Chapter 30: Whatchu Say

This was one of those days where I woke up and never got out of my pajamas. I love those kinds of days. The day, however, was not an entirely non-productive one. I suppose that really depends on your definition of productivity but since this is my blog we will go with my definition, and by my standards something big was accomplished today. More on that later, though. The first thing I did when I woke up this morning was got on the computer and turned on 93.3 FLZ, one of the biggest radio stations in the Tampa Bay area, awaiting news on their contest to win tickets to their annual holiday concert, the Jingle Ball. It is the same deal that many of the major radio stations across the country do during the holidays, a large festival-style concert featuring a selection of up-and-comers of the moment. This year's lineup includes The Fray, Jordin Sparks, Pitbull, 3Oh!3, Boys Like Girls, Sean Kingston, The Ting Tings, Iyaz, Jason Derulo and Ke$ha. The only artists amongst that group that I even listen to are Jordin Sparks and Ke$ha, so it is not really something I would generally care enough to sit by the radio for. There is one other factor, though, that I have not mentioned yet that makes me absolutely desperate to go: Celebrity Emcee, Adam Lambert. Initially, when I heard announcements about this show I didn't care all that much because he isn't actually performing but I had a change of heart when I heard what the prize of their call-in contest actually is. They have a section at the show, the section where the winners of this contest are placed, called the "Metro PCS Celebrity Club." Essentially, when you are seated in this section you get a bunch of exclusive stuff, which mainly consists of being seated amongst lame local celebrities, but another perk of being in this section is meet and greets with a bunch of the performers and such, including Adam Lambert. So, while he may not be performing at the show I am absolutely jumping at the chance to meet him!

So, I woke up and parked myself in front of the computer, (listening to the radio station from it's website,) and spent pretty much the entire day listening for the cue to call in every hour to win tickets to the show. It was a pretty interesting experience for me because I NEVER listen to the radio, so as much as I stay informed of the music that is out right now and what is popular there are a lot of songs that I have never actually heard because the artist or the genre are not generally of interest to me. The first thing I noticed were the songs that I already knew, from artists that I like and how much, or how little, they get played on the radio. There were definitely some surprises, one example being Rihanna's single, "Russian Roulette." In the several hours that I was listening, I did not hear the song once. I did hear the rush-released second single "Hard" played once, but that was pretty much it for Rihanna. It seems that her biggest single right now is the song "Run This Town" by Jay-Z, which I heard a few times. It's a shame, too. "Run This Town" is definitely a decent song, but "Russian Roulette" is the song that has marked Rihanna's move into a new creative realm and, despite initial internet hate, I was surprised at it not getting any play at all. Another song that surprised me was Beyonce's "Sweet Dreams," which I really thought had come and gone pretty quickly. I knew it was a hit single, but I didn't realize it was still going. I heard that song in almost every hour. Also, Lady GaGa's "Paparazzi" is still getting a lot of radio play, even more than her actual current single, "Bad Romance." I heard it a lot today, as well. The song that I heard the most, though, was "Empire State Of Mind" by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys. It is a great song, but I still prefer the Alicia Keys solo "Empire State Of Mind Part II: Broken Down." I was also really surprised at some of the older music that got played. I heard "It Wasn't Me" by Shaggy twice today! They also played "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies" by Panic! At The Disco, which seemed odd to me, too.

The thing that I found even more interesting, though, were some songs that I had never heard before that I actually really liked. One song that I really liked a lot was "Heaven Can Wait" by We The Kings, which got a lot of play. I heard, and really enjoyed, a few songs from We The Kings before but never really looked into them any further than those few songs. The funny thing with We The Kings, though, is that they are actually a local band from this area, (Bradenton, the next city over from Sarasota, to be exact,) who have managed to hit it big. They are a band that I will be looking into further after hearing them today. Another song I was really into was "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls, featuring Taylor Swift. This song got automatic points from me because of Taylor Swift, who is one of my favorite artists of the moment. Aside from her involvement, though, it is actually a really good song. I was surprised, honestly, because I never really liked anything they did before. I actually saw them in concert, opening for Avril Lavigne, and was pretty unimpressed. I may actually give them another chance now, though, based on this song. One song I had never actually heard, which is strange because it was a huge deal a while back, is "Buy You A Drank" by T-Pain, and I totally fell in love with it today. I just think any song that includes the lyric, "When I whisper in your ear your legs hit the chandelier," is completely brilliant. It is fun and catchy and really clever, which is surprising from hip-hop music these days. My favorite song that I heard today, though, would have to be the song "Whatchu Say" by Jason Derulo. That song has heart. I don't know how to explain that, honestly, but it kind of hits you in a soft spot. It is beautiful and offbeat and very different from the R&B that is out right now, and I completely fell in love with it. I am pretty anxious to hear more from this guy, mainly to find out if the only reason this song is so good is because of the Imogen Heap sample, or if he's got some other stuff as good as this up his sleeve. I downloaded his second single, called "In My Head," which I also really like, so we'll see. It wasn't all good, though. The main song that I had never heard before, and really have no plans to intentionally hear again, is "Fire Burning" by Sean Kingston. I don't know if the song was produced by RedOne, one of the best producers working today, but whoever did produce it blatantly ripped RedOne off. This song, honestly, sounds like a really bad remix of one of my absolute favorite songs, "Remedy" by Little Boots. It has extremely similar elements, but mashes on beats that are too hard and really don't work. It also mashes on Sean Kingston's vocals, which I am really not a fan of, and a slew of asinine lyrics. I hate the fact that there is so much music out there right now that doesn't say much of anything at all. Unlike the Jason Derulo song, this Sean Kingston song and a lot of what I heard today did NOT have any heart. I find that disheartening about the music industry today... but there seems to be an uprising of artists to counteract this lack of heart, including Owl City, who I love and who I also heard a lot of on the radio today.

