The past week’s weather has been absolutely monstrous in my neck of the woods*, and we’re currently in the middle of another beast.  As I’m typing the local news station has declared this the snowiest season ever, even beating out the mighty winter of ’96.  They’re closing down highways now and my whole area is in a state of emergency.

Yeah.

(… but the dogs absolutely love it. )

*heh, literally

Pilgrim’d up my travel art box a bit… or in the case of the latter, Ingrim’d up! hahahahahaaaaaaaaa o_O

Click image to listen to songs over at 8tracks.com

A new mix I made from old stuff I used to listen to.  Tried to aim around 8th grade or so, like the ID in the picture says (yes, that’s me omg).  Didn’t include parental influenced stuff because I can do a whole mix on that.  I dunno, it was a weird time. I was strangely kind of popular and on the brink of high school.  Also keep in mind that the internet wasn’t what it is today and I wasn’t really on it in 2000.  Well, I guess I was… AIM and stuff… but still, not like it is today.  Shout out to my two older sisters because half of this stuff I stole from them.

TRACKLIST

1. Time To Relax by The Offspring (Smash): Thought this would put a good frame on the times we’ll be going back to.
2. Surf Wax America by Weezer (Blue): Early Weezer.  Nuff said.
3. She by Green Day (Dookie): I swiped Dookie from my sisters a loooot.  I think it’s in my actual possession now, haha…
4: Real World by Matchstick Twenty (Yourself or Someone Like You): My sisters were really into like, mid to late 90′s alternative?  So, lots of stuff like this.  For better or worse it influenced me.  It was an era, what can I say, I was a part of it.
5. Selling the Drama by Live (Throwing Copper): Same explanation as above.  Sisters. I will say that Throwing Copper is one of my all time favorite album covers though – Dookie too, now that I think of it.
6. Zero by Smashing Pumpkins (Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness): Infinite Sadness goes in the same category as Dookie.  Swiped it a lot and stuff.
7. In The End by Linkin Park (Hybrid Theory): I remember being at a party, this coming on the boom-box or whatever it was and me saying that it would be a single.  I think Crawling was really big at the time and no one really believed me.  Also pretty sure no one cared because half the people were making out (omg makeout party!). Eventually it was #1, and I gloated about it for a solid day or two… and still, no one cared. BUT I DID #defiantly
8. You Give Love a Bad Name by Bon Jovi (Crossroads): One of the better artists I can peg being sister-influenced.  Also, seeing Bon Jovi at Veteran’s Stadium is still the best arena show I’ve seen. It was also the Vet’s last show ever.  On the drive home the radio DJs were saying it was his best concert in ten years. It was cool (frame of reference: I believe it was his “It’s My Life” tour, so, his comeback, basically).
9. Layla by Eric Clapton (Layla): One of my better friends in grade school was really into Clapton. And uh, osmosis happened, I guess.
10. Spiderwebs by No Doubt (Tragic Kingdom): This was the first CD my cousin ever owned and I’m pretty sure the first CD I ever burned on a computer. It was the 90′s.
11. Absolutely (Story of a Girl) by Nine Days (The Madding Crowd): Admit it or not, everyone listened to this song when it hit.  EVERYONE.
12. Long Way Down by the Goo Goo Dolls (About A Boy): Another sister influence.  I actually delved a little more into them not too long ago and was shocked to see how, well, punk they were in their early days.
13. Bottles to the Ground by NOFX (Pump up the Valuum): Heading into high school I really wanted to be a punk.  Of course, being a sheltered suburban Catholic white boy this wasn’t going to happen, but I made some half-decent punky friends and they would occasionally tell me to listen to stuff.  NOFX was, for better or worse, my definition of what ‘punk’ was, and still more or less is to this day.
14. Man Overboard (live) by Blink 182 (Mark, Tom and Travis Show): See punk comments above.  Also, Blink 182, I think that sums it up.  Surprisingly, I think blink has held up really well over time.  Back then I was ashamed to listen to them because all punk kids hated blink, but now?  Now I can listen and not be ashamed because guess what, all those punk kids secretly listened to blink too.
15. Heart Attack by Sum 41 (All Killer No Filler): Again, see punk comments.  Unlike blink, though, I was never ashamed of liking Sum 41.  Heck, I still like Sum 41. Chuck is an amazing album and their other stuff is just, I dunno, fun.
16. Wonderful by Everclear (Songs from an American Movie…): No real explanation, I just like this song.  Pretty sure the big reason I dug it back when was because ‘Star Wars’ was in the lyrics.  No lie.
17. Some Fantastic by Barenaked Ladies (Stunt): Stunt was the first CD I ever owned.  Barenaked Ladies are to this day one of my favorite bands ever and this song is one of my favorite songs ever.  My life is divided into two musical sections, pre-BNL and post-BNL.  I discovered them when One Week was huge and fell in love with them when I realized their other stuff was, frankly, a whole lot better. Never been without since.

Honorable Mentions:  A few items that I didn’t include because they didn’t work with the set, but are still pretty darn important to this ‘era’ of my life.

1. The Black Album, Metallica: Listened the shit out of this album. End of story.
2. Everything by Lifehouse ( No Name Face): This was my first, “our song”.  You know, guy, girl, “our song”?  It’s been over a decade since I went with that girl and I still can’t bring myself to play this song.  Still, it deserves including.
3. The Ever Passing Moment (album) by MXPX: Another punky band I got from a friend and listened to non-stop.  I was shocked years later to discover MXPX is a Christian punk band. How such a thing can exist is still beyond me.