cuz after enough all-you-can-drink wine and sake, I can do in the privacy of a room full of my friends what I could never do (no matter the amount of alcohol) in a public arena. Yay for karaoke. Below are my go-to karaoke picks. The key is to pick songs that everyone else in your group can't help but sing along with. This way you're not singing alone (gasp!).



No karaoke session is complete with out at least one Billy Joel and one NKOTB song. My faves are Piano Man and Cover Girl, although it's hard to sing as high as little Joey Mac. Hangin' Tough or Step By Step are usually a safer bet.



Santeria - Sublime




Basketcase - Green Day




I Want You to Want Me - Cheap Trick




All-time best karaoke ever? I present to you: my friend Ben.



**Please don't pissed friend. I'm just giving the public what they want.

It's about treehouses!!

So today's Music Week Blog Party is Guilty Pleasures. The problem is, I don't feel guilty for liking any of these. They are so totally rad in every way. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.



For some reason YouTube is not letting me embed any of these. Click the links for some awesomeness. I promise you will not be disappointed.



C'est La Vie- B*Witched



Bring it all back - S Club 7



Mmmbop - Hanson



Tonight - New Kids on the Block



Lucky - Britney Spears



Come on Over - Christina Aguilera



With You - Jessica Simpson



Status Quo - High School Musical

[I almost posted this with yesterday's post, but I definitely think it's more fitting here.]






**I'm hoping at least one of the two people who understand the title of this post are reading this. ken, friend, are you out there?

A little late to the party

I've been trying to bust out of my blogging rut for a while. Today I stumbled upon Magchunk, Sweetie Pie Pumpkin Noodle, and You Are My Fave's Blog Music Party Week and figured that's just what I needed to get back to blogging regularly again. I've missed two days but will get to Monday's and Tuesday's topics eventually. In addition to being just the motivation I need to blog again, it's also an awesome way to stumble upon more really nifty blogs by checking out who else is in on the party. So enjoy my selections and then check out the rest of the party people. Oh and if you have a blog, come join the party!

Today's Blog Music Party topic is favorite songs from/used in movies. I went a little crazy. There's lots. Hope you enjoy! Comment if you disagree with any of my obviously awesome choices or think I forgot anything.

Invisible Circus "Hot Rod Lincoln"
I was briefly obsessed with this movie. This scene was one of my favorite.


A Lot Like Love "If you leave me now"
This move is totally underrated. I kind of hate Ashton Kutcher but he is so likable in this. And Amanda Peet is just awesome in everything she does.



Dirty Dancing "Time of My Life"
Upon recent viewing I'm absolutely loving the scenes with Baby's parents. First of all, RIP Jerry Orbach, he was an amazing actor. Second, I love when he jumps out of his seat after Johnny jumps off the stage. Hilarious! Thirdly, it is so very rad that Emily Gilmore was Baby's mom. Lady got moves. Lastly, when Johnny sings along and wrinkles up his nose as he dances with Baby (approx 4:12) = love.


Reality Bites "My Sharona"
Makes me want to chop off my hair. I can't watch this movie. Totally brilliant.



Almost Famous "Tiny Dancer"
Of course.


Breakfast at Tiffany's "Moon River"
Of course.


Garden State "New Slang"This was amazing once so it makes the list. Plus, Natalie Portman = love.


10 Things I Hate About You "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" This is sad now.


The Breakfast Club "We are not alone" Less for the song, more for the dancing.


Ferris Bueller's Day Off "Twist and Shout"Just pure awesomeness.


Rent "Seasons of Love"I can't lie. I used to be a Rent-head and I seriously shed a tear when I first saw this opening scene in the theater.


Empire Records "If You Want Blood" Honorable mentions: "Sugar High," "Say No More Mon Amour," closing scene dancing on the roof to "This is the Day," AJ and Corey making out to "'Til I Hear it From You"




Pippi Longstocking "Theme"Memories.


