Because if YOU Don't Take Care of the Yummy Leftover Cake Mixture, Others Will Beat You to it! (Or "Ruminations, Exultations and the Rest of That Blogtastic Ilk.")
Little Eagle Design ( 2007)
2007-'09
All rights reserved.
The pieces of writing on this blog belong to me, 'La Fleur Balkanique'. Unauthorised use is strictly prohibited. No blog post is to be reproduced in any way, shape or form without my explicit written consent.
24-year-old girl from Melbourne, Australia.
I LOVE: my boy, my family and friends, writing, music, singing, dancing, reading, travelling, snow, Gilmore Girls, hanging out, food, dolphins, lion cubs, puppies, Karlovac, photography (especially my boy's), chocolate, wittiness, dresses (my friends will attest to my having a fetish of sorts for dresses), jeans, sweaters, TWoP, Zagreb, cute T-shirts/tops, summer nights, ice-cream, Chandler Bing. I LOATHE: racist/xenophobic/hateful/negative people, war(s), weaponry, big hairy spiders, moronic drivers, uppity folks.
The awesomeness that is my boy's photography continues...!
These are also from the Overseas Trip of Yore (funny how something that happened three months ago feels like bloody forever ago); I've virtually finished the post on the trip, and I'm trying to battle that annoying part of me that's telling me it sucks and why doesn't it flow more and why does it sound like I've written tripe and WHY THE HELL isn't it more engaging and WAAHHHH!
Ahem. I'm my own worst enemy, interwebs.
Aaaaaanyhoo-dee-doodle, photo-time! You know the drill - for a larger version, just click on the photo.
A sweet little granny in the village my boy grew up in (Licko Petrovo Selo).
Lush greenery in the village.
The gorgeous seatown of Rogoznica and the stunning Adriatic sea...aaaiiiiieeee!
Oh MAN...! I cannot adequately describe to you just how divinely succulent and PERFECT these barbecued fish were. Coupled with potato salad and copious amounts of white wine and, I tell ya, we were living like kings every evening after a lazy day down at the beach. Now it's but a fond, distant memory!
Okay, how amazing is this? One would think this was a painting but NOOOO, it's a patch of the Korana river in my hometown of Karlovac. Incredible.
Back on the Adriatic Coast in the charming little town of Lovran...its streets are pretty much all lined with beautiful buildings like this.
A quiet moment at the always awe-inspiring Plitvice Lakes...
I look at it as a way of making me update my blog at least once a week (besides, primarily, showcasing my boy's photography), seeing as it's been over two weeks since I dragged my lazy ass over to the laptop and, you know, TYPED SOMETHING OF INTEREST. On this, a BLOG.
Yeah, I'm a shit.
But! I will get better, you'll see...! I promise. THERE, I said it - now that I made a promise, I must do it; nay, WILL do it, WANT to do it!
I've given away in the post title what my new thing is, but allow me to elaborate.
My fiancé is a natural born photographer. He kicks photographic ass in ways I could only dream of; thing is, I kind of SUCK...oh, I'm not too bad, I s'pose, but I really need to focus - pun totally intended - if I wanna get a good photo, whereas Fiancé just takes effortless snaps ALL THE TIME and then I proceed to bask in the glow of their awesomeness because MY GOD.
Fiancé takes gorgeous, rich photographs, but he is far too humble for his own good. I mean, DUDE, if I knew how to take photos like that, I'd show off to all and sundry, complete with a goofy victory jig at my own talented self.
I kid, I kid. (Er...)
So now I'm doing the showing off on Fiancé's* behalf, heh heh.
The seven photos you are about to see are from our recent holiday to Serbia and Croatia, and they're a nice segue into what will be my next post on said overseas trip, which is sooooo hideously overdue that I'm appropriately hanging my head in shame right now as I clatter away.
I mean, seriously, what the hell, right?
NOW, without further ado, here is a selection of Awesome Photo(s) of the Week...! (Click on the image to see a larger version.)
The entrance to Fiancé's grandma's cosy, storybook abode...!
And here we have a rusty old nail and some cobweb...heh heh. This is somewhere around grandma's house.
At a tram stop in Zagreb, getting to relax for the briefest of moments after a day of running around maniacally (oh, who am I kidding, we were almost ALWAYS running around during the holiday, 'cept of course when we were on the Adriatic Coast for those eleven glorious days!).
The view from our room in Rogoznica, on the Adriatic Coast. Stunning, yes, but that first night we got virtually eaten alive by jackass mosquitoes because we didn't have an anti-mosquito filter thingamajig, and were ready to exert violence (Fiancé might have wanted to kill ME a little bit, due in part to my gasping loudly every time a mosquito would suddenly buzz RIGHT NEXT TO MY EAR, I mean COME ON!).
Still in Rogoznica...ahh!
Love the Adriatic seaside town architecture...so romantic and pretty and prettily romantic!
Moravice, a small village in the gorgeous Gorski Kotar region, where my godparents live. Lucky buggers!
*Oh, and by the way? These photos are Fiancé's copyright, so don't even THINK about any thievery, else we'll collectively hunt you down and cut you. By which I mean, we'll get a lawyer onto your stealing ass post-haste, so back away slowly...
(I'm sure any self-respecting Simpsons fan would have gotten the above reference to Mr Burns and his oft-repeated greeting. Hee!)
So, I'm in a bit of a foul, glum mood. Don't know why and it's pissing me off. I'll get over it, I know. I'm trying to psych myself up and get into a positive frame of mind, but alas it's not working.
I'll give it another hour.
Given my mood, I have nothing more interesting to proffer than random ramblings (you lucky things!) - just something to hold you over until I finally post my overseas trip piece (good God, I'm the suckiest suck that ever sucked).
