Sootballs – Joe Hisaishi

This is from Spirited Away, which has an amazing soundtrack, like all Miyazaki movies.  It’s probably more representative of me in the mornings.  The tone is dark and chaotic.  There are a couple different melodies that are each played by a few different voices, so, to me, it sounds kind of haphazard, but in a good way.  I just picture myself essentially dead, but walking.  I step onto the top of stairs, trip, end up running down the rest of them with really quick, light footsteps, and then crash into a wall.  Then I get back up… and finally, after much falling and running, make it to the kitchen.  The melodies themselves are mostly played with short, clipped notes, which I think makes the song a little more mischievous.  I don’t know.  Movie soundtracks are just the best background music because that’s exactly what they are.  That doesn’t make them boring, they do build and such, but they were written to help the emotions of a scene, not to be a scene by themselves.  That way, they’re not distracting, but they’re still there. 

Piano Sonata 13: 1^st movement, Grave – Allegro di molto y con brio – Beethoven

I’m only doing the first movement because it’s plenty long by itself, thank you.  One of the best things about this song is that it’s got so many different parts and moods, which makes it more interesting to listen to.  It starts out slow and deep, rumbling.  Inwardly dramatic.  For the most part, it becomes relatively peaceful, but kind of worried.  It’s full of angst, but rather than being projected out, it’s kept inside, though it is out once in a while in bursts.  (My teacher always tells me to be mad more like Beethoven; I need to stop getting mad like Chopin.)  Eventually the whole mood changes and the pace gets unreasonably fast at the allegro di molto y con brio.  I picture little Beethoven laughing at the people hearing it for the first time, like “Hah!  And you were surprised at the last part!”  That is what happens to me when I listen to this.  I can’t do my homework because I always lose my focus.  The mood continues to change several times in the fast parts, though it’s always a bit neurotic.  You should probably listen to it rather than read this, it’s likely to make more sense and I could never explain it well enough.  I feel like parts of this song could be played during almost every moment of my days. 

Time Will Tell – Tower of Power

The song starts off sounding like an overly-simplistic, stereotypical ballad.  There’s a swelling horn and strings intro.  Almost everything drops out when the vocals come in.  “It’s a rare occasion/When your plans and expectations/Come down just exactly how you planned/Hey life’s just that way”  This is something that I have to remind myself a lot.  I revel in feeling control over life; it’s a nice feeling for me to know exactly what’s going to happen.  Not that I don’t like surprises, but I like being the only dictator of my life for most parts.  These lyrics just remind me to keep calm and recognize that everything’s fine.  “We’d better/Face the facts we make it/Things change from day to day/And all the things/About the situation/Who can stay/In your way?”  “Face the facts we make it” doesn’t make me feel good.  It’s almost like it’s my fault all of a sudden, which sucks.  “Things change from day to day” could also be read to be unpleasant.  The dictator inside me feels a little nervous about this, though it depends on my current state.  Change initiated when you’re in a bad state is better accepted than change when I’m doing really well, because I don’t want to lose the happiness.  Then, all of a sudden, the empowering “Who can stay in your way?” makes me feel better again.  “Time will tell/Then we’ll both know so very well/Time will tell/So just be patient”  These lines make me feel pretty much the same way the first lines do, though they do come with better support from the band.  The almost unnervingly-high strings lull me into a calmer state.  “Until you reach the realization/You can’t have joy without a little sadness, too/That’s just the way it is/I do not believe we’re gonna make it/Not without our share of ups and downs/You can’t expect life to be a total paradise/But if we just stay together, girl/It’d just be so nice”

In this part he’s explaining to his girlfriend that her standards are too high and it’s tearing them apart, but since that doesn’t really apply to my trying to keep myself sane, I’ll just pretend she doesn’t exist.  This part’s just about unreasonable expectations.  As long as I don’t let it get to me when my unreasonable expectations aren’t met, I’ll do fine.  I’m not exactly sure when this song would be played during the movie of me, though I guess it’d make the most sense to play it when something goes wrong.

