hello!

I've learned something. Or realized something? Or observed something?


Even if I'm unsatisfied with a certain aspect, I can't change no matter how hard I try. Not that I physically can't, but I believe just subconsciously I don't care enough about it to change.

I've accepted that there will always be girls that are prettier than me, smarter than me, funnier than me, stronger than me, more talented than me, better than me and if I keep comparing myself I will always somehow fall short.

I may not be the prettiest, the smartest, the funniest, the strongest, or the most talented. I'm not the best. Hopefully someday I'll meet someone and they'll make all of that okay.

I was going through my email when I got this from OhMyRockness.com, found it entertaining and worthy of a share. I wanna hug the person who wrote it.

We FADE UP on a young woman and man "rocking out" at a show. They appear to have done this many times before. We're not sure what band they are "rocking out" to, but it must be the likes of Franz Ferdinand or Gang Gang Dance because they're dancing as if their butts depended on it. We can safely say it's definitely not a Calvin Johnson show.

CUT TO: a shot of the same impossibly cool couple sleeping peacefully. The morning sun's rays peer gently through the cracks of their vinyl blinds. All is well in slumber land.

CUT TO: close-up on an ominous brown closet door (no, make it a red door, red like blood)

CUT TO: The rock couple blissfully sleeps on; his perfectly messed follicles subtly staining the pillowcase with Murray's hair pommade, her purple bandana serving as the perfect impromptu eye mask. 

CUT TO: a dormant vacuum nestled in a forgotten corner of the closet buried beneath an old neon Night Ranger nightlight that was "just too kitschy to pass up."

CUT TO: extreme close-up of the vacuum... suddenly its unnaturally bright light blazes on and an evil (but dusty) smile forms on the face of its canary yellow canister (FYI: it was the only color they had in stock). We suspect this vacuum is up to no good!

CUT TO: exterior of the closet door as it gradually opens... the crazy vacuum emerges and about-faces directly in front of the sleeping rock couple's bedroom door.

CUT TO: close-up of six silver knives as they extend with a flash from the vacuum's grey plastic hose (normally the space reserved for under-the-couch-cushions cleaning attachments!)

CUT TO: interior of bedroom as the crazy, demonic and demented vacuum slowly opens the door and rolls itself in, still sporting that sick suction grin. The vacuum leisurely twists a knob on its canister (using, um, its wheel!) to the "maximum cleaning" setting, flooding the room with overpowering, deafening white noise.  It's SO LOUD! But the couple won't wake up! Why, oh why, won't they wake up?! They could leap out the window or something before it's too late and they're cut like a paper snowflake! Are they dead?! No, they're not dead. They are perfectly healthy. They snooze, a foot away from an advancing sick and twisted vacuum armed with crazy cutlery because... because they didn't wear earplugs when they went to that rock show last night. And they weren't going to wear them when they checked out Matt & Kim, The Soft Pack, El Ten Eleven, and The Bronx later this week. They don't hear the danger! If only they wore earplugs. If only they wore earplugs!

We FADE TO BLACK as the vacuum wheels itself menacingly towards the still sleeping rock couple. And we are left to chillingly ponder their poor fate. Will they be thoroughly cut up by this Samurai Samsung? Or will they just be thoroughly cleaned? For the average concert kit, both would be equally horrific. So don't let this happen to you. Wear earplugs at shows. 

Rofl. I luvs my earplugs.

If you've ever wondered whether you were fake
Chances are that you're living the lie
I'm sick of this scene but it won't let me out
Blame my self-doubt
Wanna curl up and die.

I wanna look in the mirror,
Decide it's not me
It's a disease.
Uncurable. Unshakable.
It spreads quicker and faster
Every trend, every fad,
Every snap crackle in pop culture
I'm watching it happen but I do nothing to stall.

Can't stand it
My jeans are pinching
I wanna take them off
But only for the next band member
That hops off that bus.

On the heels of the Metro Station and Hey Monday Secret Show at The Knitting Factory Hollywood, MySpace Secret Shows just announced that they will be hosting Fall Out Boy at The State Theater in St. Petersburg, FL.