Random rambling #1: I ordered some lovely clothes from Victoria's Secret (that's right, CLOTHES, not the lingerie!) and they arrived the other day and all items are perfect, so wheee! Two dresses, two tops. All are muuuuchos pretty! Will definitely order more from the website in due time, oh yes.
Random rambling #2: Saw the following tidbit in a local paper - "In Brazil, there is a species of cockroach that eats human eyelashes. They usually feast on the lids of young children while they sleep." Er, as if I needed ANOTHER reason to fuel my irrational cockroach phobia...! This proves my theory that they're evil, EEEVIL I 'tells' ya!
Random rambling #3: I love putting make-up on (well, mascara, eyeliner and SOMETIMES lipstick are really the only things I wear) but am always so lazy to take it off at night. I mean, it's not that hard, right? Of course not; I guess I'm just a lazy wench.
Random rambling #4: I was in the office @ 6:30AM yesterday. Yeah. No, I haven't gone bonkers - my boy and I just had to leave work around 1PM to take his mum to the airport, which necessitated the earliest start to work in the history of...well, us. Heh heh.
Random rambling #5: It's a glorious, sunny spring day in Melbourne today. Like, the sort where you just wanna go to the botanical gardens and sprawl out on the grass and be all Huck Finn-like and shit.
Random rambling #6: When I was little, I wanted to be a number of things...neurosurgeon, storm chaser (ha!), UFO investigator, stewardess, actress, pop star (tee hee!), journalist, 'businesswoman' (bwahahahah), and a writer. I still entertain the notion of that last one.
[Randomness is the order of the day: I'm home sick, going to the Doc's in an hour-and-a-half, and trying not to go stir-crazy in the meantime. Oh, and yes, I know I suck for not posting anything in two weeks!]
1. So... I'm baffled by Anglos who really SHOULD know their mother tongue and yet...don't. And WHAT is up with people not knowing how to use ellipses...? Uh, NO, it’s not ‘..’ or ‘.......’ (good Lord) - it’s ‘...’, three dots, THREE.
Not bloody rocket science. Learn it, live it, love it. Oh, I'm sorry, am I being a priggish bitch? Meh, so be it. At least I'm a priggish bitch WHO KNOWS GRAMMAR.
2. Whenever I go for a walk and see a leaf that looks like it could be mighty crunchy, you can be sure that I'll excitedly step on it and subsequently feel the release of endorphins at that wondrous crunchy sound (in fact, I recently discovered a Facebook group, "I Will Go Out of My Way To Step On a Leaf That Looks Particularly Crunchy").
Uh...wow. Criminy! Reading this self-indulgent, absurd yet ultimately hilarious claptrap almost makes me not want to consider any of her wedding dress designs. I mean, come ON, is the woman for real?!
'The concept of the sabbath'?
'The regenerative benefits of nature'?
"After performing a few sun salutes (yoga), I enjoy nothing more than a long walk near the water where I adopt the Buddhist philosophy: 'If you’re walking, just walk.'"
"My husband and I feel no real need to socialise on a Sunday so instead we’ll share a long bath before relaxing by the fire. Life is so extraordinary."
Aaaaaiiiiiiiiieeeee! THE PRETENTIOUS PRATTLE IS ALL JUST TOO MUCH!
The woman is clearly a mild wackjob and oblivious to her major douchebaggery.
Bath-time and then 'relaxing' in front of the fire? What, they just lie there?
No no NO, they then proceed to engage in magical, Buddhist- and Nisargadatta-infused levitating sex where they adopt the Buddhist philosophy 'if you're making love, just make love'!!
If I spoke like that, and how I feel all in sync with the universe because of my mung bean and sexy-time baths and concept-of-the-sabbath and New Age texts, I'd want someone to slap me upside the head, shake me violently and holler 'oh, will you just shut the f--k UP?!' - whoever the editor was who let that go to print must either have it in for her, or was giddy at the prospect of sharing this with all of us.
I'm glad for the sharing.
4. I've been 'shortlisting' some wedding venues (God help me; and by the way, who knew it'd be hard finding a nice place for a 60ish-guest wedding, pah!). So, came across "The Abbotsford Convent" and one link on their site was 'Convent Events'. I suddenly got a visual of gleeful nuns in a meadow, their habits flapping in the wind as they partook in...oh, I don't know, lacrosse or something.
WHAT, I'm just sayin'.
5. Why-why-WHY are stupid t(w)eens kicking up such a stink in cyberspace over that irritating halfwit, Miley Cyrus, deleting her Twitter account?
Gah!
Methinks a 16-year-old (!) who writhes provocatively around a pole during an awards show performance while spewing (ahem, 'singing') such musically-inspirational hits as 'Party in the USA' (ugh) PROBABLY doesn't have anything of substance to proffer. Juuuust a wild guess.
I mean, did y'all see the kid working that pole like a seasoned stripper?!
Uh, WTF?
You're sixteen, kiddo. Go obsess over Twilight (oy) and translucent-skinned vampire heartthrob Edward Cullen and awkwardly attempt to wax coquettish with boys...
And what the hell is wrong with her parents that they didn't veto their daughter grinding a blasted pole? I mean, that's got 'Bad Idea Jeans' ALL over it.
Parents-schmarents! "Hey, let our cash cow-- er, we mean, our daughter, do whatever makes her happy! Y'all misunderstand... She's just DANCIN', is all. That pole was just there so she could balance herself!"
Then again, what are we to expect from the daughter of a once-mulleted man who introduced 'Achy Breaky Heart' to the world? Exactly.
It was one of the more blissful weekends I've had.