Elizabethtown - various songs This is from the scene after Orlando Bloom gets his "very special map" and listens to the mix tapes Kirsten Dunst has made. The below clip is a part of this scene. It's also dubbed over. It's all kind of hilarious.


Newsies "King of New York" Awesome. Also, Christian Bale = yum


I couldn't find clips for these but they should be included Say Anything "In Your Eyes" - iconic boombox scene; Igby Goes Down "The Weight" - with visual of Igby on the airplane at end of movie; Love Actually "Both Sides Now" - when Emma Thompson's character listens it to it after finding out Sirius Snape gave the necklace to some other chick. that scene gets me every time.

On a semi-related note, in trying to find clips on YouTube I stumbled upon my absolute favorite childhood movie "Wrinkles in Need of Cuddles." The entire movie is on YouTube. Below is the first third of the movie. I didn't include it with the above list because I couldn't pick one song out of all of this awesomeness. Seriously.

Spring is in the air...

Or at least on your desktop...







In honor of the first day this spring where it's actually felt like spring, I present to you ten awesome spring themed desktop wallpapers created by the brilliant artists over at The Kindred.


Head on over there to springify your desktop immediately. I'm on a serious button kick so here's the desktop I chose to rock this spring:

Gentleman? More like Gentledouche.

The Foggy Monocle is entertaining in an 'I'm so glad I met my friend Ben and no longer have to waste my time dealing with these kinds of douchtastic tools' sort of way. If you look past the fact that all of the conversations posted are real and the folks chatting actually exist, the conversations are occasionally amusing. Sad, but amusing.



There is, however, something particularly awesome about the posting below. Part of its awesomeness is the reminder that the majority of these frat boy cum investment banker dimwits are now unemployed. Mostly it's because I know exactly where this is all going down. Do my A-towners recognize the locale?



Pulled from here:



ShackledGman: how you feelin today?
ChevysChevalier: extremely bad
ShackledGman: me too…i just want more sleep
ChevysChevalier: my brain may be dead
ShackledGman: woops
ChevysChevalier: so much drinking …
ShackledGman: i rested yesterday
ChevysChevalier: I was going to
ChevysChevalier: but Swenson* and I were swapping out my car battery and decided to stop at Chevy’s, of all places, at like noon for some god forsaken reason
ChevysChevalier: Swenson* had never had a Pacifico
ShackledGman: i take it he liked it?
ChevysChevalier: so he tries one and, of course, deems it delicious
ChevysChevalier: and, given that we are both unemployed, we have 8 each
ChevysChevalier: until the Russian barmaid cuts us off because you are not allowed to have more than 8 drinks a person at a Chevy’s
ShackledGman: thats lame
ChevysChevalier: I can’t decide what is more depressing — that I learned what the cutoff limit is at Chevy’s, or that I wasn’t even remotely drunk after 8 beers
ChevysChevalier: So at this point Swenson* is all into the Pacifico
ShackledGman: it is delish!
ChevysChevalier: and we grab a 12 pack from teeter
ChevysChevalier: then we go back and put my battery back in
ChevysChevalier: by the time we stumbled through that, it is like 7pm and we are hungry
ChevysChevalier: so we decide we are gonna get $5 footlongs from Subway
ShackledGman: (I’ll now be singing that song all afternoon)
ChevysChevalier: but, on the way there, we see Jay’s and decide that it is a way better option because they have food, drinks and we can smoke indoors
ChevysChevalier: we were absolutely swilling pitchers and Wild Turkey shots and Swenson* was eyeballing some yuppie dudes
ShackledGman: uh oh, he make an ass out of himself?
ChevysChevalier: he was like, “I hate those yuppie fucks!”
ChevysChevalier: I had to remind him that they were dressed exactly as we would have been when we had jobs, which made him hate them even more for likely having jobs
ChevysChevalier: those guys were also with like 4 chicks the likes of which Jay’s had never seen
ChevysChevalier: thus further exacerbating Swenson’s* hatred
ShackledGman: they just had to rub the old, “we have jobs and make sex” in your face, didn’t they?
ChevysChevalier: Swenson* finally freaked out because one of the yuppies was “ice grilling” him — a term that I think he made up on the spot just so he could get in a fight — and we had to leave.
ChevysChevalier: A proud day for us and our families.
ChevysChevalier: also, we looked like homeless people by that time (circa midnight/1am-ish)
ShackledGman: Amazing. yall were a vision i’m sure
ChevysChevalier: if I had a job I would have had to call out today
ShackledGman: lucky for you, you do not have that problem

