I think they were on to something...

The world is a vampire.

That's the opening line to the Smashing Pumpkins' song " Bullet with Butterfly Wings." It's the only song I like from the Smashing Pumpkins. I think because I saw the video or something or I liked the title.  I don't know. I do know that I'm not a huge fan of the Pumpkins, the main reason being I can't stand Billy Corgan's singing voice. Never acquired the taste.  Anyways, statement up there. It's so true.  Let's take this in pieces shall we.

Obvious component of the analogy is VAMPIRE.  I've always had a thing for vampires.  Not sure why but they fascinate me.  Every Halloween for a while I was a vampire.  Don't get me wrong the whole drinking blood deal is kind of awkward.  But since Twilight  has introduced this concept of "vegetarian" vampires (only going after animals, which is what we eat anyway), they are re-fascinating.  Throw in immortality, becoming absolutely gorgeous, super-human strength and speed plus ridiculously heightened senses.  Totally worth it.  Anyways, back to original discussion.  Vampires suck the life out of a living creature, human, animal, jellyfish, whatever.  This can happen one of two ways.  The most commonly known drinking of blood, obviously essential to existence, vamp or not.  The second, not so commonly known at all, is feeding off of one's emotional energy.  Not really sure how that works.  I think I knew about it once upon a time, in a land far away, but no más.  You can Google it if you're curious and find out about it.  OK that covers the vampire part.  Next is the world part.  What constitutes the "world?"  I think it's safe to say we are not talking about the physical being that is Earth.  If we were then people would be the vampires so to speak as far as sucking the life out of the Earth, which we do.  So this can only mean that the "world" is the collective human species.  Not just people themselves but all of the stuff that we have brought about whilst in existence. 

The world has and always will be a very draining place to be.  I think it is getting even more so over time because now we have the technology and ability to be informed and to an extent bear witness to many many things that happen all over the world.  We used to just get our information from periodicals, which still offer a degree of feeling removed from the situation if it's not happening down the street, and word of mouth; if we take a page from the beloved game Telephone we know that by the time we get the story it's changed 47 times and very loosely resembles the original.  But especially in this country, we can't claim that we know nothing, that there was no way we could have found out. Unless you live under a rock, in a cave, in the middle of the desert with no TV, radio, internet access or social interaction of any kind, you can't claim ignorance.  Having all sorts of national, international, social, humanitarian and environmental issues being brought to our attention is tiring.  It's even more so draining when when our "I wanna do something about this" drive kicks in but we can't because we don't know where to start etc.  And as if being bothered and thinking about all of the world's problems isn't enough, let's not forget ourselves and those that we hold dear. 

It saddens me when I talk to my friends, or when I feel it myself, and they are drained, tired and utterly exhausted in every way this side of Monday.  When they feel like the life is literally being sucked out of them because they have a heart and soul.  Unfortunately, it's inevitable.  If you have just an ounce of humanity in you, you can't help but give of yourself to those around you.  Life requires it of you.  Beliefs require it of you.  Sometimes, depending on your field, your job requires it of you.  Life is tiring, unfortunately.  There's no avoiding it completely unless you decide that you're just going to commune with rocks, trees and a cave monkey.  This is why we're meant to commune with each other.  So that there is a balance between the giving of one's self and the receiving from another.  I could on and on about that but I shall refrain.  So taking into account the whole of society, the everyday ongoing predicament that is one's own life and all of those other people that are essential to one's survival in this world, I think it's safe to say that the Pumpkins have it right. 

The world is a vampire.

Pour me a tall glass of some live music...

Live music gets me high.

It always has.  Always will.  Unless it's bad...cause that will just ruin your weekend.  But if it's good then we're in business.  Endorphins released by exercise and all that crap yea doesn't work on me.  I work out and afterwards I'm like "yea that was fun I guess."  I go to a concert however and I am a happy camper for the next 3 days.  If I go to more than one in a week than whooooa Buddy!  I could just die happy.  There is nothing like being at a performance and hearing the music happening right then.  CDs are great and all but there's just an energy all around, especially if everyone else is getting into it, that matches no other.  I understand that people may not necessarily be "concert" people and stuff and it's understandable. Some concerts, particularly arena concerts are a bit pricy and can be fairly long especially if there are multiple openers.  If it's a smaller venue, chances are everyone is standing and packed in tight.  I get that, trust me.  I tend to get a bit claustrophobic in large crowds if I'm not outside.  But my love for concerts trumps that.  I have yet to meet someone however, that does not like live music.  If I ever do I think I would have to walk away quickly as to not smack them until they came to their senses.  That I will never wrap my head around.  I will go seek out live music and bands that I like by myself and go enjoy by myself but I do prefer to go with people but only if I know said people will enjoy themselves.  If they won't then don't bother coming. 