Perhaps one would think that not getting out of the house would make one stir-crazy; not so, my friends. Well, at least not in my case or in the context of the preceding week.
In short, it had been a slightly hellish one and by Friday I was exhausted and ready to 'chillax'. Friday night as a start was pretty perfect because my 1st cousin Dani popped over en route to pick up her boy from a work function in the city, and we had a few glasses of red (correction: Dani had half a glass of vino seeing as SHE WAS DRIVING) and laughed like lunatics (yeah, we ALWAYS laugh like madwomen and alcohol is most certainly never a prerequisite for that).
My boy and I had absolutely no plans (which happens, well, almost never). Saturday was unseasonably cold with lots of rain and hail, i.e. the perfect day to bunker down on the couch under a nice, warm blanket (which is what I did, ahhh!). Seriously, this is a luxury most people can't afford, myself included. This weekend was a miracle, MIRACLE I say!
Plus, in the early Sat afternoon I got my thing.
You know, the thing. That dreaded monthly 'friend' whose visit is cursed by all girls ('cept of course if they're freaking out about being late and BEGGING to get it!). So, I was all blah and crampy and BLAH some more, and really, resting was my only option.
I was down with that, if you haven't guessed already.
And here's the thing: late on Friday night, I got hit by Crazy Writing Mojo, big-time. Let's just say that I stayed up 'til 4AM writing away with reckless abandon. Then I continued the next day for a further, oh I don't know, eight hours? Er, not that there's any evidence of that here, obviously, but... Okay, SO, I've got this 'side project' that I really can't get into here (ooh, intrigue!), and I feel like it's now finally starting to come into its own and that makes me feel...content.
Worked that one in there nicely, huh? Subtle as a sledgehammer.
Only thing is, I've been enslaved by the mojo and now ALL I WANNA DO IS WRITE.
It's fantastic and all, except when I'm at work and need to be concentrating on WORK...and I do focus, don't get me wrong, but I'd love to be writing instead.
Huh, there's the understatement of the century...
Y'know, there's nothing quite like sitting down at the laptop and KNOWING you'll be clattering away on the keyboard for hours and hours because the inspiration is just flowing. It's an incredibly enriching feeling for any writer, I think. Wow, way to state the obvious!
I'm looking forward to more writing madness this weekend...wheeee!
Mondays tend to incite such a response in me. Cannot stand 'em.
Oh wait, I'm being far too kind: I LOATHE them, dear interwebs.
As I type that, I can hear my mother's oft-repeated past chidings a la "darling, you really shouldn't hate anything or use that word."
But I don't, ma, and I'm not; I loathe, 'loathe'!
Ah, technicalities... Love ya, ma!
But I digress - let us return to Monday-talk (ugh).
Hell, does anyone actually wake up on a Monday, chipper as anything, and says 'gee whiz, I suuure do LOVE these Mondays, sooo excited about the workday ahead!'...? Would love to meet this person and, y'know, smack them.
'Cause I'm a crabby Monday beeyotch.
A typical Monday morning for me involves snoozing until the last possible moment (as you do), tumbling out of bed and lumbering around half-blindly (mustn't...open...eyes), and it isn't until I wash my face with deliberately cooold water that I start to come to.
Cold, refreshing water notwithstanding, I'm still grumbling and whining and muttering as I try to find something work-appropriate to wear (read: not a bathrobe, and oh my God don't even THINK about lying back down no matter how inviting the vision of the warm, rumpled bed before you).
Really, it's a most pathetic sight.
Plus, the thought of applying mascara on a Monday morn, for instance, is an act akin to torture (of sorts).
Unthinkable. Like, almost never happens. A few light sweeps of eyeliner, sure, but that's as far as it goes. And even THAT'S a chore.
I'm not proud of this.
Stupid Mondays.
Needless to say, this'll be me at the end of the day (a rather faithful visual interpretation if I do say so myself):
(Did I have you worried there for a sec? Heh heh.)
I've been meaning to write this entry for a week now (ah, those pesky good intentions interspersed with procrastination!), and the prospect of doing so leaves me both delighted and eeeeeeeever so slightly fearful.
Wait, scrap that.
Let's just leave it at 'delighted'. Whatever the hell could I be talking about, you ask?
Okay, here goes: in my last post I mentioned briefly my once-infatuation with NSYNC (oh boy, here we go). Then last Saturday, my fiance goes to me from our lounge room 'hey, whatchamacall'em are on' and I'm all 'zuh?'. I knew that a video clip show was on but could only faintly hear the beat and couldn't make out the melody.
So I bolted downstairs and what was it? NSYNC's 'Bye Bye Bye' being shown as a classic clip (holy shit, it's been NINE YEARS since that song was a number one hit - for those not in the know, the title above is a lyric from said hit, hee!).
Let me put it this way: I 'fell in love' at 13-almost-14 with a boyband of five guys who may as well have been fictional, such were the chances of me ever meeting them (or seeing them live, for that matter, given they never ONCE toured Down Under - I mean, what's up with THAT?!).
Thing is, before this onslaught of 'OMG-I-luuuurrrrve-them-soooo-much-NSYNC-rulz!' (for the record, I never spoke in such an airheaded way, THANK GOD), I had prided myself on my ability to remain immune to the whole boyband phenomenon. I mean, I was indifferent to the BACKSTREET BOYS for cripes' sake, and they were the biggest. I listened to a lot of different music as a kid that most of my peers hadn't even heard of (at one point courtesy of my 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' soundtrack - heh heh - which had stuff like Toad the Wet Sprocket, Hooverphonic, Our Lady Peace, et al - er, not that I really knew who the deuce they were, I just liked the specific songs on the CD).
