I'm Climbing Up Those Walls Again

As I have the tendency to reflect instead of go to bed, I might as well spend some time talking about Jenny Lewis, the frontwoman of Rilo Kiley and contributer to The Postal Service.

Jenny is a former child actor, probably best known for playing opposite Fred Savage in The Wizard.

Sometime after that, she went into music, and now I'm going to present you with two songs laced with her voice, and try and explain how they fit into the greater picture. You'll find links to the songs at the end of the post.

The first is "Nothing Better" by The Postal Service. I admit it takes a while to get into this song. Ben Gibbard's sad-boy routine is getting old by track 4, but the song manages to contrast it with Jenny's voice, a sort of dichotomy of love. [CORRECTION: THIS ISN'T JENNY ON THIS SONG, BUT I'M STILL GOING TO TALK ABOUT IT]

"Nothing Better" is the pessimistic and beautiful end of a relationship, and is much easier to swallow when you're busy wallowing in your own misery (which, I may add, you have every right to do). Because this song begins and ends quickly, I feel like I've just been through a daydream by the time the song has finished.

You've got a lure i can't deny,
But you've had your chance so say goodbye
Say goodbye

"Portions for Foxes" however, is much more traditionally defined in structure and in musical approach. However, this doesn't prevent it from being a more applicable song to my current situation, and a wonderful song at that.

Jenny's voice is much less angelic and dreamy in this song. Her message is clearer..

There's blood in my mouth 'cause
I've been biting my tongue all week
I keep on talkin' trash but I never say anything
And the talkin' leads to touchin'
and the touchin' leads to sex
and then there is no mystery left

At this point in life, we're faced with the image of the empowered single person. I'm single, unique, and independent. Yet there is that element of sadness, of neccessity, that reduces us to just being "portions for foxes." Desperation leads us to the wrong decisions. Yet we aren't totally unaware:

And it's bad news
Baby I'm bad news
I'm just bad news,
bad news, bad news

I know I'm definately bad news. I'm bitter, jaded, and ready to kick ass. As some may have learned from the deliberation on Scott's deliberation, I now have zero tolerance for some things nice guys let slide by. This is the transition we all have to make after that first relationship: easy meat to hard boiled and picky.

Suddenly we can pick out other people that are bad news. But will we be strong and know what's good for us, or will be portions for foxes, and allow ourselves to be gobbled up once in a while?

Baby you're bad news
and you're bad news
I don't care I like you
and you're bad news
I don't care I like you
I like you

Listen to "Nothing Better" by The Postal Service
Listen to "Portions for Foxes" by Rilo Kiley

Knowing that by the end of the month it will be time to make out my last class schedule, I checked my degree progress reports for Economics (BA) and Mathematical Sciences (BA). I am currently a double-major, so my degree will be a Double-BA in the two subjects.

It turns out that I will have finished my economics degree this semester, and only one more class is required for my math degree. So here is where internal debate exposes doubt:

I can either.

A. Take the bare minimum to retain my Palmetto scholarship = 14 credits.

B. Take a little bit more than the bare minimum = 16 credits, and earn the 162 credit hours necessary for a double-degree (thus earning two separate BAs, not a single one for two majors).

Either way, as the year is rounding the final bend, I am pretty impressed by the amount of material I have absorbed when I leave here. I will have chugged down enough material to be a successful job market candidate in either Economics and Mathematics, and while I wouldn't look very good to a grad school in mathematics, I'll be nice package for an econ grad school.

The end is nigh, folks.

Long live Superman....


A weekend's work