Sounds Good!

And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares that infest the day
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs
And as silently steal away.
 
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Day Is Done


Music was my refuge.  I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness. 

~Maya Angelou, Gather Together in My Name




One of the things I've loved the most about growing up was when my Mom and my two aunts would come together at family gatherings and my grandmother would ask for them to sing.  There's been a recorded tape that's been passed around in my family of the three of them singing at a wedding and then at home.


My favorite song they would perform at weddings was the Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet.  I had no idea what it was at the time but every time I heard it, I would tell myself that I would hear them sing it at my wedding.  Since then, I've heard the actual song itself (and seen the older movie) and I'm not sure how they got the idea to "sing" it since I've only heard it as an instrumental version.


Anyhow, we've always been big into music on my Mom's side of the family.  All of my sisters and I took singing lessons--either through school or by taking extra-curricular lessons--and my two older sisters were into it a lot more than I was.  Personally, if I'd stuck to it and pushed myself, I wouldn't have minded becoming a soprano singer of some sort.  I'm not really one for stage fright, so that wouldn't have worried me.  My sisters and I also played instruments.  OldSis knows several, including piano, guitar and clarinet (or some sort).  MidSis, TwinSis and I all played the flute and I kinda half-ass figured out how to play the bass a bit.  TwinSis is also working on the guitar.  OldSis has even written quite a few songs.  MidSis made it to the finals of a thing called Ontario Pop, back when I was a kid.  It's a franco-Ontarian singing contest that's televised and it's quite a big deal in Ontario.


Anyway!  That sounds like bragging, but it's not.

My point is that we've all had a lot of interest in music and even today, I love listening to music.  My favorite songs are either heard on the radio or recommended from friends.  I was sort of in the mood to share a few (and to write a blog entry, but not sure about what), so I'll post a few varied lists here!

They're numbered but just for posterity's sake, not really for any order of preference.

Songs That Make Me Feel Totally Badass
1.  I'm Alive -- Disturbed
2.  You're Gonna Go Far, Kid -- The Offspring
3.  Love Me Dead -- Ludo
4.  Figured You Out -- Nickelback
5.  Map of the Problematique -- Muse

Songs That Make Me Happy No Matter What Mood I'm In
1.  Hey, Soul Sister -- Train
2.  Consequence Free -- Great Big Sea
3.  Kjærlighet Mellom Muslinger -- Bare Egil Band (Norwegian)
4.  Everlong -- Foo Fighters
5.  Badlands -- Bruce Springsteen

Songs That Put A Lump In My Throat (If Not Outright Make Me Cry) 
1.  It Ends Tonight -- The All-American Rejects
2.  Jar of Hearts -- Christina Perri
3.  Kingdom of Days -- Bruce Springsteen
4.  Ave Maria -- Celtic Woman
5.  Far Away -- Nickelback
 
Songs That Are Just Freakin' Pretty
1.  Deep Silent Complete -- Nightwish
2.  Broken -- Sonata Arctica
3.  Hey There Delilah -- Plain White T's
4.  Pieces -- Red
5.  Us Remains Impossible -- Matthew Good Band

Songs That Make Me Sigh and Go All Dreamy-Eyed and Sappy
1.  The Kill -- 30 Seconds to Mars
2.  Savior -- Lights
3.  When the Sun Hits-- Slowdive
4.  Such Great Heights -- Iron & Wine
5.  What If You -- Joshua Radin

Songs I'll Sing To No Matter Who's Listening
1.  Bad Romance -- Lady GaGa
2.  The Kill -- 30 Seconds to Mars 
3.  Panic Switch -- Silversun Pickups
4.  What's On Your Mind -- Madrugada
5.  40 Feet -- Franz Ferdinand


Songs I Really Love By Non-English Bands
1.  Je ferme les yeux -- Najoua Belyzel (French)
2.  Das Tier In Mir -- E Nomine (German with some Latin)
3.  Dom Andra -- Kent (Swedish)
4.  Il est seul -- Les B.B. (French-Canadian)
5.  Les jardins de St-Martin -- Roch Voisine (French-Canadian with a tiny bit of English)


I limited myself to five songs per category, though I would list a lot more if I could.  Some songs got switched around while I deleted some and replaced them with others.  It wasn't that easy...and most of these are all pretty "new."  The oldest song on here is probably a Bruce Springsteen one, but I love all kinds of music; Johnny Cash, Duran Duran, Elvis, Billy Idol and so many more.  This list was tougher than I thought!


