My Heart is the Sea

Which is what is written on a shirt I just bought for, like, 5 bucks. There is a ship on it because of course there is. It's weirdly shaped because practically all of the shirts I buy are weirdly shaped, so I don't know what I'm going to wear with it just yet, but I have a feeling I'll find a nautical-looking jacket or an eye patch and my problem will be solved.

I don't even know what to say about my life and what it is doing at the moment. There are all these THINGS I'm gonna have to deal with soon. You know, big important questions to be answered, decisions to be made, and responsibilities to be fulfilled. I mean, they don't have to be dealt with absolutely immediately, right this second, but I can feel them approaching. Their shadows loom large across the horizon of my life and I've gotta say, I don't like them there and I'm definitely not looking forward to having to deal with them.

"Shouldn't you be looking at graduate programs, Morgan?" they ask. "How much money are you willing to owe to go abroad, Morgan?" they persist."What are your professional plans for the fuuuuture, Morgan?" they wonder. "I mean," they continue, "What are you even going to do with your life?"

My bluntly honest answers at the present time are, respectively, probably yes, I don't know, ummmm..., and oh God I have no idea anymore. But you can't say that, so lately I've taken to glaring at them and retorting, "Fuck you, I've won a BAFTA." A pause usually follows. "No, you have no-," they begin. "Wait. Are you on the internet again?"

Yes. Yes I am. Or reading Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta which is a book you should all read. All of you.

Life is pretty alright otherwise, though. On the one hand school is more intense than I expected, but on the other I got to handle a 12th century French manuscript of Lancelot Du Lac. Parchment is really weird - it's almost greasy and after you've touched it your hands smell a bit like it, which should be faintly disgusting since it's 700 year old cow/goat skin that's been treated with God only knows what, but it isn't. So that class is awesome and my gender studies class is full of wonderful people. French class is... French class.

College friends are nice and all, but I miss you guys like crazy. Until today the weather has been all balmy and mid-March-like, so my internal calendar has been all, "Oh, hey! The weather's getting nice, which means school's gonna finish up and you'll be able to hang out with those lovely people again." No, actually, it is still only early February. You are horribly misinformed, internal calendar.   

I am rambling a bit now, I believe. Apologies for throwing my jumbled feelings at you. Now I'll throw some musics at you instead.

I found this one on Monday and just now watched the video. I don't know how I feel about the video, but I adore the song. 

This one is beautiful and sad.

This last one is much happier and I couldn't find a good version on YouTube, so click the liiiink.
http://burdge.tumblr.com/post/17299280178/paris-in-the-morning-joe-purdy

IT LIIIIIIVES

I feel as though that gif perfectly represents this blog atm, with Rachel's post being the guy on the left and the rest of us on the right. A++. Keep the stories and music coming.




This number here is a long-time favorite of mine. Broken Bells is a superb band that includes Danger Mouse (who produced the Demon Days album for the Gorillaz) and the singer from The Shins. Ugh. I love everything about both this song and the video. I've probably shoved it at a few of you before. GIVE IT ANOTHER LISTEN.

Smile for the Camera

What can I say?  I haven't been up to too much.  Turns out my History of Rock and Roll class is also kind of like a seminar, so it's got a hefty bit of reading to go along with it.  I'm just glad I'm in there with like five friends.
Also did I tell you about my awful business law professor?  Mega-douche.  We have quizzes on every chapter that are fill-in-the-blank (heaven forbid!) on words that are like... in the captions of pictures.  And he said 'oh dudes don't worry the cases will only be on tests.'  Guess what was on the first quiz?  If you guessed cases you'd be correct.  Ughhhh so mad.

IN OTHER (better?) NEWS:
CMP Tactical Laser Tag (http://www.cmpmilwaukee.com/).  Went there with some friends.  Got assigned to a six year old's birthday party team.  Played against high-school bros-in-training.  Was slaughtered. Was amazing.  Anyone in the Chicago-land area should consider coming up here for a weekend visit and bring some monies for this shit right here.  The guns are like, custom made.  With scopes and shit.  You have to shoulder them.  It is ridiculous.
Also had a friend question aspects of my lifestyle.  Was able to reason with myself and others adequately.  Am happier than ever with life decisions.

