Story time!

Hello I am fresh out of ideas and very tired after a long stressful and kind of bad day, so I’m going to make up a story. Right here and now.

Once upon a time, there was a young boy. His name was Toby. He lived in a little house with his two pet rats, Zsa Zsa and Rodney. Zsa Zsa and Rodney had long snouts and beautiful arched tails. Zsa Zsa was a light pale color and Rodney was brown with white spots. They were also very talented. They were just the fastest on their wheel, and Rodney had a real knack for knitting. Toby loved these rats very dearly, and wanted the entire world to appreciate them as much as he did. So he entered them in a rat pageant! They spent weeks training to win. They ran the fastest they could run and they knitted the longest scarf you’ve ever seen. When the day of the pageant was finally upon them, Toby arrived at the pageant, Zsa Zsa and Rodney in hand. They signed in and took a look at their competition. All types of rats! Big rats! Small rats! Fancy rats! Rats who could dance! Zsa Zsa and Rodney got scared but Toby assured them it would be okay no matter what. They squeaked a thank you to him and got onstage. Then the two rats did the most spectacular routine you’ve ever seen! There were jumps! There was running! There was knitting galore! The judges looked pleased. When the time came for awards, Zsa Zsa and Rodney came in third for their routine and were very pleased with themselves. They were newcomers to the rat pageant circuit and didn’t think they would be recognized at all! They decided to stick with the rat pageants and were very successful in their art. They eventually opened a rat pageant training school where young rats would train to win in pageants with grace and dignity. They all lived happily ever after.

Positiveness

In the notes section of my phone, I have a list of things that make me happy or make me smile or put me in a better mood. Every time I feel joy bubbling over at the though of something, I put that thing on the list. Then, when your day has been bad or people are being mean you just look back at the list and remember all the things that are just so right. Then you feel lucky. Cause there are right things and you get to see them. I think everyone should have a happy list. I think it’s extremely helpful. And next time you find yourself smiling at something without even thinking about it, write it down. I dare you.

My friends
Flowers
Daisies
Thunderstorms
Old monster movies
Failure
Toadstools
The smell of old forests
Campfire
Dogs!
When people smile with teeth
When someone’s laugh turns crazy
Talking to friends just to talk
Lots of blankets
Candles
Folk music
Absurdism
Fuzzy socks
Extremely good conversations with strangers
When people play with my hair
Driving by myself

I love outside!

Today felt so long like it was at least a week. I usually remember all of the parts of my day and have a part of my day where I don’t do much or have down time. And I’m bad at downtime. I’m a go go go kind of person and my perfect day would be packed to the brim with energy and activities. So today was really very lovely. I had school and school and a pop quiz and acting and more school but then I convinced my friends to go to council crest with me! I ran around and met dogs and did cartwheels and jumped on and off of things! It was wonderful! Then it was rehearsal and I was focused and worked hard and now I’m extremely sleepy but happy. I really do like talking to people a lot. I’m very social around people I know well and dogs. I love these full days that give you a little bit of everything.

Things You Lost To The Winds Of Notos

I just got the glow in the dark sticky stars you put on your ceiling. They were three dollars at Target and I had always wanted some. I put them up on my bedroom ceiling in two different constellations, virgo and sirius. Every night when I’m going to sleep in Portland, I sleep on my back so I can see my stars. I know they aren’t real, but it’s good to imagine your ceiling opening up and sleeping with the sky. The sky is electric and unpredictable, clear and beautiful, calm and peaceful. This is how Notos by The Oh Hellos makes me feel. Notos is packed with energy. Crescendos and decrescendos litter the sheet music for the songs and the sound of the strings is nothing short of cinematic. Consellations and Torches are full of unpredictable energy that makes you want to dance, with slower interludes such as Evac / Counting Cars. The lyrics are poetry and the melodies crawl into your head and stay with you throughout the day, not in the annoying way. In the way that reminds you that you too are poetry and deserve to sleep with the sky.

