Author: duane

listen up!, music musings, music suggestion, show the love, song of the day, you tube

sotd: City and Colour – Lover Come Back (acoustic)

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Good God, I love this man. His voice is so pure and unflinchingly beautiful, it hits to the very core of my being when I hear him sing. This is a song off of his upcoming album, If I Should Go Before You, which, needless to say, I am greatly anticipating. I have read, and after hearing the first four songs, that he is going in a bit of a different, more hardened direction, where there are less acoustically driven songs, but I love everything that I have heard so far, and I know it will be like the rest of his stuff… simply amazing. I am excited for whatever direction Dallas takes us in… wherever we are going, I am there!

music musings, music suggestion, song of the day, you tube

sotd: Years and Years – Shine

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You know how you hear a song, and you aren’t immediately blown away for some reason, but then you hear it again later, and you think, “what was I thinking? This is amazing!!”? Well, this song is one of those songs. I have been loving several of Years and Years’ songs off of their great album Communion, but for whatever reason, this one didn’t capture me at first; but all of that has changed. I cannot help but be completely overtaken by this fantastic gem every time it comes up on my playlist, and I have to jam out and dance around whenever I hear it. This is an excellent summer jam!!

all about me, near and dear, politics, that is so gay

marriage equality, finally… love wins

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Today, June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States decided the landmark case of OBERGEFELL v. HODGES, in which gay marriage was legalized nationally for all states in the United States. This recognizes all marriages that have occurred in states that were previously legal, and validates those marriages as legal in all states in the United States going forward. This is monumental.


Gay. Marriage. Is. Legal. Nationally.

My marriage is legal; not only in D.C., where we got married, but in Georgia, and every other state of the United States. This is an amazing day, and one that was a long time coming. Love truly did win.

Here’s a beautiful snippet of the statement issued by the court:

No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies
the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice,
and family. In forming a marital union, two people become
something greater than once they were. As some of
the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage
embodies a love that may endure even past death. It
would misunderstand these men and women to say they
disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do
respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its
fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned
to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s
oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the
eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.
The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth
Circuit is reversed.
It is so ordered.

It’s a happy day, for sure, and one that I am so glad is finally here. LOVE IS LOVE!!!

music musings, music suggestion

best songs of 2014

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I know this is a few months late, but it’s better late than never. I am also slowly working on my favorite albums of 2014 post, which will be posted eventually. What can I say, when you are a nurse, you relax on your days off, and when you are grad school full time as well, you end up doing that when you aren’t resting. Not a lot of time left for blogging. Either way, I am going to do my best! So… here is a list of the songs I was digging the most in 2014; some really great songs came out last year, and here are my 68 favorite ones!

