Week Perseverance

I have been gone a long time indeed. 

Blog post number three is the blog post in which I am debuting a pun/mocking the title of my blog. Six days between posts is a relative century in comparison to the prolific standard I had set for my blogging last week (joke explanation).

Self aware blogging? Don't mind if I do. 

The title of my blog comes from a song title by one of my all-time favorite bands, Every Time I Die. Hailing from the tropical paradise of Buffalo, New York, they combine pensive, English-major lyrics with heavy guitar riffing and punk energy that can only be described (in their words) as dirty. I endorse their words. Their passion is undeniable and cannot be understated. ETID's core sound might come across as vaguely generic initially. However, as I can attest, the band permeates your brain upon repeated listens. They are having more fun than you, and you want in on it. They have hilarious personalities to boot, per their DVD-accompaniment output: (start with Shit Happens! for sure. Shit Happens...)

My source:

 

FULL DISCLOSURE: I edited the song title slightly to avoid inevitable audience grammatical judgment.

I have seen Every Time I Die in concert more than I have seen most things in concert. Perhaps more than I have seen anything in concert. I will certainly compile a more comprehensive concert-tally list in blog posts from the future. Another important hobby of mine is concert-going. Nothing captures the art of music more than seeing it performed in front of you by the musicians who wrote it. The crowd energy and the emotional commitment of the band is not something that can be experienced on the internet or inside headphones. Concerts are art museums for music. I intend to keep a side-note log of concerts I attend in conjunction with my blogging career. Which happened to begin March 19th, 2013. Bonus concert log: the last concert I attended, as of these words, happened to be an Every Time I Die concert. It went down at Toad's Place in New Haven, Connecticut, on March 10th, 2013. A mere nine days before blog post number one (double check my math). 

Concert attendance has been a large part of my life since high school (cliche?). In order to familiarize myself with the music I will be experiencing at concerts, I need to be digesting it on my own time. What is your preferred format of musical digestion, Travis? Glad you asked, audience. I am a staunch supporter of the Compact Disc. Obsolete and archaic, you might jeer. It is all about the musical experience, I argue. Cover art and liner notes, in addition to CD art, credits and thank yous, are all included in the CD's packaging the way the musicians intended. The musician quite literally becomes the artist. How can any self-respecting art consumer fully appreciate art in the artist's full vision when the piece of art being consumed is incomplete? An mp3 file, to me, is an incomplete piece of art. A comparison: an mp3 file is equivalent to looking at a photo of a piece of original artwork. You can enjoy it, recognize it, and appreciate it, but you are not experiencing the total art package. Do not be mistaken, audience, I have bought plenty of mp3s online and burned plenty of albums to CD-R. I understand and agree with widespread, free music distribution. It affords bands a showcase and advertisement for their art. For said bands to be able to continue to make the art you, the listener, consume and are affected by, however, it is imperative that you, consumer, support these bands. This includes going to concerts, buying band merch(andise), and purchasing their music using money. Not exclusively mediafire. In sum, I hold underground and alternative music very dear to my blogging heart. And since you are a blog reader, chances are you might too. Please consider musicians as people, and support their craft.   

Every Time I Die + Knight

   

Bullet points: 

• SundayMondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturday. SundayMondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturday. SundayMondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturday. Three Weeks just went by. 
• Taken as a run-on word, a week seems like a long period of time. Taken as the phrase "one week," a week does not seem like a long period of time. Yet, working Americans' lives are dictated by this measurement of time. 1/52 of one year. One full orbit of Earth around the Sun. Four seasons. Made up of weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks. 
• Safe to assume (never assume) that most humans' favorite portion of the week is the end of it. Admittedly, I thoroughly enjoy the "weekend," as it gives me ample time to indulge in my hobbies (blogging). I also subscribe to the school of thought that claims every day has a distinct feel to it. I am the chairman of this school of thought. Two interesting week questions: Do you believe every day has a distinct feel and what is your favorite non-"weekend" day of the seven day structure everyone lives within? My attempt at explaining each day (based on countless research articles and empirical evidence): 
• Sunday: Seems to be a day of relaxation for most. Seemingly the day with the least amount of reliance on and regard for time. "Lazy Sunday." However, I have heard many accounts of humans hating Sunday. This must only be related to the sense of IMPENDING DOOM of the "work week" beginning in mere hours. However, I say why waste a day on dread? This should be a day of gratification and a day you look forward to. 
• Monday: Hatred reigns on this day. The first day of the "work week." The most daunting day. The day in which the restart button of life is pressed. Monday is also tied with Friday for, by my estimation, the day that is name-dropped most frequently: "I HATE Mondays." "It's a Monday." I wonder if humans are so caught up in "hating" Monday that they don't actually hate it. That it's just blind, conformity-hate. 
• Tuesday: The most obscure day of the week. Possibly the only day with no real identity. When humans refer to "the week," are they usually referring to Tuesday? Possibly, because every other day would probably have its own reference. Personally, I feel neck-deep into the week on Tuesday and it is my most loathed day. But I don't let myself think about this during Tuesday. I don't want to resent the day I am enduring. 
• Wednesday: Famed "Humpday." The day in which the most lazy and unfunny sexual innuendos are made. The most inconsistent day of the week, as far as tendencies go. Depending on the type of week I perceive myself to be having, Wednesday can either seem like a glimmer of hope or purgatory. As in: "It's almost Thursday! Meaning, it's almost Friday!" or "This week blows." After Wednesday has passed, I feel like the "week" is over. 
• Thursday: The most underrated day of the week. Might it be rated, though? I'm not really sure how "adults" (i.e. humans older than me) feel about Thursday, but I'm going to assume (never assume) that "adults" enjoy Thursday less than I do. Depending on your life perspective, audience, Thursday can symbolize many things. It can be a symbol of week perseverance, it can be a symbol of partying, or it can be a symbol of another shitty day that isn't Friday (right?). Two years post-UConn graduation, I can offer my perspective as being somewhere between partying and perseverance. I enjoy Thursday for these purposes. 
• Friday: The day with the shortest name. The day with the most likes on Facebook (Facebook reference number two). I am typing this on a Friday. It is Good Friday, actually (Best Friday?). There is a chain restaurant named after Friday. I suppose there is one named after Tuesday also. Fry-day. "Happy Friday!" "Thank God it's Friday!" "Its Friday!" [said with a big smile and a shrug]. The day tied with Monday for most frequent name-drops. The day radiating with the most fleeting positivity. The reward of week perseverance. Like every other human, my unapologetic favorite day. Friday. 
• Saturday: The day of reckoning. Everyone seems to look forward to the "weekend," and Sunday seems to be resented, so this is the day everyone looks forward to, right? Everyone seems to have an agenda for their Saturday going into Saturday. I suspected that these agendas often become unfulfilled. Chores are done, errands are done, plans are made for Saturday evening. Does Saturday (i.e. the "weekend") live up to the substantial hype we give it every week? I always feel like I could've made better use of my Saturday. High expectations lead to disappointment. Let Saturday breathe. 

Hope that whatever day it is for you right now, it is a good day. And a great week. Great week, great month, great year, great life. My idea of great life:

Ghost town country, Nevada