*Just as a note, I’m not entirely sure of all of these lyrics.  This is basically the first time I’ve tried to perfectly transcribe them, so if you disagree, please don’t tell me.

**AND an added bonus: the last song has a full horn section.  The other songs I was considering for the last spot all had horns, too.  The ‘wall of sound’ is almost always the right way to go.

***That note goes for the first song, too.

****But it doesn’t make the middle song any worse.

*****Holy bejeezuz that last one was too long.  (Just like all of these notes!)

Here are the ones I didn’t hate:

-Hobbies: belittling, feeling guilty, ice cream.

-My life is too big for…

-Total geek into music and running.

-Only boy and middle child.  Ew.

-Living in glorified closet with window.

-Mildly egotistical nerd surrounded by idiots.

-Student learns proper grammar from French.

-Person, doesn’t like talking about self.
-Goal number one: achieve perfection.  Check.
-Goal number two: lessen ego.  Never.

And now, my favorite:

-Wanna know more?  Google me, lazy.

And this is my not-me singles’ ad:

How great is the idea that everybody in the world has a perfect match: somebody with whom they are meant to spend their lives.  Disappointing, then, that only one person surrounded by the crowd of blithering romantics who will respond to this ad could possibly be the one for me.  Therefore, if you are completely sure that I am your one true love with whom you will spend all of your life in total bliss with rainbows I can only hope that you are conscious enough to save yourself the agony of rejection and save me from the mild discomfort of not feeling sorry for you by not replying.  If you’ve made it this far, it’s time for the grim part: man seeking cynic who likes black coffee, belittling others, and doesn’t say ‘cute’ unless they’re being sarcastic.

*Honestly, who ever heard of a multiple-paragraph singles’ ad?*

Grr…  What is this, health class?

Dear (Really) Little Jaime,

            How are you?  I have been doing fine, and I hope that you have been, too.  I can’t think of any specific things to warn you of, but there are some general cautions that I would like to give you in the hopes that you will stop making these ill-advised moves.  That way, you will achieve the godlike status of Bigger Jaime much earlier than expected.

1)     Please stop trying to do multiple things while walking.  While you do possess ninja-like balance, multitasking is not one of our strong points, especially when there is movement involved.  Sometimes you run into things even when all you are doing is running, so you should also try to look ahead a little more.  You cannot pass through solid objects.  (In case you didn’t know, doors and windows count as solids, too.)

2)     Stop watching so much reality TV.  It is a terrible affliction that you must give up if you hope to become me.  There is no reality in reality TV.

3)     I recently read an article that preaches upon the deadliness of shoes.  They restrict our movements and prevent us from walking naturally so that, eventually, your feet are irreparably maimed.  Apparently, it is like an addiction: if you wear the same type of shoes, you will change so that you can only feel comfortable in those shoes.  You can now be free from ever feeling guilty again about people who ridicule our flip-flops.  They are the least intrusive of shoes and now whenever somebody points at yours and calls you a derogatory name, you may simply laugh at their ignorance.  (Or, if you are feeling benevolent, you may guide them to the light, as it is our job to do so.)

4)     Always do your homework the day it’s assigned.  I have stopped this habit and suffer the consequences.  Even better, do our homework in class before it’s assigned (this works especially well in math and any other class where the teachers give you assignment sheets.)

5)     It is OK to eat the ice cream as long as you promise to run the next day.

6)     Do not take regular computer science as a sophomore.  Skip into AP.  Many kids that you (will) know skipped into it and survived. 

7)     Practice your music (and your winning smile!)

8)     Even though salt and sugar may look similar, there is a big difference between them.  Remember this if you ever decide to bake anything.

There.  I can think of no more that there is or could ever be wrong with you.  You are perfect, though not as much as I am.

Love,

Bigger Jaime

P.S.  Your self-esteem seems a little low.  Work on it.

~That was officially the weirdest thing I have ever written.  I wasn’t sure if I (Bigger Jaime) should address myself (Little Jaime) as I, me, you, or us, so, logically, I just switched between all of them.  I don’t think even I (Bigger Jaime) really understand what I meant.  (Ew.  Comma overload in that middle part.)~