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December 23, 2003
Poll Position
"Being grown up isn't half as fun as growing up
These are the best days of our lives
The only thing that matters is just following your heart
And eventually you'll finally get it right"
In This Diary - The Ataris
For some reason these lyrics have popped into my head this morning as I am sitting at work... at my desk... with nothing to do... bored out of my mind... again... still. I'm not entirely sure why I'm being subjected to them. Maybe it's because I am at work when most of my friends are home on break. Perhaps it's because I am annoyed by having to go to bed before halftime of Monday Night Football, much less the end of the game, because I have to get up early to go work. It could be the responsibilities that I've assumed such as paying rent, utility bills, and insurance and maintenance for my car. Or maybe it's because, since my car is getting serviced, I drove to work today in a "loaner" car with a giant dealership logo plastered on both sides, and I feel ridiculous. Or, most likely, it's just that I am slowly going completely insane. That would explain why I am humming this absurd song. Allow me to digress for a moment about what this piece of art (read: poo) means to me.
It means nothing! There are three clichés - that don't really even rhyme - thrown together in a seemingly random order to achieve a generically inspiring (read: insipid) pop-punk ditty. Being grown up isn't all that appealing, but, if my memory hasn't completely failed in my old age, I seem to remember that growing up wasn't exactly a walk in the park, either. Maybe the geniuses in the Ataris didn't have those phases (read: middle school), but I think it's fairly safe to say that the rest of us don't recall them in a particularly fond manner. And, by the way, if "these" are the best days of your lives, guys, that means that once you've hit 25 it only gets worse. I hope you enjoy the next 2 weeks of moderate fame and success, because it's all downhill from here (Budweiser, the king of beers... HEY! I can write pop tunes, too - and mine even rhyme, some of the time).
Since I'm on a roll here, can someone define for me what it means to follow your heart? Does that mean we're supposed to convulse around 72 times per minute? And couldn't one make a case that Lee Malvo was just following his heart? It's the only thing that matters, right? Maybe the problem wasn't that he was following John Muhammad, after all. And how did the heart get the "elevated organ" status? I probably won't be following my pancreas any time soon, but I think that the colon might matter just as much. What's wrong with following your colon? Too many syllables, I guess. I think the Ataris should listen to more Matchbox Twenty, though: "Everybody's trusting in their heart like their heart don't lie." Grammar: -20. Accuracy: +57. Maybe if the Atari-boy-wonders would read more often - and spew mindless drivel less often - they would eventually finally get it right and stop being so redundant redundant.
What does this all mean? Absolutely nothing. That's OK, though, it takes less for some people to get a record contract, and no one reads this over break anyway.
Posted by Pat at December 23, 2003 09:50 AM
Comments
Don't worry pat. I still love you.
Posted by: Mat at December 23, 2003 10:10 AM
Pat, I read your blog every day, and you are not alone in your thoughts and feelings...ooohhhh, what a nice touchy feely comment to make your day. And about the whole follow your heart thing, what ever happened to follow your mind? Oh, wait, that really wouldn't sell records...even if Christian Auguilera sang it....
Posted by: Dave at December 23, 2003 11:44 AM
On behalf of all the widely scattered students on break: Don't lose heart (or mind), Pat. We're still here, with our far-off dial-up I.P.s, loyally reading and commiserating and trying to awaken our brains to understand what you're experiencing.
Posted by: Bart at December 23, 2003 01:37 PM
Bart is absolutely right. (grrrrr) I have nothing to do at home either, but on the flip side, it's absolutely wonderful. I'm feeling a litte guilty about it... Rest is a good thing, right?
Posted by: Heather at December 23, 2003 03:31 PM
Yeah...I've got nothing to do except fix my car, which will actually take all of 30 minutes when I do it. I'm so bored! I'm starting to be sick of it. Isn't that wrong? A 22 year old being tired of having nothing to do?!? OR maybe I'm just getting old...
Edited 12/23/03 - 10:40pm... Dan managed to post this exact same thing 4 times, but it seemed cruel to leave them up, so, for your benefit and his, the duplicates have been removed.
Posted by: DanJ at December 23, 2003 05:04 PM
oops...
Posted by: DanJ at December 23, 2003 05:05 PM
Oh my am I bored too. I still check this blog the usual 8 times per day, but now it takes about 5 minutes rather than the usual 10 seconds. I kinda wish it would take longer, then I could fill up the whole day. We're still listening pat.
Posted by: Micah at December 24, 2003 01:15 AM
'kay, so I agree, and why, oh why is internet so slow in some parts of the world? (and by parts of the world, I mean rustic Northwest Iowa)
Posted by: Angie at December 24, 2003 04:10 PM
Ok, so I was thinking that maybe I could pull off this week of doing nothing without be bored at all, but here it is, only five days into it for me, and I'm bored too. sigh. I had such high expectations. When do I get to go back to work????
Posted by: Mike at December 25, 2003 08:36 PM
Give me something to study and I might make it.
Posted by: dan at December 26, 2003 12:50 PM