Chapter 339: Heroes

Okay, so today was a pretty bland day overall. I don’t have a lot to report about this day, so I will probably keep tonight’s blog on the shorter side of the spectrum. I woke up this morning at 10:30am when my alarm went off and found my Mom getting ready to go to work. I was a little tired still, so I just kind of sat on the couch and didn’t really move for a while. Then I wrote last night’s blog. After I finished last night’s blog I did what I said I was going to do at the end of that blog and gathered up all of my laundry to throw in the washer. I did laundry. I ate leftover Chinese food. I caught up on a few different TV shows. I re-watched “The A-List: New York,” which is my new favorite “guilty pleasure” show. In fact, I watched it twice today. I’m a little obsessed. Aside from all that, though, the bulk of my time today was spent searching and searching all across the Internet for clothes for my Halloween costume. As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, getting the riding crop pitchfork piece for my costume has really kind of changed my concept for what I want to do with this costume. Initially, I was really into the idea of giving the whole costume a bit of a “club kid” vibe, which I still want to have aspects of involved, but I am now really into the idea of it being more of a leather/BDSM style outfit.

Now, I’m not going to lie here – I did spend pretty much all day Googling BDSM gear and clothing and such and have found myself very intrigued by it all. Don’t get me wrong, I have no interest in being dominated or dominating anybody else, (as if I could EVER pull off being the dominant one,) but the fashion has some really cool aspects to it. I love the look of a man in a fishnet shirt, especially the ones with the detachable sleeves. Those harness things are kind of sexy, as well. Maybe not when they are the full body ones but the simple across-the-chest ones look kind of hot. It’s just weird for me because it’s all a bunch of stuff that I never would have been into before and now I find it all very appealing. I just wish there weren’t all of the pain and dominant/submissive stuff involved because, aside from all of that, I could totally get into all of the fashion and stuff. The leather and the vinyl and all the studs all over everything – it’s all kind of cool and sexy and interesting to me. It also plays into this whole thought that has been running rampant through my head with all the thoughts of Halloween and putting together my costume – it kind of sucks that girls get to do sexy costumes and doll themselves up and get really slutty and such but boys don’t really have a lot of options, as far as that goes. I mean, they do have some options, like those guys who run around in underwear with a cop logo on it and a badge, but you have to be a guy with a really nice body in order to pull that off. I mean, it’s not always the best idea, but big girls can often pull off doing the slutty Halloween costumes but what options are there for bigger guys? This is where my bondage gear concept comes in. It’s a nice way to make my costume really dirty and sexual but still cover up the parts of my body that have no business being highlighted. So, I am really excited to get that all put together. I have found a lot of really cool pieces around the Internet that I am going to decide on and buy after I get paid again.

Another thing that I need to work on this coming weekend is going out shopping for random Halloween decorations for the house. I figure, if I am going to call it a Halloween party, I should probably decorate the house a little bit. I also figure I should go ahead and pick up alcohol this weekend, since I will have the extra money out of this paycheck and won’t have near as much out of the paycheck I get the day before the party. I’m not entirely sure of what I should pick up, honestly, because I generally leave picking out alcohol and mixing drinks to other people. I’m not sure what to do, as far as that goes, but fortunately Rachel is planning on helping me shop for the party so she should be able to be of some assistance in that whole process. I had initially planned on doing 2 separate costumes for Halloween, one for at work and one for my party, but I have since realized that with my new 3-day weekend schedule, I won’t actually be at work for the Halloween festivities there. This is probably a really good thing because I am actually spending more money than anticipated on the one costume. It IS going to be really hot, though. I’m really excited for Halloween this year! I’m really excited to be throwing a party, too – I haven’t thrown an honest to God party in AGES, particularly one with more than three or four guests. I am experiencing a little of that Martha Plimpton in “200 Cigarettes” paranoia about nobody showing up for my party but I don’t think that will actually be an issue. It is going to be a lot of fun.

