Still on my Phantom Planet kick and still want them to come back. Couldn't they give us just one live show? Please?





I really miss this band. Phantom Planet, you're reviving the worst of my fan girliness.

Ozma makes me miss undergrad like crazy.

If there's any album that epitomizes nostalgia for me, it's Rock and Roll Part 3 by Ozma. It defines freshman year and the good days in Shadowfax. What a year. I'm sad that it ended with drama that pretty much strained one of my closer friendships from that year, but it was certainly a memorable year. Or, as we would have said back then, it was a jawsome year. (Side note: there was a lot of debate about whether it was to be spelled jawesome or jawsome. I was always in the jawsome school of thought.)

It all started when I was trying to get through one more section of my PR outline and Kristina pointed me in the direction of some of the old blogs from that year. Once I started reading, I got hooked. Brought back so many memories.

I miss the days when things were so carefree. We seriously watched a movie almost every week. Always frolicking around the Spectrum or Target (haha, oh Irvine). Always so happy. No concerns about passing law school finals or finding a summer job. Those were some good times.

I kind of got hooked reading Chris's old stuff, especially reliving the months before we got together. And how technically our first date was a NOFX concert.

But I don't think anything sums up freshman year as well as Rock and Roll Part 3 does. We saw Ozma at the Glass House in Pasadena December 2003 and it sent us all off. It was the band we were obsessed with. Shootingstars was pretty much everyone's emo song. It was so devastating to all of us when they broke up that summer. I think things that may have rivaled Ozma that year were Eurotrip (we pretty much watched that movie every day during Spring Quarter), Kill Bill (came out that year, whatever) and Franz Ferdinand. Oh and Gavin DeGraw, but he was mostly a Fall Quarter thing and a second floor girls suite thing.

On the upside, I'm meeting with some of those Shadowfaxers this weekend. I'm excited.

So the questions I now leave with are:

1) Whatever happened to Diana? I just ran a search for her on Facebook but didn't feel like sifting through the 500+ results I got at 2:15. I hope she's doing okay.

2) What is in Max Cola and why did it make us go crazy that one night?

3) Whatever happened to Ozma anyway? They broke up Summer 2004, got back together around 2006. They released Pasadena and did some shows and then they fell off the face of the planet. My music tastes have changed since my Ozma days,but I would so see them again. If anything, it'd be to do the geek mosh to the Tetris theme. I miss those guys (and girl).

And for good measures:

Umma's been cleaning out random things around the house. Yesterday, I found this opened self-addressed letter from Pres lying around. It turns out it was some letter they had us write to ourselves senior year of high school to be sent out four years later. I'm sure they were expecting us to write something inspirational, but mine was a list of 28 things I wanted to have accomplished by May of 2007. I accomplished one, arguably two.

10) If you're still not a Phantom Planet fan (especially after hearing the mp3 of Turn Smile Shift Repeat live), I swear I will come from the past and punish you.

(Check, but I'm sure 2003 Alea would have been even more devastated than 2008 Alea when Phantom Planet went on "indefinite hiatus")

18) Should be a lead activist for world peace.

(This is the arguable one that Dinah and I both think should count. I wasn't a world peace activist but I was a big green activist on campus. I think all the time and energy I bled into CalPIRG should count at least for that much).

Everything else on the list was ridiculously unachievable, but I'm pretty sure that was the point. Here are some highlights (comments in bold):

1) Have at least two bestsellers
3) Started your own band. (It'd be nice if you play at the Grammy's, but I'm not requiring it of you).
5) Be "mates" with Colin Farrell ( I don't know why this is on the list. I thought he was gross in high school. Still not a big fan, but I really liked him in In Bruges )
12) You should have been awarded the following awards (of course you are not limited to these): Oscar, Grammy, Tony, Nobel Prize, AFI Lifetime Achievement (WTF?), etc.
15) You should have been granted the chance to poke The Strokes. (Sounds dirty but there was a radio contest a couple of months before called "Poke the Strokes" where you could win a chance to meet them).
16) Should have discovered the cure for cancer, AIDs, and any other incurable disease.
17) Found a solution to world hunger.
21) Own an island and call it Guau.
22) Co-created a time machine and cloning machine with Monica.
24) Because of you, Calculus should be banned in high schools.

Okay, it's time for me to go to sleep.

Randomly decided to listen to Gavin DeGraw's Chariot. It's been almost exactly 6 years since all of us girls from Shadowfax went to the House of Blues in Anaheim to see Maroon 5/Gavin DeGraw/Big City Rock. It was such a fun show. Still one of my all time faves out for nostalgic reasons.

Thus, this album reminds me of the easier and more carefree days of undergrad...especially the Shadowfax days. Those were some goods times.

Too bad my image of Gavin DeGraw was later tainted by the overall icky gross vibe I got from him when I saw him again in DC.

Thanksgiving came and went. It was a lot of fun. Spent Thanksgiving with Chris's family in Arcadia. Spent the rest of the weekend hanging around in Irvine. Irvine's a lot more fun when you're not studying for law school finals and can go wander around Orange County, but it was still a good weekend.

Now it's officially December, which means it's time to get even more serious about finals. Guh.