(Erm, ignore that little copyright thing on the picture.)

So I have this tendency to think up a theme song for whatever is going on around me, kind of like living in a constantly updated soundtrack. Whether it’s because the sound matches whatever is going on around me (ie, “Flathead” by the Fratellis if I’m driving rather speedily through chaotic traffic) or whether the lyrics match whatever I’m feeling (ie, “Stronger” by Britney Spears whenever I’m feeling particularly empowered {I’ve already discussed guilty pleasures, right?}), I just feel as though life needs an accompaniment.

But besides having orchestrated notes guiding my day to day activities, I generally pick out theme songs for general eras of life too. Towards the end of highschool, my theme song was “Accidentally in Love” by Counting Crows–not because I was in love (unless you count the kid from my youth group who joined the Marines ) but because of the happy-go-lucky sound. I didn’t really have any worries then! I got into my first pick college, I had a car, I loved working at the zoo (well, I always did), the economy didn’t really suck yet, I spent my free nights at the local coffee shop with friends, and I was the top of the food chain at my homeschool group. Oh sure, I hated physics with a burning passion and I had my fair share of boy drama, but on the whole, life was laid-back good.

(Sorry about the Shrek-ness. The song did come from the movie, afterall!)

That’s not to say life stopped being fun when I hit college–quite the contrary! It just has never gotten that care-free vibe back. That’s ok though! Sure I added some stress through college, but it corresponded with higher accomplishments and a higher high (non-drug induced, mind you) when I did just kick back and have fun with friends. I had several theme songs for different phases during those crazy four years and the music came from all genres; sophomore year I defined myself with Garth Brooks “Ireland.” Why? I have no freakin clue. My Irish heritage is statistically negligible, and that’s not even where Deborah was from! Maybe I thought it romanticized triumph and going back to a safer place, and I was having a challenging escapade with chemistry and genetics that year. That particular breed of wonkiness aside, my other strays from norm were the occasional instances of two theme songs going simultaneously–for example, I was torn between Mika’s “Grace Kelly” and My Chemical Romance “Famous Last Words” during a particular phase of senior year.

But all things come and go, and when I hit the point of changing gears again and moving on to something even bigger after getting the B.A., I needed another theme song again. This time around, I had some much more deep rooted emotions to be dealing with. I was cautiously optimistic about my future, so the song needed to be hopeful; but at the same time, my biggest struggle was going to leaving behind my family and all of my friends who were as close as family. That in mind, my theme song for the end of college became Regina Spektor’s “The Call.” It’s bittersweet and somber, yet still has a beautiful sound to it. Not to mention I completely identify with the lyrics.

So now I’m in a whole new era, and I think I’m settled in enough to pick a new grand scale theme song. Oh some little fun songs have filled in spaces for the micro-phases. For example “So What?” was the theme song for fall semester’s early mornings collecting plankton, and the over all Porter lab theme song is Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” (with the exception of Ben and the new addition TJ, the Porter lab is all female, meaning we had to pick a girly song And Steph and Katie do have good choice in music.) But as far as a broader scale theme song goes, I’m open to suggestions, cuz I haven’t thought of one on my own yet. Or rather, I haven’t heard one I feel like perfectly matches everything yet. I feel like something like Muse would have to be a good match, but I need to read their lyrics…I honestly can’t always understand them even if they sound awesome. I also think this a good time for me to finally start incorporating God into my theme songs. I’m reserving “My Chains Are Gone (Amazing Grace)” for my wedding (and Bethany and Chris are singing it, not that I have any reason whatsoever for having that figured out), but “Everlasting God” and “Praise You in this Storm” are potentials.

Me!

Haha, just kidding, but see what an ego I get when I play Rock Band? Ok, well Giutar Hero World Tour. Same difference, I’m just usually to lazy to say Giutar Hero World Tour as opposed to just Rock Band.

Anyway, that band role-playing game thing! I love it! I’m kind of terrible still since I’ve only played like twice, but it’s so much fun! And who doesn’t harbor a secret inner rock star fantasy? (Along the same lines as who hasn’t pictured themselves in front of Paula, Randy, and Simon and just blowing them away with your amazing vocals?) Well, when I play Rock Band, as far as my alter-ego drummer/bassist/lead guitarist goes, I am awesome. A sold-out crowd is in front of me, and my name is being chanted by adoring fans.

