We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.
– Henry David Thoreau
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love. Love. Love.
According to John and Paul, it’s all you need.
We go to great lengths for the things and the people we love. But I mean, if all you need to survive is love, then why not. Suddenly ‘alls fair in love and war’ seems a reasonable notion.
I find the idea of finding your ‘one true love,’ idealistic and irrational. I mean, one person out of all the people in the world? Life isn’t Cinderella, your one true love won’t find you because you have a magic slipper that only fits your foot that a kind, sparkly, and somewhat rotund woman in a blue dress gave you (but let’s not get too cynical this close to Valentine’s day.)
Continue reading “It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
the blues
So far I’ve only shared albums with you that I’ve loved for some time. Today I give you something I just fell in love with.
Recently, I inherited my parents vinyl collection. I’ve been making my way through the albums I remember fondly from my childhood and many I have no recollection of.
While I’m certain I listened to my Dad’s blues albums as a kid I don’t really have any particular memories of them. I was more concerned about spinning The Beatles White Album and Abbey Road than anything else. Childhood tunnel vision as it was.
The other day, knowing generally who BB King was, I threw on this album and I’ve since listened to it with near obsessive adoration every day. I’m sure this isn’t news to a lot of you, but it’s perfection.
I can’t wait to see what other gems this record collection introduces me to.
Blues means what milk does to a baby. Blues is what the spirit is to the minister. We sing the blues because our hearts have been hurt, our souls have been disturbed. – Alberta Hunter
Why I Gym
I’ve always been an active kid. My parents would make my brothers and I go outside and run around, we spent our days climbing fences, swinging from trees, and riding our bikes around town from park to park. I’m sure I complained, but really I loved it. I’ve always loved getting active. I grew up playing sports in school then graduated to the adult world of fitness centres.
In recent years I took up running, and more recently heavy weight lifting. I’m not here to tell you to do the same, or prophesize about how it will change your life, but I will tell you why I go to the gym or run long distances or pay a someone to kick my ass.
Stop thinking.
Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.
– Ray Bradbury
The Avett Brothers
There are some bands, and some albums that can make me sashay down the street with my headphones in, lip syncing to music that only I can hear with a giant, stupid grin on my face. It usually occurs to me partway down the sidewalk that I must look slightly crazy, but I’ll be damned if I suppress the urge to dance for how silly I look.
There are some bands, and some albums that can make me sashay down the street with my headphones in, lip syncing to music that only I can hear with a giant, stupid grin on my face. It usually occurs to me partway down the sidewalk that I must look slightly crazy, but I’ll be damned if I suppress the urge to dance for how silly I look.
I first heard them, and most of this album live at the Calgary Folk Fest. I then proceeded to binge listen to it for the following four months. I now have every single album by the Avett Brothers, and they’re all great, but this one holds a special place in my heart because it ignited my love for them.
I strongly encourage a listen. Followed by a boisterous walk through the streets.
They’re society’s boobs.
We live in a sparkly Hollywood-ified, beauty idealized world where photoshop muddles around with our idea of beauty to the point where we’re continuously told we are supposed to be unhappy with ourselves. Day in and day out we’re beaten over the head with ads, movies, and images that encourage us to reach a little higher and try a little harder.
We are constantly fed media full of of overly photoshopped bodies that have been hand selected to look a certain way then airbrushed until they are perfect. We continuously see images of women, and men likely, that could literally not exist naturally. This has become such a normative look that we don’t second guess the perfect skin, skinny waist, thigh gap, or slender little arms.
The Dudes.
The Dudes are fabulous.
They mix rock music with honest, intelligent lyrics. What more can you ask for?
This album was released in 2009 and I still love every song on it.
Am I the only one that’s lonely
I like your girl but she don’t know me
And I think she’s right for someone else
Let me introduce myself, I’m someone else, Mr. Someone Else
Ruffles are out of the question. And please, no bows.
When I was in high school I spent all of my money on clothes. All of it. I used to nag my Mom to take me to the city so I could drop all my hard earned dollar bills on the latest and greatest things American Eagle had to offer me. My Mom would always remind me that I didn’t need more clothes, my rather large closet was, after all, already chalk full. She wasn’t wrong. But that wasn’t really the point. I had nothing but disposable income and I loved having fun things to wear. I loved feeling like I had a bit of style.
Shopping trips were great. It would take me a while to buy the first thing, but then all bets were off. I remember being proud to have a ton of shopping bags inhibiting my ability to move swiftly through the halls of Calgary’s malls. It wasn’t that I loved shopping for the sake of it though. I wasn’t inclined to buy just to buy. As far as I was concerned, I obviously needed another pair of the same pants from Jacob in a different colour, they just fit so great.
Continue reading “Ruffles are out of the question. And please, no bows.”
Some things never get old.
There are some albums which I will download and obsess over for a month. It’s all I listen to, then as quickly as it arrived in my life, it leaves again. I might revisit it from time to time but it never really sticks. Sometimes, however a real gems enters your life and it has staying power.
For me, this is an album that I return to time and time again and I can listen to on repeat all day.
It might be because it reminds me of a couple of my dear friends, or because I used to listen to it every night to fall asleep for months on end, or it might just be because it’s great.
I’m sure you know some of their songs, but if you’ve never listened to the whole album from start to finish I’d encourage you to give it a chance. If its not for you, no harm, no foul.
I think I’ll love it forever.
She Rambles 