Obsessing and Moving On
Dame Barbara CartlandI'll admit I get obsessed about any number of things. It never lasts long, but while it does it is all-consuming. I remember a fling I had with Barbara Cartland books when I was 14. I went to the library and got armloads of them. Those heroines with heart-shaped faces and huge eyes. The one, sweet kiss I waited a whole book for! But, after reading 50 or 60, I wanted something else. I moved on.
I had it bad one year for Tagalongs - the Girl Scout cookies filled with luscious peanut butter on a vanilla cookie, smothered in chocolate. I bought for myself (not to share with family) at least 3 boxes. I ate them all. By myself. Toward the end, they had no flavor. I burned out on them. I moved on.
I do it most often with great songs. I have many CDs to which I listen endlessly, looping and relooping a single song, a group of songs, or the whole CD. I have burned out on many great CDs. I have learned to pace myself a bit, not to play it when it no longer gives me that seat-bouncing giddy rush when I hear the opening bars. Because when the thrill is gone, I'll move on.
I like to think I have learned, at least a little, not to be so obsessive. It's hard on relationships, for one thing. My husband and I have been married for 14-1/2 years and dated for 4-1/2 years before that. Nineteen years is a lot of years. It took some doing to get us past the no-longer-obsessed stage and into a more mature relationship. It was worth it. If I can manage to do the same with books and cookies and CDs and movies and any number of other things, I may grow up yet!
How about you? Do you obsess or are you one of those annoying, balanced people? If you are a reformed obsessive, what's your secret? Please let me hear I'm not alone!Labels: Girl Scout cookies, Life, movies, Music
Raving on Guster
Guster: Adam, Ryan, Joe, BrianI have a dirty secret: I have never, according to my husband, really grown up. This will surprise none of my friends. My husband believes this because I still go to concerts. Not all concerts, not random concerts, but good concerts. Ones that it would sear my soul to miss.
I am taking this opportunity, here on my very own blog where I have all the power, to rave on one of my favorite bands, Guster. I encourage you, if you've never experienced them, to start off with their album Guster On Ice. Why is this album so expensive, you ask? Because it is not only a fabulous live CD (recorded at a concert in Portland, Maine), but it also contains a DVD of the concert. As awesome as the CD is, it's the DVD that will make you a rabid Guster fan. The band, you readily realize, are quite off - all of them. At first, I thought maybe Joe wasn't as cracked as the others, being a bit older and more mature. But the Joe's Place episodes on the Guster website, recorded during recording of the album Ganging Up On the Sun, proved me wrong (if not delusional).
The mad drummer and conga player, Brian Rosenworcel, is the most beautifully insane and funny person on the planet. Except for his fixation on the tour bus toilet, which is slightly disturbing, Brian (aka "Thundergod") is a delight to Guster readers everywhere. Brian keeps up the Road and Studio journals on the website and MySpace pages. Check them out.
Speaking of MySpace, my only gripe with Guster is that I put one of their songs on my own MySpace page and then friended Guster. Someone from the Guster MySpace page removed their song from my page! Now, they may simply not want their song attached to random MySpace pages, but it felt like an ageist snub. I figure, if I'm not too old to travel around the country to college campuses to see them or to buy their (reasonably priced) merch, they should not snub my MySpace page. Then again, maybe I'm reading too much into the removal. By the way, I replaced their song with one from a new find, My Brightest Diamond. I discovered them when I heard them open for The Decemberists last month. Awesome concert!
Of course, even though they dissed me, I'm going to see Guster this weekend at Furman University. It's a 4-1/2 hour drive, but I'm that kind of fan. As a matter of fact, I drove 10 hours to Ohio to see them once. Anyone else have bands they would drive way too far to see?
Labels: Music