i wanna hug yo' face

go see coraline. like now. also check out coraline.com. you won't regret it.




promise.

20 days to break a habit...

I don't know where to start.




I'm going to be blogging more. But it's going to be different.




I've run out of good stories. I'm no longer working alone in a blind man's basement. No longer living with my crazy religious parents. No longer going on random dates with sketchy drunk russian guys.




I'm going to try and get better stories for you. I had one ready to go and I asked my non sketchy non drunk non russian friend ben to put together a corresponding image to post with my story. I figured this would make people forget that it wasn't really an interesting story at all. That was the plan. If you've met either Ben or myself then you know what happened. No picture, no story, sorry.




I've been saying sorry a lot recently. I want to stop. I want to stop having to say I'm sorry. I've been unhappy for a while. I want to stop all that. I'd like to stop working in advertising and living in Jersey City but that's not going to change at least for the next six months (the latter at least, who knows about the former). In the meantime, I'm going to focus my attention elsehwere. Here for one.




My friend Ben told me that it takes 20 days to break a habit. I believe him. April 1st is exactly 20 days from today. I've mentioned before that I don't like March. Mostly because it's a lie. It lies to you and makes you believe it's something it's not. I feel like I've become March. It's also a 31 day month with not a single closed work holiday. That means an extra long month of full five day work weeks.




But this March is going to be different. Every year March pushes me. It just pushes and pushes. This year, I'm fighting back. Watch out March, I'm coming for you!




I'm going to be posting on here a lot more. Some of my posts will be similar to previous posts. Some are going to be super duper random and maybe not make sense to anyone but me. I'm okay with that, I hope you are, too. Some of my stories will be about things that happened last month, last year, or even longer ago, when I actually had good stories to tell. Maybe by writing about them, I'll remember what makes a good story and I'll be more aware when a good story opportunity presents itself to me in the future.




During my not-so-brief blogging hiatus I was updating my tumblr truth and beauty bombs. You can check that out too if you want. Again, a lot of the stuff on there might make sense to no one but me, but a lot of its shiny and pretty so feel free to take a look around. A lot of the extra random stuff on there will probably eventually become a longer post explained on here so, you know, that's cool.




I guess I hope people read this. I mean, that's the point, right? I guess it doesn't really matter. I guess that's part of the habit. Caring if anyone's reading this. So maybe in 20 days it'll all be different. Maybe in 20 days it'll all be good again.

Someone call the ASPCA!

This is some serious form of animal abuse. There have to be some sort of laws against this:














That dog right there is just begging for someone to put him out of his misery!

New Jersey: We Make New York Smell Better

I love New Jersey. I make fun of it on occasion, I admit it. But I live here, so I can. I talk about moving, pretty much all the time. But not so I can live in New York City. I talk about moving somewhere warm and pretty. I want to live in Hawaii or Stars Hollow. I don't see what the big deal is of living in the "City." (I'm so going to get beat up on my way home from work tonight for this, I know it). But honestly, if Whitney Port's portrayal is at all accurate (which it is most definitely not), then I see no big draw. Seriously. It's expensive, it's cold, and it smells.



I know, I know. I drive on the NJ Turnpike through Newark often enough to know that saying NYC smells is being not even a little hypocritical. But the rest of NJ...is pretty much the explanation for the name the "Garden State." Get away from North Jersey and even some of the suburbs of Central Jersey, check out the Jersey Shore, Princeton, Cape May, and north north Jersey (the north Jersey that's not near NYC) and you'll be amazed at the beauty of this state.



