Awesomeness in music form

Gotta love Rush. I can't think of any other 1970's prog-rock band who'd even think about using lyrics like "The hypocrites are slandering the sacred halls of truth".

 

They're epic.

I'm so lucky

My girlfriend is the most beautiful girl ever.

Walking in the Shadow of the Blues

We got our Legal Studies Case Reports back today. I didn't even look at mine.

 

Our school uniform is blue.

Thing Without An Interesting Name

In a desperate attempt to make myself cooler in a world which does not understand weird outcasts who don't have anything made by Apple, don't have MyFace and don't go out socialising, I have come up with a cunning plan.

 

I am going to list all the albums I have (none of which are downloaded by the way - I do this old-fashioned thing where I pay for my CD's), and then all of you are going to comment back telling me how many of those you possess too. I get a point for each one. The more points I get, the cooler I am. (This is based upon the theory that nobody listens to more than a few albums of what I have because I have a weird non-modern taste in music)

 

So here goes:

 

100 Popular Classics

Alan Parsons Project - Eye in the Sky, Vulture Culture

Brassed Off! Soundtrack

Casting Crowns - Until the Whole World Hears

Deep Purple - Burn, Made in Japan

Delirious? - Now is the Time:Live at Willow Creek

Dire Straits - Alchemy, On the Night

Gareth Gates - What My Heart Wants to Say

Gary Moore - Corridors of Power, Gary Moore, Rockin' Every Night, White Knuckles

Hillsong United - In a Valley by the Sea, United We Stand

Humble Pie - Back on Track

Iron Maiden - Live After Death

Jon Lord - Beyond the Notes

Josh Wilson - Life Is Not a Snapshot, Trying to Fit the Ocean in a Cup

Les Miserables Soundtrack

Lynyrd Skynyrd - One More from the Road

Parachute Band - Technicolor

Passion - How Great Is Our God

Peter David Steer - Refresh

Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon

Planetshakers - My King, Praise Him

Queen - Greatest Hits vol.3, The Platinum Collection vol.1-3

Rainbow - Down to Earth, On Stage, Universal Masters Collection

Relient K - Five Score and Seven Years Ago

Reuben Morgan - Extravagant Worship

Robbie Williams - I've Been Expecting You, Life Thru a Lens

Rush - 2112, All the World's a Stage, Caress of Steel, Counterparts, Different Stages, Exit...Stage Left, A Farewell to Kings, Feedback, Fly by Night, Grace Under Pressure, Hemispheres, Moving Pictures, Permanent Waves, Presto, Roll the Bones, Rush, A Show of Hands, Signals, Snakes & Arrows, Test for Echo, Vapor Trails

Saxon - A Collection of Metal, Wheels of Steel/Strong Arm of the Law

Superchic[k] - Beauty from Pain, Regeneration

Switchfoot - The Beautiful Letdown, Hello Hurricane, Nothing Is Sound, Oh! Gravity

Thin Lizzy - Live and Dangerous

Third Day - Chronology vol.1, Chronology vol.2, Live Wire, Offerings, Offerings II, Wherever You Are

UFO - Strangers in the Night

VeggieTales - VeggieRocks!

Whitesnake - Come an' Get It, Live...In the Heart of the City, Slip of the Tongue

ZZ Top - Live from Texas, Recycler

 

So there you have it. It took me half an hour to write that list, and apparently it'd take me 90.4 hours straight to listen to it all. That's three and a quarter days. Now before you brag about how that's nothing and your playlist rolls mine, remember that all of these are CDs that I've bought and put on my computer. I like to think it's impressive, even if nobody else knows who any of these bands are!

 

Red Sector A (cause that's the song that I'm listening to at the moment =D)

Standing outside my maths classroom before school this morning, I had the chance to observe people as they went by - my classroom's on the second level.

 

One particular group caught my eye - black hair with peroxide highlights (or the opposite), with orange powdery faces and egos the size of star systems. The scrags, as my wholesome, innocent friend Emily called them.

 

For fun I tried to put a poetic description to them. I reached the conclusion that they are like birds of prey, with their sharp aquiline noses, blank expressions and small faces. They claw at each other verbally, and squawk to each other about how he was in bed last night.

 

You get the picture. But this inevitably turned to philosophy. After all, it's the obvious topic one thinks of when contemplating these people. I began to wonder why they are what they are, and why I'm different, being what I am instead.

 

What separates us? What makes me different to them? What genes, relationships, mental processes, choices, make us different?

No man's land

I am caught in two minds. I am on second base, neither here nor there, on the fence, at the junction not knowing which way to go.

 

They say they want the best for me, but so far nothing has come of it. Sure, I'm well off, but emotionally I'm not stable and they cannot recognize the double edge of their words. For those of you doing Classical Studies or English, their words are the epitome of dramatic irony.

 

My brother today was telling me about a girl in his class who is state skipping champion. When I made a witty comment about her talent and prowess compared to other children her age (commenting on how they all sit around watching tv like my brother), he asked me in a sour tone what I was state champion of. He hit the nail on the head, and I was the nail. What was I the state champion of?

 

The answer that came to me was not surprising. It could be based on one of two things - that I'm cynical and emotional, or that my family really were inflicting emotional damage on me. My answer, you ask? I am the state champion of being ignored, being used, and being put down. If there was a song to describe me, it would be either Alan Parson's "Let's talk about me for a minute", or Ritchie Blackmore's "Mistreated", although in this life it's not my lover who's let me down, but my family.

 

But all this reaches a point. All of a sudden, a new factor has been introduced. My parents, in an effort to motivate me to work harder this year, have basically offered me a bribe. I know it's just sucking me in, but it's a good offer, and now I'm stuck on what to do. Do I do what they want because it benefits me? Or do I keep plodding along, the Walkman pack mule amongst smarter, cleverer, iRacehorses, out of spite?

 

I already know the answer. But it's not one I'm happy about. This is all gonna mess me up even more.

 

Trying to please my family is, in Josh Wilson's words, "like trying to fit the ocean in a cup."