The end of an era

Dear readers,

I’m going to stop updating this blog. I will still be updating my tumblr and treating it more like a blog (meaning I will write things rather than just post pictures). I will still also be on twitter and will continue to read all of your blogs.

I have had this blog for almost a year and have been blogging for over two years.

It’s time to move on.

xo,

Liz

[Please add http://dancetotheradio.tumblr.com to your readers]

Spring cleaning

[I can't take any more regret]

Freshman year of college my roommate and I would move the furniture at the beginning of every term. It was a way for us to move on from the drama of the past term and start fresh. Although I gave up moving things around every term, I have held onto the need for change every spring.

So, in typical beginning of Spring fashion, I am cleaning, rearranging and starting over.

Today after a decent visit with the family, I began to obsessively clean. As I was cleaning and the sun was hitting my face through the open window, I started to throw out things of the past and move furniture. I threw clothes I never wear into bags for the Salvation Army and trashed old letters. From there I moved to my laptop, updating my itunes and unfriending people I never talk to on facebook.

I feel like I hit the refresh button.

It feels good.

After an awkward encounter yesterday and the realization that he really doesn’t care anymore, this was really needed.

Done and done.

Classes start tomorrow. New job, new schedule, new outlook.

(Currently listening to The Open Door by Death Cab for Cutie)

Here’s looking at you, kid

You know when you absolutely love a band? So much that you would pay an amount you cannot afford just to see them in concert? I feel that way about a few bands, one of them being The Gaslight Anthem. I went them play at the Trocadero in Philly last night. The vibe from the crowd was amazing and the bands were all about the music. It was the second night of their tour and probably one of the best shows I have ever been too.

I had never heard of the first two opening bands, but they ended up being really good.

The Good Old War is made up of two previous members of Days Away. They also played as the supporting band for Anthony Green’s solo Album, Avalon. They are an indie/folk band and they are really excellent. The drummer also doubles as he accordion player for their acoustic songs. Listen to Tell Me and That’s What’s Wrong!

Heartless Bastards was the second opener. They were unexpected and awesome. The lead singer, Erika, has a deep and soulful voice. I loved the song Out at Sea, but definitely check out their new album, Mountains, because every song they played was great.

The Gaslight Anthem was awesome. They came on playing Great Expectations and continued right into High Lonesome. Brian Fallon, clad in skinny jeans, a white v-neck and a paperboy hat,  has an awesome stage presence, easily connects with the crowd and has dreamy eyes. I was one of the ridiculous people up front and singing every single word. The ‘59 Sound is such a great album, seriously, it’s amazing. After reminiscing about a Saves the Day/Kid Dynamite show at the Troc, the band agreed to play the entire album. The members of The Gaslight Anthem are really talented and all still really humble to their fame.

The vibe from the crowd and the bands was awesome. They were truly about the music. Concerts like this are rare.

It was so great.

You have a perfect view, but you don’t care

We Look Like Giants – Death Cab for Cutie

Blackbird – Elliott Smith (Beatles Cover)

Summertime – Animal Collective

Miles Davis & the Cool – The Gaslight Anthem

Fitz & Dizzyspells – Andrew Bird

Walking on a Wire – The Get Up Kids

Carousel – Iron & Wine

Another Traveling Song – Bright Eyes

Isn’t It a Lovely Night – The Decemberists

Face or Kneecaps – The Movielife

Like Dylan in the Movies – Belle & Sebastian

Peach, Pear, Plum – Joanna Newsom

Tape Song – The Kills

Best Wishes to Your Black Lung – Less than Jake

Wires & Waves – Rilo Kiley

Living Room – Tegan and Sara

Get Fucked Up – Saves the Day

You Have Killed Me – Morrissey

The Plan – Built to Spill

Apples in the Trees – Mirah

Just a Simple Plan – Piebald

Ready? OK. – Matt & Kim

Say hello to good times

The past is told by those who win, what matters is what hasn’t been.

Today is the last day of the life I have been living for the past six months. My co-op job is ending and I begin classes again on Monday.

Thank god. I am definitely ready to go back to my role as a typical college student.

The co-op experience is an interesting one. Six months of an internship and six months of classes for three years of your college career. As soon as you begin to get tired of having a real world job, you get to go back to classes. It’s a beautiful system.

