Oh well, off to get smashed at (only) my fourth player’s party this year… although, in retrospect, player’s parties haven’t exactly been the best thing for me this term. Well… not the worst thing either, but god knows lots of drama always ensues. Party(1) was the second night in my weeks long unbroken string of seeing Selina, and the party where we infamously switched clothes and then disappeared back into a bathroom for an indefinite period of time (all of which was spent talking. No, really). Party(2) was the one where i had pneumonia and wasn’t allowed to drink anything, and I was chewed out by her the next day for my attending sans her despite her being much sicker than i was at the time. Party(3) was a week later: Laurel’s going away party the night we broke up. That was interesting. I think it’s the only time i ever even contemplated drinking destructively, but when i got past my fourth one i realized how aimless the whole idea was and just had one more.
It just ocurred to me that Selina might be so interested in using Laurel as a weapon against me in fights because i talk about her so much on here. I don’t think anyone really understands that (for me) blog is to life as the x-men cartoon was to the comic book: abridged, simplfied, and at times altogether rewritten. Anyhow, I couldn’t very well talk about how much time i spent in her bed (most of which was spent talking. No, really), could i?
laurel
Isn’t it funny what dreams can reveal to you? As much as they’re random and they shift scene and story wildly from one moment to the next, sometimes you find out things about yourself you were never really sure of. Because, you can repress something you’re feeling all of the day, but that whole time it’s living in your unconscious and awaiting its escape at night. I suppose that’s how i sometimes get work done in my sleep; if i’ve been worrying enough about writing a paper during the day at some point in my dreams i start writing an outline. But, i wasn’t really talking about academia.
I didn’t have the slightest hint of a crush on Laurel until i dreamt about her. One night she was at the center of my dream, smiling and perfect, and in the dream i wanted nothing more than for her to like me … and when i woke up the next morning i started to feel the same way. Did the dream decide on my crush for me, or did i already know how i felt and the dream just opened it up? We all know about the historic proportions the crush took on after it conception, so obviously my dream was right on some level… but which?
I had some revealing dreams last night that told me just where my priorities lie, and i think i was a bit surprised by them. Plot motivation, or reflection of the inner soul? Hard to decide when you don’t even know what’s going on when you’re awake. And god knows i never do…
With the aid of the intrepid Bill Hull today in the recording studio, i complete not one, not two, but half the vocal/guitar tracks for my newest demo cd. Towards the end of the session we recording “Angel,” “Lost,” and special guest-star “Bridge” all in a row with a single retake on the former two just to be safe. However, the highlight (as well as the major time-consuming task) of the day was “Under My Skin.”
Bill had heard “ums” enough to have an idea of what i wanted to do with it, and we agreed that we needed to get the basic guitar track down first because anything else in the song would be based around the nearly-random guitar solos i’d invent while playing. I think we made an attempt at getting the basic tracks for an entire hour, and nothing would work. Even when i could get through an entire take the song just didn’t ring true. Suddenly, into the studio popped Laurel, who came to hang out at Bill’s request. Bill and I idly chatted with Laurel for a few minutes while cuing up a tape, and then i launched into the song once again. There was a moment in the beginning where i almost aborted the take because i did a line very late (which came back to bite me in the ass when we overdubbed background vocals), but i hung in and finished; i don’t know if it was because i had an “audience,” or if it was because the audience happened to be the girl who the song was written about, but everything clicked. When we listened back to the track, Bill turned to me and said “we’ve got to keep these vocals; you’re really feeling these words.” And i, of course, agreed.
Then the fun began: it took thirty minutes (at least) to lay down a bass track after i fumbled twice during the solo. While i was playing bass, Bill kept gesturing to Laurel, who was quietly singing along from her seat. With much maneuvering (much to my delight as i continued to play), he got a mic in front of Laurel so we could hear what she was singing. As we finished the bass i turned to Laurel and said: “You’re next.” So, with much coaxing and with me singing along kareokee style in my own mic, Laurel and i made a few passes at the song in harmony (yielding some really scary bits where there’s two of me singing the wrong thing to each other), and then Bill and i left Laurel to her own devices to add a last vocal track onto the song. At this point the three of us had heard about as much of “Under My Skin” as we cared to in any given day, and so we put it aside and moved onto the other things mentioned above.
Tons of fun. “Never Say Goodbye” and “Crashing” will be valiantly attempted at some point tomorrow (as well as the equally intimidating “Relief“). Audio of “Under My Skin” by this weekend’s Trio. Awww yeah.
I literally ran into Laurel in the middle of the street the other day, and we talked for a while (after removing ourselves from the traffic flow). I don’t know about what. She said that i’ve come out of my shell (i made sure to clarify that “shell” didn’t have anything to do with “closet,” and she assured me that everyone was quite sure i was still inside of that), and while i first i was a little offended (Did she mean to imply i was some sort of corner-lurking little dweeb? I mean… moreso than i actually am?) as the conversation ebbed and flowed i saw that i really didn’t seem like the same person i was a few months ago. One of my other theatre friends recently commented that she couldn’t have lived with “the me from last year,” but she could definitely live with me now.
I feel like i should spend time staring in the mirror after comments like these to try to see what’s different, but i think that’s something the old-me would do. Maybe the new me isn’t such an obvious narcissist…
It’s funny, because we do sorta resemble 90210. Gina, Joey, Justin, Matt, and I (and Ariel just down the street at Penn). We all were friends throughout highschool, and we all unwittingly wound up at the same college. Some characters left the ensemble, and a few new ones joined. Matt fell away from the core cast but then roommate Matt was brought in as a replacement. The plots suddenly stopped just being about the four of us and expanded to include a cast of new characters with new quirks and problems that were never even touched on in highschool. Now Justin has decided to leave the show, and he’s being written out at the end of the season by transferring to another school. I don’t know how we’re ever going to find a replacement for him. And, we had finally signed a girl to play opposite of me who had the right chemistry, but she’s going on hiatus for a few weeks as the end of her plot gets worked out. And, for sweeps week we’re sending the beloved Laurel away to Europe so that all those Neilson bastards will shed a tear. And my character is still as charmed as ever, even after miserably failing half of his classes this semester. Because, some things always stay the same.
90210 had to end eventually, though, even after they managed to bring back some old favourites. It really hurt to see it go for a lot of viewers, because the show kept on evolving but all of the characters stayed the same despite years and years of experience. But, i never really liked that show. I bet the last episode would’ve gotten a tear out of me, though.