Acapella... bear with me, I will get there.

Ok it has been WAY too long! But I feel so much for like myself again these days, and its back to writing!!

People really into musicals: OK, I seriously think that people that love musicals are the kind of people that are sorta rare. They love music for music. I know that musical music can be sorta theatrical, but I think its just THAT reason that they love it. Because the music is actually good - not pop, rap, modern day rubbish (which I enjoy, so I cannot really talk but I will anyway!). So what I mean is this: the lyrics are absurd at times, no matter what the song is about - BUT the fact of that matter is this: the lyrics are theatrical because the music itself is theatrical. Ultimately, its not about the point the lyrics are making in the song (like with most pop music). For these rare few, it has WAY more to do with the actual love of music - its complexity - This is the reason why I think people who love musicals and classical music love it so much! Anyway, that was SO random, but it needed to be said.

NB: I am a lot like this because I have been singing classical music and doing show choir for a LONG time... but I also love the trash on the radio. But you will notice that when you try to combine the two in a setting with the rare people who appreciate music beyond pop tunes and lyrics, THEY WILL DESPISE YOU AND LOOK DOWN ON YOU. Beware of trying to incorporate contemporary with classical or contemporary with musical. It only works in a few situations, but here are some instances where it does NOT work...

1. Mixing pop with show choir - show choir people LOVE a good pop tune... but it has to stick more true to the musical/theatrical style of music than to actual modern pop. If your show choir decides to do a Britney Spears or Lady GaGa song, you are done.. like, you cant do that.

2. Mixing pop with classical - trying to be a pop star/diva in a classical setting is what classical musicians (especially Instrumentalists) despise! You will note that the DIVA operatic Soprano of the group is always blond and ALWAYS despised amongst the entire choir. However, instrumentalists might even go as far to say that EVERY member of the actual choir, i.e., the singers, are all divas and need to go. haha, ITS SO TRUE, you know it is.

3. A place where the combination could work: I have found, at least at UVA, the place where classical can mix with contemporary without any issue is ACAPELLA! In the domain of acapella, it seems that the slight divergence of classical/proper singing can merge into this hybrid breed. The hybrid is a lot like pop music...however, the people singing it are the kind of people who understand and adore music for music. They enjoy taking trashy, poppy shit and turning it into a masterpiece. Acapella does seem to be the one exception.

For whatever reason, acapella slipped through the cracks...not to say it always will. You can never be too sure how humans will evolve to make something more or less elite and able to pass or fail the standards of pretentiousness. (God forbid we assume anyone at UVA be somewhat a slave to keeping up with the Jones')

However, in this particular instance, it reminded me MORE of this strange analogy that actually makes sense to me: its like acapella is to music how race is to partisanship/voting. We don't talk about race being a factor to voting unless one of the candidates is actually black, and then race is completely acceptable to talk about. And indeed race was  amongst the common political discourse in 2008 and will undoubtedly be in 2012, constantly being an issue that activates the way people will think about a certain issue. Even though we all should know that race does not inherently affect how any one person will create policies that better our country, we will definitely fall back onto it as an indicator of how well Obama did given the history of this country and the remnants of hostility between races. Well, acapella is the same way. It is not exactly classical music.. and indeed, true classical musicians, especially those instrumentalists, probably despise the talented musicians that devote their time to acapella. For now, it is generally still somehow slipping through the cracks of acceptability. AND, for now people are pretty accepting that there is nothing inherently different about this hybrid breed of musician. But, I have a feeling that the acapella-ites will all make a decision to go ONE way or the OTHER.

Just like people eventually solidify as racial liberals or racial conservatives, I think acapella people will eventually decide whether to be a future acapella/pop star or a more conservative, true-to-the-fight classical musician!

SOOOO random.

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"rich" people...

I think it is about time for at least SOME of us to learn this lesson... People who have parents that put their children first are not rich. They are privileged.

Privileged does not equal Rich...

Let me explain why. In order to be rich, you  have to know how money works. You do not save money, hold onto money, or work for money. You make money work for you. So, if your parents have a job where they make millions of dollars because they know how money works, then they are working for money, but also making money work for them. YES, it is smart to save money. YES, it is a good thing to put your children first and set them aside money to go to college. But, the rich people most UVA kids wish they were probably just pay for college as the bills come. No loans, no saving, no nothing. College bills are any other bill to them. If your parents pay for college by saving their money - You. Aren't. Rich.

