third year thirty

The Dunce Cap’s Third Year Thirty: Day 3

in: due time

Gin Blossoms

Aug. 24, 2010:

day 3: jazzercise.

Okay, not actually. But in spirit. Yesterday was the day of rest. Today is the day of motivational atonement. Carpe diem, move your feet, yadda yadda. It’s not earth-shattering, but it’s a step in the right direction, no?

Today, I drove nearly a hundred miles in that Georgia sunlight, squawking along to the sounds from my speakers. I completed three big projects at work. I baked cookies. And I wrote. I remembered to write.

It was a day of forward motion. And, though it’s trite, there are few things more important than that.

But, if you want to – you can really jazzercise, too.

And, for a band who so acutely describes the bumbleshoot of emotions (I mean, c’mon, “Congratulations, I’m Sorry”? Best album name ever.):

Gin Blossoms, “Hey Jealousy”

P.S. My couples photoshopped shots were starting to skeeve me out. I’ll try and replace them with photos of artists, but maybe I’ll stick in a hilarrrious photo where it’s appropriate.

(editor’s note: The Girl with the Dunce Cap isn’t normally this emotionally overwrought. Seriously. Scour the rest of the site for normal content.)

The Dunce Cap’s Third Year Thirty: Day 2

in: due time

Jen and Brad.

Aug. 23, 2010:

day 2: eschew responsibility.

Only for a day, duh. Barring the loss of of a job, the failure of a class or immediate danger, take a single-day stay-cation. Breakups are emotionally taxing, and a girl deserves a day of rest. Especially a girl who doesn’t really recognize the Sabbath. Oops.

My day didn’t consist of much, honestly. I didn’t have to work, so I slept in late and spent the afternoon on the couch in my pjs, heating up microwave dinners and watching Buffy. Few things help more than drooling over an ages-old vampire… Wait. I think I just lent credence to Twilight. Aw, shucks. I didn’t mean to.

Mostly, though, I rummaged through my old stuff for something I hadn’t really needed in quite some time. And I found it: an old CD-R with Sharpied handwritten titles, “BREAK-UP CD/TAKE 1/<3 SAM AND COCO.” I know this one’s a winner – it’s got Avril on it not once but twice. Pop punk and girrrrrrl power aplenty!

Basically, today was a solid day of nothing. And it felt like a reprieve.

The track listing from this exemplary piece of mixtape, circa summer 2005:

1. “Time Turn Fragile” – Motion City Soundtrack
2. “Move Along” – The All-American Rejects
3. “Love and Be Loved” – Charlie Mars
4. “Paper Rock Scissors” – JamisonParker
5. “On My Way” – Ingram Hill
6. “Since U Been Gone” – Kelly Clarkson
7. “Good Will Hunting By Myself” – Ludo
8. “My Happy Ending” – Avril Lavigne
9. “Too Little Too Late” – Barenaked Ladies
10. “Grenade Jumper” – Fall Out Boy
11. “Dammit” – Blink 182
12. “Life After Lisa” – Bowling For Soup
13. “Complicated” – Avril Lavigne
14. “Song for the Dumped” – Ben Folds Five
15. “I Will Survive” – Cake
16. “On My Own” – Don’t Look Down
17. “Laid” – James
18. “Bitch” – Meredith Brooks
19. “Find Comfort in Yourself” – Midtown
20. “A Year on an Airplane” – Daphne Loves Derby

And today’s track, something a bit more grown up:

The Flaming Lips, “All We Have Is Now”

The Dunce Cap’s Third Year Thirty: Day 1

in: due time

A song a day for thirty days.

Felicity and Noel

Heartbreak is hard. Moving on is harder.

Without giving away too many gruesome details (this is a pop culture blog, after all!), I’m launching a daily feature which will, in addition to providing you kids with groovy tunes, help me get through a bit of a rough patch.

In thirty days, classes will commence at Northwestern, and I will begin my third year. And thirty days is the perfect length of time for, you know, getting over things. Each day, beginning today and concluding September 21, I’m going to blog to share a song and a goal/accomplishment for the day, depending on the time of day which I choose to write. In thirty days time, the assumption is, I’ll feel whole again, mostly.

Sound cheesy? There’s no telling just how cheesy this’ll become. But, rejoice! This will be a project replete with pretty and not-so-pretty tracks, and, with a little luck, at the end, I’ll release a mixtape version of the whole dang thing.

Breaking up is hard to do. But, like most things, it seems to get easier over time. And when accompanied by a handful of Kelly Clarkson tracks.

So what exactly is the Third Year Thirty? It’s a musical how-to guide for releasing all kinds of relationship-related frustrations and anguish, followed by tongue-in-cheek pieces of advice and even cheekier poorly Photoshopped pictures of relationships that ended too soon. It’s my shoddy example at making lemonade. And, for a more established breakup guide, may I recommend The Frisky’s 30 Day Breakup Guide.

Day 1 after the jump.

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