Random Song Wednesday! Lily Allen: The Fear

Lily Allen is by no means completely under the radar! The song I chose for this post was once number one in the charts in the UK and in the top ten in the US when it was initially released a little over ten years ago.

However, I feel she will always stand alone in many ways for me as a female performer! She has her own style both in life and expressed within her music. I will always have extreme respect for her in more ways than one!

Not only did she become successful by releasing her music herself on YouTube to be “discovered” but also because every single one of her songs are so unique in presentation with what they lyrically consist of and convey, all while always being brutally real and honest!

One of my favorite songs by her will always be one entitled “Knock ‘Em Out” which I totally recommend for any females viewing this post! I don’t think any song both accurately and hilariously portrays the interactions with some men that women can experience.

The song I picked for this post was the first I ever heard from her. “The Fear” is a satirical creation both with the song itself and the video as well. It mainly pertains to how most modern female artists, really people in general for that matter, are often concerned with all the wrong things and very materialistically driven?

Really just the overall experience of consumerism and values that most of “western society” have come to accept as the norm. Which in many ways is extremely impressive and almost a premonition of sorts considering this song was released over ten years ago as stated above. With these ideals and views only becoming more and more commonplace and acceptable as time goes on.

I highly recommend you check out her other work if you enjoy this song because this alone doesn’t nearly begin to show her full range musically and personally!

Lily Allen: The Fear

I want to be rich and I want lots of money
I don’t care about clever, I don’t care about funny
I want loads of clothes and “truckloads” of diamonds
I heard people die while they are trying to find them

And I’ll take my clothes off and it will be shameless
‘Cause everyone knows that’s how you get famous
I’ll look at the sun and I’ll look in the mirror
I’m on the right track, yeah, I’m on to a winner

I don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymore
I don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymore
When do you think it will all become clear
‘Cause I’m being taken over by the fear

Life’s about film stars and less about mothers
It’s all about fast cars and cussing each other
But it doesn’t matter ’cause I’m packing plastic
And that’s what makes my life so “freaking” fantastic

And I am a weapon of massive consumption
And it’s not my fault, it’s how I’m programmed to function
I’ll look at the sun and I’ll look in the mirror
I’m on the right track, yeah, I’m on to a winner

I don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymore
I don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymore
When do you think it will all become clear
‘Cause I’m being taken over by the fear

Forget about guns and forget ammunition
‘Cause I’m killing them all on my own little mission
Now I’m not a saint but I’m not a sinner
Now everything is cool as long as I’m getting thinner

I don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymore
I don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymore
When do you think it will all become clear
‘Cause I’m being taken over by the fear

(Some minor alterations to keep the lyrics “PG” in text form, ha ha!)

I hope you enjoyed it!

Don’t forget to look forward to more random songs from my very eclectic musical tastes, ha ha!

“Death by consumerism”by onepointzero is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Trans-Topic Thursdays! The Importance of Always Being Yourself! (By No Means Strictly a Trans Related Post!)

One thing I can not stand almost more than anything else is fake people! Something about this type of person, at least for me personally, is always so easy to pick up on and identify right off the bat. I couldn’t pin point exactly what it is about them that makes it so obvious per se. I feel it primarily has to just be mainly you can tend to tell when a person is trying to hard I suppose? I would imagine this has to become quite exhausting on occasion.

I’ve made it a habit since I was very young to only surround myself with genuine people whenever I was able to make the choice on who I spent my time with. I can’t think of many close friends I’ve ever had in my life that didn’t fit this qualification.

I understand fully that in some circumstances in can sometimes be necessary to put up some type of front or “wear a mask” as they say. Depending on the type of work environment you may find yourself in for example. I know I have personally worked many jobs that required a healthy amount of customer service. This sure does not mean that I keep up this level of presentation with my coworkers or even all customers however. I know a good majority of us can often hold back when first meeting someone whether it be a new potential friend or family member. This is completely normal as well! I’m talking mainly in the sense of once these relationships have been established for a reasonable amount of time.

I know for myself that any ability I ever had to hide anything of myself from anyone has all but completely faded since I started hormones and began transitioning.

(See, we are getting into why this is more of a trans-topic post now!)

I’m not entirely sure if this is more based on the mental changes I have undergone, just being tired of holding back my full “true self” for so long, or the latter.

I can say from my own experience and interactions with other transgender individuals that you will rarely encounter one of us that isn’t completely a genuine person! This applies more so once you get farther into your transition I feel for the most part but this is by no means always the case!

A piece of advice I’d like to give to those who may be just beginning to transition (or really anyone for that matter) is letting yourself fully find out who you are. I mean this more in the sense as to never feel the need to limit yourself by expectations!

Never let anyone or anything make you feel that you have to be anything that you’re not!

What I mean by this mainly to give an example, I tended to feel like early on in my own transition that some expected me to like overly change somehow in the sense that I would be stereo-typically more “girly” or something along these lines.

Do not get me wrong!

I am plenty “girly” in a number of different ways, ha ha!

However, I would say I am far from being dominantly so!

I am beyond “tom-boyish” in plenty of ways as well!

Once again though, what is all this honestly based on in the first place except for certain expectations put in place by our society?

What exactly is it that make such things absolutely have to be more preferred or “normal” by one gender over the other?

Why can’t people just be people?

I suppose this can sound a bit odd from someone who felt so strongly about their gender identity that they felt the need to change certain aspects of herself to feel more comfortable but I would hope you understand my point here, ha ha!

Back to just talking more in a general sense!

I feel like a common area this can apply for anyone is often being embarrassed or ashamed of your interests.