It really isn't a big deal. Its just that, people need to be more appreciative of what they are given. Instead of assuming you are rich (or trying to compete with everyone around you as to who can afford the most expensive things) go back to your roots - when you are deciding what to buy (electronics, clothes, sportswear, etc...) get the stuff that you really like. Make decisions based on quality AND interest. I personally despise certain styles and brands and touch screen things. So, when I make decisions about what I want to buy, I buy the stuff that I like. Not the stuff that is going to put me on par with everyone around me. If you are privileged enough to get high quality and nice things, please enjoy the fact that you are. Stop wasting money on stuff just to fit in and compete.

Also, stop saying you are rich. You're not. Your parents are smart, hard-working people that put you before themselves. So stop walking around and acting like you paid for all of this shit with your own money because you are so rich and can afford to lose your phone every week and get another one. Cause I have heard enough. You do not fool me. I have real rich friends and GUESS WHAT? They do not act like that. They buy the stuff they like and they don't talk about it. Why? Because they were raised with nice things and enjoy them for their total value, not for the value other people place on them.

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that new Maroon 5 song...

Get Back In My Life reminds me of one my of least favorite phrases...

"Why are you never in my life?!" ...excuse me. When did it become my job to be in your life? Why are you accusing me of not being in your life? I really dislike this overdramatic statement because...

1. It is definitely an accusation. You are implying that I am the one that never makes an effort to see you and it annoys me. That is rude. Stop it.
2. It is always said with such an ANNOYING tone! Either the extremely loud and obnoxious voice OR (my favorite) the whiny, sad, and all around womp voice.
3. It doesn't make me feel bad. The reason it annoys me that it doesn't make me feel bad is because, YOU actually think it makes me feel bad. It doesn't.

STOP being passive aggressive and just say: Nick, I think I put more effort into our friendship and you don't ever reciprocate and it hurts my feelings. Otherwise find another way to say I miss you because that way really gets on my nerves.

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"All You Care To Eat"

I recently stumbled upon this clever phrase - "All You Care To Eat"

Everyone knows the universal catch phrase for buffets is "All You Can Eat". And obviously this entails two givens:
1. You are in America
2. You are supposed to eat a lot. 

Now, the dining halls at UVA apparently consider themselves to be one step above the standard buffet. Instead, UVA's dining halls are "green" facilities, provide a highly competitive price, and above all they are "All You Care To Eat".

What is it with this phrase? I realize that 'All You Can Eat' and 'Buffet Style' are not the classiest of terminology, but really UVA? Did you actually think saying "care to" was going to make you sound healthier or more appealing? I guess we have this standard at UVA for being skinny. Therefore, you can come to our dining hall and if you care to eat a little (anorexia)... please go ahead. But if you care to eat a lot, you can just barf it all up later or go on a 16 hour run (bulimia)! Either way, you can decide your portions for yourself when you come here! If they said "All You Can Eat", people would have no idea that they could limit the portions of food they consumed, I guess.

If its not about appealing to our health nuts (eating disorders) out there, then what could it be that sparked this change in terminology? It couldn't be that our dining halls are actually serving healthier food, in comparison to the fattier foods at other "All You Can Eat" establishments. That is simply not true. Done. And. Done. As if, "All You Care To Eat" is subconsciously echoing in your mind in a British accent! This particular buffet is transformational, a sensation of tastes and cultures! Gourmet meets Buffet in a whole new world of excitement... enter.. if you care...

So, this leaves me with only one option. Now, don't get me wrong. I love going to the dining hall. There is nostalgia involved, there is a plethora of options, and I personally gorge myself each and every trip! However, since our dining halls are not especially known for serving the healthiest foods, and because we certainly couldn't imagine UVA trying to feign the notion that it encourages healthy options and portions (sarcasm), I assume UVA chose "All You Care To Eat" because we are in the age of making post-modernist appeals to the public. Therefore, we all must have our own way of communicating simple messages to others without reverting or relying on colloquial idioms.

All You Can Eat = All You Care To Eat; Kirstie Alley

Beat Around The Bush = Hop-Scotch Around The Azaleas; Sex

Down In The Dumps = Need Adderall; Got A Wee Bit Too Drunk Last Night And Fell Into The Toilet

Last But Not Least = That Sucks; I'm A Double Major

Lost My Train Of Thought: I Might Smoke Too Much Weed; Dumb

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Rutger's University Incident

     For those who do not know about this, over the past week at Rutger’s University two students secretly filmed another student engaging in some sort of sexual encounter and then broadcast the footage to the Internet for everyone to watch. The student was a male and was supposedly making out with another male. One of the students doing the filming was the roommate of the kid being filmed and the other student was a female friend. I suggest checking out CNN or another news broadcast if you are interested in all the details; however, what you will find is that ultimately, within a few days of this footage being broadcast on the internet and Twitter, the allegedly gay student killed himself by jumping off of the GW Bridge, leaving behind only a Facebook update from his phone reading “Jumping off the gw bridge sorry”.
 
