Top 5 Ways I'm NOT Going to Deal with Unemployment

After a month of commuting from my new apartment in Silver Spring (or Not-So-Silver Spring, but I'll get to that in a later Where I Live post) to my job in Baltimore, it was painfully clear that working as a restaurant hostess was not worth the hassle or the gas money of an hour drive. I want to work in music, film, and theatre, so I took the big plunge and I quit my job to start freelancing in the theatre arts. The funny thing about freelancing before you actually have any jobs lined up, though, is that it looks an awful lot like...

...being unemployed.

For the first time since I was 15, I don't have a job. It's terrifying. And while I'm not yet exactly sure where the money IS going to come from, I have decided that there are certain things I am NOT going to do as I'm faced with impending destitution.

1. I will not sit in my apartment all day every day. I will get out and meet people. I will go to auditions and classes and workshops just to network and have my face seen. And now that I have free time, I will take advantage of the thousands of free opportunities that D.C. offers me. (Did you know that the Kennedy Center has a free performance every day at 6 p.m. on their Millennium Stage? 365 days a year, and they don't ask for a penny.) There is so much to do and see in the city, and if I'm not working, I'm going to get up and do.

2. I will not run to my boyfriend's every time I feel nervous. I'm a big girl, and this was a big girl decision. Yes, it scares me sometimes, and I want to curl up and just feel safe. But I know I can handle the uncertainty of the unknown by myself, and that's what I'm going to do.

3. I will not relax and stop working. I don't need a job to keep working on myself professionally. I will read new plays, rehearse new monologues, and learn new songs. I will sing scales and do yoga. I will hone my skills so that I'm more prepared to go out and get jobs once they crop up.

4. I will not settle for a job I don't want or that's not worthwhile. I am not going to cave and start working as a Starbucks barista if I don't have to. And as B. Graham often says, "We deserve to get paid for the work we do." I am a professional, and I am going to be sure that I am treated as one.

5. I WILL NOT PANIC. I can do this.

Here's to the adventure.

Top Five Oasis Songs

Well, it finally happened. After eighteen years, Noel Gallagher has left Oasis, "with some sadness and great relief," effectively ending the band's existence. In honor of the first band I ever called my favorite, I give you the top five greatest songs from the Gallagher brothers.

5. I Hope, I Think, I Know
After the huge commercial success of (What's the Story) Morning Glory, Oasis was faced with the daunting task of following up one of the biggest hit records in not just British, but international history. While the follow up album, Be Here Now, was by no means as commercially successful as its predecessor, the album was a critical hit, and showed the band taking more and more risks in their music (the average song length is somewhere around seven minutes). "I Hope, I Think, I Know" is a declaration, a flip of the bird to the nonbelievers, a sort of "catch me if you can."

Favorite lyric-They're trying hard to put me in my place, and that is why I gotta keep running.

4. The Masterplan

I'm not sure I can think of any other band that puts more effort and time into their b-sides as Oasis did. An Oasis B-side is an A-side for any other band, in fact, Oasis's 1998 release The Masterplan is an entire album composed of nothing but B-sides. The title track is nothing short of a masterpiece, with its soft, haunting vocals laid over not just the band, but an entire back up orchestra. This one is a Noel classic.

Favorite lyric-There's four and twenty million doors,
down life's endless corridor.

3. Supersonic

At the beginning of this song on Oasis's Familiar to Millions live album, Liam says, "Let's have a couple more of these songs, Noel...write a couple more of these babies!" He's got a point. This song is Noel Gallagher at his best, he's a kid, he's lonely, and he's completely unapologetic. Supersonic is a psychedelic tour de force, it's a kid pouring his heart out on paper and you can hear it in every word of the song.

Favorite lyric-I need to be myself, I can't be no one else.

2. Wonderwall

There isn't much that needs to be said about Wonderwall. Noel's song for his girlfriend (and eventual wife), is the biggest Oasis hit of all time, not to mention the first Oasis song I ever heard. Every once and a while, a band creates something that's completely without flaw, something that can be enjoyed by virtually anyone, and a song that transcends its genre. For Oasis, Wonderwall is that song.

1. Live Forever

It's the best Oasis song ever recorded, and now that they're gone, it seems even more poignant. Off Oasis's first record, Definitely Maybe, the song in many way has the same feel as Supersonic, but on this song, Noel lets down his guard a little bit. It's the essence of what's always made Oasis so great, two kids from Manchester with nothing to lose, sharing their hopes and dreams with anyone who'll listen. This song is about being different, it's about not fitting in, and embracing the hell out of it.

Favorite lyric-Maybe you're the same as me, we see things they'll never see.