I don't have to tell you that this made 13-year-old me feel mighty superior and all alternative and shit. Ha!
I honestly don't even know and can't recall what it was that stood out for me about NSYNC, I really don't. 'I Want You Back' was the first song I heard (first single released late '98 in Oz and worldwide, I think) and it was just so catchy and poptastic and...catchy, and awesome. It neither spoke to me nor held any meaning for me but I LOVED IT all the same.
I taped the music spot one Sat morning; waited like a freako with my hands and fingers a Kung Fu grip on the 'REC' button, hoping the clip would come on - eventually it did and OH THE HAPPINESS. Watched it a gazillion times. Then some more. My first cousin Dani joined in (took the video tape to her place).
We both insidiously became obsessed.
(In that standard, normal, annoying-as-all-hell-to-others teeny way. But rest assured we weren't teenyboppers, nooo!)
We'd do the boys' choreography to 'I Want You Back' and 'Tearin' Up My Heart'. I knew it practically by heart, God help me. Oh, who am I kidding - I knew the dance moves even to Britney's 'Baby One More Time', 'Sometimes', 'You Drive Me Crazy' and 'Oops!'. There was a lot of painstaking still-pausing of clips, believe you me.
(NB: I still - STILL! - know most of the moves...wow. And not a good 'wow', obviously. I mean, the crap that's retained in my brain after all these years...!)
I knew NSYNC's songs inside out. Even now, I'm listening to their first CD and people, I shit you not, but I'm singing along to every friggin' musical nuance of songs I'd forgotten even existed ("I Just Wanna Be With You" anyone?), which just shows the extent of my once-dedication to the group. Heh.
(Sure, I can call it 'dedication' but we all know it was obsession. Period.)
I don't know how my mother, bless her heart, managed not to laugh in my face every time I'd go on about NSYNC, or every time she'd step into my poster-plastered bedroom. She's a wise woman, that one. What restraint!
My cousin's fave boy was Justin (who'd-a-thunk-it that JT would become a pop superstar in his own right?) and mine was JC Chasez.
Behold:
I just found him gorgeous, masculine, enigmatic, and - quite simply - yummy. A most dangerous combo to a 14-year-old, but nonetheless a magnificent fantasy for any NSYNC-obsessed teenage girl. I had big plans to marry the guy, tee hee hee...!
Not to mention that I adored his voice. ADORED. Every NSYNC fan will tell you, no matter who their fave guy was, that JC was the voice of the group. I mean, I love JT (now) as much as the next person, but his voice is nowhere near as good as JC's, and that's a fact. JT tends to sing a little too nasally - especially when he 'falsettoes' - for my liking (read: ANYONE'S liking who knows that one ought to sing from the friggin' DIAPHRAGM). JC's voice is smooth, soulful and rich. In other words, divine (and let's not forget yummy, hee!).
JT is the better dancer, I'll give him that.
Finally (before I REALLY start to ramble), both my cousin and I used to read NSYNC fanfic. FANFIC, people! It was only one author, and she was considered the best and most popular at the time ('00): FictionLyn. I discovered her via the now defunct website NSYNC Studio, and was quickly hooked, then got Dani onto it. We both only read two of her stories, the then more recent ones (Sometimes I Wish & It's Only Me, if any former fans are reading, heh).
Now, let's do a bit of a retrospective of a few choice clips, shall we?
Bye Bye Bye
Still by far one of the catchiest pop songs ever & the one that prompted this nostalgia trip. SOOO much to laugh at, from the opening marionette scene (yeah, we get it, you were CONTROLLED BY YOUR UNSCRUPULOUS FORMER RECORD COMPANY BOSS) to Justin's curly, almost fro-like mop of hair. I must put this out there, though: is it wrong that I still find JC's angry gear-changing (@ the 3ish min mark) so damn HOTTT? So be it. ("If loooooooooving you is wrong, I don't wanna be right!") I'm also not immune to Justin's little laugh post-landing. Meh, sue me.
This I Promise You
Oh, boy: 15-year-old me thought this tune was the stuff romantic dreams were made of. Silly girl that I was, I could almost make-believe JC was singing it for me. Now, one of the YouTube comments that made my day: "Remember when they were comparing Nsync to the Beatles after this song was released?" HAHAHAHAHAHAH! Er, yeah, SUUURE crazy lady. The other night I tried scaring the bejesus out of my fiance when I faux-seriously told him that I want THIS to be our wedding dance song. Poor guy looked like he wanted to call the engagement off (bwah!). I mean, it's practically the BEATLES, y'all. (P.S. The bubbles - holy mackerel, Batman!)
For the Girl Who Has Everything (FTGWHE)
Okay, this was always one of my fave tunes, mostly because of JC's superb vocals on it. I mean, the lyrics are a bit cheesy (okay, a LOT cheesy - "...you drive a pretty car, you know how fine you are and nobody needs to say it...but the only thing you dream of, money can't buy for you, and in my dreams I'll make your wish come true" - yikes!) but the music is nice. In fact, although I love the CD version because JC sings both verses, I almost prefer the video one with JT singing the 2nd verse, because of how much more singing-in-thirds stuff happens with him and JC.
But-- okay, Justin? The gypsy gold earrings? OFF with 'em, boy, they're wack (hee, like my hip hop lingo?). Sure, so he wasn't old enough to know any better and probably thought it was cool and, y'know, CRUNK (?!) but GOOD LORD. Where was the stylist? And JT's uber-boybandtastic shimmying is simultaneously irritating and hilarious.
Oh, and am I supposed to feel SORRY for poor little rich girl there? Pfft! Beat it, blondie, and go imbibe your champers. (Sorry, I know, but I have to be snarky even at make-believe shit!)
