Chapter 311: Summer’s Not Hot

Okay, so I’ve done a whole lot of nothing today so I am going to keep tonight’s blog a little on the short side. The first thing that I wanted to address, though, is the fact that I have gone a little boy crazy lately. I’m sure it is reflected here in the blog a bit but not near as much as it is to people who deal with me in real life. I feel like this boy insanity that I have developed has gotten to a point where it is actually becoming annoying to the people that I deal with the most – namely, Rachel. She has heard the most about all of this and I can’t imagine that it isn’t getting irritating. The reason I say this is not because she has done or said anything to indicate that it is getting annoying but I feel like if the roles were reversed and I were listening to my friend go on and on the way that I have been, I would be irritated with it. I am almost at a point where I am irritated with hearing myself talk about it all. It makes me feel a little stupid, if I’m being honest. The thing is, I definitely feel like I need to let up on it a bit but at the same time, I question how wise it would be to ease up on that kind of talk. After all, I am trying to put my focus on finding a boyfriend and if I am forcing myself to talk about it less I will, in turn, force myself to think about it less. By most people’s standards, that would be a good thing. However, with my practice of “The Secret,” it seems like I would be doing myself a disservice by focusing on it less. This is what I am looking to find at this point in my life and thus should be the thing that I focus on the most. I know the solution, of course, and have actually already discussed the solution here in the blog, but for some reason I have not managed to get myself to apply it in my day-to-day life yet. It is as simple as no longer focusing on or thinking or talking about these random boys that have fallen into my lap recently but simply focusing on finding the right boy. It doesn’t need to be any more detailed than that. My quest is to find the right boy. It is not to be confused about random boys I am meeting. It is about meeting the right boy and developing a healthy, long-term relationship with him. That is where my focus needs to be and, if I have to sit around and talk about boys, I need to simply talk about my desire to find the right boy. It’s that simple. Now I just have to do that moving forward. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I have spent all day today not really doing much of anything. I did want to mention one thing that I didn’t mention in last night’s blog because it didn’t really seem fitting for mention in that post – yesterday my first most anticipated record for the fall leaked to the Internet. “A Year Without Rain” is the sophomore record from Selena Gomez & The Scene, the follow-up to their previous record, “Kiss & Tell,” which I absolutely loved. There have been two singles released from this record already, “Round & Round” and the title track, “A Year Without Rain.” In spite of the fact that “Round & Round” had been out for two months or so prior, I didn’t actually hear it until after I heard “A Year Without Rain” for the first time. The first time I heard “A Year Without Rain,” I absolutely fell in love with it. The first Selena & The Scene record was pretty much trying to be a pop/rock record, which I really enjoyed but felt that the best tracks were the ones with more of a dance vibe to them, (like the gorgeous single, “Naturally,”) and always hoped that they would go more in that direction with the follow-up album. It turns out, they did. “A Year Without Rain” is an absolutely beautiful dance song with a very simple yet effective metaphor running throughout about a drought and the lyrics, “A day without you is like a year without rain.” It is gorgeous and, like I said, I fell in love with it instantly. This made me curious to hear the other single that had been released, “Round & Round,” which I also fell in love with instantly. As far as the album goes, I love it for many reasons. One of the biggest reasons is because pretty much the entire album follows the more dance sound that works so well for them. Another major reason is the fact that most of the album follows a theme of falling and being in love, which is something that I really appreciate in music right now because these are the feelings that I am looking to attract into my life. It is the same reason I am so in love with Katy Perry’s album “Teenage Dream.” The dance/pop vibe of this record is not the only major difference you can see between this and the band’s debut record – the other thing that really stands out is how much Selena Gomez’ vocals have improved between records. She has gone from having Hilary Duff-style speak-singing vocals on many songs to actual, honest-to-goodness singing – GOOD singing, at that. I am very impressed with that aspect of this record. The album only has 10 tracks on it, which is slightly disappointing, but pretty much all of these tracks are really strong. Aside from the two singles, my favorite tracks on the album would be “Off The Chain,” “Intuition,” “Ghost Of You,” “Sick Of You,” and my personal favorite track on the record, “Summer’s Not Hot.” “Summer’s Not Hot” is actually really similar, lyrically, to “A Year Without Rain.” It is essentially a song about how Summer is supposed to be that really fun, happy season when the weather is warm and you are doing fun things like going to the beach and vacationing and such, but none of it is any fun without the one you love. It’s a cute little ditty – I kind of consider it “A Year Without Rain” light. Those two are definitely my favorites on the record but like I said, the entire album is really great. I definitely recommend it if you are looking for some fun, summertime style music. It is a ton of fun. I kind of wish it had been released before Summer, though, because it is absolutely, 100% a summertime record and would have made a great soundtrack to the summer – perhaps next year.

