Taylor Swift

I tried to hate her.  She's just another teenie bopper, I said to myself.  But she's got talent, I finally admitted.  And she's got some great songs!

I broke down and bought 2 of her singles:  You Belong with Me and Love Story.  On top of that, I fell in love with Jon Schmidt's Love Story Meets Love Story, which is (clearly) based on Taylor Swift's original song.

Sadly, Taylor Swift isn't album cover to album cover genius.  That might be an impossible standard, though, so I didn't hold it against her when I wasn't impressed with either one of her two then-available albums, as a whole.

I just read in last week's Time that Taylor Swift's new album is out.  It's called Speak Now and this is what Time had to say about it:

If the single "Mine" is any indication, Speak Now will be more of the same lovesick rockers and ballads as 2008's Fearless.  It may well not matter, though:  Swift has cornered the market on teenage romance.

So I shouldn't have been shocked, then, when I watched the video for "Mine" and thought, "Seriously?  You thought we wouldn't notice that this is the SAME SONG you released 2 years ago?  Only it's NOT AS GOOD?"  And, sadly, it doesn't have a tune.

I showed it to my 8-year-old daughter who loves the 2 Taylor Swift singles we own, and loves the music videos for them even more.  She said, "I like it, but not as much."  Yeah, cause you've heard it all before?

Taylor Swift, this song is a disappointment.

Putting Randomness on Hold

I am right now incapable of typing 2-handed.  So my nearly 90-words-per-minute typing speed just went down to, oh, I dunno, 20 w.p.m.?  ...  Not that randomness can't survive the one-handed peck, but I just have better things to do with my time than spend 2 hours typing up the story of me bra shopping at Wal-Mart.

I mean, right now I could probably write a letter faster than typing up a blog post!

SO, ...
Let me know if you want a Random Tamra hand-written snail mail letter.  I'll be happy to send you one.  Leave your e-mail address in the comments section, and I'll get your address and hop to it!

Alternately, if you want a phone call, that also sounds easier than blogging.  I'd rather call everyone I know to relay the same story if I didn't have to type it up.

And those of you who normally type this slow, how do you do it?

June Beetles

FYI, it's July. 
Almost August.

You were fun in June.
You symbolized summer and the Midwest and everything I love about living here.

And now it's July.
And you should go away.

So, for any June Beetles who are reading my blog, ...
there it is.

Security Questions

(This post is pointless and not worth your time to read.  You are forewarned.)

Every few weeks or so, my bank makes me re-verify my computer, even though it's the same computer I've been using to log in for the last 3 years.  I'm not annoyed by this; more security surrounding my bank account can't be a bad thing.  What I AM annoyed by is that the questions they suggested and that then I answered have multiple forms of the same answer.

For instance (and I'm going to use fictional questions that are close to the mark), "What street do you live on?"  Well, when I first answered that question, did I include the Street at the end or no?  And if I DID, was it spelled out as "Street" or did I abbreviate it as "St."?

Or, what about, "What city do you live in?"  Well, Cincinnati, but did I put "Cincinnati" as my answer or "Cincinnati, Ohio," or "Cincinnati, OH."  All of those answers are "correct," but my bank only recognizes one of them as the correct answer.

So even though I know the answers to all these questions, I have a small panic attack every time I have to re-verify my identity.  I don't want the bank to think I'm not legit because I can't remember in what form I put the name of my middle school.

Books

I have been on a reading kick lately, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.  The problem is that I'm right now reading four books at once, and hence making little progress on any one of them.    

There are larger problems in the world, and yet I complain about the number of books I'm reading at once?  Yes.  Yes, I do.

Suddenly world hunger pales in comparison.

Tamra

Random Complaints

A list of complaints that no one cares about:

Complaint #1
The NES Adventures of Link (the sequel to Legend of Zelda) is WAY too hard. And who thought of the set up? I die 3 times and then have to start again from the castle that houses a sleeping Zelda? Lameness. I want to burn the game, or kill the creators. Either one (or both).

Complaint #2
Let's talk Pokemon Advanced Battle. I don't have a problem with the show. I mean, I think it's stupid with the "action-packed" battles where really they don't animate anything, they just let the announcer and the spectators give the exciting details, like, "And Bubble-wart charges towards Ginger Snap so fast that it's nearly impossible to animate, but trust me, it's exciting!", but whatever.

My main problem with the show is the theme song. It's jazzy and spunky and kids love it. It makes you want to go beat bad guys! All that is not the problem. The problem is the words:

"Oh oh oh I'm unbeatable
...
They can never win
But they sure can try
Oh oh oh I'm unbeatable
Pokemon (advanced battle)
Oh oh oh I'm undefeatable"

Have you ever watched the show? Do you know how often Ash (the main character) loses battles? All the time. So I figure the words should be something like this:

"Oh oh oh I wish I was unbeatable
...
They can win half the time
But I still have my pride!
Oh oh oh I win every other match
Pokemon (advanced battle)
Oh oh oh I wish I was unbeatable"

And that would be more accurate.

That's all my complaints for the moment. They were festering inside me for weeks, so thank you for letting me lay them out for you. I feel better.