De-Stress My Life

Oh wow. What a day. Job interview one down. Which, well let's just say it did not go well. Turns out hand talking has its own special issues. Reason to not accept the coffee 1. My God.

Anyways, I thought I could use a little pick me up after that experience. As I usually do I turned to pop culture for that. I thought I'd share a few of my favourites for your listening pleasure. They're about as cheery as I get.

1. Maria - Blondie

I love singing along to this song in the summer. Debbie Harry is pretty much one of my heroes and it's just so catchy. Brilliant song.

2. Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen

I've said it before and I'll say it again, you can't go wrong with Springsteen. I will listen to this day in and day out until my roommates are begging for mercy and throwing things at my door. Okay so this isn't the classic feel good song, but coming from me is it that surprising? I mean really. Here's the deal, a guy is trying to convince a girl to take a chance on him and they'll get out of their town and run away together.  Sure it's fatalistic, cars are suicide machines and the characters are living in a town that'll rip the bones from your back. But combine all that with an iconic sax solo from the incomparable Clarence Clemmons and you have one of my ultimate blast it from the stereo songs. So why isn't this song at number 1? Mainly because I'm writing this list as I listen and Blondie just happened to be playing when I started.

3. Won't Back Down - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Wow, so here's a song with some upbeat lyrics to match the tone. How novel. This is another classic song that's just great to sing along to and let's face it the lyrics are pretty great advice. To be perfectly honest, it's not my favourite Tom Petty song. I've always been partial to Last Chance for Mary Jane, but on a day like today, well this isn't a bad substitute.

4. Great Expectations - The Gaslight Anthem

Here's another song that's not the typical song to improve a mood kinda deal. In fact, the lyrics are downright depressing. Everybody leaves. That having been said, I love this band. They're competing with Springsteen right now in my record collection; that's some high praise coming from me. The guitars and vocals are pretty fantastic. It's another one that I just love the blare. And it's not AS melancholy as a lot of their music. So that counts for something....right?

5. Dancing On My Own - Robyn

I've gotta tell you guys, this isn't the kind of music I normally listen to. It's pretty dance heavy, lots of electronic music in the background. Very pop. But it's just so catchy! I was watching that new tv series Girls and it came on at the end of one episode. Immediate mood lifter. Better than the actual show for that. I'm counting this as one of my guilty pleasures and I'm pretty okay with that.

So there you have it. Five songs I'm listening to right now to take my mind off my day. Now all I need is a couple of friends and a bottle of wine and I've got a pretty good evening ahead of me! And if that doesn't work out, well there's always tomorrow.

Music and Mood

Okay, here's the deal. I've been in a pretty relentless bad mood for the past few weeks. Combine a new semester with family stress and a dash of the ol' job search for luck and you get me, unwilling to leave my nice, warm, cozy bed. I may be a little pathetic and I'm okay with that. 

So for the past few days I've been watching Netflix pretty relentlessly. Turns out constant tv watching does so little to help with the whole mood thing. On top of that, work is not getting done which just adds to the stress. It's a relentless cycle. I decided today to make a change. I stepped away from Netflix.
(was I the only one to hear the trumpeting in the background just then?)

Instead of watching tv under the covers I decided to listen to some music as I started to clean up my room. Music is such a mood booster. For me, it gets my imagination going, it gets me thinking again after I've totally shut it down. The mood buster for the day? The Pixies.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I am a roommate's dream. Who doesn't love a little alternative rock on a Wednesday afternoon?

On the whole music front, Springsteen is releasing a new album soon! March 6 to be exact. That really has nothing to do with the rest of this post, but come on! How can you beat that news? Oh, what's that? That's right you can't! That video up there? That's the new song.

I actually have stuff to share with all of you. Pictures of pictures and patterns and paper. I am loving the Ps. I'll  be back later this week with some fantastic old-timey photos, but until then...

Growing Up?

That question mark was definitely intentional. Just the other day I was confident; I was going for a job interview at a government agency. I was wearing a suit and heels, purse in hand. A clipboard, paper, pens, an agenda and three printed copies of the resume in hand? Check. I was ready to take on the world.

Cue the rest of the day. Me limping around the city in these heels, attempting to find a pair of wearable shoes that I can afford. Hop on the bus change, then head back downtown for my unpaid internship. Thankfully this internship allows me to ditch the suit and replace it with jeans, a t-shirt and of course my winter jacket since it is officially -50 in the building. On the other hand, I believe it was in that moment that I forever decided against growing up if it means I can no longer wear jeans to work. 

I woke up the next day with the best of intentions. I made eggs. I searched job boards. I got dressed. I didn't get the position I interviewed for. Okay, small set back, but you know at least I still have my goal of never leaving my jeans intact. Life was looking good. 

Of course fast forward a few more days and I'm at home on my parents couch trying to ignore the fact that I'm unemployed with oh so few options. I filled out that application at Starbucks. Nothing back yet. My brother is loving having me home. I've taken up permanent residence on the couch and there is no way he's regaining control of the remote control or computer anytime soon. Or at least not until Tuesday, when I travel back to my apartment. 

Today I hit a new low. The day you know you've reached the bottom of the unemployment barrel when you don't get out of your pyjamas all day long. The afghan and couch were definitely my two best friends and who knew PVR could be so addictive. Do I want to watch The Break Up for the fourth time today without commercials? Why yes in fact I do. It gave me the chance to talk through different sections each time. How could I not keep replaying it? 

So while I'll be heading back to the dorms in a few days post long weekend I'll be doing so with a slightly new attitude. Gone is the wear nothing but jeans approach. It is dead, replaced by my let's aim to change into street clothing before 6pm. Maybe I'll even start setting the alarm again. Maybe. Hopefully at that point I'll have a brilliant new idea detailing how I'm going to make a billion dollars over the course of the summer. If that fails, invest in lotto tickets? Meet a brilliant, successful lawyer/doctor hybrid on Craiglist? Sue craigslist when said doctor/lawyer turns out to be a psychotic serial killer?

Maybe I'll do all that when I stop tearing up at hearing Roy Orbison songs on TimeLife commercials while reading Missed Connections and get up off this couch. I can say one thing is for certain. I certainly don't feel like I'm any closer to adulthood right now.