I'll Never Stop
Even though this song is nowhere near their best (and it's awkwardly similar to BSB's 'I'll Be the One' in terms of beat, tempo, etc), I used to love it - oh okay, I still don't mind it - and just wanted to post the video to bring attention to these...uh, fans. I'm sorry, but WHAT'S with the half-assed dancing and head-bobbing? Put some OOMPH into it, girls! Especially that girl with the bandana, she's got like the same 'move' over and over. They should've brought Dani and me in as the fans - we would've shown them how it's done. I do rather like the juxtaposition with the snippets of the guys performing and goofing off, it's cute.
Now, let's get to the snarky stuff!
(Well, snarkier.)
Random observations
1."I need love, you need love...we all really need love."
Wow, that's uh...DEEP.
The above is a dreadful, laughable offering from NSYNC's '98 self-titled debut (lyrically & musically - musically because of its dated Eurotrash-sound and techno beats), and a 'song' that - even at my NSYNC-crazed 14yrs of age - I thankfully identified as a hideous crime against music. It was filler for the CD, serving to pad out what the hits could not, but...YEESH!
2."...You've got no choice, BABE, but to move onnnn & you know there ain't no time to waaaaste, but you're just too blind to see, but in the end you know it's gonna be me, you can't deny, so just tell me whyyyy..."
Ah, NSYNC. There's confidence and then there's blatant arrogance. Fact is, 14-16y.o. me would have eaten that up (and did), nodding emphatically all the way 'cause 'OMG-you-guys-it's JC-&-he's-soooo-hot-&-oh-MAN-that-voice-DAYUM-of-course-it's-gonna-be-HIM-squeeee!'
Yowza.
3."Girl I know you think no one sees the weight on your shoulders, but you can't fool me, and aren't you tired of standing so tall, let me be the one to catch you when you fall..."
'Twas end-of-'99 when I discovered this NSYNC song on a film soundtrack & I just HAD TO HAVE IT.
I was captivated. It just sounded so pretty! And, y'know, so SWEET because 'he' totally sees she's burdened and wants to transfer some of that onto himself and OH THE PERFECTLY DIVINE ROMANCE OF IT ALL!
So, the movie soundtrack had to be bought, no two ways about it.
And what, pray, was it the soundtrack to?
UGH...Pokemon.
People, I abhorred that f--king little squeaky Pokemon with every fibre of my otherwise goody-goody being (I mean, what the hell kind of a name is POKEMON anyway?!), but still reluctantly forked out $30 for the CD. I may have gripped those dollar bills a little tighter than was necessary, TV-style. A whole CD (Pokemon!!) for one song (it wasn't on Napster at the time, I checked). This move was a new low for me at the time (heh).
4. There's one song of theirs that I randomly rediscovered the other day (and had completely forgotten it ever existed), 'Give in to Me'. I think it's one of their early tunes, although it's not on any known CD (of theirs; it is on Euge Groove's '00 disc as he plays sax on the song & I bought the song off iTunes). I used to love this song when I first heard it 9ish years ago; it sounded unlike anything they'd ever done, still does. It's quite a sexy song and rather understated, but lovely.
(Dammit, no snark there!)
Before I go, here's 14-year-old me:
I'm in Dani's room, attempting my most 'seductive' stare (snort!) and gazing towards the myriad posters adorning Dani's wall. I totally coveted her NSYNC poster there because it was from the 'FTGWHE' video and every one of them looked hot on it. She wouldn't sell it to me, as you might have guessed. Oh, and the other posters are all Freddie Prinze Jr, Ryan Phillippe, etc...we were ALL ABOUT those boys.
But anyway...!
Okay, this has been fun...and juuuuust a wee bit exhausting. After almost a week of reminiscing, I think I've NSYNC-ed myself out. As Danny Glover's 'Lethal Weapon' character would say, "I'm too old for this shit."
Though it sure is fun revisiting that 'teen within' now and again.
For the record, if they do one day do a reunion tour (far greater/legendary bands have done it after insisting it'd never happen), I am sooooooo there. Dani and I, that is. And anyone else who cares to join us. That'd simply be unmissable and a perfect way to seal the NSYNC phase of our lives once and for all.
(AND the perfect opportunity to openly drool at JC and squeal like morons! Justin, not so much - we already did that at his Melbourne concert Nov '07. Bwah!)
EDITED TO ADD: How in the world could I have forgotten the generic pop lameness of NSYNC's song 'Here We Go'?!
A sample:
"Here we go One more time Everybody's feeling fine Here we go now (Yes-yes-yes here we go! NSYNC has got the flow!) ... You know the party's here Sing along and have no fear NSYNC is here to make you people scream ... Let's sing it one more time Everybody's feeling fine We got the skills to keep this party pumpin' baby..."
They've got...the SKILLS? I'm sorry, what?! To keep a party pumping? There are skills for this sort of thing? They wouldn't by any chance be...er, 'Mad Skillz'? Bwahahahah.
"Sing along and have no fear" - er, yeah, why the deuce would I be SCARED to sing AT A FRIGGIN' PARTY?
"NSYNC is here to make you people scream" - oh geez, here we go (no pun intended!) again with that arrogant streak, NSYNCers! Heh heh.
Also forgot to add about getting the tape.
Y'know, THE TAPE. Their first (I think).
When I got my hands on the NSYNC "N the Mix" (bwah!) tape back in '99, well, it might as well have been the holy grail as far as I was concerned and, suffice it to say, it was pretty much ALL I WATCHED.
(Y'know, in between religiously following 'Dawson's Creek' and 'Party of Five', of course.)