Whether they may be considered nerdy/geeky (whatever the heck this even means once again!) or anything in general for whatever reason a friend/family member of yours doesn’t approve of.

First and foremost!

Learn to stop caring at all what people think about you in any sense of the word!

I realize that this can be much easier said than done depending on the situation but does it really need to be?

Own whatever it is that you enjoy and makes you yourself!

And love yourself for it!

We are all incredibly unique people and this is what makes us all fantastically amazing!

No one else in this world no matter what will ever be exactly who you are!

Remember this!

Not only have I personally embraced my gender identity over the past five or so years but this process has also made me learn to be myself completely and fully! (Whether I want to be or not for the most part as stated above, ha ha!) I have all but ceased trying to hide my “weird” and often “crazy” self from anyone no matter who you are! Random stranger on street, my friends, my family, anyone!

I know I already stated this above but once again learn to love yourself for what makes you special!

I can almost guarantee that if you own whatever makes you uniquely yourself that you will become a ton happier than you have ever been in your life!

(As I often like to include in various posts! Always keeping in mind as long as this never involves harming anyone or causing anyone any kind of pain! If you do feel like this then please do yourself a favor and seek some type of help, ha ha!)

If you don’t love yourself for whatever reason right now, take comfort in the fact that even though I might not know you, I love you!

I mean this sincerely!

I tend to be cursed with this ability to always see the good in people and find something I like about you even with the aforementioned “faker” types. I’m sure you have your reasons for acting the way you do!

Thank you so much for Reading!

“Morning Hike”by SewPixie is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Where did all the Good People go…?

While laying in my bed at 7 in the morning here on what is now Saturday, I find myself unable to stop thinking about a topic I find myself often coming back to.

One I’m sure many of us often ponder!

I feel, more and more nowadays, that you continue to keep seeing and hearing people talk about slowly losing what little “faith in humanity” they may have left.

I find myself, more often than not, agreeing with this line of thinking no matter how depressing it may be!

However, no matter how much I do occasionally feel this way I still never seem to be able to lose my sense of “hope” whether I want to or not. I always tend to see the good in people when others may not be able to. (Unless they may have done something “absolutely unforgivable” which honestly is only a few things that are mostly universally acknowledged to be terrible. As such, I won’t begin to list them off at this time.)

I’m not one to “toot my own horn” as they say, but throughout most of my life I have always had people, both personally and professionally, tell me that I’m “one of the nicest people they have ever met!”

Honestly, I’ve never understood this…

What makes me that much different from the vast majority that allows people to pick up on this about me when I don’t feel I do anything special at all…

Is it because I always treat everyone the same no matter what?

Or that I genuinely care about everyone that I meet no matter how big or small the interaction may be?

I truly don’t understand it most the time, and as much as it is nice to hear it also makes me just as sad…

For so many people to say this when I do nothing phenomenal is just upsetting I guess?

I feel like most of the stuff you learn when your in say, kindergarten are honestly the best words you can ever live by!

“Treat others how you want to be treated!”

“If you have nothing nice to say, it may be better to say nothing at all.”

You know? Simple phrases and sayings along these lines.

It all sounds so simple to me and I don’t understand why it’s so hard for some to be like this?

Sure, I understand that human nature can be a very hard thing to overcome sometimes. The norm, more often that not, in our society is one of selfishness sadly…

I can’t blame anyone for this!

I understand but when such simple words and actions for all you know could make all the difference in a person’s day then why not simply do that…?

It baffles me most of the time to say the least!

In my younger days, I used to be one of those people who would rant and rave about how they were gonna CHANGE THE WORLD AND MAKE IT BETTER PLACE!

I still do feel this way for the most part but I am, however, significantly less passionate about it then I once was.

This kills me some days!

Indifference of good people being one of the greatest evils and all that jazz being another very well known popular phrase!

Growing older just, sadly, has a way of crushing your hopes and dreams when you are constantly just bombarded by the realities of life I suppose?

I’ve come to accept, for the most part, that the change I’ve always wanted to see in the world is “idealistic.” Most likely, it will never happen until like some great disaster or tragedy causes all of humanity to come together, or something along those lines, in the best possible way!

With the current state of things, especially in recent years, whether this end up being brought on by natural means or otherwise could very well be in the near future for all I know. I just truly pray that if such an event does ever occur that humanity can truly come out triumphant.

I mentioned once briefly in a previous post about one of the reasons why I love blogging so much is because you get news and information right from the mouths of real people. I stopped following more traditional forms of these quite some time ago. It’s really the only way I’ve been able to mildly be able to function without constantly being depressed about the state of the world.

I’ll never be able to understand things like war, poverty, corporate greed, etc…

Once again, I know this is all very idealistic but I truly never will.

It baffles me when we are beyond capable of changing things that would allow everyone adequate resources and the basic necessities of life why we just don’t simply put this into action as a society?

Nowadays, I mainly just live by another very common phrase and/or philosophy, “Be the change you want to see in the World!“

If even one person is in someway affected and/or touched by a simple gesture or kind word that influences them to reflect and perhaps act as such more in their own lives then couldn’t this potentially trickle down until the whole world was affected?

I know this is not realistically possible but it’s a nice thought none the less.

Human nature will always still be what it is. At least, with the way our current society continues to function.

Anyways, just some late night/early morning thoughts from a girl who tends to struggle to sleep on a daily basis!

(The title for this post was slightly influenced by the genius musician and master poet Jack Johnson for any of my music loving followers out there! I really have to make a “Media Mondays” post on that man one day because just WOW! He truly is nothing short of amazing!)

Thank you so much for Reading!

Be good to each other people!

It’s not that hard of a concept!

“Searching waves”by maik_sv is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0