Music keeps me sane in the membrane

OH yes it does let me tell you. Being able to sing along and hum to my favorite kind of music (which happens to be a lot of different kinds of music) keeps me from (and I quote 90% of the time) throwing my computer out of the window or setting it on fire and adding chlorox to it-whether I am in the research lab, at the job, at the crib, or anywhere I am required to be around a computer to get work done (which feels like damn near all the time). So since I started working last week, my mini music collection (no where near the one I used to have) kept the time from stopping. But I do plan on starting to spend more time out on the floor though just to learn stuff and exercise ( but I save that for another day). Today was Marvin Gaye that kept me from screaming out physically when my documents I had been working on kept consistently crashing on me. Oh yes, no musician can be in a good mood in an instant (more instant than making ramen noodles) than Marvin can. 22 hours of the day could have been craptacular raised to the infinity power, but I put his music on, and its like the pain from the booboo on my knee melts away. And even when its not Marvin or anyone on my windows playlist or car CD list, I get a kick of listening to Pandora or any type of online music stations that lets you pick the music you like. 98% of the time I avoid commercial radio unless I am listening to NPR or ESPN sports or something. Commercial radio, just like the music industry of today, is full of this cacophony that I promise is causing the liquid in my ear to harden and shatter into a thousand pieces. Just plain terrible. I feel so sorry for the generation after me (i.e. read 90s and millennium kiddies) that think these current crop of “artists” are the best musicians in the business today and (gasps even ever). The tragedy. If there is one entity that needs to have acceleration to their ultimate demise, the music industry is ranked up there (up there with journalists of today, all politicians, and certain financial companies). I ked ked ked, naw not really, not at all…hehe…well my lunch hour is coming to a close, just as my blogging ways that I have been doing should too, and if I happen to be stuck at the computer for the afternoon for some reason, I think I will kick things off with the Temptations. Not bad eh? It would be Tears for Fears, but only if I can figure out to get access to Pandora while I am here.

Music, music, music, where have you gone?

As I was finishing up my undergrad studies, I had to spend plenty of long nights in my computer lab (since that was the only time it seem I could be productive). One of the ways for me to stay alert during these late hours (other than countless and numerous Jack-n-Box runs) was to listen to music. Some of my fellow classmates had pretty extensive music collections loaded onto the lab computers and/or downloaded onto the computers and would play (whether I wanted to be subjected to their taste in music) loud in the computer lab. So on nights that I remembered to bring headphones, I would engage in hours of ear blasting and ear drum thumping of my kind of music (which happens to be a lot of different kinds of music). A friend of mine's tuned me onto the Pandora music channel which I found pretty cool. Before Pandora, I had to depend on yahoo music and their radio player but I became annoyed with yahoo music channel and gradually stopped listening to it. But on Pandora, you were able to create your own music stations and they played songs similar to the artists channel that you had created. Being the kind of person that I am, my station had all kinds of musical channels (jazz, classical, r&b, classic soul, alternative, rock, salsa, meringue, etc.) but it seemed that the only station I found myself listening to the most was classic soul (i.e. Marvin Gaye, Temptations, Stylistics, Dramatics, Aretha, Jackson 5, Martha Reeve and the Vandellas, O'Jays,Otis Redding, you name it) because these songs would make me feel good and focused. Mind you that I am only 24 years old, but I might as well have a musical tastes of people 40 and up. As I grew up in the mid 80s, I thought the music I heard was cool because I used to listen to the new wave and alternative and whatever synthesized beets were created and fused. My uncle had a diverse taste in music and it basically impacted and molded my musical styles. Of course I would listen to alot the artists of the times during the 80s and 90s but at least they were still churning out great music (cue in Jodeci, Boyz II Men, New Edition,112, Sade etc). But now it seems music is just full of crap that stinks worse than someone's dog who had nonstop diarrhea and halitosis. You know music is down the toilet when you have to get today's artists through American Idol. Now granted there are a few artists out there today in 2009 who know how to put out good music but they are so far few and in between. Why? Conspiracy (key in my conspiracy theory)to shove down young's people throats undeserving and highly unqualified "singers" to sell to today's youth that these are real artists, real singers, real rappers, real whatever else of the 21st century. Puh-lease. Its no coincidence when you listen to certain radio stations that cater to certain audiences (urban, youth etc) the frequency upon which you hear the same type of song, the same type of beat, the same type of track over and over all day long. After awhile, its start becoming dull and quite nauseating. And record companies wonder why no one wants to buy music anymore but instead engage in pirating and downloading illegal music. After my extensive CD collection was stolen during my junior year of college, I waited almost 4 years before I even began to think about rebuilding my music collection. And even as I have re bought music at about 65% of what I used to have, I have become downright fickle about what kind music I would actually pay for. Ask any of my friends, and they question the age of my soul because of my collection. At least I still have Youtube (when copyright blockages are not utilized) and Pandora radio. I hope that people of my generation and the generation coming up behind me that what you are fed day in and day out is not real music but systematic brainwashing; and if they happen to listen to music, even as late into the mid and end of the 90s and work their way backwards will they realize how much the music curve had declined tremendously. I still have hope that a music revolution will ensue soon in which the consumer demands better product, not for the sake of what they pay for, but for the sake of their ears (because god knows you are only given one pair to work with and need to make the most of through listening to music).

