The Future

I promise after this I will pick up the phone book

and choose the name that my eyes fall upon on the first look

a moral of my poorly composed declarations there in the future.

I'm so sorry to have put you through
a lifetime of dedications you never desired.

Los Campesinos!, I Just Sighed. I Just Sighed, Just So You Know

Today the task of signing up for next years' classes began. I'm meeting with my counselor on Monday to try and work my schedule out - there are so many classes I want to take and not enough periods for them all with the Occupational credit I still need... I'm going to try and make AP French count as the Occupational, just because that personally makes sense when my future is taken into account. It's weird to think about Senior year already. It makes it seem a lot closer than it is. There are still five months of class, year finals, and an AP test in May. And next year I'm going to be taking lots of AP tests. I don't want to think about that, though.

I've just found out that Youth Guild is meeting next Wednesday. I'm hoping I'll be able to skip Norwegian next week and just go to the House at five for the meeting and stay through the end of open-mic. It would be really nice to see all of those friends since I haven't been there since the beginning of December! I've barely been writing at all, and open mic really gives me an excuse. Plus I want to talk to Nicholas about the new Los Campesinos! album, since he likes them, too.

Los Campesinos! (from here)

Speaking of them, Los Campesinos!'s new album is fabulous. I know that S bought a copy on Saturday when we went into Seattle, but I haven't heard what she thinks of it yet. Romance is Boring, as a whole, has the best lyrics of a Los Campesinos! album to date. Each song flows so seamlessly into the next, both musically and in the context of recurring themes and story. There are only a few (read: probably only two) albums that I've ever fully understood the story of, and Romance is Boring is on that list. It is amazingly coherent and still manages to be musically engaging.

The Campesinos! team has never let down fans when it comes to utilizing as many instruments as possible in a beautiful, never excessive way. Tom Campesinos! composes the songs and they all come full-circle individually as well as together. Each one is so distinct ("Plan A" comes to mind as what could be seen as the "sore thumb" of the record, but lyrics prove otherwise). Gareth's lyrics floor me on each album, but Romance is Boring is something I don't think I'll ever be able to fully appreciate because of all the hidden gems. The opening line of the record gets me every time; I could listen to it over and over again - Let's talk about you for a minute. Leaving no listener wanting, the last lyric of the album is just as powerful: I can't believe I chose the mountains every time you chose the sea. Is there anything better than the first and last moments of a story? Nope. Same applies for this album.

I've had the opportunity to meet Gareth twice before and I was never brave enough to say hello... I'm very intimidated by his writing, but he seems like a nice guy. I'm going to say hi this May when we see them, though! It's my goal! Please hold me to it... we won't chicken out this year.