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Sitting in my old room at my parents' house, I wonder where that magic eight-ball is that used to sit on my shelf.

Actually, it was a date-ball. Pink and everything. Totally cool in middle school and too campy to get rid of after that. I'm not sure where it is tonight though. I'd like to ask it a few questions. I'd ask it what I'm supposed to be doing with my life, then remember it only takes "yes" or "no" questions and rephrase that. I would say, "Oh Magic Date Ball, am I going in the right direction?" And I would shake it a little too much and barely be able to read "NO CLUE" through all of the glitter.

Maybe it's a good thing it's not just right there on the shelf anymore. It was never very insightful.

I Don't Know Where I'll Be In Ten Years, But I Plan On Still Being Too Sexy For The Carwash

So the last few days have been interesting.

I celebrated the independence of my country by watching large explosions erupt in the sky (the irony involved in The Fourth of July never ceases to amuse me).

I finally updated The Musical Advice Column.

I discovered the worst film ever made. It's so bad I don't even want to mention it by name. I'll just link to the Wikipedia page about it and you can click at your own risk.

Ryan called me from the Canadian border yesterday. It looks like Original Sound Trash will get some recording done this month after all. More on that later.

I went to Narnia (see picture).

I also received another blog award! This one is from fabulous LaceyRee over at This Freckled Lemonade. Check out her blog if you haven't yet, it's full of charming little doodles and general hilarity.

Anyway, according to this award, apparently I'm going places. I like the sound of that! Sometimes I feel like I'm going nowhere.

The only real rule of this award is that I have to talk about where I think I'll be in ten years. I have a hard time knowing where I'm going to be in ten days sometimes, so this is going to be fun. :)

In ten years, I will be 32. What a frightening thought.

When I was a teenager I thought that being older than about 25 would be awful. I think I probably wanted to join The 27 Club, but that is no longer appealing now that being 27 is only 5 years away. Plus, I'm not nearly famous enough or reckless enough to join that club.
(Coincedentally, Allison put up a playlist today featuring several members of The 27 Club. Long live Kurt Cobain and Janis Joplin)

But I digress. Honestly, I have no idea what being 32 will be like. Actually, I think I have a better idea of what I won't be doing in the year 2020.

I won't have children. I won't be living in my parents' basement. I won't be living under a bridge either. I won't be working at a middle school, a fast food restaurant, a gas station, or a strip club.

Maybe I'll have a semi-successful music career. Maybe I'll finally finish a screenplay. Maybe I'll live in Portland still, just because I like it here. Or maybe I'll be living in a hut somewhere, pretending I'm Jane Goodall and making a documentary about indigenous tribal life as an excuse to avoid modern-day society. Who knows.

I get so overwhelmed when I think about the future and all the things I want to do. So I am going to stop thinking about it right now and focus on the days that I'm currently living in. Theoretically that will get me somewhere, right?

Anyway, enough about me. Now's the part of the show where I toss this award over to a few other bloggers who are going places. Aaaaand the winners are:

*drumroll*

TBR over at tbr-tangential. He's a wonderful writer and understands my obscure movie references.

Jane over at Happiness Adventure Beauty Love. She takes lovely photographs and drinks wine at biker rallies.

Ambiguous Geek over at Geeky Ambiguous Me. She understands the dangers of dancing the Futterwacken at work and is therefore on the road to success! Also, today is Tuesday, so if you hop over to her blog you'll probably see some good pictures of sexy nerds. It's her weekly thing. Surprisingly, I haven't seen a picture of myself up there yet.

I know, I know, I'm too sexy for the car wash. Calm down everyone, I've got a boyfriend.

Hi, I get off-topic really easily. I think it's time for this post to be over.

"Terminate blog post, Captain!"
"Aye aye! Terminating blog post!"

The end.

If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out

I don't know what the future will bring. I am twenty-two and refuse to make very many long-term plans. I know that right now I want to travel and make music. I can't look very far beyond that though. Maybe in six months I'll want to have a job. Maybe I'll want to rent an apartment on the other side of town and stay up every night eating Captain Crunch and writing a screenplay. Maybe I'll want to put on my fur coat and move to Siberia. Who knows.

I do not know what the future will look like. Honestly, I don't want to know. I am okay with it being a mystery. It's exciting. It's full of opportunities.

When I was 17, I wanted to be a concert pianist. Horowitz 2.0, or something like that.

I told my piano teacher that I wanted to make music for a living. I thought he would probably be stoked. But instead he just took a bite of the big piece of meat that sat atop his fork (he always ate during lessons) and scrunched his brow. He probably said something in Yiddish when he was done chewing. I don't remember. But I do remember the words he said in English:

"Only pursue music if there's nothing else you can do to be happy. I don't recommend for people to be musicians. In fact, I tell them not to do it. It's not easy. It can be miserable. And it doesn't pay well. But if there's nothing else that makes you happy like music does, then go for it."

He then asked what other things I was thinking about doing with my life. "I like commercials," I say. "I'm thinking about going into advertising."

"Do you drink?" he says without even skipping a bit. I shake my head "no." "Well, you should start if you're going into advertising," he says.

That was the last time I ever thought about going into advertising.

Of course, that was not the last time I ever thought about music.

In fact, the more I explore other ideas and try out other options, the more I realize that music is really my bottom line. I may have a college degree in film, but music will always be my first love. Music is what makes me the happiest.

Music isn't everybody's bottom line. And if you can be happy doing something else and making real money off of it, more power to ya.

But, in the words of my old piano teacher, if there's nothing else that makes you happy like music does, then go for it.

I'm gonna try to go for it this summer.


I shall close with this video, courtesy of Amanda Palmer:



I think this is the most beautiful cover of this song in existence.

If you want to sing out, sing out. If you want to be free, be free. There are a million things to be. You know that there are.