Good afternoon, you magnificent weirdos. Welcome to the Friday Open Thread! This is my first time ever hosting an open thread but I heard if you ask nicely, you guys will post pictures of your pets and I am 100% here for that.

This week has been super crazy for me because of Record Store Day. When I’m not stalking Kristen Stewart all across the internet, I spend my days/nights working at a concert venue attached to a record store. It’s about as close as I’ll ever come to living inside the movie Empire Records and I love it with all my heart, but we’re super slammed all weekend long. I’m really excited about a bunch of the new releases and the bands playing (particularly Nothing and WALL, two of my favorite bands out there right now), but I’m also sleeping here overnight so I can be ready to go right when we open at 9. It’s sort of fun in a Night at the Museum kind of way, but I also know I’m in for an intense weekend.
It can be really hard to eat properly, get enough sleep and take care of myself when we’re busy like this, and I heard exercise is good for you (I’m still suspicious), so I started biking to work and I HATE IT. I know it’s something I have to do and I can tell it’s getting easier the more I do it, but I’m never going to enjoy being almost-murdered by absent-minded drivers and dragging my wheezing ass up a giant hill every single night. I’ve never been all that athletic, and my friends think my sudden penchant for biking is hilarious (mostly because I’m so grumpy about it). Does this ever get better?
The other major thing about this week is that I think I broke my cat:

We spent a lot of time this week talking about records we’ve loved, records we’ve kept and records we hope to pick up this weekend, but I wanted to ask you guys: What’s the first record you ever bought? For me, it was TLC’s Crazysexycool, which I stand by as a solid choice. This was back in the glory days of “Waterfalls,” when I didn’t really understand what they meant by waterfalls or why I shouldn’t chase them, but I knew that middle school politics were fucked up and “Case of the Fake People” really spoke to me. Crazysexycool was a monster hit in the 90s, but it really stands the test of time; “Kick Your Game” is still a banger, “Red Hot Special” is still a classic and even though she was taken from us too soon, Left Eye is still an immortal superhero. She’s one of the few rock stars (and yes, she was an absolute rock star) whose death actually brought me to tears.
Also, there’s the “Creep” video, which like… come on. As soon as I hear those opening horns and T-Boz’s sultry “Yes… it’s me again… and I’m back,” I mentally put on my own pair of silk pajamas and take my place next to Chilli.
What about you, what’s the first record you ever bought with your own money and held in your own hands? Do you still miss Left Eye as much as I do? What are you doing this weekend? Does exercise ever become fun or is that all a giant lie? What does your pet think about your favorite band? Please talk to me, I’m so lonely.
How To Post A Photo In The Comments:
Find a photo on the web, right click (on a Mac, control+click), hit “Copy Image URL” and then…
code it in to your comment like so:
If you need to upload the photo you love from your computer, try using imgur. To learn more about posting photos, check out Ali’s step-by-step guide.
How To Post A Video In The Comments, Too:
Find a video on YouTube or Vimeo or WHATEVER and click “embed.” Copy that code, paste it, go forth and jam!