Unconventional Voices

Hello! I have decided to do an unconventional voices series because the task was too daunting in one single post. This is very important to me because I find myself liking things that other people find weird or silly or annoying and I think it’s ridiculous to not like something because it’s hard to listen to or watch or just consume causally. Today (or tonight, rather) I am going to talk a little bit about Paul Baribeau. The first time I heard of him was actually in a Kimya Dawson song, where she says “Paul Baribeau took me to a giant tire swing” in her song, tire swing. (A super great song and artist I will most definitely write about later.) Then I decided to look him up, and found his song, Strawberry. It reminds me of the one Nate Cohen song, “if you were a _____ you would be a _____” but the nice version. He says all sorts of nice things like “To say that you are funny is like saying the night sky is black.” This song reminds me of one of the nighttime girl scout songs, to be sung alongside Gypsy Rover and Flicker. It also reminds me of a girl scout song in the way that it is such a lovely and sweet song that it really doesn’t matter how conventionally beautiful the voice of the person singing it is. I almost fine these weirder lesser represented voices even more compelling because the song sounds more genuine. You can tell he is singing his own writing, and these are his own thoughts he needs to get out. I believe his voice is really very beautiful, but I can also see why some people might disagree with me. But I can’t imagine this song being sung by anyone else. Go check it out for yourself to help me kick off my series of unconventional voices!

Strawberry – Paul Baribeau

An Abundance of Sleep Deprived Thoughts

I’ve been extremely lethargic of late. Which is out of the ordinary for me and also makes me very frustrated. Because I love to move around! I love walking to places and running to catch the bus and making up silly dance moves and hanging off things I should probably not hang off of and I love to feel myself holding things and lifting things and using what I have in a way that helps others and makes me feel good. But all of this goes away when I’m so sleepy like I have been for the past few days. But it’s okay because I will power through. There was a time when I didn’t sleep for like 40 something hours straight then had to run the light board for Wolf’s thing. If I could do that, I can do this! So I will blog on, even in the face of extreme tiredness! I’m so valiant. Here are a few thoughts I’ve been thinking:

1. When you look at your skin in the light of the computer in a dark room, it kind of looks like you could have scales. You can see all the little lines and you kind of feel like some sort of lizard or dinosaur.
2. Teeth are really freaky.
3. My cat is extremely bizarre and has a snaggle tooth she rubs on you in order to show affection
4. This reminds me of a story my mom told me about when I was little! Apparently I used to bite people, but out of love. Like I was very affectionate and happy and I was just so happy I wanted to sink my teeth into the nearest child! So I would go up and hug random strangers and my mom would have to warm them that if I took a liking to them, they may be bitten. I think this story explains a lot about me.
5. Pancakes sound amazing to me currently.
6. The whole idea of eyebrows is super weird to me. Like I know they have a purpose and people would look weird without them but its strange to think about.
7. I found this band called Menomena and I’m very surprised I had never heard them before because they were pretty great and local to Portland! How cool is that?
8. OH THIS ONE IS IMPORTANT! I’m getting a puppy on March 2nd. Does anyone have any good names?
9. Music is wonderful. So are plays. And movies.
10. When I was in 6th grade, I named the very computer I am typing this on Ziba. She is about 7 years old and she is an old lady. She needs to be hooked up to her charger or else she won’t work. I call this life support.

Unconventional Voices (pt 1)

Unconventional voices in music are my favorite. When everything is going right or when everything is going wrong sometimes you just need to yell along to someone who sings like no one else. I feel like many people in music all try to get the same sound. The type of sound that sells and that people will like and hum along to. But where is the fun in that? If we only followed the prototypes of what music should be, we would be very sad right now. And everything would sound the same. Just thinking that makes me miserable. I feel like if there wasn’t loud yell-y manic music for me to listen to, I would be and incredibly loud, yell-y and manic person. (Or more of one than I already am). So I have complied a short list of artists and bands that have the most beautiful unconventional voices for your reading pleasure! I am going to talk more in depth about these artists and songs and albums in my part two.

