The Game of Life

I played Life with Charlote while in Pittsburgh last week and was struck by the amazing/true/misguided/brilliant/insightful/horrifying things that this game teaches our youth about "life".

-spin a wheel and draw a card to decide your career (is it really that random?)

-choose go to college and make more money or end up with vocational job (vocational work isn't so bad, nor is it certain you'll make the big bucks these days with a college education)

-stop at the stop sign to get married (this is a requirement?)

- choose between the family path or the career path (must one choose?)

-land on a spot and sue your opponents for 100,000$ each (let's teach them to show no mercy!)

-buy your dream home, which can only be a mansion, luxury apartment, cape style house, or a delux trailer (bigger is always better, apparently...)

-retire happily in a huge mansion if you are the player with the most money at the end (money=happiness, clearly)

Naturally, I won the game but it was close. It came down to a 20,000$ difference in our final "salaries", so I decided to teach Charlotte a lesson about coming out on top: I gave her 10,000$ so we could both win the game of life and retire happily in the mansion together. 

"See?" I told her, "It doesn't really matter who has the most money. We can still retire together and be happy just hanging out". 

I'm not quite sure the point was made.

And Now I'm a Figure Skater

Move over Tanya Harding*...I will not be bashing in anyone's knees to get the gold, but I will be doing some serious spins on the ice.

Check it out:

*PS- Tanya Harding is from Portland, OR. How funny is that?

It's just too good

to be savored

Have you ever enjoyed reading a book so much so that you didn't actually want to read it?

This is a seldom occurance, but when it does happen it happens hard. I am currently rationing out The Goldfinch page by page because I just don't want it to end. This book is meant to be savored.  I just may never get through it.

I liken this phenomena to when I was a kid, sorting and rationing my halloween candy as if I were preparing for an apocalypse in which candy would never be found upon the Earth again. I would sort by color, genre, and texture, save my favorite pieces for the end, sometimes never even getting to enjoy these bites-the chocolate having gone grey and flakey.

No, I did not grow up during the depression era, instead I just really have an obsession/problem/attachment to never wanting a good thing to end.  At least now, I can recognize this in myself and learn to enjoy the things that I enjoy. The Reese's cup that is The Goldfinch will not go grey and flakey, but instead it will be delicately devoured bite by tiny, bite.

She. She is Mariah.

There are few musical artists whom I can say that I would buy their new album without hesitation. No listen, no research, just a blind buy. There's maybe 10-20 bands/musical artists for which this is the case. Mariah Carey is not one of them.

I have loved Mariah Carey since I first heard "Vision of Love" in my living room while cleaning with my mom in 1990. Even at the age of 8, I knew soul when I heard it. Since bursting into the scene in 1990, Mariah produced several amazing albums. Thirteen albums, I belive, with unforgettable, chart-topping classics such as "Fantasy", Dreamlover", "Honey", and "All I Want for Christmas is You". 

But somewhere around the end of the millinium, it seemed as though Mariah lost her way. Her voice reduced to a raspy whisper, her ego palpable in her songs, and her soul seemingly traded in for shallowness.  Around this time, I also was learning about indie rock. Listening to bands like Built to Spill and Modest Mouse, I left Mariah in the dust claiming she had "sold out". Maybe she did. Maybe she was dealing with the hardship of becoming an aging diva. It must be tough when your main pop diva rival is Beyoncé. I might get a little desperate myself, if I had to compete with that.

What I am here to tell you today is that she's back. This week she released her 13th album Me. I am Mariah...The Elusive Chanteuse. Don't ask me what an "elusive chanteuse" is, because I don't know. But what I do know is that this album is bumpin'. She's got guest appearances from Nas, Mary j. Blige,  Miguel, Wale, and what would any Mariah album be with a guest spot from Jermain Dupree.  She's 15/15 good songs! That's pretty amazing. These songs take me back to her soul from the 90s, while still managing to have a modern and R&B forward flavor. 

This new album is a must listen for all, especially if you're a recovering jaded Mariah fan. She will most likely croon her way back into your heart, maybe even onto your list of "artists whose albums I would buy with out hesitation".