I was with my friend Ben on his first trip to NJ. I took him to Princeton through the back roads of Cranbury and Grovers Mill. He was amazed that this was the same state that he always associated with the opening scenes of The Sopranos.



"It's not dirty! It doesn't smell! You guys don't talk funny! Where am I???"



Unfortunately, when my friend Ben actually moved to NJ, he moved to the exact location he imagined all those times he made fun of our fine state. C'est la vie.



My point is that NJ gets a bum rap. And I'm sick of it. Leave NJ alone! If for no other reason, then because it's an easy joke. Be creative. Make fun of a more deserving location. Have you ever been to Nebraska? Come on! That place is much more disturbing than NJ! I think you're all jealous personally. We have White Castle and Wawa and we don't pump our own gas! We know what we're doing man! NJ does it right!



Want proof?



Aromatic Mystery in New York City Is Solved



That's right. We made New York smell better! Not that we don't do that every day with the hundreds of thousands of commuters that come over on the PATH, ferry, or NJ Transit. My favorite part of the article? The following quote:

“New Yorkers smell a little smell and they’re getting all paranoid,” said Jay Beqej, 33, who works at the Fairview Public Works warehouse.

Haha! Stupid New Yorkers!



Why the hostility you ask? Why am I reducing myself to their level (them being those that needlessly mock New Jersey)? Because last I checked E. Hanover, Edison, Mt. Olive, Ramsey, Wayne, Princeton, and Mt. Laurel were all in New Jersey. We're not talking on the border of, or right across the river, we're talking very much WITHIN the state of New Jersey and yet f'in Macaroni Grill denies New Jersey even exists!



I can take the easy cracks at the "armpit of the country." I can laugh it off. I can smirk at Comedy Central's new subway ads that thank the many funny things in this world that give that channel its programming, which lists along with George W. and mullets, the state of New Jersey. But there's only so much a girl can take. And denying the state I was born and raised in even exists? Denying my home even has a name?



I'm sorry, but that's where I draw the line.



Edited to note: I decided to search further to see if maybe they are only suggesting that these locations are near NY and PA, but are in fact in NJ. So I searched locations within NY, thinking if they maybe had a NYC location they would list it under NJ, but no, they have two locations with the subheads being Albany and Rochester. So what I now can't figure out are whether they are suggesting that NJ doesn't exist and these locations are in NY and PA, or that Philadelphia and New York don't exist and are merely subdivisions of New Jersey, like Albany and Rochester are for the state of New York. In which case Macaroni Grill is arguing that New Jersey is so great that it encompasses all of the great cities in its surrounding areas. So either suck it Macaroni Grill, or rock on!

bookshelf spectrum, revisited

bookshelf spectrum, revisited
Originally uploaded by chotda

Found this on Flickr and am completely inspired by it. I'm not really a big house person. Always saw myself living in a tiny space - apartment, shack (sorry, was playing MASH recently) but if I were to live in a larger space, I would want a library and I would it to look just like this. Amazing.

Cruel is...

the radio station I wake up to in the morning giving away billy joel tickets to the 25th caller...

and me without a cell phone.

the bruises were fist kisses

spending time together is easy when you spend so much time apart. i gave up my freedom but i gained a second heart.




second heart is all i need this fall cuz you know i need someone to sing me to sleep.




making good decisions is easy when you haven't got a choice. telephone turn on sunshine when it sends you the right voice.




hello to the angry phone bill. they charge for my whole life. wise man, he once told me, cut the cord with a kitchen knife.




kitchen knife is all i need this fall cuz you know i need someone to sing me to




...zzz...






credit where credit is due.
"the bruises were fist kisses" accredited to Ben White
photos by alex johnson
lyrics - "Coupla Easy Things" Bishop Allen

i brought you this

marysol foucault
wheat toast

go there. seriously. for the following reasons.


max key


miranda lehman


sarah k. meadows


hanne piasecki



bryan schutmaat

lina scheynius

fae young scherling

need another reason? fine, one more.

