Jenna's House of Idiosyncrasies Version 10.0 [Focus.]

Well my school newspaper (The Red & Black) has been very busy this week.

Not only is there an article about my sista's show at Nuçi's Space tonight, but my friends at WUOG, Jason and Dave, were quoted about net radio here.

I know, I'm friends with so many famous people. You wish you were me.

Also, how do I find these things? You can actually pay the fine people at extremekidnapping.com to kidnap you, as a form of entertainment. "We specialize in creating the most realistic kidnapping scenarios available."

The 'Services' page is a must-read:

"journey to secret location where you will be sensory deprived and mock tortured (more realistic torture is available upon request)."

All packages include a videotape of the whole thing, which is supposed to be "A great conversation piece, and a testament to your hardcore extremism!"

Can you say, conspicuous consumption?

So guess what: I'm WUOG's music staffer of the month (Well, myself and a male counterpart by the name of Robert. All things being equal, you know).

This may seem kinda silly but this feels like a big deal to me. I'm not your student-council-event-organizing-worker-for-the-community. I'm just me, and someone like me thinks that you do things because you like doing them, and the things you like, the things you are good at, are not really the things that people actually get recognized for.

But there was my name, emblazoned in red magic marker (or perhaps red Sharpie, since they are required equipment for WUOG) on construction paper beneath the banner proclaiming "Staffers of the Month". It felt good. It brightened up my whole day.

And then, like the good staffer I am, I cut out of our staff meeting early, to go see Angie Aparo at the 40 Watt. It was great. He is awesome, and funny, and gracious. And I literally starting crying during "Cry". He moved me to tears, can you believe it? And at one point he was randomly calling out city names to get cheers (because the crowd was cheering equally for every geographic location) and he actually goes, "You know, I was in Winder today...". Angie Aparo knows where Winder is. I am only so impressed by that because I am in awe of him. If you ever get the chance, you should see Angie Aparo play live.

Perhaps the nicest thing about going out was the company. Allison, Dave, Abie, and Catie are awesome people. They don't put up these walls you have to break down, and they somehow make me feel like a part of the group. I'm not watching what I say or afraid of looking or acting stupid or of laughing too much. They just make me feel really comfortable being me. There are only a handfull of people in the world that do that.

The girls and I went to Blue Sky after the show (coolest little coffee house in Athens, for those not in the know), and then Abie was kind enough to give me a ride home. She noticed that her gas light was on, so we went in search of gas. Do you know there are no gas stations open near campus at 2 in the morning? Crazy, right? We did ultimately find an Amaco way up on Broad, and the gas excursion came to an end, but it was actually pretty fun. Anything not to go home, right?

But I did come home, I had to, it's a school night.

Which means I should be in bed.

I'm trying to relax.

This morning in the shower, I'm tuned into 90.5 WUOG on my shower radio, and what comes over the airwaves but the CD I screened last week, Ryan Adcock's From Silence and Joy. Not only that, but it's even one of the two tracks I recommended, Drive to Hallelujah.

Mind you, this is my first week at the station, and that was the first CD I screened. Ever. There is nothing that makes you feel more involved and powerful than hearing your influence go out over 26,000 watts. This is the first organization I've been in at UGA where I feel like my being there and doing work actually matters. I had a big stupid grin on my face all day.

Not only that, but I've had Veblen's Shaded Fire in my Aiwa CD player since I finally got one last week and I have discovered that it takes exactly one play through of Moonlit Rose to get from my building to my 11:15 in Physics. I love this CD. The production is top quality, and there are actually some interesting techniques that went into the production, including Scott playing two guitar parts on some songs, Conrad's voice {I think} being double tracked in a lot of places, and echoing whispers(!) behind the vocal on the intro to Loneliness.

As modest as Scott, Conrad, Jason and Brandon are about this CD, here's the truth, kiddos: This record is actually really good. These guys are not just one of the best live bands I have ever seen, but they are writing really good material, songs that can stand on thier own, without the sexy magnetic performers standing in front of you.

So find one of them, e-mail their manager, whatever you have to do, and get your hands on a copy of Shaded Fire, before they get big. You can say you knew them when.