     I am so sick and tired of hearing stories like these and others. Gay kids or kids who are perceived to be gay that are bullied to the point that they have decided that taking their own lives is their only escape. And not to speak for those who can no longer, but when I say “the only escape”, I don’t mean from the embarrassment of that one isolated situation. What I mean is the only escape from a world that will never change and never accept them. I really don’t mean to discredit an individual experience or to justify the actions of people who commit suicide. I think we can all appreciate that suicide is not the most logical or rational choice someone can make. However, why do we code these situations by focusing on the humiliation of exposing someone’s personal life on the internet? Individually, yes the experience must be excruciatingly painful. However, I am willing to bet my own sanity that the reason this student chose to kill himself had way more to do with the aggressive and hateful intentions behind the exposure of his sexuality, i.e., bullying on account of sexual orientation.
  
     Excuse me for being bitter or lacking hope for change, but I have witnessed and experienced gay bullying more times than I can count. Additionally, I am tired of it not being OK to address gay bullying at the root of the problem. Why do we have to dance around why these things happen? People have got to start being penalized for exactly what their intentions produced. In this case, these students purposefully breached another person’s trust and exposed their personal life with the intent to embarrass him because they thought he was gay. I am not at all saying they should be charged with murder. But what certainly should happen is that these students should at the very least be charged and tried for malicious sexual harassment. I am not trying to sound like one of those gays who want to make everything about someone’s sexual orientation. However, as long as people are killing themselves or even being assaulted (oh hey, UVA) because of it, I feel completely justified in making it ALL about being gay. Because, that is exactly what it is about.

Here’s a link to the story I watched and read about.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/09/29/new.jersey.student.suicide/index.html?hpt=C2

Hydration!!!

Watch out CamelBak, there's a new water bottle in town.

I have noticed quite recently that THESE types of water/beverage carrying devices are becoming "all the rage". These water bottles are entirely plastic.. the frame, the top and even the straw are all reusable! Quite eco-friendly, classic UVA/Charlottesville. And of course the simple fact that it has a straw, just like CamelBaks, makes it that much better! But somehow this has begun to catch on.

I sorta like them... But I will say that only at UVA would water bottles become an accessory to keep up with.

Buses on rainy days

Since it has been non-stop raining, I have had several encounters with some of my favorite but forgotten absurdities. And ONE of them are rainy days on the bus.

We all know the rules of lines. If not, let me be clear. If you are first in line, you are FIRST to enter whatever it is you have stood in line for. Now, at a bus stop, there is a hodgepodge of politics. There are always the people that get there really early, the ones that are getting there right as the bus is getting there... it is hard to really know who is first. And, to make matters even trickier, it all also depends on your strategic stance and where the driver decides to stop. Now, when it is raining and MORE people than normal are riding the bus, everything about the rules of lines and buses increases exponentially! And by that I mean, peoples' attitudes and determination.

Overcrowded buses are already annoying, but when its wet, its almost a guarantee that the bus is going to be crowded and gross (and if you've ever met me, you will know that I have an extreme hatred for being UNNECESSARILY wet). And for some reason, when crowds compound with wet and you add this all to a bus, you get the following......

The Sitters: The seated people on crowded buses, especially on rainy days, all of the sudden become the better human beings, above others if you will. They managed to make it on time or beat the crowd and therefore look at themselves as equivalent to Manhattan's Upper East Side elite. They look down upon those who have to stand & hold onto the rails for dear life. They also tend to make comments about "the standers" - that they need to keep moving back to make more room or that they just hate when the bus is THIS crowded.. The sitters are united under a common coalition: The Standers are gross, wet and below them. They want to get off the bus as quickly as possible. OH, and if a stander dares to lose their footing because of the quick and sudden braking of the bus, SHAME must be inflicted upon them with a quick glare or snarl.

The Standers: The standers on these days are not very in tune with the snooty sitters, other than the fact that they want one of their spots. Their politics is much like that of people waiting to find a parking spot in a crowded parking lot. They are in competition with each other and will do anything to be the first to get that one seat that opens up. If you watch, their eyes dart around in the direction of those who will be their greatest competition for the next open seat. The standers do not want to be on the bus anymore than the sitters, but their focus is first on finding a seat and second on getting off the bus. Which leads me to my next point. Once a stander becomes a sitter, they immediately take on the sitter characteristics, as if they hadn't JUST been standing. It is QUITE amazing how quickly it happens.

WHAT is the perfect word to describe this human interaction?

What is PETTINESS, Alex.

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