I had that tape and all its segments virtually memorised in a matter of weeks, and it made me love the boys that much more because, 'siiiiigh', they just seemed so gosh darn down-to-earth! And ooh, lookie there-- JC's playing the piano with his Sexy Man Hands, how talented!! And ooh! Justin has bleached his hair so blonde, I'm practically being blinded! And OOH! They're dancing and gazing soulfully at their fans in the audience and thrusting their hips and...oh my. How DIRTY! Scandalous! And...and...
(It was an exhausting and hilarious period, I assure you. Hee!)
Now, indulge me: were you an NSYNC fan? Like, huge, fanfic-reading, choreography-learning, obsessed-like-me fan, maybe even worse...? Or a mild fan? (Hmmm, is there such a thing where boybands are concerned?)
Were you an anti-boyband person in general and loathed them? (Unthinkable! Heh.) Were they an occasional guilty pleasure and you liked only a scattering of their songs?
Did you ever see them LIVE? Did you ever MEET them? (Squee!)
You get the drift.
P.S. And yes I KNOW I've delayed writing about our overseas trip once more...it's all written, really, I just need to type it up. The suckiness doesn't become me, I know. Gah!
My intense dislike of James Blunt (i.e. 'He of the Chipmunk Caterwauling') is quite well-documented among my closest friends.
He shits me to tears with his thin falsetto, his lame-at-best songs, and - in particular - that dumbass '1973' song almost threw me over the edge (and not just because it was overplayed to death on the radio and YES I DID CHANGE THE STATION!); I mean, where's the good melody people, the depth, where's the catchiness...?
Oh that's RIGHT - it's James Blunt, forget I asked. (Yes, please DO go back to Bedlam, ya nut!)
But-- (Oh dear Lord, there's a but!)
BUT, and God help me, I've always liked (in spite of myself, DUH) that 'Goodbye My Lover' tune. It's been a sort of guilty pleasure for years, and I just...well, frankly, I kind of love it.
Like, quite a bit. Okay, a lot.
The pretty piano tinkling, the melodious quality of it, the simplicity (which with this song is a GOOD thing, unlike the rest of his 'simple' ones)... Aaaaaaaand I'm kind of hating myself right about now. More so because I buckled and purchased the song on iTunes some hours ago.
Internet, I actually PAID for James Blunt.
Oh fine, I'll knock off the dramatics (but I must add, although I like the song, I still cringe at the opening vocals...sheesh, take it down a few notches, Blunty).
The earth has not quite tilted on its axis yet, though, mostly because I also bought Simon & Garfunkel's 'I Am a Rock' and 'The Only Living Boy in New York' (both of which I actually have on their CD that I can't find anywhere), as well as the exquisite Heather Nova's 'Beautiful Storm'.
So, y'know, there's BALANCE and stuff. A musical equilibrium, if you will!
Seriously though, I love good music (love music, period), but I do also love the 'guilty pleasures' in my collection. And now I will scour my iTunes/iPod list and share them with you all. Oh YES I WILL!!
Ahem.
- Forever and for Always SHANIA TWAIN (Oh whatever, I love Shania!)
- I've Been Thinking About You LONDONBEAT - Come Back LONDONBEAT (Euro dance beats, hee!)
- Boys BRITNEY (oh COME ON, it's catchy!) - Baby, One More Time
- Drop It Like It's Hot SNOOP DOGG feat. PHARRELL (My fiance, bro and I have our own faithful rendition - fiance is the beat, I'm the rapper - yes, I know - and my bro does the 'Snoooooooooooop' bit at the end of the chorus. We piss ourselves laughing every time.)
- King of Wishful Thinking GO WEST ('Pretty Woman'...! Richard Gere! Ahh!)
- Tell Me, Tell Me Baby NSYNC (Catchy catchy catchy! Plus, I was a huge NSYNC fan in my teens and thus have a soft spot for them to this day, heh heh.)
- Everyone BACKSTREET BOYS - Panic BSB - Unmistakable BSB - The Call BSB (What can I say, I'm a sucker for catchy pop.)
- The Power of Love HUEY LEWIS (Aw, this one reminds me of 'Back to the Future', as I imagine it would most people.)
- Yesterday When I Was Young JULIO IGLESIAS (Okay, this one is probably the most embarrassing...I mean, JULIO! But it's a pretty song...oh FINE, it's sappy as all get-out.) - And I Love Her JULIO (Julio's version of the Beatles' classic...yeah, see above.)
