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Several weeks ago, I randomly pitched an article idea to a website I was reading. I was shocked when they wrote back weeks later saying they liked my idea and asked for a draft. I wrote it, but they eventually turned it down. (If you know about my obsession with personality tests, you know that I am now analyzing the fact that this perfectly fits in with my pattern of big ideas with flawed execution.)  After the initial sting of rejection, I felt proud of myself for doing something new and totally out of my comfort zone. That real-life rejection letter weirdly made me feel like a real-life writer! I honestly reevaluated my essay, and realized it probably needed better structure, more of a point, and honestly, just wasn’t a great fit for that website. But to take this “I’m a writer!” experiment to completion, I'm “self-publishing” it here. I think there are some lessons for me here about being courageous, taking action, and giving myself grace. Maybe topics for a future es

I went back and reread previous blog posts, and I don't really sound like much of a Beatles fan at all. But rest assured, things quickly turned around with the introduction of BRUUUUUM... At the peak of my Beatles fandom in the mid-1990's (the teenage years coincide with pretty much everyone's peak fandom of whatever they happen to be into, I assume), the Beatles Anthology was a big deal. It was this mini-series documentary with accompanying double-CD albums for you to play along at home. I was definitely too poor at the time to buy the albums. Double-CDs? What am I, made of money? But I did have cable TV, and AMC (long before the days of mad men and zombies) used to play classic movies, and they played the Beatles movies on a continuous loop to try to catch some of the anthology audience. I remember waiting patiently for the next scheduled showing of "A Hard Day's Night," finger poised on the VCR remote, trying to get a perfect recording. I fell in lov

This post is slightly delayed due to the sheer madness of the past week, but I did, in fact, listen to "With the Beatles" for a total of 9 straight days (so you don't have to!). My three Naik fellas really could only withstand approximately 1.7 songs from this album at a time, so this was primarily a solo endeavor. Probably the best thing about this album is the iconic photo on the cover: But maybe you're thinking to yourself, what the heck is "With the Beatles?" Don't you mean "Meet the Beatles?" What trick are you trying to pull, lady? So it's probably a good time to point out that the Beatles Box Set includes all of the studio albums that were released in the UK. So, if you were in the US in 1964, you instead would have seen these songs split between "Meet the Beatles" and the cleverly titled "The Beatles' Second Album." But you would have heard them way after your British hipster counterparts, kinda like how w

Do you want to know a secret? Listening to this album nonstop for a week is actually pretty difficult. It's extremely short, kinda repetitive, and not all the tracks are keepers. That said, I discovered a couple of hidden gems, heartily sang along with the hit singles, and tried to imagine being a 1960's music critic or radio DJ hearing this band for the first time. In this photo you can see that my high tech car stereo weirdly has a complete phone keypad. It's as useless as you are likely imagining. But hey, it can play a CD. Of note: there are only 8 Lennon/McCartney compositions on this thing. The other 6 tracks are covers, all of which was somewhat hastily recorded to put together a full LP (take a moment to reflect upon whether anyone would bother doing this in our current instant download era). 1. "I Saw Her Standing There" This is a great album opener, and has always been a song I was fond of...but in 2018, there is something a little weird about

Sometimes I post on Facebook about the pop culture-y things I'm obsessed with, but it turns out I really miss my more long-form blog. Y'all know I also sometimes like to sneak a peek at my ancient and adorable 2002-2005 livejournal . (Someday when I have infinite time on my hands, I really will follow through with figuring out how to revive my "goth girl" mood representations.) I guess I just miss the blog and all your comments, and sorta resent this 280-character world we live in. Anywho, as I approach 40 (OMG) I realize that things I love are trending toward the outdated and nostalgic because I guess this is just what happens when you age and are in rapid decline. The main example of this is my attachment to CDs. The pitiful stereo system in my 2012 Ford Escape is partially to blame, as it REFUSES to sync with my iPod, and has an overly complex Bluetooth system. Therefore, I still primarily listen to KUT/KUTX on my radio, or I listen to COMPACT DISCS one-at-a-