Anyhow, if you're curious about any of these songs and can't find them (and if you have some way to contact me other than posting on here, be it Facebook, forum or MSN), toss me a note and I'll see if I can point you in the right direction (wink, wink)!


Hell, I almost put down my favorite Christmas albums too, but meh...'tis not the season.  Yet!

~Fel




p.s.  And yep, I once again managed to stuff in something from http://icanhascheezburger.com

Cleanliness Is Next to Godliness...

And sadly, I've been feeling less than divine.

Due to some rather blargh and yech circumstances, I'm back in Canada and living with family members.  I'm looking into getting a job and all that, but in the meantime I'm living with my dear old Dad and "that woman."

I refer to my paternal grandmother when I speak about "that woman."

I realize it might make me seem heartless and ungrateful to be calling her that, but keep in mind that saying, "You get to choose your friends, you don't get to choose your family."  While my parents were still married, my mother couldn't stand it when my grandmother would come to visit.

In all seriousness, my grandmother is the type of mother-in-law people have nightmares about.  Yes, she's that fucking horrible.

Even her grandchildren can't deal with her.  She criticizes everything, makes embarrassing comments in public and she's never happy with anything.  I'm planning on going to university in the fall and when she heard about this (OldSis told her on the phone), she told my sister that they all need to discourage me from going.  Her reasons were many.  One of them is because none of my other sisters have ever graduated from university so, obviously, I won't either.  She thinks education is a waste of money.  She thinks I'm too old to go to school.  She thinks I should settle for any job I can get and not waste time dreaming about a career by educating myself.  She doesn't think I can do this...

Needless to say, OldSis told her off rather savagely about that.  Not that it changed anything, that woman's a stubborn old thing.

Anyhow, one other issue I'm struggling with while I live here is personal hygiene.

I long to spend more personal time with this thing...

According to my grandmother, showering every day is not a good thing.  By all accounts, I should only be showering once a week.  I'm rather ashamed that my personal hygiene has to take this kind of decline and I really don't know why I'm admitting it on here, but there have been some humorous incidents happening because of this change in my cleaning habits.

Last Saturday, I stepped out of the bathroom after my shower and she called me over.  I kinda tilted my head and approached  her.  I wish I'd pretended I hadn't heard her because I got a serious tongue-lashing over the fact I'd taken a shower two days in a row and I had moved the towels.  I went back to my room with a stunned expression and a sinking feeling of humiliation in the pit of my stomach.

The problem here, however, is that...I hadn't taken a shower two days in a row.  I have no idea what she was thinking but I've been following her rules.  Kinda.  I cheat sometimes, Dad tells me to take showers when she's out of the house and such and that's worked a few times.

So my mind was rather boggled, as I'm sure you can imagine.  I told Dad about it and he advised me to just let it all go through one ear and out the other.  I'm rather stressed and not a bit freaked out by several changes in my life, but I tried to take his advice.

However, now I'm really wondering if that woman's losing her mind.

I went out for a drive with my Dad today.  It's a lovely day out and he wanted to go see a local waterfall and take pictures, so I tagged along.  On the drive there, he sent me a look and I thought, "Uh-oh..."

"[That woman] came up to me this morning," he said.  "And she told me, 'She thinks I don't know! She thinks I can't tell that she's been showering every day since she got here, but I see it! She moves the towels and when she steps out of the bathroom, her hair is wet!'"

After I heard that, I exclaimed a rather high-pitched, "WHAT?!"

Behold, the instruments of the devil in my household!

I was shocked.  Dad said he thinks she's starting to lose it and  I'm not surprised.  She's up before I am, she sits in the living room which is not far off from the bathroom so she could hear the shower running or hear me going in and out of the bathroom in the morning.  I have no idea what this towel business is all about.  I use my own towels, I don't touch the ones hanging in the bathroom, but she could easily see for herself that the shower hasn't been run.

In a way, it kinda helps knowing she's going senile, strangely enough.  That might not be a very nice thing to say, but at least I know she's yelling at me for things she's making up on her own and not because I'm actually doing something wrong.  I'm also very much aware that she likes to talk crap when she thinks I can't hear her (especially in the mornings).  But this...

Well...

It's kinda fucking funny, to be honest.

Mua ha haaa!