twenty-something

I don't think I was tagged, but I still want to play!

20sum Approved Top Ten Summer Songs (or Something)

1. Coldplay -- Talk

You can take a picture of something you see
In the future where will I be?

Track number five off of their otherwise fairly lackluster new album, Coldplay's "Talk" is easily my favorite "album" track of the summer. From the opening riff to the lyrics, it's a good song period, but it's perfect for drives on cool summer nights.

2. Alanis Morrisette -- Eight Easy Steps

How to pretend you're fine and don't need help from anyone
How to feel worthless unless you're serving or helping someone

Despite the release of Jagged Little Pill Acoustic this summer, and despite falling back in love with JLP's "All I Really Want," it is "Eight Easy Steps" that takes the cake as not only my Alanis summer track, but a new anthem. I don't know how I missed this track the first time around, in 2004, on So-Called Chaos, but I'm glad I found it this year.

3. Foo Fighters -- Best of You

I needed somewhere to hang my head without your noose
You gave me something that I didn't have, but had no use

In a summer where I lost the love of my life (I'm being melodramatic) seemingly due to infidelity in the Big Apple (I'm being bitter), the first single of Foo Fighter's new double album "For Your Honor" totally rocked my ass off. It started getting big-time radio play right as my shit hit the fan, so it was a great tune to scream out with while in the car.

4. Ben Folds -- Trusted

How does it feel to realize / You're all alone behind your eyes?
It seems to me if you can't trust / You can't be trusted

Another song that, both musically and lyrically, just hits me. I have issues with trust and so, apparently, does Mr. Ben Folds. When he sings the line about his girlfriend reading his diary, again, it's a bit too close to home.

5. Kelly Clarkson -- Addicted

And I know I let you have all the power
And I realize I'm never gonna quit you over time

I could just say, "Nuff Said." But you know me. I can't just say that. I loves me some Kelly C, and I loves me some of this song. If I'm missing the Big D, and maybe think about hanging out with him, or trying to get back with him, I just listen to this song and try to remember that I'm in rehab from love. "Just one more hit," Kelly sings. "I can handle it." But she can't. No, no. And neither can I.

6. Snow Patrol -- Chocolate

A simple mistake starts the hardest time
I promise I'll do anything you ask...this time

My birthday anthem of the Big Two-Five has quickly turned into a summer anthem -- and could well last me well into 26. Lyrically, it fits a bit of everything.

7. Tegan & Sara -- You Wouldn't Like Me

There's nothing to live for when I'm sleeping alone

A few weeks back, a helpful 20sum reader suggested I listen to lots of Tegan & Sara to get over Duncan. Little did he know that I already was. I used to be (and I suppose I still am) hooked on "Where Does the Good Go?," but right now I am totally digging on "You Wouldn't Like Me." I mean, come on, with lyrics like, "I feel like I wouldn't like me if I met me"? That's gold.

8. Of Montreal - Everything Disappears When You Come Around

On the news at night, they talk about the disappearances.
They interview the people who were witnesses.
Most are shocked, some don't care.

Bizarre, sweet, and fun. Just love this ditty. No deep or sentimental reason -- yet.

9. Liz Phair -- Why Can't I

Isn't this the best part of breakin' up
Finding someone else you can't get enough of
Someone who wants to be with you too

I'm not there yet. But I will be. And this song gives me end-of-summer hope.

10. Nikka Costa -- Till I Get To You

It's just a matter of time till I get to you
No matter how many I gotta get through

Lyrically, I think this song is simple but brilliant. (Lovers LMNOP... til I get to "U"... wow.) Musically, it makes me want to dance like Ellen D on tables and in elevators. It is just so good. It's the song I had cranked in my new car when I got pulled over for speeding in my first week of ownership. Nikka gives me hope, like Liz up there, that my "U" is still out there. Awwwwww....

Between moving into my new spaces both personally and professionally, starting a new job, and (back-burner) dealing with my first real separation from Duncan, I feel a bit like I'm drowning. It's stressful -- but somehow a good stress. I'm overall excited by all this change. It's movement, growth... A week ago I was rolling into work at 10AM. Now I'm rocking out to VPR on the 7AM drive in my shiny Volvo.

I am a new man.

Of course, there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day for this kind of growth... I miss sleep, and sleeping in. Last night I got to relax and unwind for what felt like the first time in forever (it had only been since last weekend), with my new housemates, some pizza, Granny Smith flavored hard cider, and Big Brother. It was heaven.

Speaking of heaven -- and the photo above -- this afternoon I hop in the Volv' and speed down the highway towards Boston for my favorite event of the season -- the third annual "Baustin" Pub Crawl. Although I'm scared to leave for the weekend in the midst of so much stuff on the home front, I am thinking and hoping it will prove to be just the break I need before things really hit the fan next week.

Good company and good beer should hit the spot right about now, providing me with one last chance, this summer at least, to be, well, twenty-five.

So cheers to a good weekend. Here's hoping we'll hear three different cover bands at three different bars sing Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer." It's tradition.

Excitement rises as this weekend's Third Annual Baustin Pub Crawl nears, and one Ms. Natalie May (she of LiveJournal fame) wonders:

Who Called Me on Sunday Morning? So I get this mystery call from some chick being all I miss you and can't wait to see you blah blah blah and let me look for my new cell phone number for 234987239478 minutes and then SEE YOU SATURDAY. And then let me, dumbass, delete that message by accident. I pulled the cherished dial 5 during the message bit that The Bebe taught me and the call is coming from an Alison Carey...but I don't know an Alison Carey. BUT PAT R. KNOWS ALISON CAREY WHO'S GONG TO THE PUB CRAWL...but she has a different phone number than the one that calls me....so, needless to say, it's a mystery that needs solving. Suddenly I feel like Nancy Drew! The Hardy Brothers! But maybe not as dramatic or brilliant...but I have endearing charm to back me up where they are just Punk-Ass-Know-It-Alls...yes, I went there.