You lucky Sunshine State ducks:

Ding ding ding! It's time for Round Two! A flood of content has rushed into The Metro Station Community recently, so I decided it's time for another round-up! OMG NEWS AND STUFF!

I'm finally getting back on track. It's been awhile since I've done one of these. I've missed it!



For those of you who haven't heard or didn't know, Hot Topic has been organizing The Hello, My Name Is... Tour, a series of in-store acoustic sets and signings with The Academy Is... and The Cab in the east and with We The Kings and Hey Monday doing a western leg. Those of you who know about my affinity for WTK and my girl crush on Cassadee Pope can imagine how I felt as soon as I heard about this. I jumped for joy and was lucky enough to finagle myself a pair of wristbands (two out of thirty!) to catch We the Kings and Hey Monday at the Topanga Mall in Canoga Park. Victory!

Utilizing the buddy system, I went with the one and only Aaron J. Chambers. He lives a double life as part amazing friend, part bad ass guitarist for Countless Hours:


We showed up to the mall about an hour early, fixated upon grabbing a pretzel and giving ourselves enough time to navigate the maze that is The Topanga Mall. We sat down and enjoyed our pretzels and made our way to where we thought Hot Topic would be. Luckily, we found a trail of scene kids and followed them to the line. We put on the cute little name tags that were supplied to us and hopped in amongst a crowd of girls donning various styles of We the Kings t-shirts. Aaron was concerned that he was pretty much the only guy there but I reassured him that it only meant that the guy to girl ratio swung in his favor.

Our section of the line was approached by a lady with Pop Rocks as prizes for a little We the Kings trivia "contest." I was joined by typical enthusiastic fangirl types.

Pop Rock Lady: Are you guys ready?!
We the Teenies: YES!!!
Pop Rock Lady: Ok! Name all the members of We the Kings.
(teenies freeze, unable to recall any names other than Travis)
Me: I can do that. Travis Clark, Danny Duncan, Drew Thomsen, Hunter Thomsen.
(everyone around looks a little surprised as I rattled off their names with ease, We The Teenies glare with resentment, Pop Rock Lady hands me a pack of Pop Rocks and I return to my seat on the floor)

What can I say? I'm competitive and teenies annoy me. Don't tell me you're obsessed with an entire band when you're really only obsessed with the lead singer.

Back in line, we engaged in a discussion about the importance of knowing the names of the members of your favorite band. Decision: Knowing their music is more important. If you can't rattle off their names but you can sing along to all their songs, then that's all that matters.

I pulled out our wristbands and the employees directed us to the acoustic set attendee line. I roll VIP, yo. Aaron and I pounded it as We the Teenies looked on with jealousy. We walked up to the line and I noticed 26 other girls systematically each tried to inconspicuously glance over and check Aaron out. These glances were then followed by one of those "why is he here with her" sort of looks. I laughed and told him to brush his shoulders off, he was, after all, a dude in a sea of We the Kings fangirls. Ha.

Random passersby every so often stopped to ask us what all the hullabaloo was about. We noticed that they never asked anyone else, just us. I'm guessing it's because we were the two sane-looking people in the line. We politely explained to each inquirer and then resumed our conversation until suddenly, I felt my ears beginning to bleed. Oh yes, the high-pitched fangirl shriek that I know oh too well. I wondered if Travis had stepped out to peek at the line, but I only saw Mike from Hey Monday. Aaron sees a camera guy. There was an audial roller coaster of yelling as the camera aimed at each group of fans. I cursed my life and welcomed Aaron to my world and the type of people I deal with regularly as a result of the bands I like. His only response? "Oh, you don't do metal shows." I'm pretty sure metalheads and pop fangirls are two different beasts who could probably be equally irritating. I wonder who'd win in a fight...

The camera passed by us, the only kids sitting on the floor in line. We each smiled and waved and hoped that we would get edited out. I was suddenly sad at the realization of how jaded I've become. I used to get excited about stuff like that, about cameras, about guitarists from opening bands, about getting to meet lead singers. Nowadays all I want to do is go to my happy place and listen to some good live music. Shortly after, we were let into the store. I saw T-Fair and I suddenly felt a relation to him. I made the connection that I could end up like him, manager of my best friend's band. Whoaaaa.

