I got an interesting email from my dad telling me I was using up my bank account pretty fast... whoops! Anyways if you feel like even tossing me a dollar my way, I'd appreciate it :)
Ever had that thing where you thought something was due on day X and it turns out to be due day X-5…. So the Ab Psy final project I thought I was supposed to have done by the 2nd, was due tomorrow. So I got it done, it didn’t take me that long. I’m just glad I got through it without an anxiety attack! Oh this is so cause for a party
I HAVE CONQUERED MY ANXIETY!!!!! Mostly
Anyways with two weeks to go here is what I have for each week.
The first time my thirteen-year-old brother played the song “Teenagers” for me, I didn’t pay much attention to it, but soon found the beat was stuck in my head along with the first line of the chorus “Teenagers scare the living shit out of me.” With this project in mind, I went back and took a look at this song and found myself getting intrigued by the way that the song spent time highlighting how frustrating it is to fit in as a teenager, both with peers and with the adult world, and the anger that comes with the world forcing them to conform from all sides.
The song highlights stress from both teen peers and the adult world that make teenagers feel as though they do not fit in anywhere. The song opens with the lines “They’re gonna clean up your looks / with all the lies in the books / to make a citizen out of you.” It draws the listener in talking about how teens look out into the adult world, and see adults trying to make them into young adults. In the process of ‘becoming a citizen’, teens feel that adults strip them of their individuality starting with the way they dress, their looks. The song goes on to say it doesn’t stop at trying to make teenagers look like adults, they try to take over their thoughts. “They gonna rip up your heads / your aspirations to shreds,” the singer proclaims. Teenagers feel that their unique dreams are going to be ripped apart by the overbearing adult world that tries to make them into cogs in the working world, rather than human beings.
Secondly, the song shows that teens won’t fit in amongst their peers. “The boys and girls in the clique / the awful names that they stick / you’re never gonna fit in much kid.” Teenagers not only face the concept of conforming to the adult world, but the teen world as well. They are taunted for not fitting in, and made to feel inferior for their uniqueness. There is a futile feeling of not belonging to any world, which in the most extreme cases leads to the third theme of the song.
Lastly, this song paints a violent image with phrases like “another cog in the murder machine.” The song shows the pressures of conformity and the pain of having individuality stripped from all sides. It shows us one level to which this pain can be dealt with. “Darken your clothes and strike a violent pose / maybe they’ll leave you alone.” This is one reaction to the pressure to conform, to take a negative persona and push people away. Everyone has surely seen in their high school the ‘goth’ and ‘emo’ kids who appear standoffish and wear black clothing as a way of expressing their individuality. However, the song also warns us of another way teens can react to this oppression. “What you’ve got under your shirt / will make them pay for the things that they did.” While not explicitly stated, this line seems to hint to gun or knife violence and a need for revenge on the people who have attacked them and to attack them in return.
It’s easy to pick up on the violence of this song. However, rather than supporting the idea of teen violence, it examines how teens become violent and how the world reacts to them. A world where teens feel they don’t fit into any world is a world where teenagers can become a danger, but it’s a reaction from the world they are in.
I have to analyze the lyrics to a song with teen related themes. It seems only appropriate to do “Teenagers” by My Chemical Romance. My 13 year old brother loves this song.
They’re gonna clean up your looks
With all the lies in the books
To make a citizen out of you
Because they sleep with a gun
And keep an eye on you, son
So they can watch all the things you do
Because the drugs never work
They gonna give you a smirk
’cause they got methods
In keeping you clean
They gonna rip up your heads
Your aspirations to shreds
Another cog in the murder machine
They said all teenagers scare the living shit out of me
They could care less as long as someone’ll bleed
So darken your clothes
Or strike a violent pose
Maybe they’ll leave you alone
But not me
The boys and girls in the clique
The awful names that they stick
You’re never gonna fit in much, kid
But if you’re troubled and hurt
What you got under your shirt
Will make them pay for the things that they did
They said all teenagers scare the living shit out of me
They could care less as long as someone’ll bleed
So darken your clothes
Or strike a violent pose
Maybe they’ll leave you alone
But not me
Oh yeah!