Even the Canadian thinks this is messed up!

I apaprently started writing about this on May 23 so you know like a really long time ago but never posted it. It's funny so I'm posting it now. Enjoy!

So check it, about a month ago I hung out with my brother and his Canadian. And we're telling him all sorts of crazy family stories and we're like seriously, totally blowing this guy's mind and his mind being blown by situations that I, at this point, think of as normal totally blows my mind. So this is just a few days after my mom totally hung up on me so I tell him the story. The entire time he thinks I'm on the phone with my sister because the story prior was about my sister so he's all like, whoa, that's kinda messed up and I'm like dude, I know, my mom like totally hung up on me. And he's like Holy crap! Your mom hung up on you? That's like seriously messed up. Whoah!! Like Whoah!!! Eh. (Cuz he's Canadian).

But now when I tell this story some people like to focus on the wrong part of the story. Some people like to focus on the reason I called my mom. That's not important. I ask you, my dear reader, not to focus on my inability to function on my own, and to focus on the fact that my mom hung up on me! Okay, here goes:

So one Friday night, about a month ago, around 11:30pm, I called my mom. I called because I wanted to get her opinion on whether or not my milk was still good. Let me explain, see I got this new milk, this all-organic natural milk and the carton claimed it was good until May 15. This happened around April 15th so I thought maybe it was a typo cuz since when does milk stay good for a full month! But I thought, maybe this is special milk and maybe all-organic natural milk stays good for an absurdly long time. The milk didn't smell particularly bad but I'm not a good judge at those sort of things so I wanted back up. Now as I was on the phone with my mom I read another part of the carton that said that the milk was best when used within five days of opening and it had been a week so I realized that the milk probably wasn't okay but before that I wasn't sure. Okay? Get over it.

So I call my mom and she answers and I pose the milk dilemma to her. She tells me to smell the milk. To taste it. See for myself if it's sour. I inform her that I can't tell, thus why I called her for reassurance. There's a pause and she asks how she should know if my milk is good or not. I ask her if she was sleeping because her responses are a little slow and she assures me she wasn't. She asks me if I'm coming home on Saturday and I tell her that I am. I ask again about the milk and she again tells me she can't help me. We chat about nothing. She's still slow with her responses. She asks again if I'm coming home on Saturday and I inform her that my answer hasn't changed in the last two minutes so yes I will be home. I inform her that the milk isn't chunky or anything, so maybe it's okay to drink? There's a pause and she responds that she doesn't care whether I drink the sour milk or not. I wonder what I did to piss her off. I wonder what I said. She asks yet again if I'll be home on Saturday and I answer again that I will. I wonder what I'm forgetting about Saturday that it's this huge deal. I go to ask her but then...she hangs up! She just hangs up on me! My own mother!!

All night I'm worrying about what I said, what I did, what the heck next Saturday is! So the next morning I give her a call back. She's in a much more pleasant mood. I ask her about the phone call last night and she laughs. She hangs up on me and then she laughs about it! The nerve!!! She says she woke up this morning and vaguely remembers talking to me and telling me that she didn't care whether or not I drank the sour milk and she said she felt really bad about that. She doesn't even remember hanging up on me. Seriously. No love!

I don't know. I think there was more to this story but since I started writing this in May and it actually happened in April - well I just can't remember. I still think it's funny though. Cuz my mom hung up on me. Ha.

I've got a bike. You can ride it if you like. It's got a basket, a bell that rings, and things to make it look good.

I was twelve. Anthony was in his first year of college so he couldn't go. It was my dad's annual union picnic. We hated these things but we went every year for my dad. He was in his element there. We just stood around awkwardly. It was better together, but it was just me and it was no fun.

