some things on my mind

Here are the thoughts I haven't been able to fully develop into a single post, but will perhaps, in the aggregate, make for a satisfactory update for all of you WCFC members out there:

1. Adam Levine
You know, the singer of Maroon 5? That guy is a kind of a douche. He reminds me of Christian Bale in American Psycho. I saw him on the American version of Top Gear and he came across as a first rate jerk--the dude had 0 humility. Yesterday, he was interviewed on All Things Considered about Maroon 5's new hit song, "Moves Like Jagger," which is a catchy song, sure, but pretty obnoxious all the same. At least he admitted that only he would dare sing it. (Side note: I hope one day to see my buddy Jason T perform this song on karaoke--he really does have the moves like Jagger).

Ugh, but Adam Levine is so good looking! (Just like Christian Bale in American Psycho.) I hate that. I'd rather like someone 100%, the way I do Ryan Gosling (amiright, ladies?!?), than contend with this attraction ambivalence. Although, now that I think about it, attraction ambivalence is precisely why I've always liked James Spader. The difference is that James Spader turned out to be a pretty awesome actor.

2.  Transcripts
In order to complete my application to the MSW at the local state university, I had to collect and submit PDF versions of all my transcripts. Most people applying to graduate school only have their undergraduate transcripts to worry about, but I have five schools to contend with. When I was on the job market I ran into the same problem. Why does anyone need to see the transcripts for the two schools I went to prior to finishing up my B.A., especially as those transcripts are actually on the degree granting institutions' transcript? Coincidentally, neither of those schools exist as they were when I attended them. One has become a limited 4-year degree granting college (it was exclusively in the business of churning out AAs), the other went bankrupt and has been absorbed into a much larger regional university system.

Now that I have all of the transcripts in hand, I don't really care about any of this, but I am annoyed with myself for being embarrassed by my undergraduate grades. Here's the thing: I did really well in college, but only in the last two years. In the first two years, I went to three schools in an effort to correct the mistake of taking a soccer scholarship. My grades in the year that I played soccer were average, and I have nothing to be ashamed of, especially as they were only part of my responsibilities at little ol' Has-Been U. But still, it makes me sad to see that in those two years I really didn't do as well as I would have liked. My cumulative GPA was anchored by that first year of scores, and that influenced what schools I got into for graduate school. So when I am noshing on sour grapes whenever I see another person feted for "earning" acceptance into an elite institution, just know that I blame everything on my soccer coach Mark Johnson. I'll give that bastard something to sue me over. (NB: My soccer coach really did threaten to sue me for slander. He was kind of a douche, too).

3. Finally!

(the opening dialogue for this video is...well, I'll just let you struggle through it)

On the drive home from Mississippi this weekend I was listening to the radio when the song "Keep on Lovin' You" by REO Speedwagon came on. Because I was concentrating on driving through a construction zone in the rain, I wasn't singing along as per usual, and for the first time in ever I understood these lyrics...Wait, before I tell you what they are, I want you to know that I never came up with alternative lyrics for this part of the song. I simply could not make sense of what the singer was saying. So, here is what he says:

"You played dead

But you never bled

Instead you lay still in the grass

All coiled up and hissin'"

Now, that is what the lyrics available online say. I think he's actually saying "fled" rather than "bled", but that is a quibbling point considering what a revelation the whole snake-in-the-grass theme was to me. Now that rattlesnake sound following that line makes sense! Once the real lyrics penetrated my inability to understand that part of the song it was like I had just seen Jesus. I was thrilled! So much that I shouted, "Finally!" and woke my husband from his passenger seat slumber.

I had a similar experience with the song "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". For the longest time I thought she was singing, "What in the world can, what in the world can they say? Tell me, oh, what in the world can they say? Oh oh girls, girls just wanna have fun." Of course, most people know that Cyndi Lauper is actually singing, "When the working day is done. Oh, when the working day is done. Oh, girls. Girls just wanna have fun." I figured out the lyrics about 15 years after hearing the song for the first time and felt like a champion for doing so. Now, with 30 years between me and the first time I heard that REO Speedwagon song, I declare myself Master of the Known Universe.