Chapter 194: Believe

Today was a relaxing day. It was the first of my new Tuesdays off schedule and, I have to say, I could definitely get used to this. After having gone to bed at nearly 4am last night, I woke up at 10am this morning. I woke up still feeling a little tired so I stayed in bed for about 30 more minutes – not sleeping but just listening to my iPod and checking my email and Facebook and such from my phone. I finally got up out of bed around 10:30am and washed my face, brushed my teeth and such when it suddenly hit me – had my Mom made it home and gotten to work? Had she been to the house? Not to sound like a complete Momma’s boy, (although I am,) but it had been four days since I had seen her and I was kind of hoping that I would get a chance to see her before she went to work. When I went out to the living room I found that a package that had come for her in the mail and was sitting on the coffee table had been opened, so I assumed she had been home. I heated up the leftovers from the dinner I ordered last night for breakfast. I don’t know if I mentioned it in yesterday’s blog but I decided to splurge a little bit and ordered myself dinner from the Roadside Rib Shack. It’s delicious but my Mom and I rarely ever have it anymore because it’s kind of expensive and we are trying to eat at home more often than not anymore. So, it was nice to splurge a little bit and get something really good. Plus, it was a LOT of food, so it gave me something to eat this morning. I heated that up and watched a little bit of TV. I watched the “Gossip Girl” season finale, which aired last night, and I have to say HOLY SHIT. As much as I have been saying that this season hasn’t been that great the writers really pulled out all the stops for their finale episode! It was amazing. It was jam-packed full of drama and suprises. I will also mention, now that the finale has aired, included the departure of Taylor Momsen’s character, Jenny Humphrey, which I was really upset about. I love Taylor Momsen and I love her as Jenny Humphrey. Still, from what I understand, Taylor wanted to step away from the show to focus on her music career with her BRILLIANT band, The Pretty Reckless, so I am okay with her leaving the show if it means that their album will FINALLY come out. Still, it is a little sad that her character isn’t going to be on “Gossip Girl” anymore. The story from the producers of the show is that she’ll be returning as a recurring cast mate next season, so she’s not going to be gone completely. I can live with that.

After “Gossip Girl,” I decided to try to catch up on “90210” before the season finale tonight. I only wound up watching two of the three episodes I hadn’t seen yet, though, because I kept distracting myself with other things. One of those other things I distracted myself with was making ringtones for my Palm Pixi. It always takes a little while for me to find the right fit, as far as ringtones go, and I wind up going through a few different sets of ringtones. The thing is, when I do ringtones, I always do them in themes. I don’t know why but I simply can’t be content with a group of random ringtones on my phone that don’t all tie into one another. The first thing I tried was ringtones of the Charice album. I only kept those for about a day. Then I decided to just do one ringtone to serve all purposes, Kylie Minogue’s “All The Lovers,” but that didn’t last long, either, because I always thought the phone was ringing when my alarm went off or any other thing. I then made Simon Curtis ringtones and stuck with those for the weekend and Monday but wasn’t satisfied with them, either. Finally, I made my phone wallpaper the image of Lady Gaga and Cyndi Lauper from their MAC Viva Glam ad and decided that Cyndi Lauper ringtones would be perfect. So, I took eight tracks from her “Twelve Deadly Cyns,” greatest hits album and made ringtones out of them. I love the way they sound on my phone and was really happy with the way they came out. Plus, these songs all kind of fit perfectly with the people I needed to assign them to. For example, I made my sister’s ringtone “Time After Time,” because that song always reminds me of the movie “Romy & Michelle’s High School Reunion,” which always reminds me of living Arkansas with my Mom and my sister, and we would watch that movie constantly. My Mom’s ringtone is “I Drove All Night,” because she was just telling me recently how that song made her think of her relationship with her boyfriend and how she has to drive so far to see him. It just seemed like there was a perfect song for everybody that calls me fairly regularly. I know it’s kind of unusual to sit and discuss ringtones at this length but it is one of my favorite things to do with a phone, especially a new one! Plus, I received my new phone case in the mail yesterday, a black rubber cover with a cute pink design and Hello Kitty on the back. It is adorable and makes my phone even more fun than it already was!

My Mom came home for her lunch break, which was nice since I hadn’t seen her in four days. Unfortunately, lunch breaks are only 30 minutes so she was really in and out. We didn’t really get to talk much but it was nice to see her. I made her a bologna sandwich for lunch and she told me a bit about her weekend. I told her about mine, as well, although there wasn’t really much to tell. In fact, this blog is a little difficult because there isn’t really much to tell about today. I did 30 minutes of piano practice and I felt really good about it. I have gotten decent with both of the pieces Viktor has me working on this week, although I am still not playing either one at full speed without screwing something up in the middle of it. Still, I should be able to walk into my lesson tomorrow night and be able to show improvements from last week’s lesson. I didn’t practice like I should have this weekend but I am still pretty happy with the progress I have made since last week. Still, I do find it a little irritating that I haven’t been doing my practice like I planned and KNOW I should. I don’t know what it is in me stopping me from doing it when I know I should. It’s not necessarily laziness. I wonder if it isn’t fear. I’m getting to a point where I should be progressing on to more serious pieces but I am still stuck on these two pieces from a month ago. It just concerns me because I wonder if I am subconsciously stopping myself from getting these pieces down because I am afraid I won’t be able to handle the more serious pieces. I don’t know if that’s the case but, knowing myself as I do, it is definitely a possibility. The worst part is that if I were practicing like I should be, I know I would have these pieces mastered by now. I am making my vow again, though. I WILL start practicing for 30 minutes EVERY day. I have to.