Despite the long hours and time consuming tasks, this internship has been a great experience for me. I am even going to miss my crazy co-workers, well, kind of. I won’t miss their American Idol discussions. At this point though, the workaholic lifestyle has gotten draining and I am ready for a break and 2 pm naps.

For me, goodbyes and endings are always sad. I’m excited for something new though (even if it includes an 8 am Operations Management class).

Time to close this chapter and begin a new one.

(Currently listening to Futures by Jimmy Eat World)

“Hi, you’re cute. Can I look through your ipod?”

Everyone has certain standards when it comes to dating. Some can be overlooked while others are entirely necessary.

I look for someone that is able to cook, clean and do all the domestic tasks that I hate, but that isn’t completely necessary. Being able to accept my coffee addiction and vegetarianism is not negotiable.

Although all of this seems black and white, there is a grey area…

Taste in music.

How can you judge someone on a subjective topic such as music?

Maybe, well, actually, yes.

It seems that one of the first questions asked when you meet someone new after the “Where do you go to school!?” and ”What’s your major!?” is, “So, what’s your favorite band?”

The response is important. If the answer is Nickelback or Chris Brown, then there is a problem, Coldplay, however, I can deal with.

Someone who openly hates Morrissey is someone I would never consider dating.

In general, music helps to say things that can’t be said and brings people together. Having completely opposite opinions may end up being problematic and cause arguments.

I think it is a true sign that someone cares if they hold back their comments as you blast Look What Happened by Less than Jake (or any ridiculous pop-punk song) and sing all the words even though they don’t like the band.

I have broken up with someone on differences in music preference before (although, he was also an asshole).

Thoughts? What are your non-negotiable traits when it comes to dating?

(Currently listening to ‘11:11′ by Maria Taylor)

This modern love breaks me

I’m going to go into awkward territory with this. You’ve probably experienced this – the unspoken, exclusive, non-relationship.

You know, you’re hooking up with a guy on a regular basis and have stopped seeing other people, however, nothing has been discussed as to your relationship status. There is an unspoken agreement not to bring it up.

Anyway, as a college student living in an enviornment where relationship is scary word and exclusivity is rare, how does one know that the person they are with is on the same page as them?

An obvious response would be to communicate.

This is much easier said than done and in some cases not even worth it. Dating is only a series of mind games that must be decoded. Before potentially ruining a non-relationships chances of becoming a relationship and to avoid the risk of embarrassing yourself, you need to read the signs.

Ways to tell that he just isn’t that into you…

1. If the guy you have interest in agrees to hang out but then brings his boys (aka friends), then he isn’t interested in anything more than friendship.
2. When you keep asking a guy to hang out and he keeps making excuses about being busy. This means he really just isn’t interested. If he was, he would make time.
3. Only drunken hook ups or texts to hang out late at night. This is the most obvious sign that no relationship will come of your non-relationship.
4. If a date is ended early with an “I’m tired, I need to get up early tomorrow” then they don’t like you anymore than a friend. If he were interested, he would want to hang out longer even if he has an 8 am class the next morning.
5. When you go to a party with a guy and he proceeds to flirt with every girl in the room besides you, or chooses to talk to his guy friends over you. Both are clearly bad signs.
6. No response to texts. Don’t expect a guy to reply instantly, but after a few hours they have probably seen their phone.

Also, ladies, always make sure the ball is in your court. Never put yourself in vulnerable situation that could get you hurt. Any guy that wants to hook up with you but is anti-relationship probably isn’t worth your time.

Side note: This is not about a situation I am in or anyone I know IRL. If you think this is about you then cue  ’You’re so Vain’ by Carly Simon and substitute blog post for song.

(Currently listening to It’s Blitz! by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs)

Hold on Sweetheart

[it won't be long before we get home.]

[The following is a guest post from Mervin Choun.  A 20-something student that also enjoys to blog, tumble, and twitter. He's also currently in the progress of writing his fiction novel based on true life experiences, Pokemon Trainer: The Story So Far.]

Liz, our main protagonist of this blog, has recently been in an flurry of career obligations as well as social obligations leaving her unable to fulfill her internet obligations.  Clearly this has left all of you loyal readers, myself included, in a state of deep longing for our bashful blogger to return.

