Dance As If No One Is Watching...#Muse

 

HOLY S@#$! “Madness” by Muse, hands down might be the best song created recently. I think majority of songs enhance a fun time, but the quality of music these days for the most part lacks brilliance (60’s-70’s=amazeball musical talent). Certain musicians though continue to write songs worth listening to over and over again.

 I listened to this song in its entirety the other day on my way to Kohl’s (that’s right I heart Kohl’s). I started this post saying “holy s@#$”, because those were the exact words that came to my mind after hearing this jam. My good homie called right after and we discussed the greatness of this song for about 20 minutes. She told me she made her boyfriend listen to this song 600 times the other day after a night of bar hoping (her and I remain notorious for “drunken song listening” i.e. #DashboardConfessionals).

Seriously, every aspect of this song from the lyrics, to the beat, to the guitar solo, and even the “Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma-Madness” part showcase a unique sound with a hint of a #Queen influence. Musically I think this amazeball song could appeal to all music lovers. This new move towards electronic DJ music really does not appeal to me, but Muse infuses “what’s hot now”, rock, and a crazy love song all into one. I also relate to the songs lyrics about the “madness” that follows when you fall in love. This song deserves a #Grammy for sure in my opinion.

Muse’s music became apart of my collection years ago and I always felt they created a unique sound. “Madness” though, I believe deserves to be played over and over again on the radio, unlike Taylor Swift’s, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”…just sayin’.

Snobs-R-Us (Orange County)...Smoking

I smoke cigarettes, the day I started this nasty habit might be the only thing I regret in my life. I try to quit and fail, so alas I continue to smoke. I attempt to keep my dirty habit to myself. I pay attention to no smoking signs and keep away from the kiddies. Smoking in Orange County places a person on a naughty list.

People that live here fight death daily. If Dr. Oz told them that cutting water from their diet would help them live a longer life, I bet everyone would believe him, dehydrate, and die. When Orange County dwellers feel a certain way about an issue they expect that everyone around them to feel the same. When it comes to smoking outdoors I think people in OC need to calm the f@#$ down. I believe that years of exposure to second-hand smoke causes risk of disease, but if someone walks past me for three seconds on the way to the parking lot, I’m guessing they won’t die. The polluted air people breath regularly in Cali probably causes more damage to their lungs than my smoke.

Recently I went to the farthest table from a public establishment to smoke a quick cigarette. A woman walked by me and said, “I believe this area is smoke-free, it states that on the building.” And I as calmly as possible said, “It states no smoking with-in 10 feet of the building and I am clearly 10 feet away.” And she replied, “No I don’t think you are.”

First thought that came across my mind included slapping a biznatch, but I refrain from practicing violence. Second thought, maybe someone should return to grade school and learn how many inches make a foot, 12, and after relearning the proper unit of length for a foot she may retract her statement about my distance from the building. Third thought, I guess her opinion on smoking made her compelled to expect everyone around her to feel the same way. I don’t feel the same Mrs. Orange County Housewife. I actually find it irritating that most public places confine me to a four-by-four square in a dark ally, where I must smoke in hiding.

This lady should feel lucky that she does not live during the time when people smoked at their desks at work, on airplanes, and in grocery stores. If I choose to poison myself let me be. I stay as far away from people as possible while smoking, so please keep your opinion to yourself. I did not feel it necessary to share my opinion about her outfit purchased at Forever21, which matched her sixteen-year-old daughter, and made her look ridiculous at the age of 50-something, but just sayin’ it now.

Shout Out To My Peeps...#AlexanderPeuchot

I met with a wonderful man named Alex Peuchot today. He graced me with his presence a few years ago through a mutual friend. We enjoyed a lot of good times together over the years and I find myself inspired by his artistic abilities. As a creative person myself, the existence of other creative people in my life helps me to continue to pursue my creative dreams as I follow the careers of my friends like Alex. Alex lives life to the fullest in my opinion and he sees the beauty in everyone and everything (he always tells me I look gorgeous and compliments me when I see him, which always helps create positive energy). 

Alex's artistic side led him to start a clothing line that I feel promotes a positive message for people. Through color, art and fashion he wants people to embrace their differences. The picture above hangs in his home and remains to be my personal favorite of his amazing collection of art. We met today to discuss how I could help him with writing and the public relations aspect of his new clothing line inspired by his eclectic artwork. I look forward to helping him and witnessing his future success. His vision and message truly inspire me and I hope they inspire you. Alex deserves a shout out...just sayin'. 

