Just typing this out kind of makes me want to shoot myself, but, um...I kinda sorta love Miley Cyrus. "See You Again" is such a cute song, and I've been playing it all day. But come on, these lyrics...

The last time I freaked out
I just kept looking down
I st-st-stuttered when you asked me what I'm thinking about
Felt like I couldn't breath
You asked what's wrong with me
My best friend Lesley said "Oh she's just being Miley"
The next time we hang out
I will redeem myself
My heart it can't rest till then
Whoa Whoa I
I can't wait to see you again

...are totally adorable.

My mental age is like 13, I guess.

So last night I went to the My Chemical Romance show with ataniell93, who is as awesome in RL as she is on the internets. It's always fun to meet LJ friends in RL, and last night was no exception.

The concert itself...okay, so I'm probably going to be pelted with rocks for saying this, but if I was Supreme Ruler of All, My Chemical Romance would have opened for Billy Talent, instead of the other way around. Billy Talent kicked so much ass last night. I think the highlight of the entire show, for me, was when they did Fallen Leaves, although Red Flag was pretty fucking awesome, too. Benjamin Kowalewicz (lead singer) is so insanely talented, and it was pure joy to be able to watch him live. LOVE.

MCR was awesome. Of course. What else would you expect? Tragically, I was hoping for a little kissy groping (I've seen the pictures my bandom friends have thrust upon me), but not so much. But the music was great, Ray Toro was ridiculously good (I just adore him) and Gerard was fucking adorable, so yeah. Cute. I enjoyed it loads. Way worth the money.

After the concert, my mom was late picking me up (*insert epic sigh*), and ataniell93 didn't want me hanging out in front of the Warfield, so she brought me home with her, because she is made of win. Then I pulled up Google Maps and directed my poor mother through San Francisco, like a real live TomTom. That was fun.

All in all, SUPER AWESOME night!

I didn't even notice until I checked out Slacktivist. Wow.

Both my parents were Jesus People in the 70's (so on the tail end of the movement), my mother much more so than my father. But both of them loved the music, and I grew up with the sounds of Larry Norman, Second Chapter of Acts (my favorite), Children of the Day (another favorite...also, the lead singer is an out lesbian, so yay), Randy Stonehill, Keith Green, and bunches of others. The Jesus Movement was such a beautiful time in Christian history, and it's unfortunate that, like their secular hippie counterparts, the conservative 80's killed it dead. :(

I might not have agreed with everything Larry sang (and definitely not with everything he said), but no one can deny that the man loved Jesus, made some amazing music, inspired a whole movement, and paved the way for the spectacular Jesus Music of the 60's and 70's.

OK, OK, so we could possibly blame him for the rise of Christian Contemporary Music, as well (blech), but then, he largely shared my views about CCM (terrible lyrics, too commercial), so I forgive him.

And for those of you who have no clue who or what I'm talking about, I give you one of my favorite Larry Norman videos:

I missed MCR the last time they came through the Bay Area, so I'm really really hoping to be able to see them April 3 at the Warfield.

Sadly, however, I am the only person in my family and circle of friends that likes MCR. And my friends aren't, like, ambivalent about the group, they actively dislike them. Sigh. So I have to decide if I'm going to suck it up and go by myself or not. I'm leaning towards going, but I feel really weird about it. Of course, that's assuming I can even get tickets.

Oh well.

I was half-listening to the commericial for Definitely Maybe and recognized the song that was playing in the background. It's "All I Need" by Bethany Dillon, a popular contemporary Christian song a few years back. Now that's just weird. There are certain Christian songs that are somewhat ambiguous...in context, they're love songs to God, but can easily be read as a love song to a person (Draw Me Close to You comes to mind). But "All I Need", uh, isn't.

( Lyrics to the song, if you're interested. )


In very related news, I had a minor fight with my mom this morning over the music we sang during worship. For the most part, I pick out the music, but she gets to insert songs if she wants, which usually isn't a problem, except this Sunday, she decided that she really wanted to perform "Awesome God", which I really don't like.

( Lyrics )

The chorus is fine, I guess, but I have serious theological issues with the verses, and I don't feel comfortable leading worship for a song that I disagree with. The attitude of the song makes me vastly uncomfortable. But she sprung it on me twenty minutes before church began and it would have been totally inappropriate to have a long fight about it, so I compromised and just sang the chorus, letting Mom lead the verses. Sigh. We will be talking about this later, because there are just a few songs that I feel uncomfortable singing in the wide, wide world of praise and worship music, so I think it's only respectful that we don't do those.

It's always uncomfortable bringing up this stuff with my mom, because she's simultaneously pastor and mother, and I'm both worship leader and daughter.

I have such a silly crush on John Barrowman. Even though both of us are the wrong sexual orientation, I still have the desire to make beautiful, fabulous, musical babies with him. :)

I am so in love with Another Side. I had to get it from the amazon.co.uk because it is crazy crazy expensive if you buy it from Amazon, even with the extra shipping. Anyway, best purchase ever. It really shouldn't be...some of the songs are just plain odd...but I <3 it more than I can tell. His cover of "Your Song" is especially pitchy, but strangely endearing, and I listened to it on repeat for like a half-hour.

*eyeroll*

I've given up trying to figure out my taste in music.