1. Sia – Chandelier
2. Jessie Ware – Say You Love Me
3. Sam Smith – Stay With Me
4. You+Me – You and Me
5. Iggy Azalea feat. Charli XCX – Fancy
6. Betty Who – Somebody Loves You
7. Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud
8. Taylor Swift – Shake It Off
9. Broods – Bridges
10. Danity Kane – Lemonade feat. Tyga
11. Meghan Trainor – All About That Bass
12. FKA Twigs – Pendulum
13. Sigma – Changing feat. Paloma Faith
14. Katy Perry – Dark Horse feat. Juicy J
15. Beyonce – Drunk In Love
16. Ariana Grande – Break Free feat. Zedd
17. Charli XCX – Boom Clap
18. Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj – Bang Bang
19. Royksopp & Robyn – Do It Again
20. Oh Honey – Be Okay
21. Tove Lo – Habits (Stay High)
22. Olly Murs – Up feat. Demi Lovato
23. Brandi Carlile – The Eye
24. City and Colour – Nowhere, Texas
25. Bear’s Den – Above the Clouds of Pompeii
26. Nina Persson – Silver
27. Lady GaGa – Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye
28. Sheppard – Geronimo
29. Fifth Harmony – Sledgehammer
30. One Direction – Steal My Girl
31. Ingrid Michaelson – Open Hands feat. Trent Dabbs
32. Nicole Scherzinger – Run
33. Kiesza – Hideaway
34. The Script – Never Seen Anything ‘Quite Like You’
35. Jessie J – Personal
36. Calvin Harris – Pray To God feat. Haim
37. Bleachers – I Wanna Get Better
38. Phantogram – Black Out Days
39. Ella Henderson – Ghost
40. Lea Michele – Cannonball
41. G.R.L. – Rewind
42. BLUSH – Ain’t Nobody Got Time For That
43. Kim Cesarion – Undressed
44. Adore Delano – I Adore U
45. Ella Eyre – Comeback
46. The Summer Set – Lightening In a Bottle
47. Trampled By Turtles – Wild Animals
48. R3hab & NERVO & Ummet Ozcan – Revolution
49. Tiesto – Wasted feat. Matthew Koma
50. Clean Bandit – Rather Be feat. Jess Glynne
51. The Saturdays – What Are You Waiting For?
52. Bebe Rexha – I Can’t Stop Drinking About You
53. MAGIC! – Rude
54. AJR – I’m Ready
55. Neon Trees – Sleeping With A Friend
56. Grouplove – I’m With You
57. Nicki Minaj – Anaconda
58. May Kearney – Heartbeat
59. Jason Mraz – Love Someone
60. Nick Jonas – Jealous
61. Cheryl Cole – Crazy Stupid Love feat. Tine Tempah
62. Tegan and Sara feat. The Lonely Island – Everything is AWESOME!!!
63. Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake – Love Never Felt So Good
64. Rita Ora – I Will Never Let You Down
65. Maroon 5 – Maps
66. Jennifer Lopez – First Love
67. K. Michelle – Love ‘Em All
68. Becky G – Shower

There you have it! A fun mix tape of great songs from 2014! Hope you enjoyed it! Anything I missed? Please let me know in the comments; I always seem to miss something, and I really want to know what that is, especially if it is something amazing!

music musings, music suggestion, song of the day, venting, you tube

sotd: Sia – Elastic Heart

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It’s amazing to me, how an amazing video can make me OBSESSED with a song, even a song that I had previously, erroneously, overlooked. After seeing this video, much like after I saw the video for Chandelier, I was entranced, and I have had Elastic Heart on repeat ever since. There is something about Maddie Ziegler that is captivating; she is a magnificent dancer, and really captures the emotion of the choreography beautifully. Also, the song is gorgeous.

Also, to think that people have issues with this video is bullshit. It is obviously a powerful emotional statement that Sia felt the need to place her incredible artistic spin on, and I found it breathtaking. To me, it appears to be a very emotional, and raw, interaction between a girl and her father, and Shia’s emotional acting is intense and vulnerable. Somehow, people got pedophilia out of this, and I am honestly just shaking my head wondering why. Sia ended up apologizing for the video, which incenses me; this is art, beautiful, emotive, and intensely personal art. Shame on you if you felt the need to turn it into something else. Sia, keep doing what you are doing, because you are a true artist, and a magnificent one, at that.

all about me, blog on blog, civil rights, flickr, happenings, near and dear, nursing, school

year end… again

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So again, I find myself at the end of another year, and I am sitting here asking myself, what has happened with this year? It has flown by. Since I started nursing school, and since being a nurse full time, I find that I need to have way more down time, and time that I spend recovering from the job, mostly because it is so tough. That being said, I am definitely still here, and things are good; in fact, much better right now than before, and I feel that it will keep getting better. Here’s a few things that have happened recently that I probably should have blogged about, but didn’t.


In September, James and I got married in DC. Here’s a lot of photos, and I realize that I need to upload so many more… in time. It was an amazing experience. We have been together for a little over 11 years, and we got married with friends and family, and it was honestly, the best I could have imagined. My parents were there, James’ parents were there, and everything went over without any issues. The wedding itself was short and sweet, which I liked, the reception was amazing, and is something that we can always cherish. There were many great memories, lots of fun, and I couldn’t have asked for anything better.