P.S. Please visit his online store www.alexanderpeuchot.bigcartel.com and “like” him on Facebook Alexander Peuchot.

Sexless In The Suburbs...Ladera Ranch, CA...Population: Families

I watched my cousin’s house in Ladera Ranch, CA this past weekend. Her place resembles a model home and I love staying there to watch Simon the pup. The only problem with her place may be the location.

Ladera Ranch resembles Pleasant-ville and reminds me of how totally single I remain. When I pulled up from work one day, I saw a gorgeous man, so I left my cousin a voice mail, “Hi. Everything is fine, but who is the gorgeous man across the street? Possibly married? Maybe even gay?”…My Cousin responded via text message, “I’m pretty sure the answer would be gay, because two men live there and the house is a one bedroom like mine. If he’s not gay, then definitely married!”

            Families reside everywhere. As we continue down the path of the adventures of me remaining sexless in the suburbs, you may realize that most events and places make me feel bad about being single at my age. In Ladera Ranch though the “ hey-you’re-freaking-old-and-single” dagger cuts deeper. The families that invaded the premises of this cookie cutter town in Orange County, CA, appear to be in their late 20’s and early 30’s.

As I smoked a cigarette on my cousin’s patio this weekend, I looked around and wondered if these parts of the American dream, (family, picket fence, Mercedes Benz) should be the path I begin to travel down, as I approach my thirties. I daydreamed of my life as a Botox Bitch, married to an OC firefighter, raising two children, because apparently that’s what everyone in Ladera Ranch decided to do at my age. Then I started to daydream about the hot gay guy across the street and became sad that all the good men seemed to be gay or married these days (well at least in Ladera Ranch that’s for sure).

 This place screams, “YOU ARE SINGLE” to me, especially when my cousin tells me not to sleep with anyone in her bed (Thought to self: “LOL, don’t worry cous, your dog probably holds a better chance of getting humped on a morning walk then I do in your bed). As the weekend came to a close, I observed more of these young lovebirds walking around Ladera Ranch, CA, with their screaming kids and their yappy Maltese’s. I decided 1) like a Saturday at Target, this city became a good form of birth control and 2) I’m happy that I don’t need to hire a babysitter in order to attend my BFF’s beer-crawl-29^th-birthday extravaganza this year. The perks of being single...just sayin’.

           

Hater's Gonna Hate...Writing Ain't Easy

The pursuit of a creative career might be the most complicated choice to make. Writing ain’t easy. I mean for me it comes pretty easy. All throughout my days in English class, I would spend at the most an hour on an essay and receive an “A”. I fought the idea of writing my whole life, because it came so easy to me. By high school I felt bored by how easy the writing process came to me. During college I fell in love with my creative ability when I met Dr. Baker-Schena who pushed me to do my best.

Writing as a career takes heart and dedication. I would compare pursuing writing similar to chasing a singing career. Thousands of people might be capable of singing a Mariah Carey ballad, but what makes him or her special compared to the rest of the Beyonce-wanna-be’s? Thousands of writers also believe they stand out and in order to be successful a person needs to be excellent. Find a target audience and write for a purpose not for a paycheck, and hopefully the money will eventually start flowing.

Unfortunately, everyone starts a blog these days. Facebook doubles as a giant community blog. The Internet allows people to proclaim his or her opinions on everything, so a pursuit of opinion/advice writing as a career becomes a million times harder these days. People hate on my blog to my face, luckily I reached a point in my life where I could give two s@#$ what anyone thinks about me. (I feel like I rock at life these days and that’s all that matters.) The people that make fun of me (“LOL are you going to blog?”) just drive me to prove to the Internet world my writing and blogging serves a purpose. I decided to write to help people figure out life through my experiences past, present and future.

I decided to invite people to follow my journey towards a creative career. Blogging helps me practice my writing and allows the book inside my head to reach perfection. I hope my book appears on people’s Nooks in the future (I promote the buying of books and CD’s, but I’m not naive to fact that the screen junkies of America put Tower Records and Borders out of business (two places I loved) …support the arts yo. Creative people keep you entertained and it ain’t easy).