I made a Supernatural playlist, so I have something other than Josh Groban to listen to when I write fic. (Because I really, really, should not even be tempted to write porny Sam/Dean to February Song. Josh Groban is evil.) It's all classic rock, some stuff from the show, some stuff that I just like. While considering song choices, I asked my younger brother, "Do you think Dean would listen to Janis Joplin?"

"No," he answered, no hesitation.

"C'mon," I said. "He's a big Zeppelin fan. They're real bluesy. Joplin is a blues-rock singer. It's not too far off base."

He looked incredulous. "Erin," he said slowly, "I need you to listen to me here."

"Shoot."

"Okay, try and follow me. Led Zeppelin...is one of the greatest bands in the history of the world. Janis Joplin...sucks giant monkey balls."

"Hey! I like Janis Joplin."

The little bitch reached over and patted the top of my head condescendingly. "Well, you have no taste in music. You like Josh Groban."

"Do not," I muttered.

"It's okay, I love you anyway. But Dean still doesn't like Janis Joplin."


Sigh. Janis Joplin is awesome. :P

I'm in a weird place musically right now. I picked up the 4 Non Blondes CD for a dollar at a garage sale, and have been listening to it pretty much nonstop since. I <3 Linda Perry, I'd forgotten how much. When I'm not listening to that, I've been listening to a lot of Smash Mouth, CCR, and the Wicked soundtrack. *eyeroll* Confused music for a confused girl, I guess.

***

My therapist said there are five stages of grief, and I like his better than the ones I learned in school. 1) Numbness, 2) Anger/resentment, 3) Bargaining/guilt, 4) More anger/resentment, and finally 5) Acceptance. He said it'll probably take a couple months before I get to number five. I'm kind of bouncing between one and three right now.

***

I registered for classes today. It seems unreal. I can't believe my life has changed so much in such a short amount of time. I'm only taking 14 units -- Comparative Religions, Critical Thinking, Biology, and Spanish -- but I want to jump back in slowly. I only took Tuesday/Thursday classes, so I can work the rest of the week (that is, if I get a job), which means I get to school at 9am and don't leave until 10pm. Dad wants me to get mace certified and carry a can to and from the bus stop, but I don't know if I'm comfortable with that.

I can't talk music because I don't understand the genres. I don't know the difference between punk, emo, hardcore, screamo, or whatever, and fans will jump all over your ass if you get it wrong. All I know is that right now I'm listening to a lot of My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Death Cab For Cutie, Panic! At the Disco, and Jimmy Eat World.

Life was easier when I figured music was divided into four genres: electric = rock, acoustic = folk, keyboards = pop, and anything else = old people music.

(This journal entry was inspired by the physical fight my brothers started over whether Offspring is punk or not.)

I go under in 13 hours. Not that I'm, you know, nervous or anything. :)

I've been reading a lot of old school Snape/Harry. All stuff I've read before. I'm not interested in writing more HP fanfic--every plot idea ever has been written, and far better than I ever could--but I do like reading it. It's like being with an old friend, wrapped in a blanket of gay porn.

Also, and completely apropos of nothing, I hate Metallica with the burning fire of a thousand suns. Of course, my brothers LOVE Metallica. Guess what's blaring through the house right now? YUCK. Unfortunately, James Hetfield (Metallica frontman) lives fairly close to our house and shops at the grocery store around the corner from us. My brother is like a crazy stalker. Everytime he sees James or his car, he stops whatever he's doing and points like a demented thing, and screams JAMES! OMG IT'S JAMES HETFIELD. OMG OMG!!! It was funny the first time, but now it's just pathetic. Especially because Metallica sucks.

PS: The Dar Williams remake of Comfortably Numb is super awesome. I've been listening to it all day.

My radio station (Alice 97.3) is paying tribute to today's date. I'm currently suffering from Bob Marley overload, but it's pretty funny.

I went to the Green Day/Jimmy Eat World Concert yesterday. For nosebleed seats (3rd row from the top. Whoo-hooo!) they were good, facing the stage head on. I've never not sat in nosebleed seats, so I didn't care. Friends were upset (more on this later).

I have to say, even with Green Day's flashing lights, explosions, fireworks, Bush-bashing, attention whoring, and free guitars, Jimmy Eat World was still better. :) I would have loved their set to have been longer, but whatever. I was bummed because we were late getting in and missed Flogging Molly. Now, I've never heard Flogging Molly, but with a name like that...

Onto Green Day. The concert was solid. Great music. Once they got the American Idiot songs out of the way (I guess they had to; it was the American Idiot tour), they played almost three hours of old school Green Day. Good stuff. I like American Idiot, but it was nice to hear the songs that made me a Green Day fan in the first place. Plus, giant explosions and a firework show better than Disneyland is always awesome.

Some notes...

To the Billy Joe Cosplayers: Now do you see that you don't look unique and rebellious? You just saw 30,000 people dressed exactly like you.

To the People Trying to Mosh: Oh my God, just stop. No, seriously. Did you see the contemptuous looks all the young kids were giving you? Stop trying to recapture your youth.

To My “Friends” Who Ditched Me, Then Whored Their Way to Better Seats: You suck. I hate you. I hate you with the burning passion of a thousand suns. The fun of being in the nosebleed seats is sharing the experience with friends. Plus it was fucking cold up there. :(

To Billy Joe: Baby, I love you. I think you’re a very pretty man. You have a very nice punk voice. But you are not Freddy Mercury. Please stop.

I didn’t have high expectations going in, and was pleasantly surprised. Heck, I got to see a boy-kiss out of it, so it’s all good. Rock on.