• Onsind
• The Front Bottoms
• The Mountain Goats
• Days n’ Daze
• AJJ
• Kimya Dawson
• Paul Baribeau
• Bright Eyes
• Jeffrey Lewis
• T-Shirt Weather
• They Might Be Giants
• The Cranberries
• Ghost Mice (Though I have feelings about them I may go into later)
• Nana Grizol
• Wignut Dishwashers Union
• Pat the Bunny
• Defiance, Ohio
• Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution
• Screaming Females

By the way, I am completely exhausted right now and have a whole lot to say about this, so this is why there is a part one in the title! Look out for part two, folks! Goodnight!!

Arthur, Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire

The Kinks are definitely from England. You can hear that very quickly. Whether they’re singing about Winston Churchill or paying in shillings they are absolutely a british rock band. And we know how many of those there are. But then why do I write about this one? Simply put, I think Arthur is one of my favorite albums ever. It’s in the top 15. And that’s saying a lot! This album didn’t bear The Kinks’ biggest hits, but it did tell a story about the British Empire, and one man’s decision to move from London to Australia after WWII. The songs discuss the horrors of war, the corruption of politics and suburban life. My favorite song on this album is Shangri-La and if you listen to this album I urge you to listen to the extended edition because my second favorite song (Mindless Child of Motherhood) doesn’t even appear on the normal edition! Shangri-La evolves in its five minute running time from English folk to hard rock. Most of the songs on this album seem like three or four part numbers, with constantly switching styles. This may sound like a pretentious headache, but everything is extremely easy to catch along to and the music never loses a dancing beat. I believe this is very important. The compositions are complex and it is layered both musically and lyrically. This album contains a song for a number of moods, from a rebellious, unflinching antiwar song (Some Mother’s Son) to a lovely ballad (Young and Innocent Days). I believe Paloma Faith said it best when she said “Being fresh is not about being current. The Kinks are too cool for school, even today.”

The Shins will save your life

Okay, so I was encouraged by both Grace and Quinland to continue to write on this blog so I’ve decided to try and keep it updated. And I remembered I can write whatever silly thing I want to write about! Meaning I can write about music I like! And theatre and some wacky stuff that I think is cool! So I’m starting it off with writing about The Shins. This blog gets its title (Girl Inform Me) from a Shins song of the same name off of their first full album Oh, Inverted World. I believe it is their best album but I may be wrong about that. One great thing is that it’s all subjective. I may love Oh, Inverted World and you may hate it but love Port of Morrow. And that’s just as real and valid! It’s pretty cool, cause everyone can be right and no one can say you’re wrong. (Unless you like Blake Shelton. Then you can be wrong.) (Okay it’s not that I absolutely hate everyone who likes Blake Shelton, it just that I don’t think he seems like a kind person and I don’t appreciate his music at all.) Anyways, The Shins! I’m going to talk about Oh, Inverted World cause I can. I love this album. It’s sunny and fresh and nice and reminds me of the summer, but it reminds me of all of summer. Most albums that remind you of summer are only reminiscent of those clear happy days that are warm but not too warm and you’re relaxed and happy and everything is great. This is not the case with real life. Or this album. Sure, there are the sunny happy songs where everything is lovely and nice, such as Weird Divide. But then we get to songs that sound more humid, sticky and unclear like Caring is Creepy. Pressed in a Book is simple, clean and straightforward, the chord changes are clear and the vocals are sing-songy. Many of the material in this album recalls other bands, with 60’s British garage band sounding Know Your Onion! reminding me of artists such as The Kinks. New Slang could be a Simon and Garfunkel song, and Weird Divide sounds like it could be on Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys. The Shins know their refrences and their style, but are still unafraid to experiment with new things, which is evident if you listen to their newest alum, Heartworms. I have been listening to this album since it was released in 2001, and I don’t plan to stop listening to it anytime soon.

Grace made me make a blog

I don’t know how much I’ll use it but I liked setting it up! What if I get blog famous? Like Gwyneth Paltrow! Except my blog wouldn’t be as bossy as hers is. It’s cool cause I can have a little spot where I can put pictures and words and that’s pretty rad. Oh I can also put things I write up here! Like scripts and things! That might be cool! Anyways here’s a cool picture:

Alright I think that’s it for now. I’m a little disappointed in future me because I know I probably won’t come back to this for a really really long time. Jeeze future Parker! Get your act together!