Fortunately for you and I, this temporary leave of absence opens the door for Liz’s faithful friends to step into her leopard print slippers and stretch their writing prowess.   And if by chance you happen to click my blog above, you can see that I haven’t had a chance to taste delicious feeling of accomplishment you get when you finish a good solid post.

Now that I have introduce myself, I feel like a more relaxed toned is need. So let’s have a seat on our bear skin rug (fake with respect to vegetarians), and cozy up to the fire place with our hot cups of Earl Grey Tea.  Comfy.

Coming up with something to write about is probably the main reason why I don’t update as often as I would like. My day to day life isn’t interesting enough to call for daily blogging.  The need to blog usually only comes from an urge to write about something or possibly a prompt. In Liz’s situation, I realized that her day to day posting usually has a trend and a common theme.  I looked to her tags and chose the three most tagged.  I figure I’ll write about what she writes about.

Friends

The largest of the three tags that I chose, Friends is the largest and rightfully so.  It’s rare for Liz to not mention a friend, real life or through social networking, in one of her post. It could be a bar with friends, dedicated post showing her love, or silly stories of her friends that could be a sitcom.  I may have called her bashful earlier, but get to know her and she’ll be one of the best people you know.

Music

If you have been following Liz for even as little as a week, you should know about her obsession, love, and compassion for music.  To Liz, it isn’t just something you listen to for entertainment, but it’s life to her.  Without it, she’d be a lost puppy. Ridiculous obsessions with  Conor Oberst, Jenny Lewis, and other artist is just one of the trademarks of Liz. Sometimes, songs become an emotional attachment for her.

Coffee

While “9-5 jobs” may be the bigger tag, I believe that Coffee is a better topic to write about.  Since high school, Liz has been drinking coffee.  She’s worked at Bucks County Coffee Co. for a couple years on and off and even had a brief stint at the Evil corporation that is Starbucks. On a personal note, I think I know she enjoys working at coffee shops because of the opportunity to people watch. I decided to not try to link to any of her previous post because I think it’s pretty clear that Liz is all about coffee.  Her header does say “Coffee__girl“

And to end in such a fashion that is “Coffee__girl”, I’m going to lay down a Phat playlist.

Water and God – All Get Out

Lightness – Death Cab for Cutie

Soft Pyramids – Q and Not U

Dead Meat – Sean Lennon

Le Disko – Shiny Toy Guns

When the catholic girls go camping, the nicotine vampires rule supreme – Giraffes? Giraffes!

Every Place is a House – Maps and Atlases

Tetragrammaton – The Mars Volta (this goes out to Fondly)

January 1979 – mewithoutYou

Middle of the Night – Sherwood

We’ve Got a Job to Do (And This Is It)

[Hi readers, this is a guest post from my friend John. I am still swamped at work and he always has a lot to say. Enjoy!]

While Lizzy is off doing fun stuff like focus groups and product surveys in the middle of nowhere, I have decided to step in and provide an update for your Wednesday morning blues, seeing as how the lack of one yesterday set everyone’s Tuesday routine into a tizzy.

I considered attempting to take this blog back to its roots with this post; maybe sprinkle a little retro cheese over the nachos of normal, but several problems arose with that idea. The first being that the few posts on here (June 2008, that’s what the archive box is to the left) are all about being emo about relationships and dating, a condition I clearly cannot empathize with. That would probably require having a date of some sort first. The second reason that such an attempt to turn the calendar backward wouldn’t work is due to the presence of the Y chromosome within me. Like it or not, there are some things a girl will always be better at, like color coordination or saying something but actually meaning something completely different.

So, without a topic to preach about, I decided to turn to real life for ideas. And, as luck would have it, something did occur to me at work that hasn’t been mentioned yet in the slew of overworked/stressed out/cubicle drone posts that have permeated this bastion of Internet journalism. It is something I look forward to the minute I start a job somewhere, and actually prepare for throughout my tenure there. It is the one chance you have to unequivocally let your employer know how you feel. And it is one of the best feelings in the world, if done correctly.

I’m talking about the mystical exit interview.

See, the exit interview doesn’t get a lot of press. There are articles, essays, books, even seminars on how to land and successfully go through a job interview. Everyone’s been on a few. You dress up, show up early-but-not-too-early at the place of employment, shake some hands, smile, answer a couple generic questions, shake a few more hands, and wait patiently for the next week or two to hear the results. Easier said then done, but you get the picture.