Though still worried about the non-college future.


Here, have a song!

Music Now, Proper Word-Things Later

Popping in to say, Hello My Lovelies and I'm Still Alive I Swear. I'll write something with proper paragraphs and stories (or weird tidbits pretending to be stories) and such sometime later this week. But for now, as per Missy's suggestion take these musical things.

I haven't listened to any of her other stuff despite finding her a while a go... but I like this song.  And her eye make up. Warning, she's very British voice-wise.

Also, take this. I love it so much I can 't even express it, except to show you my ipod which will complain to anyone who will listen that I've had it on repeat all week. It's totally worth the electronics abuse imo. Now I'm gonna go and try to sleep. I love you all.

Never-Ending Search

So it seems people aren't all that interested in sharing stories, so perhaps we can share music instead for a while? We all have lulls, but music is a constant! I am dying for new things to hear, and most of you have different enough tastes in music from me that you're bound to have something I might find intriguing.

NOTE: I just realized Mouse posted. For some reason my email failed to tell me this. But still. MUSIC PLZ.

My song for you today is one I've been listening to like crazy the past few weeks. It's not new, but I've been in an oddly western/sci fi mood lately and for some reason this song fits that mood.

Note: Coheed and Cambria is not for everyone. Regardless, I like this and the Year of the Black Rainbow albums a lot, and I've been looking around on good deals for the other ones, too, because each installment is part of a bigger story. Quite a few of the songs can stand alone regardless, but if it's not making sense, it's because it's just a fraction of something bigger.

Self-improvement is just home-improvement for those of us without homes

These last few weeks have been strange for me. I caught quite a bit of the sadness, the despair, the feelings. I've been feeling incredibly lost and dissatisfied with myself as a person. I'm trying to change, to be more reliable. It's difficult. Being unreliable is easy.

I had a bit of an epiphany though. I'm finally going to get off my bum and strive to achieve idle goals that I had set almost two years ago. I'm going to get a job in the massage field, save up enough money to take continuing education courses in spa techniques, and see if I can't get a job on a cruise ship for a year. This is a projected goal, but I hope I can be fully trained before year's end. Then I'll be working my ass off in the Caribbean or somewhere similarly hot. Wish me luck! Miss you all.

Oh and for my song, I have this little number that continues to make me weep like a little bitch for reasons that I don't fully understand. Don't judge.

In Case of Fire (Alarm)

I never keep my pants in my dresser and/or wardrobe at school. Instead, I keep them in an easy-access spot right next to said furniture, in a little basket that is not quite a basket, and therefore is not an object that I loathe with every fiber of my being.

I do this because my experience in college dorms has taught me one very important thing: at any point in the night, or at any point after all your classes have been attended and social shin-digs are over with, when you're sitting cozy in your dorm room with your PJs on (and, if you're like me, you wear shorts. or capris), those ordinary jeans sitting in that unassuming little basket could at any moment turn into Emergency Pants.

Emergency Pants are really only used for one thing: fire alarms, set off at ungodly hours or inconsiderately during one of your favorite TV shows. And last night set a new record for me: it was our first night back in the dorms, and that damn alarm went off at 1:30 in the morning. And since it was winter outside, I was very much pleased that I maintained my Emergency Pants philosophy, because holy crap on a cracker it was cold out there.

Hopefully the rest of you got off to a better-rested start for this exciting new semester. I've had one class thus far and I already love it. What interesting classes are you guys taking this semester? And if you're already done with school, do you have any current projects or other exciting things looming on the horizon?

My classes this semester:
Multimedia and Web Design
Advanced Seminar for publication design
Modern Lit
Spanish
American Lit

I've never actually seen the video for this, so it'll be an experience for all of us.