Aside from Selena Gomez & The Scene, another recent leak that I have actually been really into is the new Maroon 5 record, “Hands All Over.” This record actually leaked 3 or 4 days ago but I didn’t bother downloading it because I have this strange relationship with Maroon 5. I like a lot of their songs but in general am not overly impressed with their albums as a whole. They are not a band that I generally seek out but I enjoy a lot of their stuff when I do happen upon it. So, when I saw that they had a new album out, I wasn’t all that interested. Still, I got bored and was already in the process of downloading some music, so I decided to give it a shot. I must admit that I am not all that impressed with this record, just like their other records, but it does have a really cool sound throughout and a few songs that I am really loving these past few days. The first of those songs is the album’s opening track, “Misery.” This song is kind of in that normal Maroon 5 style, where it is almost kind of jazzy but still has a rock edge to it. The thing that sets this song apart, though, is the fact that it also incorporates this really cool tropical sound and has an uber-catchy pop hook that I love. Another song that I am really into from this record is called “Never Gonna Leave This Bed,” which is basically a song about reuniting with somebody who you had lost previously and kind of vowing never to let it happen again. This song almost has a little bit of a U2 vibe to it, which is not something that I normally enjoy, (I certainly don’t like it when U2 does it,) but which I really enjoy in this case. I am also really into the song “How,” which is a mid-tempo ballad with a line that really struck me that says, “Though I don’t understand the meaning of love, I do not mind if I die trying.” I definitely get that sentiment. Another track that I really love is called “Stutter,” which is not all that interesting, in terms of lyrics, but has a really fun, catchy sound and a great hook. It is just a fun, spunky song about getting jittery around somebody you like, which is also something I can relate to. Overall, it is not a bad album by any means but aside from the songs that I have mentioned here, nothing really sticks out to me all that much from all the rest of it. Still, I figure if you are already a fan of Maroon 5 you will definitely enjoy this record, as well. It seems to stick to the standard Maroon 5 formula, which has worked out well for them so far. I’d definitely recommend checking out the handful of songs I mentioned, though. It’s fun stuff.

Aside from all that, I don’t really have much to say about this day. I am getting ready to get myself dressed and such in order to go pop by my sister’s house for a few because she is heading out of town for the next week on a business trip. It should make for an interesting week at work without her there. I don’t know if that will be in a good or bad way but it should definitely make things somewhat interesting. It normally does. I am also really feeling awkward about this week because I have to work four days in a row, which isn’t actually a big deal but it is just something that I haven’t done in a long time. I’d better get used to it, though, because this is my new schedule. As mentioned in Friday night’s video blog, my schedule has officially changed. I am still working 8am-6pm but now my day off is on Friday instead of Tuesday. This means that I have a 3-day weekend every weekend. I am pretty excited about this. Plus, it works out well with Rachel’s schedule because her days off are generally Thursday and Friday, which means that we can go out on a Thursday night without having to be concerned about one of us having to get up early the next morning. It should be a lot of fun. I am pretty excited about it. I just know that doing the four days in a row this week is going to feel a little strenuous in comparison to what I’ve been doing for the past few months. It’s one of those luxury problems, though, really – kind of like complaining that your closet isn’t big enough to fit all of your designer clothes or not having a big enough wallet to fit all the large bills that you need to put in it. I don’t have those types of problems, unfortunately, so I am really cherishing this minor one that I do have. Anyway, I need to go get dressed and ready to leave the house. Have a great night!