The exit interview, on the other hand, happens just once at every job you have. While you may go on multiple job interviews when you’re unemployed, you’re likely not doing more than one exit interview every few years (unless you really love exit interviews and are really good at job interviews). Therefore, when the opportunity comes knocking, it’s best to be prepared. After all, this is the employer that didn’t care about your personal needs, dumped countless amounts of mundane work on you, promoted the less qualified, lazier coworker over you, and asked you to stay late and come in on Saturdays to finish up that project. You’ve vented to your friends about this. Time to put your employer in its place, right?

This particular ritual is kind of like a relationship break-up. It can be completely one-sided with one party totally oblivious about how the other is feeling. Or, it can be mutual – with good feelings or hard feelings. Fortunately, the latter was the case for my exit interview yesterday, as my manager and I agreed on what I had spent my six months doing and what I should focus on next to further my career. However, this hasn’t been the case at everywhere I’ve worked. There’s been some employers that thought they were great and I loved coming to work every day, until I shattered that pretty little mental picture for them as I had one foot out the door.

Either way, it’s best to practice the same habits during and after an exit interview as you would a breakup. You’ll once again want to dress up and look hot to let your employer know what they’ll be missing out on. Or, you know, to leave a lasting impression with HR so you can get a decent reference. Additionally, it’s time to start updating your Facebook status like crazy about how happy you are to be free of that hellhole, even going so far as to post pictures of your new, slightly-bigger-but-still-the-

same cubicle and new coworkers. These acts will make any of your old coworkers you managed to friend on Facebook instantly jealous. Last, you’ll want to delete all contact information related to your old employer. That includes office phone numbers of your old desk neighbors that you kept in your cellphone for emergencies. You can’t risk calling or texting them in a moment of weakness when your new office pals all head out to lunch when you were in the bathroom, leaving you with only an Excel spreadsheet to converse with over your ham and cheese sandwich.

Oh, and if all else fails, always be nice, but honest. That really annoying lady that sat at the cubicle next you that laughed like a hyena and discussed her eHarmony networking life on the office phone? Rat her out. The guy who always seemed to have work for you to do, but then was on a two hour lunch break when you had a question for him? Point it out to management and/or HR. It’s your chance to make your old workplace a better environment for the good people who still do work there.

If you’re still reading, I assume you didn’t find the above too boring, long-winded, or nonsensical to skip right ahead to the comments and start scanning for refreshing ways to insult the post. That’s good. In fact, if you even enjoyed (gasp) the above, there’s plenty more of it at my new satire blog, aimed directly at making fun of our parents who seem to be infatuated with social networks these days (plug – mymomisonfacebook.wordpress.com).

Sorry I’m not home right now

[Leave a message and I'll call you back]

A few things…

• I got my Betsey bag! I’m obsessed.
• I finished watching the entire Sex and the City series. I wish there were more episodes because now I am going through withdrawal. I cried most of the last episode. Wouldn’t it be great if real life were more like the fictional Hollywood love stories?
• This weekend I’m going to see Bloc Party!
• Playing on my itunes right now is the new Decemberists album, Hazards of Love . It’s good, not great. I think my favorite song on the album is Annan Water.
  
• The boys and I are working on updating the Pizzadelphia Project blog more often. Mervin added a map and we adventured to a new pizza place last weekend. Go look!
• You know that writing blog that I talk about all the time? If you haven’t gone and checked it out, you probably should. Just saying. (CLICK HERE)
• I finally got the new facebook and it isn’t very different than the old one,  just a bit more like twitter. People need to stop creating groups and freaking out. Speaking of facebook, have any of your relatives started to create them? My friend John has a blog about dealing with your mom being on facebook (here). It’s hilarious.
• My internship is almost over and I am look for an unpaid part-time one for the spring/summer while I’m taking classes. Anyone have any thoughts on places to look?
• My old roomie, Callie’s brother was on the radio! Tim Mcglone. He’s very talented and his songs are pop/rock and super catchy. Click to listen!

I have been insanely busy and work is going to be crazy for the next two weeks. Therefore, I am going to be slightly absent from the blogsphere aka not updating everyday. I will probably still be updating my twitter and tumblr the same amount though if you really miss me.

Friends in real life, contact me now to get on my calendar. I’ll try to pencil you in (kidding, except not).

(Currently listening to Hazards of Love by The Decemberists)