As this thought occured to me, Cassadee and Mike from Hey Monday came out to entertain us with their acoustic musings.

Their set list went:

• Homecoming
• Candles
• How You Love Me Now

I'm convinced I will be infinitely jealous of Cassadee Pope with her adorable clothes and her adorable personality and her adorable power pop voice. As they launched into Homecoming, she asked us to sing along and I did lightly (I came to the acoustic set to hear them do it, I give myself private concerts in my room all the time!). She rocked it, obviously.

Candles I left to her (and wish some other people in the room did too). This song never ceases to amaze me, it always makes me drop my jaw at how powerful her voice really can get. Out of my peripheral vision, I could see Aaron slowly falling in love, ha ha. Seriously though, for me, this isn't fair.

Lastly, Cass asked the group for some extra help since the last song had lots of "whoa-oh"s. At that, I jumped up in excitement. Aaron smiled at my dorkiness as I told him they were going to play my favorite Hey Monday song. I whoa-oh'd my heart out to How You Love Me Now and was absolutely blissful. To think, We the Kings hadn't even come out yet! They finished up, thanked us, thanked Hot Topic and left to hand off their guitars.


After five minutes of intermission, one half of We the Kings emerged from the back room.

Travis promised a sexy set and they kicked it off with Stay Young, some of us helped out with the singing at their request. Next was Skyway Avenue, I was literally on cloud nine, so happy. It's undisputedly my favorite We The Kings song and it's quite possibly my absolute favorite song. (It's been a few months over a year since I first heard it and I'm still not sick of the song. I pick it to play, I never skip it when it comes up, I sing it even when its not playing, etc.)

YouTube videos do Travis no justice. The ginger turned red as a tomato as he belted out the catchy choruses and bouncy verses that we all know and love. I just reveled in the sound of his voice, which sounds creepy, but I can't think of a better way to describe my euphoria. I took it all in. Happiness would be an understatement.

Trav asked what their next song should be and was bombarded by requests of pretty much every song on the album. I resisted the urge to yell Free Bird when Travis said, "We're gonna play the sexiest song we've ever written." I recognized this preface from The Bogus Journey and knew it was gonna be Secret Valentine. Trav and Hunt surprised me at the end with not only the around singing that they did at HOB Anaheim, but some other cool backup vocal lines. Note to Self: Teach Aaron to sing for future CH acoustic sets.

Always last but never least, Check Yes Juliet brought up the rear. I started the crowd clap mimcking the recorded version of the song, because the clapping is the best part about that song! It's so dang cute. I was pretty proud when other people in the room caught on. During the last chorus, Travis incited us to "sing, clap along, crowd surf, whatever."

I love him. Ha. The image of someone crowd surfing during an acoustic set. Oh mann.

At the end, we backed up to await the signing. We figured we might as well since we were already in the front of the line. Aaron and I had to endure the company of two particularly annoying girls who looked about the same age as the guys in We the Kings. Eavesdropping, I overheard the particularly more annoying of the two planning a spiel to Hunter. Something stalkerish about how she misses his brother Drew and has his house number. Yeah. Aaron and I gave eachother one of those looks as he grinned and pointed at my phone in my pocket. "Check it, there's a surprise," he told me. I flipped it open and had a new text message.

From: Aaron
Wooooooooooooooooo
oooooow

I remember why I keep him around, the boy's got a sense of humor. We waited through the relatively short line, got posters and my WTK CD insert signed, and walked out of the store to meet the eyes of envious onlookers. We both left the mall quite satisfied, Aaron met his future wife Cassadee and I was serenaded again by my future husband Travis. HA.

Life Lesson: I've never been disappointed by We The Kings.
Can't wait for Bamboozle Left!

Here's a YouTube playlist I put together of all the songs for your viewing pleasure =]

Well, I don’t want to stick around like that wimpy ass song that I wrote about me being okay with being ‘Just Friends’ but wanting more, because I’m not okay with that. I’m not okay with that at all. We know where I ended up when I did that.

effmylife. When did I decide to throw that philosophy out of the window?

More on this later. I'm so angry at myself I'm going to sleep.