 

Being a good performer is key to a good concert.  I've been to concerts that sucked from bands that I liked cause they didn't put on a good show like Lifehouse.  Metallica, Mae and The Script are the 3 concerts I've been to recently and they are good performances.  If the band is going crazy on stage it makes me wanna go crazy in the audience and sometimes I feel like I'm the only one that feels like that while watching a show.  All of these other people are just standing around watching, rocking a little bit, boppin' a little bit but not really getting into the music.  So my self-conscious side comes out and I don't go as crazy as I'd like to.  Live just makes me wanna jump, head-bang, skank, dance, whatever.  And it gets on my nerves for some reason when people are just standing around.  I think bands should do two shows.  One that is a regular show for whoever and one that is strictly for going crazy, singing along.  Basically just for those who wanna go all out buckwhilin' crazy!  That would be pretty sweet.  And then drinks with the band afterwards if it's a small venue :-).  

 

I think it would be cool to be in a band and perform in front of people and traveling around the country in a van and stuff.  It would suck sometimes but I think it would be really fun.  Because you would be performing music in front of lots of people who just wanna have a good time.  And if it's good music? Big Plus.  :sigh: I think I've found my calling...

Let's see who happens across this shall we...

Hello readers of the outside world!

If you just happened upon this then good on ya cause then my experiment was successful.  For some reason I felt the need to start a blog of sorts, without any advertising and see how long it takes someone to find it and if you have then it worked.  Have a Xanga, probably will shut it down like Guantanamo Bay because it's got all sorts of crap floating around and whatnot so let's try something different. Be forewarned, I do have a tendency to leave out words in my sentences. Not on purpose of course, it just happens. My brain works faster than my fingers so forgive me, I shall try to remember to proof before publishing. So.  Here I sit, with questions floating around in my brain and I figure what is the harm in posing them to the masses.  I'll use this place as a sounding board for thoughts, ideas, observations of life, photographs and probably just sheer ridiculousness.

Question of the day- How do you know you're passionate about something?

This is something that has been driving me crazy.  I think that a passion is something that has a significant pull on you, that may even influence your decisions in some capacity.  Something that you can't picture your life without.  You may not be pursuing it as fully as you wish but you're at least working with it somehow.  Everyone has likes.  Things they like to do, people they like to be with etc.  Don't get me wrong you can have more than one passion and I do believe they take different forms.  But a passion is something more than just a "like."  Take myself.  I like to cook.  I dare to say that I love to cook.  I find it fun, I enjoy when people like my food, plus it gives a great sense of accomplishment. However, I could never make a career out of it.  I don't feel the need to pursue it full steam ahead.  Plus I think I'd get sick of it, despite my strong intrigue of working in a fast paced kitchen.  Here's my dilemma.  I can't recognize a passion in my life.  I can see myself doing 80 different things and others can see me doing 80 different things.  I like doing many things from acting to photography to saving the world to even med. school.  But I don't feel that driving force towards anything.  Something is amiss and I do not know what it is.  It's as frustrating as hell and I don't know where to go from here.  All I've got so far is that I need to be helping people, impacting society in some way but do you know how many avenues you could take to accomplish that?? HUNDREDS!  I have a strong belief that you should be doing something you enjoy or at least have something that you're working towards that you enjoy to supplement whatever else it is you're doing that may suck, so that life is more bearable.  I mean how does one continue to live like this?  Obviously I'm missing something.  Not sure what it is though.  It may be something so obscure that I need my people to help me see it.  Or it may be as simple as letting God more into my life and hopefully pointing the way.  I don't know but I do know this.  I need some hardcore intellectual stimulation like more education or something.

Anyways, ponder that.  And again if you have found this. Congratulations.  I'll mail you a cookie for your accomplishment.