i would like to bring the following to your attention:

a sampling of lines from the last five songs i have listened to:

i've got a twenty dollar bill that says no one's ever seen you without makeup. you're always made up.

back in school they never taught us what we needed to know--like how to deal with despair, and someone breaking your heart.

if you ever loved somebody put your hands up. now they're gone and you're wishing you could give them everything.

everything's gonna get lighter even if it never gets better.

i finally made it, i made a clean getaway.

driving home from the grocery store, i put in my sister's ipod. leave it to rosie to provide a little classiness to my listening for the evening. please compare the above lyrics with a smattering of the frank sinatra i drove home to:

When somebody loves you
It's no good unless he loves you all the way
Happy to be near you
When you need someone to cheer you all the way

Who knows where the road will lead us
Only a fool would say
But if you'll let me love you
It's for sure I'm gonna love you all the way.

what a charmer...

my point is this: no wonder we're all so jaded about love! all we listen to is music about the demise of love! i say, change your listening habits, change your life.

p.s. i did two brave things this weekend:

1) i knocked on a professor's door for the first time ever. i was trained that if the door is closed, it means they're unavailable, but i am a grad student (? as if that holds clout?) and it was during his office hours after all! talking to professors always freaks me out. pretty sure every time i've left a consultation, i say out loud to myself as i'm walking down the hall, "good job, lady!"

2) i asked my first citizen if he wouldn't mind me taking pictures of his children swinging in the park. i introduced myself as a photographer and explained the situation (that i'm on assignment...sa-weet!). he acquiesced to my request. (mike if you're reading this, i know what you're thinking--just because i gave candy to that one kid at the fireworks show does not make me a creeper.) this required bravery because he was a stranger...it would have been easier to not approach him, to take mediocre pictures from afar...but i'm committed this year to keeping myself nice and out of my comfort zone.