The End Of The Road.

Having a ton of songs on your Ipod is really only good for 1 thing... hearing stuff you would never willingly say, "I want to hear this song." Everyone i know that has an Ipod, has it filled with mostly stuff they like... but there are always skip-able songs, songs that they fell in love with in 3rd grade, or just random crap from some 1 hit wonder's full album.

Listening to my ipod every night has its ups and and downs... one of the downs includes these random ass songs that come on. And even though the song i'm about to dissect isn't really a random song... it really shouldn't be on my ipod... because i would skip it. This particular song happens to find it's way into the 100ish songs out of the 3000ish songs on my ipod probably 3-4 times a week. SO... after giving up hope, i decided that i would listen to it the next couple times it came on, and i realized that it really is a terribly written song. You all should recognize the song because it was very popular when it was a single... I will now dissect End of the Road, made popular (at least to me) by Boyz II Men... not Boys to Men.... not Boys 2, Men... not Men at Work... Anyways... here's my critique of this song, verse by verse (lyrics are in blue):

This song starts off with a short spoken line by the Bass dude who always talks in the songs...

"Girl you know we belong together
I have no time for you to be playing
With my heart like this
You’ll be mine forever baby, you just see"
- This opening line makes you start to feel bad for this dude...

Verse 1

" We belong together
And you that I’m right
Why do you play with my heart,
Why do you play with my mind?"
-If she knew he was right... then this song wouldn't really happen... so right off the bat, we know the "guy" in this song is dumb. He's right about them being together, but he can't figure out why she plays with his heart and mind?

"Said we’d be forever
Said it’d never die
How could you love me and leave me
And never say good-bye?"
-This line gives me the impression that he feels like she blind-sided him... apparently he needs to wake up, and smell the break-up. This blind-sided line "never say goodbye" has relevance later... so pay attention.

"Girl I can’t sleep at night without holding you tight
Girl, each time I try I just break down and cry
Pain in my head oh I’d rather be dead
Spinnin’ around and around"
-This is actually my favorite line of the whole song... very well written... you understand how he's feeling... the description of it is brilliant... no complaints here.

Chorus

"Although we’ve come to the end of the road
Still I can’t let you go
It’s unnatural, you belong to me, I belong to you
Come to the end of the road
Still I can’t let you go
It’s unnatural, you belong to me, I belong to you"
-You belong to me, i belong to you... apparently not. It's a chorus... a good summarization, but i really only think that he can say "i belong to you"... "you belong to me" is very stalker-ish.

Verse 2
This is where it starts to get a little weird...

"Girl, I know you really love me,
You just don’t realize
You’ve never been there before
It’s only your first time"
-If he's talking about love, or sex here... they're both kinda creepy. If she really loves him, but doesn't realize it... then is it really love? I am assuming they've been together for a while, so that rules out the "still getting used to you" realizations. If they haven't been together for a while, then this guy got wayyyy to attached wayyyyy to fast. And the whole first time thing... still creepy.

"Maybe I’ll forgive you, hmm
Maybe you’ll try
We should be happy together
Forever, you and i"
-Sounds like from the previous lines of the song, he's already forgiven her... so this is a moot point... she left and didn't say goodbye, so i'm pretty sure she's not going to try. And with the happy together forever thing... Didn't sound like the relationship was so happy in the first place. so this guy is all mixed up.

"Will you love me again like you loved me before
This time I want you to love me much more
This time instead just come to my bed
And baby just don’t let me, don’t let me down"
-The beginning of this verse is "Girl i know you really love me." And the first step he wants to take after she loves him more, is to run straight to bed? Not the best long term planner in the bunch folks. Everything gets solved in bed... brilliant plan there genius.

Chorus Again

Now after this chorus comes the part of the song that makes the rest of the song make NO SENSE. The bass guy comes on and delivers this very convincing speak to the girl. Hilarity ensues...

Spoken

"Girl I’m here for you
All those times of night when you just hurt me
And just run out with that other fella
Baby I knew about it, I just didn’t care
You just don’t understand how much I love you do you?
I’m here for you"
-Wow. So let me get this straight. This girl has played games with your heart and mind, left without saying goodbye, and cheated on you numerous times? "You belong to me" my ass. She NEVER belonged to him. ever. never. The next line says "I just didn't care, you just don't understand how much i love you." What the hell is this guy thinking? What does he even think love is? This guy has no clue. He probably "loved" her because she was looking for a place to crash and someone gullible enough to pay for her shoes and purses and stuff. From the sound of it... its more like his first time in love (or sex for that matter). Also, remember the "never say goodbye" line from before? If he didn't see the outcome of this relationship coming, then it's obvious this guy has the IQ of someone dumber than Forrest.... but he sure can sing his ass off.

"I’m not out to go out and cheat on you all night
Just like you did baby but that’s all right
Hey, I love you anyway
And I’m still gonna be here for you ’till my dying day baby
Right now, I’m just in so much pain baby
Cause you just won’t come back to me
Will you? just come back to me"
-Still wanting her to come back. This guy probably still lives with his mother and plays xbox all night, dresses up for harry potter, and goes to star wars conventions (granted i do 2 of the 4, so i'm only a half nerd, but i'm cool damnit). This girl has been using him from day 1 and will continue to do so when she runs out of money and has no other options. This guy will always take her back because all she has to do is bat her pretty little eyes and he falls for it every time. 2 things going on here... she's the devil, and he's retarded... this is a terrible combination for him.

"Yes baby my heart is lonely
My heart hurts baby
Yes I feel pain too
Baby please"
-"baby i knew about it, i just didn't care" this guy obviously has 2 personalities and they're both morons... just one of them has an aching head and heart.

