listening:: "Tick" - The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Texas sucked. But it's true, for those of you who were wondering: everything IS bigger in Texas. In the suburbs, you cannot find a house that isn't huge and made of bricks. The main roads typically have about four or five lanes and no less. But what really got me were the potatoes. The first night I was in Texas, the people I was staying with cooked these monster potatoes that were like...three times the size of normal potatoes.
Perhaps I should explain what brought me to Texas, and subsequently brought me to the worst vacation I've ever had. Back in the day, I had these really good friends, Justin and Joshua. Their parents, Rita and Dale, were my parents really good friends. In fact, they had been friends even before I was born. I'm a year older than Justin and a couple years older than Josh, but when we were little we always played together. Justin and I were practically inseperable. Our close friendship continued for years - up until I was about 11 and he was about 10. That's when the family moved. To Texas. So now, four years later, me and my family (dad, mom, little brother) took a plane to Dallas/Fort Worth to reunite with our old friends. Ha. Hahaha. Reunite, my ass.
I think I may have talked to Justin for about five minutes, collectively. The original plan was to stay with his family for six days and five nights, but we ended up leaving for Arkansas on the fourth day because my parents sensed I was bored out of my (fucking) mind. Mrs. Rita was incredibly nice, and so was Mr. Dale, but Justin was never even home. The day we got there, we had to pick him up from his friends house. The same night, he went to the mall. The next day, he went to the mall. That night, he went to a baseball game. I went too, in the company of Mrs. Rita, Mr. Dale, my mom, and my dad. I'm just not cool enough to hang out with him, huh? That same night, he never came home because he slept over at his friend's house with his little group of all-male friends. Someone said something like he thought I might feel akward with him and his friends because they're all guys. What the fuck?! Throughout my life, more of my closest friends have been guys than girls. And besides! Akward! What do you think my whole time around you has been, fuckhead?! We were best fucking friends and then I come back after four years and you have nothing to say to me? That really pissed me off, too, because I was at least trying to be nice. For the first day. After that I got pissed. And a little sad. So I just fuckin gave up on that one. Joshua was nice, at least. I mean, we didn't talk that much either, but he was nice.
Oh yeah, and Justin's in this little band "We the People", who, if they were ever scouted by a talent agent, would probably - no promises - be turned down. For one, they fit perfectly into the punk rock category and they're nothing we haven't seen before. They don't have anything that sets them apart. They use the basic guitar-bass-drum setup, and they wear khaki shorts, Blink 182 tops, trucker hats and untied Vans (or various other "skater" shoes). They're nothing new. Talent scouts want something different, something catchy or something that will get peoples' attention. I mean, even if you ARE a punk rock band, try to revolutionalize the theme a little, give it your own flair...don't copy Blink's chords and AYOW (add your own words). Please.
Every one of the five songs on their self-mixed demo was a (sometimes whiny, sometimes not) love song. Two of the five songs were mildly catchy, but I can't even remember how the other three went because they melded right into the part of my brain where stale, similar punk rock music is stored. (After awhile, they all start to sound the same, don't they?)
I wish this entry didn't have to be a bitchy, angry, scorning entry, but that's just the way it was. It's not like I wanted a screwed vacation. Luckily, Arkansas was fun. I bought fishnet armwarmers! <3! And we took a family picture at one of those little places where you dress up and you pose on a little set and they take your "oldtimey" black&white picture, which was really fun.
The airplane ride back to Florida (YAY FLORIDA! I MISSED YOU! *kisses ground*) was hauntingly wonderful because we flew through a dark grey sky and lightning occasionally ripped through it. It was fun. I bought this magazine that had a band called the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on the cover and that came with a free CD of various songs from up-and-coming bands. I fell in love with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs instantly, especially their lead singer, Karen O, who I completely relate to more than any musician before. Their song "Tick" is the funnest song ever. Whee. ^_^