I thought if people realized that this blog means something to me they might take it more serious, start “liking” it, and stop hating on me…just sayin’. (The “like” button now controls our world and if you “like” what you read please help me build an audience by sharing the articles you enjoy with your friends…Please and Thanks)

Sharing Is Caring...#JohnLennon

The beautiful thing about John Lennon and The Beatles, in my opinion, would be their ability as a group to bring people together. Even the most gangsta of rappers would admit to being inspired by The Beatles and their success over the years. The Beatles represent a universal love of music; the way music inspires our lives, and a way life use to be. Extreme hippies like The Beatles, took peace, love and happiness to a whole other level, but I think the message of happiness brought by The Beatles and the people of the 60’s and 70’s may be one to easily forgotten.

The quote above pops up on my Facebook news feed every couple of weeks. I saved these words delivered by Mr. Lennon. I read this quote often, “like” it once a week (translation for my Facebook addicts), and started looking at my life. The pursuit of happiness for myself consumed my thoughts. The elimination of people and situations clouding my happy bubble started to transpire. I merely existed in this world and I wanted to be an avid part of it. I decided to live more like a hippie, but a responsible hippie.

I think people see life as a giant complicated puzzle. Life might be a lot simpler than we believe.  “I wrote down happy. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life,” said John Lennon. Always staying true to what makes you happy helps keep you at peace. Maintaining relationships that allow you to experience love keep you happy. Understanding the importance of peace, love, and happiness unlocks the door to figuring out life. I decided to live my life as a modern day hippie to find happiness.

Sharing Is Caring...#DeliciousAmbiguity

 

As you start to approach your 30’s life becomes slightly crazy as you start realizing what’s important. You wake up one day and think, “Sh@#, age 0-28 flew by pretty quick!” I think this happens to all people in their 20’s, the realization that life is passing you by and your bucket list still needs a whole lot of check marks. I think number one realization might be the ability to finally know what makes you happy and what keeps you unhappy.

Things in life constantly change. During my younger years change scared me and it took longer to recover from. As 30 approaches you realize life changes everyday and you better just roll with it or you will remain miserable. Change shows an ability to learn and grow. Taking risks makes life exciting. Packing up and moving to somewhere new, bungee jumping, writing, starting college later in life, whatever it may be, this quote helped me realize during a major time of change that all will be good.

Stay tuned, because I plan to make some major changes in my life. I now know what makes me unhappy and I am making a major effort to change from a Negative Nancy to a Positive Styna.  As you age gracefully, its exciting to finally start making crazy life changes in order to pursue happiness and even if these things don’t work out in the end at least you can die saying you tried to experience delicious ambiguity…just sayin’.

Shout Out To My Peeps...#BeMoreHeroic

 

I consider myself to be pretty lucky with the life handed to me. My parents worked hard to provide me with everything I needed and wanted. My personality and acceptance for others differences (instilled in me by my parents) allowed me to gain many friends in my short 28 years. I also feel lucky that no one outwardly bullied me growing up. I bet many people over the years formed negative opinions of me, but I always tried to pretend that everyone around me liked me, and then cut negative people out of my life that made me feel insecure or “bullied”.

Growing up in Orange County and not fitting the ideal mold of what a woman should be and look like, made me feel indirectly bullied even though no one ever outwardly bullied me. I constantly tried to fit in by changing myself physically or doing things I didn’t necessarily want to do, but I did anyways to try to fit in. I work hard every day now to not let outside forces affect me (I think it is a daily battle in our society unfortunately), by telling myself every day that I’m amazing and one day I will find where I fit in this world. No person or their opinion of me will stop me from pursuing my goals.  My writing and blog is my personal attempt to help younger generations to realize that the lame things you worry about in high school don’t matter in adulthood and society needs to relieve us of the pressures of perfection (better realize it sooner rather than later).

I went to college with two great girls who helped start a non-profit organization called “Be More Heroic”. The video for “Be More Heroic”, explains more about this amazing organization's message that deserves a shout out. This organization strives for social change and acceptance. Ignoring negative feedback from peers is key to accepting yourself for who you were made to be. Bullying should be stopped and proactive groups such as “Be More Heroic”, show a great effort to inspire people to change their negative behaviors and for those being bullied to turn negative energy into something that drives them to become more positive instead of letting it hold them back in life.

“Be More Heroic” needs help receiving votes (you must at least 21 years old to vote) for a $50,000 grant to help fund its school tour. Please take the time to go to this website, http://www.cultivatewines.com/cause/49269/, and vote for this amazing effort for change in America, that I truly think is a remarkable thing for two girls I went to college with to be apart of. This organization even belongs on the dabomb.com list…just sayin’.