There was a pool but it was crowded. There was food and games but I was too young or old to enjoy most of it. There were raffles. Things no one needed or wanted. Except the bike. I wanted a bike. I was going to wait until Christmas - that was the bike holiday. Kids didn't just get bikes on any random day. Birthdays and Christmas and it was summer so I had some time to wait. But there was one there. At this picnic I didn't want to be at. My dad could tell I wasn't having fun no matter how hard I tried to pretend. He appreciated my attempt and he bought a raffle. "You're getting a bike today," he told me. I wanted to believe him but didn't want to be too disappointed if I didn't win. The day dragged on. My dad was having a good time and I tried to stay out of the way. It was the last union picnic we would go to. The year before Anthony was there and he kept me entertained. His being there also meant my dad could drink because Anthony could drive home. This year, it was just me and my dad and it wasn't the same for either of us. We stayed until the raffles were pulled. I didn't win. I wasn't too disappointed. I was just ready to go home. I would wait until Christmas.

As we drove I put the day behind me, the crowded pool, the picnic food, and the bike. Driving down rt. 18 I didn't realize where we were going until after we pulled into the parking lot of the bike shop. "I told you you were getting a bike today," my dad said as he got out of the truck.

It was a deep purple Trek bike and it was perfect.

The point is, someone stole my bike. I'm going to beat them up if I find them. I hope it wasn't you.

Who needs a house out in Hackensack?

I have to move. I don't want to. I went to look at a place the other night with JM. Despite being only a block from where I live now, the area was surprisingly super sketchy. Despite being only about $200 less than what we now pay for a three bedroom apartment with a full living room and fairly nice sized kitchen, this place was two bedrooms, each the size of one of my closets currently, and a kinda kitchen space/room. And it was dirty and sketchy and gross and I would never live there.

And everything I find on Craig's List is either super expensive or a scam so I've narrowed my options to:

1. moving back in with my parent's (ha)
2. moving in with anthony and jill in montpelier (i would totally actually do this if it didn't mean that two very important people in my life would pretty much never talk to me again if i did)
3. quitting my job, selling all my belongings and moving to peru (or beirut)

So I called my parents to get their thoughts on my options. My dad's suggestions (I'm not making these up!!):

1. JM moving into my current room with me. Get bunk beds.
2. move in with a recently married friend of the family who just bought a house in monroe

Any guesses to the final - and absolutely serious - solution from my parents...

Yup that's right....
3. Pray about it! Give it up to God!

When I end up homeless in a month, you'll know who to blame.

Everyone's disguised just a little bit.

I bought the dress for $15 at that vintage store in Montpelier.

I tried it on and it fit perfectly. I was amazed. Home-made. 1950's. It was clear it wasn't just a 1950's style but actually from the 50's. Otherwies the sleeves would have been shortened. The hem above the knee, not below. Stitches were stretching. Buttons fell off long ago.

"Be careful when you wash this," she said with a smile when she handed me the bag.

I held up the dress outside to show Jill. She gave a look that made it clear she was following the if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all rule. I folded the dress back up and placed it in the bag. I didn't care. The dress was mine.

I wore the dress today. It seemed an odd choice. For Wolf Parade. I wore the dress today.

At work, everyone smiled and said nice things. For the first time in a month she spoke to me. "French schoolgirl. Gorgeous dress!"

We went to the show. I felt out of place but didn't care. Alex and I made our way to the front and waited. We danced in place. Happy to be just out of way for the more aggressive fans.

"Just be careful guys. With the 'moshing.' Just be respectful and try to be nice." Spencer said. "I mean that wasn't even a fast song."

The $7 beer hit me fast - my bladder anyway. I pushed my way to the back, behind the bar, to the bathroom. Crowds of people. Standing. Listening. Some pushing forward to get to the bar, me in the opposite direction. Two guys push forward. The second texts away. Gawd, pay attention where you're going guy, I think. He looks up and stares me down. Do I know you, I wonder. Because seriously dude, wtf? He stares me down some more as I push through.