You know what, though, today was especially sweet because it marked two days (and two weekends!) in a row where I’ve gotten to hang out with  a group of people from my young adults group at church. I really like the folks there, and hopefully this means I’m finally sliding into a niche here in the ‘Burgh. Last night, a bunch of us went swing dancing (which was SO much fun!), and today a little group went back to one guy’s house for pizza and some ridiculous (but ridiculously fun) video games.

So once you add up my shopping trip yesterday, my groovin’ swing dancing last night, and my rock star ambitions today, all around, though, this was a good weekend!

(btw, you will probably have notice my misspelling of the word “guitar” throughout this post. That’s because when I left it spelled correctly, some weird video game company hyperlinked the word and was advertising through my blog! Me no likey.)

You’ve probably seen at least one of their videos, most likely late at night with multiple people crowded around a friend’s laptop and someone saying “Oh these guys are hilarious!” They go by many names: the Chinese/Asian Backstreet Boys, the Backdorm Boys, The Dormitory Boys, The Chinese Dorm Boys, etc, etc. They lip-synch to various songs (usually American pop with the occasional Chinese opera or German pop thrown in), and they have their performances choreographed and include some sort of costuming. And not gonna lie, the bigger guy is just downright hot.

The following are my favorites of their videos. If you likey, you can look up many more on YouTube!

Because I’m a little beyond bored tonight, not to mention still procrastinating taking down my Christmas tree, I looked them up on that most accurate of information sources: Wikipedia. From that, along with following clues that led me to what I believe is really their blog, I found some fun info on them. For one thing, the bigger guy’s name is Wei Wei, and the little (but adorable!) guy is named Huang Yi Xin. They both graduated from an art school in China in 2006, but most of their best videos were made literally in their dorm room. Well, one of their dorm rooms; I don’t think they were actually roomies. A third guy (someone else who lived in that dorm) does appear in some videos, and though I’m sure he was amused once these two were famous and being sponsored by Pepsi and Motorola in China, he probably often had that “why did I get stuck rooming with this kid?” attitude in the beginning. I don’t know exactly what they’re doing now, but I think they are still spokesmen for some sort of Chinese communications company or itnernet portal or something like that.

What cracks me up about this is that no matter what continent you’re on, college folk are still college folk. I can easily see me and my friends from the OC running around making quasi-elaborate movies in our dorms or around our campus…oh wait…that’s because we did Note, see Chris’s facebook for a good portion of those movies, all directed by him.

To answer your question before you get anywhere near asking it, yes, I have been spending waaaaayyy too much time on YouTube lately. My meager social life while I’m still getting acquainted with folks in the area has made my laptop my new best friend (but don’t worry Bri, we’re still never breaking up!)

I wonder who came up with the phrase “death warmed over” as a response to “how do you feel.” Saying plain and simple “I feel badly” gets the point across, but this phrase must add a little extra oomph. I mean, it does brings certain things to mind that I’m sure help with the denotation of the phrase.

First of all “death.” Not the most pleasant concept. Dark, depressing, and unhealthy. Well, that part was easy!

Second, ”warmed over”, that equals leftovers, right? Normally, I quite enjoy leftovers, but no American says “warmed over.” That must mean the British folks do. So I think of leftover British food. What do British eat? Bubble and squeak, blood sausage, bangers and mash, meat pies, and Cornish pasties. Anyone have a clue what any of those are? Me neither, but they don’t sound too appetizing. So their warmed over versions must really be something. Now I have in my head that “warmed over” is something pretty grody returning to attack you (or your taste buds) a second time.

So, “death warmed over.” Yeah, combining those meanings would definitely equal an experience that would be unpleasant to say the very least. This still asks the question who said it first, but at least now that we all know what it means, we can use it more accurately.

(By the way, I’m taking my box of tissues, bottle of Vitamin water, bowl of soup, and I’m climbing back into bed! I feel rather like death warmed over.)

So it’s my first morning with nothing to do and what did I do? Well, first I slept until 1 pm since I didn’t even finish my final paper until almost 2 am, and then I facebooked and blogged

Now, what did I do after I woke up? hehe.

 Isn’t it great to go back in time? This guy burst into his 15 minutes of fame during my freshman year in college, and on any given day you could walk down the halls of any dorm and almost be guaranteed to hear this coming from someone’s room. (The same is true of Grey’s Anatomy during sophomore year in girls’ dorms, except then you heard it coming from every room one night a week.) I just love when he tweaks his eyebrow, though, cracks me up every time!

