"just go to the record store and visit your friends"

Music is such a crazy, magical thing. I watched August Rush tonight for the second or third time, and while I admit it's a totally unrealistic and fairly cheesy movie, I still enjoy it. There's a scene when Freddie Highmore and Jonathan Rhys Meyers meet in Washington Square Park and play guitar together, not realizing they are related. Freddie, as August/Evan, tells Louis (Meyers) about the concert he's meant to perform at and that he can't attend because something bad will happen. Louis says to him, "You never quit on your music. No matter what happens. Cuz anytime something bad happens to you, that's the one place you can escape to and just let it go." Though it's been said many times before, and perhaps with a bit more eloquence, Louis has got the right idea.

Music is one of the few things that almost always helps pull me out of a bad mood. Maybe not every single time, but it helps more consistently than anything else does. Music is the ultimate distraction, and probably the healthiest. When you have a heavy heart or a clouded mind, music can clear that up. You focus on the notes and chords and vocals and lyrics, and you forget whatever problems might be plaguing you, at least for the length of a song or album or live set. It offers the easiest escape without even having to leave wherever you are. Music will never let you down the way people can.

I've often wished I knew more about the theory of music - the keys and scales and all the things you're supposed to learn first. I know a handful of chords, and small parts of various songs that I like, and I can hold a tune pretty well, but I'm no musical prodigy. When I see movies like this, or meet people who have a true talent, it always makes me want to play more. People that can create music have such a beautiful thing going for them. Not only are you putting a part of yourself into some song, but you're creating the very escape that people are searching for when they listen to music. Maybe that's why people are so in love with certain bands, because they have so much appreciation for whatever that group's music has been able to help them through.

In the movie Almost Famous, Fairuza Balk's character complains to Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup) about the tour's latest groupies and says, "They don't even know what it is to be a fan. Y'know? To truly love some silly little piece of music, or some band, so much that it hurts." And that's exactly what it is- loving that band or that piece of music because it's the one thing you can turn to when no other answers are in sight. You can always turn to music.

Post Secret

I used to read PostSecret (here) every week to catch the new secrets and save the ones that moved me most. I probably have hundreds of secrets saved on various hard drives. I was always so disappointed if I forgot to check one week and missed out on new postcards. (There are no archives.) I haven't been keeping up with it at all for some time now, and I'd like to say that it's because I don't need it anymore, but I'm not sure that's true.

Frank Warren started PostSecret in 2005, asking strangers to mail their secrets to him in creative ways and letting him choose which ones to post online. Since then, five books full of selected secrets have been published, the first of which I own. I always put them on my Christmas list but books are less common presents in my house for some reason. I've always thought that Frank Warren's project was such a beautiful idea. I've only mailed in one or two of my own, but like many others, I've chosen to distribute mine on my own. On my eighteenth birthday, my best friend and I made a few secrets and took them to music and book stores, hiding them in the shelves near our favorite books and cds. It's a very liberating thing, putting some personal part of your life on paper and out into the world for someone else to find. It can even be therapeutic, if done for the right reasons.

For example, if you submit something to PostSecret just to see your creation online, you'd be better off getting a blog. At this point, Frank Warren probably gets more mail than he can read in a week so the likelihood of your secret showing up online isn't very high. But internet celebrity is not the point of this project. The purpose is to free yourself from whatever might be holding you back, and if that's all you need, leaving a secret for someone else to find is just as effective as mailing one in.

catching up

Once again, it's been far too long since I've written something new. I know why I go so long in between but I also know that if I'm ever going to get better at writing, I have to keep doing it. I just need to write, all the time, about anything at all. I've had a few ideas lately just to get myself started. I should have plenty to write about, since it's been at least a few months since my last little life update, but writing about things I've done always turns out too much like a list and I don't like that.

Just in case anyone is really interested, I'm about to finish up my second year of school. I have three class days left and two days of finals and then it's summer. I've had a ton of dental appointments lately, which has been awful, but I'm almost all done with those. I do have to have my wisdom teeth looked at soon though. I went to Magic Mountain with my brother last week and lost my cell phone, so now I'm using my mom's old phone and you wouldn't believe how inconvenient that is. That's one of things I might like to write about actually - cell phone/technology dependency.

I was talking to a friend the other week and he suggested writing about things that I could research. That's probably a better idea than constantly writing about my own thoughts and feelings, at least for journalism practice, which is exactly what I need. I really need to talk to someone about writing for the paper at my school, but I'm nervous about it too. It's been two years since I wrote anything like that. Eek.

As for now, I'm too frustrated and distracted to get into that right away. I'm waiting on an email about an interview assignment for one of my communications classes. I emailed someone I know who runs a music review website a few days ago. I sent him a handful of questions that would literally take a few minutes to answer, but he hasn't responded yet. He told me Monday that he'd get to it that night and apologized for the delay, but it's Wednesday evening now and still no email. You can imagine my annoyance. This assignment is due tomorrow and he expressed interest in being my subject, but now I have to worry about getting it done because he hasn't gotten around to answering a few simple questions. Sigh.

Other than that, I believe I have one big group project (a presentation and a group paper) and my finals to get through. My best friend is home for the summer and I've already seen her once. My cousin is having a baby shower next weekend that I'll be attending with my mom. Hopefully I'll be finding a job this summer, and if not, I'll be volunteering.

See what I meant about the list thing? Life updates are silly.