I make my way back to Alex. Fists pump in the air and we sing along. You know I'll believe in anything and you'll believe in anything because nobody knows you and nobody gives a damn either way.

We walk back to Columbus Circle and part ways. I take the D to Herald Square and take the stairs to the PATH. A train sits waiting. It's 11:07 and the train doesn't list a destination. Everyone boards. I assume, it being past 11 and with no one waiting on the platform that the train will make all stops. After 14th street I realize some people are left on the platform after the doors close. At 9th I wonder if maybe this is just a Hoboken train. At Christopher I debate getting up to check but don't move. At Hoboken I follow the crowd out. There are two trains sitting. I board the 33rd street train with everyone else. Frustrated to have to return to Christopher Street to get back to Jersey. Realizing that at that point the trains will only be running the late night schedule and I'll be right back in that spot in another twenty minutes. I sit and wait. As the doors are about to close on the empty train across the platform I realize it is the WTC train, making a stop at Pavonia Newport. I quickly exit the train and make my way across the platform. I get on the train just as the door closes behind me. I realize as I sit that the train isn't as empty as I thought.

His jeans are ripped and I feel him watching me as I sit down. I go back to reading my book.

"This train goes to Connecticut, right?" Even from across the car I can see that he has a good smile.

"Eventually." I didn't know what to say. I smile hoping he didn't hear my failed attempt at a joke. I focus back on my book.

I realize he's moved to the seat across from me before I even look up. Upon closer inspection I realize his eyes are just as good as his smile. He's young but not too young. Teen Beat cute but with just the right amount of roughness around the edges.

"Going to New York?" He has a nice voice.

I shake my head. "Jersey."

"From Jersey to Jersey?"

"No New York to Jersey. Wrong train. Long story."

He asks where I work. Where I live. Where he lives. We exchange vague locations. New York. Jersey City. New York. He was coming from Hoboken. Fun, he says. Sure, I say.

"I like your dress."

"Thanks," I smile.

"You have a really nice smile."

"Thanks," my smile bigger.

"Do you have a boyfriend."

"Yeah, I do." my smile biggest.

I think of the times I've lied to that question. Easier to lie than to explain to a complete stranger that my lack of a boyfriend is not an open invitation. I wonder if I would've lied to him.

"Does he live with you?" A look as if he realizes that it's a strange question to ask just a little too late.

"Nope. He lives in Virginia."

"That's no good."

I shake my head, "no good at all."

"Why does your boyfriend live in Virginia?"

"That's a really good question," I admit.

"Have you ever asked yourself that question?" his smile doesn't fade.

"All the time," neither does mine.

We pull into the station.

"This is my stop," I nod towards the exit. "Good luck getting to New York."

"Good luck with your boyfriend."

I smile to myself as I cross the platform and wait for the Journal Square train. Wolf Parade plays in my head, wishing that I had cell service underground. I wonder if it'll be too late to call by the time I get to Journal Square.

I think about the boy in Virginia. The one who thinks I have a nice smile. The one who would think I looked pretty in this dress. Because this heart's on fire and it's getting better all the time. I think about him and I smile.

Good luck, Goodbye. Thanks, Boss.

I'm pretty sure my stance on romance can be pretty easily summed up by my opinion that Bruce Springsteen's Thunder Road is one of the best love songs ever written if only for the lyric: You ain't a beauty but hey you're alright/Oh and that's alright with me. which is pretty much the sweetest thing ever. Followed closely by the lyrics of Billy Joel's Just the Way Your Are which essentially, if you think about it, says the same thing.

Explains a lot really.

If you're under the impression that I'm alright...

i wanted to post some cuz it's been some time and all. but tonight i worked crazy late. and now i'm just wasting time playlist-ing and magazine perusing and i can't seem to hold on to a thought long enough to actually put pen to paper so to speak so this is all i gots for now, other people much better at life than me:

the ones we love.
i need help.
american teen trailer.