So what else did I do? I looked up other people who are worse with wasting time than I am.

Good land of the living, I can’t even begin to think how/why you would do that! Imagine the poor neighbors, all the kids dropping into epileptic fits. Sheesh. But on the other hand…it is kind of cool in a really weird way. That and it found a new use for some amazing Christmas music

Now how about these guys, recognize them?  (Just please don’t watch the whole song, it’s a tweensy bit mind-numbing, not to mention creepy seeing a twelve-year kid “begging on [his] knees.”)

You should at least note someone is prone to watching some girls dancing with women, someone else made epic by his reading a simple notebook, and someone else who may or may not have brought sexy back. If you didn’t heed my advice and watched the whole thing, then you also caught a glimpse of the one-woman circus and young Lady Marmalade herself.

But the last video I looked up, well now, this is the only one of any great consequence. You could say the need for this video single-handedly put a damper on my Thanksgiving and is forcing me to wait until July for any alleviation for my suffering.

Oh why did Warner Brothers do this to me? The writers strike? Really? Really? That’s the best you could come up with? After I read the seventh book, I had this sinking feeling like close friends had moved away and I could only visit them every now and then. With the sixth movie, I had a chance to finally see them all again, but no! Warner Brothers had to take that away from me! (cheesy and dramatic enough yet? hehe) Well, nothing, nothing I say, shall prevent me from being the first in line AT MIDNIGHT when the movie finally is released. Who’s with me?!?!? All the usual midnight movie suspects, I presume

Ahhh, the carefree life. At least for two weeks. And then it’s back to school. I start teaching this upcoming semester. Thats gonna be interesting! I’m not gonna think too much about that, though first I have Christmas and then Christmas Conference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Enjoy a tribute to Ben Hanby below )

Up on the housetop, reindeer pause
Out jumps good ol’ Santa Claus
Down through the chimney with lots of toys
All for the little ones, Christmas joys
Ho, Ho, Ho! Who wouldn’t go?
Ho, Ho, Ho! Who wouldn’t go?
Up on the housetop, click, click, click
Down through the chimney with good Saint Nick

Since I made a reference to James Horner in my last post, I thought I would pay homage to the rest of my favorite soundtrack composers. For me, a movie is nothing without the score. I hated Sea Biscuit because I felt the music could have been better. As the drama or intensity of scene increased, the music crescendo-d (? I don’t know how to change the tense on that), but when I felt like the scene was at a peak, the music just fell. No explosion of percussion, no strings all going nuts together, no blaring of brass, the music just slowly fell. Nope, can’t do it. The following composers all wrote “classics” in the soundtrack world (ok, Chariots of Fire isn’t on here, sorry), and each man wrote many more than what I listed (Hans Zimmer has done over a hundred movies), but I just picked either what I have in my collection, or what I’m aiming to buy. (Or in the case of Cool Runnings, I just really like the movie.) The following composers are listed in order of Awesomeness:

Hans Zimmer (the man is a genius; there’s no ryhme or reason to the genres he excels in. He’s just good.)

• The Lion King
• Dark Knight
• Batman Begins
• Pearl Harbor
• Kung Fu Panda
• Gladiator
• The Prince of Egypt
• Muppet Treasure Island
• Cool Runnings
• A League of Their Own
• The Holiday
• Da Vinci Code
• The Last Samuri

John Williams (btw, the name is ’nuff said; this guy is master of trilogies)

• Star Wars
• Harry Potter
• Indiana Jones
• Jurassic Park
• Jaws

James Horner (often heartbreakingly beautiful)

• Braveheart
• Titanic
• Legends of the Fall
• Troy
• A Beautiful Mind
• Deep Impact
• Apollo 13

Klaus Badelt (great for the non-law-abiders and Orlando Bloom)

• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Ned Kelly

Harry Gregson-Williams (epic battle music)

• Chronicles of Narnia
• Kingdom of Heaven
• Shrek

Trevor Rabin (adventure-inspiring)

• National Treasure
• Remember the Titans
• Armageddon

Howard Shore (and I saw him LIVE!!! He conducted the Columbus Symphony Orchestra playing LOTR music when I was in high school.)

• Lord of the Rings
• That Thing you Do
• The Aviator

Randy Edelman (not the most well-known name, but fabulous music)

• Last of the Mohicans (with Trevor Jones)
• Dragonheart

Mark Mancina (don’t know a lot about him, but I liked these two)

• August Rush
• Tarzan