They say all teenagers scare the living shit out of me
They could care less as long as someone’ll bleed
So darken your clothes
Or strike a violent pose
Maybe they’ll leave you alone
But not me
All together now,
Teenagers scare the living shit out of me
They could care less as long as someone’ll bleed
So darken your clothes
Or strike a violent pose
Maybe they’ll leave you alone
But not me
Teenagers scare the living shit out of me
They could care less as long as someone’ll bleed
So darken your clothes
Or strike a violent pose
Maybe they’ll leave you alone
But not me
I had myself completely psyched out about this online quiz I had for AbPsy, I felt like I hadn’t read the book in enough depth to take any kind of quiz on it. But I had to get it done… so I logged on to take the test… it was three questions, to be graded check, check minus, or check plus… and now I feel incredibly dumb.
Did you know that Type A personalities are more likely to develop heart disease? True fact.
Anyways Midterms next week so I guess that means this is a study weekend. Plus I’ll have papers to plan and Hamlet to read over break… unless I read it now. I don’t know. *headdesk*
And just to feed your curiosity, a video on Munchausen by Proxy
The weeks go way too fast. It gets to be Saturday and you go holy shit tomorrow is Sunday which means the day after that is Monday. But then you go the way after that is Tuesday which is almost Wednesday, which means only two days until the weekend. And then it gets to be Thursday and you think where did the week go? Holy shit the week is almost over and then it’s Friday and you think you can chill but then it gets to Saturday and it starts all over again. I greatly dislike this pattern.
I’m working on the paperwork to take Shakespeare as a pass/fail course, I don’t wanna worry about a grade I know will be a B or a B+ when I want mostly A-s
I have 6 costume designs for Machinal due monday and an online quiz for AbPsy… other than that I think I’m sitting pretty.
Right, well I have a 3 minute report to give on Prohibition and Speakeasies tomorrow for costume design. Thus far I only have “Speakies were established as a way of getting around Prohibition”… I still have the rest of today to do it… in theory.
I’m reporting in with my first grade of the year. It was for some designs in Costume Design when I apparently misunderstood the assignment. I thought we were doing preliminary work before our actual designs, so that’s what I turned in, preliminary work. Granted a B- isn’t bad but I need to get at least an A- in this class. I turned in to Kiki two/four full designs the day she handed them back, I don’t know if that will affect my grade at all though. I hope it will bring it up at least a little bit.
Anyways I kinda rocked this last assignment, which was to design costumes for two different attitudes: vengeful, and frivolous/flirty. I ended up doing designs for two Buffy Between The Lines characters, both designs are for episode 6. The pictures are kinda crappy since I took them with my phone… Javert Vidoq Candyce Wells
Also I’ve been struck by a weird desire to see The Facts of Life again… go figure.
I honestly think I need therapy more than once a week because I’m starting to get very antsy and anxious again. It’s not fun. Anyways I went to the gym and I’m feeling good for a while. I got most of my costume design homework done so far. Just a few more things left to do but it’s not a big deal.
Anyways since I’m here and I have this spot, I figured I should pimp the Buffy Between the Lines Season 2 auditions. Since they are coming. March 8-21st.
Harmony, Principal Snyder, Mayor Wilkins III, Willy the Snitch, Cordy, Drusilla (Aria I know you read this…. jooooin us), Riley, Oz, Lindsey McDonald, Lilah Morgan, Gwen Raiden, Amy Madison, Larry, Holland Manners, Pat, Alan Finch, Young Wesley (7 years old), Gwendolyn Post, Quentin Travers and many many more! Just keep it in mind.
It’s been a buzz in the medical community for a while but a study from last month shows that 20 minutes of exercise a day is as effective as an anti-depressant….. WHEEEEEE!!!! Endorphins how you blind us from the truth. I’m kinda bubbly since I’ve been exercising this week and it’s strange to feel this… WHEEEEEE!!!!!! And I didn’t have any sugar so I don’t know where that’s coming from.
Alright, this weekend I have to read all of Twelfth Night, I CAN DO IT… Oh and read some chapters in the Sapolsky book… I hav no idea what my plans are otherwise but I’m feeling a very strong craving for Boston Market tonight… I’ll drive on down to the market then.
Anyways I had a pretty spectacular experience last night. I went down to the comic book store to pick up Buffy Season 8 #11. And there’s a line that Gwen Allan (The character I play in the upcoming audio drama Geek By Night) has where she talks about the importance of the bond between comic book store employee and comic book store patron, and I really got to feel that last night cause I was the only one in the store… when GbN comes out I think I’ll have to put a flyer up in the store.
There’s been times in my life when I just don’t feel geeky enough to enjoy a trip to the comic book store… is it weird that I’m developing a goal to be MORE of a geek?
Name: Rachel 