Now, here are the non-guilty-pleasure tunes I adore, and can never tire of:
- Wintersong SARAH MCLACHLAN - I Love You SARAH - Good Enough SARAH - Full of Grace SARAH - Possession SARAH - Angel SARAH (yes, I hear you say, the dreaded 'Angel'...but despite its ubiquitousness, it's nonetheless a stunning piece of music) - The Power of Goodbye MADONNA - Live to Tell MADONNA - Wicked Game CHRIS ISAAK - Freedom 90 GEORGE MICHAEL - I Can't Make You Love Me GEORGE MICHAEL - By My Side INXS
- Superwoman ALICIA KEYS - You Don't Know My Name ALICIA - Dream Brother JEFF BUCKLEY - Forget her JEFF - Lover, You Should've Come Over JEFF - Everybody Here Wants You JEFF - Overcome LIVE - Twist in My Sobriety TANITA TIKARAM - Dumb NIRVANA (the MTV Unplugged version) - Plateau NIRVANA (the MTV Unplugged version) - Let's Dance DAVID BOWIE - Like a Rolling Stone BOB DYLAN
- Pink Bullets THE SHINS - Saint Simon THE SHINS - Detlef Schrempf BAND OF HORSES - Jumper THIRD EYE BLIND - Earth Song MICHAEL JACKSON - Autumn Leaves EVA CASSIDY - Songbird EVA - Amsterdam COLDPLAY - Strawberry Swing COLDPLAY - The Scientist COLDPLAY - Just a Friend of Mine VAYA CON DIOS - Ochi Chernye SOPHIE MILMAN
- Ruby Nights BIC RUNGA - Birds BIC - Say After Me BIC - Captured BIC - This Woman's Work KATE BUSH - Leise Flehen Meine Lieder From Schwanengesang, D 957 (Trans. Liszt) SCHUBERT - 3 Gymnopedies - Lent Et Grave SATIE - 9 Crimes DAMIEN RICE - That I Would Be Good ALANIS - Breathe Me SIA - In Dreams ROY ORBISON - You Got It ROY - Mr Tambourine Man THE BYRDS
- Bridge Over Troubled Water SIMON & GARFUNKEL - Sparrow SIMON & GARFUNKEL - Bleecker Street S&F - What a Wonderful World LOUIS ARMSTRONG - Losing My Religion REM - Everybody Hurts REM - Nightswimming REM - God Only Knows THE BEACH BOYS - Setting Sun ESKIMO JOE - Luka SUZANNE VEGA - Fade Into You MAZZY STAR - Black Balloon GOO GOO DOLLS
- Immortality CELINE DION feat. BEE GEES (dudes, I couldn't care less whether it's daggy to like Celine - her voice is flawless and this song is lovely) - Somewhere Only We Know KEANE - Bedshaped KEANE - Everybody's Changing KEANE - Kashmir LED ZEPPELIN - Brothers in Arms DIRE STRAITS - Fall for You THE WHITLAMS - Sounds of Then GANGAJANG - Great Southern Land ICEHOUSE - Land Down Under MEN AT WORK (tee hee hee!) - Gravity of Love ENIGMA
I hope you've been...riveted by this exhaustive list. Heh heh.
Now it's YOUR turn! What are your guilty pleasures, as well as non-guilty-pleasure faves...?
P.S. Speaking of guilty pleasures, movie-wise, if 'Kindergarten Cop', 'Twins' or 'Home Alone 2' are ever on TV, I'm compelled to watch. I don't know what's the draw, and I have no particular fondness for The Governator or the Macaulay kid, but there you have it.
And now I shall crawl in a hole and hide from your mocking stares.
I've had a long, hard day at work, I've had a long WEEK at work, and oh MAN am I thrilled that it's Friday tomorrow...! Friday Friday Friday Friday Friday Friday...it's hypnotic, no?
SO, musings, right.
1. There's nothing quite so satisfying as coming home from a day like today's, when your heel-clad feet and legs are killing you, and stepping into a long, hot shower, after which you get into PJs and fluffy robe, proceed to the couch and veg out under a blanket. Particularly since it's a windy and insidiously-cold winter here right now. Yes, people, Australia has winters too! We're in Melbourne, i.e. the south-eastern part...brrrr!
2. While we're on the subject of work, I'm always highly amused when random people there - usually corporate 'bigwigs' who deem themselves far too important and oh-so-intelligent (read: wankers) - insist on using "so therefore" in conversation. UGH. Learn English, twits.
3. I noticed two teen girls chatting on the train this morn, both with headphones in their ears. Riiiiiiight, because THAT'S an effective way of communicating...! BRAVO!! Thankfully my friends and I knew how to talk to one another during our adolescence. Hmmm...seems I'm turning into a grumpy, dripping-with-sarcasm geriatric who'll soon start throwing around platitudes like "back in my day..." / "kids these days!"
4. "[Bah-da bah-da-da-da] Monday Monday, so good to me [bah-da bah-da-da-da]...Monday mornin', it was all I hoped it would be." Huh...wow. The Mamas and the Papas really must've been stoned out of their hippie-trippin' minds when they wrote THAT.
5. I vividly recall beginning to openly weep on the Frankfurt-Dubai flight, listening to bits of Johnny Cash's "Live at San Quentin Prison" album. Yeah, I don't know. It HAD to have been the high altitude screwing with my tear ducts (and emotions?). I mean, I love Johnny Cash and all, but... Speaking of altitude, I am pleased to report that the pesky jet-lag that JUST WOULD NOT GO AWAY, is now thankfully a thing of the past. Blasted transmeridian travel!
6. Why does it feel like it's been months since our return and not a measly two weeks? And why does the 41°C heat in Dubai (at 11PM, no less) feel like it's simultaneously gonna strangle and vapourise you? And why don't I pipe the hell down?!
7. I know I'm breaking the rules by posting this instead of a run-down of our overseas trip (as I thought I would in the last entry), but...meh. Okay, so not 'meh', more like OH MY GOD I AM SO BUGGERED AND FLAT-CHAT FROM WORK AND AAAAIIIIIEEEE!!
8. I'll be more normal and less "RAH!" next time, promise.
9. ...And I'll write about the trip. I WILL!
10. "Oh, and by the way? Y-O-U-apostrophe-R-E means 'you are'. Y-O-U-R means 'your'." Hee! One of my all-time fave Friends quotes (Season 4, ep. 1).
So, finally I get my ass into gear and POST something.
I'll be short and sweet in this post, then put up a lengthier one in due time about the grand ol' overseas trip (from which we returned last Mon night around 10PM).
The short and the sweet?
I'm engaged!
My sweetheart proposed to me Aug 2 in Serbia (Novi Sad), at the stunning Petrovaradin Fortress... I was shocked, totally caught off-guard and above all euphoric.
I said yes.
(Uh, DUH.)
Heh heh.
We're going to have a small wedding (around 65 people) December next year (summer in the Southern Hemisphere!). Haven't decided on a specific date as yet but will soon enough.