After my Mom got off work, she called and asked if I wanted to just have Chinese for dinner tonight. It was kind of funny because I had already been thinking about Chinese for dinner but hadn’t said anything to her about it. She and I have that type of connection, though. We are always randomly bringing up things that the other had been thinking about but hadn’t said. It is a really cool thing. She went and got the Chinese food and got home in time to watch “Glee.” This week’s “Glee” was absolutely amazing. It was one of my favorite episodes of the entire season so far. One of the best parts of this episode, though, was the fact that Idina Menzel returned. Idina Menzel, in case anyone didn’t know, is my absolute favorite Broadway star. She is an incredible actress and has one of the most gorgeous voices that I have ever heard. She sang a duet with Lea Michele in tonight’s episode, too, which was AMAZING. I am an extreme fan of both of theirs, so having them duet together was absolutely amazing. Plus, their duet was “I Dreamed A Dream” from “Les Miserables,” which is one of the most beautiful songs Broadway has ever produced. This episode also focused a lot on the character Artie, “wheelchair kid,” which was a nice change from focusing on all the same characters all the time. It was a really great episode and made me cry a few different times. They also included this amazing, huge dance number including Artie, to the song “The Safety Dance,” which was absolutely brilliant. It was a really beautiful moment. That is one of my favorite parts of “Glee,” actually. The show is filled with really beautiful, inspiring moments like that.

I also got to talk to a couple of people today. As I mentioned last night, I had made plans to talk with my dear, dear friend, Alyssa, who I hadn’t talked to in a long time. We debated back and forth about Lady Gaga and caught up on all kinds of random things. It was really nice. It was great to get back in touch and reestablish the connection we had before. We both agreed on that and decided that we needed to make it a point to talk more frequently. We even discussed making it a new ritual for Tuesdays, since I have them off now and she is just about to get out of school for the summer. That would be really nice and I am going to try my best to stick to that idea. I also got a call from my friend, Rachel, who I hadn’t seen in a while, and we made plans to hang out on Thursday. I’m pretty excited about that because it’s been a while and we’ve got plenty of catching up to do. These, I think, are really good first steps towards becoming social again. I am ready to actively socialize with people again – it’s been far too long for me.

It is nearly midnight now and I need to get to bed. I have to be up at 6:15am again tomorrow and need my beauty rest. My Mom told me that she wanted me to wake her up before I work out so she can join me. She even agreed to do the “Dancing With The Stars” workout with me, which should be fun. I feel kind of bad and told her she didn’t have to because it is earlier than she really needs to get up but she said she wanted to. Before I go to bed, I do want to mention this new artist that I discovered last night. This guy, Travis Garland, was a member of the boyband NLT a couple years ago, (which also included Kevin McHale, who plays Artie on “Glee,”) and is now striking out on a solo career for himself. He has just released his debut single, “Believe,” and has signed to Interscope Records. Perez Hilton has been pimping this guy out like mad because he is on his imprint with Interscope, so I decided to check out his single. “Believe” is one of the best pop songs I have heard in a very long time. It has the feel of one of those songs from back in the early 2000s, when Britney and *Nsync were the biggest things around, but doesn’t feel at all dated, like the new Miley Cyrus single does. The other thing about “Believe” is that it is a really pretty dance song. I don’t know how to explain how dance songs are pretty but it is different from how a ballad can be pretty. Pretty dance songs are my favorite kind of dance songs. Also, the lyrics to “Believe” are brilliant for a pop song. The chorus says, “You know way too many of these same old guys tell way too many of these same old lies, I ain’t just anybody, put your faith in me and I will make you believe.” I know these lyrics seem pretty simple but they make a really great statement in a well-phrased way in comparison to most pop music out there these days. Plus, Travis has this incredibly beautiful voice. I normally don’t have a strong affinity towards male voices but Travis’ is really beautifully and just catches you as soon as he starts singing. I rummaged around the Internet a bit and found a ton more songs from him, 28 in total, and have completely fallen in love with his urban dance sound. His music is just gorgeous. I love it all. I am thoroughly impressed with this guy and highly recommend you all keep an eye out for him because I really think he is going to blow up… especially since he is performing on tomorrow night’s “American Idol” results show. That should be great exposure for him. It’s not quite appearing on Oprah but it’s definitely huge exposure. Like I said, I recommend everybody check him out – go download “Believe” on iTunes or Amazon or whatever else you may use. It is well worth the $.99 or whatever it costs for a song nowadays. For now, though, I am heading to bed. Goodnight.