We only said "good-bye" with words

I loved Amy Winehouse.

I still love Amy Winehouse.

I'll always love Amy Winehouse.

It's been hard for me to listen to people rant about how she "had it coming". Okay, yeah, she had problems. Big ones. But why don't you examine your own life, remember all the skeletons in your closet, think about how your problems are NOT broadcast to the whole world all the time and just shut up about it (I don't mean "you" specifically, just "you" generally).

Granted, her life was whack, and I don't condone excessive substance abuse. In spite of all that, "by their fruits ye shall know them", and dang could that girl make music. Maybe you've only heard "Rehab", but even that song illustrates how good she was at what she did.

It's groovy and infectious. It's got soul. And, if you're anything like me, it moves you, you know? It's really unlike anything else out there. It's jazz and pop and r&b and soul all rolled into one. Lady Gaga wishes she could make music like that (she did a pretty good job on her first album, but the second one is cheap and unoriginal).

Maybe there's some spot deep down inside me that just itches for 60's music and Amy Winehouse was able to hit that spot. I don't know. Take her song "Tears Dry on Their Own", for example.

It's classic Winehouse sound. But perhaps you were expecting to hear this song instead:



It's funny, because I'm generally a sucker for someone with a good voice (see this post), but I don't feel like Amy really had a "good" voice. But she had such a distinctive sound, a kind of raw and gritty quality to her voice that really got me hooked. When I hear her singing it's just a natural sound for me - like I'm just talking with an old friend. Maybe I'm also just a sucker for a deeper voice, I don't know.

(Amy's not actually in this video, but it's her singing):


All I know is that Amy Winehouse made killer music. She had a rough life and in a way it's sort of comforting to know that her troubles are over. It's a shame that we won't get to hear any more music from her. May she rest in peace.


I'll leave you with a live version of what is probably my favorite Amy Winehouse song, "He Can Only Hold Her", in a mash-up with Lauryn Hill's "Doo-Wop (That Thing)":



"So he tries to pacify her, but what's inside her never dies"

Out-run my gun

I've recently discovered that drinking milk in the morning makes me sick. It just makes my guts churn. If I was of a more sickly disposition, it'd probably make me ralph. Later on in the day, when my metabolism has started (I guess), I don't have a problem with regular milk. Only in the morning. And it has only been in the past month or two that I've had this problem.

Anyway, I decided that I would give soymilk a try. So I bought some. And you know what?

It tastes...

...well it smells like edamame (unsurprisingly).

And...

...it tastes like...

...sigh.

It tastes like water with dirt in it. Maybe some flour.

Apparently I should've gotten the vanilla soymilk instead of the plain soymilk.

Darn stomach.

Chuck the deuce up

Can I get real with you guys for a minute? I've been struggling with something...

...When is Justin Timberlake gonna drop another album?!?!

I'm sure he's having a grand ol' time makin' them movin' pitchurs and whatnot, but seriously. Let's be real. Who ISN'T waiting for him to crank out some new jams??

And when you actually think about it, he's only come out with two solo albums: Justified in 2002 and FutureSex/LoveSounds in 2006.

2006? Yeah. It's been THAT long.

And aren't we all grateful that our tastes have matured over the past 10 years so that even though we'll always be fans of JT's former work (and glory), we've gotten over the fashion and dancing style of 2002? (An example follows)



Baggy leather pants aside, the tune is legit. (And who doesn't love a cameo from Pharrell? Mmm)

I know. I'll start a chain email petition to have JT make a new album - you know, the kind that you pass along to everyone in your inbox and then the 1,000,000th person to add their name to the list will email it back to me and then I'll forward it to my senator? Er, Justin?

Dear Mr. Timberlake, 

As a longtime fan of your work, I have found a certain void in my life from an unexpected absence in solo albums from you. I have therefore teamed up with 1,000,000 other fans of yours via the Internet, and together we kindly request that you return to the studio so that we can enjoy the fruits of your musical talent anew.

Attached is a list of the people who have individually added their names to this petition, as they so desire to hear new music from you. 

Wishing you all the best,
Katie Soh 

1. Katie Soh
2.
3.

Go on. Add your name.

You know you want to.

Music makes you lose control

This never gets old.

Bahahahahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahahhahahaa

I shared a bagel...with the garbage

I need to stop watching cake decorating shows. They seriously make me want to eat cake. And cookies. And treats. And ice cream. And cake.

It's getting a little out of hand.

I don't even like cake.

Here's the thing...

So I have a dilemma.



No, not that kind of a dilemma.

I'm having a sister missionary shoe dilemma.

If you weren't aware, Milan is the fashion capital of Italy. I mean, it's right up there with Paris, London and NYC in terms of fashion. If I dress like a frumpy missionary, I can guarantee you that the Italians will not talk to me. They just won't. That may sound like an exaggeration, but it's not. These are the Italians we're talking about.

Thus the shoes. I can't...I just can't wear ugly shoes. I can't wear them on principle, much less wear them in Milan. I also can't wear flats. I can't help that I'm an apparent descendant of Bigfoot, and if I wore flats I'd need to get a boating license because they are HUGE. Seriously, you could hop in and sail across the Atlantic in one of those shoes. Seriously.

Kill me.

Buttttttttt... I'm gonna be doing a ton of walking. Sigh. I haven't had much luck so far. I want to have shoes I can walk in, but a lot of walking will really require that I wear socks.

Grrrrrrrrkasjdhfiawnainwe;rofina;dklnaiowrhaioefgk;ajdfngkasjdflajsdflk

This is what I've been looking at:

And/or maybe something like this for Sunday:

I'm seriously hosed.

Sighhhhhhhhh.

Feel like a tourist lost in the suburbs

Some thoughts:

-Just because you can't choke to death on an ice cube doesn't mean it's not painful to choke on an ice cube. You just don't die. (No, I don't know this from experience)

-I usually scan the headlines on Yahoo news every day. Today there were two interesting headlines next to each other. 1) "Unlikely billion-dollar star" and 2) "Unemployed for 99 weeks". I'm not sure what I think about putting these two together. On the one hand you have thousands of Americans without jobs (the woman from the "Unemployed" article said she just submitted her 1862nd job application) and on the other you have some guy who just made a buttload of money for pretending to be some other guy acting like a guy. Go figure.

-My sister had the hiccups earlier today and so my dad jumped out and scared her. She cried. But her hiccups went away.

-I'm kinda freaking out about how fast my MTC report date is coming up. It's like 52 days away.


Sheesh, and I thought my life would be less hectic once I was done with spring classes. Ha.

Bang bang

Attractive people are so captivating. And infuriating.

In other news, I got a desperately needed haircut today. And by desperately, I mean my hair was ready to cut itself, desperately. I also got it deep conditioned (ooo, right?!) and now it looks, and feels, FANTASTIC. Best decision I've made all week. Seriously.

And to top it all off, I finally got all the passport pics I need for my Italian visa stuff, even though they cost me an arm and a leg. (Seriously, a HUGE rip off. Whatevs. I'm over it.) And then I hit up the MAC counter at the mall and made today a bona fide makeover day. 

Oh, and file this away in your brain - it cost 98 cents to send a letter to Italy. Hint hint.

Yep.

Blast that AC, baby

I made it to Alabama. Whew.

To help remedy my Fatty McFatfatness, I played bball in the driveway for a bit and ran down the street a few times today.

I still can't tell if I was really sweating, or if water just condensed out of the air and onto my skin.

Humidity, ftw.