I’m a romantic. I’m proud of it. I’m not ashamed to say that I enjoy a good chick flick & if a movie is sad I have no problem confessing I sometimes cry. We know that things don’t happen like they do in movies yet still, we all want that happy ending in our own life.
I’ve been fortunate to have experienced love - I can say that with absolute certainty. I know it was real & I know it meant a lot to both of us. What I’ve had to learn though is that not every love story has the happy ending we’d planned. Love is hard work, I know that, but I also know that if it means enough to you, you will do everything you can to make sure nothing takes that away from you.
Not every love story is going to have the fairy tale ending you’d hoped for, but regardless of the outcome, hopefully it will be worth it. In spite of anything that’s happened, I’m still a romantic & I hope I’ll never lose that. I’m still optimistic & some might say it’s naive of me to say but I believe if I’m emotionally intelligent and patient enough, I’ll find my happy ending. I guess time will tell but for now I’m learning to enjoy the journey.
"The greatest thing you’ll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return."
So I saw this on Instagram & thought it was a fantastic idea. It's pretty self explanatory - for every day of the month you take a picture to encapsulation the theme of the day. I've heard of these kinds of things but have never actively taken part in them until now. Challenge accepted! I think it's such a great opportunity which challenges you to look out for certain things in your every day-to-day life & portray it in a unique & interesting way. I'm sure there are a few of them but the one I'm doing is above. I'll be uploading my pictures daily on Instagram @fantomdan so feel free to follow, like & comment, alternatively at the end of the month I will post all my pictures here & hopefully I'll have one or two half decent photos.
I’m not too particular when it comes to genre, but I really dig good lyrics. Most songs on the radio nowadays, although they might be catchy, just don’t have substance in my opinion. Every now & then a song/band comes along with lyrics that actually mean something and that’s when I actually sit up & take notice.
I first heard ‘Cough Syrup’ on season 3 of Glee. I loved the song so much that I played that part of the episode over & over again just to hear the song (not to mention Darren Criss is amazing). In the episode, it deals with homophobia & the pressure of bullying in high schools because of one’s sexuality. Inter-cutting the performance of the song with the victim (Dave Karofsky) was, in my opinion, a very effective way of amplifying the emotion behind the lyrics & getting a very powerful message across.
I really related to the song, not because of the story portrayed in Glee, but for my own reasons. That’s one of the great things about songs - lyrics are open to interpretation. For me, the song is about being overwhelmed by the pressures of life. Life isn’t always easy & we all struggle from time to time. Through double meanings & metaphors, the song comments on the emotions of feeling helpless against the circumstances in those situations. We’ve all been there & at the time I first heard this song, I was going through a bit of a rough patch myself & this song really just spoke to how I was feeling at that stage of my life. It’s debatable whether the song is morbid or not, but for me it’s inspirational in a sense. It reminds me that I’m not alone & everyone goes through tough times. I think we’ve all wanted someone or something to come and fix things but life doesn’t work like that & that’s kinda what makes life worth living - the fact that we can live & learn through the good and the bad.
That’s one of the things I’m most grateful for about Glee, is the fact that I have been introduced to so much music I’ve never heard before (good & bad), from different eras & from bands I knew little or nothing about. I’ll spare you on my thoughts on that & save that for another post. ;)
That’s it. Enough typing now. I’m heading home now. I count this as my first official blog post so hopefully it’ll be the first of many personal posts but I guess we’ll see. :) I hope at least 1 person actually took the time to read my rambling about a thought I had, but if not, that’s also okay. I did this for me and that’s all that counts. If you want to leave a comment to let me know your thoughts; whether you agree or disagree; or if you have had a similar experience with a song you’ve heard, I’d love to read about it. :)
On that note (pun intended), I’ll leave you with this quote:
“All good music resembles something. Good music stirs by its mysterious resemblance to the objects and feelings which motivate it.” - Jean Cocteau
The first (and hopefully not the last) Joburg WE ARE ONE Colour Festival was held on Saturday at Emmarentia Dam in Johannesburg, South Africa. Thousands of people, dressed in white, came together to share in music, dance, performance art and visual stimulation. The experience was incredible! I had such a blast & I really hope it happens again in the next few years.
