in a rock-ish mood

Probably has to do with walking around a music store that sells almost exclusively hardcore metal. I didn't really run into anything there that I liked... or even recognized.

Well, that's a lie.

Me: "Anthrax"... "Anorexia Nervosa"... It's like they go through the dictionary looking for words with negative connotations.

Chris: Oh hey, that's a good band!

Um, who is this kid?

Anyway, I was feeling adventurous and tried to check out some of these bands that I was told I should know of. I didn't like most of it, so I went back to my Jack's-Mannequin-comfort-zone of rock-type music. But it's not British, so I'm considering it a change from my last music episode.

Cell Phone - Jack's Mannequin

Sand In Your Shoes (acoustic) - This Providence

New York (Saint In the City) - The Academy Is...

Magnolia - The Hush Sound

Paper Chase - The Academy Is...

Do You Feel - The Rocket Summer

The Running Free - Coheed & Cambria

These songs are reminiscent of my ninth-grade music obsessions, actually. Ninth grade was when I discovered Jack's Mannequin and The Academy Is... and The Hush Sound. The first two I was introduced to on the field hockey bus. Isabel and Jenna listened to them (hey guys, not that I stalked or anything, but we all do crazy things freshman year), so it was the cool thing to do, and then I realized I liked both bands a lot.

And The Hush Sound was my own very independent discovery, probably with the help of Pandora or something. Same with The Rocket Summer.

My favorite song in ninth grade was "Brat Pack" by The Rocket Summer.

This ain't where it's at

My friends will second that

And I gotta admit, sometimes it's pretty sad

But it's like we're our own brat pack,

We're always kicking back,

Nobody can take that, that's that,

It's like it's all we have

It reminded me quite vividly of the time spent under the stairs in the East Building. We were sort of lame. We knew we were sort of lame. But we were playing Extreme Heli Boarding and listening to the mango song and laughing our asses off all the time, and it was a good place for me to be.

That song still takes me back. I very distinctly remember jumping around to it in my room one June evening.

So maybe later today I'll know

What I will do with my life as I know it

Maybe for now I'll drive back

to that place where I belong

And hope to god it hasn't changed...

I remember that night so clearly. It was shortly after Darfur Night, I think.

What a crossroads of life that was. I am just now realizing how interesting ninth grade was. I feel so removed from it, but it was only three years ago. I feel like a different person. But also the same person.

I mean, I'm still loving The Hush Sound and The Rocket Summer. I can't have changed much.

The way I act has changed a bit.

Who I am has not changed.

My core is my core.

But my life is a completely different animal.

Love always,
Clara