It isn’t often that I feel like a teenager. But this evening, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I am an American teenager. I am the source of all knowledge that is adolescent in the eyes of adults.
My brother Steven and I went to Target this evening to look for a game to keep ourselves occupied tomorrow night as we wait to go to the midnight showing of Return of the King. We didn’t find a game, but we did find an adult in need. We were “hanging out” in the electronics section, looking for a specific CD, when an adult came up to us and asked if we could help.
At first, he said that he needed help finding a song. My thoughts: “Crap, I’m not going to know this, I can’t help.”
Secondly, he said: “It’s from twenty years ago.” My thoughts: “Hey, maybe I can help after all!”
Thirdly, he said: “Some blonde woman just redid the song.” My thoughts: “Nope, forget it, I won’t know this.”
Finally, he said: “It’s called ‘It’s My Life’.” Surprisingly, my thoughts were: “Hey, I know that!”
Oddly enough, only two days ago I was out driving and my Mp3 player had been taken out of my car. So, I flipped on the radio. Every station was playing commercials, except for the mix station. And they played ‘It’s My Life’, a new No Doubt cover of a classic 70’s song. In great pride I happily told the adult that the blonde woman he was thinking of was Gwen Stefani of the band No Doubt. Furthermore, I turned to my left, looked through the No Doubt CDs, and found the CD the man was looking for. All in only a few minutes. I felt so… teenagerish.
I was beaming after helping that guy. I trotted away with a big smile on my face and wanted to shout to the world that for the first time in my life I felt like a typical 18-year-old. *I* knew a *modern* popular band based on a description and a song title – a song that just came out, even! Sure, it was a fluke that I knew anything about it. How random is it that just two days before someone asks me, I end up hearing that song for the first time on the radio? Furthermore, that I even bothered to remember that the DJ explained that it was a cover of a 70’s song. Either way, I felt good about myself. Don’t know why, but hey, if it makes me smile and it’s as innocent as helping some guy find a CD, then I’m okay with that.
I’m all done with my Christmas shopping now. I’m very proud of that fact too. Also, I’m all ready for my Lord of the Rings party tomorrow. That nice North Carolinian boy I met at the Anime Convention in Virginia Beach, he’s driving up tomorrow to go to the midnight showing with me. Stephen’s coming over around 6:30ish to join in on the fun. We’ll most likely have chimichangas for dinner, then either watch a movie or have a marathon game of Risk. Depends on what the guys want to do. I’m pretty much fine either way, just as long as we make it to the movie at midnight. I’m psyched about that. I went to the theater to pick up the tickets this evening. Eee, fun fun fun!! 🙂
My mind was kind of boggled when I first heard that cover of “It’s My Life”. Sounded nearly exactly the same, except Gwen was singing. I don’t see the point in re-doing it if you’re not going to change it at all.
Anyway, it’s one of my favorite Talk Talk songs, and it was actually released in 1984 as the title track of their second album, along with other fun songs like Dum Dum Girl and Such a Shame. Check out “Natural History: The Very Best of Talk Talk” if you want to hear more of them. It’s a good CD.
Talk Talk is great. I was actually going to post some thoughts about this cover on my blog but Blogger was freaking this morning and erased everything. Such is life. Maybe tomorrow.
*Applauds*
Yay! Teenager moments are fabulous, especially for those of us who don’t have them often. But imagine living like that all the time…
‘Enough is as good as a feast’ said Jack-a-Dandy. (Sorry, childhood moment there.)
Have a great evening! And enjoy the film, it really is ingenious, despite the 5 seperate endings and lack of Christopher Lee.
*Wanders off, humming theme tune*