Final Lead-in to the Chorus

"This time instead just come to my bed
And baby just don’t let me go"
- I'm sick of this guy and his utter lack of having a clue.

So that's it for this song. People liked this song because it was Boyz II Men and they were popular at the time, so no one really listened to the story of the words. Lyrically speaking, this is a terrible song. But it's got a nice sound and it's a good song to slow dance to at your prom... but other than that... it's getting skipped from now on... only because i'm too lazy to find it on my ipod and delete it. And for your viewing and listening pleasure... the video to this song...

Note: this is the "radio version" without the beginning speech. The album has the whole song.

Stoplights.

I drive at a lot of "weird" times... and by that i mean really early in the morning. Anywhere between midnight and 6am. At these times, there are little to no cars on the road... especially closer to 2-3am.

I have noticed that even though i'm basically the only car on the road... i still have to wait for some stoplights because they have a timer once the trigger is tripped. The programming for these lights just baffles me. It makes no sense to me to keep a timer past midnight... at the latest.

I've also noticed that once i'm on a normally busy road, and i'm still the only person on the road, that some lights still change no matter if there's someone waiting or not. It's like the box that controls the lights has to cycle through each position just so that it doesn't bug out. If i'm on a 3 lane highway (aka 28) and there is no one waiting to make a left turn onto said road, then the light should always stay in the direction of the 3 lane highway. It is ridiculous for a light to HAVE to cycle through. I'm sure there's plenty of people who can program these boxes to help us few late late drivers.

Going along with the last paragraph... if i come up to 28 from a side road... and i'm turning right... i don't expect the light to turn for me. This is less efficient for the flow of traffic. But if i'm turning left, this light should start to change as soon as i hit the trigger. It makes it more of a first come, first serve basis... and at 2am... i'm pretty sure everyone that's out driving that's been stuck at a light with NO cars coming would agree with me.

Bad News Never Had Good Timing... Part 2.

Before I start this blog i want to re-direct you guys to This Post. Everything that is said here is pretty much how i feel about that side of the story... you know... minus all the big words and art and stuff (i tend to think in small words that i know what they mean... and music... sorry honey).

I try not to think about the shootings because all it does is get me mad... with no way to release that anger towards the source... aka meaningless anger. So anytime that i got reminded of what happened, i just pushed it right out to avoid those feelings. No use getting upset for nothing. But after my 2 days off this week being spent at Tech, going to see the free concert put on by DMB for the students, you couldn't avoid thinking about it. Well... i couldn't at least. And i have a few things to add about the situation that i don't think too many people think about. Maybe no-one has thought of them. But there are a few points, none of which are related to another, so i'll just separate them by "-" marks in bullet form.

-Walking to the concert Jessy and I grabbed a Collegiate Times that we walked by, and one of the headlines on the front page was something to the effect of "Parents of Victims Call for Firings and Resignations." Now i understand that the families of all the victims must be living in a nightmare, but in my head... this is really only 1 person's fault... trying to throw the blame to someone who you can actually punish is just wrong. This whole situation is unthinkable. No-one can predict the future. Throwing the blame on people might make the victim's families have a little bit of closure, but at what cost? And it's not the same kind of closure as having the fuckhead here to punish. It would be like blaming the shower for getting your pillow wet, when you were the genius who went and laid down without drying your hair. Following the same example... you see water drops from your bed, through the hall, into the bathroom, and finally into the shower... and after finding out that water comes from the shower head, firing your shower for getting your hair wet, when there is clearly someone else to blame. (Note: i realize that the culprit of this little mystery story is in fact "you" but you get what i'm going for here)


-Virginia Tech failed to stop this kid from going on a rampage. But how many kids have they stopped from doing the same thing? Probably hundreds. Probably thousands. Probably Ten-thousands. Who knows... and who cares. Even if they have stopped 1 person from lashing out at society, they are successful. There are plenty of messed up people out there, and VT has surely helped a lot of them with their counseling center. All the public cares about is that Tech "screwed up" and missed all his signs. But they didn't. They tried to get him help. "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." I commend Virginia Tech for help the thousands of kids who need help dealing with their problems... in fact, i commend ANYONE who helps ANYONE ELSE through a tough time. Whether it's just a phone call to check on someone you haven't talked to in a while, or helping an old lady across the street(sorry it's cliche, but you get my point).

-(Continuing on with the previous bullet, but in a different direction): Counselors help kids in many ways, but you really can't tell how many violent acts they have prevented. The only statistics that people ever see are the outcome of someone slipping through the cracks. You can't tell who would've been a rapist, murderer, or a thief... but after something happens, all the signs point to something bad happening... If you could tell who is going to be a rapist, murderer, or a thief... then this world wouldn't need counselors and therapists, etc. But the main point here is that the numbers only reflect all those that slipped through. I like to think that the majority of people that have the potential to do something bad that get help, are actually stopped with the right help. But as i said, we will never know.

-After thinking about all this on my 4 hour car ride home, i can't help but think about how much my life would've been different if this had happened 2 years ago. Even though i feel a huge connection with Tech, and still consider myself a Hokie for life... i have experienced this situation at an arm's distance... with my only connection with Tech right now being Jessy... she's really the only person down there that i even know anymore... But what if that was 2 years ago? How would i convince Mom to let me go back? Would i even want to go back? Would i know someone in one of those rooms? But i wasn't there. Which i'm thankful for.



So that's it. I know this not going away, at least for the time being... but i think i'm done for now. But yeah, it's not over with, and i don't think i'll ever be able to help those who were really affected...





But i will still try.