Hello, mason jars full of sweet tea! Welcome to this week’s Friday Open Thread, in which we spend our nights hanging out with each other instead of the rest of the world. From now on, we’ll have a Friday Open Thread every Friday, kind of like how I have bottomless mimosas every Sunday. But the good news is you don’t even need a last-minute Open Table reservation to be here! You just need to be you, and that’s beautiful.
I spent a remarkable amount of time holed up in my office this week, and next week doesn’t look much better. This will come as no surprise to the handful of people who regularly attempt to plan Happy Hour outings with me only to have me push back like sorry work is all I have in my life and I have been consumed by it. I know I should want to leave work more often, but my Pandora station makes it really hard for me to pack up and go, kind of like it also makes it hard for me to behave regularly in my workplace and not get caught singing, dancing, or otherwise jamming out at my small wooden desk. Now that I have a room to myself in the hallowed halls of my non-profit, my fate is sealed: I’m officially a total weirdo who listens to weirdo music all the time.
Some of the songs I listen to are of the classic rock or folk variety, including but not limited to: Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Eagles, Led Zeppelin, and Lynryd Skynyrd. Sometimes, I just play Fleetwood Mac for an hour, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEi7GPkxfsE
Occasionally, my supervisors come in while I’m listening to Beyoncé, Frank Ocean, Daft Punk, or Pharrel, which is okay, I guess. Except that time that the song in question was “Blow.” That was totally not okay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JJFnPQuu8g
Other times, I’m caught innocently listening to nineties music like Alanis Morisette, Natalie Imbruglia, Sugar Ray, and Hootie & the Blowfish, mostly because the dolphins make me cry.
The total fucking mind-blowing treasure of the bunch, though, is the Bruno Mars selections that come on my station — and my inability to let them go. I may liberally thumbs down other songs, but when Bruno Mars comes on something comes over me. Maybe it’s because we look alike.
It might just be because he’s really adorable and sweet, though, which is embarrassing. Like, what if I genuinely relate to this dude? What if I enjoyed the Super Bowl more because of him, and not the Red Hot Chili Peppers, whom I worship endlessly? What if I’m just the kind of person who LISTENS TO BRUNO MARS? This is a full-blown crisis waiting to happen, and I can’t stop it. Nor do I want to, really, which is the worst part.
But enough about me. Let’s talk about you for a minute. LET’S TALK ABOUT LIFE FOR A WHILE. I can’t possibly be the only person who has ten songs stuck in her head at all times, and I think it’d be nice to know what’s stuck in yours. So tell me: What are you doing tonight? What are you listening to while you do that thing? What song is stuck in your head now and forever, amen? Did you know you could embed YouTube videos in the comments? I DIDN’T. But now we both do!*
And even if you’re not listening to music, you can probably help me to forget about the fact that I can’t stop listening to music by distracting me as I reach over to my record player at home to spin some tunes. Tell me about your day, and especially about your day with your pets! Don’t forget: ain’t no open thread like a Carmen open thread because I am going to reply to every single photo comment on this post with a picture of my dog. So tell me your deepest secrets, the story behind your change of life, or just what you ate for dinner tonight. Take your coat off and stay a while.
How To Post a Photo In The Comments:
1. Find a photo! This is the easy part. Find a photo on the web, right click (on a Mac, control+click), hit “Copy Image URL,” and then…
2. Code it in to your comment! Use the following code:
<img src=”http://imageurlgoeshere.jpg”>
If you need to upload the photo you love from your computer, try using imgur.
*How To Post a Video In The Comments, Too:
1. Find a video on YouTube or Vimeo or WHATEVER and click “embed.” Copy that code, but first make sure it’s for 640px wide or less. If your player is too large, it will not display properly.
2. Copy the code and paste it directly into your comment.
3. Go forth and jam.
