I would like to impart in parts
Part I: Ingrid Michaleson
First of all, Lauren (the wife) and I went to see Ingrid Michaelson in Ann Arbor tonight. It was a crazy 12 hours of work, class, Ann Arbor and back, but it was oh, so needed. I haven’t road tripped in a while, and roadtripping with my best friend is the best. She let’s me DJ, thankfully, so I picked some quality music for us to listen to on the way there and back. The music on the way there was high quality; however, the music on the way home was pretty entertaining. We had some Joe Bros, Hanson, Jay Sean, Miley Cyrus, T Pain, Justin Bieber (obviously), etc. So good.
Speaking of so good… the Ingrid Michaelson show. She has the worst style ever (seriously, it’s pretty bad), but the best music/voice. I was extremely impressed by the talent of her band, especially the two women in her band. It’s bad, but normally I am not impressed by back-up women musicians for the most part, and these two were phenomenal. Yeah, girls. Also, we were about 7 rows from the stage. She played almost everything I had hoped she’d play (only two exceptions). The crowd sang. The crowd clapped. The whole environment was just so joyful. Thank you, Lauren for taking me :)
Part II: Musical Eras
This night reminded me a lot about the impact that music has had on some very important parts of my life. I know it’s cliche, but I love the way that a song can just take you right back to a certain time in your life, both good and bad. I think of certain “eras” that can be remembered instantly from a song or two.
Examples:
“I’m Yours” & “Live High” (Jason Mraz)- will always remind me of summer 2008: Living with Laura in our cozy room/house, driving to work at StelterPartners, painting on the back porch, Jeff and Eric baking cookies in our kitchen, pizzas at Mangiamo’s, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, finally letting go of the past, etc.
“All Night Long” (Lionel Richie)- will always remind me of New Year’s 2009. Enough said.
“Heart of Life” & “Stop This Train” (John Mayer)- will always remind me of the last semester of college: hot tub party in Steve’s hotel room after graduation, driving to Eastmanville, March Madness, grilling out at E4, crying when I left my apartment
“5 Years Time” (Noah and the Whale)- will always remind me of summer 2009: living out of my car for 5 weeks with absolutely no responsibilities, sleeping on Lauren’s futon, seeing Sarah and Katie as much as possible, saying goodbye to Steve, going to the beach as much as possible.
Part III: Miscellaneous Memories
These are obviously just some highlights, and I have so many more memories associated with these songs… speaking of memories, here are a few good ones that I wanted to remind people of:
First Annual Fine Feast on a Wintry Night- snowflakes (a billion), apples to apples, feeding the homeless (sort of), chestnuts roasting on an open fire
“Dirt off your Shoulder” music video/photo shoot- katie’s dance arms, bill’s cookie arm, adam’s pocket dance, jon doing nothing in the background, ants, snow (!)
The first “RISK” night- banana balls, the exorcist juicer, rodd lowell’s guest appearance
Carving pumpkins last fall- Nina/Justin’s “infant” looking pumpkin, throwing the insides all over the backyard
The night before our New York trip- High School Musical 3 for the wii (justin vassar is a HSM3 wii god)
Watching hockey/disney movies @ Tim, Alex, Matt, and Jack’s
My 22nd birthday- Jack blowing out my candles
Farewell E4 party- dance moves, visitors from two doors down, sleepover, kitchen photo shoot
Part IV: Closing Remarks
MAN! There are so many more things I want to add, but won’t because I am tired. Anyways, it just feels good to remember these things in light of being so stressed/busy with grad school and work. I want to continue making memories like these.
Old friends, you are so important to me. Thanks for all of the good times.
New friends/boyfriend- I will be writing about our current experiences in posts to come, don’t you worry.
All friends, I love you.
The end.
“Parts” were added to post after writing when I realized people will a). Not read it since it’s so long. or b). Get tired of reading once they started. Adding “parts” allows for easier skimming/skipping, for those who are interested :)
Ps. Remember when I used to be funny on Tumblr? It’s been a while…. sorry. Now I just reblog pictures of puppies and write really cliche things.