A little over a month ago, I decided to take a big chance, and switch jobs (and hospitals). So far, going from the Emergency Department to the ICU has been a bit of a change (unorganized chaos to timely structure), but I can already tell that I am a lot less stressed, and a lot less upset all of the time. I think the pressure of the ungrateful, not-sick-give-me-a-sandwich patients in the ED finally wore me out, and the universe gave me a huge sign that it was time for a change. I am excited about this new opportunity, and I cannot wait until I get more accustomed to my new environment, and feel as comfortable here as I did in the ED. I have already learned a lot, and I know that this was a good move, and I am excited for the new experience.

Lastly, I started grad school for my MSN, which will propel me from RN to FNP. I am getting more into the process, and I am sure that this is going to be a great thing in the long run, but it’s definitely another major undertaking, that I have decided to take on. It seems that I either love school, or love student loan debt, because here I go again… although the outcome will be a major reward, and I know that it will be difficult, but is ultimately a great choice.

All in all, it’s been a busy year, and many changes have taken place; and I expect great things as a result. Here’s to a great (and hopefully even better than 2014) 2015!

music musings, music suggestion, you tube

you+me

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So, two of my favorite vocalists, Dallas Green (my favorite artist, AKA City and Colour), and the incredible Alecia Moore (AKA P!nk) have teamed up to make a beautiful record, and the result is called You+Me. Their first song, You+Me, is incredible.

This is the type of music that makes me get chills when I listen; it is beautifully written, and the harmonies, thematic elements, and haunting musicality all weave together to form something incredibly beautiful. I am so happy these two got together, because they are arguably two of the strongest vocalists in music today; and the style of each blending together is heaven. Two extremely strong songwriters together definitely makes for incredible music; and this is clearly no exception.

From what I have read, P!nk said this was a love song for her mom, which is incredibly touching and crazy beautiful.

Needless to say, I cannot wait for this album!!! Fortunately, I only have to wait until next week. Rose Ave is out next week, October 14. I’ve already pre-ordered, and I highly suggest you do as well. Thanks John for telling me about this project!! I just hope they tour for this album!!!

britney n' k-fed, is it just me?, music musings

tonight’s thoughts on ms spears

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I found myself listening to a lot of Britney this evening, and it has really hit me; Femme Fatale was not only a fucking amazing album, it had basically, all singles; save like two songs. Strong, strong album… I mean, Criminal? That song is GOLD. Til the World Ends? Dance anthem; it will be playing at my end of the world party. Let’s just say this: THAT REMIX WITH KESHA AND NICKI MINAJ SAYS IT ALL. She even “dabbled” in dub-step with Seal it With a Kiss, and NAILED IT. There’s a reason number four of her four number one singles (seriously, she’s only had four… WTF), came from this album.

Then, I get a little disheveled. She follows Femme Fatale with perhaps the most phoned-in album of her career? What the hell!?! I mean, they say Blackout was her phoned in album (albeit, pretty brilliant, surprisingly), but she practically left Work Bitch as a voicemail it was so phoned in (yes, it was catchy, but if this were Femme Fatale, it wouldn’t have gotten up off of the cutting room floor). Now, let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth, it isn’t all bad. I fucking LOVE Perfume; that, like Criminal, is highly underrated, and is arguably pretty high amongst her top 20 songs. But let’s be honest, most of Britney Jean is pretty shit, and that, to quote Britney herself, makes me feel like “I’m sad”. I love my girl, and I want her making the type of pop I KNOW she’s capable of; looking at her track record, you can’t deny the consistency and staying power.

Sorry, jut had to get that off my chest. I love Britney. Always have, always will. Bitch has been through some shit, and whether you love or hate her, you have to acknowledge that she’s a fighter, and when she’s properly medicated (we all have some mental issues, and treatment is the key), she’s a true diva. Hopefully, the next album will bring her back to the spotlight she deserves. Now I kinda want to go to Vegas and see her before her residency ends… perhaps I should talk to James about that…

music suggestion, song of the day, you tube

sotd: You+Me – You and Me

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Thanks to my friend John Hersman for alerting me to this MASTERPIECE!!! Holy shit… City and Colour, my favorite, favorite, favorite band/singer-songwriter, teaming with one of my other favorite singer-songwriters, P!nk? This is AMAZING. What a gorgeous ballad, beautiful love song, and, I know, just a taste of a crazy-amazing album to follow.

I cannot wait for October 14.