Top Five Matthew Good/Matthew Good Band Songs

This is actually a pretty hard list for me. Since the first time I saw the "Load Me Up" music video on Canada's Much Music channel (we got it in DC for a while), I've been totally hooked on Matt's music, lyrics, and incredible eloquence. But hey, nothing easy is worth doing, right? So here goes. (And no, Apparitions is not on the list).

5. A Single Explosion
(Hospital Music, 2007)
When fellow Gentelman Jason Schlafstein had the pleasure of seeing Matthew Good premier new material in person on Dale Earnhart Jr's XM radio show, he later described the songs to me over the phone as "a return to form." He could not have been more right. After the staggeringly mediocre White Light Rock and Roll Review, I was starting to think the dream might be over. Shame on me. Hospital Music is maybe Good's most vulnerable, honest, and at the same time, brutal work, chronicling both his bi-polar disorder diagnosis, and separation from his wife. A Single Explosion, the second track on the record, was the first song that really blew me away on first listen. When the wall of sound hits about midway through the song, it is both powerful and overwhelming, a one-two punch to the ears that grips you with a solid intensity and doesn't let go until the song's close.

Favorite lyric-I’m affable, responsible, but hard to be around.

4. House of Smoke and Mirrors
(Avalanche, 2003)
While he has referred to Avalanche as "the toilet" in the past, I personally found the record to be an incredible step forward for the recently solo Matthew Good. It sounds completely different from anything the Matthew Good Band ever put out, heavily produced with frequent string arrangements, spacey synth sounds, and a growing presence of political awareness. Closing and opening records has always been a strength of Good's, and House of Smoke and Mirrors might be the best closer in his arsenal. It is sad, yet beautiful, and I will forever tie it to the spring of my senior year of high school, as I do with this entire record.

Favorite lyric-Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke, right?

3. Invasion 1
(Underdogs, 1997)
I was once listing some of my favorite Matthew Good Band songs on my LiveJournal (back in the day) and remember being blasted by John Oats for leaving Invasion 1 off the list. Well, now it's here. Invasion 1 is a lyrical powerhouse, with an almost psychedelic feel at points. It's unapologetic, and easily one of the best.

Favorite lyric-Down a hole with the Grinch's antler dog and Yukon Cornelius, when I'm sober I need this.

2. Man of Action
(The Audio of Being, 2001)
If Invasion 1 is a lyrical powerhouse, than Man of Action is just a straight up powerhouse. This song never quits, and while it may not be his best song of all time, it's certainly Good's best opener. The Matthew Good Band started to take their sound in new places with The Audio of Being, the result of which eventually lead to the heavily produced sound of Avalanche. Man of Action is almost a thesis for the entire record, maybe even Good's career, and the way the song explodes on the last note is truly a thing of beauty.

Favorite Lyric-Between the night and day, with so few eyes left open, your forgiveness ain’t a neighborhood that i’m looking to live in.

1. Giant
(Beautiful Midnight, 1999)
So it's not the best opener, but that doesn't stop Giant from being my number one all time Matthew Good song. To me, this song encompasses everything that Good does right, heartbreaking lyrics, driving rock melody, and a certain subtle honesty that draws you further and further into the world of the song. From the second it starts, with a chorus of cursing cheerleaders (K-I-C-K-A-S-S! That's the way we spell success!), Giant continues to deliver, one of the reasons I'm so glad he's playing it live again (it appears on his last record, a live release from Canada's Massey Hall). Giant is just that.

Favorite lyric-I’m the creature in your sick thing, everybody sees a giant.

Eat Your Heart Out, Rob Gordon

I had a movement teacher in college who could often be heard to list her Five Things Everyone Should Be Able To Do, and they were as follows:

1) swim

2) do a handstand

3) do a somersault

4) ride a unicycle

5) juggle

I can only do two and a half of those things, and I've come to terms with that. Because while I think all those skills can be highly marketable and/or sweet party tricks, I don't think that my life is particularly burdened by the fact that I cannot and probably will not ever juggle or ride a unicycle.

But there are some things that countless numbers of people cannot, have never, or will not do that would make their, not to mention others', lives so much easier. Simple things, really. Skills that save time and money and come in handy in an emergency and yet for some reason are only possessed by a fraction of the population.

For example:

Ten Things Everyone Should Be Able To Do (Should the Moment Arise):

1) swim (I'll give her that one)

2) tie a tie

3) read a map

4) sew (basic hemming and tailoring)

5) jump a car

6) change their car oil

7) cook (basic stews and casseroles)

8) balance their checkbook

9) stretch

10) drive stick shift

Which, of course, brings us to the inevitable:

Three Things That It Would Be Nice If We All DID Do:

1) speak more than one language

2) use blinkers when driving

3) fund the arts

I smell a Facebook app.