Wednesday, August 29, 2007

...Because you're oh so gone and I'm oh so sad.



*Starlee Kine, Joe McGinty and Julia Greenberg from TAL #339



Insomnia is a bitch. She comes over every night and keeps me company. She forces thoughts into my head about impending deadlines and the lack of groceries in my fridge. She taunts me with periods of pseudo drowsiness only to keep me awake and wired with random thoughts.

Lots of stuff going on. I've been travelling for work, considering changing jobs, and getting the kids ready to restart school. In the middle of this we've had heavy rains the past 2 weeks causing major damage to the Chicago area. For those of you who know Illinois, my parents live in Des Plaines aka THE FLOOD MAGNET. Yep. Basement completely flooded and no power for 3 days.

Flood 2
See the reflection? That's not a tile floor... that's 4 inches of water on carpet. You'll notice my dad's pride and joy (his big screen t.v.) in the background. I had to disconnect his cable connection in order to move the t.v. and all he could do was whine about his AsiaNet. Seriously. I'm about to go fishing in the basement and you're worried about missing your serials??

Ripple

I have a ton of pictures for the insurance claim if you'd like to see them. We can make popcorn and sit and watch the slideshow together.

Anyhoo. We went over to the house and pulled up the carpet and threw out years of memories intermingled with junk. D and my brother-in-law Ry were so awesome. No complaints. No questions asked. Hours upon hours of heavy lifting. In the midst of the chaos and annoyance I was so happy that I'm part of this kick-ass family.

*******

I'm an NPR (National Public Radio) junkie. My favorite show is This American Life with its uber-cool and unlikely sex symbol host, Ira Glass. I liken the show to being at a dinner party with a group of interesting people and overhearing snippets of conversations. It's totally theater of the mind and you can feel the warm fire crackling in the background as you're listening. The show is on every weekend but because we're usually out and about I listen to it online on Monday. This week was one of the best segments I've EVER heard and that's saying a lot considering I've been listening for years. The theme was Anatomy of a Break-up and in Act Two, Starlee Kine talks about writing a song to deal with being dumped by her boyfriend. I love what she says about break-up songs:


A break-up song won't ever suggest you start online dating or that you're better off without him. They tell you that you're worse without him which is exactly what you want to hear because it's how you feel. I didn't want to be cheered up. I didn't want to bounce back. I didn't want to meet someone new. I wanted to wallow. Big time. Deeply. And with the least amount of prospective possible.
I encourage everyone to listen to the entire episode online (it's free!). She actually gets advice about corny love songs from Phil Collins. How can you go wrong?

The segment triggered me to find random mix tapes I've kept over the years. I even have one with break-up songs on one side and "I'm-fine-now" songs on the other. Of course I have the cliche "I Will Survive" on there but other gems include:

  • Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
  • Pictures of You - The Cure
  • With or Without You - U2
  • 4 Men- Kitchens of Distinction
  • Where is My Mind- Pixies
  • Pink Moon- Nick Drake
  • Silent All These Years- Tori Amos

And yes before you ask, in high school I dressed in black with my bangs always over my eyes and had 5 piercings in my ears. My parents came into my room one day and asked me if I was on drugs because that's what "the punks" do. I laughed and told them the strongest drug I'd taken was the Midol and Tylenol used monthly when I celebrate my womanhood. Anyway, despite the look, I didn't smoke which made me too uncool to hang out with the punk kids.

I digress. I'm curious what your most memorable break-up and "I survived" songs are? Consider it a tag.

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