Unfortunately, though, one thing that didn't happen today was me winning the tickets to the Jingle Ball. The radio station tweeted me, though, telling me that they were doing the same contest every hour tomorrow. It is not something that I NEED in life, but it is something that would really do my general morale a lot of good right now. I am trying to use the Secret on this right now, actually. The Secret worked perfectly to get me this sort of thing before, like my meet and greet with Mandy Moore, and I think a meeting with one of my biggest inspirations right now, Adam Lambert, would be a very good thing and something to really kick start my motivation to get shit done right now, like learning to write music and put a record together. So, despite not winning today, I am feeling confident that it will happen for me tomorrow. The show is next Sunday, which is perfect because my Mom and I both have Sunday off and could make the trek up to Tampa and back without being out too late to get up for work the next morning. Yes, my intention is to take my mother with me. I understand that this seems like a really dorky thing to do but, as I've mentioned before, my Mother is like a best friend to me and she enjoys going to concerts and such with me. Plus, she was a big fan of Adam's on American Idol and still, so it would be nice for her to get to meet him, as well. Plus, honestly, I really kind of feel like in the time before I leave for California the people I need to focus on getting my time in with, as opposed to my friends here, are my Mom and my sister. These are the people that really shape my life here, and the people I will miss the most. That is where my focus needs to be in the coming months. That and achieving the goals that I have set to prepare myself for the move, like learning to drive and getting myself a keyboard.

Speaking of the keyboard issue, it has officially been resolved today. My Mom is a genius and came up with an idea that never even crossed my mind. She happens to be a member of Fingerhut and found the perfect keyboard on their website, which we have gone ahead and ordered. This way, there is no upfront payment involved and it can be paid through monthly payments. Plus, due to the fact that all of our money goes into rent and bills right now, we aren't really able to do Christmas this year, so she is splitting the monthly payments with me as my Christmas gift. So, I gave her the shipping cost of the keyboard out of the money I already had set aside in my keyboard fund and the rest of the money in the fund is now mine to get through the week, etc. Not only did she figure out a way to get the keyboard sooner than I had expected, but she figured out a way to resolve the issue I had been having with having to dip into the keyboard savings. That worked out perfectly! This is the reason why, despite having spent the entire day in my pajamas, I feel like I got something done today. One of the goals I had in place for myself has officially been met, and earlier than planned. All I have to do is wait for the keyboard to arrive and get to learning how to play it!

Next on the agenda? Driving. Time to start studying my Florida Driver's Handbook, which I said I would do a few days ago, but haven't actually touched yet. Before I go to bed tonight, I am going to do some research online on the process for getting a learner's permit so I can officially get to the actual hands on part of the process. As much as I have said I didn't think I could, I think I may be able to do this without paying a professional to teach me. I think, between my Mom and my sister, I can probably pull off learning from them. Of course, I will have to discuss this with them before I bank on that idea. It would save me some time and money, though, which would definitely be helpful. Before going to bed, I will also probably do what I did before bed last night, and watch an episode of the USA Network's newest series, "White Collar," online. I have been hearing a lot about this show recently and it's star, almost, kind of, sort of openly gay actor Matthew Bomer. The show centers around Bomer's character Neal Caffrey, a genius white collar criminal who is released from prison to work with an FBI agent solving crimes like the ones he committed. I watched the pilot episode last night and absolutely loved it. Matthew Bomer, whether he is openly gay or not, is excellent in this role. He is mesmerizing and incredibly charming and sexy. He kind of draws you in right off the bat. I'm excited to see more of this series, which is only 7 episodes in and has been picked up for a full season, so I am catching up online while it is on winter hiatus. It is an offbeat show, very much in the formula of all the USA Network shows. The only difference, really, is that I don't find this one incredibly dull. If I plan on doing all of this before I go to bed, though, I'd better get to it. It is nearly 3am, and I am exhausted.