Valentine’s Day-the 09 story (part 1)

So its technically early Saturday morning out here on the east coast, and I am sipping on my favorite alcoholic drink (cranberry juice and vodka), listening to the The Brothers Johnson and Strawberry Letter 23 (they don’t make music like this anymore, sadly). And of course today is Valentine’s Day; with my given track record when it comes to relationships, its easy to see why I think Valentine’s Day is just plain evil. But enough of that, I came to the realization when I went home for Christmas break that I have no game whatsoever, which I guess is somewhat normal for a female not to have a game whatsoever. But it got me thinking why have been so habitually single? Now don’t get me wrong, for the most part, (I say 85% of the time) I enjoy the freedom I have to roam wherever I like, whenever I like and however I like. There is never any need for me to commit to another human being, (i.e. a Man) because I have gotten so use to be single. But there are times where I have these thoughts that creep up slowly behind me and question my extended single status. To get all technical and stuff, I have never had a real boyfriend. Never have been in a real relationship nor engage in all the warm cuddly relationship type stuff. Perhaps my philosophy when it comes to the opposite sex is different than most: I rather become good friends with a guy, he gets to know me and all my quirks and eccentrics and I get to know him for who he really is (which I found most guys don’t do for some reason). This is one of the reasons why I have so many guy friends in the most place. I grew up as a tomboy, never had a motherly type figure in my life for the longest, so I didn’t get the memo of how to talk to boys, that you was suppose to start shaving your legs at a certain point, and that wearing flannel shirts just wasn’t fashionable. But needless to say, I grew up being me and me only.
Where am I going with this? Hell if I know. But I do know that I used to get rejected all the time from guys. After awhile I began to think there was something was wrong with me. I was never skinny, I wore glasses, I am pretty much a nerd, I had 0 fashion sense and everything else. Then sophomore year, this guy had to put in some real serious work before I agreed to be his girlfriend. Only reason I agreed because he was the first guy in high school to ever show me any kind of attention. But we were only an “item” for a week. I guess when you worked that hard to get the girl she’s just another conquest. And since then, no guy has showed me that kind of attention or to ever make me feel special. So for the longest, I would wear this brave face (or mask) that never let on how much I wanted to get in on the trials and tribulations of romance, first love and teenage-dum. And after awhile, I began to learn how to accept that perhaps there was no such thing as love at first sight and finding a guy who likes me for me. And now that I am approaching 25 this year, I feel now that yeah I wish I had a boyfriend, or even a boy toy from time to time, that I should really begin to accept that it wasn’t meant for me to fall or to ever be in love. Oh well. I guess I just need to focus on making the world a better place somehow.