Oh, and my, uh, fiance (hee!), had everything planned months before the trip, engaging the help of his sister and her hubbie in finding the right ring.
It's as though he'd asked me exactly the kind of ring I wanted. I'm not much for jewelry (I'm more into cool/interesting/colourful beads and 'fashion jewelry') but I always knew that for my engagement ring and wedding band I wanted something simple and elegant in white gold.
That? Is precisely what I got. It's encrusted with teeny-tiny diamonds, atop which sits a princess-cut diamond.
Behold:
[Oh, and just in case you don't know, Serbian Orthodox people wear the engagement ring/wedding bands on their right hand(s) - same as Russians, Greeks, et al. Thus endeth our lesson for the day!]
Next time: how the trip panned out. I promise it won't be too painful. No, really.
My boyfriend and I are, and have been, gallivanting around Croatia (and soon Serbia - Novi Sad and Belgrade).
'Nuff said.
Been on the Adriatic 10ish days, now we've come again (to a different, more northern part - close to the Istria region) to spend some time with his kick-ass first cousin who's a total sweetheart.
Clearly, I've no time to post anything, much as I'd like to.
Apologies!!!
Will post a lengthy update upon our return to Melbourne in a few weeks (God willing!).
I was in a mad rush the last few days before my boy and I left for Croatia and Serbia, and as such didn't get a chance to post anything.
Quick update:
1. Flew up to Sydney Sat 20.06. to see Simon & Garfunkel live - they were magnificent (more on that another time). Our overseas flight was 23.06. around 10PM.
2. I'm now in my hometown of Karlovac and it feels...surreal. A little strange. Strange but good. In a way it's as though I'm waiting for the fireworks to kick in but they're...lagging. No matter, it's still good to be back in the town that made me. Maybe it's because it's been six years and it's still all sinking in...
3. I miss my boy! He's joining me in Zagreb this Sat (I left his folks' place a little earlier - yesterday afternoon - so I could catch up with a friend that's leaving on a major trip).
4. Have I mentioned The Strange? Right.
5. I'm already starting to get a tan and I'm not even doing anything. Father's genes, I tell ya...
6. We're going to the picturesque, sparkling Adriatic Coast July 13 and will be staying right near the beach for a total of, wait for it, ten (!) days. Looking forward to THAT.
7. Hope you've all been keeping well and I'll endeavour to visit all of you, my fave bloggers, when time permits (you know who you are!).
Yesterday, out of nowhere, I was hit by a sudden jolt of creativity (not lightning, thank God) and had to, just HAD to write a poem.
A poem, people.
I haven't written a poem in years. But this isn't your standard thought-provoking poem, no. I don't even wish to tarnish the good name of poetry by categorising what I've written as such. My poem (whoa, there I go!) is unabashedly tongue-in-cheek, loud and snarky.
And that's JUST the way I wanted it!
...SO, without further ado, behold my snarktastically-fused, uh, 'poem' (I mean, DUH, it's about peak-hour traffic for Pete's sake, the snarkiness is inherent!).
Ode to Congestion and Imbecility
Bah! Traffic Dear, pathetic, painfully puzzling traffic Riddle me this... Why dost thou hurt me so Ever so much My nerves you touch With prickly needles of assitude Touch? Nay, destroy Annihilate Inflate You make them procreate And multiply with nervy hate Egads!
Car after car Cruising Stuttering Mindlessly sputtering Starting and stopping Suddenly braking And again And then some more Ugh Brake, brake, brake For f--k's sake Why? For no damn reason Ah, but wait There doth indeed exist a reason To drive well they know not Driving is but an enigma To these feeble-minded sods Oh!
Drat Whatever is that contraption in the distance? Ah A rackety, ancient truck With an inch-thick coating of greasy dust And patchy rust Cracking its shell Dumb truck is holding us all up It starts to a crawl Geriatrically slow Such pain Mustn't succumb To this rage of the road Else I may turn into a crusty ol' toad And promptly implode Oh, the humanity! It shan't happen No!
Oh, but the satisfaction of sending a withering stare As my car passes alongside a fool's! How sickeningly sweet the power of a righteous glare! Ooh What's that? This vehicle to my left He wants to slide in front of my own Scorn! With nary a metre to spare The dimwit wants to cram it in Where is the logic, I ask Now I know why people carry a flask
I may just rip out my hair But this would scare My good-naturedly chuckling boyfriend Love, hark! He who is a godsend During these maniacal voyages Wherein we drive to work And curse and smirk At many a jerk And so I say Screw ye all who know not The ways of navigating the bitumen paths For I have next to me My partner in crime Always, for all time Sublime (Oh, how it is) Joyful laughter How it medicates one so!
Imbeciles of the roads You are all aimless toads Yes, toads The crusty ones of a few lines ago Yes, those Hear ye my cry! My resigned sigh You may try But crush you cannot My boundless spirit Can you hear it? Why, you ought to fear it! And be not near it Dear traffic Now endeth this ode For you are a goad Hmph! So there.
I want to write about how I'm going overseas in - gasp! - less than two weeks, but lack the energy to be all "funny ha-ha" about the preparation leading up to it, yadda yadda. I WILL write about it, make no mistake, but...not today. Today is a day I want to - nay, NEED to - reserve for finalising pre-trip lists (sheesh) and continuing to separate clothes for the northern summer that awaits--
Okay, you know what? I kind of actually love compiling these pre-trip lists; mind you, the one about what we need to buy before we leave? Yeah, that one is starting to get me juuuuuust a smidge panicked. And it's not like it's a lot of things by any means, mostly bits and pieces and what-have-you, but...still.