The only other thing I have to talk about today is a new record that came out today that I have kind of fallen in love with. This record was released in what I am calling the “Simon Curtis style,” where it was simply released for free direct from the artist. It makes enough sense in this case, as well, because the artist in question is Simon Curtis’ best friend, Andrea Lewis. Andrea Lewis, for those who don’t know, is a Canadian actress/singer best known for her time on the show “Degrassi: The Next Generation,” as Hazel Aden, the right hand man to bitchy, popular girl Paige. She was awesome on that show. She also released an album back in 2005 called “Float Away,” which I purchased but could never really get into. I didn’t think much of her beyond that point, especially after she left “Degrassi.” Still, when news of this album popped up today in my Facebook feed, from Simon Curtis, I was intrigued enough to go to her site and download the record. Of course, my main draw to this album was the fact that Simon is featured on one of the tracks and I am a massive fan of his. I put on the album and lied down in my bed and just listened to it without distraction. I have to say, the fact that Simon Curtis is featured on one track is the least of the reasons I recommend downloading this record IMMEDIATELY. As I mentioned before, she had released an album before that I was really not into at all – I wasn’t hugely impressed with her voice and none of the songs really stood out or stuck with me at all. This record is the complete opposite of that. Her vocals are MUCH better than they were back in 2005 and this is one of those records, kind of like Simon Curtis’ “8 Bit Heart,” where EVERY track sticks with you. The album really only consists of 8 full length songs, as well as 3 sung interludes, and I have to say that every single bit of it is brilliant. The album opens with an intro called “Heroes,” which I actually kind of wish was a full-length song because it is simply beautiful. It has this line, “Imagine what could be if you believed, if somehow you could see into my dreams, we could be heroes, heroes of love.” It is a gorgeous, sweeping instrumentation with these beautiful lyrics that make for a really breathtaking introduction to this record. This track is immediately followed by the uber-catchy, upbeat track “Voodoo,” which is one of those really fun dance songs about meeting somebody who just really catches you, like they’ve got you under a spell or some sort of Voodoo. This song also does a really great job of setting the pace for this record, which has a very experimental, offbeat sonic landscape. It’s basically an R&B record but it’s got a lot of synth and dance elements scattered throughout the entire thing. It is really brilliant. The third track is one of my favorites on the record, called “She.” This song really has the vibe of one of those 1960s soul records but in a really modernized, almost futuristically stylized way. I especially love the 60s style callout chorus of “She don’t love you like I love you, don’t love you like I love you, She don’t want you like I want you, don’t want you like I want you.” It is brilliant. The fourth track on the record is the one that I kind of rolled my eyes at before hearing the record because it was called “Robot,” which is the whole theme of Simon Curtis’ record, but once I listened to this song I changed my mind about it – it is gorgeous. It also has that 1960s soul vibe with a modernized sound. This is basically a song about somebody who seems to have shut down their emotions for you and suddenly seem to be behaving like a robot – something I can definitely relate to. The fifth track is called “Rain Drops,” and it is a great song, although probably my least favorite track on the record. It sticks with that 1960s soul vibe, as well. I don’t know how to explain that sound properly because it does have the 1960s soul vibe but it also sounds incredibly modern and, like I said, almost futuristic sounding. It is a really gorgeous sound that is repeated throughout most of the record. “Rain Drops” is a wonderful song, though, and in spite of being one of my favorites it is probably the one that I felt the least instant connection to. The sixth track on the record is one of my favorites, called “Conquerors.” This song has a very large sound. It reminds me a lot of something that would have been produced by Ryan Tedder, from One Republic. It kind of has that signature sound that he uses with a lot of the artists he produces for, where it has a really big sound and a really big, layered vocal chorus. The lyrics on this song are what really stick with me, though. It is basically a song about trying to stick it out in a relationship because you feel that strange certainty that this is the person you are supposed to be with. I mean, it doesn’t necessarily have to be with somebody who you are in a romantic relationship with. That’s not what I relate it to at this point in time. The seventh track is my favorite on the entire record and, as you probably could have guessed right from the start, it is the one that features Simon Curtis. Still, the appearance of Simon Curtis on the bridge of the song is probably the least appealing thing about this song. It is simply a beautiful song, even if Simon never popped up in it. This is a gorgeous ballad called “Talk To Me,” which is basically about reaching out to somebody who you know is experiencing some sort of troubles in their life and trying to get them to just talk to you – it is about trying to let somebody know that you are there for them, which is something that I have had a LOT of experience with lately. This song really struck me like crazy because of that. Plus, like I said, it is a really beautiful ballad. The chorus says, “Do you see the light of the setting sun? Do you feel the breeze through the open window? Do you see the end of the winding road? Then will you talk to me?” It got me a little misty eyed the first time I listened to it, honestly. It is simply gorgeous. The eighth track is an instrumental interlude called “Point Of No Return,” which leads right into my second favorite track on the record, called “Linda.” This is another song that I can relate to immensely in my life. It is a song about falling in love with somebody unattainable, somebody who will always be off with some “Linda, Brenda or Sarah or Brandy, Anybody but me.” The lyrics imply that she can’t have this guy because he is looking for something different – somebody who is uncomplicated and can just be around to be with him without all the distractions that come with a girl like her. A girl like me, unfortunately, is full of complications that could put off a guy and drive him into the arms of some “Linda.” The tenth track on the record is called “Fool Of Me,” and is one of those really hard-hitting dance/pop songs about somebody who manages to make a fool out of you. This leads into track eleven, the album’s outro, which is a little snippet of Andrea and her friend talking about some guy who’s been fucking around with her and leads into her singing a little a capella/beatbox version of the classic Soul II Soul track, “Back To Life.” It is a gorgeous display of how much her vocals have improved. It is gorgeous and an awesome way to close out the record. Like I said, I HIGHLY recommend going to Andrea Lewis’ website and downloading this record for free immediately. It is one of the best records I have heard in a while. It is simply gorgeous and I guarantee you won’t regret the download. I am completely in love with this record.

Anyway, it is nearly midnight and I need to go get my beauty sleep. Goodnight.